CH 88

My stiffened body suddenly moved as if ice were breaking. Without thinking, I ran out into the hallway and threw open the door to the next room.

“Dante!”

As I had asked him to wait while I talked to Masha, Dante sat quietly in the room. His purple eyes seemed to widen when he saw me suddenly struck in, but I didn’t even think to look.

When I came to my senses, I was holding Dante’s arm with all my might. As if it were my only lifeline, and as if I couldn’t bear to hold on to something.

My unorganized mind spat out a jumble of words at random.

“Masha, Dante. I think something happened to Masha. Her communication tool cracked, and suddenly…”

“Wait. Wait a minute, Ei.”

To be sure, it’s been a long time since I’ve been so confused. In terms of emotions, it was as confusing as the day I first met Dante. I couldn’t overcome the anxiety and the feeling that it was impossible to think wholeheartedly took over my whole body.

Perhaps that’s why I was startled when Dante held my hand. The familiar warmth instantly awakened me.

“Ei.”

“…”

Dante, who became unlike me, caught my eye. As the warmth that tightly embraced me, trying to reassure me, was transmitted more clearly, the tension gradually drained from my body.

It was only then that I was able to come up with words close to sentences, albeit with a lost mind.

“…It seems like someone broke into Masha’s house.”

“…”

As soon as my words fell off, Dante’s expression changed. It wasn’t as much as me seeing the situation in person, but the fact that he was surprised by the unexpected situation was the same.

I struggled to suppress the confusion and tried to organize what had just happened as objectively as possible. I tried to piece together what had befallen Masha and what I had seen and what I had heard.

“We were communicating as usual when someone knocked on Masha’s door from outside. Masha went to check on the knock on the door without saying anything, and then suddenly…”

The communication tool that had been cracked into pieces and the thin screams flashed through my mind again.

But unlike before, I was extremely calm rather than confused. It was because I thought that it wouldn’t be of any help to the current situation.

“The communication tool Masha was holding broke and the communication was cut off.”

“…”

“I think I heard someone screaming for help right before it cut off.”

I’m not sure if I said it clearly, but at least it seemed to be enough explanation to understand the situation. Anxiety flashed on Dante’s face, and then he grabbed my hand again.

“Alright. I’ll check and come back.”

The strength that seemed to tightly wrap my fingers quickly fell away. Making eye contact with me, Dante spoke quickly as if in a whisper.

“You stay with Lisa here, no. Stay in this room for now. I’ll check what happened and come back…”

“Dante.”

I already knew he would tell me to stay here. And, of course, I knew why he was trying to leave me at this moment.

But it’s just that I have no intention of listening to Dante for now.

I grabbed Dante’s hand again and said in a clear voice.

“If you’re going there, take me too.”

“…Ei.”

There was earnestness in the tone that called my name as if in pain, but I couldn’t back down. For it was obvious how Dante would act afterwards.

In this situation, it’s not a very good idea to ask if I should just wait for him to come back. Dante will reply that he’s sorry for what he said, but he hopes so, and the moment I reply that I don’t want to, it will almost certainly lead to an argument.

I took a moment to catch my breath to think as rationally as possible.

“As long as you leave me here, you will definitely try to come back somehow. I’m not saying you’re just going to check it out. I’m asking if you can find out for sure even if I’m left alone here.”

“…”

“Please, Dante. I don’t have time for this.”

As time passed, the anxiety that had barely subsided seemed to rise.

What if Masha was lying in the house, injured? What if she was stabbed with a blade like a knife and bled a lot?

What if something really went wrong with Masha at the moment I’m doing this with Dante?

My knuckles were giving strength to the point where they turned pure white, yet the trembling that had begun before I knew it didn’t subside. As I became visibly uneasy, Dante, after a very brief conflict, took my hand.

“…Fine. Let’s go right now.”

I can’t remember if I gave a proper answer to that question.

The moment the magic circle drawn under my feet was completed, I was swept away by the light along with Dante.

