Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Pindenai
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Crunch!
“Cough!”
A sticky clot of blood spewed from her mouth.
Lexi, who had apparently put on some makeup, now had blood smeared across her lips, her skin turning deathly pale as she gradually slipped away.
“Mon... ster...”
With those final words, the traitor Lexi closed her eyes. Despite wearing the Resistance's notoriously subpar protective gear, she hadn't managed to inflict even a scratch on Pindenai.
“Ha, tough as hell.”
But Pindenai was in the same boat. She'd hacked away with her axe several times, yet she couldn't pierce the Extermination Squad members' protective gear.
In the end, she'd had to infuse it with mana and rely on internal injuries from the impacts to kill her.
It felt less like swinging an axe to chop and more like just beating her down.
The gear automatically released upon the wearer's death.
The protective gear called Unbreakable Armor, used by Extermination Squad members, was like a cursed suit of armor even among the Resistance—it couldn't be removed unless the user died.
That overwhelming defense was why people had no choice but to flee from Clock Republic's Extermination Squad members.
No matter how much you beat on them, it took forever to kill one.
“No wonder the movements look awkward wearing this crap.”
Lexi hadn't had it on long, so her movements were far clumsier than before. That was the only reason Pindenai had taken her down quickly, but real Extermination Squad members were different.
“Just keep pushing, that's all!”
“Give up, you vermin!”
By now, Extermination Squad members had stormed in, turning the tavern interior into a battlefield.
One wall of the bar had been completely blown out by an explosion, letting cold winds whistle through, while the entrance was left wide open for more Squad members to pour in.
Thanks to Doberman leading the resistance, they'd held out so far, but the damage was accumulating.
Eventually, time would run out, and they'd be wiped out.
To survive, they needed to make a decisive move.
“Doberman, you idiot! I'm gonna break through—help me out!”
Doberman glanced indifferently at Pindenai as she charged forward clutching the Unbreakable Armor Lexi had worn, then nodded curtly.
In this dire crisis, his unchanging expression—was it calm composure, or just a limited range of faces?—either way, it instilled a sense of stability in those around him.
Pindenai gripped her axe, took a deep breath, and surged ahead.
Bullets flew from every direction in the chaotic battlefield. She used the Unbreakable Armor in her hand as a shield to deflect them.
“Scrap Merchants!”
“White-haired red eyes! Priority target Pindenai!”
She glared at the Extermination Squad members who recognized her and barreled straight in.
She swung her axe to carve a path.
With every swing, the blade dulled further, jolts shot through her hands, and the Squad members only staggered back without real damage.
Even so, Pindenai pressed forward without a glance at whether the fallen got back up.
Doberman followed right behind, lending his strength, joined by other Resistance fighters who'd caught on to their plan.
Staying here meant death, so they'd all break through together.
It was a strategy that would inevitably rack up heavy casualties, no matter how you sliced it.
“But when have we ever fought with our lives guaranteed!”
These were people who'd lived on the razor's edge with death every day, so the Resistance charged ferociously.
The choices were always the same.
Die more.
Or die less.
Sitting still meant dying even more. Hell, probably all of them.
So they pushed toward dying the least.
Even these idiots.
Frankly, even these blockheads—could they really win freedom from the Clock Republic?
Still, you had to let them live, right?
Even a tiny seed had to be planted in this soil first.
That was Pindenai's conviction, forged in the excessive tragedies of her childhood.
For the kids too young to fight, the cowards trembling and only watching, the former comrades who'd given up and dropped their weapons.
She wanted to keep even these fools alive and show them.
That here, there were idiots shouting for freedom.
“Kraaaah!”
Pindenai's red eyes flashed brilliantly. The longer the battle dragged on, the stronger she got—her body heated up, her grip tightened until the axe handle creaked.
Boom!
“Gah!”
Strikes that once merely knocked them down now blasted Extermination Squad members away completely.
“Impressive.”
“F-follow Pindenai's lead!”
