CH 157

Looking around, Cecile found herself on the roof of a gigantic building. Everything below her seemed to be covered in black mud. Leaning close to the railing, she peered down closely. Her hand shot up to cover her mouth as she stifled a scream. Amid the rising and falling of black mud was bones, flesh, and blood. Cecile gagged as a foul stench of rotting meat invaded her nose. The things she saw floating in the black mud were definitely human remains. The instant she realized what was in front of her, she couldn’t stop herself.

“Your Majesty—!” Cecile cried out desperately. Her voice echoed through the silence that enveloped the dukedom of Etia, but no matter how long she waited, a response never came. Before she had time to wallow in her disappointment, she suddenly realized the foolishness of her action when she noticed a black figure stretch upwards from one side of the city, as if searching for the source of the cry.

Inhaling sharply, Cecile realized her urgency and surprise had gotten the better of her, and led her to call out for Estian. What she should’ve done was quietly get hold of the situation. She grabbed the blue phoenix and hightailed it off the roof to take shelter in the building.

“Could you get rid of that light? It’d be even better if you could shrink.” The blue phoenix immediately shrunk to the size of a sparrow and snuffed out the blue flames around it as well. “Good, stay like this for now.”

After confirming the blue phoenix understood her, Cecile cautiously made her way down the stairs. She peeked out a window that she passed by, noticing that the black figure was still searching for her. It seemed to be having difficulty in pinpointing her location because of the echoes. The closer she got to the ground, the more overwhelming the foul stench grew. Peering over the stair railing, she saw the black figure, like a tidal wave, had moved to the lower floor of the building and was swaying there.

‘I think it’ll notice if I get close,’ she thought. Cecile retreated backwards, needing some time to organize her thoughts. Her mind was in disarray as it tried to process everything that was happening. ‘I’m sure that just a while ago I was… huh?’ Cecile tilted her head. Strangely, she was sure she’d been talking with someone not long before, but now she was drawing a blank. Who had it been? Try as she might, Cecile couldn’t remember. Earlier, she was cleaning up the storage room in the empress’s palace, then Aled appeared. Aled was searching for Estian, a white hand pushed her through the gate, and then…

‘…And here I am?’ Somehow, Cecile felt that a lot more time had passed than what she could recall, but she couldn’t fill the gap. Struggling with the sense of emptiness from her lost memories, she turned her attention to her body. After a quick examination, she was relieved that at least she didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.

After taking stock of everything around her, she realized the only things she had was the scepter in hand and the blue phoenix perched on her shoulder. In most stories, the protagonists would always have food and water to last for several days, but she had no such luck when she searched her surroundings. Escape would be difficult, considering the blue phoenix had struggled to carry her when they were falling. It would be too much to have it try to fly them out of here.

‘Well, I suppose this fella is more helpful than water… Besides, we’ll both die if that black thing notices us while we’re mid-flight.’

It had been an incredible stroke of luck that the black thing hadn’t noticed them when they dropped down from the sky. Otherwise, they would’ve been devoured before even knowing what was happening, meeting the same end as the bones she’d seen floating about earlier.

‘I’ll just have to hold out until Aled and Richard arrive. They should be able to open the gate again.’

Having grasped the situation, Cecile decided on her next course of action. She knew her strengths well. Neither a knight nor mage, what could she possibly achieve? Needless action would only hasten her death. By the looks of things, the people of Etia had been done in by that black thing, and nothing indicated things would turn out differently for her.

Since they had confirmed Estian was in Etia, surely Aled and Richard would come to rescue her. She wouldn’t let them off otherwise. Thinking there was nothing else she could do here, Cecile decided to explore the building in the meantime. Perhaps she’d discover something of use. It should be safe as long as she avoided the floor with the black figure. It still seemed to be searching around outside, but fortunately the portion that had rushed into the building like the tide was calm.

It was then that she heard sobs further down the hallway. Taking cautious, silent steps towards the voice, she discovered a man in a white robe, hunched over and crying on his knees. She felt momentary relief at finding someone else alive in this city filled with quiet death, but she knew better than to let her guard up easily.

In stories like these, a survivor meant only one of two things—they either became a good comrade who the protagonist would join hands with to overcome the plight at hand, or they were actually crazy and drove people to their deaths. If he fell into the latter, then Cecile needed to make a quick escape.

“S-sorry… I’m sorry. We were wrong… Please…” he sobbed.

Cecile could immediately tell this man fell under the latter category, and that she needed to put distance between them. She was about to turn around and quietly walk away, but hesitated from her curiosity as to whom he was begging for mercy. The man crawled towards the window, and looked at the black figure still swiveling around outside.

“Spare me, Estian.”

At his words, Cecile’s eyes widened in horror.