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Chapter 8
The forest that had once been so vibrant and beautiful was now engulfed in flames from explosions erupting in every direction.
Even so, they managed to locate the shelter thanks to Helga remembering its exact location.
“Hurry inside!”
Kasen set down the two children he had been carrying.
The sedatives had worn off by now, and the children were crying their hearts out, but thankfully they had already reached the shelter.
Amanda had just lowered the child she was carrying when a gentle hand pushed her back.
“…Huh?”
Her body tilted, and she stumbled completely inside the shelter.
“You’ll be safe in there. Reinforcements will arrive soon. Stay here until then.”
As Helga spoke softly, Kasen hurriedly operated something outside.
Amid the deafening explosions echoing everywhere, the sound of heavy machinery followed.
The shelter door had begun to close.
“N-No! Ms. Helga! Mr. Kasen!”
“Someone still needs to look for people who haven’t escaped yet.”
“And we need to bring back Loti and Arsene.”
Amanda struggled desperately to get back out.
Behind her, the children wailed.
The massive steel door continued closing.
Watching the slow-moving door anxiously, Helga pushed Amanda back to keep her from escaping.
“Ms. Helga! No!”
“Let me fight too!”
Unable to overcome Helga’s strength, Amanda shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face.
“We’re not sacrificing ourselves.”
“This is a favor.”
“The children like you the most.”
“Please take care of them until reinforcements arrive.”
“No! Please! Please don’t!”
“Amanda, get inside already—ugh!”
Suddenly, Helga was sent flying backward into the shelter.
She tumbled to the floor together with Amanda before looking up blankly.
“…Kasen?”
“Injured people aren’t needed.”
“W-What are you… doing right now?!”
“You stay in there too.”
“I’ll protect the outside.”
Helga scrambled to her feet and rushed toward the entrance.
But it was already too late.
The door was nearly shut.
There was no longer any way out.
“Come to think of it, Arsene was right.”
“Even shelters aren’t absolutely safe.”
“If someone attacks from outside, they’ll eventually break through.”
“No! Kasen! Don’t!”
“Ms. Helga!”
As Helga desperately shoved her arm into the closing doorway, Amanda threw herself against her with all her strength.
No matter how strong Helga was, that massive steel door would crush her arm completely.
The brief interruption cost her the last remaining gap.
Ignoring her breaking fingernails, Helga clawed at the sealed door.
“Kasen…!”
“Sit back and watch your future husband show off.”
“You’ll be shocked when you see how much stronger I’ve gotten.”
“Oh, right…”
“Kasen!”
“I love you, Helga.”
And with those words, the shelter door shut completely.
***
Nothing.
Cove Alekman wasn’t at my secret napping spot.
The strength drained from my body.
Then reality set in.
Of course he wasn’t.
No matter how irresponsible he usually acted, there was no way he’d still be sleeping during a disaster like this.
“Uuu!”
“…Yeah, Loti.”
I gently wiped the tear stains from around her eyes.
As expected, my fingers only smeared more soot across her face.
My gaze drifted to the brown bear pajamas she was wearing.
The outfit was torn in several places and stained with dust and my blood.
I fought Kasen to the bitter end to get those.
Loti herself hadn’t cared much, but I had treasured that pajama set.
During the talent festival about a month after I joined the Center, I’d gone through a fierce staring contest with Kasen to win it.
The Center always had abundant supplies.
But clothing was different.
The children grew so quickly that sizes were plentiful while designs were limited.
As a result, a sitter’s assigned child usually ended up wearing whatever the sitter chose.
I normally didn’t care about clothes—mine or the children’s.
But for some reason, I had desperately wanted that bear outfit.
Everyone congratulated me for beating Kasen.
Unlike Kasen, the sturdy C-rank physical fighter, I almost went blind during that staring contest.
I’d even thought:
If it gets too bad, I can just die and recover.
That’s how dry my eyes had become.
It felt like only yesterday that I’d spent the entire night crying after our daytime staring battle.
Had all three of them made it safely into the shelter?
“Uh!”
“Yeah. They’ll be fine.”
“Let’s go meet them soon.”
Perhaps sensing my concern for the others, Loti nodded.
Absentmindedly, I reached into my pocket and found a single remaining earplug.
It was something I often used when the endlessly noisy Center gave me headaches.
Bit late for this, but…
I broke it in half and carefully fitted the pieces into Loti’s ears.
She fiddled with them uncomfortably, but when I shook my head and told her not to remove them, she obediently left them alone.
I really should’ve searched my pockets sooner.
“Shall we get moving again?”
I stood up.
Every limb felt as heavy as lead.
But giving up wasn’t an option.
I had to find Cove.
He wasn’t the type to die easily.
If he wasn’t here, then he had to be somewhere else.
If I can just stay near him, surviving until reinforcements arrive should be possible.
***
Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it!
The moment I came back down from the cliffs, everything went wrong.
A bomb dropped from the sky and exploded directly behind me.
Apparently the bastard ability user could manipulate bombs too.
Like a giant Claymore mine, it scattered deadly shrapnel in every direction.
