Chapter 30
“Alina, where are you?”
The broker’s face flushed red under my grip as I held him by the collar.
Just as he choked out a reply—
“No!”
A woman’s voice rang out, sharp enough to tear the air—
Flash—!
Once again, an intense flash burst from inside the cabin, as though it had swallowed the sun.
KABOOM—!
With a tremendous explosion, the cabin door shattered and someone burst out.
It was the one-eyed man who had stayed behind as a lookout.
But his appearance was horrific.
His face was burning now, and even his eyepatch and remaining eye were on fire, leaving him blind.
“Gaaaaah! It’s hot! Witch! She’s a witch!!!”
His face was engulfed in red flames.
The horrible smell of burning flesh and his screams echoed through the forest.
The one-eyed man writhed in agony and rolled across the ground before kicking away the firewood piled by the entrance.
Clatter.
The burning logs scattered.
By the time the one-eyed man crawled out, the flames had spread to the dry haystack and old wooden post beside him.
Fwoosh!
The old wooden building began to burn fiercely, as though oil had been poured over it.
Spring, having yet to receive its first rain, became easy prey for the flames.
It was only a matter of time before the entire cabin was engulfed in fire.
“......!”
My pupils trembled.
Alina was inside.
In front of me stood a terrified broker, while Alina was inside the burning house.
‘We can deal with them later.’
I made my decision as quickly as the flames began devouring the cabin.
‘Alina comes first.’
Crack.
I drove a heavy fist into the broker’s philtrum.
Thud!
“......”
The broker could not even scream.
His eyes rolled back as he went tumbling backward.
There was no time to check whether he was unconscious or dead.
“Alina!”
I leaped over the fallen broker and threw myself straight into the cabin, where flames were shooting up toward the ceiling.
* * *
Bang!
Inside the cabin, thick with smoke and flames.
Beneath the acrid smoke, a small shadow was crawling across the floor.
It was Elysia’s shadow.
Elysia gritted her teeth and approached Alina.
“Ugh...!”
Elysia’s palms were red and raw.
‘I had planned to burn them all at once when even the broker had gathered...’
But now that the innocent girl Alina had been kidnapped as well, this was the best chance.
Moreover, the one-eyed man whose face had first caught fire had approached Alina in his confusion.
As Elysia pushed him away to protect the helpless Alina, who was still bound, 「Incineration」 had erupted once more.
The pain of burning flesh pierced all the way to her fingertips.
The price of using the Sun God’s power, 「Incineration」, with her bare hands was severe.
But Elysia did not stop.
Her legs, which had been bound for so long, were free.
Extreme fear and exhaustion had drained all her strength.
She could not stand.
Even so, Elysia began untying the rope around Alina’s ankles with her trembling, burned hands.
Every time her fingers touched it, her burned skin screamed.
The burns had melted her palms, leaving her unable to open or close them.
Elysia bit her lips until they bled, enduring the pain.
“Cough! Little girl... get up... we have to get out....”
“Ugh... I-I can’t see... I can’t see....”
Alina trembled.
Because she had looked directly at the intense light Elysia had just released, she had temporarily gone blind.
She could not see ahead, while the sounds of fire and screams rang out all around her.
It was too much terror for a seven-year-old girl to bear.
Alina was panicking and could not move at all.
‘No... because of me….’
Elysia swallowed her self-reproach.
‘I have to get her out. She got caught up in this because of me.’
Because of her name.
Because of her bloodline.
She could not let an innocent child be sacrificed as well.
The illegitimate child gritted her teeth and tried to pull Alina up.
But Elysia, too, was exhausted.
In her current state, when even supporting her own body was difficult, it was impossible to drag away a child frozen with fear.
CRACK!
Then a burning rafter collapsed from the ceiling.
A massive ball of fire came crashing down over the two girls’ heads.
“Ah....”
Elysia shielded Alina with her body and squeezed her eyes shut.
This is the end.
The moment she thought that—
BOOM—!
A deafening roar tore through the flames.
Instead of searing heat against her face, a heavy gust of wind swept over her.
Elysia cautiously opened her eyes.
“......!”
A massive barrier stood before Elysia’s golden eyes.
It was unmistakably the silhouette of a person.
A huge shadow had entered through the flames and was sweeping the collapsing rafter aside with one arm.
