Chapter 178
Chapter 178: Azure Flames Consume the Moon, Blood Stains the Royal City (Part 12)
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Sarah felt she was incredibly unlucky.
Strictly speaking, the 3 days off had not been very enjoyable for her.
She had planned it all out so nicely. She'd wanted to take advantage of the free time to invite her dormmates over to her home for a good time, take them to see some of the beautiful spots around the royal city, and bring them to try the city's famous foods... especially Peylo and Daisy. Neither of them had ever been to the royal city before, and they didn't know anyone here... they were probably feeling lonely.
Daisy was already a bit shy and gentle by nature, and Peylo was so young, and so pretty on top of that... like a little doll. Sarah liked them both a lot and didn't want them to feel lonely. She felt that as a future knight-in-training who had grown up in the royal city, it was her duty to bring everyone together and keep spirits high. She wanted to do that well.
As for Sophia... well, she might as well invite her too.
Even though Sarah wasn't particularly fond of Sophia's textbook noble mannerisms... she was still someone Sarah would be living alongside for a long time, so it made sense to get to know each other better. Sarah genuinely wanted to understand everyone more and build good relationships with them. That was her own small, selfish little wish.
So Sarah had been looking forward to it, and when the first day off finally came, she enthusiastically extended the invitation to everyone, only to have Daisy be the only one who said yes.
Sophia said she had something going on at home, something about her father taking her to meet someone... it was probably just the usual rounds of noble socializing, incredibly dull. Fine, she couldn't make it... that was one thing. But even Peylo said she had something on and couldn't come... that made Sarah quite unhappy, because Peylo was the one she'd wanted to invite the most.
That little girl, so small in every way, she just looked so endearing... Sarah had been dreaming of the day when they'd be close enough that she could just hug her whenever she felt like it. When that day came, she'd definitely pick her up and squeeze her every chance she got... ah, no, she meant shower her with affection, of course.
That would be so warm and cozy... just thinking about it made her heart melt.
Peylo was supposedly an imperial princess, hehe...
But she'd said she had something on.
Sarah had eventually pulled out her trump card. She knew Peylo had a weakness for good food, so on a sudden impulse she blurted out: her mother made the most amazing venison pie.
In that instant, she could tell Peylo was tempted.
Sarah could still picture that adorably guileless look on her face even now. That little nose twitching, lips pursing as she swallowed her drool... like a greedy little kitten.
She had clearly wanted to come, but maybe... maybe she really did have something going on, because in the end she still said no and scurried off.
Though she had called back over her shoulder as she left, telling Sarah to save her some.
That put Sarah in a bit of a bind.
Because the truth was... her mother's venison pie wasn't actually that good. She had only said that on the spot, thinking she could lure Peylo over first and sort it out later...
But the words were already out there.
So over those 3 days, in between eating and wandering around with Daisy, Sarah had also been racking her brains over how to satisfy Peylo's little taste buds... Even though it was a bit of a shame she hadn't been able to come visit, Sarah still wanted to make her happy.
Sarah loved seeing her happy face, and loved watching her expression when she tasted something delicious. It was just too cute~
But if she were to make it herself... Sarah had some pocket money, going to the shop on the street corner to buy a few pounds of venison was no problem, the issue was the spices.
Good venison pie needed pepper above all else, but that stuff was expensive... incredibly expensive, and beyond Sarah's means.
That was also why her mother could never get the pies quite right. Even though her father was a knight-commander of the Holy Church and his monthly salary alone amounted to 20 Kanri gold coins... he was the only one in the family bringing in income.
Grandpa was old, grandma and mother didn't work, her 2 younger brothers were still little, and her own tuition at the Royal Academy was outrageous... pepper, a spice worth its weight in gold, was something the family hadn't tasted in a long time.
So what now...
After much deliberation, Sarah finally decided to just buy some ready-made ones.
She happened to know a shop that was absolutely delicious, the kind that even many nobles would queue up for. It was a bit pricey, yes, but for just a few pieces, Sarah could still manage. Even if it felt a little insincere... what could she do.
As long as Peylo found them tasty, and as long as Sarah didn't tell her they'd actually been bought... it wasn't that big a deal.
So on the last day of the break, Sarah set off in the afternoon with Daisy in tow to go queue up... dragging Daisy along as her accomplice, which perhaps eased her guilty conscience just a little.
Besides, Daisy was sweet and obedient, she definitely wouldn't rat her out.
Once they'd bought the pies and headed back to the academy, Sarah settled in to wait for Peylo... classes resumed tomorrow, so she should be back at the dormitory before dark.
Peylo never showed up.
The pies in her hands slowly went cold... once they went cold they wouldn't taste as good anymore.
She hadn't even eaten more than a few pieces herself... what was that girl Peylo doing, why wasn't she back yet, was she planning to skip class tomorrow...
It was already quite dark out, and Daisy was getting ready for bed.
Then, suddenly, a very frightening thought struck Sarah... Peylo wouldn't have been bullied by Alex and his group, would she!
The more Sarah thought about it, the more it seemed possible. She immediately couldn't sit still. She wanted to call on Daisy and Sophia to go look for Peylo together... but then she thought again, it might just be her overthinking things, and besides, if it really was true... it would be better not to drag others into it.
She'd handle it herself.
