Chapter 22

Rupert replied bluntly, “Not right now. Even if there was a way, we don’t have the time to wait until we find it.”

He said firmly.

“So do what you have to do, now.”

“……sorry.”

There was still hesitation in his subordinate’s voice. Rupert decided to change the strategy.

“All right, you play the role of the bait. I’ll break the nucleus.”

“……”

Laurent gripped the handle of his sword, thinking that he had left the most responsible task to Rupert in the end.

“When I send the signal, lure them in.”

Rupert, who gave a brief command, walked away.

After a while, the gargoyles set foot on the ground.

“Now!”

Laurent jumped head-on along with his other comrades as ordered.

Meanwhile, Rupert stood behind the monster. The nucleus was near the heart.

It was usually impossible to target the heart of a gargoyle since it had such a hard surface.

But Rupert could.

Croak! [sfx]

His sword shattered the gargoyle’s body in an instant. Inside, a faintly shiny nucleus was visible.

Immediately, the tip of the sword pierced the nucleus.

Stab! [sfx]

As if exhaling its last breath, its huge body shook at once.

Before long, it gradually turned into a powder and crumbled.

“Not even the original body remains……”

Someone muttered sadly.

Rupert boldly put the sword in. Such sympathy was useless. It was more important for him to get rid of the two remaining monsters as quickly as possible.

“I will divide the number of people.”

The work to be done was not yet finished.

“First of all, I and Aren will lead the soldiers to the downtown area in the west where the damage is quite large.”

“We will go there.”

Suddenly, Bert intervened.

“You must head to the south street, Master.”

The place Bert was talking about was near the signal spot where Noel had been found.

Rupert realized that his subordinates had been taking care of her. He internally denied that he was a little offended by those words, and answered bluntly.

“I’d rather take over the downtown area since I can handle gargoyles the fastest.”

“You can leave this to me, Master.”

The other person flashed him a nice smile.

“Trust us.”

Even Rupert had to struggle pondering for a moment with his firm but a gentle proposal. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t deny that he liked the idea.

He didn’t know why.

“……okay. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Immediately, Rupert took his men and left in the direction of the flare.

Aren looked around and said, “This place also took a lot more damage than I thought.”

Obviously, since it was a residential area, a lot of buildings have been destroyed.

Fortunately, there were a lot of people out attending the festival, so the casualties were not too many.

Pugh! bang! bang! [sfx]

At that time, a loud flare went off in the sky.

Aren looked up and muttered,

“What is that……?”

The green light that was supposed to pop when Noel was found continued to explode.

“What happened?”

If nothing had happened, there was no reason for it to explode like that. It must be a signal for something else.

Rupert’s group headed in the direction of the flare. Hillis was there, wounded.

“Sir Hillis!”

Aren found his comrade with a broken leg and hurriedly supported him.

“I’m fine, I have something to report to the Master, urgently.”

Rupert, who followed, asked quickly,

“What?”

Hillis responded hastily.

“I just caught this gargoyle, but the Madam said……”

He turned his head and saw a building. Although it did not completely collapse, it was a building that could barely maintain its balance.

“……so she entered that building.”

Rupert frowned. He knew Noel was crazy, but it turned out that she was worse than he had expected.

‘Damn it, is she really trying to commit suicide?’

You said you were looking for Leah, so why did you suddenly go over there?

The precariously wobbly old building seemed like it could collapse at any moment.

I have to bring her out as soon as possible, Rupert thought.

When he tried to go inside, his men discouraged him.

“No, Master. It will collapse soon.”

“The pillar cannot stand until she comes out!”

Rupert roughly shook them off.

In the confusion, only Aren hesitated.

He was worried. But he can’t stand the situation where his master might be in danger.

Would it be faster for his master to save his wife? Or is the building collapsing first?

“Sir Aren, come and stop Master too!”

His colleagues clamored.

After the conflict, he finally closed his eyes and spoke, “Sir, you have to be rational. We can’t let both of you die!”

Rupert paused for a moment at the word.

‘Be rational.’

Am I trying to save her now because I’m driven by my feelings, not my sense of duty?

“……”

Rupert couldn’t give an answer right now.

