Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Wanting to Kill Carlos
***
What is this guy doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be at the parish today?
I frowned in confusion, putting my right index finger in my mouth, constantly biting my nail with a “click click” sound.
It was completely dark now, and I thought he had already returned to the castle, probably eating dinner made by Madam Catherine, but unexpectedly saw him here.
What’s going on, why is this guy with those people, who are they?
I couldn’t figure it out.
But since he’s here, this matter should be a misunderstanding, right?
After all, Carlos couldn’t possibly be involved with people who traffic children.
“Hunter uncle, that person wearing the hat is our director,” said Elia, pointing towards the crowd in the dark alley, where there was a middle-aged man with a portly build, wearing a black round hat and surrounded by several people dressed as caregivers. Three children in clean clothes stood beside him.
Their friend must be among them.
“Look, that person with strange clothes is talking to the director, he’s the one who took our friends away!”
Lucas, no longer concerned about the pain in his bottom, immediately came over to identify them for the hunters.
The man talking to the director, his clothes weren’t exactly strange, but they clearly weren’t in the Gothic style commonly seen in Winter City. The colors were relatively bright, more like vintage court fashion, obviously marking him as a foreigner.
Carlos seemed to have arrived with him in the horned carriage parked behind them.
“…Strange, why did his guards change to swordsmen this time? And they don’t look very capable.”
Don’t look very capable?
Well, alright.
I looked at the swordsman Elia was referring to as not very capable. Despite the severe cold, he still wore plain clothes with a sword at his waist and a black cloak fastened at his left shoulder. His white hair was tied back, blending with the snow. He was leaning lazily against the wall, seemingly uninterested in the conversation, absentmindedly looking around while constantly playing with a gleaming object in his hand, appearing quite bored.
Hmm, I could understand Elia’s perspective. Just judging by appearance, I also thought he didn’t seem very reliable.
“Should we go over?”
“Don’t rush, wait a bit longer. Let’s see what they’re going to do.”
The hunters unloaded their weapons from their backs for inspection, then continued observing the situation over there.
After a while, the foreign man turned and walked to the horned carriage behind him, calling the driver to help unload several boxes of cargo.
Something stirred in my heart, vaguely feeling that those cargo boxes looked familiar… but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen them before, even after thinking for a while.
The foreign man moved the cargo outside the carriage, and the director immediately called several caregivers to open the boxes one by one, seemingly checking the items. Afterward, the foreign man went over and said something to him, I couldn’t hear clearly from this distance. I only saw him fumbling at his waist, taking out a palm-sized pouch, weighing it in his hand before handing it to the director.
“What’s that, gold coins?”
“The director is going to sell David!”
The director very promptly accepted the pouch, then bent down to pat the children’s heads, gently pushing them toward the foreign man. The children looked very unwilling, desperately clutching the director’s clothes and refusing to let go.
“Uncle, they’re about to be taken away, please go save them quickly!”
Elia immediately became anxious, tears welling up in her eyes, clearly about to cry.
The two hunters exchanged glances.
“Do you think we still need to negotiate?”
“Let’s just take action directly, the situation is very clear.”
“Mm, the Holy Church has never allowed these people to privately accept money, this charge alone is enough for him to suffer, there’s nothing to consider, it will be easy to explain to the Duke, let’s capture them first.”
“Oh oh! It’s been so long since I’ve been active, my little heart has been thirsting for action!”
The hunter gently stroked the serrated, oddly-shaped great sword in his hand, his eyes looking at it like his beloved.
“Haha, children! Stay here and don’t move, watch uncle help you rescue them back!”
After saying this, he was about to jump down the steps, but I quickly stopped them.
“Wait. I know that swordsman. He’s not what you—”
“Miss Peylo, you be good and wait here for us too, don’t run around.”
That hunter clearly didn’t take me seriously, just smiled at me, then gripped his weapon tightly.
“Hey——”
I tried to stop them again, wanting them to calm down a bit, fighting with that swordsman was no joke. However, they weren’t planning to listen to me, jumping down to the ground in two or three moves along the buildings below, exchanging several hand signals after landing, then quickly charging towards Carlos and the others while keeping low.
“……”
“Big sister, shall we just wait here?”
“Um, you’re called Peylo, right? I’m Lucas. Earlier when I called you… called you that, I was wrong, I apologize to you,”
The boy’s somewhat awkward words came from beside me, but I couldn’t pay attention to him at this moment. Seeing the two hunters getting closer and closer to the crowd, I immediately shouted towards them.
“Carlos——”
Not caring whether he could hear me or not, ice pillars suddenly erupted from under my feet. In Elle and Lucas’s astonished gaze, I leaped up about 15 meters high, then turned in mid-air, creating a suspended ice platform above my head.
