The bodyguard frowned at her relaxed demeanor.
Moreover, the longer he faced her, the more an overwhelming fear seeped in.
His body was strangely stiffening, so he forced himself to swing his sword, wondering what he was doing against such a woman.
“Huh? I haven’t finished applying my lip balm! I’m still not used to doing it alone! It’s annoying!”
Boom-!
At Rurin’s shout, the space where the bodyguard stood vanished.
Of course, the bodyguard was gone.
Intense energy swirled around the bodyguard and the condensed explosion burst in the sky.
Seeing this, Melchak sank down, feeling as if he were in a dream.
“Wh-who hired you? I’ll pay ten times…no, a hundred times that amount.”
Melchak’s words didn’t even reach Rurin’s ears, like the cry of a cockroach doesn’t reach human ears.
But she did have some interest in the feast laid out inside the building.
“Oh, does this taste good?”
Melchak nodded vigorously.
“Ye-yes! It’s delicious! So please eat to your heart’s content, and I’ll hire you for a hundred times more, or I can give you everything!”
Rurin was hungry, so she approached the feast that was laid out.
“This, this is something called Palenque that’s trending here lately. Grilled Palenque!”
But Rurin simply spat out the grilled Palenque she had bitten into.
“It tastes bad.”
Then she shoved the tasteless Palenque into the man’s mouth up to his head.
“Anyway, who killed Selly’s parents?”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you the boss here?”
“No, no. The dead guy over there is the boss.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yes, yes!”
“I.”
“What?”
“I don’t like such lies. Got it?”
“I’m the boss!”
“Then, where are the captured ones?”
“They, they’re in the underground prison outside….”
“I see. But I don’t like humans even if they don’t lie. I only like El.”
“Wha, what…!”
“Hehehe.”
Rurin spun around on the spot and snapped her fingers.
Then she came outside.
Melchak thought she was just leaving.
About a second later, Melchak and the building exploded.
“Did you destroy everything?”
“Did I do well? Hehe.”
Rurin ran to El and lowered her head. It was a request for a pat. El understood immediately and gently patted Rurin’s head.
“What about the captives? You didn’t destroy that part, right?”
“You. You told me to do it, so there’s no way I’d make such a mistake. Follow me!”
“Really? What’s gotten into you?”
El immediately followed Rurin. Just in case, she covered Selly’s eyes.
And soon, they were greeted by a crowd of captives in the underground prison.
The women were just trembling. It wasn’t just women. There were also men, and young boys and girls.
Among them were children with various injuries, looking terrible.
El quietly asked those people.
“Who is Melby’s sister?”
But there was no answer. The captives just looked at El with wary eyes.
“I’m here at Melby’s request. I’m not here to do anything bad.”
When El spoke softly again, a girl in the back hesitantly raised her hand.
“At my brother’s request?”
The girl, looking very intimidated, trembling just like the other girls, answered.
El nodded immediately. Thankfully, she was alive.
And he immediately released the people. Sorry, but the Greek boy would have to deal with the aftermath of this.
El was thinking that.
And Selly, quietly watching the scene, grabbed Rurin’s hand.
“Unnie.”
“Why are you calling me? I’m not your unnie, I’m your master!”
“Thank you.”
“Thankful? Well, you’re my second subordinate, so it’s natural. Keep pushing me towards El.”
“Hehe, unnie. I was happy, even if just for a moment.”
“Huh?”
Selly clung tightly to Rurin’s leg again, like a piece of gum.
Afterward, only the child named Melly was taken back to the clinic.
“Where’s my brother? Did you really come to save me at my brother’s request?”
The entire way back, Melly cried out for her brother. Her eyes were still full of caution. So when she was taken to the boy lying down, she finally ran to Melby and started to cry.
“Brother!”
Tears poured out.
He was the boy who had infiltrated the fortress to save his sister with his bare hands. It was so reckless, so foolish, but I couldn’t help but admire his spirit.
So I left the emotional reunion and stepped outside the clinic.
“Rurin.”
“Huh?”
“Where’s Selly?”
Yes, the problem is Selly. In the end, Melby and Melly had nothing to do with Selly.
I should have shown the picture and asked before killing the leader of the slave traders.
I thought about that, but there were still many ways to find out. If Selly had escaped, someone in the underground prison would remember her.
So, back to the main issue of solving Selly’s problem.
With that thought, I looked for Selly.
But Selly was nowhere to be seen.
“Where did you leave her?”
“No, she came with us to the clinic. She was standing there watching those people.”
“Really?”
Then where did she go?
I searched for Selly for a long time. But in the end, I couldn’t find her.
Rurin looked bewildered as well.
Then Elena, who had been watching us with satisfaction after waking Melby from the sleep spell, approached us.
“Good job.”
“Yes, thank you too, Elena. By the way, have you seen the child who was with us? Her name is Selly.”
“Huh?”
At those words, Elena tilted her head.
“She was with us when we rescued that boy. The girl standing next to Rurin.”
Elena tilted her head again at my words.
“What do you mean? There was no one else besides that boy.”
“What? What do you mean???”
Elena said something astonishing.
“Oh my, this is…”
Then she looked at the flower stuck to Rurin’s pants and tilted her head again.
It was the Hibiren flower that Selly had been eating all along.
“Why? Isn’t it just a flower?”
