Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2. Under the Pale Moonlight (2)
There was no time to delay.
Fortunately, perhaps because they were moving in pairs, only two soldiers were visible nearby.
If it were his original body, he could have dealt with them in the blink of an eye, but his current self was just a boy with a thirteen-year-old body.
The soldiers were too close for him to quickly turn around and escape through the dog hole. He would likely be caught by them the moment he turned his body to enter the hole.
“Young Master!”
Emilia shouting as if wailing from beyond the wall.
And the two soldiers approaching while giggling to catch Blanc.
What was in front of them was a young boy. He was no different from prey easier to catch than a nimble rabbit.
“Hehehe. How much will we get if we take him?”
“Would we only get money? Promotion is practically guaranteed too.”
Since they were capturing the heir of the Cadmus family, the reward would surely be large. Therefore, the two soldiers approached Blanc with excited hearts, but.
“I didn't come back through all that suffering just to be caught by the likes of you.”
An aura too gloomy and ferocious flowed from the bloodshot eyes of the young boy who seemed easier to catch than a rabbit.
The soldiers momentarily flinched, overwhelmed by that gaze.
And at that moment.
There was a golden flash flying fiercely toward the halted soldiers.
It was a hairpin made of gold.
An accessory women use to fix their hair.
The hairpin, his mother’s ornament and keepsake, flew toward the soldiers trying to harm her son.
“Argh!”
It pierced the soldier’s left eye.
“Huh?”
Two soldiers unable to react to the event that happened in the blink of an eye.
One was wailing while clutching the hairpin that pierced his eye, and the other was in a state of shock, unable to grasp the current situation.
Not missing that gap, Blanc quickly rushed at the soldiers and swung his left hand toward the soldier who was still dazed among the two.
As Blanc swung his left hand and opened his clenched fist, a handful of dirt flew out.
“Uaaargh!”
Dirt shot accurately toward the soldier’s eyes. Due to this, the vision of the two soldiers was restricted in an instant.
Blanc went behind the soldiers with a movement as natural as flowing water and swept near their ankles.
‘Just as expected!’
It was characteristic of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Gartaria to wear a small dagger near their ankles.
And since Blanc already knew through the memories of his past life that the soldiers burning the Cadmus family right now belonged to Gartaria, he aimed for the dagger at the ankle without hesitation.
Blanc, having quickly pulled the dagger from the soldier’s ankle, climbed onto the soldier with movements like a squirrel and slit the soldier’s throat without a bit of hesitation.
“Guk, gurgle.”
It was a movement more like a well-trained assassin than the heir of a noble baron family raised preciously.
The soldier trying to close the gaping wound with his hand while vomiting blood bubbles as if he couldn't believe the current situation at all.
It is true that Blanc is a thirteen-year-old boy, but even such a child could kill a person as much as he wanted if he just held a sharp weapon in his hand.
“You crazy!”
The soldier whose eye was pierced by the hairpin tried to draw his sword quickly as if forgetting the pain upon seeing the sight of his comrade dying, but.
“That won’t do.”
Blanc quickly threw the dagger he was holding toward the opposing soldier.
It was a flying dagger technique he had polished for a whopping 20 years in his past life.
It was a blow lacking in everything because of the young body, but the sensation engraved in his soul was still alive.
The dagger, thrown weakly but sharply, flew accurately and stuck in the soldier’s nape.
“Kuagh!”
Letting out a death rattle, the soldier collapsed clutching the dagger stuck in his neck instead of the hairpin stuck in his eye this time.
In an instant, two sturdy soldiers were writhing while spewing blood.
Although both were fatal wounds, the soldiers were still breathing as Blanc hadn’t pierced their hearts or cut off their heads.
However, time was short to kill these two definitely.
Moreover, perhaps because they blew the whistle to send a signal, soldiers holding torches and coming this way from near the mansion could be seen even now.
“Give it here. My mother’s hairpin.”
“Gurg…… Guaaahk!”
Blanc roughly pulled the hairpin out from the soldier who couldn't even speak properly due to the dagger stuck in his neck.
The soldier’s eyeball was dangling from his mother’s hairpin he pulled out, but Blanc tore it off with his fingers as if it were nothing.
“Young Master! Young Maaaaster!”
Perhaps because she heard the soldiers’ screams, Emilia’s voice calling him while wailing even more desperately could be heard from the other side of the wall.
As if responding to that voice, Blanc quickly escaped through the dog hole.
That was the last scene the two soldiers saw while their breath was ceasing.
Having dealt with them, the young boy leisurely disappearing into the small and dark hole, the appearance of……
‘Demon…… A demon.’
That was the last scene the soldiers saw in their lives.
***
Emilia, seeing Blanc who escaped from the hole, felt her mind going faint for a moment.
Seeing her young master with disheveled hair and blood-soaked clothes tightly clutching a bloody golden hairpin, she couldn't keep her sanity.
However, Blanc snatched the staggering Emilia’s hand strongly and began to run headlong toward the dark forest path.
Although the staggering Emilia was pitiful, they didn't have the temporal leeway to faint comfortably.
