IPRIM 22

Chapter : 22

“Did that really get to you? Teaching a kid something real nice there, seriously.”

Noah, who had been watching the situation from a distance like it was some thrilling spectacle, casually cut in. His face was full of exasperation.

Meanwhile, Adele nodded along to Luisa’s words with a dazed expression.

If it’s something Lady Luisa says, then it must be right. Remember this. The phrase ‘Did we get him?’ is powerful enough to bring even the dead back to life.

Adele fervently engraved Luisa’s words into his heart. Luisa looked at Adele with unmistakable pride.

It was a scene that didn’t fit at all with the blood-soaked surroundings. At that moment, Rivael finally let out a laugh. His expression looked unusually relaxed.

I suppose I can afford to hope, he thought.

“You….”

Unlike Rivael, Luisa deeply frowned the moment she heard his laugh.

What has he done that he’s smiling like that?

She was just about to continue and scold him when—

“Ugh….”

The boss, who had briefly lost consciousness, began to twitch as if he were about to wake up.

Should I deal with that bastard first? Clicking her tongue briefly, Luisa spoke to Rivael.

“Explain exactly why you did that later.”

There was a murderous intent in her voice that made it feel like he wouldn’t leave alive if his explanation lacked even a little detail. Even so, Rivael calmly nodded under the pressure.

“Yes. Understood, Lady Luisa.”

Only then did Luisa turn her gaze toward the surrounding mercenaries and their boss.

Meanwhile, the mercenary band wanted to scrub their ears clean after hearing the name that man had just spoken.

Luisa. That woman was Luisa?!

They weren’t originally a mercenary group that operated in the underground city, so they hadn’t known Luisa well.

On top of that, all the rumors following her were absurd nonsense, so they’d dismissed everything—her being a woman, her unusual hair and eye color—as lies.

But to think such a person actually existed!

The mercenaries, their faces drained of all color, slowly dropped to their knees.

Running away was already impossible, so they hoped that showing as much remorse as possible might earn them mercy.

The boss, too, lost all strength in his legs at the sound of that name and couldn’t even stand.

“So you survived a one-on-one confrontation with that Luisa? You?”

Luisa mocked him coldly as she stared him down. Then she picked up the broken sword lying at her feet.

Mana gathered around the shattered blade, and in an instant, a perfectly intact sword was formed.

“Then you should be able to dodge this too, right?”

Luisa forcefully hurled the sword toward them. Adele’s eyes were gently covered the whole time.

* * *

Since they’d so eagerly driven blades into my body, I returned the favor in the exact same way.

No—truthfully, because they’d hurt Adele, I ended up dealing with them more brutally than I intended.

As a result, the scene before me was rather grotesque. You could hardly tell what color the wooden floor had originally been.

No matter where I looked, there was nowhere safe for the eyes to land, so I pressed my hand more firmly over Adele’s eyes.

Noah was a kid who viewed humans as test subjects, and Rivael was the sort of man who wouldn’t blink at people dying—but Adele was different.

A child who had never once seen someone die in front of him. No matter how common death was during wartime, I couldn’t show him something this horrific.

In any case, things here were finished. Making sure Adele couldn’t see, I slipped one arm under him and lifted him up, pulling his face into my shoulder.

That way, we could leave without him seeing any of it.

“Luisa, how long are you going to keep coddling him?”

Noah sighed as he spoke.

“It’s too early.”

“This is a war. What do you mean, ‘too early’?”

“He’s right. One must protect their own body.”

Rivael chimed in to support Noah. A priest who had a duty to protect the weak sure said some nice things.

And wasn’t this the same priest who couldn’t even protect one innocent child in his arms?

My voice came out sharp without me realizing it.

“So you just protected yourself and let Adele get dragged away?”

“That’s a misunderstanding. I’m a frail priest who can barely take care of himself…”

“And where did you put your divine power?”

“I was so flustered I didn’t have the chance to use it.”

I narrowed my eyes at his smooth excuse. Sometimes he really talked like some mastermind villain out of a novel. You could never tell if he was serious.

“I swear in the name of the goddesses. Besides, I was physically exhausted from searching for this child. I’m very weak, you know.”

“…Fine. I’ll believe you—just this once.”

Surely a priest wouldn’t sell out his own god just to lie.

I nodded at Rivael, who spoke without a trace of humor, then lowered my gaze to Adele.

How frightened he must’ve been. The fact that he hadn’t cried was admirable—truly.

“Lady Luisa. I’m okay. I want to look. I want to see what happened to them.”

