Chapter 34: An unexpected side

Laurel finally saw a crack on Imogen's indifferent expression, a deep frown that softened once both giant wolves went down by her hands. Imogen swings off the blood from her sword and puts it back in the sleeve.

Laurel looks at Imogen's shoulder, and she sees deep wounds that Imogen used her body to shield the attack from Laurel.

"It must have hurt a lot," thinks Laurel.

She felt Imogen's blood that splashed to her left cheek trickle down. The impact of the attack must have been so strong that Imogen's blood splattered everywhere. However, the odd thing is that Imogen would not even frown, tear up, or even whine about the pain.

"How much did this person went through to not even react to pain?" Laurel continues to wonder.

Imogen softens her hold at Laurel, bringing Laurel back from her thoughts. After staring at the corpses, Laurel slumps down from the fright, and Imogen kneels to see how she is faring.

"I really survived... I almost really died," thinks Laurel.

Laurel looks at the quiet Imogen searching throughout her body if she has suffered any wounds. The freight has not left Laurel's body, and she felt her muscles cramping from tension. Imogen finally looks at her eyes.

Laurel starts to talk randomly from the nerves, " Wow! You are so strong. Like seriously strong. How is it that you can do it so well? Haha. I was totally overpowered. Like what did you eat to get so strong? Hehe... Like..." Tears started to gather in Laurel's eyes.

"This is embarrassing..." Laurel thinks, "I have been a guard for so long, but I am still tearing up from this kind of thing."

Then Imogen calmly comforted, "Laurel, you are okay now. There is nothing wrong with being frightened."

Laurel looks at Imogen's soft smile and gets entranced by the rare expression on this woman's face. Imogen wipes off the blood that splashed to Laurel's face with her thumb.

Imogen says softly, "Let's go back. You have gone too long. People are going to worry about you."

She helps Laurel up, but Laurel's legs were still too wobbly to stand from the freight. Laurel tries to force her legs to stand up but continues to fail at it. So, Imogen slides her arms under Laurel's legs and lifts Laurel quickly. She carries Laurel while taking the bota bags, but Laurel fussed about letting her down.

Imogen smiled at Laurel and said softly, "Behave."

Laurel, out of words, stayed in Imogen's arms obediently. On the way back, Laurel gets drawn to Imogen's soft expression. She keeps remembering Imogen's affectionate eyes and careful actions towards her just minutes ago.

Imogen says with a side glance at Laurel, "You are going to drill a hole in me if you continue to stare so intensely at me."

Laurel flinches and blushes, quickly turning her head away from Imogen. Imogen smiles satisfyingly and silently carries her back. She lets Laurel down when they were close to the carriages and lets Laurel walk the rest of the way back. Imogen turns around and starts walking away.

Laurel asks, "Are you leaving?"

Imogen replies, "What? Are you pleading me to stay?"

Laurel flustered, "Well... I... But you can stay..."

Imogen turns away and says, "I am going to patrol around to see if there are other beasts. I will be back."

Then, Imogen leaves and disappears into the forest. Laurel looks at Imogen's diminishing figure till she can no longer see her back. Laurel turns away and walks back to the camp with her face flushed.

Laurel looks at her pocket watch. The clock kept ticking, yet Laurel does not see Imogen back. She forgot that Imogen got injured from being so flustered that she did not even bandage Imogen's wounds before Imogen went to patrol. She sighs.

"If I continue to sigh like this, I might as well become an old lady," says Laurel.

She was bored enough to start counting the stars alone, sitting beside a dying bonfire. She looks at the crackling fire, and next to it, Imogen's dinner in the pot. She lays her head on the arms above her knees, and her eyelids feel increasingly heavy. She falls asleep, failing to wait until Imogen gets back.

The next day, she wakes up from the sunlight that is hitting on her eyes inside her tent. The coat on top of her slides down when she sits up. She looks down and recognizes that she is covered by Imogen's outwear. She takes the coat and hugs it tightly. There is a metallic smell still lingering on the clothes that Imogen covered her with. She closes her eyes and tries to control her overly excited heart.

Laurel thinks to herself, "I am going crazy... How can I... I really must have gone crazy!!!"

When Laurel went out of her tent, Imogen was already up, sitting on top of the carriage's roof bathing herself in the sun. Seeing that Imogen wore another coat, Laurel decides to give the coat back to Imogen once she washes it from the stench of blood.

Throughout the journey, Laurel would glimpse at Imogen from time to time, expecting to catch another glimpse of Imogen's changing expression. However, after that incident, she was not able to see Imogen express herself the same way when Imogen saved her. Imogen's face remained unchanged despite the beasts that they encountered on their way. The group started to warm up towards the silent yet protective Imogen that would silently volunteer whenever they faced danger. Although they were not able to communicate much to her about how much they appreciated her protection, they showed it in their acts. They would give her more food and offered to provide water to her.

