Chapter 21
Summoning Black Hordes of Dogs
The child hadn't been taken by someone.
Lucia was certain she would have noticed even the slightest presence, given how close she was.
Then why did she disappear on her own?
Before she could solve the mystery, she quickly scanned her surroundings, beads of sweat forming on her face for the first time in a while.
As a knight of the capital, she had a perfect grasp of the city's map, so getting lost was out of the question. However, thoroughly searching every nook and cranny of the maze-like alleys was a daunting task for one person alone.
'This is maddening.'
How desperately did the child, who was slow on her feet, have to run to disappear in the blink of an eye like this...?
Any parent who has lost a child even for a moment would understand how fast that blink of an eye can be.
Even Lucia, the legendary commander, was no different in that regard.
However, her way of dealing with it might be different.
-Thud. Rip.
She grabbed Puff, who was perched on her shoulder, and tore him off as easily as tearing paper.
Then, she picked up a sharp stone and unhesitatingly slashed her exposed forearm.
She didn't make a deep wound, but the area was wide enough that the seeping blood eventually dripped onto the tip of her shoe.
And Lucia closed her eyes and counted.
88, 89, 90...
Exactly one minute and thirty seconds after she started counting,
-Thud thud thud thud thud thud...
The sound of countless hooves began to be heard in the distance.
And soon, familiar faces came into view.
Berl, Vernon, Gillianna, and Heath, leading the charge, jumped off their horses and knelt before Lucia.
Vernon, Gillianna, and Heath, who were living with her, looked ridiculous, still wearing their aprons as if they had been cleaning the house while the mother and daughter were out.
"Black Knights, we apologize for being late."
Berl swallowed his bursting breath and calmly paid his respects.
He must have torn an teleportation scroll along with the horses, but it seemed he hadn't landed at the exact coordinates, as he was panting heavily from running.
The other members, who had bowed their heads following him, also calmly swallowed their breaths, but their eyes were busy scanning their captain's condition.
Lucia showed them the stone she was holding, noticing their busy eyes.
The sharp stone stained with blood and the wound on her arm.
It was as if she was showing them that she had inflicted the wound herself.
Seeing that, the members finally breathed a small sigh of relief, as if saying, 'That's more like it.'
The reason they were able to know Lucia's location.
It was thanks to the tracking magic placed only on the five captains of the Eldarion Empire.
The magic was a high-level tracking spell that turned the red jewel on their uniforms black when the captain was wounded or killed, notifying the members of each division of their location.
It was a somewhat rough method, but it was given to them to gain an advantage in war in many ways, as the captain-level officers were the first to be ambushed.
"There's no time. Find a five-year-old child with black hair in this area."
At her words, the members who knew of Nia's existence, not just Berl, seemed shocked.
They widened their eyes and looked around as if searching for the child's appearance, but as she said, the child was nowhere to be found.
"Captain, did you perhaps lose the child?"
Lucia nodded with a miserable feeling at Berl's question, who seemed unable to believe it.
"...Shoot a flare when you find her."
Vernon and Gillianna, who lived with her, seemed to have a lot to say, but it wasn't easy to approach her, who was exuding an unapproachable aura.
As soon as the captain's order was given, the black hordes began to stain the narrow alleys as quickly as they had stained the battlefield black in the old days.
And as she expected, before long, the trace of a flare bloomed in the clear sky.
*
At the end of the narrow alley, which they reached at a rapid pace.
From Lucia's point of view, the black mass seemed to be a group of many members guarding one place.
"Captain! The child is safe! But..."
"Captain! But she won't let go!"
"..."
As soon as she arrived, she could tell that the child was really safe from their relaxed atmosphere.
But she had to confirm with her own eyes.
"Move."
At her one word, spoken without any room for argument, the members quickly scattered and made way.
In the middle of that black path, there was a girl who was protecting Nia as if she wouldn't let her be taken away, glaring at them as if she would kill them, like an angry cat.
In her memory, the girl was one of the pickpocket gang.
It seemed that the two of them had an unusual relationship, and Nia had recognized this girl and followed her.
Lucia mercilessly pressed the girl's pressure point, knocking her unconscious.
"...C, Captain?! What are you doing to the child...!"
"I'll check on Nia first."
Berl and a few members who had rushed over late tried to stop the captain, but the deed had already been done.
Lucia understood their feelings.
To put it in perspective, the members must have been troubled because the reason they couldn't get Nia to let go felt like taking a kitten away from its mother cat.
But after all, she couldn't know what kind of relationship the two had, and Lucia was able to say Nia's information in front of the members, so she was unhesitating.
She entrusted Mia to a member and checked on the condition of the child she had picked up.
Breathing normal. No fever, and other than a small scratch on her knee, she just seemed to have fainted from shock.
Only then did Lucia's stiff face relax.
She let out a small sigh,
"I'll give you a reward when I get back to work."
"Thank you! Captain Lucia!"
The loud voices of the excited members who heard the captain's words shook the sky.
But even in the midst of that, Berl and Heath, with worried faces, approached her.
"Captain, you need to get treatment quickly."
"...Blood."
"It's okay. Heath, Berl. Report on the situation first. What happened?"
A small open space at the end of several narrow mazes.
Thanks to the members who had already appeared, the children had already run away, and only the sight of someone dead with a knife stuck in their forehead remained.
