Chapter 9.1 – Hunting Festival (Part 11)

Naturally, four people came to mind. When she wasn’t talking to the masked man, she thought about them all the time. She worried about many things, like whether those most sensitive to her safety were blaming themselves, or if they had been badly injured by the monster.

‘I wonder if Serena and Katrina are alright?’

And she was also worried about the two people she had separated from after the monster appeared. Although she had her own problems, as time passed, she thought of them more and more and worried about them. Because the situation when they parted wasn’t good for either her or them.

Just then, the carriage stopped again. Ria raised her head and stared at the tightly closed door. It was strange that they had stopped so suddenly when they had just started moving again not long ago. 

Surely they hadn’t arrived already……

“This is driving me crazy! We still have a long way……”

While she was tensing up and staying alert, thinking the worst, she heard the man outside swearing and shouting. From the bits and pieces she could hear, Ria roughly understood the situation and let out a long breath.

‘Looks like something happened.’

She couldn’t tell exactly what, but it seemed like they could buy some time. Just then, the Countess, who had been unconscious until now, woke up with a groan, and Ria moved her body as much as she could to approach the Countess.

“Madam, are you conscious?”

“Ugh…. Where is……”

“We’re in a carriage. Your ankle is broken, so it will be difficult for you to move. The man said he gave some rough first aid……”

The Countess, who had been shaking her head left and right to clear her mind, lowered her gaze to look at her ankle. The swollen state didn’t look good at all. She couldn’t even move it.

Raising her gaze again, the Countess looked at Ria and carefully opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I asked you to trust me, but I couldn’t even help properly…, I’m sorry.”

Thinking that this was really the end, she apologized repeatedly with a face that was gradually distorting with despair. 

I’m sorry, I apologize.

Ria looked at her and bit her lip hard. If it weren’t for this situation, she would have said it was okay. No, there wouldn’t have been any reason for her to apologize in the first place. So if she opened her mouth now, she couldn’t guarantee what words would come out. She felt like words of blame and resentment might come out because the current situation was just too difficult.

After swallowing the words that had been circling in her throat for a while, closing her eyes tightly and then opening them, Ria spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

“…Why do you think it’s over?”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t think so. I’m going to escape from here, escape from those people. And then…, then I’ll return to them.”

Eyes filled with determination and firmness stared at the Countess. This was both a statement to her and to herself. It was a pledge to definitely escape from this place and return.

At that moment, the carriage door opened. Ria clenched her fist as she saw the man standing with his back to the moonlight.

The man, who seemed like he would enter the carriage at any moment, stood blankly in front of the door, looking at her. Not knowing what this meant was frustrating.

After staring at each other for who knows how long, the man slightly shifted his body and pointed his finger at the air.

“Outside…, stuffy….”

Ria’s expression frowned slightly. It was incredibly frustrating that his way of speaking didn’t seem like it would ever improve. Or he could at least speak a bit longer.

As if he was just as frustrated, the man who had been pointing at the air lowered his hand and fell into thought for a moment. Then, suddenly, he took out a dagger from his chest and stabbed it into his own thigh before pulling it out.

“Eek!”

Horrified at the sight of blood gushing out, Ria trembled and instinctively pressed her body against the wall. She couldn’t understand what was suddenly happening.

But the man, who was the one injured, didn’t seem to feel any pain as he looked at Ria again and opened his mouth. Strangely, his words were a bit more proper than before.

“You said you’re stuffy, wind…, it’s okay now…, he’s gone….”

Then he reached out his hand towards her. Ria, overcome with fear, could only alternately look at that hand and the man, not knowing what to do. Then the man started saying strange things.

“Now, chance…. Full moon…, seal is weak. Help me….”

It was incomprehensible why he was asking for help when it was actually herself who needed help. No, this whole situation was like that. She was just endlessly scared, and scared again.

“Please…. God’s child…. Noble…, ability….”

What penetrated Ria’s mind were the man’s following words. Ria stiffened with a start.

“…What, what did you just say……”

She searched for the word ‘god’. He called her a child of god while looking at her. He knew she had an ability. 