After a couple of days, they were able to move away from the enchantment in which they were thrilled about, and at a distance, they were able to see the town. They cheered at their massive fortune to be so lucky to find the 'true' path. However, Laurel does not feel as thrilled as her companions. Although it was something that Laurel should be happy about, she was somewhat reluctant to part with Imogen. Although it was just a couple of days, Laurel felt a connection she cannot explain well towards Imogen.

When they arrived at the town, Imogen bids farewell to the group. The group energetically bid their goodbyes as well. Laurel looks at Imogen, walking away and turning into a small street. Unable to hold it longer, she runs towards where Imogen turned, but does not find her anywhere she looked. Laurel gets disappointed and returns to her comrades while continuing to look at the direction of where Imogen left until she can no longer see the place.

What happened was that Imogen jumped up to the ceiling of the building. She chuckled when Laurel ran to look for her but does not find her. She looks at Laurel with nostalgia and murmurs, "I hope you can forgive me for my selfishness, Laurel. I want that in this round, I end everything that I so foolishly started. I will cut clean to what is between us, and let time flow again." Imogen turns around and heads over to the forest again.

Laurel's comrades see that Laurel is continuously in a daze and does not touch any of the food in the table. They got worried about her. They were roughly aware that Laurel is acting weird because Imogen has left the group. Although they are thankful that Imogen has helped them so much, this was something that they have never seen from Laurel. Throughout the years, Laurel has seen many people come and go from their groups. This kind of thing should have been typical for her, yet to see her bothered by someone's departure, they felt like they were looking at the rookie that just joined in as their team. Tobias looks at Laurel's full plate, almost untouched and frowned. They were the ones that had to fight with her for food, but seeing her just drinking the ale from her cup in complete silence was somewhat bothersome. Laurel is usually cheerful and optimistic, seeing her solemn feel awkward for everyone.

Tobias comforted," Laurel, I think you will be able to see that woman again since we are in the same town."

Laurel flustered at Tobias's words because she did not think that anyone knew what was happening to her. Seeing her reaction, Laurel's comrades understood the situation a little bit more, so they started to join the conversation.

"You were bothered by that? Well, she is the best swordsman I have ever seen!"

"She would be a great addition to our team! She is insanely strong!"

"Right, right! Plus, when we were with her, we found the 'true' path as soon as she joined. She is like a lucky walking star!"

"Now that you talk about it, that is so mysterious!"

"Is there something going on with you two?"

Laurel sighed dispirited and said, "What could there be?"

Tobias said, "You two were staring at each other the entire way, what else could it be?"

The comrades started to cheer and tease Laurel about it. They wanted to know what happened between them. The workaholic Lauriel is finally into someone?

What Laurel did not know is that Imogen was also aware of Laurel's secret glances. Every time Laurel takes her eyes off, Imogen would look back at the disappointed face from Laurel.

"Geez, guys! Don't get my hopes up!" Laurel blushed and started chug on her ale.

The comrades roared, cheered, and felt embarrassed for her. Laurel finally got back to her cheerful self and started to eat. They celebrated the entire afternoon until the moon was up. They parted ways when it was becoming way too late. Laurel changed into her nightgown and sat beside the window. She was too excited to sleep. Laurel was thinking of what to say when they meet again and also started to fantasize about Imogen being part of her group. She reminisces the time they met, the time Imogen saves her, and the time Imogen would sit on the carriage's roof looking far away to the front.

<Forest of Krasview>

Imogen stumps on the magic circle, and it shattered. The weird atmosphere of the forest returned to normal. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and her sword was dripping of it. She used her foot to turn a body around and examine the body and the clothes.

"Damn puppets... What are they doing here?" Imogen questioned.

She swings the blood off her sword and puts it back on the sleeve. She walks away while avoiding to step on any of the corpses. If anyone would have witnessed the scene, this place turned into a place of carnage. The metallic smell of blood lingered in the area despite being in the open air, and the ground soaks on it enough that every step, blood could absorb into your shoes.

---

"Master Saskia! Master Saskia!"

Saskia annoyed slew the man that interrupted her sleep. Still, then another man next to the dead man on his knees said while shaking in terror, "Someone destroyed the enchantment from the forest of Krasview, Master Saskia."

"What!?" Saskia screamed in rage, "Who the hell dares to destroy my enchantment?"

"It seems to be a group of merchants that passed through the forest unharmed. Most probable, the leader of the merchant guards. Her name is Laurel, master Saskia."

"Laurel? Laurel! Oh... That is interesting. She must have powerful mana," says Saskia smiling contently.

"Yeah! She was also able to kill everyone that guarded the circle, master!"

"hehehe! I am intrigued now! Let's see who is this so-called Laurel that dared to destroy the enchantment of this Supreme Witch!" says Saskia giggling amusedly.

"She might be a good collection! Hmm... Let me think about what to do with her... What kind of specimen should I create?" Saskia talks to herself as she giggled chillingly.