Chapter 46
BANG!
A gunshot rang out from inside the building where Eden had disappeared.
Fortunately, there weren’t many monsters nearby, and the ones that were there seemed distracted, so they didn’t swarm this time.
I breathed a sigh of relief and looked back toward the Clock Tower. A significant number of monsters were gathered around its base. If Eden didn’t draw their attention elsewhere, there was no way I could even get close.
I tilted my head back further and looked up at the very top of the Clock Tower.
‘Knox really needs to be up there.’
At the peak of the tower, I saw a flicker of fabric brush against the railing.
‘Something definitely moved.’
Waiting for Eden’s signal, I looked toward the roof of the adjacent building. I could see Eden lying prone, positioned on the rooftop.
I really need to learn how to use a gun; this is ridiculous. I’m stuck doing the heavy lifting just because I’m swinging an axe!
Eden, still lying prone, glanced down while aiming his gun toward the entrance of the Clock Tower. Our eyes met. Although there was some distance between us, the daylight made him clearly visible. He extended two fingers, aimed forward, and mimicked firing a gun.
Having received the signal to attack, I dashed toward the Clock Tower with my axe in hand.
After hacking down two monsters that lunged at me, I had just pushed open the doors to the Clock Tower when—
BANG!
A gunshot echoed. A monster that had lunged at my back collapsed, struck by Eden’s bullet. I shot a quick glance toward Eden and pulled the Clock Tower doors shut.
The interior of the tower was silent. A staircase seemed to lead all the way to the top, so I began leaping up the spiral steps two or three at a time.
I prayed that Knox Korner Rudfercher would be at the end of them.
At the very top, having run so fast I was nearly out of breath, I found Knox, just as I had hoped. His legs were covered in blood.
Disheveled silver hair, a tattered doctor’s gown. Knox, who had been slumped on the floor with his bloodied legs, looked up at me with a startled expression.
“……Cherry Sinclair?”
Gasping for air, I wiped the sweat from the tip of my chin.
“What are you doing here?”
To my surprise, Knox was holding a cigarillo between his lips, his eyes heavy and languid. Anyone would think he was on drugs.
Whoosh. He exhaled a cloud of smoke. Then, he shrugged and replied in his characteristic calm, leisurely tone.
“Resting. I didn’t expect Lady Sinclair to show up here. Weren’t you supposed to be somewhere safe? How did you get here?”
As he questioned me, Knox displayed a level of leisure that allowed him to lean against the railing and look out over the view.
By “safe place,” did he mean Happy House?
“I don’t know how you ended up down here, but after struggling so hard just to save yourselves, things turned out well. You’ll get to spend your final moments with me. Unfortunately.”
Knox took another deep drag of his cigarillo and exhaled. His eyes were filled with negative emotions as he looked at me.
Final moments, my foot.
“What on earth are you talking about?”
I frowned, unable to understand what he meant, and asked him back. But I immediately gave up on waiting for an answer and hurried him.
“We don’t have time for long chats. Get up, quickly….”
Needing to descend the Clock Tower in a hurry, I reached out a hand to Knox. Naturally, my gaze was drawn to his right thigh.
I had seen it earlier, but the wound looked truly serious. His right thigh was a mess. It was covered in blood and his trousers were torn to shreds, making it impossible to tell if it was a monster bite or something else.
“Did you get bitten?”
At my question, Knox raised an eyebrow, the cigarillo still in his mouth. He looked as if he couldn’t comprehend the question.
“Bitten?”
“I’m asking if you were bitten by those crazy monster bastards.”
Time was short, but confirming this was a vital issue. No matter if Knox was one of the male leads, if he had been bitten by a monster, I couldn’t save him.
Knox’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised by my aggressive language. Then, he suddenly burst into laughter.
“Am I looking at the Cherry Sinclair I know?”
“That’s not what’s important right now. Just answer me. We don’t have time.”
“It’s not a bite. I got impaled on a broken railing while coming up here.”
“Then that’s fine. Can you stand?”
“No. I can’t use my leg. Even if I could go down, I wouldn’t be able to avoid those monsters.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just carry you. As long as you weren’t bitten, that’s all that matters. That’s enough.”
“What? Wa-Wait……!”
Without listening to Knox’s response, I hoisted him onto my back. Because he was so tall, his feet seemed to drag on the floor a bit, but that wasn’t a major concern.