In the end, all he could say was this.

“Shut up all of you!”

***

Leah sniffled as she hugged the teddy bear.

‘Am I being punished for being a bad child?’

The beginning of the incident was very trivial.

For a moment when Noel let go of her hand, Leah saw a mysterious butterfly wrapped in white light. She followed the butterfly like she was possessed.

And after a while, she blended into the crowd and realized that her mother was out of sight.

She was terrified and tried to run back. At that moment, a roar rang out.

“Runaway!”

Suddenly a large group of adults screamed and ran away. Leah drifted along helplessly.

“Oh, Mom!”

Her surrounding landscape changed horribly, in an instant.

A huge monster flew in the sky and made a terrifying voice. The monster sometimes snatched those who were running away from it.

‘I’m scared!’

Leah, who was terrified of the landscape, ran frantically.

Adults were running around, monsters were flying, and those who lay on the street were like broken dolls who were bleeding bright red.

Kyaaah—!

Hurry up, faster, I must go somewhere where I can’t see a thing!

She didn’t know how far she ran, or from which direction she had come from. Leah entered an old, shabby building’s entrance.

There was no one inside.

It was an old building that was going to be demolished, so there was no one there, but the kid who didn’t know that was relieved.

‘I’ll be safe in here.’

There were still screams, weeping, and roaring sounds heard outside.

Leah made her way up the creaky stairs. She escaped to the topmost floor, and into the corner of the room that looked like an attic, and then finally, she took a breath.

As she hugged her teddy bear, she curled up.

‘I’m sure my mother will come to pick me up.’

Still, she felt a bit of anxiety.

What if her mother just leaves her because she’s a kid who doesn’t listen?

“Sob sob……”

As she thought about it, tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

‘I must not cry.’

Not now, but her old mother hated seeing a crying child.

Conversely, she didn’t see her father’s face enough to remember.

From the time Leah was born, she was not well-loved.

The servants who took care of Leah often said that she was annoying.

[Why does she keep crying? I’m going to die due to the noise!]

[Oh, why are you shouting at the young lady?]

[What does she know? What could this little child know?]

Leah was too young to understand, everyone spits on her.

[Neither the madam nor the master is interested in the young lady.]

[Because they did not specifically want a child. Well, thanks for annoying us for nothing.]

But Leah knew it all.

What her parents didn’t love, and what annoyed the maids.

In this big mansion, no one wanted her to exist.

In such a situation, the child’s survival method was only one.

‘If I cry, I’ll be thrown out.’

After that, Leah always smiled.

When she smiled, her mother didn’t get mad. She didn’t even bother the maids.

Be good. Be gentle.

That way, she could receive a compliment and just a little bit of attention.

“……when are you coming, Mom?”

Even now, I’m waiting nicely without crying, but why aren’t you coming, Mom?

Do you hate me again?

‘It’s all because I’m a bad kid.’

It was clear that you really didn’t need me anymore, because I insisted on going out to see the festival, Leah thought.

Boom! [sfx]

For some reason, this time the whole building shook violently. The wall Leah was leaning on also trembled.

The tears she had been holding back were dripping down.

“Mom ahhhh……where are you……?”

She curled her body even more.

She doesn’t know how much time has passed.

To the child, every minute and every second seemed like an eternity.

“Leah, where are you? Leah!”

At that moment, she heard a voice.

“Mom?”

Leah slowly raised her head.

***

“Leah!”

It was not difficult to find the presumed place where Leah was. Because every scene was just like the one in her dream.

I hurried up the old stairs. Although the building itself was not completely destroyed, it was heavily affected by the surrounding buildings that had collapsed. I had to take Leah with me as soon as possible and avoid the building’s collapse.

“Where are you? Leah!”

A thin voice was heard.

“Mom?”

I hurried to the place of the voice.

“Leah!”

Leah hugged the doll and looked up at me with tearful eyes.

“Is it you, Mom……?”

When I saw Leah who was safe, tears came to my eyes as well.

Oh my gosh, how scared she might have been. I was guilty of losing her.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart……you must be very scared.”

I wanted to hug and pat her right away, but I didn’t know when the building would collapse. Then, I lifted Leah.