Chapter 40
Angeline, the children, and Maria talk for several hours, and by the time Angeline’s group leaves the cafeteria, the sun is setting on the horizon . The clouds are tinged red and the shadows cast on the ground are long and somewhat deformed .
The stars twinkle high in the sky, while the darkness of the night slowly creeps in .
When the evening breeze begins to blow, Charlotte looks up at the sky and lets out a long sigh . Angeline notices that the girl seems a little uncomfortable and leans over to talk to her .
“Something wrong?”
“Is it alright for me to be this happy?” says Charlotte with her eyes closed . Suddenly some tears start rolling down her cheeks . Charlotte is not sure if it is right for her to live so comfortably after all those she did in the past .
The fact that she lost her family and was exiled from the only home she knew at the hands of corrupt people did not give her the right to hurt the people around her . The idea of getting revenge at any cost that dominated her mind in the past is now a heavy burden on her heart . Does she deserve to be happy?
Angeline gently pats Charlotte’s head . “Don’t worry about that . Right now all you need to do is enjoy your life . ”
“Yes…” Charlotte holds Angeline’s hand tightly .
On the way back, they stop at the travelling market .
The wagons have the eaves placed, and they look like fancy restaurants . The travelling market is full of people who have come to buy dinner . Some street performers and gypsies act and dance in the surroundings, creating a show for all the guests .
One of the wagons has an item with cooling magic and is selling fish . And according to the seller, the fish came directly from Elbren . It is clear that the fish is not as fresh as what one would find at the port, but it does look good .
At that moment, Charlotte comes up with an idea and pulls Angeline’s sleeve . “Hey, big sis, let’s have fish for dinner!”
“Hmm… maybe… We had meat at lunch so it shouldn’t be a bad idea . ” While Angeline is looking for a good fish, she hears a voice behind her .
“Hi, Angie . ”
When Angeline turns around, she meets Sister Rosetta, who also seems to be shopping .
“Hello, Sister Rosetta . Are you shopping?”
“Yes, I’m looking for ingredients for dinner . Umm, who are these children?” asks Rosetta as she looks at Charlotte and Byaku .
Charlotte lowers her eyes and quickly hides behind Angeline while Byaku stands silently .
“This is Charlotte and this is Byaku . Due to some circumstances, they are living with me . ”
“Oh, I see . It’s nice to meet you . My name is Rosetta . I’m a Sister at a nearby orphanage . ” Says Rosetta with a warm smile .
However, Charlotte remains silent, and Byaku nods slightly .
“Oh, my . They don’t seem to like me…” Says Rosetta with an uncomfortable smile as she scratches her cheek .
“Lottie, you’re being rude to Sister Rosetta . ”
“But…”
“No . Sister Rosetta is also a candidate to become my mother . ”
“Angie! You’re still talking nonsense!” says Rosetta, a little alarmed .
But Angeline shakes her head . “It’s not nonsense… I’m serious . ”
“Haaa~ . ” Rosetta sighs with resignation .
“A woman serving the church of Vienna is not worthy of being the mother of my older sister…” says Charlotte .
Rosetta is taken aback by Charlotte’s remarks . “Oh, you seem to resent the people of the Church… Would it be okay if I asked what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it…”
“Please don’t close your heart . The compassion of the Goddess Vienna enlightens the whole world . And it is our job to help the people who are in distress . ”
“What compassion! There’s no such thing!”
People walking around are surprised to hear Charlotte’s screams and look at her with suspicious eyes .
“Would you mind taking your discussion elsewhere, ladies? You’re scaring the customers . ” Says the fishmonger with a scowl .
Angeline, Rosetta, and the kids leave the place right away . The market is packed, so Angeline decides to lead her group to a building outside the market .
Angeline has to explain Charlotte’s past to Rosetta, as the girl is in a bad mood and doesn’t seem to want to talk . Angeline explains that Charlotte was the daughter of a Cardinal of Lucressia, but her family got involved in a political dispute, and her parents ended up being executed .
After listening to that story, Sister Rosetta made the sign of the cross and began to pray in silence . Then she turns to see Charlotte . “You’ve had a very difficult life . But you’ve done your best . ” She says gently .
