Chapter 135
Chapter 135
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: Mysterious Gladiator (9)
Soldiers gripping their weapons.
And behind them stood dozens of mages, all clad in identical robes and wielding the same staffs.
Rendil's magic soldiers.
'That many in a puny little city-state like this...'
Pigeant gaped beneath his helmet at the sight.
He'd only been possessing this body for a few months, so he didn't know much about army sizes relative to a nation's scale.
But even he knew that training mages to the point where they could serve as soldiers wasn't easy.
That was why nobles sent their kids to academies for proper training.
And even among them, only a rare few showed real talent for magic.
So for a small nation like this to have that many mages prepared solely for combat duty... it wasn't something they could pull off lightly.
And the biggest problem was...
'Even Rapne might not stand a chance against that many mages...!'
They'd come out in full force to capture her.
And the reason was obvious without asking.
A woman glaring at Pigeant from behind the soldiers, her face stern.
Eorite.
"You dare kidnap my slave? I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life as a cheap back-alley whore."
She swung her staff and pointed its tip straight at Rapne.
And at that signal...
The man who looked like the soldiers' commander bellowed.
"All units! Reinforcement magic!"
At his shout, the dozens of mages in front of the commander began chanting the same incantation in unison, gathering their magic.
Each mage paired with a soldier, boosting their physical abilities with spells.
"Tch...!"
Rapne immediately pulled a spear from her subspace pouch and assumed a stance.
She wasn't sure if she could win against that many mages and soldiers.
But she was going to fight anyway.
She'd vowed to smash anyone who got in her way of finding him.
But someone stepped in front of her.
A man wearing a bizarre helmet.
Pigeant.
"Rapne! This is suicide! I'll buy you some time—run!"
"What? Are you crazy? If we take them all down—!"
"Even you can't handle mages and warriors at the same time! Not with those numbers...!"
Pigeant knew.
Rapne was practically invincible in one-on-one fights.
But personal strength was just that—personal.
Against soldiers trained for group combat, plus a mage unit on top... even she couldn't win.
"All mages! Prepare binding spells! Soldiers, stall for time!"
That's why he blocked her path and drew his greatsword.
The crude iron blade glinted in the sunlight.
"I might be fine if they catch me, but if they get you, Rapne... it'll be real trouble! I might not be able to help you then!"
Fortunately, group casting required coordination, which took time.
So the soldiers advanced slowly to buy time until the spells were ready.
"Rapne, you run."
Pigeant turned his greatsword toward the enemies and glanced back slightly.
He couldn't show her his face through the helmet.
But he was smiling at her.
"Meeting you was pure luck. ...I hope you find that man."
"You..."
Rapne gripped her spear with trembling hands.
You couldn't know the outcome without fighting.
But against that many foes, even she wasn't sure she could win alone.
To find Ken, running was the right call.
She had no reason to stay for some mysterious helmeted stranger.
But...
Boom!
"Urgh! Go, now! Hurry—!!"
"Tch! Hold that woman until the magic's ready! Pigeant! Get your head straight and grab her!"
Rapne's feet wouldn't move, no matter how she tried.
Something deep in her instincts was screaming at her.
If she left now, she'd regret it for the rest of her life.
And then she realized why her instincts were saying that.
"Run, now—!!"
Pigeant's voice rang out again.
"Raaaapneeee—!!"
Her name echoed from inside his helmet, pounding in her ears.
'...Ah.'
And her body moved.
Before her mind could even process his shout.
Guided purely by instinct.
She charged forward.
Toward Pigeant, who was blocking the soldiers.
The voice was completely different, but she followed the familiar scent carried in that cry, swinging her spear.
'Wh-what the...!'
Pigeant froze as Rapne soared over him through the air.
She moved like a dancer in a graceful performance above him.
Her spear traced a beautiful arc, like a conductor's baton.
And that spear...
Incredibly, it changed length at will, stretching and shrinking unpredictably.
It blasted the surrounding soldiers away in an instant.
Kr-boom!
It didn't take them down, but it succeeded in separating them from Pigeant.
And in that split-second gap after shoving the soldiers aside...
With her 'Nerve Acceleration' awakened several times stronger than usual, time slowed around Rapne.
"Whoa!"
She scooped Pigeant into her arms and bolted.
By the time Pigeant came to his senses, he was cradled in her arms, the scenery whipping past in a blur.
It was even faster than the first time she'd carried him into the air.
Fast enough to make him feel like time itself was reversing.
