CH 102

Then, the sound of a hinge that almost tore the eardrums rang.

“Watch out for your feet.”

I bent down and stepped carefully on the doorstep.

Hugo, who followed, snapped his finger. It seemed he wanted to make a light with magic.

But light did not appear. The cramped house was still dark.

Hugo snapped his finger a few more times in embarrassment.

It was only at the end of four attempts that a hardly bright light was formed

The white light from his fingertips was much dimmer than usual.

‘Is that because of me?’

Unlike before, I awakened the power of monsters.

And spirits white magic did not work well when they were next to the monsters.

‘He’s disappointed that I’m not a spirit, but he’ll get even angrier if I tell him the fact that I’m a monster, right…?’

I lowered the sleeves of the robe to the palms of my hand and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Brother, what do you mean you want to check here?”

“…….”

Hugo did not answer and lit a white light in the middle of the room.

The house where only my father and I lived was really small.

When I came in with Hugo, I felt like I was trapped in a small box.

I fumbled around and pulled an old chair in front of Hugo.

“Is it hard to say?”

I tried to open my eyes brightly, but in fact, my stomach was burning.

Hugo had believed that I was Lily for the past four years.

Even after the necklace incident, he didn’t show any doubt.

For such a man to suddenly be interested in my past, there had to be a valid reason.

Thump, thump, thump! 

At that time, the whole house rang as if there was an earthquake.

Someone knocked on the closed door as if punching it.

I covered myself with the robe reflexively, but seeing that the person didn’t open the door that was without a lock, I didn’t think it was my father.

“Hey, pay me back!”

A loud roar came from outside the door.

Squeak, squeak, bang! 

Soon the old gate screamed open.

A rough-looking man stormed into the house.

When I was calming my surprised heart, I was once again thrown into surprise upon seeing his face.

It had been a long time, but I could recognize him right away.

‘You’re the one who gave me a dog phobia.’

The scoundrel who suddenly came in was a bully who called a wild dog over and chased me in the past.

The evidence was the clear scar on his forearm.

“What, who are you?”

The man came into the house without hesitation and looked alternately between me and Hugo. The small cramped room was filled with angry breaths.

“Is it that man?”

Hugo frowned. I had the idea that the white light in the air had become sharper.

“Oh, no.”

As soon as I said it, the bully turned his head toward me.

“What? A girl?”

Why was he asking that question?

I didn’t want to answer much, so I closed my mouth.

Then the man approached me and suddenly took off my hood.

“Ah!”

“Huh? Let me see. I think I’ve seen you a lot….”

The man put his fingertips on the top of my head and turned it around as if looking at an object.

“Get away!”

I struggled roughly without realizing it. It was because I remembered the old days when I was caught by him.

At that time, a white light leaked from the man’s feet and at once, tied the bony wrist of the man.

“What’s this?”

The man was surprised and struggled like a fish that was brought up to land.

The more he did that, the stronger the magical restraint.

“…I’m already annoyed, but why is a fly bothering me?”

Hugo sighed quietly and wiped his glasses with his hem.

Having been released from the man’s hand, I pressed my chest hard with my fist.

My heart was pounding. A sense of dread flowed into my mind.

Hugo’s attitude was much colder than usual.

Even now, it was not a soft response, but if it was the usual, he would have killed that man here as he had treated me carelessly.

There were two reasons for the expected change.

Either he was less affectionate towards me, who was not a spirit, or he was suspicious of me…

“Oh, I remember! You’re that guy’s daughter, right?!”

The bully loudly shouted.

It was a little surprising. Unlike him, I had changed quite a bit from four years ago.

‘You’re so good at recognizing me. Is it because you’re someone who spends other people’s money?’

I pressed the hood down again, but it was too late.

The man raised his voice even more, perhaps he thought I had acknowledged his words.

“Hey! Where’s your fath… Huh? Huh?!”

The man couldn’t finish his speech.

A ray of light bound his body so tightly that it seemed like it would break it.

“It’s noisy.”

Hugo slowly brought his index finger and thumb together. He was about to fold the body he had arrested by magic as it was.

“Wa, wait, sir! You look like a precious young master. Why are you covering that thing up? I have something to do with that bitch’s father!”

The man looked back at me with a red and bluish face.

“Hey, where’s your father? The one who stole the money and flew away!”

