Chapter 71 - Found You (1)

Life bloomed even when unwanted, and withered at unexpected moments.

Ruen recalled the many who had given their lives for her as she laid stretched out, tied with ropes.

...She had expected the black mages would try something, but she smiled self-deprecatingly, thinking she hadn't expected them to turn the entire city into a trap to catch her.

At this level, it must be a plan approved by the church side as well.

Thinking there was no way the soldiers who should protect the city would take ordinary citizens hostage otherwise,

She sat down on the cold floor and looked ahead.

"Aaaaargh!"

"P-please save us, Saintess. P-please."

"Saintess, we're f-fine, so kyaaah!"

Though she didn't know what the black mages' purpose was, it was clear they were doing this to gnaw at her mental state.

She tried hard not to show any emotion, pretending to be fine, but when many people died unable to withstand the torture, despairing, her whole body trembled as she felt pain as if her mind was being twisted.

If only they had tortured me instead.

Thinking it wouldn't have been this painful, she bit her lip hard.

From biting her lip repeatedly for a long time, it was already tattered to the point where flesh was peeling off, but there was no other way to endure this pain, so she tried to alleviate the pain by self-harming, but the pain didn't disappear.

If I had fought back like Lord Damian.

Thinking the result might have been different, she was squeezing her eyes shut when a woman approached her and spoke in a voice full of mockery, "Ruen. Have you been well?"

Wondering who it was, she looked ahead and saw a former colleague from the church she had parted with long ago.

One of those who had been jealous of her when she was selected as a candidate for the church's Saintess long ago.

The one who had continuously bullied her by putting bugs in her shoes or scratching her thighs with sharp nails or thumbtacks from the moment she was selected as a candidate.

Of course, soon after that fact was all revealed and she was expelled from the church, but…

It ended on a not-so-good note, and she was one of the people who occasionally appeared when she had nightmares.

Still, quite some time had passed and the memory was becoming blurry...

Meeting her again before the wound had completely healed made her somewhat short of breath.

Moreover, it wasn't an ordinary situation, but meeting at the worst possible moment.

Feeling strong mental pressure hitting her, she bit her lip harder, when the woman smiled slightly and touched her own neck.

"Being like this reminds me of the old days. Don't you think?"

She started touching on her trauma with a voice full of mockery.

Though she didn't know the reason, it was obvious this was a ploy to gnaw at her mental strength.

She tried to act expressionless and pretend to be fine, but...

"While we're reminiscing, I brought this to play a little prank like we used to back then, but I'm not sure if you'll like it."

With those words, she took out a box filled with small thumbtacks and showed it to her.

At that sight, recalling the terrible bullying she had suffered long ago, she momentarily couldn't even breathe properly and was trembling, when seeing this, the woman laughed playfully, took out a thumbtack, and said to her,

"Remember this? It was hilarious when I stuck these into your thighs or soles."

"..."

"I sometimes still think of the scene where you squirmed like a bug every time I stuck in a thumbtack."

Then she lightly scratched her own thigh with the thumbtack and said, "Well, enough with the nostalgic stories... So where should I stick it? Thigh? Sole? Or that pretty face?"

The fear she had felt back then revived and helplessness washed over her.

Because of that, her whole body was trembling and she was dry heaving, when suddenly Damian's back flashed in her mind.

At Pernoir Cliff where only despair remained, that back figure that lit brilliant flames and planted hope in everyone.

As that image arose in her mind, somehow laughter flowed out.

"...What? Are you crazy? Why are you laughing?"

Hearing the cursing from in front, she looked ahead.

She saw the face of someone steeped in inferiority, finding their own worth in others' pain.

To be honest, it wasn't possible to escape a deeply ingrained trauma just by changing one's mindset.

It was still terrifying and frightening, but still, unlike before, thinking she had gained the strength to take one step forward, she lowered her face.

"Did becoming a Saintess make you openly ignore me now? Damn it, even if this gets stuck in your face like before..."

Then, just as Damian had smashed enemies' heads with a hammer, she lowered her head and strongly headbutted the other person's face.

Smack!

"Aaaah!"

Unfortunately, because her arms and legs were all tied, she couldn't generate enough power to knock the other person out.

But she succeeded in hitting hard enough to cause a nosebleed.

