Chapter 33
“!@#%!!”
“Quiet.”
Ruby plunged a kitchen knife into the throat of the assailant howling over his severed arm.
Thunk.
“Ghk…!”
The assailant, his throat pierced, toppled forward with blood bubbling from his mouth.
“Crazy….”
I don’t know much about human anatomy either, but even I know that getting stabbed just anywhere doesn’t make that much blood flow.
Even if Heter had taught Ruby how to use a sword, he surely hadn’t taught her about vital points.
Therefore, aiming precisely for that spot had to be solely thanks to Ruby’s talent.
“$#%!#%^!!”
The assailants finally seemed to come to their senses and drew their weapons.
The one holding the rope even pulled out an ax and pointed it at my neck.
Whoosh.
The kitchen knife Ruby threw shot straight toward the man’s forehead.
“!”
While the man holding the rope hurriedly dodged the knife in surprise,
Dash.
Ruby reached me in an instant and swung her kitchen knife, cleanly cutting through the rope binding me.
“Ruby?!”
I cried out in shock.
No, if the knife had gone just one centimeter farther, it might have cut into my flesh!
“Alice. Get ready to run.”
Despite my scream, Ruby spoke calmly in a flat tone.
“What?”
Did I really need to run away alone?
In her current condition, it seemed perfectly possible for us to escape together.
‘Besides, I can’t leave Ruby alone anymore.’
Unlike just moments ago, when she had offered only minimal resistance, she had now killed one of them.
I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to Ruby if they caught us.
“So I can’t run away alone.”
“Wrong.”
After hearing why I thought she should escape with me, Ruby shook her head.
“The reason I told you to run is….”
She picked up one of the kitchen knives lying on the floor.
“Because I’m not confident I can protect you while killing all of them.”
“…What?”
For a moment, I doubted my ears, but her eyes were serious.
This… wasn’t something she was saying lightly.
“…All right.”
Normally, I would have tried to convince her, asking what kind of nonsense she was talking about.
But seeing the man lying there with a hole in his throat and his body already cold, it no longer seemed entirely impossible.
“Fine. Then I’ll make a path for you.”
With those words, Ruby charged forward.
“#@!%$%^*!”
“!@$#!$!!”
Ruby swung two kitchen knives while dodging the axes, knives, and hammers coming at her from all sides.
Who said fighting with two swords was a symbol of defeat?
Looking at Ruby now, no one could possibly say that.
‘She’s keeping an eye on the one targeting me while fighting five people?!’
It was truly an incredible talent.
‘If only I had noticed that talent sooner….’
I only had a moment to regret my own foolishness before all five men’s attention focused entirely on Ruby, and she shouted.
“Now!”
“!”
The moment she gave the signal, I immediately ran out through the kitchen door.
Fortunately, those men had torn the door off its hinges, so there was nothing blocking my way.
“Don’t give up, Ruby!”
After cheering her on one last time, I ran out of the kitchen.
“Huff, huff.”
After sprinting out of the mansion, I caught my breath and thought about where to flee.
‘First, I should head back to the office.’
Surely, they were unlikely to search a place they had already checked once.
The problem would be what happened if they found me there.
The office was on the second floor, so I couldn’t exactly escape through the window.
‘I’d be safe as long as they didn’t find me, but the risk would be too great if they did.’
The second option was the soap factory.
‘That’s out of the question.’
Of course, there were militia members and many people there, so it would be a good place to hold out.
But having so many people there was precisely the problem.
‘The people of the territory would try to protect me.’
That wasn’t arrogance. It was simply the truth.
Many people could be injured, or some might even die, in the process.
‘I’d rather be captured than let the people of the territory get hurt.’
The last remaining option was the place Heter had gone to investigate himself.
When Heter was deciding which patrol areas to assign to the militia, I had helped him, so I knew roughly where he had gone.
Of course, getting there was the biggest problem.
‘Or should I just hide somewhere with few people around?’
Perhaps I could hide inside one of the oak barrels at the brewery and be fine….
Just as I was wondering how to evade the assailants effectively,
“@#$%@#^!”
“…Huh?”
I heard the assailants’ voices from behind me.
‘They weren’t fighting Ruby?!’
I turned around in surprise and saw the men who had been lying in wait outside the window.
‘Right! No matter how capable Ruby is, she can’t hold back the men outside the mansion too!’
Relieved that Ruby didn’t seem to have been defeated, I started running blindly without choosing a direction.
However, now that the assailants were chasing me, I could no longer return to the mansion or go to the factory.
“Huff, huff…!”
In the end, I ran in the direction Heter had gone, but I hadn’t gone far before I was already out of breath.