“Hmph, I don’t want your sympathy . I have no interest in the Church of Vienna . ”
“Yes… it’s understandable why you hate the people of the church . Some people use their positions and influence to do bad things . But other people pray fervently and live quietly with their pure hearts . And I like to believe that the Goddess Vienna never really abandons those people . ”
“Lies!” Screams Charlotte, overshadowing Rosetta’s words . The girl clenches her fists tightly and her eyes fill with tears . “I was devout! I prayed every morning and every night, visited the temples every day, and always prayed for the happiness of my family and loved ones! I had no grudges or bad feelings! And yet the gods did not help my parents! Why didn’t you help them?! Why…” Charlotte clings to Rosetta’s habit and breaks into tears as she hits Rosetta with her tiny fist .
All those repressed emotions are finally bursting out . And although one person can believe that his anger is reasonable and can manage to stay calm most of the time, those emotions are bound to explode sooner or later . When the memories of her parents return to Charlotte’s mind, she can’t help but break down in tears .
Rosetta looks down with a sad expression and places her hand gently on Charlotte’s head . “… I’m sorry . I can’t answer that . “
“I knew it! I knew you’d say that! You’re a hypocrite too!”
“Lottie, calm down . Rosetta has done nothing wrong . ”
Angeline tries to calm the girl down, but Rosetta intervenes . “Would you please let me handle this, Angie?”
“…Understood . ” Angeline steps back and stands right next to Byaku .
Rosetta crouches down and puts her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder . Charlotte cleans her nose and wipes her tears .
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t tactful enough… “
“Hmph! You can’t understand how I feel!”
“Yes… it’s true . I can’t understand how you feel . But still…” Rosetta gently strokes Charlotte’s cheek . “I want to pray for you . I will pray that you find happiness and can make peace with your past . I know it will be difficult but I will pray for that to happen anyway . ”
“That’s useless! Anyone can say something like that!” Charlotte is furious and pushes Rosetta away .
Frustration, anger, sadness . All these emotions swirl around Charlotte’s heart and she ends up running away from that place .
However, she bumps into something . When Charlotte looks up, she sees a patrolling soldier who looks at the group with a suspicious look .
“What’s going on here?”
Rosetta hurries over and smiles gently . “Greetings, Mr . Soldier . Nothing’s happening . We were just having a little chat . ”
“In a place like this? At night? Don’t you know that’s dangerous? You might run into a bad person . B-Bad… b-bad… person… bad… g-girl… bad girl . ” The soldier turns his gaze to the sky and then his eyes lose all sparkle . Then he draws his sword and raises it above his head . “Y-you’re a bad-girl, and I-I have to kill you, right?”
“Ah!” Charlotte quickly bends down and closes her eyes as she sees the sword coming towards her .
However, instead of feeling the cold metal of the sword, she feels a warm embrace, and then she is rolling on the ground . After that, Charlotte hears Angeline screaming from behind . “Sister Rosetta! Lottie!”
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Charlotte opens her eyes .
“Why…” Rosetta’s covering Charlotte with her body .
Rosetta slowly raises her face and smiles . “Are you… are you okay?”
“No, no! No, please don’t!” Charlotte desperately embraces Rosetta, even though she hated being near her just a few moments ago . The girl feels something hot and sticky in her hand and when she lifts it, she finds her hand covered in blood . Rosetta’s green habit has a black spot on her back and is getting bigger by the second .
Charlotte feels dazed and despair .
Angeline kicks the soldier, who is again raising his sword . The soldier falls to the ground with tremendous force but stands up right away .
Angeline gets irritated and kicks the soldier again . “There was no sign until now! Damn it, I was an idiot!”
Angeline let her guard down for just a moment and this is the result . She is outraged by his incompetence . Her father would never make a mistake like this .
Suddenly, she and Byaku feel something strange . Suddenly, a shower of knives falls on them . Angeline quickly draws her sword and deflects the knives that were aiming for Charlotte and Rosetta . The knives were thrown so hard that they ended up embedded in the street .
“Don’t get distracted . ” Byaku stands behind Angeline . Although Byaku’s magical patterns are still invisible, Angeline knows that some of them are protecting them .
Angeline picks up Rosetta and places her on her back . Then she takes Charlotte’s hand, who is paralyzed with fear and makes her stand up .
“It’s… It’s all my fault…”
“Lottie! Snap out of it!”
The sound of several footsteps approaching can be heard . In a matter of seconds, more soldiers appear on the scene, yet their eyes do not reflect any emotion, as if they were the eyes of dolls . The soldiers quickly pounce on Angeline and Byaku, their power and speed seem to be on par with the masked assassins they faced before .
Angeline sheaths her sword and hugs Charlotte . “Byaku, these people are just being manipulated! You can’t kill them!”
“Tsk!” The young man waves his arm and an invisible attack sends a soldier flying . “Stop wasting time! Get them out of here!”
