“…This is a fake. It’s a trap.”
“What?”
“Catch them.”
Jade handed the reins to Iris. Iris, who had inadvertently received the reins, got off the carriage and looked at him.
“There’s a tracking spell on it. You all take the other classmates from here and go back first. I’ll lure those bastards and clean up the situation before following.”
Before Iris could even reply, Jade hurriedly distanced himself from them. Iris asked Elijah next to her with a vacant face.
“What does that mean…? A tracking spell on the necklace?”
This mission was really a complete mess. It was the first time everything had gone wrong like this from one to ten.
“Today’s luck is really terrible. Right, Elijah?”
Iris turned her head to look at Elijah. Elijah had a face that looked anxious somewhere. Well, there had been so many unexpected situations that it was understandable.
“Don’t worry, Master will handle it. We just need to get out of here quickly.”
However, Elijah didn’t seem to be listening to her words. He took off his stuffy gloves and handed them to Iris while endlessly gazing at the other side of the alley. Iris also became anxious in turn and could only hope that the other children would show themselves quickly.
“Iris! Elijah!”
Then Clover came running from afar, waving his hand. His large build compared to the other children was clearly visible even from a distance. Elijah examined the people following behind him one by one.
“…”
Rose wasn’t there. There were only three classmates visible. Elijah, who had jumped down from the carriage, ran toward them.
“Where’s Rose.”
“He’s not here yet? I, I don’t know. I was with Daisy.”
Elijah’s gaze immediately turned to Igrit. Before anyone could stop him, he roughly grabbed Igrit’s collar.
“Where’s Rose.”
“Let go of this! How would I know!”
“If you don’t know, who does.”
“We each moved separately! It’s obvious, he’s late because he’s stupidly wandering around lost. I just finished my role at the stable and came straight here!”
Clover, who saw a glow forming on the hand gripping the collar, was startled and stopped Elijah.
“Igrit’s right! If we wait a bit, he’ll come. Rose didn’t even go inside the stable in the first place.”
“Elijah, don’t worry.”
If left any longer, it seemed like he would use magic on Igrit. Elijah fiercely glared at the children blocking him.
“You and Daisy moved in pairs, so why is only Rose alone? Igrit, didn’t you hear Master’s words? You should have found Rose and brought him!”
“Calm down, Elijah! Don’t be angry!”
Elijah shook off Clover who was grabbing his arm and ran again to the hellish scene where the fire demon was breathing out its breath.
“Elijah, it’s dangerous if you go now!”
“Leave him! Let him get scolded by Master like that!”
Igrit brushed off his crumpled collar and shouted irritably at Elijah’s back. Clover and Daisy looked at him with suspicious eyes.
“Igrit, but why did you really come alone? Rose was with you.”
* * *
The area of the street was already crowded with people, leaving no room to step. The mages who appeared to be the city security force were busy controlling the flames and calling for colleagues, and nearby merchants were stamping their feet worried the flames would spread to their shops.
In that chaos, Elijah frantically looked around for Rose. However, it wasn’t easy for a teenage boy to move while squeezed between tall adults.
Having barely approached the source of the commotion, Elijah carefully checked the injured people escaping with the help of the security force. However, Rose was nowhere to be seen.
This won’t do. Even if noticed, I’ll have to use magic. This was also disobeying Master’s instructions, but there was no choice right now.
Just as he was pondering how to suppress this commotion as quickly as possible and find Rose, something he had forgotten flashed through Elijah’s mind.
‘Tracking spell.’
One dawn when sleep wouldn’t come, Elijah had secretly placed a tracking spell on the mark he had engraved on Rose. He had forgotten about it for a while since there was no particular use for it while inside the monastery, but he really didn’t know he’d actually have a use for it.
A glow formed in his hand. Magic power that flowed out like smoke squeezed between the confused crowd and stretched out stealthily. The green eyes that were following that trajectory froze coldly.
Contrary to Clover’s words that he hadn’t even entered the stable, Rose’s traces continued from the stable. Elijah ran following the trajectory of light connected like a thread along his movement path.
Elijah’s steps, which had been wandering through the alley, slowed down. Perhaps Rose had been desperate too, as it was quite far from the commotion.
A dead-end narrow alley lined with old buildings of unknown purpose and bare people. At the point where the trajectory was cut off, several large men were surrounding someone.
