Book 13: Chapter 33
“Who exactly are you…?”
“It’s meaningless even if I told you, right? In short, you just need to remember that I’m here to protect you.”
Xia, lying in my arms, nodded feeling reassured: “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Xia spoke to me as if she was pleading me: “Are you willing to save me when you’re a stranger…? But… can you protect my sister…? You saved me… Hence, people will attack my sister… My sister won’t retaliate. They will treat her the same way… You need to save my sister, too, if you are to save me… My sister is surely struggling right now. I know my sister loves me… She must be suffering inside. Can you help her so that she doesn’t continue suffering in pain…”
I held Xia’s hand and responded in a serious tone: “I will.”
Xia slowly nodded, and then leaned onto my chest. Her breaths were weak. She was too weak, so weak that she couldn’t even continue speaking. Lucia stood behind us and watched the villagers in front of us with her dagger drawn. Alas, Lucia wasn’t as imposing as Nier due to her smaller stature and because she had a dagger. The villagers watched Ying fight Nier with satisfaction and demanded Ying kill Nier.
They were quite evenly matched. It was the first time I saw Nier expend so much effort in a fight. Ying’s sabre wasn’t a Japanese katana. I thought it was, but the blade was straight. It was more similar to the Chinese sabre in ancient times. Ying swung her sabre so fast it was virtually impossible to get a clear visual on it. Even Nier had to sometimes roll to evade her horizontal slashes.
The moving bright blades induced nauseous feelings. All you could see was flashing lights, and all you could hear was their blades clashing, leading to one gasping as they watched the combat. You could also hear the wind whistle as a result of their swift body movements.