Chapter 67
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to die?”
“No.”
Though her body was steadily fading away, Fay answered firmly.
Alnazir instinctively reached out his hand.
“If you want to live, take my hand.”
“The moment I take that hand, I’ll be betraying the people I care about and I’ll become just like you.”
“It’s nothing more than survival instinct. Any living creature would understand that.”
“I’m not like that. I’d rather die than betray the people I love.”
Stop being so stubborn. Didn’t I just say I don’t want to see you die?
Clicking his tongue, Alnazir tried to grab her by force if he had to. He put strength into his voice, attempting to command her to stop.
But his tongue felt stiff. He couldn’t get the words out.
Her eyes, brimming with anger and sorrow, stared straight at him. His chest churned. It was similar to how he felt when he looked at her cute, bright expressions. But different.
This is bad.
Realizing it belatedly, he snapped back to his senses and reached out again. She had already drifted beyond arm’s reach, so tentacles unfurled from his palm.
He was a step too late.
Fay vanished completely.
“Fay, stop playing around. You used some kind of magic, didn’t you?”
She wasn’t someone who treated her life lightly. She wouldn’t kill herself. Alnazir activated every sense he possessed, searching for any trace of her.
She hadn’t simply ceased to exist. She was somewhere nearby. But even with his abilities, he couldn’t detect where.
“Fay.”
“……”
“You’d better not make me angry. Show yourself right now and come here.”
“……”
“Fay. If it’s now, I’ll forgive you, so come ba—!”
Ah. She’s getting farther away.
He felt it, she was running without looking back. Yet he couldn’t tell in which direction.
“Fay!”
The fury he had been suppressing finally erupted. She had to hear him. She was the only one who could truly hear his voice.
Instead, a sharp spearpoint pressed against his throat.
Soldiers clad in golden armor surrounded him, shouting in a language he didn’t understand.
This wasn’t the sound he wanted to hear. It grated on him twice as much as usual. Out of habit, Alnazir nearly turned them to stone and stopped.
If he so much as touched one of them, even just one, the contract would be fulfilled. Fay, already furious and fleeing, would seize the opportunity to banish him from this world immediately.
Caught between acting and not acting, a distant explosion suddenly rang out.
Boom.
“Fay.”
He knew instinctively it was her doing. Another explosion followed. Then another.
He shook off the soldiers and began running on two legs. Human legs were unbearably slow. He couldn’t possibly catch up to the spreading explosions.
He should just use magic. Fly straight to her.
The moment he stopped to do so, golden light flashed and the soldiers swarmed him again. There were so many that only one of his hands remained visible.
Meanwhile, the explosions spread deeper into the heart of enemy territory.
* * *
Clad in golden armor, Zynie nervously darted her eyes back and forth through the slit in her helmet. The armor had been taken from soldiers who had been scouting around Aldehallow earlier.
“Is this sloppy plan really going to work?”
No matter how well they were disguised, the thought of walking straight into enemy lines with only the two of them made her skin crawl.
“What other choice do we have?”
Virelda replied bluntly.
“We could’ve flown in on brooms and attacked from above. Or sent Donovan—”
“If we did the first, we’d be captured too and Fay would have two fellow hostages. If we did the second, we’d lose Donovan and end up with two hostages instead.”
Annoying, but true.
Zynie pouted, unable to argue further. As a witch, wearing a golden helmet felt deeply humiliating. But at least it hid her expression.
“Why are you even going to save Fay in the first place?”
She was Fay’s sister. She can’t just sit still.
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