Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Blood Cell Incident
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"……You have to survive, no matter what."
Time had passed since meeting the protagonist's party.
Esira was growing by leaps and bounds with each passing day.
Kids grow like bean sprouts, and not a single old saying is wrong.
The problem wasn't just the size—she was getting prettier by the day.
'This is dangerous.'
With looks like that, the flies were bound to swarm. One hundred percent.
Already, my head was throbbing.
What if Esira brought home some guy and dropped a bomb like, "We're getting married"?
I might foam at the mouth and keel over from a heart attack.
No, I'd probably lop off his head first.
'……Ah, get a grip.'
Worrying about a future that hadn't even arrived yet. Life had been too peaceful lately, filling my head with pointless fantasies.
Peace was nice, but it was time to get moving.
The moment to intervene in the original story's flow was right around the corner.
The issue was I knew when, but not exactly where.
'Ah, if I miss this event, the whole plan goes to hell.'
Suppressing my impatience had been worth scouring the information brokers and taverns for days.
Finally, I heard the keyword I'd been waiting for.
『A Blood Cell fell around here.』
Whew, didn't miss it. What a relief.
The event that kicked off the original story's prologue.
And at the same time, it meant one of the final bosses I was hunting was there.
"Gotta hurry."
I grabbed the greatsword propped in the corner.
"Where you going?"
A voice came from behind me, without a single footstep to announce it.
Esira was leaning against the doorframe, staring right at me.
"To check out where that Blood Cell fell."
Without a word, Esira nodded and headed straight to her room to grab her Blackjack-exclusive sword.
It was so natural, I almost let it slide.
"Hold on, why are you getting ready?"
"Gonna go with you."
"This isn't a picnic. It could get dangerous, so stay home and guard the place."
Esira tied her shoelaces tight and looked up.
"Then Asrania shouldn't go either."
"What?"
"Your logic's off. If it's too dangerous for me, it's just as dangerous for Asrania."
"I'm fine."
"No. I know Asrania's strong. But 'won't die' and 'won't get hurt' are two different things."
Well, now.
Esira bit her lip hard.
"If you're not letting me come, then at least don't charge in recklessly alone. I'm more scared of waiting at home."
"……."
"So choose."
Esira held out her hand.
"We go together and stay careful, or neither of us goes."
Even if I tried to ditch her, she'd tail me like a shadow.
And her skills had improved a ton lately.
Haa.
Honestly, I wanted to go alone.
But there wasn't time for a long lecture.
"Fine, got it."
Her face bloomed like spring flowers, as if the stern look had never been there.
"Let's go."
Esira grabbed my hand tight.
Clutching it like a six-year-old kid.
Though she was actually older than that.
On the way to the village.
Esira suddenly asked,
"But a Blood Cell wouldn't be in the village."
"They said it fell there."
"Fell?"
Esira's eyes sharpened in an instant.
"……."
She quickly schooled her expression and tilted her head innocently, like nothing happened.
"Why would a Blood Cell fall there of all places?"
"Who knows."
"It's weird. Blood Cells are rare enough as it is."
Right. You might never see one in your lifetime.
Blood Cell.
Something that far surpassed human limits.
An item that upended the world's balance. The reason those in power staked their necks on it.
Naturally, it was the core material every power player coveted—and the spark for countless conflicts in the game.
'In the original story, a few countries vanished over just one of those.'
I lightly patted Esira's head.
"Yeah. That's why it's even more suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"High chance it's fake info."
"A lie?"
"Doesn't make sense for one to fall right in the village."
Not like a meteor.
In truth, it could've been a transport ship or airship crashing, but still.
Didn't add up.
"If it was real, the news wouldn't spread this fast. Everyone would hide it first, grab it first, claim it first."
"Then why spread the rumor?"
"Someone did it on purpose."
"……That'd draw a massive crowd."
Bingo.
That was the point.
"To gather people. The greedy, the sword-swingers, the crazies. Put them all together, and you know what happens."
"……Blood."