Fragments struck the back of my head.
Others buried themselves in my body.
The ringing in my ears wouldn’t stop.
“It’s okay, Loti. Look at me.”
I gently stroked her small black head.
Thank goodness I’d put the earplugs in.
Her tearful face showed she couldn’t fully understand what was happening.
Partly because of the earplugs.
Partly because she was just a child.
All she understood was that we were both in danger.
“That’s it.”
I removed the earplugs from her ears.
Despite the thunderous explosions shaking the world around us, she didn’t cry.
She really was extraordinary.
Good girl.
Suppressing my pain, I forced myself to meet her eyes.
“This is just hide-and-seek.”
“You know the rules, right?”
Holding her small body tightly, I struggled to breathe.
I wanted to sound calm.
Kind.
Reassuring.
But I didn’t have much time.
Blood from the wound in the back of my head had long since soaked my neck.
The metal fragments embedded in my back and abdomen were steadily draining my life away.
I was going to die.
The words I could choose from grew fewer and fewer.
No.
My thoughts were becoming tangled.
My lungs weren’t getting enough oxygen.
My blood-starved brain couldn’t function properly.
The bomb hadn’t specifically targeted us.
But it meant the intruders were nearby.
No.
Not yet.
I shook my head to stay conscious.
Wiping a few drops of blood from Loti’s forehead, I forced a smile.
“Loti.”
“Sing a song.”
“Keep singing about the Tiger Prince inside your heart.”
“When I start singing along, that’s when you come out.”
“Before that, absolutely don’t come out.”
“Okay?”
“You understand, right, Loti?”
No matter how smart she was, I didn’t know how much she could understand.
Still, I forced the words out.
The blood I’d been desperately suppressing surged back up my throat.
I can’t let her see this.
I couldn’t let this tiny child watch me cough up blood.
She had already endured too much.
“Hide!”
I practically threw her down onto the ground and covered her with my apron.
“Cough! Ugh…!”
Blood burst from my mouth with a single cough.
I wiped it away roughly.
I needed a weapon.
Even a broken tree branch.
Something.
Anything.
Just enough to survive until someone arrived.
Frantically, I searched the ground with trembling hands.
I need something.
Anything.
Just as I turned around in the dust-choked darkness—
“Ghk—!”
In that instant, a blade falling from the sky pierced straight through my back without hesitation.
You bastards…!
The blood I’d barely managed to swallow sprayed everywhere.
Even then, I looked toward Loti.
Drops of blood were splattering across the apron covering her.
“Ggh…!”
Pure, unfiltered agony shot through my entire body.
It felt as though my insides had been butchered apart.
Blood poured from my mouth like water from a broken faucet.
The horrifying sensation of my body being split in two raced to the tips of my fingers.
Loti… don’t come out…
I reached toward the trembling apron.
That was all I could do.
With a hole blown straight through my chest, I staggered a few steps before finally collapsing.
Tears mixed with blood and rolled down my cheeks.
Whether they came from the pain or from worrying about the child I was leaving behind, I didn’t know.
Please revive quickly…
Praying desperately to a god I didn’t even believe in—
I finally closed my eyes.
***
I hadn’t lived very long in Astava.
But there was one thought I’d had countless times.
I wanted to become like the legends.
Like Romero Rodeo, the man whom no one in the world could physically defeat.
Or Magnusen Verf, the Rank #1 powerhouse who piloted giant machines and annihilated enemies.
Partly because of quests.
But mostly because being strong made life easier.
Wouldn’t I be happier that way?
No debt.
No suffering.
Just strength.
Wouldn’t that make life better?
Wouldn’t I be happier…?
“Hey! Wake up already!”
A furious shout exploded in my ears.
My eyes snapped open.
The familiar scenery returned.
The acrid smell of smoke.
The metallic scent of blood.
“Ghk!”
Agonizing pain surged through every inch of my body.
I instinctively writhed.
“Either run away with the kid or help me do something!”
“Rowina’s dead too!”
Suppressing the sensation that my brain was being shaken apart, I turned toward the voice.
“Cove?”
“You woke up?!”
Blue sparks crackled wildly everywhere.
Slapping my cheeks and forcing myself upright, my vision gradually cleared.
A short distance away, I spotted Loti beneath the apron.
My heart nearly stopped.
Her eyes were closed.
But after a moment I realized she was simply asleep, exhausted beyond her limits.
Focus.
Get it together.
After making sure she was safe, I turned toward Cove.
Beyond him lay Rowina’s corpse.
She had died horribly.
Her entire body was drenched in blood.
If not for her distinctive crimson hair, I might not have recognized her.
She had always preferred being alone.
I hadn’t interacted with her many times.
Yet seeing her body left a painful weight in my chest.
“Damn it!”
“Rowina tried to kill the guy throwing weapons from the sky!”
“She blew herself up along with him!”
Cove swung both arms wildly.
Every time he moved, enormous harpoon-shaped bolts of electricity shot forward.
Naturally, my gaze followed their path.
At the far end stood a familiar man.
He was smiling calmly from behind a translucent barrier.
To be continued…