When I asked again with a still bewildered face, Elena answered with a curious expression.
“This doesn’t grow just anywhere. It’s a very rare flower. It’s called the Flower of the Underworld, and it’s said that if you hold this flower when you die, it grants the deceased’s last wish. There’s a legend that it’s related to the purification of souls, reincarnation, and ascension…but it’s just a legend.”
“Huh?”
I stared blankly at Elena.
And so did Rurin.
“Wait, could it be?”
I ran to Melby’s sister, Melly.
Then I took out a picture of Selly.
“Melly, I’m sorry to interrupt the reunion…but do you know this girl?”
The girl, who seemed to be about eight years old, quietly looked at the picture I handed her. Then she opened her mouth in surprise.
“Selly! It’s Selly!”
Selly was lonely.
Even as she grew older, she still retained her childlike cuteness, but in a poor household, that cuteness became a curse.
It was her parents who sold her.
She was sold to a wizard’s laboratory, where they conducted research on the magic of immortality using small children.
There, Selly had to have her blood drawn for no reason.
There was no one to help her.
No one at all.
It was the same at home, and here, too, there was no one to look after Selly. All she had were magical potions to keep her alive.
Selly’s sense of self gradually began to fade.
But even so, she wanted to live.
Before her spirit completely vanished.
To be free in this world.
But that freedom never came.
Selly, who had been confined in the laboratory for years, was still small even after she turned ten.
One day, by a very lucky chance, she managed to escape. It was what you’d call a stroke of luck.
But the world didn’t grant Selly any more luck than that.
Wandering the streets, she was soon captured by the slave traders who had their eyes on her.
Just because the security in Greek City was good didn’t mean all the streets in the Empire were safe.
Even after the Dragon War, the scars of war remained in many places, and the political scene was still chaotic due to the struggle among the three dukes.
In such a situation, a girl who looked abandoned could never have true freedom.
She was captured by the slave traders.
The slave trading organization was large, operating not only in the Empire but also in kingdoms and other empires.
And since they were gathering people for a big auction in the Empire, it was fortunate that for the time being, she was just confined without harm.
Then Selly met Melly.
A child in the same situation.
Although Selly looked younger, she was actually older, and when she explained this, Melly immediately called her unnie.
“Unnie, our names are similar. So if we escape from here, things will be fine, right?”
Melly said that, following Selly closely.
“Unnie, here.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a sweet potato. I hid it, and it wasn’t taken away. Let’s eat it together, unnie.”
The sweet potato that Melly shared on her first day of capture was a huge shock to Selly.
It was the first warmth she had ever felt.
Staying close to Melly, Selly felt warmth for the first time in her life.
“Unnie. My brother will come to save us. Definitely… Even if I die, I’ll believe that. I’ll ask him to save you too. When we get out…”
“Really?”
On the other hand, Selly envied that someone had a person who would save them and believed in that.
She had nothing.
She didn’t even have the freedom to live in this world.
But during the months of travel, Melly, who was naturally bright and had led a normal life before her mother was taken, became a beacon for Selly.
She introduced her to the outside world and helped her dream.
Selly was grateful for Melly always calling her unnie and following her, and she even wanted to call someone unnie and be affectionate.
But Selly’s happiness didn’t last long.
Even that brief happiness in the detention center was not allowed to last.
While Melly was sound asleep next to her, Selly overheard the passing guards’ conversation and was shocked.
“Tomorrow, one from this room will be sold, so get them ready. Don’t feed them anything.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, that bright kid. Number 2.”
“Is it decided?”
“Well, they were going to be kept until the auction, but Klein needs them, so there’s no choice.”
“I see.”
After hearing that conversation, Selly looked down at Melly.
She didn’t know for sure.
At least being confined here bought them some time, although that was also limited.
However, for some reason, she felt that if taken to Klein, it would lead to a miserable fate.
Just like what happened to her in the lab.
Her clothes had the number 1 on them.
And Melly’s clothes had the number 2. Selly quietly looked at Melly.
-My brother will come to save us. Unnie, let’s be happy together.
Melly’s words always echoed in her ears.
There was someone who would come to save them. She didn’t know if it would really happen.
But Melly was a child with hope.
Selly hoped that Melly’s hope would come true. She had nothing anyway.
Even if she left here, she wouldn’t be able to do anything without Melly.
A life with nothing anyway.
She hoped that she would be the only one to suffer.
She truly hoped that Melly could escape this hell.
She couldn’t be the one to save her.
But she still hoped that Melly’s brother, who seemed like a remarkable person, would come and save her.
What Melly had given her was immense. It was a great happiness.
It was probably the only happiness she had ever experienced in her life.
So now it was her turn to give back.
If she went in Melly’s place, it would buy Melly time until the big auction.
With that thought, Selly switched clothes with the deeply sleeping Melly.
People here didn’t remember the faces and names of the children. They were just goods, distinguished only by their numbers.
Being a bright child was a catch.
But that could be acted out.
She was now Melly, the product number 2.
And Selly, in Melly’s place, was sold, endured abuse, and eventually died.
That was her end.
It was the end that Melly was originally supposed to meet.
Selly was wrapped in rags and abandoned on a dark mountain path.
And next to the mountain path where she was abandoned, a Hibiren flower, which even elves, who love nature and live in forests find hard to encounter in their lifetime, was faintly glowing.
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