CH 101

For a moment, my vision was greatly shaken. I closed my eyes belatedly, but the shaking was so great that I felt dizzy.

I felt the dull bump of Sislin’s body, who held me in his firm arm.

If he hadn’t hugged and protected me, I’d have broken a bone somewhere.

Then, a shout like the screams of men.

“……!!!”

As I raised my head with difficulty, I saw an arm holding a sword above the roof of the broken carriage.

The assailant who raided the carriage had a bizarre pattern adorning his face. Just like how a person living in the forest might paint a protective camouflage.

Damn, his smiling teeth were white. It was a terrible smile that a man from hell would make.

“…Ah.”

—Splak.

At that moment without hesitation, Sislin’s sword cut the man’s arm.

Blood was splattered unrealistically in the air, like petals falling in the spring breeze, or just like a dream.

—But, it was reality.

A cold and urgent reality.

“Stay here, Annette.”

At the same time as his words flowed out, Sislin jumped out of the running carriage.

When I put my head out and looked behind, dozens of pursuers were desperately chasing the carriage.

Like a flock of hungry wild dogs chasing after a chunk of delicious meat.

‘Crazy.’

Heuk, please help me.

Wouldn’t it be better to just run away, Sislin?

‘With what confidence are you doing that?’

―As I thought so, I saw Sislin slashing three people at the same time.

‘…You deserve to be confident.’

“Your Highness, be careful!”

The monsters were all decorated with the same pattern on their faces.

‘I know that pattern.’

―The Belkains!

They were literally tribesmen (relatively less civilized) living on the Belkain Peninsula, who were known to cannibalize.

They specialized in battles, so they were often hired by the nobles of the empire to fight dirty battles.

…Why would the average bakery owner know this?

Yes, this was something that any model student of the ‘Forest’ could understand. I remembered what I learned in class.

Sislin, you probably didn’t study hard in class.

“…Your Highness! They are the Belkains!”

There were two important points that were emphasized when I learned about the Belkains.

First, run away no matter what when you meet them.

Second, it has strong aggression, but its defense is weak from the back, so attack it from the back (I didn’t know why they taught this to a 12-year-old. It even came out in a test — written question number 3).

—Anyway, it’s helpful.

“Attack from behind!”

“……!”

As the words left my mouth, the new figure of Sislin jumped high backwards. Landing behind them, he crossed the pursuers and slashed them.

“Good job, Sisl!”

At that moment, his red eyes looked at me and smiled.

It felt like we had become partners (though I only played the role of a reminder).

‘That’s interesting.’

Normally, I would have been trembling with fear in a situation like this.

After realizing that I would die if I was caught, I became very calm even though a person was cut and killed in front of me.

―Or maybe, it’s because there was Sislin.

‘Did the Belkins come after Sislin?’

‘If you’re a prince, you’re bound to have many enemies in the empire.’

‘…No.’

I could tell by the scene of the fight.

They were trying to go beyond Sislin, trying to get to me.

Then…

‘The chasers sent by Gerard!’

All this while, I had been under the protection of Circe and Larva. It was the first time something like this had happened, so there was no sense of reality.

‘Can’t I help?’

I reached out and tried to use either fire or light, but it felt more difficult than usual because of the urgent situation.

—It was then.

“Keukek.”

“……!!!”

One of the Belkain tribesmen must have hidden in the forest road beforehand, or he had somehow climbed up on the carriage.

‘Die.’

—The very moment I thought so.

A bright light flashed in front of me.

Just like when I inherited the soul of ‘Exordium’.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

“I’m going out of my mind, where did all these wild dogs come from?”

#19 said while scratching his temple with a shotgun.

This was the outskirts of the Fris Empire, one of the spots where they prevented Gerard’s pursuits.

It was from this morning that the chasers suddenly poured out in crazy numbers.

Originally, the personnel on standby alone were sufficient to stop them, but calls for reinforcements were received from various bases in Larva.

It had been a long time since Kyle and the other members of Larva had come to the outskirts.

