Chapter 101
Bang!
One of the pirates, chattering among themselves, suddenly slapped the top of the iron cage holding the two children.
Then, as if signaling them to be quiet, he placed his index finger against the center of his lips and grinned, showing his yellow teeth.
Nina pressed a hand against her pounding chest.
Her heart raced with fear, yet a surge of anger rose within her.
But if she provoked them recklessly here, not only she but also Den would be in danger.
Woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof!
The sound of dogs barking came from outside.
It wasn’t just one dog; there were several.
“Chatter, chatter? Chatter, chatter!”
The pirates muttered something to each other and went back outside the warehouse.
Nina and Den stared at each other blankly.
“Are there dogs?”
“I don’t know. But doesn’t it sound like they’re a bit far away?”
Indeed, it wasn’t coming from nearby.
It felt as if all the dogs in the entire town had suddenly started barking in unison, and with the pirates yelling mixed in, it seemed like chaos had erupted everywhere in an instant.
Den, who had one ear covered and was listening carefully with the other, muttered suddenly,
“Wolves?”
“Huh?”
“Wolves have appeared…”
There was no time to think what he meant, and then—
“Ughaaahhh!”
A scream—universal in any language—pierced the air.
One of the pirates who had come earlier shouted loudly as he ran back inside, freezing Nina and Den in place.
More precisely, they stopped breathing at the sight of a massive creature chasing him.
A wolf with silvery white fur—or maybe a wild dog.
Perhaps it was just a dog, but its size made it no wonder the pirates mistook it for a wolf.
“What is that…? A fighting dog?”
Den’s voice trembled.
Nina just stared silently at the gigantic beast that had appeared out of nowhere.
Bang, bang!
The pirate fired his gun, but the wild dog, moving like a flash of white lightning, grabbed him in one swift motion, shook him violently a few times, and slammed him to the side.
The event happened so fast it felt unreal.
The wild dog calmly approached the door again, then suddenly stopped and looked back at the cage holding Nina.
In the dim air of the warehouse, its golden eyes faintly glimmered.
The mysterious silvery dog then turned and ran out of the warehouse.
A long, howling sound echoed.
Nina didn’t move, barely even breathing.
Everything around her was noisy, yet it didn’t fully register.
“Nina! Nina!”
Den’s hand shook her shoulder, and she finally snapped back to reality.
“Found you! Wow, thank goodness, kids!”
Clang!
The person who entered the warehouse and opened the cage door was Perry.
Perry hugged them tightly, overwhelmed with emotion.
He squeezed so hard that Nina was briefly stunned, while Den screamed.
“Ugh…!”
“Oh! Sorry, are you okay?”
“…Yeah. Uncle Chester?”
“You must be disappointed we came in here, huh?”
A thick smoke poured into the warehouse, as if something had exploded.
Perry hurriedly led them outside, revealing the pier completely turned to ruins.
“Found you! Both are safe!”
Nearby, Chester, spinning a rusty spike with one hand while looking down at someone, immediately threw the spike aside.
“Kids…!”
“U-Uncle…!”
Den looked like he might burst into tears upon seeing Chester.
Meanwhile, Nina, who spotted Lavian, widened her eyes in shock.
Lavian sat casually atop the rubble, staring down at the pirates piled at his feet.
Something about the atmosphere felt off.
His absinthe-colored eyes seemed empty, unfocused.
It was an unusually dark and violent aura, very unfamiliar to Nina.
“Hey, Lav. Stop that!”
“We found the kids, so get a grip!”
Chester and Perry shouted, but Lavian seemed not to hear them.
“This won’t do. Perry, take the kids—Nina?!”
Chester tried to grab her, but Nina ignored him and dashed forward.
She ran straight up and clung with all her strength to Lavian’s back.
“Sir…!”
For a moment, she felt his body stiffen.
“Sir… you… came to find me…”
Gasping, Nina continued speaking as Lavian slowly turned around.
The empty look in his terrifyingly hollow eyes gradually regained focus.
Nina caught her breath and swallowed.
After all, the culprits were already dead, and she didn’t want him to lose control any further.
It wasn’t fear of him.
No matter the situation, Nina would never be afraid of Lavian.
She was only concerned for him.
That was all.
“This is all our fault.”
Chester, now beside them, said quietly, without addressing anyone in particular.
“We’d been too relaxed, thinking it would be fine throughout the festival. We thought one last day wouldn’t matter, yet we ended up caught in this mess…”
“No.”
Nina shook her head firmly.
If she blamed Den and Chester, Den would feel too pitiful.
Moreover…
“It’s okay. I wasn’t scared at all. I knew you guys would come to find us.”
Even though her tone was resolute, Chester simply looked at her with concern.
Ignoring his unreadable gaze, Nina prompted Lavian.
“Let’s go, okay?”
Lavian blinked blankly for a moment, then obediently nodded and rose.
“Oh, this…”
As Nina tugged Lavian’s hand to lead him, Chester picked up something from where Lavian had been sitting and handed it to her.
“Oh…”
It was the teddy bear they had pulled from the shooting range earlier.
She thought it had been lost, but somehow Lavian had brought it along.
‘Thank goodness.’
The sun had already completely set.
As they walked through the nearby commercial district away from the ruined pier, Lavian and Chester remained silent, not a word passing their lips.
So the conversation fell to the remaining three.
Nina worried the mood was getting too heavy and kept talking to Perry and Den.
“Uncle Perry, thanks for getting us out earlier.”
“Huh? Ahaha, it’s nothing… Hey, Den, stop crying. Nina isn’t crying either.”
“B-But… I feel bad… because of me, Nina…”
Den kept apologizing, his eyes red from sniffling.
Watching him, Nina felt a strange twinge of emotion and even questioned her own preferences.
‘By the way, Den is the nephew of the King of Normand.’
The current king of Normand was also her step-aunt.
According to the information Nina remembered, Den had lost his parents under his aunt’s care and had been in danger ever since.
‘She’s just as wicked as Mom. Now I understand why Den said ghosts don’t scare him…’
“I’m really okay. Besides, Den was in danger too. It’s not his fault, so stop crying.”
Seeing his sorrow, Nina comforted him gently, and Den finally nodded and stopped crying.
“Mm… But what was that dog earlier?”
“…Yeah, I wonder.”
“Did the uncles bring the dog?”
“Do you raise dogs?”
“Not exactly, but I’ve seen the uncles raise a few fighting dogs.”
Den’s honest answer brought a brief, strange silence.
Nina’s hand, still holding Lavian’s, twitched.
Perry and Chester, walking beside them, stiffened as well.
“Fighting dogs…? The ones that make dogs fight?”
Nina, recalling the dogs from a café she had seen before, looked up in shock, and Lavian quickly said,
“I clearly told them to stop. But they didn’t listen.”
“Hey, when did you! We had already decided to stop! Right, boss?!”
Perry yelled for agreement, and Chester reluctantly nodded, silently saying, ‘When did we?’
“Yeah. Anyway, we were planning to shut that business down soon.”
Nina and Den looked at each other and asked simultaneously,
“Really?”
“Of course. Absolutely. I’m a man who keeps his word.”