“You’re coming too! I’ll protect you all! You don’t have to fight!”
Otherwise, Byaku will never open her heart to others, Angeline thinks as she strikes a soldier with her sheathed sword . Then she places her sword back on her waist and takes Byaku’s hand .
Angeline runs to the main street, taking the whole group with her . The sun has already set and the whole place is dark . There are some lights on in the food stalls and houses, making the shadows that are reflected move like living beings .
Angeline is worried about Rosetta, but she can still hear the Sister’s shallow breathing . However, the injury she received is quite serious . If they don’t do something to help her, she’ll surely die .
Angeline thinks about the situation for a moment and then hands Charlotte over to Byaku .
“The orphanage… no, that won’t work… the Guild!” The orphanage is nearby, but they can’t afford to involve the Sisters and the children .
Angeline quickly makes her way through the crowd . Byaku embraces Charlotte firmly and immediately follows her .
The manipulated soldiers also start to follow them . They cannot help but run into passers-by during the chase and many people turn to them with angry looks .
The person manipulating the soldiers must be nearby . If we don’t take care of him, the soldiers will continue to attack us until they die, Angeline thinks as she runs . I’m sure the enemy is watching everything, either in person or through some spell .
However, Angeline wants to treat Rosetta’s wounds first and the Guild has several healing potions in reserve .
Angeline continues to run, desperately hoping that Rosetta’s heartbeat won’t stop . At that moment, the adventurer can feel more pursuers on the nearby buildings .
If I were more agile, I could get everyone out of this situation easily, thinks Angeline clenching her teeth .
The assailants tried to attack them several times along the way, but thanks to Byaku’s magic, Angeline’s skills, and the crowd on the streets, they were not successful . Finally, after what seemed like hours, Angeline and Byaku arrive at the Guild .
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When they enter the Guild, all the adventurers look at them in surprise . But Angeline doesn’t worry about that and jumps at the reception desk . “Potion! Give me a potion!”
The receptionist is taken by surprise . “Lady Angeline! What happened?!”
“I’ll explain later! Give me a potion now or she’ll die!”
The receptionist looks at Angeline’s back and when she sees Rosetta, her face quickly turns pale . “Got it! Let’s get her to the infirmary!”
“Thank you… Where is the Guild Master?”
“He was called by the nobleman who loaned money to the Guild…”
“He’s never around when you need him!”
Angeline leaves Rosetta in the hands of the receptionist and then she turns to see Byaku . The boy seems to be furious and Charlotte is still in a daze .
“Byaku, let me take care of Lottie…”
When Angeline extends her hands, the manipulated soldiers rush into the Guild building . The number of soldiers has increased . Some have injured arms and legs, but that doesn’t seem to matter to them . Their empty eyes are still focused on Angeline and the children .
The adventurers are surprised to see the soldiers and immediately stand up with their weapons ready .
“Wait! These people are just being controlled! You can’t kill them!” shouts Angeline to the adventurers . Then she raises her sheathed sword . “It will all be over if we take care of the puppeteer! Until then we have to subdue them without killing them!”
“That’s impossible!” shout some adventurers as they take a step back .
The soldiers raise their weapons and begin to advance .
At that moment, a loud explosion is heard, followed by a big flash and all the soldiers fall to the ground . All the adventurers are taken by surprise by what has just happened . At that moment, someone enters the Guild and jumps over the stunned soldiers .
“Miss Yuri!” cries Angeline as she sees the newcomer’s seblue hair .
“What the hell is going on here?” Yuri asks with a scowl Then she combs her hair in a ponytail as she watches the soldiers begin to rise one by one . “Those are soldiers, right? Did you do a bad thing, little Angie?”
“No . These people are being manipulated . I can’t stop them because I don’t know where the puppeteer is!”
One of the soldiers raises his weapon and pounces on Yuri . She dodges the attack and then strikes the soldier’s face with great force . At the same time, she throws another flash that hits the stomach of another soldier and knocks him to the ground .
“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, but I just have to entertain these kids for a while, right?” Yuri cracks her knuckles and all of a sudden her fists are covered in a white glow .
“That’s right!” says Angeline with a smile . She also dodges an attack and strikes the soldier with her sheathed sword .
The soldiers reluctantly put their weapons in their holsters or wrap them in cloth so that they can fight the soldiers without killing them . However, the same cannot be said about the soldiers . They are attacking with the intent to kill . As if that weren’t enough, no matter how many times they are knocked down, the soldiers get back up .