***

I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, I was inside Masha’s house.

The fact that we moved really surprisingly fast, and the fact that we came in without permission from the owner didn’t feel very important then. I immediately looked for Masha and hurriedly took my steps, only to stop when I stepped on something.

The thing under my feet looked like a piece of glass at first glance, but it was a shard with a faint glint.

“…The communication tool.”

It must have been fine until just now. No, it was fine. At least until someone breaks into Masha’s house.

As I raised my gaze, I saw a window that was horribly broken without a single intact part.

Roughly torn curtains were hanging from the barely framed windows, swaying in the wind. The table right in front of me was a mess, covered in the remains of what had been a window, and I couldn’t quite make out what was lying on it.

As soon as I realized that the chair had fallen under the table, Dante spoke behind me in a low voice.

“Masha isn’t here.”

“…”

“I can’t feel the presence in any room. It’s not even around here, and it’s completely disappeared within the capital.”

Is that possible?

Even though I knew it couldn’t be possible, I was a bit dazed. Does it make sense that the person I was talking to here disappeared in an instant?

There is only one way to make that possible, at least as far as I know. Magic.

At the same time, Dante bent down to pick up a fragment of the communication tool.

“…Dante.”

Even under this circumstance, I was worried that Dante might be hurt by the shrapnel. When I called out to him in a low voice, he looked back at me for a moment as if he was okay.

A faint light leaked from his fingers holding the fragment. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing, but at least it seemed clear that Dante had confirmed something with his magic.

Because it wasn’t long before he grabbed a fragment of the communication tool and exploded it.

“Dante!”

When I saw that small fragment explode in Dante’s hand, I was surprised to faint with a little exaggeration. Whether or not I took hold of that hand because I was frightened, the person who might have been hurt didn’t seem to be particularly impressed by the fragments that exploded.

To put it in more detail, it seemed that he was distracted and didn’t pay attention.

“Hey, what are you doing so dangerously!”

“…”

Even while I held Dante’s hand and checked it, there was no answer. When I glanced up to check, there was a bloody face there that I had never seen before while living with Dante.

Dante quietly muttered with an angry face, as if he had forgotten that I was with him even for a moment.

“Something like this…”

Although I think he muttered something else, his voice was so low that even I, who was nearby, couldn’t hear it.

After barely making sure that there were no scratches on Dante’s hands, I looked up again and stared at him.

“Did you find out… .”

ㅡwhere Masha has gone? I was going to ask that. Maybe I would have asked the question properly if he hadn’t clasped my hand.

Dante, who had his eyes on me as if he passed me from head to toe, turned around. still holding my hand tight

“Let’s go back to the Magic Tower for now, Ei.”

“This quick? Wait a minute, I need you to tell me what you just saw.”

“I’ll explain everything after we return to the Magic Tower. Let’s get out of here now.”

It was an urgent remark, as if there was a reason why we couldn’t be here anymore. In addition to the chaotic scene, there was nothing to understand about Dante’s sudden change of attitude.

I was still worried about the whereabouts of Masha who had disappeared, but I nodded my head to obediently follow Dante’s words.

<You want to go back? >

I had no choice but to stop involuntarily at the unfamiliar voice coming from behind me.

I can’t seem to even turn my body straight. Along with Dante’s hand pulling me quickly, there was the sound of something being smashed, and when I came to my senses, I was standing behind Dante.

While I was barely able to stand straight after I almost stumbled, what came into my field of vision was a window that was horribly broken, no different from before.

And the wall right next to the window was freshly broken.

…Did Dante just break down the wall of Masha’s house?

When I saw the picture frame hanging on the broken wall fall, I lost my mind for a while.

It wasn’t until that moment that a shape caught my eye.

<Ah, your greeting is still radical. >

Standing tall with claws in the window sill, crackling beaks, it looks like it’s talking…

“…Crow?”

It was a crow almost the size of a house, with black feathers and red eyes.