Wham!
The burning wooden beam flew as though it weighed nothing and slammed into the wall.
Sparks flew and scorched his skin, but the man did not flinch.
The man’s face emerged through the smoke.
His massive frame and eyes shone even in the darkness.
A being whose intimidating presence was closer to that of a beast than a human.
Varg had arrived.
‘Could he be… the one from Norhaim I’ve only heard about…?’
The snowfield’s ice wall looked down on the sun driven into the ground.
And soon, Varg’s and Elysia’s eyes met.
* * *
‘That red hair... It really is Elysia.’
I thought briefly as I looked at the woman before me.
If I followed the original novel’s description, I should have been thinking something about 「flaming-sunset-red hair and amber eyes that held the tragedies of the world」 or whatever...
Was any of that important now?
Alina was about to burn to death.
‘I can save the impressions for later.’
Without saying a word, I bent at the waist.
Then I grabbed Alina with my left hand and the blankly staring Elysia with my right.
I tucked one under each arm as though they were sacks of rice.
“Eek! Wh-what are you doing!”
Elysia screamed in alarm.
“You’ll bite your tongue, so shut your mouth. We’re leaving.”
I gave her a brief warning, then turned around.
A romantic princess carry was reserved for my beloved wife, Kara, and Kara alone.
The next available reservation was Yeppi, the fruit of Kara’s and my love, due to see the light of day in ten months.
Alina....
I’d think about it.
But I had not the slightest intention of offering such intimacy to the original heroine, whose very existence could bring disaster and might threaten my happy family.
Right now, all that mattered was efficiency and speed.
Carrying the two of them like bundles, I charged through the flames.
Crunch!
I smashed through the debris piling up against the burning doorway with my shoulder and burst outside.
The cold night air pulled the smoke from my lungs.
“Haa... haa....”
I panted roughly as I moved away from the cabin.
Then I heard the voices of the kidnappers who had collapsed outside.
“Damn it! He’s out!”
“Destroy the evidence!”
The kidnapper leader, the split-cheeked man, and the broker who had regained consciousness were overturning the cargo bed of the carriage.
Crash!
The one or two jars still lying in the cargo bed were thrown onto the ground as well.
Black liquid spilled out, and the strong smell of alcohol filled the air.
It was a high-concentration anesthetic and potent liquor meant to drug Elysia.
And on top of it—
“Gaaaaah! Help me!”
The one-eyed man crawled out of the cabin, rolling around while on fire.
Right on top of the shards and liquid from the broken jars.
Fwoosh—!
The flames shot up as though exploding.
The alcoholic liquid caught fire, and the area around the cabin began to be engulfed in enormous flames.
The one-eyed man was swallowed by the flames without even managing to scream.
“Once the fire grows, it’ll be hard to chase us! Run!”
The leader shouted.
They had set the forest on fire to hinder my pursuit, then scattered into the darkness.
“Those bastards...!”
I ground my teeth.
I wanted to chase after them and twist their necks, but I could not move with Alina and the heroine tucked under my arms.
The forest was burning.
Red and hot, like the anger inside me.
* * *
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the forest.
Count Eisen and the search party, having received information from the mysterious informant, were surrounding the forest and closing in.
“Count! Fire!”
“That’s... toward the cabin!”
The search party was thrown into confusion by the sudden forest fire.
To make matters worse, the wind changed direction, and acrid smoke swept over the search party.
“Cough! Cough!”
“Smoke... Miss Kara! Fall back! Smoke is poison to a pregnant woman!”
Count Eisen covered his nose with his sleeve and tried to push Kara back.
But Kara’s feet did not move, as though they had been planted in the ground.
Her moonlit eyes were fixed on a shadow fleeing from the forest through the smoke.
If she had to let them get away, then only one.
As time passed, the flames and smoke would spread farther and wider.
Then, before the flames and smoke could spread far—
She would catch at least one person right now.
Kara gripped 「Frostwind」 and held her breath.
The man was fleeing away from the flames toward Kara—in other words, toward the windward side, where the fire was weaker.
He drew closer and closer.
“......”
Kara narrowed her eyes.
Rather than retreat, she held her breath and stepped forward.
With her breath held and the sound of her breathing gone, her heartbeat became clearer.
