WOSE Chapter 32

When the terrible screams and sounds of impact could no longer be heard, Iyu descended the mountain alone.

She felt like she might collapse at any moment from mental exhaustion more than the physical fatigue of climbing up and down the rough mountain.

When she'd staggered down to the mountain's base, someone popped out from behind a large tree trunk.

"Savior."

The one who appeared from the darkness was Ulrik.

Iyu forced her exhausted mind to work. Was he an ally Darun had called in advance, being thorough as he was? Or...

"Where is Lord Darun, coming down alone?"

Behind the man who asked ominously, a large hammer protruded.

"Did Darun come here too?"

"You didn't meet him?"

"No, no one."

"...What brings you here at this late hour?"

"I don't know if you've heard, but the child I was traveling with disappeared. They said they'd help me look tomorrow morning, but I couldn't just wait. But because it's night, I couldn't find the way at all. So I was giving up and coming back down."

While answering as if nothing was wrong, Iyu manipulated with her fingertips the magical tools dangling from her wrists and fingers.

She'd worn the defensive magical tools Kelgrida had given her, but the problem was having no way to attack.

"You mean you didn't go inside the mine?"

"That's right."

At her affirmation, the other party narrowed his eyes, then finally replied firmly.

"You're lying. You smell of the mine's distinctive metallic earth scent."

'Were dwarves' noses good too?'

It seemed this ridiculous conversation also needed to end.

Iyu watched impassively as the man drew his weapon.

'He's going to attack anyway.'

Well, this man hadn't liked her at all from their first meeting. Though she hadn't thought it was to the point of wanting to kill her.

"Your master's bastard son is handling complaints right now. Seeing how it's still quiet, they must have much to discuss as someone involved in the disappearance case."

"...You know too much. Very troublesome, indeed."

The man swung his hammer brutally. Iyu hastily pulled her body back. Whoosh. The heavy weapon passed narrowly past her nose.

'If that hits, my head will be crushed like a watermelon.'

She'd bluffed because she trusted the performance of the magical tools Kelgrida had given her and the value of being the 'savior,' but the man was serious about harming her.

"You don't care if the world ends?"

"If I can protect Lady Kelgrida and Lord Darun."

So he overlooked murder, helped destroy evidence, and even tried to harm the savior. Truly remarkable loyalty.

The man raised his hammer overhead again. She tried to dodge sideways, but her luck ran out here.

The man quickly changed angles and struck her side.

Thunk!

The magical tool prevented the brutal iron mass from crushing flesh and bone and bursting organs, but it couldn't stop the force of impact.

Her body rolled like a sheet of paper and crashed into a tree.

"Kuh!"

Her windpipe contracted from the impact felt at her back.

The man narrowed his brow when the strike that should have dealt a fatal wound only produced a light cough.

Ulrik dragged his hammer closer and looked down at her with a grim face. Then he recognized at a glance the origin of the invisible barrier surrounding her.

"Tsk, Lady Kelgrida showed unnecessary consideration."

His large hand reached for hers. The moment he roughly tried to tear off the magical tool, Iyu drew the dagger strapped to her thigh.

At this close distance, she could stab either his eye or his nape.

But her blade never pierced the man's skin.

Squelch!

A cold blade penetrated the man's chest and emerged just short of Iyu's chest.

"Kuhk!"

The man coughed up blood and collapsed sideways with a thud.

Iyu wiped the fishy, warm blood that had splattered on her face with the back of her hand. Then she stared blankly up at the pitch-black silhouette standing behind the man.

'It' wore a black cloak that reached its ankles and a white mask. Having deeply withdrawn his long, thin blade, he dragged the blood-dripping sword to her feet.

"Hello, Savior."

Beyond the mask, obsidian-like eyes curved mischievously. A low, rough voice like it was locked, but with a leisurely, humming tone. Hair protruding between the deeply pulled hood. A large build that felt beastlike.

'That man.'

Iyu instinctively knew this was Ragnarok—more precisely, the one leading them.

"Why would Ragnarok..."

After hearing the story from Kalix, meeting them wasn't surprising, but the fact that Ragnarok had helped her made no sense.

However, the shallow question was easily shattered.

"I'm honored you know of us. Actually, I had something I wanted to say, so I deliberately sought out the Savior."

The man who spread both arms asked with a tone as casual as deciding dinner.

"So, won't you join me in ending this world?"

'Won't you cooperate in ending the world?'

During the kidnapping attempt, that had been the first thing this man said. At the time, she'd naturally ignored the lunatic's proposal. Of course, now their goals had become similar, but coexistence with them was still impossible.

The day Tamia lost her life. She'd heard that Ragnarok had attacked the outskirts village where Tamia had died so miserably.

That greater damage had resulted because of it—she'd definitely heard that. She couldn't affirm, even as a lie, any being that had even slightly influenced Tamia's death.

"No."

She knew the goodwill he showed was very light and temporary. Moreover, if they didn't share the same goal, the one most pleased by the savior's death would be this very man. Knowing all that, when she refused, the man tilted his head.

"Why? Don't tell me you pity this world, these living things?"

"..."

"Really? Look at these disgusting creatures! Doesn't any sympathy that was forming vanish completely?"

The man stomped on Ulrik sprawled on the ground. Thud, thud. Sounds of blood bursting and meat pulverizing. The bright red blood spreading made her reflexively nauseous from disgust.

Whether she dry-heaved or not, he roughly wiped the blood-soaked shoe sole on grass and continued nonchalantly.

"There are especially many disgusting bastards here. I was going to dispose of that self-proclaimed Ragnarok, but you stole my thunder. And to the savior, no less."

Deep laughter permeated the added sentence.

"So naturally I thought you'd have the same intention as me. Don't you?"

"...You're not wrong."

"Then why? Ah, are you misunderstanding because of that self-proclaimed Ragnarok? We do pursue pleasure, but we're not a simple murder group."

"People definitely die for no reason because of you."

Iyu glanced coldly at the motionless Ulrik.

"Hmm, when you just did essentially the same thing, how difficult."

The man complained like a child.

To him it might seem contradictory, but she had no intention of listing out reasons why she couldn't accept them.

When Iyu stubbornly maintained silence, the man kicked the corpse at his feet as if his interest had waned.

"Well, there are still many opportunities."

The man who shrugged bent at the waist to meet her eye level. When she reflexively turned her head, he reached out. Cold fingers touched her chin and lifted her face. With pitch-black eyes, he slowly traced from her hair to her toes, then spoke like a prophecy.

"I guarantee that before this garbage-like journey ends, you'll gladly want to take my hand."

"..."

"See you again."

After greeting lightly, he vanished in the blink of an eye. Left alone, Iyu roughly rubbed the skin where his touch remained.

It felt exactly like having a terrible nightmare.

Exhausted to the point where crawling back on all fours would have been admirable, she weakly opened the mansion door. She wanted to simply collapse and sleep without thinking anything more, without feeling anything more.

But at the bottom of the stairs leading to her room, Odynne stood like a shadow. He'd been somewhere, wearing a long coat down to his knees over his black priest's robe.

When their eyes met under the dim moonlight, the sigh she'd been holding back burst out.

Just before deliberately causing a commotion and heading to the mine. The visitor who had come to her room had been Odynne—him.