“We can survive! We're fighting for freedom again!”
Pindenai bared her teeth at the propaganda-like cheers from behind and charged forward.
“No one's saving you! Survive on your own, you morons!”
With that, she kept swinging her axe. Even though the blade was completely wrecked and blunt, she wielded it like a club, mixing it up with the Squad members.
She didn't yet realize that her feet were unconsciously carrying her toward home.
* * *
“Hah! Hah!”
Pindenai, gasping raggedly, looked around. She'd seen the sun set twice since then—two days had passed.
Her legs felt like lead, her breathing showed no sign of steadying, and her eyes stung stickily from blood.
Judging by the biting cold, she was near the North Wedden Mountains, but now her legs refused to move.
She glanced back cautiously. Was her senses dulled, or was there truly no sign of pursuit? Either way, she let out a small sigh of relief.
Her overheated body finally gave out, and Pindenai collapsed to her knees on the ground.
Just for a moment.
Just a brief rest.
“Haaa.”
She exhaled deeply, her eyes growing heavy with fatigue, but she clenched her fist tight.
Falling asleep here could mean anything. When she opened her eyes again, she might be dead—or in a Clock Republic underground prison or labor camp.
“Shit.”
She needed something to ease the pain. Shoving her trembling left hand into her pocket, she rummaged and pulled out a single cigarette.
It was the one she'd had in her mouth when she killed Lexi. Clock Republic smokes were so harsh and addictive that even one after a long time might dull this agony a bit.
She stared blankly at the cigarette she'd pulled out. On the brink of death, did some promise to her master even matter?
Crunch.
But surprisingly.
Her fingers crushed it in half without hesitation and tossed it to the ground.
“You bastard master. If I die, you better not leave me unraised with necromancy.”
A bitter taste lingered in her mouth. Even without smoking, the pain across her body strangely began to fade.
It was a new feeling, but Pindenai felt invigorated, as if ditching the cigarette had been the right call.
“Urgh.”
Thanks to that, she twisted her body and managed to stand again. She couldn't stop yet.
Darius's private outpost was just ahead. A bit further up the North Wedden Mountains, and she could rest easy.
And that damn master would handle the rest somehow.
“He always pulls through somehow.”
This was just patching up some injuries—nothing too hard for him.
Not even a week had passed, so he probably hadn't left for the academy yet.
Pindenai took a heavy step forward. Still tough, but the short break made it bearable.
As she forced herself up the mountain step by step, tightening her limp hand to fashion a staff—
Bang!
A chilling gunshot.
The bullet's icy penetration froze her blood, spreading rapidly. Blood splattered forward like spilled tomato juice.
Fresh and wet—it had just happened—and Pindenai realized too late that it was hers.
“Ah.”
Thud.
This time, her knees buckled not by choice.
Bang! Bang!
More bullets slammed into her back, delivering excruciating pain.
Splatter.
She finally face-planted onto the ground.
Her parched mouth flooded with blood.
“...Hng.”
She wanted to curse, but even that strength was gone.
Her vision blurred as voices murmured indistinctly.
“Priority target, Scrap Merchant Pindenai. Captured.”
“Man, doesn't this mean we've nabbed all the big Resistance shots?”
“Pretty much. Lucky we got the last one.”
Through her fading sight, she saw Extermination Squad members in Unbreakable Armor looking down.
'I thought I'd shaken them off pretty good.'
And they'd caught all the big shots?
That meant Doberman and the others were nabbed too.
'You idiots.'
She resented them for making her save them for nothing, yet worried a little for their safety.
“But she's pretty hot, huh? No wonder she's famous.”
“Tch, hey. Take her back, patch her up, keep her alive, and have some fun for a few days?”
“Won't that be risky?”
“Chop off her limbs, pull her teeth—what can she do? Dose her with aphrodisiacs, and she'll love dying.”
That reminded her—she'd told her master she was buying aphrodisiacs and forgot.
