Chapter 12
Did You Enjoy Your Escape?
“Since the blockade was issued, no one has passed through here.”
The bridge over the Kelintz River.
At the entrance to the bridge was a gate that managed traffic to and from the Marlheine Territory.
“With her injured leg, it would be impossible for her to have reached this place already.”
The knight accompanying him said.
No words, a dark night, and an unfamiliar road.
Even at a normal pace, it would take half a day to reach this place, and she had a serious injury to her leg.
“Perhaps she is hiding nearby?”
The knights had even issued a wanted notice for her in the nearby villages.
A small woman with brown hair and light green eyes. Injured her right leg and may be disguised.
The knights went around each village, inquiring about Liana, and ordered that the Duke be informed immediately upon finding her.
Shed pressed his throbbing temples at the knight's report.
No, something is missing.
It felt like he was still missing something.
“Carlisle.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Search all the ferries on the Kelintz River and see if anyone has crossed the river.”
With the blockade in place, it was unlikely that she had crossed the river due to the distance, but he needed to confirm it to ease his anxiety.
“Yes, I understand, my lord.”
Carlisle bowed his head, seeing Shed looking as if he was being chased by something.
He had served Shed for several years, but this was the first time he had seen him so anxious.
Shed Lester, as he knew him, was not like this. He was the only one who remained unshaken even in a crisis where everyone else sensed defeat. He was the type of person who calmly assessed the situation even when a Demon Beast he had never seen before appeared. That was why even knights from noble families had no choice but to shut their mouths and follow him.
But now, he was so flustered and anxious just because a maid had disappeared.
Carlisle couldn't understand Shed's actions, but as always, he faithfully followed his orders.
He immediately headed to the large and small ferry crossings on the Kelintz River with the knights.
He checked with every boat and boatman to see if they had taken anyone across the river, and he also blockaded the small ferries.
Shed stood at the gate of the Kelintz Bridge, waiting for the knights' reports to return.
Then.
“My lord, this man admits to taking a woman across the river.”
Carlisle brought a boatman before him.
The sturdy boatman knelt before Shed with a nervous expression.
“You took a woman across?”
“…Yes.”
Shed asked about the woman he had taken across.
“She was a beautiful woman with brown hair and green eyes.”
He said that he had no choice but to take the pretty woman across the river because she had begged him so earnestly.
“Ha…”
Shed let out a hollow laugh at the boatman's words.
“Didn't you see the blockade flag?”
If it was daytime, the blockade order would have already spread this far.
Yet he dared to disobey his orders and take a woman across?
“Well, the blockade flag hadn't been raised yet at that time…”
“If it is revealed that you have testified falsely, your family will be executed, so answer carefully.”
Shed warned coldly, seeing the boatman's eyes darting around.
Then the boatman's eyes wavered, and he soon confessed the truth.
“She said she had a younger sibling in Ashafen who was sick and needed medicine, and she had to return quickly. She said that if she didn't go right away, her younger sibling would die…”
The woman had come to him just as the flags announcing the blockade were being raised on the banks of the Kelintz River.
The boatman said that he couldn't refuse because the woman was begging with tears streaming down her face.
“The sudden blockade might not be lifted for a while, and she couldn't just wait here with her sick sibling, could she?”
The boatman bowed his head, saying that he couldn't help but understand the woman's situation.
Shed nodded at his words.
“You're right. It's a very unfortunate story.”
The boatman looked up at him, surprised by Shed's gentle voice.
“That woman said she was going to Ashafen?”
“Yes, yes! She definitely said her sibling was there! I dropped her off near the riverbank around there.”
The boatman nodded his head repeatedly.
“Thanks to someone with a kind heart like you, that sibling's life must have been saved.”
“Th-thank you. Isn't it a world where we all help each other?”
“But you see.”
A chilling metallic sound reached the boatman's ears, who had been rejoicing at the Duke's praise.
“You will lose your life because of that foolishness.”
At the same time, a slicing sound rang out, and blood splattered on the bridge.
The boatman's body, which had been kneeling before Shed, tilted and fell to the ground.
Everyone froze at the scene that had unfolded in an instant.
But Shed coldly looked down at the boatman's corpse lying on the ground.
He knew Luise Ideana very well.
She was someone who was used to holding back tears, not someone who was used to squeezing them out.
Luise Ideana making up a family history and selling tears? What a joke.
No matter how desperate she was, she was a woman who would never even think of doing such a thing.
Shed recalled the boatman's face, who had subtly smiled while mentioning the 'pretty woman.'
The emotion visible in his eyes was obvious. He must have been captivated by her appearance and taken her across the river.
After all, she was a beauty with a face that one would not easily encounter in life.
Shed was not merciful enough to let the boatman live, who had brazenly lied even after disobeying his orders.