Fortunately, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and it was the time when the full moon rose, which was a great help in passing through the dark forest.
This would act equally advantageously for the soldiers who would chase them, but it didn't matter. Because this hunting ground was no different from Blanc’s playground and home ground.
Going very deep into the forest would naturally be impossible, but at least the path to the gamekeeper Rakshar’s cabin was enough to find even with eyes closed if adding a little exaggeration.
“Emilia, endure just a little. It’s not far to Rakshar’s cabin.”
“Huff, huff…….”
Emilia just spat out rough breaths as if she had no energy to answer.
Behind Blanc and Emilia running through the forest, the white mansion was burning.
Just like the previous life.
However, if there is a difference from last time, it is that Emilia is by Blanc’s side now.
Blanc decided to focus on that.
If he thought about it, what help would saving Emilia alone be to Blanc’s future moves?
Emilia is not a wizard who wields magic, nor a knight with a strong body. She is just an ordinary maid.
However, to Blanc running while holding Emilia’s hand, she was no different from a very precious existence. This was a different matter from him cherishing her from the previous life.
She is the first singularity of this life.
Today the Cadmus family’s mansion burned again, his mother passed away a week ago, and his father will be executed around tomorrow.
Nothing has changed.
Through today’s tragedy, his self from the previous life was pushed into the cold world without any preparation.
If it goes like this, he will become a mercenary begging for food in the back alleys, and he will live rolling around like a dog for 30 years.
And in the end, he will see the end of the world.
The end of the world swallowed by a dark and huge tree, becoming empty.
However, unlike the previous life, Emilia next to him right now is alive. Unlike before.
Emilia’s heartbeat felt through his fingertips is conveyed intact.
Emilia is still alive.
‘I can change it.’
Unlike before, he can change it. Just like Emilia.
His life.
And the end of the world.
***
A faint light was seen in the distance.
It was the light coming from the cabin of Rakshar, the manager of this forest and gamekeeper.
“Heck, heeek…….”
Emilia, exhausted to the limit from running through the forest, was sticking her tongue out long like a dog and going ‘heck heck’, but Blanc was constantly checking the surroundings while straightening his back without signs of fatigue.
‘I’m going to die, seriously.’
Of course, Blanc wasn't in a perfectly fine state either. Rather, in terms of physical stamina, Emilia who had consistently moved her body while working as a maid in the mansion would have been better.
However, even if Blanc’s body was frail, the soul inside it was a warrior’s soul sharpened sharply by constant tempering for 30 years.
‘Still, there’s nothing I can do about being tired. The only way is to quickly settle down and learn the Aura cultivation method.’
Blanc hadn't returned to the past 30 years ago without any preparation.
Since he returned to the past along a passage through which only the soul could move, he couldn't bring outstanding weapons, artifacts, or a strong body, but rather because of such a situation, Blanc had memorized memories and knowledge into his soul almost to the point of cramming.
One of them was the Assinsao family’s Aura cultivation method, the White Thunderbolt.
Since it was a family’s cultivation method that had already been exterminated even in this timeline and remained only in records, it was a safe cultivation method in many ways with no trouble to follow.
In the past life, he started learning it at the age of mid-30s and eventually couldn't achieve greatness, but with the experience so far and the current young body, he would be able to fully digest everything of this cultivation method.
However, to execute all these plans, he had to escape from the crisis currently facing him, and to do so, he needed the help of Rakshar, the owner of the cabin over there.
“Rakshar! Rakshar! Open the door!”
Blanc calling out Rakshar while banging on the door roughly.
It was a shabby cabin that shook the whole house with a squeaking sound even at the young boy’s fist pounding.
“…….”
However, Rakshar showing no reaction despite Blanc’s shouting loud enough for the cabin to fly away.
Although Rakshar was a hunter with flawless abilities, he tended to avoid people exceptionally.
If there were people he could converse with, it was just about two people, the butler of the Cadmus family and Blanc, so it was a passage showing how closed a life he lived.
“Y-Young Master?”
“Yes, it’s me! Open the door!”
How many people would come to find his cabin in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night? Rakshar’s wary behavior right now was rather normal.
Moreover, Rakshar had already judged it as an emergency after confirming the burning of the Cadmus family’s mansion with his excellent vision.
So he had packed his few belongings and was preparing to move toward the mansion.
“How is the Young…… Master here?”
“No time to explain. We must escape from here immediately. Open the door first.”
Perhaps hearing Blanc’s urgent voice, the sound of sniffing smells was heard from inside the door.
“Young Master? It is Young Master Blanc.”
The wooden door that was barely attached and dangling opened with a squeak.
And a hunter of magnificent build walking out receiving the moonlight of the white full moon.
A height that looked to be 2m and broad shoulders befitting it.
Grey fur covering his entire body and sharply protruding fangs.
“Hiek.”
At that intimidating appearance, Emilia unconsciously let out a short scream.
Hearing the short scream Emilia let out, Rakshar also shrank his shoulders and tried to sneak into the cabin.
Baron family of the Kingdom of Felix.
Rakshar, the gamekeeper of the Cadmus family.
He was a Half-Werewolf.