MCEW 10

Chapter 10

“Even in this condition, you won’t be able to run very far. And there isn’t anywhere for my sister and me to hide together.”

“W-what? So what the hell do you want me to do?”

“I found this place first. That means I have a right to it too. But if you keep trying to drive me away, I’d rather scream and call those people over here right now.”

“You…! Are you crazy?”

“So either we all die here together, or, if you don’t want that, we each give a little. Half and half.”

Perhaps Liriope’s words had been unexpected, because the boy, who had been about to angrily snap at her, stopped short.

“We’ll hide my sister and your subordinate in here. Then you and I can watch what’s happening from nearby and lure those people somewhere else. How about it?”

“……”

“I have to keep my sister safe somehow, and you can’t just abandon that kid either, can you?”

The boy’s lips twitched as though he instinctively wanted to object.

But in the end, he merely glared sharply at Liriope without denying what she had said.

“So let’s help each other. That way, we can protect the people we’re each responsible for more effectively. Isn’t that better than having all of us go down together?”

The boy’s blue eyes stared at Liriope as though they could pierce straight through her.

Liriope didn’t back down either and met his gaze directly.

Only a few seconds passed, yet the silence felt several times longer.

Finally, the red-haired boy moved, swearing just as he had before.

“Damn it, you…! Don’t think I’m letting you off this easily!”

He picked up Calliona from Liriope’s back and quickly pushed her into the gap between the rocks.

“You and your sister—did someone grease your tongues or something? Now that I think about it, you two even talk alike, acting all annoyingly smart!”

A temporary alliance had been formed.

While the boy continued grumbling unnecessarily, Liriope carefully erased as much as possible of the footprints and bloodstains they had left around the area.

The boy also moved a stone about the size of a human head nearby and used it to block the entrance.

It would have been better to find additional cover and conceal the opening more thoroughly, but there wasn’t enough time.

For now, they had no choice but to leave the area as quickly as possible.

From a point some distance away from the rocks, Liriope wrung out her damp clothes with her hands, deliberately creating conspicuous bloodstains.

The boy tore the hem of his ragged shirt and wedged the piece onto a dry branch, making it look as though it had accidentally caught there.

[You two work together strangely well… Are you sure you didn’t know each other before this?]

It’s basic survival knowledge. Any child who’s lived outside for more than a year without a guardian—even a five-year-old—would know how to do this much.

[…]

As the two of them moved while creating false tracks, a small groan suddenly came from beside her.

Looking closely, Liriope saw that the red-haired boy was running while clutching his abdomen with his left hand, cold sweat dripping down his face.

“Does your stomach hurt?”

At Liriope’s question, the boy’s face immediately flushed bright red.

“This is because of what that damn mage did, okay?! It’s absolutely not because I need to take a shit!”

Liriope had naturally assumed that he had suffered internal injuries from the transfer of magical power, but the boy hurriedly made excuses as though he had been accused of something horribly embarrassing.

If the trackers’ shouts hadn’t suddenly sounded nearby, he probably would have continued with his ridiculous explanation.

“Huh? Hey, you! Someone, get over here! There’s blood!”

“Where? Ah! You’re right! Looks like someone escaped!”

“But they seem to be injured. Well, of course they would be. There’s no way someone who just underwent the sacrament could be perfectly fine.”

“Let’s find the bastard and loot him too!”

Liriope and the red-haired boy also felt that they had reached the limits of their stamina, so they decided to hide separately for the time being.

But just before they split up, the boy, whose complexion had grown even worse, called out to Liriope in a lowered voice.

“Hey. I don’t know where the hell we are, what those bastards want, or what might happen to either you or me from here on out. I can’t figure out a damn thing. But since things have turned out this way, let’s make one agreement.”

His words came rapidly, almost solemnly.

“If something happens to either you or me, the one who’s left alive goes back to those rocks and helps both of the people hiding there. Fairly. Don’t just save the one you care about and leave the other behind because they’re not your problem. Got it?”

Perhaps it was a habit developed from surviving in the back alleys, but even until the very end, the boy glared at Liriope and forced the promise out of her in a threatening tone.

Liriope didn’t answer.

Instead, she turned left and crouched down between a cluster of nameless weeds and various-sized rocks.

The red-haired boy pressed himself as close as possible behind a rotten tree stump on the right.

Neither hiding place was sufficient to conceal them completely, but under the circumstances, it was the best choice they had.

“How’s it going? Did you find them?”

“Not yet! I think they went this way, though…”

“Don’t lose them! Damn it, if we miss them and this causes trouble later, Zed will beat us half to death.”

From some distance away, Liriope’s eyes met the red-haired boy’s.

Listening carefully to the trackers whispering nearby, Liriope quietly nodded.

Only then did the boy’s expression relax slightly.

They silently held their breaths and focused all five senses on the approaching presence.

Soon, silence descended upon the surroundings.

The faint scent of dry grass and earth reached the tip of Liriope’s nose, somehow both familiar and unfamiliar.

In the still scenery, where it seemed as though time itself had slowed, Liriope felt as if she had become a little mouse hiding from a cat.

Being placed in the position of prey like this was actually something she was accustomed to.

That was why, unlike the red-haired boy, whose tension was written all over his face, Liriope wasn’t particularly frightened by the situation.

Hiss… Hiss—.

But at precisely that moment, something roughly the length and thickness of Liriope’s forearm came slithering toward her from the side.

A blue snake with white stripes.

Its red, forked tongue flicked threateningly toward Liriope.

An ordinary thirteen-year-old child would have screamed in terror at the sight.

But Liriope merely flinched once and showed no obvious reaction.

A bead of sweat rolled down her pale chin and fell onto the grayish-white blade of grass, where it was quickly absorbed without leaving a trace.

Wait. Grayish-white?

At the sudden realization, Liriope sharply raised her head.

Since when has it been like this?

The tall grass growing all around them and the dry, brittle earth beneath their feet had become abnormally parched, as though every drop of moisture had been sucked away.

Even the soil, which had clearly been a pale brown only moments ago, and the grass that had carried deep green hues had all turned a faded gray-white within the span of only a few minutes.

A distinct sign that something was terribly wrong sent a sudden chill down her spine.

The voice in her head seemed to have realized what was happening as well and quietly warned Liriope.

[Hey… It seems we’ve stepped into a dangerous area.]