Chapter 52 : Chapter 52
Volume 2, Chapter 21: Escape
Pain!
Pain pain pain pain pain!
Her physical constitution was just far too poor. Not to mention, her current self was still carrying a debuff that prevented strenuous exercise. In Leticia's mind, the action she had envisioned was a combo where, after helping Ilo dodge, she would avoid that guy's fist herself, then retreat without looking back.
But reality was not imagination. Of that whole combo, she had only completed the first step before the fatty's fist, as large as a clay pot, came swinging over. In that urgent moment, this little thing whose body was only about ten years old, and whose mental age was only somewhat older but not much better, had her legs go weak and simply sat down.
By some twist of fate, she also sprained her ankle, hurting so badly that tears nearly sprang from her eyes.
However, that just happened to help her dodge the punch as well. It could be said that, although it was not the best beginning, it still had the most acceptable ending.
It was just that the fatty was clearly dissatisfied. He had obviously aimed at the two of their heads, yet in the end, he had not hit either of them?
"You actually still dare to dodge?!"
Furious beyond restraint, the drunken fatty was clearly displeased by Leticia's resistance.
Looking down at the shabby little brat sitting on the ground, he raised his hand once again.
This time, she would not be able to dodge.
"Haa!"
Just as Leticia was about to raise her arm to defend herself and minimize the damage she would take as much as possible, she saw, from the corner of her vision, a small figure dart out and ruthlessly kick the drunken fatty right between the legs.
At that moment, almost every man watching from the sidelines felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Their expressions were stiff and strange. Their breathing unconsciously grew heavier, and with dead-fish eyes, they looked toward the middle-aged fatty standing at the center of their gazes.
"Cough... ah... I...!"
His face turned green, then white. In the end, it gradually became a deathly grayish purple. His eyes, which had originally been only narrow slits, opened completely, stretching apart the fat around them and allowing others to see those bulging eyeballs.
Even his thick lips opened wide enough that one could see stringy saliva.
It was as if a little demon with a nasty sense of humor had appeared and cast magic here to stop time. The surroundings were clearly so noisy, yet this place was so quiet.
So quiet that Leticia was somewhat at a loss.
At this moment, she even began to doubt her own eyesight. She did not know whether she was hallucinating, but she seemed to see a damp, sticky trace slowly spreading from the fatty's crotch, soaking his trousers.
So... liquid really did come out?
Because this was undoubtedly the prelude to the explosion of an ultra-large powder keg...
"Run!"
The first to move was none other than the culprit who had caused this "time magic," Ilo from the small village.
She grabbed Leticia's hand in one go, too lazy to even glance at the result she had caused, and directly fled.
"Ah... hey!"
Belatedly shouting, Leticia endured the dizziness in her mind caused by the ankle sprain from before and tried to make Ilo slow down a little.
But Ilo paid no attention at all. She dragged her along, forced through the crowd, and ran.
Behind the two girls, the fatty's pig-slaughter-like scream practically tore through the clouds.
It was obvious that Ilo had completely failed to understand Leticia's intention of "slow down." Her whole person was like a wild horse that had thrown off its reins and was galloping for joy. Cough. All right, this description was clearly somewhat inappropriate for the current situation, but for the moment, Leticia truly could not think of a better adjective than wild horse.
This behavior of directly dragging her along on a jolting, reckless charge, smashing through the crowd toward a place with no people—what other animal besides a wild horse could do that?!
Wait... It seemed some large dogs with no intelligence could actually do that too...
But now was not the time to be thinking about this!
"I-Ilo!..."
Leticia really wanted to speak and make Ilo run slightly slower, but the tiny bit of rationality she had left was telling her that at this moment, not only could they not slow down, they should instead speed up even more.
But the dizziness brought by that swaying had already become like a storm-tossed sea. Great waves rolled, heavy as mountains, nearly drowning her completely.
If this went on, she really did not know whether she could hold on until they escaped, or whether she would simply tilt her neck and have her soul return west...
However...
Rather than being beaten to death by a fatty, it really would be better to be exhausted to death like this... Like hell it would!
She did not want to die just like that!
BANG!
She crashed into a passerby all at once, and Leticia only felt her vision go black, almost losing sight of everything.
But her feet still did not stop, because Ilo was like a gust of wind. Perhaps violent, but truly and firmly carrying her away from this troublesome place.
Even if the price was that Leticia quickly lost consciousness!
There was nothing to be done. She could not exercise in the first place, then was suddenly pulled up and forced to run. Being able to hold on for this long was already quite impressive.
...
"Uu..."
It was like crawling back out from a deep sea where she had drowned. Like brushing away the thick dust covering her body.
Her consciousness gradually returned to her body. The sensation of all her senses reviving throughout her body was like someone running a fine brush all over her at random, leaving tingling itches everywhere.
"Ah..."
Her current state was somewhat like waking up early in the morning and realizing she had caught a severe cold. It was extremely uncomfortable, but because her consciousness was still hazy, she had not fully woken up.
"Mm..."
A sudden gust of cool wind blew over, carrying threads of moisture that struck Leticia's face. It was very effective at clearing her head, but it also made the weariness of her body and the muddled feeling in her mind grow even more obvious.
At least she had woken up.
"Why does my body feel so heavy..."
The extremely hoarse voice made Leticia unable to believe it had come from her own throat. She knew that she was leaning against a wall, and beside her was a wooden crate large enough to block her body.
She was still in town... Then, where was Ilo?
Moving her fingers with some effort, Leticia removed the ragged cloth covering her body, only to discover that Ilo was curled up under that piece of cloth, pressed tightly against her.
She seemed to be asleep.
"No wonder it felt so heavy..."