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Chapter 122: A battle of sincerity
Kwonter followed me. “You work hard.”
“I’m here to work.”
“I thought you were a tactless type, but I see that you’re not.”
Haha, sorry that I have no tact.
Whenever I was with Kwonter, I couldn’t help but feel that he has a strangely friendly attitude towards me. I didn’t think it was intimacy because he was a character, but why did I feel we were close?
“Kwonter, are you sure that we’ve never met at Heilon?”
“Right. I’ve never met you in person. Why?”
“Just.. I think I’m getting along with you better than I thought. How long did you stay there?”
“About half a year.”
It was longer than I thought, though it was still considered not that long.
“But you know Sigren?”
“I couldn’t help but run into him.”
“Are you two close?”
Somehow, I was a bit upset knowing Sigren had a friend I didn’t know.
“Not at all.”
“Don’t you think that flat-out dismissal is a bit too much?”
Our Sigren was actually a nice guy. Though he didn’t have many friends.
Ah, I was definitely getting a little snarky lately.
Kwonter looked at me. “Well, you are so famous in Heilon. I guess that is why I subconsciously felt close to you?”
“Oh, don’t tell me, is it the rumor that a cruel and ruthless mage is living in Heilon?”
“Why are you so negative?” Kwonter continued to speak gently. “What I heard was completely different. It’s said that there lives a guardian of winter, who protects Heilon which is covered with snow all year round.”
Ah! Really? I was glad it was a better rumor than I thought. I smirked. “You must be disappointed that the girl is more ordinary than the rumor.”
“Yeah, I even thought Duke Heilon’s sight is worse than I thought.”
“WHAT?!”
Kwonter avoided my gaze. “I’m not criticizing you. I just assumed that you would be more of a fortress-like woman.’
Was he saying that I didn’t look very strong?
Was that an insult or a compliment?
Anyway, even if Kwonter denied that he was close to Abel and Sigren, the fact that he could call them whatever he wanted meant that he was close to them. And this somehow made me feel sad for no reason.
“Forget it….”
Then, Kwonter narrowed his eyes. “Miss, do you see that?”
“What?”
I looked in the direction Kwonter was pointing.
On the opposite side of the forest, something dim approached over the horizon. Yet the sun wasn’t setting. It was more ominous and creepy than that—
“Miss.”
“Yes?”
“Can the Darkness come back to the place where it came once?”
“Nothing impossible. But on this vast continent, I think that possibility is extremely slim—”
Fuck.
I immediately realized what Kwonter wanted to say.
I quickly moved and commanded the soldier.
“BLOW THE TRUMPET! AS AN EMERGENCY!”
There was a pre-arranged signal.
The soldier blew a huge trumpet at my command.
BUUUPPP— BUUUPPP—
The people inside the barracks came out wondering what was going on.
“DARKNESS IS COMING THIS WAY! RUN AWAY INTO THE FOREST RIGHT NOW!”
The researchers turned their gazes away and were stunned by the dim creepy energy from afar.
“NO NEED TO PACK UP! RIDE YOUR HORSE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”
I shouted loudly.
“SOLDIERS AND KNIGHTS SHOULD STAY AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO NON-COMBAT PERSONNEL!”
Isaac came running with my share of the horse. Soon, Kwonter also rode on a horse.
“YOU MUST ALSO GET AWAY QUICKLY!”
“I AM IN CHARGE OF THIS PLACE! GO FIRST!”
In a dangerous situation, if the head runs away first, confusion would be greater.
I hurried the people around the headquarters who had not yet run away.
Eunice, one of the main characters, was also put on horseback and I entrusted her to another knight.
“MAKE SURE TO ESCORT THE SAINTESS!”
“I UNDERSTAND!”
Meanwhile, the Darkness was approaching. The hair all over my body stood up. I felt like there was a ghost whispering from behind.
So that was how it felt.
I looked around the headquarters. There was no one left.
“You must go now!”
Isaac and Kwonter still remained even though I told them to go first.
Fuckin stupid men!
“RUN!”
I waved the reins and urged the horse. Isaac and Kwonter were next to me. At that speed, we entered the forest in an instant.
It was still cold behind me. As soon as I looked back, I freaked out. Not far behind me, a pitch-black shadow was rolling in. The dead tree, which barely had a shape, turned to ashes in an instant. I felt like I was the main character who was running away from the tsunami in a disaster movie.
The Darkness has no form. It was like poison gas or an attack from biochemical weapons. The difference was that this gave people a clear look at the shadow of death.
The human instinct for survival was sounding like an alarm with all its might. My hands holding the reins were wet with sweat.
“FASTER!”
In front of me was the group that ran away first. Eunice and Academy researchers. It seemed that they couldn’t go very fast because they were not used to riding a horse.
We couldn’t go any faster. But the Darkness was following closely behind me. It could devour not only me, Isaac, and Kwonter who were in the rear row but also the rest of the party at any moment.
A feeling of helplessness appeared. A feeling that I’ve never felt even in Heilon.
Annihilation.
My brain kept thinking about what I should do. What kind of effective judgment should I make as a responsible person in this situation?
“ISAAC! KWONTER! RUN AWAY AS FAR AS YOU CAN!”
I shouted harshly and pulled the reins roughly.
“IT’S AN ORDER!”
“MISS!”
“THAT FUCKIN IDIOT—”
Kwonter you punk. I heard you cursing!
I swallowed my saliva as I saw the Darkness coming like a tsunami not far from me.
All or nothing.
Magic and Darkness are fundamentally the same. Fiona is a human being with magic as her talent. She was the greatest mage in this world.
So, let’s control the Darkness, just like controlling magic.
Theoretically, it’s possible.
Of course, practice was needed, but alas practice was not sustainable.
The controlling didn’t have to be long. At least everyone would have more time to run away. If I couldn’t…
I was not even the type of person who had such a sacrificial spirit. It was just that if I didn’t even try, we’d be annihilated without doing something.
So, I have to do it.
I tried to focus as much as possible.
Contrary to my cold head, the survival instinct in my body was giving terrible warnings. My heart was beating hard.
I felt a black, heavy, swampy presence approaching me quickly. It was different from ordinary air-light magic.
It felt like a futile attempt to move a huge rock.
“Ughh….”
Approaching, lingering, coming, faltering again.
Giiikk—
It was like the gears of an object trying to rotate but couldn’t.
The Darkness didn’t stop at all, but it definitely slowed down—
After a while, it stopped.
But I was quickly reaching my limit.
How long could I endure this?
My muscles were numb and my head hurt.
Biiiiiiippppp—
There was a loud ring in my ears that rang out of nowhere.
My concentration was scattered, and my eyes were blurred.
‘Ah, Sigren, I’m sorry.’
Finally, the dithering Darkness struck me like a flame.
In my last consciousness in the Darkness, I could hear a squashing noise and sobbing.
[you… are… here?]
Then Darkness.