“That woman has escaped the territory.”
A cold voice flowed out from between his tightly clenched teeth.
The reason he gave for taking her across may have been a lie, but it was likely that he had dropped her off near Ashafen.
Shed wiped the blood off his sword, put it away, and turned to Carlisle.
“Shall we send people to Ashafen?”
The quick-witted Carlisle stepped forward and asked.
Shed looked down at the corpse lying on the ground, thought for a moment, and then shook his head.
“No. Not Ashafen.”
Shed knew Luise Ideana well.
She was not stupid enough to tell someone else her destination and then run away.
The boatman may have dropped her off near the riverbank near Ashafen, but Liana would never have gone to Ashafen.
If Ashafen was excluded, there were only a few places she could have gone.
Among them, he excluded areas where she might encounter Godwin Baron's people, and he also excluded cities with active trade with the Lester Territory.
Therefore.
“Brillon.”
He thought of a port town in Marlheine.
Brillon didn't have large merchant ships, but it was a place where fishing boats and small ships came and went.
If she were to board a ship there and leave, it would not be easy to meet her again.
Shed immediately mounted his horse.
“We're going straight to Brillon.”
He couldn't afford to miss her any longer.
He had to catch her before she left.
“We'll be departing before dawn. If you're late, we won't wait for you, so be on time.”
Liana nodded at the rough words of the salty sailor.
The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon.
'I'm glad I narrowly avoided the blockade.'
The fact that a blockade had been issued probably meant that Shed had noticed her absence.
'The cross flag announcing the blockade on the Kelintz Bridge was raised just before sunrise, so...'
She had been discovered sooner than expected, but she still had some time.
Even if they started searching around that time, it wouldn't be enough time to search the Marlheine Territory.
Besides, Brillon was half a day away from the Lester Territory, so it would be difficult to send people here and find her today.
Liana left the harbor where the nets were piled up and headed towards the village.
She needed a place to stay for a while until dawn.
She had been walking non-stop since last night without closing her eyes once.
She had been walking for almost a full day without sleeping. She had hitched rides on carts and wagons in between, but her legs were throbbing. The new shoes that the Lester family had given her didn't fit her feet well, so she had blisters.
It was an injury that would heal in an instant if she used her power, but Liana didn't want to face the curse again.
She headed to a tavern near the harbor.
To avoid missing the boat, it was better to kill time in a tavern than to stop by an inn.
In the tavern right in front of the sea, the sound of waves and seagulls could be heard clearly. The harbor was also visible in the distance, so she could check when the boat was leaving.
The loud voices and conversations of the sailors made it seem impossible to fall asleep. If she fell asleep, she might not wake up until the boat left at dawn.
“What's your order?”
The tavern owner, with thick, curly hair on his arms, asked roughly.
'My travel expenses...'
Liana, who had been planning to have a meal at the tavern, paused when she saw her light purse. She had to save at least enough money to use for a day after arriving by boat.
She didn't have enough money because she had left in a hurry. It didn't seem like she could afford to eat.
“A glass of beer, please.”
She ordered the cheapest beer, intending to at least wet her throat, and went to the long bar table by the window.
Since there were no chairs, she sat roughly on a box next to her and looked out the window.
The sun, which had been painting the water red until just now, was gradually sinking below the surface.
As darkness fell behind the crimson sunset, lanterns were hung one by one in the tavern and on the streets.
As it got darker, more and more people came to the tavern.
Liana quietly hid among the crowd, anxiously waiting for time to pass.
The beer, which cost only a few denarii, was flat and had a fishy smell of poor-quality grain, but Liana had to save even that.
Liana stared at the distant harbor, worrying about her bleak future livelihood.
'But if I can just get out of here, I can somehow survive.'
Just as she was fiddling with the rough glass, a bright light flared up in the distant harbor.
Liana jumped up from her seat and ran out of the tavern. The sailors who had been loudly talking and singing did the same.
And a shout that shook the night air.
“Fire!”
“Damn it, the harbor's on fire!”
The fire that started in one place quickly spread to the side.
Even though the wind wasn't strong, the flames rising from the harbor quickly soared into a huge mass.
“No…!”
Liana immediately ran to the harbor.
All the ships docked in the harbor were on fire, burning red.
As if forcibly dragging up the sunset that had just disappeared beyond the horizon, the sky was tinged with red by the huge flames.
The flames burning red on the water created a tragic spectacle.
Liana stood before that despairing scene.
Then.
“…So you were here.”
A large shadow walked from inside the harbor.
As if the spreading flames were his own, a person walked out with the red, false sunset behind him.
“So, did you enjoy your escape?”
Purple eyes shone brightly above the black figure with the flames behind him.