"Yes, Captain. According to what I just heard, the leader of the pickpockets was trying to traffic the little miss, but he died, so we'll have to wait for the guards to arrive to get more information."
The remaining three members sweated at Berl's stinging glare.
They were quiet now because they were living with the captain, but in fact, they were the biggest troublemakers.
Heath was the boy Lucia had been with, but Vernon and Gillianna were actually dark figures who had once been high-ranking executives in the dark guild.
Therefore, the members who followed them, including them, were not hesitant to kill people,
They were now regular soldiers thanks to Lucia, but they couldn't hide their true nature, and they were prone to causing casualties if things went wrong, which was the most fatal thing for Lucia, who hated paperwork the most.
Thanks to this, darkness fell on her face as the nightmare of writing a report came back to life for the first time in a long time.
And seeing that expression, the members, who were afraid that they would be running around the training ground all day without end instead of getting a reward, looked around like frightened children.
"...Good work. It's good that the child is safe."
But unexpected praise came from the captain's mouth.
Everyone doubted their ears, but today's captain was different from before.
She had never called them by hurting herself, and she had never praised them for anything.
As expected, the saying that you have to become a parent to become a human being is not for nothing. The Black Knights members exchanged glances with the same thought.
Behind their warm nods, a chill settled in Lucia's eyes as she looked at the dead man.
Perhaps the man should be grateful.
If she had seen that sight, he would have experienced how cruel the leader of these troublemakers was and died, to the point that a report would not have been enough to cover it up.
*
Lucia and the children arrived at the accommodation after sending the members away.
As she laid the fainted children on the sofa in the living room, Nia blinked her eyes as if she had finally come to her senses.
"...Ugh."
As soon as Nia woke up, she clung to Lucia in front of her as if she had woken up from a nightmare.
"Hic, waaaaah!"
Nia, crying in Lucia's arms, wouldn't let go as if she was desperately holding on to something.
Lucia was flustered by Nia's actions, but she calmly patted the child's back.
"...Looks like she was surprised."
Nia, who had been hiding her face, raised her head at Lucia's gentle tone.
The child's face seemed to be filled with all sorts of emotions.
"...N, Nia did wrong...! Hic, hic. S, saw sister, ran, ran over! But, Mommy, wasn't, wasn't there. Waaaaah!"
From her desperately furrowed eyebrows to her tear- and snot-covered cheeks, to her beautifully braided hair being disheveled.
She couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the child explaining so hard in such an ugly beggar-like state.
Perhaps it was because she thought that this ridiculous sight was not so different from her own appearance, with her blouse torn on one side, stained with blood, and showered in sweat.
All of this happened because the child suddenly disappeared, but for some reason, she wasn't angry at all.
Strangely, she only felt relieved.
When the child's sobs subsided, Lucia pulled the child away and made eye contact.
"Nia, wherever you want to go, let's go together next time."
Lucia said as she wiped the tear stains from the child's face with her hands.
Nia's eyes welled up again as if she was being spoiled by her warm touch, and then her eyes widened as if she had discovered something.
"...M, Mommy. B, blood here...!"
"Ah."
Nia started panting.
"I, it's because of Nia. Nia, was, was caught by, by mister... Caught, caught, Nia..."
The shocked child was reminded of what happened in the warehouse.
The whip lashes that flew without hesitation on days when Divine Power didn't come out.
The blood that came out when bruises burst and skin tore.
If she was lucky enough to have Divine Power come out, it would heal cleanly, but if not, the wound would quickly fester and cause a fever.
Nevertheless, Nia hated using Divine Power.
To Nia, Divine Power was like making a blank sheet of paper.
That blank sheet of paper always existed to fill tomorrow's wounds.
Lucia, who was watching Nia fall into confusion, stroked the child's head.
"It's okay. It's not because of you. I did it myself."
"...Mommy did...?"
The child had an unbelievable look on her face.
Lucia looked at the child and smiled as if trying to reassure her.
However, not convinced by that, the child muttered again.
"...Why, why did you do it. It, it hurts a lot. So, don't, don't do it again."
"It's okay. It doesn't hurt. Because I did it to protect you."
The child paused blankly at Lucia's words and quietly asked.
"...Protect, Nia...?"
To protect.
It wasn't that the wound was caused by Nia, but that Mommy made the wound to protect Nia.
It was the same beginning, but the meanings of the two were completely different, touching Nia's heart.
The child's small head could not understand everything yet.
The child simply closed her eyes.
And she began to pray earnestly to heal the wound in front of her.
'It hurts. Please save me.'
Not praying to be able to endure tonight, like she did back then, knowing that she would be in pain again tomorrow.
'Please let Nia be able to protect Mommy too.'
Then, a larger light than usual appeared in the child's hand.
The swirling white sphere rippled with golden light and soon seeped into Lucia's arm.
The child, who had only used it on her own body, or rather, had only emitted it, was using her power on someone else for the first time.
According to what she had heard, high-level training was required to use Divine Power on others.
Lucia, who had not thought that the child would heal her, was surprised by the strange warmth and her body stiffened.
But was it too much for her because it was her first time?
The child seemed exhausted and fell asleep in Lucia's arms again.
"...I knew it would be like this."
At the scratching sound, Lucia, who had been blankly staring at her arm, turned her head.
Mia, who had been lying on the sofa, had gotten up at some point and was glaring at her like a cat with its fur standing on end.