‘This damn body!’
If I made it back alive, I would make a sports bra before anything else!
Even if it wasn’t for sale, I would absolutely make one for myself!
How long had I been running, searching for Heter—or at the very least, somewhere to hide?
“@$!@#%!!”
“!@$!@?!”
“What?”
Since earlier, those men had done nothing but shout things I couldn’t understand.
They maintained their distance from me.
I forced my oxygen-starved brain to work, and then I realized why they were acting that way.
They could catch me, but they weren’t doing so.
They were like hunters chasing a deer until its stamina gave out, so they could make a sure kill.
‘You bastards…?’
Grind.
As frustrating as it was, I had no choice but to move according to their plan.
At least I was lucky enough to buy time this way.
But before long, my stamina gave out.
“Huff… huff….”
Breathing heavily, I could no longer move and slumped to the ground.
“$^@&@$@.”
Only then did the assailants approach, grinning grotesquely and taking their time.
“(%^%$&^$%.
“Go to hell, you idiots.”
Judging from their tone, they seemed to be telling me to come along quietly, so I raised my middle finger at them.
I didn’t know whether that counted as an insult here, though.
“….”
Seeing their brows furrow, they seemed to realize that I hadn’t raised my middle finger as a friendly gesture.
“!#@!%!.
“Ugh!”
The man who had grabbed my neck now seized my hand and pulled me along.
“Let go!”
Having my hand grabbed wasn’t as painful as having my neck seized, but it felt even worse.
“This isn’t somewhere you bastards are allowed to touch!”
“…?”
I struggled with all the strength I had left to escape his grasp.
“!@$%$!#$!!”
“Eek…!”
When the man finally raised his free hand, I remembered being slapped before, and my body instinctively hunched back.
"Heter… help me."
I squeezed my eyes shut and called for Heter, bracing myself for the impact that was about to come.
‘…Huh?’
Why didn’t it hurt?
Had he only been threatening me without intending to actually hit me? I cautiously opened my eyes a little.
“Ghk, kheg….”
“Huh?”
I saw that the man who had tried to hit me had gone deathly pale.
The hand gripping the back of his neck was probably the reason, but its owner was….
“Heter?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Why are you here?”
How had he even known I was here?!
Had he really come because I called him?
“I heard them shouting, ‘Go on, run farther, you feisty bitch!’ and followed them.”
“Ha ha….”
Apparently, all that running without giving up had paid off.
My legs gave out, and I slumped to the ground once more, while Heter’s gaze shifted to my cheek and lips.
“My lady. What is that?”
“This…?”
I covered my swollen cheek and the dried blood with my hand.
“It’s….”
“No. I don’t think I need to hear it.”
Heter lightly shook his head, then slammed the assailant he had been holding onto the ground.
“#@!%...!”
“Shut up.”
Smack!
Then Heter began slapping him with a scowl on his face.
“Khek!”
“How dare you….”
A tooth flew from the assailant’s mouth every time Heter slapped him.
“W-wait, Heter!”
But Heter didn’t stop, even when I tried to restrain him.
“Stop!”
Fearing that he might actually kill the man, I hugged Heter’s arm to stop him.
“My lady?!”
“Stop! At this rate, he’ll really die!”
“Alice… even if you’re kind-hearted, these men tried to kidnap you….”
“Who says I’m stopping you because I’m kind-hearted?!”
Did he think I was a pushover? Was I supposed to show mercy to the men who had toyed with me and tried to kidnap me?
“Then why did you stop me?”
“If you kill him, how are we supposed to interrogate him?!”
“Ah.”
Only then did Heter stop the hand that had been slapping the man.
“Phew… What about the other one?”
“Over there.”
When I turned toward the spot Heter indicated, I finally noticed the other man, slumped over with his head buried in the ground.
At a glance, he didn’t seem likely to still be alive.
“Looks like this is the only one left. Let’s take him back to the mansion.”
“But… is Ruby all right?”
Heter asked me with a slightly anxious expression.
Ruby? Was she all right?
“I don’t know.”
I would find out whether she was truly all right once we returned to the mansion.
And when Heter and I returned to the mansion’s kitchen, we saw….
“Hng… How am I supposed to clean all this up….”
“Ruby?”
“Oh, my lady? Sir Heter? I’m glad you’re both safe!”
Ruby diligently scrubbing the blood-soaked kitchen with a rag.
“What about the assailants?”
When I asked her cautiously, Ruby replied with a bright smile,
“I killed them all and dumped them at the food-waste disposal site!”
“Oh, really?”
She said that so cheerfully.