He probably didn't believe her, but in the town where Pindenai grew up, they sold stuff like aphrodisiacs and perforated condoms as main products—purely malicious sexual items.
That was how insane the Republic was.
More importantly.
'You fucking bastards.'
Who the hell were they eyeing?
Pindenai glared at them and opened her mouth wide. Better to bite her tongue and die than suffer humiliation.
She'd at least leave a corpse.
'He'll find the soul himself.'
Half her soul belonged to her master anyway—he'd wake her up after a nap.
Clinging to that faith, as she mustered her last strength to bite down—
Plip. A white snowflake tickled her nose.
“What? It's snowing?”
“It's July? Even in the North Wedden Mountains, it doesn't snow now.”
As the Squad members looked up suspiciously—
[You live lives as fleeting as moments, staining yourselves with others' blood, believing it inevitable.]
A thunderous voice echoed. An overwhelming pressure that reduced humans to mere beasts just by its presence.
[Such is the natural order of this world. I accept it as well.]
Pindenai dimly recognized the voice from somewhere but couldn't place it.
Oxygen deprivation?
Or was her head just slow?
Whatever.
'Crazy bastard.'
She knew her master had done something, so she relaxed her bite.
Her lips naturally curled into a smile.
[How viciously must you have lived, for your bodies to overflow with grudges beyond the stench of blood.]
“What the hell! It's a beast?”
“B-bear? It's a bear! Just shoot it!”
Hearing the Squad members' foolish screams as they shot themselves in the foot, she slowly closed her eyes.
[Defile not my mountain with your filthy tread.]
* * *
A soft bed and fluffy blanket.
Pindenai woke between them and slowly opened her eyes. No sensation returned to her body, no strength came, but she knew she was healed.
The tight press of bandages over her body.
A fluffy down pillow by her head.
The view of Northsweden city through the bedside window.
The warm scent of herbal tea.
The quiet sound of turning pages from the bookshelf in the room's center.
Her master, legs crossed, reading impassively.
“You're awake.”
Deius asked without looking up from his book. At the familiar sight, Pindenai let out a hollow chuckle.
“How long was I out?”
Her sense of time was fuzzy, but waking so refreshingly after all that meant she'd slept quite a while.
“Two weeks.”
Deius's answer was outside her expectations.
“Two weeks? Fifteen days?”
“Yeah.”
She nearly blurted out that he'd said he'd head back to the academy in a week, but held it in.
For some reason, she didn't want to hear the answer, nor put her master in a tough spot.
Unlike usual.
“You must be hungry. Ask for some food.”
Deius closed his book.
Pindenai stared at him, hesitated, then grumbled.
“Eh, craving a smoke.”
Food took a backseat to the cigarette urge—it slipped out unconsciously.
“Sigh.”
Deius sighed, pulling an ornate case from his pocket.
It held about ten cigarettes. He took one out and handed it to Pindenai.
“It's less pungent and less addictive. Made by some famous craftsman, apparently.”
“......”
Pindenai slowly propped herself up against the bed's edge and took it blankly.
Then, after staring at Deius for a moment, she smiled and put it in her mouth.
“Light it for me.”
No lighter, no matches.
A perfectly natural request.
Deius swallowed a sigh, lit a tiny flame on his finger, and leaned forward to touch it to the cigarette's tip—
Pfft.
The cigarette dropped onto the blanket.
Pindenai's extended forehead slid perfectly into Deius's chest.
“Ah, my strength gave out.”
An obvious lie anyone could see through.
“Then move.”
He said that, but didn't push her away.
Just for a brief moment.
Deius supported Pindenai's weary body.
Moments ago, she'd craved the smoke so badly her mouth felt dry.
But now, her mind felt at peace.
Was it Deius's unique, subtle scent of blood?
Pindenai buried her face deeper and calmly closed her eyes.
His fragrance wove through her falling hair.
Unexpectedly, before she knew it.
She realized she liked this smell.