It is as if they were fighting undead monsters, and this made the adventurers’ spirits drop quite a bit .
Despite this, Yuri jumps around with light steps, hitting all the soldiers in front of her with her fists wrapped in white energy . As one might expect from a former AAA Rank adventurer . Although she retired a long time ago, she is still a reliable ally .
At that moment, another flash illuminates the interior of the Guild, and several three-dimensional magical patterns appear in the room . Byaku has joined the fray . The boy attacks and stops the soldiers with his magical patterns quite easily .
“You shouldn’t have intervened,” Angeline says to Byaku with a scowl .
“Hmm… I don’t need you guys to protect me . I don’t want you to protect me…” Byaku shakes his arm and immobilizes some soldiers with his magical patterns .
Angeline bites her lip . She promised she would help the boy and she has no intention of going back on her word . In that regard, Angeline is a lot like her Belgriff…
“Damn it…” Angeline has to find the puppeteer if she wants to end this . So, she makes her way through the soldiers and out of the Guild .
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The streets are dark, and the faces of the passers-by are only lit by the dim lights of the streetlights . Angeline immediately sharpens her senses and begins to search for the puppeteer . The fact that he is manipulating all those soldiers so easily means that he shouldn’t be far away .
Angeline concentrates and begins to search for the slightest trace of magic . This turns out to be complicated since there are several magicians inside the Guild, and their magic traces can be felt outside the building .
After a few moments
“There!” Angeline quickly kicks the ground and jumps to the roofs the roadside stalls, then runs up one of the walls of a nearby building . “I found you…”
There are several masked people on the roof of the building . Upon closer inspection, Angeline notices that there is a masked man who has distinctive marks on his mask . That must be the puppeteer .
The rest of the masked men draw their swords and pounce on Angeline .
“I will not forgive you!” Angeline also draws her sword, blocks the attacks of the masked men, and jumps forward .
Angeline swings her sword, but before her attack reaches the puppeteer, one of the masked men stands in the way and takes the blow with his body . The masked man clings to the sword and Angeline is unable to retrieve it .
At that moment, the rest of the masked men raised their swords and prepared to attack Angeline . However, she manages to dodge the attacks, lets go of her sword, and jumps backward, escaping the encirclement . The adventurer then pulls a knife from her pouch and stabs a masked man in the neck . After that, she kicks another masked man and throws him down the building .
People on the streets are shocked to see a person fall from the roof of a building .
“I hope he didn’t hit any passers-by…” Angeline murmurs as she knocks down the masked man clinging to his sword .
With the momentum, she can retrieve her weapon, and then she swings it with great nimbleness, cutting down two other masked men in an instant .
Angeline deflects two attacks before looking up and seeing the puppeteer directly in the eye . The puppeteer is wearing a mask so Angeline doesn’t know what kind of expression he has on his face, but she can tell he’s mumbling something .
“O, mighty Lord… Protect us from this evil being…”
“That’s cheeky coming from you, servant of the Pope!” Angeline shouts in annoyance as she continues to swing her sword .
The adventurer manages to defeat the last masked men and then, with a move so fast that it seems to defy all logic, she appears in front of the puppeteer . With one move of her sword, she cuts off the head of her enemy, making all traces of magic finally disappear .
Angeline wipes the blood from her sword and places it in its sheath . She feels exhausted .
She walks to the edge of the roof and looks at the Guild . Angeline can hear the agonizing voices of the soldiers, who have regained their sanity . Although the adventurers did not kill any soldiers, there was no way to prevent some of them from getting some serious injuries .
“I don’t have time to think about that…” Angeline feels discouraged, but when she remembers Rosetta and Charlotte, she immediately rushes to the Guild .
A man in a cloak is standing with his arms folded . He is far enough away so that Angeline cannot feel his presence, but he is still able to see the adventurer .
“Hmm…” The man puts one hand on his chin and squints . “She is certainly strong… But that’s all . ”
After Angeline comes down from the roof, the man floats to the battle site .
The bodies are everywhere and the stench of death is even more intense under the summer heat . The man walks a couple of steps and squats down to examine one of the bodies .
“I thought this toy would enough, but I guess I was wrong… It seems the Inquisition has grossly underestimated these adventurers . ”
The man stands up and looks at the Guild . “Let’s try one more time…”
The man takes a black gem out of his pocket, and while holding it tightly he begins to chant some sort of incantation . A pale light shines through his hand and his cloak flutters in the strong wind .
“Go . ”
The man throws the gem at the Guild .