“Wha-What is this……! Hey! Wait!”
“Be quiet. Hold this.”
I shoved the axe and the empty bag into Knox’s hands, then readjusted him on my back and headed down the stairs.
“Cherry Sinclair!”
“Dammit! Shut up!”
Knox, who had been making a fuss for a while, finally fell silent at my swearing.
Yes, I knew. If I were an ordinary woman, I wouldn’t have been able to lift Knox at all.
But I wasn’t an ordinary woman; I possessed Super Strength, more than enough to haul Knox around like a piece of luggage.
Still, going down stairs while carrying a man who couldn’t even put weight on his legs was certainly a high-difficulty task.
“……Who exactly are you?”
Knox, who had been riding quietly on my back, asked me. Naturally, I didn’t answer.
Upon reaching the first floor, I gripped the door handle of the Clock Tower and spoke to Knox.
“If a monster lunges, swing the axe. My hands are full right now.”
“……What?”
“Don’t make me say it twice. Not unless you want to be abandoned. I’m quite tired right now.”
“Abandoned? Are you saying that to me?”
“Dammit.”
“You’ve got quite a temper. Don’t swear. And don’t abandon me. I’m actually quite good at swinging things.”
Having heard my blunt swearing, Knox immediately changed his tune and swung the axe with nonchalance. While on my back, that is.
Then, he suddenly burst into laughter. I could feel his body trembling slightly against my back.
“For a dream before death, this is far too vivid. There’s no way Lady Cherry would come all this way to save me. And she even put me on her back?”
As I stood at the first floor of the Clock Tower, gripping the door handle and taking a deep breath, I heard Knox muttering behind me.
Feeling somewhat exasperated, I let go of the handle and set him down on the stairs. He sat on the step, looking up at me sideways with a bewildered face.
“This isn’t a dream. And I did come here to save you, Mr. Rudfercher. Why would you think I wouldn’t save you?”
“Well… isn’t that why you threw the stone? I saw you throwing stones from the mansion into the village. You used the village as bait just so you could survive.”
No. How could someone misunderstand things so poorly? I swallowed a dry laugh and let out a sigh.
“That stone. I threw it to save you.”
“Making excuses now—”
“You were isolated in the square back then. I threw the stone in the opposite direction so the path would open up in the direction you were trying to go.”
Knox’s pupils dilated. His mouth hung open like a fish.
“Then…….”
“I saved you then, and I’ve come to save you again, and this is the treatment I get? Ha. I shouldn’t have bothered. I should have just left you. What a pain in the ass.”
“Wa-Wait a minute……!”
As I turned my back on Knox and reached for the door handle again, he hurriedly called out to me.
“I-I think I had it wrong. Lady Cherry, I’m sorry.”
The apology was quick. First Eden, and now him—the people here seemed quite fast to admit when they were wrong. Well, it did seem like he was doing it because he was genuinely afraid I’d leave him behind.
“I’m not apologizing just because I’m afraid Lady Cherry will leave me here. I’m not that uneducated.”
As if reading my thoughts, Knox immediately added to his words.
“Thank you. For saving me.”
At Knox’s apology, I rubbed my brow with a weary face and asked him.
“Can we go out now?”
He nodded obediently, so I hoisted him onto my back again. Then, I slowly turned the handle.
Fortunately, the area in front of the Clock Tower was quiet.
I could see the swarm of monsters gathered in the distant square, but luckily, they didn’t seem interested in this direction.
I looked toward the roof of the building where Eden was supposed to be. But there was no one there.
“Where did he go? I was supposed to meet Sir Eden in front of the Clock Tower.”
“Did Lancaster come with you?”
“Do you think I’d come here alone?”
“Why are you so prickly?”
“……Look at the situation. Do I look like I should be cheerful?”
Goodness, Lady Cherry. I didn’t know you were such a scary person.
I ignored Knox’s quiet muttering and scanned the surroundings. Eden was still nowhere to be seen.
Was he on his way to the Clock Tower? But Eden wasn’t visible anywhere nearby. And instead of Eden, the virus monsters were beginning to approach the tower.
“Hey, Lady Cherry. This isn’t the time for that. I think we need to move.”
Knox, hanging on my back, spoke as he gripped the axe. With Knox on my back, I began to run.