“…He flew away?”

I felt dispirited.

I lied a lot to Hugo because I was afraid I would meet my real father, but he was not here already?

“Yes! He disappeared completely! I searched all over the ant cave for three days, but I couldn’t even see the tip of his nose. Where did he go? Tell me right away, where did he… Argh!”

The body of the man wrapped in a group of lights slowly bent dangerously.

I hurriedly pulled Hugo’s robe.

No matter how the opponent was an insect of the ant cave similar to me, I couldn’t sit still and watched the unplanned murderer

“Brother, stop….”

“Brother? What are you talking about?”

I tried to stop Hugo as much as I could, but the man arbitrarily mocked me.

The man glanced sideways at Hugo’s glasses and smirked.

“Sir, I don’t know what kind of nonsense you’ve been through, but that bitch is not someone who should be associated with a young master like you.”

“…….”

“There’s no one as obnoxious as that thing in this ant cave. It’s better for her to die, no matter how hard she struggles to live….”

Hugo was just listening to the man.

Perhaps the man thought it was an opportunity, as he continued speaking excitedly.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to save that stranger bitch. If you touch me, my father won’t let you….”

The man’s voice, as rough as sandpaper, was cut off along with the sound of something breaking

The man’s right calf was bent in a strange direction.

He pursed his lips for a while then let out a loud burst of scream.

“Argh! Damn it, you punk!”

“Even if we are strangers, you have no right to punish this child.”

Hugo stared at the man coldly and lightly nodded his hand. The group of lights surrounding the body came down to the floor furiously.

“If you want to keep talking, let’s break your limbs one by one.”

The magic light wrapped the man’s left leg loosely as it did earlier on the right leg.

The terrified man grabbed the broken leg and limped away.

“Ju, just you watch!”

Hugo let the man run away and collected the residue of mana.

The surroundings became quiet. Only the cries of crows and people from afar filled the house.

Hugo broke the awkward silence first.

“If he has been searching for three days, there’s no way he won’t see even a single part of him.”

“What?”

“This house is located in the center of a very densely populated slum.”

Hugo shook his hand and looked around the small room.

His gaze was stuck on an elongated scratch that cut through the wooden floor.

“It’s almost impossible to run away from a place like this without any witnesses. There are two possibilities. Either he ‘s dead or…”

The bunch of mana, which I thought disappeared, suddenly appeared and stabbed the floor. Several branches of light gathered inward as if scooping something.

The old floor was easily broken.

Soon I could find a pair of rotten frozen eyes under the dark hole.

“…Or he didn’t run away in the first place.”

My dad, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, was just as different as me.

***

“Hugo, that bastard, he’s the one who causes the most trouble while pretending to be calm.”

Pedro lamented and looked out of the watchtower.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting.

If this continued, it would be night before he could find the whereabouts of his two younger siblings.

“If it’s delayed further, I’ll have to mobilize all the standing soldiers out.”

“Don’t worry too much, Leader. Will something dangerous happen when she’s with the Archmage?”

Behind Pedro, who was scratching his black curly hair, his subordinate spoke calmly and peacefully.

If it were usual Pedro, he would have burst into laughter and passed it over, but not now.

“I was with Lily when she almost drank poison.”

The black eyes, which lost its smile, narrowed.

The subordinate was frightened and looked away.

“…I, I’m just saying.”

At that time, the ground rang.

They could hear the footsteps of animals lighter than horses but heavier than dogs.

Turning to the side where the sound was coming from, he saw a pack of wolves. It was the knights that were earlier sent out to search.

“Leader! We’re back!”

The silver wolf, who was running at the forefront, jumped toward the watchtower where Pedro was located.

A huge stone nail was embedded in the stone wall.

Pedro did not mind the roar though it sounded as if the entire castle was being pulled out, and pointed to the railing of the watchtower with a welcoming expression.

“Roxy, you’re here! Did you find them?”

“Well, that’s…”

The silver wolf slipped with her stomach against the watchtower. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the shiny silver fur gradually decreased.

The wolf quickly became a silver-haired woman.

Another wolf, who was closely attached behind her, turned into a black-haired man, and he wrapped a long cape around her naked body. Even though he pretended to be calm, his hands moved in a hurry.

Covered in the cape, Roxy turned her body around and laughed.

“I guess Roxy’s nose is not feeling well today.”