Chapter 49 Your Cruel Face
Delphine, who had changed into the active clothes he’d handed her, spoke to the doll in the skimpy dress in her place.
“When the maid knocks on your door for lunch, tell her, ‘No thanks for today, I want to finish my novel, so don’t bother me. Do you understand?”
The doll, who looked exactly like her, nodded expressionlessly.
After the words were spoken, Delphine took Lynn’s hand in hers first.
Lynn stared down at her for a moment, then wordlessly snapped her fingers.
Delphine felt her body being pulled somewhere.
When the pressure faded and she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself in a residential neighborhood in District 3.
A long row of narrow, chicken coop-like houses.
Delphine asked in a questioning tone.
“Didn’t you say you had an idea where the factory was? Why did we end up in a place like this…?”
Lynn glanced at Delphine’s handkerchief-covered face and led her to a corner of the alley.
“It’s not good to be… too conspicuous, so this way first.”
Unfamiliar with this kind of operation, Delphine followed without question.
“We’ll have to stay undercover here until we find out where the factory is supposedly located.”
“And where is Belly?”
Infiltration was a sleeping matter and should be done by a small group.
So it would be her, Lynn, Belly, and two sword-wielding knights on this mission.
“He’s getting Pride’s attention first.”
Lynn replied, glancing down at her watch.
“We just need to stay here and wait for his comms to come through.”
“… I see.”
Delphine replied in a heavy voice.
The two stood side by side for a moment, pressing themselves against the alley wall.
She wondered how long they stayed like that.
“… Would that be okay?”
Lynn asked suddenly, rolling her eyes awkwardly.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re going to head back to headquarters after today’s work is done… if it goes well, of course. Without anyone dying.”
Lynn’s eyes flickered to her as she spoke, and he continued.
“You will have to go back to the manor… where the man is.”
Delphine’s face was as calm as the sea after a storm.
She replied tersely.
“I’m ready.”
Lynn glared at her.
“… I’m surprised, really, I’m surprised.”
She wonders why he keeps saying that.
She was about to ask him, a little cringing, if it wasn’t time to give herself some credit.
“Damn it.”
Lynn suddenly cursed.
He quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her further into the alley.
“What, what are you doing?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, with an urgent grip on the phosium, he pulled the cloak from his body and draped it over her head.
It’s a fairly large cloak, Delphine thought, but too small to cover both of them.
The cloak suddenly grew in size in all directions, covering them both completely.
“What…”
“Shhh. It’ll keep you warm, but don’t talk too loud.”
Lynn whispered slowly as he wrapped his arms around Delphine and held her close.
Curiously, even though she was covered by the cloak, she could see everything translucently in front of her.
Delphine clamped her mouth shut nervously and scanned the street.
They were still in the chicken coop-like residential neighborhood of District 3.
But the atmosphere had changed drastically.
The people on the street were tense, all looking in the same direction.
“What is that…?”
“Something black…”
Delphine turned her head to follow their gaze.
In the distance, a group of men, fully armed with swords and armor, were advancing through the streets, turning them black.
The emblem of the Emperor’s Praetorian Guard was proudly emblazoned on their armor.
The familiarity of the emblem sent a chill down his spine.
‘I hope not. Please not.’
No, please, no…
But sometimes hopes can lead to bitter disappointment.
At the head of the army, seated atop a massive warhorse, Delphine didn’t have to look hard to recognize the man who had risen out of nowhere.
‘Ioan.’
No, was that him?
Delphine looked at the man atop the giant steed in confusion.
His expression was as expressionless and cold as ever.
He was not the slave boy who smiled shyly before her, nor the man who wore the noble and elegant mask.
It was someone else.
No, she wasn’t even sure who he was anymore.
“Ioannes Pride.”
As if to confirm her suspicions, Lynn behind her muttered through gritted teeth.
“Why would someone of his stature show up at the Human Hunt himself?”
Human hunt…?
What was that?
But before could ask, Delphine knew what it meant.
Behind the imposing troops came a cart carrying hammers, *mobile prisons* made of wooden harpoons that held prisoners.