And Pigeant...
For some odd reason...
The scenery felt familiar.
'Why... déjà vu.'
Like he'd been held like this and fled at this speed before.
Sure, a few hours ago something similar had happened.
But this wasn't that.
It felt like even longer ago, he'd been carried like this by her and escaped.
Rapne shot past the north gate where they'd first met and kept running across the desert sands.
Her breath came in gasps, her throat burning with agony.
Yet she pressed on.
They arrived at...
The ruined ruins where she'd briefly stopped before reaching the city-state of Rendil.
Rapne set Pigeant down there and collapsed in front of him.
"Hah... hah..."
"Ra-Rapne..."
She'd clearly pushed herself way too hard.
The 'Nerve Acceleration' skill wasn't invincible; it drained stamina.
Even for a small city-state, fleeing this far from the city would have consumed an unimaginable amount of energy.
But...
"Why'd you bring me too..."
She could've made it easier if she'd gone alone.
Yet she'd strained herself to carry Pigeant along.
And to his question...
"I..."
Rapne slowly opened her mouth amid her pounding heartbeat and labored breaths.
"...have someone I'm looking for."
It was a story Pigeant already knew.
But even in her exhausted, collapsing state, she told it again.
Swish.
Her trembling arm...
Gently grasped Pigeant's collar.
"The most... hah... more than anyone in the world... hah... precious person to me."
She lifted her shaking head and met the eyes of the bizarrely helmeted Pigeant.
Sweat poured down Rapne's face like rain.
But the droplets falling from her chin weren't sweat.
"I... hah... miss him... sob... so much... ugh."
"Rapne..."
What was she trying to say?
How could that be the reason she brought him here?
Pigeant couldn't understand.
But one thing was clear.
He wanted to stop her tears.
Swish.
Rapne released his collar and moved her trembling hand to her own neck.
Jingle...
She undid the pendant hanging there and held it in her palm.
This pendant was the only remnant of his warmth she had left.
Rapne clutched that warmth tightly, sobbing and shedding tears.
The man in front of her, face hidden by a helmet.
He knew her, and he was so much like the man she sought.
Yet he treated her like a stranger.
But her instincts were telling her otherwise.
So Rapne raised the pendant in her hand and showed it to him.
"So... after finally finding you again... not recognizing me... that's just too cruel..."
Slowly.
She lifted the pendant toward the helmeted man's neck.
She carefully looped the loosened string behind his neck.
Pigeant watched her gentle, embracing gesture without moving.
And Rapne...
With desperate eyes, gazing at the man she'd longed for...
Poured her desires into her words for him.
"If you've really forgotten... I won't ever let you go from now on..."
Her hands fastened the pendant's chain again.
"This is all Ken's fault...!"
The pendant her past love had made for her happiness.
Though that past had been overwritten, and it was gone...
This was surely one he'd made for her again—her lucky charm.
And that charm...
Returned to the neck of the man who'd given it.
The lucky charm infused with Rapne's wish glowed faintly, as if answering her desire.
"......"
Rapne gripped the pendant's string with trembling hands, staring at the unmoving helmet.
Please, let her instincts be right.
Please, no more time without him.
Before her desperate plea...
"...I told you, no."
The helmeted man gently took Rapne's hand.
He softly pried away the trembling hand clutching the pendant.
From the unseen face inside the helmet, he gazed at her eyes with kind eyes.
At the eyes that always looked at him full of desire.
"No more imprisonment. I already promised I'm yours anyway."
"......"
The sorrow in Rapne's eyes lit up with light, turning to joy and relief.
Suppressing the tears welling from overwhelming emotion...
She reached up and removed the crude helmet blocking them.
And Rapne...
Burying her face in the chest of the man she'd longed for...
Let out all the tears she'd held back.
"Sob, no, I hate it, hatehate...! Not anymore! It's all... sob... all Ken's fault...! Ken's the one who left my side...!"
She looked up at him with desire-filled eyes, speaking as she always did.
"I'm never letting you go now...!"
And Ken...
...smiled familiarly and stroked her hair.
Maybe Rapne's curse hadn't been lifted yet.
The curse called 'me,' harbored in her heart, extending its clutches even to me.
"How the hell did you even find me."
"Ken's mine... sob... I won't give him to anyone... ever..."
A curse no mere special pendant could erase.
A obsession that bound even souls.
One that would hold me forever.
"Shall we go back? ...To our usual spot."
And I found that obsession...
Utterly, indescribably lovable.