<CHAPTER 7>

She couldn’t bring herself to trust that man.

He hadn’t properly explained anything, and it was true that he had lied about being a supervisor.

The name Bellona itself could also be a lie.

But for some reason, she liked that name, so she decided to keep using it even if it was false.

And in any case, Bellona had no choice but to follow Solishar.

If she were left behind in this wasteland, there would be no way for her to survive.

“You didn’t die today.”

As she fidgeted, he spoke, seemingly bothered.

“You kept surviving, so that’s enough.”

But he had said her memories were gone, and even the records had been erased.

Having decided to believe only the worst of what Momona Kien said, Bellona opened her lips to say something.

But Solishar frowned.

“You need to survive tomorrow too, so just sleep.”

“……Am I going to keep sleeping outside now?”

“For the time being.”

As Bellona shifted restlessly, Solishar let out a sigh and added,

“We’ll see.”

The hard and cold ground was far too uncomfortable, and sleep wouldn’t come.

Even when she closed her eyes, she kept thinking of the people who had collapsed so easily.

Her whole body ached from riding all day, yet her mind remained painfully awake.

Still, Bellona tightly shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

Maybe if she kept trying, she would eventually fall asleep.

It felt like a long time had passed.

Just as the campfire they had lit began to die down into embers, Solishar suddenly stood up.

“Bellona, wake up!”

At the short and sharp shout, Bellona jerked upright.

When she lifted her head, Solishar had already drawn his longsword.

As she tried to move—whoosh!—an arrow flew in.

Pushed by force, Bellona rolled across the ground without even managing to scream.

Fortunately, she avoided the campfire, and Solishar grabbed her and pulled her up.

“They’re trying to capture me again—”

“No.”

Solishar stomped out the fire and stared into the unseen darkness as he muttered,

“This time, it’s me.”

Bellona stared at him, confused by what he meant, but instead of answering, he pulled her behind him.

Arrows slammed into the spot where she had just been standing.

These were the ones who had refused to give up on the missing Crown Prince and had come all this way to find him.

They were nothing like the sheriff and the mage guild she had seen earlier—they were professionals who specialized in killing.

A sharp metallic ringing pierced the air.

Kiing—!

The sound scraped against her eardrums, making Bellona shrink as she looked around.

The tied horses were thrashing wildly, and beneath his mask, the corners of Solishar’s lips seemed to curl upward viciously.

Arrows continued to rain down, but he deflected them with ease.

Even in the darkness, it was as if he could see every arrow aimed at him.

“Run away!”

It might be better to escape.

“Can’t.”

Solishar replied shortly and struck the rock Bellona had been leaning against with his sword.

The rock, which had stood firm through time, was absurdly sliced apart.

He kicked the upper half with force.

The heavy chunk of stone flew low and far, knocking down two mounted archers in a single blow.

“Stay behind me. Don’t come out.”

Leaving only those words, Solishar charged forward.

He cut down the nearest horse first.

As the horse’s neck fell, the rider wielding a sword crashed to the ground.

He threw that sword, piercing another enemy’s chest.

Then he severed the arm of a man thrusting a spear from the right with the longsword in his hand.

He grabbed the stolen spear and hurled it into another attacker rushing toward him.

The man struck by the spear fell, and a horse behind him, unable to avoid the collision, crashed down with a loud cry.

Solishar moved at a speed that was hard to follow with the eyes.

Wherever he passed, horses fell and people were torn apart.

Figures dressed in black, faces covered like his, collapsed and writhed on the ground.

Dominating the battlefield, Solishar looked like something beyond human.

There were many attackers, but he missed none of them.

But it was dangerously close.

Pale-faced, Bellona searched for something she could do and approached the tied horses.

If things went bad, she planned to release them and escape with Solishar.

Then again, that metallic ringing sound echoed.

Kiing—!

The sharp sound was chilling.

As Bellona fumbled with the knots, she lifted her head.

Under the starlit black night, Solishar fought like a maddened warrior against mounted riders.

The source of the noise was not among those approaching him.

It came from someone farther away, standing still.

A figure in a robe was watching Solishar.

Bellona’s heart dropped.

She had seen a scene like this before.

Her once-empty mind seized the returning memory.

When she was young, she often played in the forest.

It was filled with all kinds of plants, trees, edible fruits, and mushrooms.

Even alone, she was never bored.

There were large deer, rabbits, foxes, and sometimes even bears.

All the children who lived nearby knew to avoid places where dangerous beasts appeared.

That day, Bellona had gone out with a basket when she heard a strange sound deep in the forest.

“Ghhh…”

A friend she often played with was convulsing.

In front of them, a gray wolf growled.

She should have run away.

But then she heard it.

Kiing—!

A piercing sound that felt like it would tear her ears apart echoed through the dense fir forest.

‘It’s a bad sound!’

Young Bellona jumped up instinctively.

Placing her gloved hand against a tree, she moved forward.

It was a cruel sound that tormented people.

Her friend trembled but continued to fight the wolf as if being commanded.

Beyond them, she saw a robed figure hiding among the trees.

A bad mage.

She had to help her friend.

Both the wolf and her friend would die.

Bellona reached out with all her strength.

And now, in the present—

“No!”

In the northern region of the Hellen Empire, Ielheroi, 87 km northwest of the “Endless Plains,” Bellona shouted just as she had back then.

“Don’t follow that sound!”

The wicked spell that pierced into the mind like a blade and drove people mad—she struck it recklessly.

She had done it since childhood.

Just like when she had calmed her frenzied friend, Bellona shook Solishar awake.

She didn’t miss the mage hiding behind, chanting spells cowardly.

Like when she had wished for hot water yesterday, she wished simply and desperately.

‘Stop doing bad things! Stop hurting people!’

That simple feeling flew out and shoved the mage.

The hood fell back, revealing an old man with a beard and wrinkles.

The mage widened his eyes in shock.

“Sol! Snap out of it!”

That was all Bellona could do.

Just like when she was eight—raw, clumsy, unrefined power.

So she shouted with all her heart.

“I stopped it, so don’t follow it!”

She blocked the path in Solishar’s mind that had opened toward the spell.

“Sol! A-Are you listening to me?”

Her hands trembled, her legs shook, but she forced herself to shout.

“Get a grip! I suddenly lost my memories! Even my name used to be Yanke! My hair is green, and I don’t want to die here!”

Driven to the brink, her true feelings burst out.

The mage began chanting again without even fixing his hood.

Solishar was still slaughtering people.

The assassins focused entirely on him.

There was likely no reason left in him.

Like her childhood friend, he had become a beast.

A chill ran down her spine.

He was enjoying the slaughter.