Way too perceptive for a kid.
"Right. To make the blood flow."
Esira gritted her teeth.
A deliberate false rumor.
Not some grand scheme—just vicious clickbait.
The problem was, in the original story, this little incident snowballed out of control.
Before it could even start rolling, I planned to grind it to dust.
The sky seemed to be collapsing. The roof crumpled like a sheet of paper.
"Cough! Cough! ……Mommy?"
Acrid smoke stabbed into her lungs. Her vision blurred to gray; she couldn't even make out her own outstretched fingers.
Mom had been right there. Smiling at her just moments ago.
She forced her way through a gap in the collapsed wall, crawling out. Her nails splintered, her palms tore open, but she barely felt the pain.
'Help me. Please, anyone…….'
The neighbor uncle, the guard brother—anyone. She'd cling to them and beg.
To find her mom.
Through the debris, a pale wrist protruded.
"……Mommy?"
Her heart plummeted.
She scrambled toward it, clawing through the wreckage like mad.
Please, just be alive. Tears smeared her face as she checked the face with trembling hands.
"……Ah."
It wasn't her mom.
Relief surged up her throat, then froze solid.
The man's slack jaw gaped open, blood pooling inside.
Cloudy, lifeless eyes.
'He's dead.'
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed. The cold corpse kept overlapping with her mom's face in her vision.
'……No, not her. It can't be.'
Her whole body shook like an aspen leaf.
Mom couldn't have ended up like that. Please, anything but that.
"Stella……!"
She whipped her head toward the voice.
Stella bolted madly in that direction.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
Amid the crumbled bricks and charred debris, her mom was pinned.
Her lower body crushed, unable to move an inch.
"Ugh…… No, can't…… can't budge……."
She summoned every ounce of strength she'd ever had from nursing, trying to lift the debris.
A mere child's power could never budge it.
Even as her nails tore backward and blood poured from her palms, she couldn't give up.
'Please…… move. Please!'
That was when they came.
A swarm of adults, rushing in.
"H-Hey! Over here! There's someone……! My mom's trapped inside……!"
She screamed until her throat burned. They were saved now. Here to help.
God hadn't abandoned them.
"Piss off, you little shit!"
The first man to reach her shoved her shoulder roughly.
"Ow!"
She hit the ground hard.
Her knees scraped raw, but there was no time to feel it.
She grabbed his pant leg and clung.
"Mister, please! My mom's pinned under there……!"
"Ah, let go already? Don't get in the way—scram before I kill you!"
He slammed a kick into her solar plexus.
Her breath caught; she tumbled away rolling.
'Why? Why do this? Someone's dying!'
The people ignored her mom entirely, moving like they were searching for something.
They dug frantically, shouting.
"Not here! Nothing!"
"Dig over there! Don't just stand there like idiots!"
They weren't human.
Beasts. No—something hungrier, filthier.
Eyes like demons.
"Found it! It's here!"
The moment someone cheered.
A sickening crunch, and the cheering man spewed blood, crumpling.
"It's mine. Anyone who touches it dies!"
Murder.
A person died so easily.
Yet no one was shocked.
They just slashed at each other over a mere rock.
Malice seethed.
"No, it's just a damn stone! You fucking moron!"
Kiiiiiik.
The rampage shook everything. An ominous groan came from the already precarious debris.
Ah, no way.
The supports twisted.
A chunk of metal loomed, about to crash down on her mom.
"No!"
No time to think—she leaped in.
She had to block it.
Protect her mom.
"Stella!"
"……Huh?"
"……You have to survive, no matter what."
Why was she smiling?
She shoved her hard out of the debris.
"Mommy!"
Everything was on the verge of collapse.
Thud.
'……Huh?'
The debris hung in the air, not touching the ground.
As if holding up the crumbling sky with bare hands.
"Haa, made it just in time……."
Through the choking dust, dazzling white hair fluttered.
It didn't belong in this hellscape.
An unbelievably beautiful woman stood there, propping up the debris from below.