“Miss, are you okay? Oh my, you’re bleeding a lot.”
“There’s chaos at Belliar Inn over there right now. Looks like you escaped from there?”
“But why did you come here of all places? Pretty one, lift your head a bit. Hey, come here and look at this kid. With such a great face, doesn’t it seem like someone who works on Nevins Street over there?”
“If they work on Nevins, they wouldn’t be wearing clothes like this. Excuse me, miss? Do you have anyone with you?”
“The burns are too severe, we need to treat them first.”
“Wait, but hold on, is this kid even a girl? Miss, can you hear me?”
Elijah, who had run at full speed, shoved them aside. The men, who didn’t feel much impact and stepped back, looked down at the boy who was only half their size.
“What’s this one now.”
Through the gap between them, a heart-wrenching sight came into view. Rose, who was barely supporting his crouched body against the wall, seemed almost unconscious. The burned flesh in places, torn clothes, and burns that covered his half-exposed shoulder in bright red painfully pierced Elijah’s vision.
“Hey, what are you.”
Elijah, who had taken off his cloak and wrapped it around Rose and turned around, blocked his front with a firm attitude.
“…He’s my companion. Don’t touch him.”
At the gaze dripping with blatant hostility, the men clicked their tongues as if displeased.
“Your friend looks badly hurt, so we were trying to help. You don’t need our help?”
“I don’t.”
The unfriendly gaze instantly turned ferocious. The men each muttered curses that Elijah couldn’t understand and laughed as if absurd.
“Then get lost. Do you even know where this is before coming in? We’re seeing all kinds of strange bastards.”
Elijah, who had draped Rose’s arm over his shoulder, stood up. However, supporting Rose, who was taller than him, was a very difficult task for him. The men couldn’t readily extend a helping hand because of Elijah’s attitude and just watched.
Elijah, who had barely gathered up the drooping Rose, stood up with him on his back. One of the men watching them frowned as if annoyed.
“How long will it take to get to a physician crawling like that?”
“Don’t blame us later, kid.”
Ignoring the words that were either mockery or concern, Elijah silently passed between them.
“…lijah.”
Perhaps consciousness had returned a bit because he moved his body, as a faint voice brushed past his ear. Blood that flowed along the arm draped over Elijah’s shoulder formed on the pale fingertips and soon fell to the ground.
“I can walk, I’m okay.”
The faint voice was precarious as if it would fade away at any moment. Far from walking, it was already a miracle that he hadn’t completely lost consciousness.
“…Just hold on a little.”
While gathering up the body that kept drooping down, Elijah said.
“When we get home, Master will treat you.”
The voice forcibly suppressed to sound calm trembled finely. A short sigh flowed from Rose.
“I said I wouldn’t be a hindrance, but it ended up like this after all.”
“…”
“It’s not even difficult work like what you guys do…”
“You fool, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
The anger that surged up welled in his eyes. The people lined up in the narrow alley looked at the two of them with strange eyes. Elijah couldn’t even cry freely because he was wary of the attention focused on them.
“…When we get back, I won’t leave Igrit alone.”
A sound like a laugh mixed with coughing was heard from above his shoulder.
“Cool, Elijah…. You’re really like a prince.”
If he were a real prince, he wouldn’t have let the princess end up like this. However, he couldn’t scold his hurting friend for talking nonsense. Elijah just silently gathered him up and carried him.
“…It would be so nice if I could protect you too.”
They say people talk nonsense when in extreme pain, and it seemed to be true. Elijah thought he was really saying absurd things.
“You don’t have to do anything.”
Elijah said firmly to such a Rose.
“…Just stay by my side. That’s protecting me.”
“You’re trying to do all the cool things yourself.”
Whether it was just him whose insides were burning black, even in this situation Rose joked well.
“Oh my, child, how did this happen to you? Where are your parents?”
As soon as they barely escaped the alley, more crowds passed by them. Several adults couldn’t just pass by Rose, whose injuries looked serious, and extended helping hands.
“Did you perhaps come from Belliar Inn?”
“How did you get here with that body? Why didn’t you ask the security force to treat you…”
“Child, are you guys okay?”
“Kid, will you come here? Uncle’s shop is right over there. I’ll call a physician for you. You don’t want to? Where are you trying to go with that body?”
However, to the two boys unfamiliar with the outside world, those unfamiliar hands just felt like threats.
