Chapter 217: Red Forget-me-not (1)

Around the time they passed the triangular gravel bank below the waterfall, Karina grumbled.

“Saying she’s the big sister, yet leaving her disabled sister behind, where did she go? If she’s a sister, no, even before that, if she’s a comrade, she should take care of her comrade first!”

“No. Unni went to do what she had to do, trusting me! I’m really fine!”

Reina waved her hand, smiling brightly.

But no one believed her words.

It was understandable because her condition was terrible, having fallen several times while coming down the waterfall.

The clothes she was wearing were dirty with mud here and there, and the skin visible inside her outer garment showed faint bloodiness from being scratched somewhere.

This happened because Oliver suddenly rushed forward.

The Silver Lion Mercenaries and Rachel hurriedly chased after him running blindly, and we followed suit, but then Michelle, who was left behind, caught our eye. I mean Reina.

She was diligently moving her crutches to follow Oliver.

But there existed a gap that couldn’t be narrowed by effort between those with two healthy legs and her with disabled legs.

And since she could become isolated in the forest, the current situation was that we inevitably stayed behind.

“Sigh.”

Even in a messy state splattered with mud, Reina foolishly grinning and defended her sister.

“Is she kind or foolish?”

Looking at her, Karina sighed.

“What should we do?”

Then, Yuria, who was taking care of Reina with Karina, suddenly asked me.

I tilted my head.

“About what?”

“About Mr. Oliver. Something might happen.”

“Ay. So many people followed him, what could happen. With that much combat power, they’d survive even if an ogre appeared? Of course, in exchange, we’d have to throw a few people as bait.”

After that, I laughed loudly, but no one laughed along.

Ahem. Embarrassing.

It was my attempt at a joke.

“……Beasts aren’t the only danger.”

Yuria said.

Her face still hadn’t lost its worry.

“Yuria, you’re talking about those Silver Lion guys, right? Right. I felt they were sketchy too.”

Karina also agreed.

“It feels like they have some ulterior motive. This Karina’s intuition tells me so.”

“Okay, got it, got it. Then I’ll go ahead first. You guys follow slowly.”

“T-You don’t have to do that because of me! You can go together.”

“It’s fine, so come with the Unnis. It’s dangerous here alone, you know?”

“……I’m sorry. Sob.”

Reina suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

Yuria and Karina flustered.

Truly an awkward silence.

The atmosphere suddenly became cold.

“…….”

Sigh, okay.

Who wouldn’t know.

She smiles pretending to be okay every day, but that doesn’t mean she’s smiling because she’s genuinely happy.

The person having the hardest time must be her.

I approached Reina, who had her head bowed low.

“No need to be sorry. Your legs are just a little uncomfortable. You know that? Originally, to human eyes, the black part is more visible than the white part. So most people only look at their black part and feel frustrated and sad. Even though everyone has both black and white parts. It’s unfortunate.”

I continued.

“This is just my thought, but Michelle, I think your white part is much wider than your black part.”

“……Yes?”

Reina lifted her head and stared into my eyes.

“More than your legs being a little uncomfortable, no. I feel like you have a huge strength where that amount of discomfort is nothing. You just don’t know it yet.”

“H-How. How do you know that?”

I grinned.

And borrowing exactly what someone said just a moment ago, I resolved her question.

“I have good intuition. Very much so.”

Karina snorted next to me as if saying ‘Yeah right’.

But she didn’t deny it.

“It’s true. Even though this human looks frivolous and sleazy on the outside, his eye for people is quite useful.”

“Yeah. It’s true.”

Watching Yuria chiming in, Reina asked.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“Really. Is Oppa a frivolous and sleazy person?”

“……Huh?”

Short silence.

Following that, a big laugh burst out from Karina’s mouth.

“Kyahaha! What to do? I like this kid so much!”

“I-I’m sorry, Senior! I didn’t mean it that way.”

Yuria apologized, her face blushing red from how flustered she was.

“It’s okay. Anyway, don’t be too disheartened. None of us have ever thought of you as a burden.”

“Yes. Thank you!”

“Okay. I’m going. Come slowly.”

“Senior. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry. Nothing much will happen.”

──Is what I said but.

Honestly, it wasn’t that I wasn’t worried at all.

‘Because it’s about time they make a move.’

In the original work, this was exactly when the Silver Lion Mercenaries revealed their true colors.

When Oliver rushed off and was left alone was the section where the bastards initiated their action.

So normally, Oliver should be under attack, and there should have been an attack from some of them on us right now too.

‘But there isn’t.’

Are they launching an all-out offensive toward Oliver? One might wonder, but that’s not it either.

Rachel went that way, but if so, the sounds of battle that should naturally exist were not heard.

Sure enough, as I walked to the field, I could find the Silver Lion Mercenaries standing blankly nearby, only guarding the surroundings.

I walked there.

They pretended not to, but I could feel them glancing at my movements, all nerves on edge.

“Captain Gorian?”

“Mm? You came alone? The others?”

“They are coming behind. More importantly, where is Mr. Oliver?”

Gorian pointed with his hand to the inside of the field filled with grass grown to shoulder height.

