And her dulled movement had fatal consequences.
“Ughhh!”
“Ah, ah ah! Ahhhh!”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! Ah, ah, ah—!”
“Don’t come! Don’t come here! Don’t ahhhhhh— Ughh!?”
The people around her were slaughtered by the Mazoku helplessly. Be it the escort that blamed her, the adventurers that swore at her, Galeo who glared at her with hatred or the other merchants.
When the Mazoku attacked the last person, her body finally recovers.
It was too late. Even though her head knows that, her heart refused to stop.
Cleaving through the back of the Mazoku who was blocking her view of the last person, she looked down. On the ground was a person dyed red with the blood of the Mazoku and her own blood.
It was a girl. When she took the request at the guild, she was a mage in the monster subjugation team. The one closest to her in the group, someone she think of as a friend—
Lefille knelt down and held the girl.
“Be strong!”
“Ah, ugh…”
The girl groaned in pain. And reached a trembling hand turned red by her blood to Lefille. She uttered these words between her soft gasping breathes.
“... If… you…”
“Huh…?”
“If only...you weren’t here…”
“——”
In the end, she died after muttering words akin to a curse. She left behind a bloody mark around Lefille’s neck with both of her hands, and a corpse that had nothing to do with the term ‘RIP in peace’. Reflected in Lefille’s eyes was a face twisted with hatred. As if Lefille was her mortal enemy, and in the last moment of her life, she vented her grudge and curses at Lefille.
… Lefille’s arms and shoulders that were holding her fell weakly.
At the same time, a cracking voice shattered everything she believed in.