Ch#185
"Hey."
"......"
"Hey!"
Aleric snapped to attention at the hand tapping his shoulder.
Turning his head, he saw Libia looking at him with pitiful eyes.
"Get it together. The siege is about to start. Huh?!"
"......Ha."
Aleric swept a hand over his face.
He was still wrapped in shock from what had just happened.
"Is the Leader's habit of startling people a one-time thing? You should've gotten used to it by now."
Libia grumbled as she fixed Aleric's robe.
Aleric, staring down at her blankly, said,
"At least 30 years of training, right?"
As Libia looked up, Aleric continued in a serious voice.
"At first, I thought at least 50 years. But no matter how I look, she doesn't seem that old."
Libia hummed.
"What are you talking about? I think she is that age."
"......Evidence?"
"She's so innocent and full of gaps."
"Shouldn't that make you think the opposite?"
Libia clicked her tongue.
"Hey. Obviously all that is calculated behavior! So going further, I'd say at least in her eighties, no, no less than nineties."
"......That old?"
"This is why you can't do it, Aleric. Didn't you see her charming the old folks?"
"......"
"The factory manager and all, sticking by Nordics grandpa. Wherever she goes, she gets along especially well with old people."
"......"
"That's all because, y'know? She can deal with peers that age. Knows it 'cause she's around that age herself."
Confusion clouded Aleric's face.
"Is that so......?"
After deep contemplation, he shook his head briefly to clear his thoughts.
"Anyway, let's do well without getting hurt today too?"
As Aleric sighed weakly and rose at Libia's words,
"Aleric, Libia."
Victor approached quickly from afar.
"The sun's set. It's starting."
The siege site marking the end of this national commission.
Magical beasts were pouring out from the Clock Tower in the Old Palace.
* * *
However, exactly 12 hours after the siege began.
Pew- bang!
A red signal flare burst under the faint moonlight.
"Reinforcements requested from the north!"
The scout's horse sped past the battlefield.
Basto, who had been smashing a mid-sized beast's head with his warhammer, straightened up.
"Huff, huff......"
Ragged breaths were already escaping his mouth.
"Damn it, why won't this end!"
A little distance away, Veil wiped blood splattered on his face.
The siege, expected to wrap in six hours, showed no sign of ending even as dawn broke.
"We won't finish today at this rate?! Gotta do this again tomorrow?!"
Basto gripped his weapon tight hearing Veil's shout.
"Leader! Left! Uh? Right too!"
Meanwhile, behind where Basto and Veil stood.
Tie was hurling fireballs at beasts from Libia's arms.
"Hiya......!"
Tie proudly unleashed her new ultimate move at the beasts.
Each time, the brown bear doll circled her with glowing red eyes.
But Basto could see.
'This is bad.'
That Tie was running out of strength.
Of course.
He himself was starting to hit his limit now.
A four-year-old fighting through the night couldn't possibly be fine.
With a complicated expression, he stared ahead.
Gigantic rifts still surrounded the Clock Tower.
By now, the beasts should've thinned and rifts closed.
Yet the Mana Stone entwining the Clock Tower remained intact.
"We're really gonna die like this! When the hell does it end!"
Hearing Veil's shout, Basto turned his head.
He inhaled and replied.
"Hold on a bit longer! Dawn's breaking soon anyway!"
Once the sun rose, the beasts would return to the rifts.
Of course, sieges would resume tomorrow evening, but right now, everyone desperately needed rest.
'The Holy Knights seem barely holding too.'
His face darkened again looking at the flare.
'Can't do it after all.'
Basto changed his mind and turned toward Tie.
Dawn was near; faint blue light tinged the sky.
"Veil, I'm falling back! Gotta take Tie to the rear after all!"
Veil nodded.
Basto started running toward Tie.
"Uncle Basto!"
Tie, spotting him just then, waved sweatily.
"Yeah, Tie, wait there!"
But that instant.
Thud-
The massive vine around the Clock Tower vibrated suddenly.
Basto, facing the rising sun, slowly opened his mouth.
Under the morning light.
The rifts were opening even larger.
"No way......"
The disaster that took his family long ago.
A misfortune occurring once or twice a year, its true nature still unknown.
"Why......!"
The Day of Ruin unfolded before the members at this moment.
"Tie!"
But shock silenced him only briefly.
"Wha?! Wh-what......!"
Vibrations from the Mana Stone shook the ground.
"No-!"
"Kid!"
The next moment, Libia and Tie's figures vanished in dust.
The ground where they stood caved, dropping Libia, Aleric, and Tie into a deep pit.
"Astie!"
Basto leaped forward, tossing his weapon.
But debris from the Clock Tower blocked his path.
Basto froze in horror.
In his view.
Someone dove into the pit late.
It was Tese tan.
* * *
"......Li, Aunt Libia."
In the darkness, Tie urgently shook Libia.
A barely activated Barrier enveloped them.
Around them, piles of collapsed stones.
"Auntie!"
Tie shook Libia again.
But she didn't stir.
Releasing her hand, red blood stained Tie's palm.
"What do I do......!"
Terror filled the child's face.
Tie stood and ran to Aleric nearby.
"Uncle Aleric! Aunt Libia......!"
But Aleric was unconscious too.
Tears finally welled in Tie's eyes.
"If only Tie had put up the Barrier faster......!"
The moment they fell into the pit.
As the ground gave way, Libia held Tie tight instead of anything else.
She might've been fine letting go and running elsewhere.
Aleric had tried grabbing falling Libia.
That's why all three were trapped together.
"No, gotta snap out of it."
Tie bit her lip and looked up.
Habitually reaching for her shoulder.
But.
"No kindergarten bag......!"
Tie's ever-present bag was gone.
The strap must've snapped during the fall.
"Ppuppue! Mar-Mar!"
Tie called desperately.
But no one answered in the pitch-black space.
And not just that.
"Subordinates too......"
She wanted to make subordinates for light, but prolonged siege had exhausted her mana control.
In short, maintaining the Barrier alone was already burdensome now.
Then.
"......Cough!"
Ragged breaths came from Libia.
Tie jumped up and ran back.
"Aunt Libia-!"
"Lea, Leader."
Libia, barely opening her eyes, stared at Tie with pale lips.
"I, I think I'm in big trouble."
Tie tremblingly looked down.
Libia clutched her right side.
"I, think something......"
"Don't look."
That instant, stones behind Libia collapsed as someone rushed between them.
Tears welled in Tie's eyes again.
"V-Vi, Vice Leader......"
It was Dad.
Tese tan scooped Tie into his arms and covered her head with his hand.
As if to block her view of Libia.
In the dark, pounding heartbeats mixed with Libia's faltering breaths.
Tese tan said tensely.
"Breathe first, Libia."
"Huff, heuk......"
"Slowly."
His gaze fixed on Libia's side.
Precisely, the arm-thick stone shard piercing mercilessly through.
