Chapter 19
Ch.19 Will I be able to live through today?
-The projectile… I couldn’t even see it.
-Incredibly fast casting speed and an invisible projectile.
Ignoring the people who stood stunned, muttering to themselves upon seeing the pig collapse, I spoke to the referee.
“Can we take the slaves with us?”
At my words, the referee nodded his head.
Leah and I approached the slaves and held out our hands.
“Come on, we won’t hurt you. Will you follow us?”
When I spoke as gently as possible, the boy who appeared to be the older brother hid his younger sibling behind him and looked at me with wary eyes.
“Um… what’s going to happen to us?”
“Right? What should we do?”
Honestly, I stepped in because I thought Leah might do something reckless.
Leah and I must soon depart from here and cross the Red Desert, so taking these children along would be dangerous.
Yet, we can’t just leave them here either…
If these siblings remain here among the natives, they’ll surely encounter another slave trader.
“Master, are you planning to take them along on our journey?”
At those words, I forced a bitter smile.
“That would be difficult. Hey, kid, where is your hometown?”
I asked because I know most native villages; if I hear the name, I can roughly figure out the location.
But…
“Our hometown… is already in ruins.”
“Oh…”
At the children’s words, Leah let out a short gasp.
What should I do?
I recall there is a native city about ten days’ distance from here.
It’s located at a fairly high altitude and is one of the few cities that survive until the ending.
I think these children could stay there safely, but that’s not the real problem.
The main storyline of the DLC ‘Dragon War’ begins with a young hatchling escaping from its lair out of longing for the human world.
This young hatchling is discovered by humans, revealing the existence of the legendary dragon, and while humans attempt to hunt the mother dragon, an accident leads to the death of the young hatchling.
Enraged, the mother dragon borrows the power of her kin and launches a massive attack on humanity, initiating the great war—this is the prequel’s story.
Since the war with dragons is the main content, the time to save the hatchling is extremely tight.
My original plan was to intercept the hatchling before it is discovered by humans and deliver it to the mother dragon.
That way, no bounty would be placed, and I could receive appropriate rewards.
“Ugh…”
But if we delay by taking these children to a native village, and the hatchling gets captured by humans, the situation will become complicated.
Moreover, if additional delays occur during our journey and we arrive late, the war will have already begun.
First, I should take the children to an inn.
If nothing else works, I’ll at least give them some money.
Thinking this, I looked at the children and said,
“Let’s go to the inn first and think this through slowly.”
Thus, we headed toward the inn.
***
Scarlet arrived at the Imperial Capital.
The first thing she did upon arriving at the Imperial Capital was…
She headed straight to the address written on her Patron’s letter.
‘I hope nothing has happened to him?’
I recently sent a letter to my Patron but received no reply, which made me slightly worried.
After all, letters carried by people sometimes get lost.
Therefore, believing that either the letter she sent or the one from her patron might have been lost, Scarlet decided to surprise her Patron with an unexpected visit to his house.
“Wilshire Avenue… 786 Wilshire Avenue…”
A tall but narrow building visible before her eyes.
Seeing the number ‘786’ written at the entrance, Scarlet felt confident she had found the right place.
She passed through the building’s front door and climbed up to the second floor where her patron lived.
‘Ugh… what should I do? I’m trembling.’
An unexpected visit.
How would her patron react? Scarlet was deeply curious.
‘He’ll probably be very surprised, right?’
Thinking this, Scarlet stood before the door of her patron’s residence.
Remembering that she would see her patron again after several months, Scarlet felt her face grow hot.
She slightly raised her hand to knock but felt her heart might burst, filled with nervous apprehension.
‘Take a deep breath… take a deep breath.’
“Haa…”
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Then, with sharp, gleaming eyes, she knocked on the door.
-Tok tok.
As the short knocking sound echoed, Scarlet’s heart beat even more violently.
‘Ugh… I’m trembling so much.’
Could visiting a man’s house be too soon?
‘What if he thinks I’m a strange woman?’
Visiting without prior notice is extremely impolite behavior.
Moreover, in this world, a woman visiting a man’s house unannounced might easily be misunderstood, so her worry was natural.
‘But I’ve come this far already. I can’t turn back now—I’ve already knocked.’
Biting her lip slightly, she waited for her patron to open the door.
But after a long time with no response, Scarlet tilted her head in confusion.
‘Did he not hear me?’
-Tok tok.
She knocked again, but stared blankly at the still-unopened door.
After a moment, she heard movement from inside.
-Kiiik.
“Who is it…?”
A man in his early twenties with brown hair.
She was startled when someone other than her patron opened the door.
“Ah… hello. I’m Scarlet, and I came to see my Patron…”
“Ah! Hello. It’s my first time meeting the Hero. I am Giovanni, knight to Baron Hans… no, to my Patron.”
Seeing Giovanni’s face stiffen unnaturally, Scarlet politely bowed and greeted him courteously.
“Ah, I see. Is my Patron inside?”
At her question, Giovanni replied urgently.
“Ah! Well… I think this will take some time to explain. Could you please wait outside for a moment?”
At Giovanni’s words, Scarlet gave a small nod.
“Just a moment! Just a very brief moment, please.”
Watching Giovanni close the door with an awkward smile, Scarlet felt puzzled, but what could she do? Giovanni was the knight of her Patron, the master of this house.