“He went inside. He asked us not to come in and just guard around here.”

I pretended to nod and quickly scanned their faces, and soon realized that Vice-Captain Gallard was not visible.

And another person.

Rachel too.

Suddenly, Oliver saying he couldn’t give the Red Forget-me-not and Rachel’s eyes biting her lip while looking at him came to mind.

‘……Surely.’

I don’t think Rachel would make such a choice, but the human heart is something that can change depending on the situation.

Is there a saying that you can know ten fathoms of water but not one fathom of a person’s heart for nothing?

However, still.

‘I hope she doesn’t make a foolish choice.’

Either way, I was currently in a position to protect Oliver as a cadet out on an extracurricular activity.

If she intends to harm Oliver, I have no choice but to stop her.

And what needs to be known is that it’s not the Red Forget-me-not that can fix Reina’s legs.

It’s ‘Oliver Hyde’.

I sincerely hoped that a situation where she couldn’t fix Reina’s legs nor join Shadow due to a wrong choice wouldn’t happen.

A while later.

Reina, Karina, and Yuria arrived.

“Unni?”

Reina realized Rachel wasn’t there and asked, but no one here knew her whereabouts.

I said.

“I think she’s with Mr. Oliver inside the field.”

“Aha. I see.”

Not knowing the circumstances of the two, they all seemed to accept it.

Time flowed again like that.

How much time had passed?

With a rustling sound, someone parted the bushes and came out.

Everyone’s gaze turned there.

“Unni!”

The person who came out was Rachel.

I quickly scanned her appearance starting from her face. Fortunately, no traces of battle were visible.

Following that, not long after, Oliver popped out from a completely different direction than where she came out.

He looked around blankly and spat out a short word.

“Let’s go back.”

“Did you find the item you wanted?”

Oliver nodded.

“That’s good.”

Gorian laughed.

Why did that laugh look meaningful?

“Ah. Finally leaving! Hot and humid. I thought I was going to die of boredom. I want to go quickly, take a clean shower, and lie down on a fluffy bed to sleep.”

“You worked hard, Unni.”

“Sigh. Yeah. You worked hard too.”

Karina spoke while looking at Rachel.

“You worked hard too. But, focusing on work is good, but I think you should take care of your sister a bit too.”

Rachel just nodded without answering.

What was surprising was that Karina didn’t get angry even in that rude manner.

She just made a somewhat peculiar expression.

“Okay! Let’s move!”

Having achieved our goal, we hastened our steps to exit Yurad Forest before night fell.

Fortunately, there wasn’t a single beast attack while leaving.

“It’s Ghost Rock!”

When we returned to Ghost Rock, the boundary between Yurad Forest and the mountain range, it was already getting dark.

“We’ll have to stay here tonight.”

Gorian, who became the group’s guide again during the return, said to Oliver.

“……Do as you wish.”

Oliver stared at Gorian for a moment and nodded.

‘He felt it.’

Yes.

Oliver felt it too.

That Gorian’s attitude had changed somewhere.

During the journey and three nights, he always ‘suggested’, never nailed it down like just now saying ‘we have to’.

‘They were waiting for us to come out of Yurad Forest.’

Then is it tonight?

The mercenaries’ eyes organizing the campsite flashed in the darkness by the firelight.

Snap! Crack!

A night where the moon in the sky felt exceptionally chilly.

There was an uninvited guest breaking the silence of the quiet mountain.

“It’s War-wolves!”

Growl!

War-wolf.

A large wolf-type magical beast with a mane on its neck like a lion.

Grade 4, not strong, but quite annoying bastards as they travel in packs.

Naturally, they were not difficult opponents for us.

The problem would be that this situation itself is one of the moves they prepared.

How do I know?

Well.

“What?”

“……This. Don’t tell me.”

My body became heavy as if gravity suddenly increased.

And looking at Karina and Yuria’s rapidly hardening expressions, I know.

“Terror?”

Mana Freeze.

It was the aftermath caused by a Beast Pouch.

Which means the one who commissioned these Silver Lion Mercenaries bastards is the Beltus Cult.

Half right and half wrong.

Because the one who commissioned the Silver Lion Mercenaries to kill Oliver was not the Cult but the Naimus Empire.

But, since those guys are those guys anyway.

‘No point in nitpicking.’

I cut down the War-wolf jumping from the front and approached Reina.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes? Ah, yes! But my mana isn’t moving as I want.”

“It’s because of a weapon called Beast Pouch. Don’t overdo it.”

“Do magical beasts use such weapons too?”

“No. People used it.”

Reina’s eyes widened.

“Who on earth would do such a thing…….”

“Just stay by my side for now.”

“Yes. But Gerard Oppa. Where is Mr. Oliver?”

Huh?

“Of course, he would be there…….”

……Oliver wasn’t in the place where I thought he would be.

Then a sense of crisis suddenly brushed through my head.

I quickly looked around, and soon furrowed my brow and scratched my head.

‘Ha shit. This is driving me crazy.’

It wasn’t just Oliver who disappeared in the confusion.

Rachel.

She too had disappeared.

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