Looking at the other person screaming, she started to scratch at them with a mocking voice, just as Damian always did to enemies.

"...Were you there?"

Though she spoke in a quite trembling, small voice, it seemed she succeeded in scratching the other person even just doing this much.

The woman became greatly angered at her words and spat out curses, then…

"You damn bitch!"

She roughly grabbed a large axe nearby and said, "I will definitely kill you."

Then she gripped the axe tightly, raised it high, and tried to kill her.

It was an incredibly terrifying sight, but somehow she judged that if she used that, she might be able to cut the ropes.

The moment the axe came down, she twisted her body to the side to make it cut the ropes.

It worked...!

This way, at least she could move her body.

Her legs were still trembling badly, making it difficult to move, but still, this was like a great hope had arisen.

Trying her best to calm her trembling body, she looked ahead.

"Damn... I always hated that dismissive look in your eyes. Damn it!"

The woman seemed completely consumed by anger and kept cursing while glaring at her.

Seeing that sight, she took a deep breath to calm herself and was about to move her feet to escape from this place when…

"That's enough, isn't it? What if she really dies?"

Several people wearing black robes gathered and laughed cynically.

They came down and blocked her path, then started mocking and talking among themselves.

"Oh my, Saintess, where are you trying to go in that state?"

"Did you see earlier? How she smiled faintly thinking she could escape?"

"Look, isn't it fun? There's nothing more entertaining than planting hope of escape and then taking it away."

The moment she heard those words, she realized why they hadn't tied her up with prison or handcuffs, but with crude ropes instead.

Everything was a trap...

As she realized this fact, her mind was dyed with despair and the world gradually turned gray.

Realizing that all that remained in reality was despair, she collapsed to the floor.

A loud laughter was heard from the front, and someone approached her, spitting.

"Damn... Hey. You think you're so great, don't you? You're really nothing special at all."

"..."

The woman wiped her nosebleed and approached her with a smirk on her face.

Then she spoke in a voice full of mockery, "I heard from above that they just need to keep you alive. In other words... it means they don't care what we do as long as you're kept alive."

Then she picked up the thumbtacks and a sharp knife lying nearby and said, "So I'll make you regret being alive, no matter what."

Now there really was no way out, so she squeezed her eyes shut and felt an immense sense of despair approaching.

Now... there's nothing I can do.

Not only did she have no strength left to move after being confined for so long, even if she was lucky enough to get past them and escape this room, the possibility of escaping this place was close to 0.

So as she was feeling despair, her whole body trembling, a strong vibration was heard from somewhere.

Boom... Boom!

As if a giant was stomping on buildings, or as if an earthquake had occurred, everything shook and a loud sound was heard.

She was bewildered by this completely unexpected situation and wondered if this too was a trap set by the black mages, but…

"What? What's happening?"

"Hey, you go out and check."

"Y-yes!"

Seeing that they were also flustered, it seemed this wasn't a trap separately prepared by the black mages.

Or is it...? Maybe they're doing this to give hope and then take it away, like they said earlier.

That possibility was also extremely high, so she didn't say anything and just quietly observed the situation when suddenly, she felt an enormous wave of mana spreading from far away.

A sensation so intense that even she, who didn't use mana but holy power, could feel it.

Bewildered by that sensation, she tried to look in the direction the mana was spreading from, but suddenly all the lights went out and everything became pitch black.

"W-what's this! Hey, turn on the lights right now!"

"Use m-magic or something!"

"Strangely, I can't use magic!"

A bewilderment and pressure to an eerie degree.

The black mages who had been so calm were now flustered and confused to the point where one might wonder if they were the same people.

Thinking she didn't know what on earth was happening, she was bewildered when after a loud explosion sound from far away, a sound like metal being dragged on the floor was heard.

Dragging, clanking.

Perhaps because her vision was blacked out, that sound echoed even more intensely than usual.

At that chilling yet intense sound, the black mages all shut their mouths and held their breath.

Then they all stopped their bustling movements and started to focus on that sound.

Clank, clanking.

The sound that had been gradually growing louder suddenly stopped.

Then it started to create an eerily silent moment that felt like an eternity.

What... What's happening?

Unable to gather her thoughts at all, she was bewildered when a voice was heard from beyond the door.

"Found you."