She felt as though a faint beat was following each of her heartbeats.
It was the sound of Yeppi’s heartbeat.
Shrring.
「Frostwind」 in Kara’s hand glinted coldly in the moonlight.
The fleeing man belatedly noticed Kara standing in the smoke and stopped short.
“Wh-what the hell! Move!”
He thrashed with his dagger.
At that moment, Kara’s eyes captured his face clearly.
Now she could see the long scar running across his cheek as well.
Kara murmured as though whispering to Yeppi in her womb.
“Yeppi, this is your mother. If you’re born healthy.... I’ll teach you lots.”
She lunged in a single motion.
Kara’s sword cut cleanly through the air.
An elegant yet brutally cruel arc.
Her sword was aimed at the man’s legs.
Slice—!
A chilling sound of severing.
The sound of tension releasing.
“Gaaaaah!”
The fleeing man toppled over with a scream.
The tendons behind his knees had been cleanly severed.
“I have a lot to ask you. And you’ll have to pay the price for touching Alina.”
Legs that would never let him flee again.
Kara looked down at the man crawling across the ground with cold eyes.
“I’ll leave your heart intact. And.”
Then, brushing the blood from her sword, she whispered,
“Hold in your screams. I want Yeppi to hear only pretty sounds.
Then, a familiar voice came from the burning cabin.
“Count! Alina is safe!”
It was Varg’s voice.
He was coming through the flames carrying two people.
“The fire started at the cabin! We need to contain it from here!”
“Alina... thank goodness. Everyone! Put all your effort into suppressing the forest fire! Bind the man Miss Kara caught!”
Count Eisen issued his orders with a sigh of relief.
Kara only then relaxed upon hearing her husband’s voice through the smoke.
“Varg!”
She wanted to run to him at once, but the acrid smoke blocked her way.
Kara bit her lip and looked toward Varg.
‘Varg... you’re all right, aren’t you? You have to return safely.’
Meanwhile, the kidnapper leader and the broker fled into the darkness amid the confusion.
“Huff... huff... We lost them.”
“Damn it, what a mess! We didn’t even get the money!”
The leader cursed and looked back.
The burning forest and smoke concealed their escape route.
“We’ll cross the western border for now. We’ll be safe if we get to Slokina.”
The broker said this while catching his breath.
Just as they began to relax, thinking they had almost escaped—
“And where do you think you’re rushing off to?”
A chilly voice stopped them in their tracks.
“......!”
The two men flinched and stopped.
A man in a black hood and white mask stepped out of the darkness.
Golden eyes shone through the gap in the mask.
Golden eyes exactly like Elysia’s.
The broker took a step backward.
Instead of answering, the masked man drew his sword.
“I’m short on time, so I’ll keep this brief.”
Flash!
A single sword stroke.
“Aah!”
The broker’s leg was cut, and he collapsed.
Thud.
The man looked down at the fallen broker like a piece of luggage and spoke.
“I’ll leave you alive because I need to take you back and interrogate you. You won’t need your legs to make you talk.”
Then the man’s gaze shifted to the kidnapper leader.
The leader raised his sword in terror, but his hand was trembling.
“A-are you going to interrogate me too? I have information!”
“No.”
The masked man shook his head.
“The other one... I decided to leave him here for Count Eisen. It’s only polite.”
“Th-then....”
“But.”
The man’s gaze turned ferocious.
“I’ll personally mete out the punishment for hurting my little sister.”
“Y-your little sister? Don’t tell me... You’re an impe—Gah!”
Before the leader could finish speaking, the man’s sword danced.
Swish—swish—!
Invisible sword strikes shredded the leader’s feet.
“Gaaaaaah!!”
The leader collapsed with a desperate scream.
All ten of his toes had been severed and were rolling across the snow.
A cruel punishment that would keep him from ever walking or running again.
The masked man wiped his bloodstained sword and muttered coldly,
“Unlike Mrs. Wintersword, the edge of my blade is a little rough. It’s going to hurt a lot.”
With a cold smile, the man bid farewell to the leader, who was rolling around with his toes severed, then grabbed the unconscious broker by the nape and dragged him away.
Then he looked from a distance at Varg standing before the cabin, the source of the flames, and smiled bitterly.
“I wanted to show Ellie how cool I looked. I’m too late.”