So she went out.
She tracked down one of Alex's friends and, steeling herself, asked him where Alex was... Sarah preferred not to relive the whole ordeal in her mind, they had been incredibly rude.
They told Sarah they didn't know where Alex was... Sarah didn't believe them for a second.
Her fear grew. With no clear direction, she rushed out of the academy and didn't know where to go, so she just wandered the streets, hoping she might run into that familiar figure with black hair and dark eyes.
She should have asked her where she lived...
She was still thinking that when, in the next moment, everything changed.
Sarah heard a low hum, coming from somewhere far up in the sky. At first she paid it no mind, but when the people around her began to panic, constantly looking up at the sky, she finally realized... the "Boswell" that had always existed over the royal city, for as long as anyone could remember, was gone.
Sarah was terrified... everyone was terrified.
Many people on the street dropped straight to their knees and began praying to the gods, so Sarah prayed too.
She prayed in her heart that everyone would be safe.
But things did not go as she'd hoped.
A street in the distance suddenly exploded.
It was like divine punishment raining down from the heavens, the entire ground shook so violently that people could barely stay on their feet. Black smoke billowed up, and the firelight dyed the whole royal city as though it had been soaked in blood.
Not long after, terrifying monsters appeared.
Sarah swore she had never seen anything like this in her entire life... in fact, it had never even crossed her mind that something like this could happen.
She didn't understand what was going on. She was terrified. Her heart had never beaten this fast. She didn't know what to do, and could only keep running with the crowd. Further away, and further still... that was the only thing that made her feel even the slightest bit safer.
Screaming and shouting rang out from every direction.
What on earth was happening...
Those monsters... were they from the Abyss...
Were they all... going to die...
Gradually, Sarah ran until she was utterly exhausted and couldn't run any further.
She spotted a few members of the Arbitration Office not far away. They all had swords in their hands... but they too were visibly bewildered and afraid.
Still, somehow being near them felt a little safer.
So Sarah, along with many others, followed the Arbitration Office members and took shelter in the corner of an alleyway... everyone was worn out and just wanted to rest for a moment.
After a while, Sarah saw the monster in the distance take to the sky... and there were people fighting it up in the air... 2 of them...
Sarah couldn't make out who they were.
But she could see that the direction the monster was flying from seemed to be heading straight toward them.
What should they do... keep running...
Or stay hidden here... and pray the monster wouldn't notice them...
The people huddled around her suddenly broke into a commotion, and then Sarah saw someone fall from the sky.
They looked injured... dropping straight down from midair and hitting the ground. There was a heavy thud, not far away, and just watching it made Sarah wince... she didn't even want to think about how many bones might have broken.
But the monster still seemed to have plenty of energy. Explosions kept going off in the sky, and the one who hadn't fallen was still fighting it, fiercely... Sarah understood that whoever was locked in combat with the monster right now had to be one of the royal city's heroes.
Sarah was terrified... she felt her legs going weak beneath her.
But she still wanted to know who that was.
So Sarah strained her eyes, pushed past the people blocking her view, and fixed her gaze on the figure that had just fallen.
She quietly prayed in her heart, hoping that hero would be alright.
Her hope was answered.
In the darkness, that figure painstakingly struggled to its feet.
Small, with a silhouette that looked almost fragile.
Sarah could see at a glance the white cloak draped across their back, scorched at the edges.
Sarah knew. That was the mark of a Pontifical Knight.
"That's... a Pontifical Knight..."
"And Her Majesty the Queen... they're fighting the monster..."
"Can we survive this..."
Right, Her Majesty the Queen's Wind Order was incredibly powerful, she could fly... the one up in the sky must be Her Majesty, then who was the one who had fallen?
The hushed, fearful murmurs of the people around her seemed to have been overheard by the figure. Sarah watched as they turned around... it was a girl.
A very young girl.
She wore a black dress, now shredded from the fighting, dirty and riddled with holes all over. Her legs, her arms, her face, all smeared with mud and blood. She looked utterly wretched... the battle must have been brutal for her.
How could it be... such a young girl...
The streetlamps had been blown out by the earlier explosions, and in the dim, hazy light, Sarah couldn't make out her face clearly.
But the girl had spotted the people on Sarah's side.
She seemed urgent, and called out at the top of her voice: "Get away! Now!"
Sarah thought only that her voice was beautiful, like a little bird singing.
Beyond that, Sarah had a faint feeling that she had heard this voice somewhere before... it was strangely familiar.
Where had she heard it...
Right, it had something of Peylo's soft, gentle cadence, and yet it wasn't quite the same... that shout just now had carried a trace of authority to it.
That was a quality Sarah could never have associated with Peylo, because it was something she had always looked up to, the presence of a hero.
"Run! Go this way—!"
The members of the Arbitration Office began directing everyone to flee, and Sarah followed close behind the crowd, pressing against the wall as she ran into the distance.
BOOM—!!
A tremendous crash came from behind her. Sarah couldn't help but turn to look one more time.
In her field of vision, that small, dirty figure, dragging her body through the pain of wound upon wound, rose upon a massive pillar of ice erupting from the ground beneath her feet, and like an eagle spreading its wings, she launched herself into the sky, straight toward that inferno blazing above, as though the moon itself had been set alight.