Chapter 85: The Bait
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city...
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed on the empty road. A young girl in tattered clothes was running as fast as she could, even though her legs were already burning up from all the running.
Her hair was a mess across her face, and she couldn’t even stop to push it away. Every time she looked back, she wished she hadn’t.
Her bare soles were torn open, leaving bloody footsteps behind. The same footsteps were making sure she couldn’t get away from the group of goblins chasing her on all fours.
"Help!" she screamed. "Somebody help me!"
However, there wasn’t anyone to help her there. She even saw a couple of people peek out from their hiding places in the broken down buildings.
Yet, none of them stepped out to help her. Instead, they hid, hoping the goblins would be satisfied after killing just one person.
"Please! Anyone! Help—argh!"
Just as she said that, her feet got caught on something, and she tripped. Her knees and elbows hit the road hard. More blood gushed out of the wounds. The girl with white hair tried getting up, but the fall had drained her of all her strength.
"No... NO!"
The girl’s screams were drowned under the excited chittering of the goblins. She could only raise her arms to cover her face as the goblins lunged at her.
Just then, she felt a gust of wind rush past her. At the same time, the grating voices of the goblins ceased to exist. Something warm fell over her, and the scent of blood dominated everything else.
"..."
Still panting, the girl lowered her arms only to scream at the sight. All six goblins that had been chasing her like rabid dogs were on the ground, headless.
Massive puddles of blood had formed on the road, covering everything. The head of one goblin rolled to her side, staring at her in disbelief.
The threat was gone, yet the girl didn’t dare to move. She just lay there in the middle of the road, blankly looking at the corpses. Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands slip under her arms and pull her up.
"Are you alright?" Joan asked once the girl was on her feet.
"Y-Yeah... Th-Thanks for h-helping..."
The girl couldn’t say the words and broke down, burying her face in Joan’s chest. Joan didn’t push the stranger away, instead pulled her into a deep embrace.
From the girl’s ragtag clothes, Joan could guess what had happened. She must have been used as a slave, forced to do unspeakable things.
She must have run away, only to be found by the goblins.
A few seconds later, one of the other girls brought a sheet for the girl to cover herself. The questions could wait until the girl felt comfortable.
Joan didn’t ask whether the girl could walk or not, she just lifted her and walked back to the base. Several men stood guard at the door and immediately opened the gates for the girls.
"Heat some water and bring the doctor over," Joan instructed the girls.
Two of the women who had come in with her were already on their way toward the ’clinic’ before she’d finished the sentence.
Joan carried the girl to a cot near the far wall and set her down carefully, propping her against the wall so she was sitting up. Joan took the warm tin cup from one of the men and pressed it into the girl’s hand.
The girl looked at the cup, then back at Joan. She was suspicious, probably because it was brought by a man. Joan glared at the man who yelped as he ran out of sight.
"It’s water," Joan said, gently nudging the girl. "Drink up, you’ll feel better."
After some deliberation, the girl lifted it to her lips and drank. Her hands were shaking badly enough that some of it spilled down her chin, but she hungrily gulped it all down.
"Want some more?" Joan asked.
The girl shook her head, as if scared of asking anything more. The sight of a woman in such a state made Joan’s anger flare up. Just what kind of monsters lived in this world to torture a woman like that?
While Joan contemplated how to get men of Earth under her thumb, the doctor arrived, clutching his bag of emergency supplies. Most of it had expired, but since it hadn’t been too long, the things could still be used.
"Let’s see..." he mumbled, gently lifting the girl’s feet. "This is the worst of it?"
"Seems so," Joan replied.
The doctor nodded, and the two girls who went to fetch him returned with a steaming bowl of water and a bunch of clean cloth.
The doctor dipped one of the cloths into the water, wrung it out, and began cleaning the wounds on the girl’s legs. Joan also helped, cleaning the cuts on her elbows and palms.
The girl flinched whenever the cloth touched her, but otherwise didn’t make any sound.
After bandaging the wounds, the doctor nodded and left. Even he knew Joan was barely tolerating his presence and didn’t want to antagonize her.
Joan glanced at the girls, and they left as well.
"Feeling good now?"
The girl nodded, not looking Joan in the eyes.
"Hey, it’s alright. No one here will harm you," Joan said, holding the girl’s shoulder. "Now, can you tell me your name?"
"M-Mila..."
"Mila. Would you mind telling me why were you running on the streets like that?"
"Wanted to get away..."
"Away from who?"
"That crazy landlord."
[Did you really have to call me crazy?]
Aiden couldn’t help but send her a voice note.
My apologies, My Lord. Calling you names hurts me more than it hurts you, but to win her over, this is necessary.
Milarel used telepathy to reply to Aiden directly.
[Yeah, yeah. Call me whatever you like. Just get her to the apartment.]
I won’t disappoint you, My Lord.
[I know you won’t. Good luck.]