-Kiiiik.
Meanwhile, leaning against the closed door, Giovanni was overwhelmed by despair.
‘What? Why did the Hero suddenly show up?’
Of course, he knew she would come soon, but having planned to send a letter once he heard she arrived at the Imperial palace, Giovanni felt as if struck by lightning since morning.
“First… I need to wash up and properly dress myself.”
Giovanni hurriedly washed and dressed himself.
‘I must pull myself together. I’ve prepared everything, haven’t I?’
He felt like abandoning his lord and fleeing, but a knight cannot abandon his lord.
Even though Hans had done something utterly absurd, wasn’t he the benefactor who appointed Giovanni as a knight and fulfilled his dream?
Moreover, having received a large sum of money, Giovanni had no choice but to uphold his loyalty.
‘Really, Brother Hans is so infuriating.’
When he opened the door and stepped out, a beautiful woman with grey hair and crimson eyes caught his eye.
As she looked at Giovanni, he felt an instinctive urge to flee for his life.
Though incredibly beautiful, she was the Hero who had slain the Demon King.
Giovanni considered himself a capable knight, but against the Hero, he was nothing more than a mouthful.
Seeing only Giovanni come out, Scarlet asked with a puzzled expression.
“Where is my Patron?”
‘He fled to the New Continent to escape the Hero party members.’
But he couldn’t say that.
If he blurted it out, he’d surely be killed.
Choked by tension, Giovanni hardened his face.
“You will meet him soon.”
At his words, Scarlet’s puzzlement deepened.
Giovanni’s face was visibly stiff as he spoke.
Scarlet sensed something was seriously wrong.
‘Could something have happened to my Patron?’
A small fear began to spread in the corner of her heart.
“I will guide you.”
Thus, Giovanni led Scarlet onto the main street, doing his best to hide his fear.
“Is… my Patron doing well?”
Scarlet, crushed by the awkward and heavy atmosphere, gently broached the subject, worried that something bad might have happened to her patron.
‘He is doing very well. Probably spending lavishly the money he’s earned so far on the New Continent, living comfortably.’
These words swirled in Giovanni’s mind.
Of course, if he said them outright, he might immediately be subjected to brutal torture to confess everything, so Giovanni chose his words carefully.
“You’ll… know once you get there.”
-Hmm.
At Giovanni’s stiff words, Scarlet’s unease grew.
Watching Giovanni lead her somewhere, Scarlet thought,
‘Could something have happened to my Patron?’
Under the heavy atmosphere, Scarlet vaguely suspected something bad had happened to her Patron.
The knight’s rigid expression and the fact that her Patron wasn’t at home.
Before she knew it, Giovanni had stopped in front of a cemetery.
Scarlet’s face turned pale.
“Wait… wait a minute?”
‘No way… that can’t be. You can’t mean my Patron is here?’
Scarlet, of course, understood what it meant for her Patron to be here.
Her crimson eyes trembled, and her body began to shake weakly.
“No, it can’t be. It can’t be! Tell me it’s not true! Tell me right now!”
Scarlet grabbed Giovanni’s collar with her slender hands.
“It’s a lie! It’s a lie! My Patron… he can’t be gone! Tell me! Explain what happened!”
“Ugh… khuh… I… can’t breathe!”
As Giovanni, turning blue from suffocation, pounded on Scarlet’s arms, she released her grip with a cold, gleaming gaze.
“Tell me! Explain what happened!”
Seeing her face transformed into that of a vengeful demon, as if she had gone mad, Giovanni thought,
‘No wonder Brother Hans tried to run away.’
Despite her beautiful and lovely face, seeing her temper flare, Giovanni could somewhat understand why Hans had chosen to flee.
“Cough… well… my Patron has had a chronic illness for a long time.”
At Giovanni’s words, her crimson eyes lost focus.
“He had been ill for quite a while but insisted on preparing artifacts to help you, the Hero, despite pushing himself too hard.”
In truth, Hans had personally traveled to acquire items suitable for the Hero party members.
From Hans’s perspective, he wanted to employ cheap mercenaries, but fearing they might steal the weapons and run away, he had formed a luxurious entourage and traveled under the guise of a journey.
‘Could… could he really have traveled around while ill to procure items for me?’
In reality, Scarlet’s attacks were so powerful that even the Demon King found them difficult to ignore.
However, separately from that, she had low stamina, defense, and magic resistance, so Hans had searched for items to compensate for her survivability.
Frankly, even the pendant and rings she currently wore, and the leather armor she had worn when defeating the Demon King, possessed tremendous performance.
“So… so what? Even if that’s true, how strong my Patron is! He couldn’t possibly have passed away so helplessly?”
At her words, Giovanni turned his head and said,
“One day, after returning from a journey, my Patron’s chronic illness worsened… and finally…”
Unable to finish his sentence, Giovanni watched as Scarlet did not hesitate.
“That can’t be, it just can’t be! It’s a lie.”
Then, Scarlet, with hollow eyes, grabbed her lush grey hair and pulled.
“It’s a LIE!”
At her wailing, Giovanni genuinely felt his life was in danger.
‘Will I survive today?’
Review at
NovelUpdate
One for All200[Get access to 20 premium chapters each for over 30 series.
Check out List at Membership page]Unlock next 20 premium chaptersValid for 30 daysPurchase