But Adele was braver than expected. He lifted his head, met my eyes, and spoke.

The moment he said that, Noah grabbed my arm to stop me from covering Adele’s eyes again.

I could’ve shaken him off easily, but I gave in to Adele’s firm resolve.

“If it’s scary, close your eyes. I’ll move them somewhere else right away.”

“No. I’m okay, Lady Luisa.”

And just like he said, Adele really did look okay—almost a little excited, even.

Well, he was an adaptable kid.

When I stayed silent, Adele slowly and carefully stared at the fallen enemies in front of him for a long time, as if trying to etch that horrific scene into his memory. Then he turned to me and smiled softly.

“It’s not that scary.”

Was that the truth, or a lie meant to hide his fear? Either way, it was said for my sake, and it warmed my heart.

I brushed aside the bangs that had been covering his eyes, and Adele smiled with curved eyes and clung tightly to me.

“That one… might not be human. Might be a fox.”

Noah muttered something strange beside us. Adele ignored him, smiling as he leaned his head against my shoulder.

But it didn’t last long.

Suddenly, Adele flinched violently and hurriedly met my gaze.

“…It’s wet.”

“Huh?”

What is? What’s wet…?

My eyes wavered instantly at his words. It was the most flustered I’d been in a long time.

“My—my clothes… why are they wet…?”

His voice trembled with tears.

Don’t tell me…?

Was it wrong to show him something like that after all?

I hurriedly glanced down, carefully checking Adele’s waist and clothes.

What do I do? Did we have spare children’s pants at home? No, should I take him to Noah’s place and ask Noah to wash him? Could Rivael fix it with divine power?

As countless thoughts tangled in my head, Adele snapped me back to reality. His trembling hands grabbed my clothes, and he finally burst into tears.

“B-blood… Lady Luisa, your clothes are soaked in blood. Why… why are they so wet?”

Realizing the red staining my clothes was blood, Adele trembled more violently than when he’d been looking at the corpses.

Only then did I feel the warm pain spreading across my body. Wounds from the mercenaries’ swords.

“It’s—It’s my fault. You got hurt because of me, Lady Luisa, because I’m bad, so you—”

“What are you talking about? I let myself get hit on purpose so they wouldn’t get suspicious.”

I quickly cut him off before he could spiral further.

To be precise, the sword being too close to Adele’s neck had made me nervous.

Blocking blades aimed at me would’ve been easy, but even a moment’s delay could’ve seriously hurt Adele.

So I protected my vital organs with mana and deliberately let myself be stabbed just enough to lower their guard. In other words, it only looked painful—there was nothing to worry about.

As I wondered how to explain that, Noah abruptly cut in.

“You should tell it straight. That was all for his sake—”

“Noah.”

I called his name low to shut him up. He puffed out his lips and sulked.

As my clothes grew wetter with tears instead of blood, I gently patted Adele’s back.

“The clothes absorbed the blood, so it looks like a lot. Don’t worry. You get tons of little scars like this on the battlefield.”

Adele nodded eagerly, then slipped out of my arms and stood on the ground.

He probably felt guilty about being held.

“Hngh….”

Even then, tears continued to stream down his cheeks, rolling endlessly along his soft face.

What finally stopped them, surprisingly, was Noah.

Watching Adele cry with a twisted expression, Noah tossed out a cruel remark.

“You’re done for now. No matter what you do, Luisa’s going to remember you forever as a crybaby brat.”

“……!”

At the teasing words, Adele froze completely.

He must’ve hated the idea of being remembered that way. He stopped crying instantly and glared at Noah. Noah sneered back at him.

“…I won’t cry anymore.”

“Yeah. Good idea.”

“So you won’t remember me as a crybaby?”

He must’ve really hated it.

When I nodded at his desperate gaze, Adele let out a sigh of relief and tightly grabbed my hand. His hand was still shaking—he hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Noah whispered “coward” at Adele again.

“Noah. Stop it.”

This time, it was Rivael who intervened.

After standing by and watching the whole time, he naturally stepped closer and gently patted Adele’s head.

…What’s gotten into him all of a sudden?

I stared at Rivael in disbelief.

That kind, gentle expression—since when were you that kind of priest?

Adele, too, seemed confused by the sudden affection and stepped back from him.

“…Who is that person?”

“Oh? Me? I am Rivael, the faithful servant of Clo and Apos.”

Rivael eagerly answered, cutting in before I could. Apparently they hadn’t even introduced themselves when we rescued Adele.

The smile on Rivael’s face deepened.