The chubby man showed his golden teeth and smiled. Tang! He blew off the head of the guy who was attacking from afar.

“Well, I think Prince Gerard paid a good price for the meat today.”

“I’m scared to death. They’re so eye-catching. We’re all going to die, you bastards.”

He grumbled while shooting nonstop at the mercenaries who were attacking #19.

The faces of the troops attacking from the outskirts were very diverse.

Since Gerard’s original army of personal troops from El Dorado had long since been exhausted in the long chase, he mainly sent paid mercenaries.

All of them were lethal and suitable weapons for slaughter.

Kyle was fighting expressionlessly in the middle of the battlefield.

Next to him were the corpses of the enemy, sloppily piled up like a mountain.

Bang!

“…You fight as if today is your last.”

This was seen as a waste of troops.

‘Why?’

Kyle pondered as he looked at the blood-stained battlefield.

Why did he send wild dogs to the various strongholds he was defending?

What was the reason for such a meaningless consumption battle?

At first, he focused on defense, but after a long battle, he changed his mind.

Was he suddenly competing with quantity?

This was literally just a war of attrition, and this method was not like Gerard, who usually acted meticulously.

“……!”

That was then. A thought flashed through Kyle’s mind like a lightning bolt.

―As if today is the last.

If that was the answer.

If this useless attrition was not the purpose itself, but if there was another purpose.

If the purpose was to split the core troops on Bayonaire Island that protected Annette by making various bases request troops…

“…Shit.”

His eyes, dark and green, sunk coldly.

“The core troops, follow me back!”

“Yes? Master, where are you going?”

In response to Chubby’s question, Kyle shouted as he ran as hard as he could.

“To Miss Annette’s side!”

The core members that were gathered on the outskirts of the city moved as if they were one body at their master’s command.

—They turned like the wind. To the side of those who really need protecting.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

When I came to my senses, something amazing had happened.

The flames gathered in my hands were consuming the terrible face.

“Ugh.”

It was the first time I used the power of Um, an aggressively offensive ability.

‘I’m doing this?’

It was tremendous.

‘This is kinda cool.’

“……!!!”

Would there finally be a new title besides the ‘pot wielding master’?

Sordi and Um had not returned yet, but it seemed that the voice of the ‘gay couple who gave birth to a late child’ could be heard.

“My baby, I knew you could do it! You’re the best~”

“Glutinous rice, I can’t believe you’re using my power properly. Hahahahaha! That’s great, that’s great! You can finally get out from <Little Bakery> and conquer the world!”

―I apologize about world conquest, Um.

‘I’m sorry.’

I couldn’t believe what I had just done, so I looked at my hands.

That was then.

Another Belkain clung to the carriage.

‘Let’s try again.’

I stretched my hand forward.

“…….”

“…….”

And nothing happened. ‘…What is this guy doing?’ The Belkain looked at me with eyes that, and I was quite embarrassed by his reaction.

—I’m sorry, I guess I lasted up to here.

“Annette!”

At that moment, Sislin’s black powers surged and flew in and threw the Belkain outside.

“……!”

Hiiiigh!

Then, with the sound of a horse’s cry, the carriage, which had been running without a coachman, suddenly began to lean sideways.

“…Uh?”

This was an ominous foreboding.

Just as expected.

The horse, whose leather cord was cut off, was running by itself, and the carriage with the roof blown out was ferociously rolling its wheels by itself.

―In a very strange and scary way, too.

‘…It’s a cliff ahead!’

My heart dropped to the floor.

While my hair was flying like crazy, I got up from the carriage.

“—Sislin!”

“Annette!”

Red eyes met green ones head-on.

As if noticing the running carriage and the cliff, Sislin frantically slashed the few remaining Belkain tribesmen and dashed to the carriage with all his might.

“…Ah.”

And that moment.

The carriage, which had reached the cliff, staggered, tilted, and fell down.

My vision flipped once, and my body flew into the air; everything felt like it was going in slow motion.

The sky was straight ahead.

The last thing I saw was a flying Sislin.