Unusually, the hammers were oversized.
Even from this distance, Delphine could see Ioannes’s lips twitch.
That was the beginning.
The armored knights atop their steeds swept the people of the street into the hammers with a sweeping motion.
“Kaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Run, run, run!”
The scene on the street changed quickly.
People on the sidewalks fled in a panic, running or hiding in residential neighborhoods.
“Please let my child in, please let my child in, please let my child in!”
Those who didn’t make it home begged, banging on closed doors.
But it was futile.
The knights barged through the doors and grabbed everyone inside.
It looked like they wanted to arrest every human in the entire neighborhood.
“What the hell…”
Lynn whispered, frowning at Delphine’s groan.
“It’s a common occurrence in District 3. Imperial troops taking people away.”
“But why…?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t even tried to find out until now.”
He whispered, his hands clasped together across the phosium.
“But now that we have you…, we’ll find out.”
Because he’d charged the phosium so he could use his magic freely?
Delphine turned her gaze back to the street, her face white.
It was a living hell.
Knights on horseback were snatching up fleeing people as they came and throwing them into hammers.
People crumpled into each other in the hammers, reaching out over the harpoon, writhing in despair.
Just then, a woman carrying a child, hiding under a cloak, ran down the alley near their position.
But her escape was easily thwarted.
A fully armed member of the squad was on her heels with a cypheron spear.
The woman with the child in her arms cried out desperately.
“No, no, please, please, just take me, just let go of my child!”
Without batting an eye, the officer lifted the woman by the nape of her neck with one hand.
The woman quickly released the child from her arms, but the child clung to her, sobbing loudly.
Delphine, who had been watching the scene with bated breath, finally spoke up.
“… Ayman.”
Her voice quivered in an ugly way.
Delphine swallowed hard and whispered into the nape of Lynn’s neck.
“Ayman, there is no way you can save…”
“It’s a bunch of… It’s dangerous.”
Lynn whispered back, squeezing the hand around his waist.
Even as he said it, his voice was thick with guilt.
“You asked me if I was ready.”
Delphine whispered desperately to Lynn.
“I was, and… you were not?”
“…”
Lynn’s black eyes fluttered wildly at the words.
He glanced from Delphine to the sobbing child in the distance with a conflicted expression.
Then, as if making up his mind, he muttered through clenched teeth.
“… Shit. Crazy. Let’s try this.”
He reached for the phosgium and squeezed Delphine’s hand.
As soon as it touched her hand, the crystal filled with a five-color glow.
“Come with me.”
He took Delphine’s hand and led her toward the child.
When they were near the knight and the child, Lynn whispered in a low voice, “Moorish.”
Then the knight’s eyes went blank for a moment, as he pulled the child with an expressionless face.
“… Forward, forward.”
As Lynn whispered, the knight suddenly turned around, and with a stuttering, mechanical step, headed elsewhere.
Lynn didn’t miss the opportunity, and quickly threw his cloak over the cowering, crying child.
Delphine could feel the cloak grow a little larger in size in the meantime.
“Mommy… huhuhu. Mommy.”
The terrified child sobbed softly.
“Child, please. Please be quiet…”
Delphine whispered as she held the sobbing child tightly in her arms.
That was the end of the story if her voice leaked out.
“Please, just a minute. Be quiet…”
That’s when it happened.
Ioannes’ gaze, which had been overseeing the knights with an impassive expression in the distance, turned to her.
Delphine and Lynn drew in a sharp breath at the same time.
No way.
No.
At this distance, even with Lynn’s magic shielding her?
Lynn clamped his hand over the child’s mouth with a rather brutal touch.
Still, a small sob escaped.
Could he hear?
Ioannes watched breathlessly, the nape of his neck stiff with tension, as the steed turned with a strong thigh.
Then he began to trot toward them.
For a moment, her heart seemed to freeze.
Lynn quickly scooped her and the child up and took a few steps backward.
As slowly as possible, so that no sound would escape.
Finally, Ioannes dismounted from his horse when they were close enough.
Then he slowly reached out into the air.
It was the exact spot where Delphine had been standing just moments before.
