Ch#102
"V-Veil bro......"
Tie flinched involuntarily.
But even as she did, the screams continued.
In the end, Raoul turned to Basto impatiently.
"......We should hurry!"
The five, including Tie, quickened their steps.
But as they followed the fence, the screams only grew louder.
"That brown roof there!"
Adelin whispered upon finally spotting the stable.
Raoul and Enzo nodded and swiftly clung to the rear of the stable.
They vaulted the fence with practiced ease, latched onto the wall, and began scaling to the roof.
"Aaaah. P-Please, spare me...... Huhk. Please......"
The pleas leaking from inside the stable grew even clearer.
Tie buried her face in Basto's shoulder, eyes brimming with tears.
At the same time, Enzo whistled shortly from atop the roof.
It meant no guards were visible nearby.
The moment Basto and Adelin nodded and began vaulting the fence.
Raoul and Enzo leaped simultaneously from the roof to the opposite side of the stable.
"Veil!"
But the two froze in place soon after.
Basto and Adelin rounding the stable, and Tie too, widened their eyes.
"H-Huh...... What, did you come to rescue me?"
Inside the stable.
Veil, one arm shackled in iron chains, pushed himself up.
And right before him,
"U-Uwaaaah, let go...... P-Please......"
a knight whose leg Veil gripped was letting out horrific groans and begging.
"Veil bro!"
Tie, spotting Veil, scrambled down from Basto's back.
The child dashed past the scattered hay piles on the floor straight to him.
"......Kiddo?"
Veil was covered in blood.
His face was so swollen from blows it was hard to recognize, and one eye was bloodshot from burst vessels.
His body was the same.
Especially his right wrist, which looked like he'd torn free of the chains— the injury was severe.
Veil quickly hid his mangled wrist behind his back.
"K-Kiddo. This is nothing, I'm fine."
But Tie couldn't say a word.
Instead, tears welled up as she scanned Veil up and down.
Fine? What was fine about this?
His whole body was covered in wounds.
Tie bit her lip hard and brushed past Veil.
She rushed to the stone wall and began yanking at the chains linked to the stable.
"Kiddo. You......"
Veil's surprised voice came from behind.
But Tie yanked harder on the chains, tears streaming down.
"Let's go quick. Back to the inn quick......"
From the moment she'd seen him dragged off by the knights, she'd half-expected it.
That Veil might get hurt.
But seeing him actually injured like this, no other thoughts came to mind.
"You're hurt so bad, you need treatment quick......"
The child's legs gave out, and she plopped down.
"Just a moment. I'll do it!"
Raoul snapped to and rushed over.
He struck the chains with all his might using his scabbard.
But the chains didn't budge.
Veil, watching, muttered.
"No use. Needs a key. That's why I was searching him."
He nodded toward the knight sprawled on the floor.
There wasn't just one fainted knight on the ground.
"There were four originally. Once I took down the two nearby, the rest came rushing."
Basto, listening, shook his head.
Veil was unexpectedly strong in close-quarters brawls.
Not by overwhelming power, but by agile, nimble movements that gave him the edge in fights.
"Kiddo, don't cry. Huh?"
Veil approached Tie and began soothing her.
"Did you hear on the way? That wasn't my scream, I swear? It was the bad guys' screams, okay?"
"Uuu, you're hurt too, bro! I said people who get hurt are idiots! You're an idiot! Dummy dog poop smell!"
"......Yeah. I'm an idiot dummy poop. So stop crying. Huh?"
But Tie couldn't stop her tears easily.
The child, with a grievance-filled face, gently stroked Veil's one shackled wrist.
"Can't you really get this off? Bro, can't escape......?"
In the end, Veil quietly fell silent for a moment before asking.
"If I get this off, will you stop crying?"
Tie nodded.
Veil's eyes turned serious.
"Then should we cut it off and run?"
Tie's mouth fell open.
Soon, deep shock filled the child's eyes.
"C-C-Cut it off......?"
"Astie, someone's coming!"
Right then.
Lucarion, who had been keeping watch from afar, came running.
"They must've heard the screams. More than one or two."
Enzo and Raoul's faces darkened.
They had just been about to fetch a large rock to smash the chain-wall joint.
"Enough. Everyone, out."
Then Basto, who had been silent, sighed and stepped forward.
Everyone stared at him in bewilderment.
But Basto brushed past Adelin to stand before Veil.
Soon, gripping the chains with both hands, he took a short breath.
"......Hoo."
The next instant, veins bulged starkly on his forehead and thick hands.
And then.
Snap crack— the thick iron chains snapped.
"......Cr-Crazy."
Veil stared at Basto in disbelief.
"B-B-Basto?"
"What did I just see......"
Raoul and Enzo were equally frozen like statues.
Lucarion, leaning crookedly beside Adelin, muttered interestedly.
"Useful."
Basto dusted off his hands and said.
"Then let's go."
He quickly knelt, showing his back to Tie.
"Tie, hop on."
But for some reason, Tie didn't.
Instead, she'd been scanning the surroundings with a strange expression since moments ago.
By then, everyone else had already exited the stable.
"Tie, hop on quick."
Basto urged again.
But Tie still didn't move.
She just stood there, staring at something.
"Tie!"
The child tilted her head.
Inside the stable.
The right corner, piled high with hay.
The spirit who had guided them here stood there.
"Uncle Basto."
"Tie, I don't know what it is, but we don't have time now!"
"Not that."
The spirit was mouthing something.
With a very sad, desperate expression.
Tie pursed her lips and furrowed her brow.
She couldn't make out what the spirit was saying at all.
"Over there! Grab them!"
Right on cue, a group of soldiers rounded the corner not far from the stable.
Spotting Agavert, they sped up.
Fully armed with all sorts of weapons.
"Tie!"
Basto finally grabbed Tie's arm.
But Tie,
"Tie-!"
shook off Basto's hand and bolted to the stable corner.
"The will! It's the will!"
At Tie's shout, Lucarion, Veil, and Adelin waiting outside turned back.
Tie yelled again.
"The will's here!"
Then she frantically began digging through the hay pile.
