Chapter 83
I was a bit of a distance away from where the soldier stood, but from my line of sight, I could see his face at an angle. I saw him swallow hard, his expression tight with tension.
“I—I can’t say. You’ll see for yourself if you go there.”
“I saw people being dragged away earlier. What are you planning to do with them?”
“That wasn’t our doing. I don’t know the details, but it looked like those bastards intended to use the village survivors as slaves.”
Slaves. I was slightly taken aback by the shocking news. Then, Eden questioned the soldier.
“Those bastards? Who are they? Are you talking about the ones you’re fighting in the village right now?”
“We don’t know their exact identities either. We were attacked the moment we entered Brunel. All we heard was that they came from Kintne.”
The Kintne Survival Camp.
According to the original novel, there was definitely a fairly large group of survivors in Kintne.
Had I mentioned this before? The main plot of the novel Love in a Ruined World revolved around a survivalist turf war, where groups would swallow up other camps to expand their size.
Of course, the ultimate winner was Crown Prince Theodore’s camp, where the heroine Aurora resided, so Kintne wouldn’t even be a match for them.
So, to summarize what the soldier just said—
The Kintne thugs, who had infiltrated Brunel for some unknown purpose, ran into the soldiers who were trying to kidnap Eden while posing as the Royal Army, and the two groups ended up in a firefight.
Why are they doing this sh*t on someone else’s land?
Brunel is strictly my territory. Of course, no one ever officially said so, but…! Think of all the effort I’ve poured into this village so far…!
The soldiers were one thing, but I decided I had to teach those Kintne bastards a lesson first.
He said it was for an ‘unknown purpose,’ but wasn’t the motive obvious? They were likely trying to secure the food and daily necessities left in Brunel.
The soldier was still being held at gunpoint, the muzzle of Eden’s revolver pressed against the back of his head.
I pulled my axe from its holster and looked at him. His face turned deathly pale when he saw the weapon in my hand.
“I’m not handing over Sir Eden. If you think you can take him from me, just you try!”
I made my declaration quite grandly, but the look Eden gave me was ambiguous at best.
But whatever, I was serious. I didn’t kidnap(?) Eden just to watch him get snatched away by thugs like these. The only person I’m willing to yield Eden to is Aurora!
“I didn’t realize Lady Cherry liked me quite so passionately.”
“No. It’s not that I like you; I just want Sir Eden’s body.”
Specifically, Eden’s blood, which contained the antibodies.
The soldier’s expression shifted to one reserved for a ‘total lunatic,’ while Eden clicked his tongue.
“The pervert was right here…”
Bang—!
Eden couldn’t finish his sentence. A bullet flying through the police station window pierced the heart of the soldier standing in front of him.
Because Eden was standing at an angle, he narrowly avoided the bullet. Both he and I ducked instinctively.
Bang, bang—!
Bullets whistled into the police station in rapid succession. The soldier collapsed on the floor, seemingly dead on impact.
“We need to get to the basement, Lady Cherry. Can you move?”
Eden asked, keeping his body pressed low to the floor. I nodded, crouching just as low as he was.
We had no choice but to crawl. And we had to move before the bastards outside stormed the building.
I scrambled forward on all fours. I had to give up on burning the monster’s corpse. It was going to smell like rot, but there was no helping it.
Eden and I managed to open the basement door and slip inside.
Click.
Only after closing the door did I stand up and let out a sigh. I saw Eden sitting on the stairs, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
So many bewildering things had happened in such quick succession that I felt dazed for a moment. I sat quietly on the stairs before asking him.
“The people who just killed that soldier—they must be the ones from Kintne, right?”
“It seems so. It looks like they’re trying to take over Brunel. From what I saw, they appeared to be clearing out the monsters in the village.”
“Hmm? Clearing out the monsters? Well, they’re doing us a favor, then.”
I stroked my chin, lost in thought for a moment. Should we wait until they’ve wiped out all the monsters in Brunel and then stab them in the back?