How? How did you know that?

“Who are you?”

“Huh…. Corrupted power, can be released…. With god’s ability….”

Despite Ria’s question, the man only spat out his own words. With an increasingly urgent voice, he twisted his body and shook his head. It looked as if he was trying to resist something as much as possible.

Watching this, Ria quickly turned her thoughts. She combined all the words he had spit out. Chance, full moon, seal is weak, help me, god’s child, noble ability, corrupted power, can be released, god’s ability.

In that moment, like a realization, one fact struck her mind. It flashed like finding light in a hazy fog.

After that, it was instinct that made her grab the man’s hand that was offered to her without hesitation. Centered on their clasped hands, a blue light spread widely, and a faint wind wrapped around them.

Ria opened her mouth as if entranced. A blue light, the same as her ability, rippled in her dark brown eyes.

【I shall awaken you, trapped in corrupted power against God’s will, from within the seal.】

Although it was spoken in her own voice, it wasn’t her saying those words. She simply repeated the content that someone whispered in her ear as if helping.

As soon as the words ended, the blue light that had spread widely rushed towards the man all at once. The light disappeared as if absorbed as soon as it touched the man’s body. The hazy, murky eyes began to regain their full light.

“Haah-.”

The man exhaled long as if releasing a blocked breath. As the light fully returned to his eyes, the blue light disappeared from Ria’s eyes.

‘Well done, child.’

Feeling as if someone was gently stroking her head, Ria lost consciousness.

***

“My lady!”

Fortunately, Ria opened her eyes quickly. As she raised her body, holding her slightly dizzy head, the Countess who was right beside her supported her.

“Are you alright?”

“Ugh, yes.”

Blinking her eyes slowly several times to focus, Ria soon looked down at her two hands. She had never used her ability in such a big way before. No, she didn’t even know her ability was that much to begin with.

Until now, it was only about relieving fatigue or healing minor wounds. Even that had been quite a while since she last used it, as the four people had been preventing her from using it at some point.

Thump, thump, her heart beat quickly. Perhaps, her ability could do more than she knew herself.

The only problem was that her body, not yet adapted to such great power, might collapse like just now, but that was no longer an important issue for Ria. Before being kidnapped, how angry she had been at herself for not being of any help to them. She never wanted to feel that powerlessness again.

‘When I get back, I should meet Leah.’

Ria resolved to look into her ability in more detail. Then suddenly, she noticed that her clenched fists were free.

‘The rope…!’

No matter how many times she blinked, there was only a red mark left on her wrist, but no rope. When she looked down, the rope that had been tying her ankles was also gone.

Only then did she realize that the Countess’s hands and feet, which had been supporting her, were also free. Before she could think about what had happened in that short moment, she heard the sound of someone collapsing right in front of her.

When she turned her head towards the sound, she saw a man kneeling with his head bowed deeply, having removed his mask. The man spoke before Ria could say anything.

“I’m sorry. And although it’s shameless, thank you. Thanks to you, I can finally move by my own will.”

“…Pardon?”

“First, I think it would be easier to explain if I introduce myself.”

The man, bowing his head even deeper, brought his clenched right hand over his left chest.

“I am Mikel, a holy knight of the Holy Kingdom and the direct shadow of the late Holy One. I greet the noble child of God.”

It was the Countess who was so surprised that she held her breath at those words. 

The Holy Kingdom! 

Even if she was a commoner, even if she was an abused Countess, as long as she was a citizen of the Empire, she couldn’t not know about the Holy Kingdom and the Temple. Especially the fact that the Holy Kingdom had closed its doors was known to the entire country and all its people.

“The Holy Kingdom?”

But Ria, who didn’t know much about it, had a look of incomprehension. Mikel began to explain step by step.

“Yes. The Holy Kingdom is the center where God is served and God’s will is conveyed, and it’s the only place that has power equal to the Liberti Empire. The Holy One is the only person who can hear God’s will.”

“Then why did someone who serves such a high person do this?”

“……”