Body inverted, feet pushing hard.
Bang——
The ice platform shattered into fragments with the explosion, my small body diving straight down towards the crowd.
“Ha!”
The two hunters brandished their weapons, launching an ambush against Carlos in a pincer attack.
Bzzt——
Several weak electric sparks flashed across Carlos’s body, his eyes still lazy, but his hand was already on the sword hilt at his waist.
“Wait!”
The next moment, a cold light flashed.
At this critical moment, I had already rushed above the hunter’s head, flipping in mid-air to kick at the long sword in his hand.
The hunter couldn’t withstand this force, stumbling, the long sword instantly flying from his hand, spinning several times in the air before landing in the snow nearby.
By this time my foot had barely touched the ground, and without waiting to steady myself, I struck again, raising a wall of ice as tall as a person amidst the rumbling sound, blocking the other hunter’s attack.
At the same time—
Swoosh!
A sword light swept past my ear, cutting off a few strands of my hair, slashing towards the ground in front.
Bang——
Leaving a deep sword mark in the snow.
“Mi-Miss Peylo……” The hunter stared at me dumbfounded, then looked at the scorched sword mark near his foot, face pale and somewhat speechless.
If the girl before him hadn’t kicked him into a stumble, he probably would have been split in half by that sword.
This swordsman who looked like he hadn’t woken up yet, his sword speed was terrifyingly fast, completely beyond what a human should be capable of, who exactly was he!
I was also scared into a cold sweat, somewhat grateful for my keen intuition that sensed that chilling presence behind me in an instant, quickly tilting my head, otherwise that sword would have cut off more than just hair.
“Sylvia, what are you doing!”
Carlos’s tone from behind was unusually stern, startling me.
“Sylvia?! You are……”
The hunter before me seemed to suddenly realize something, his face filled with shock.
At this moment I couldn’t care about responding to him, somewhat timidly turning around to look at the angry-faced Carlos, actually feeling a bit scared in my heart.
I had never seen him so angry before.
“So-sorry. It was an accident……”
“What accident, do you not want your life? Come here!”
I lowered my head, shuffling my steps slowly, obediently walking in front of him.
“Do you know how dangerous that was just now!”
“I was wrong……”
Forcefully wringing my fingers.
Carlos pointed at my head, jabbing several times forcefully.
“What were you thinking in here? Want to compete with my sword to see which is harder?”
“Ah, it hurts……”
“You still know it hurts? I almost cut your head off just now!”
“Stupid woman, is this how you block someone’s sword!”
“What were you thinking, did your brain short circuit?!”
Carlos got more and more agitated as he spoke, spittle almost spraying onto my face.
Feeling especially wronged in my heart.
I certainly knew how fast his sword was, but these two hunters just rushed up so foolishly, if I hadn’t stopped them, probably the moment Carlos drew his sword, their heads would have gone flying.
Of course I didn’t want to see that happen, my body moved naturally, where was there time to consider so much?
Saving people but getting scolded by him like this, feeling both angry and wronged, once emotions started overflowing they became unstoppable.
“Don’t yell at me!”
I glared at him and shouted.
“Now you’re trying to reason with me!”
“I already apologized, why are you yelling at me!!”
“Apologize? If I hadn’t reacted quickly just now, you think you’d still be able to apologize to me?!”
“You just, can’t yell at me!”
I gritted my teeth in anger, my chest heaving violently, unable to hold back tears again.
Probably seeing my wronged expression, Carlos’s face softened. He stepped forward, raising his hand toward my neck.
“Don’t touch me!” I forcefully swatted his hand away, stepping back while staring at him.
“Don’t move, let me see if you’re hurt anywhere.” Carlos persisted in coming forward again, lifting my black hair under my angry glare, revealing a slight red swelling on the snow-white skin.
That was a mark left by the lightning wrapped around the sword blade.
“Does it hurt?”
“None of your business.”
“Next time you do this I’ll really cut off your head.”
“Go ahead and cut it off!”
Carlos stared at me for a while, suddenly a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, bringing his head close to my ear, whispering: “You’re wearing white lace trim today.”
“None of your… you!”
I immediately widened my eyes, looking at this shameless scoundrel of a swordsman with complete hatred.
“Bastard——!”
Head-butting his chest, instantly making him stumble back several steps.
At this moment, my desire to kill him was very strong.
If it weren’t for considering there were too many people present, I probably would have been unable to resist taking action immediately.
Ahh——
I’m so mad.
“Um, sorry to interrupt. Sir Carlos, may I ask what’s going on?” The foreign man came forward carefully with a smile at this time.
Carlos shrugged at his words, pointing at me.
“You’ll have to ask her about that.”
“Ahem, beautiful young lady, could you perhaps explain to me what exactly is going on?”