‘But how?’
They seemed to have far superior numbers.
The only cards we had were the underground passage to the police station and the catapult on the roof of Happy House…
“We have to strike before they completely take over Brunel. We can’t let them steal the food.”
At my murmur, Eden, who had been resting his chin on his hand with a tired face, looked up at me.
“We know Brunel better than they do. We should use the geography to our advantage. We have the tunnel, after all.”
“Use the geography?”
“We’ll herd them.”
Eden gave me a wicked grin.
‘Let’s herd them.’ I understood what he meant instantly. I mirrored his grin.
“We’ll have to teach them a proper lesson.”
“It’s a shame they haven’t heard the rumors about the mad lady of the abandoned mansion.”
“They’ll be scared out of their wits when they realize the Mad Dog of Benton is here, too.”
I responded to Eden subconsciously, then realized something was off.
“Wait, why are both our nicknames like this? It’s a bit problematic if we’re both crazy.”
At my words, Eden crossed his arms with a serious expression and nodded as if in total agreement.
“I knew I should have made Lady Cherry my partner…”
“Excuse me. If we’re going to be partners, shouldn’t at least one of us be sane?”
“If there are two crazy people, we might actually look normal.”
One thing was for sure: Eden didn’t look normal. Still, I felt like I was slightly better off than him.
“The people who said they were going to kidnap you—where do you think they came from?”
“Seeing as they disguised themselves as the Royal Army, the one thing that’s certain is that the royal family isn’t behind it. It’s likely someone else who wants to make it look like the royal family is involved.”
“Wanting it to look like the royal family is behind it… that sounds incredibly suspicious. Do you think it’s related to the virus?”
“There’s nothing we can be certain of yet.”
But I was sure of it.
After all, they had gone so far as to try and kidnap Eden—the one person who possessed the virus antibodies.
Anyway, I brushed myself off and stood up. The problem was that we had left the lantern back in the police station. The thought of navigating that pitch-black tunnel without a light suddenly gave me the creeps.
“Let’s head back to the mansion first and draw up a specific plan.”
Eden stood up and reached out his hand to me. I looked at him, puzzled.
My eyes had adjusted to the dark, so I could vaguely see his face, but I couldn’t read his expression clearly.
“Take my hand. We don’t have a choice since we don’t have a lantern.”
At those words, I quietly took his hand. Right. I was only holding it because we didn’t have a lantern. There was no other choice.
Because my vision was blocked, my other senses felt heightened. I was unusually aware of his hand gripping mine.
“End of the stairs. Watch your step.”
Eden warned me. Just as he said, the stairs ended, and the entrance to the dungeon appeared. Suddenly, he pulled me toward him, almost into an embrace.
“You almost hit the wall.”
If he hadn’t pulled me as he did, I would have slammed my shoulder into the entrance. I nodded, practically tucked into his chest.
“T-Thank you.”
What is this? I don’t know why I suddenly felt so awkward and embarrassed. I let out a fake cough and moved cautiously, still holding Eden’s hand.
Eden managed to find the hidden passage with ease. He hopped down first and then told me to jump.
I felt a bit scared about jumping down into the pitch-black darkness where I couldn’t see anything.
‘What if I misjudge the height and break my leg?’
As I hesitated with those worries, Eden spoke.
“Lady Cherry, I am a warrior professionally trained in swordsmanship and marksmanship. Even without sight, my senses are sharp. Trust me and come down.”
Eden’s words were convincing. Or perhaps they were convincing simply because it was Eden saying them.
“…Then, I’m jumping?”
“Yes, jump.”
“One, two… three!”
I jumped down, my body stiff with tension. And Eden caught me, perfectly and steadily. I clung to him for a moment, catching my breath.
“I was more scared of that than killing those monster bastards.”
As I muttered while clutching my pounding heart, Eden burst into laughter. I could feel the slight vibration of his body against mine.
Despite the situation, it felt strangely ticklish.
