NOVEL NEXT Chapter 114: Flash in the Sky
"Guys, I got a good amount of money from the sale!!!" I say excitedly to Eve and Syl'Vyr outside Ernes's mansion. Eve gives me a sweet smile, but Syl'Vyr seems bothered.
Her tail is twitching agitatedly and her ears are strangely on alert, similar to when she's on high alert in a dungeon.
"Something wrong, Syl'Vyr?" I ask, confused by her reaction. I thought she'd be happy for me.
"I feel something strange, something seems wrong. Can we leave this city now?" She speaks with a conviction and a tone that genuinely unsettles me.
"Something strange? Leave the city? But I still want to do things in this city; I haven't even had time to explore the place."
"Yes! My nerves are on edge! Haven't you noticed the birds are gone? The insects too! And the small animals are trying to hide! Even they noticed something's wrong! And it's been over two days since this started! We have to leave too! Something is going to happen!" Her tone sounds scared and far too rushed.
"But I wanted to go to a store and..."
"Evelyn-chan, something feels really wrong, I'm serious! I don't want to stay here, can we please leave now? Please! Please, I don't want to stay here!" She pleads with a more stubborn, insistent, almost tearful tone, like a scared dog before a storm.
"But..." I look around. I wanted to first stop by a store to buy food, and then I wanted to buy some new clothes since I'd been holding back on shopping before because we didn't have any money, and there's also the new puppet I want to create.
"Okay, let's leave..." I say as Eve also nods in agreement. She seems to have thought the same as me. Syl'Vyr is of the beast-man race, and even though she's a puppet, she still follows the same racial logic.
In other words, her instincts as an "animal" are heightened. If she feels something is wrong, then there must be something wrong.
"Where are we going?" Eve asks.
"Well, how about the inn on the other side of the city? It's a bit expensive, but we can..."
"NO!! Out! Of the city! Quickly!" Syl'Vyr speaks agitatedly, her tail bristling and moving much more actively while her ears droop as if she's scared. I look at Eve, who also finds the reaction strange.
"Okay... let's pay for a carriage and..." Syl'Vyr suddenly grabs me by the waist and starts to run. Eve looks at the two of us, not understanding, until she realizes and starts running after Syl'Vyr.
But Syl'Vyr jumps onto a building using earth magic to climb easily and starts running across the rooftops.
"Eh..." I make a confused sound as she carries me. She's slower than Eve, but Eve can't easily get up here because the place is high and the stones of the walls are weak, so if she tried, she'd break the houses.
She follows us from below, giving a severe look to Syl'Vyr, who, despite the hurry, carries me gently, even though everything is shaking and the movement is uncomfortable and making me nauseous.
She isn't as good at keeping her balance while carrying me as Eve is, so I feel a bit dizzy from it all.
"S-Syl'Vyr, let's stop and..."
"Something is wrong, Evelyn-chan! I won't stay here! It's been about two days since I started feeling uneasy, but I didn't want to make a fuss over something that was just a mere premonition."
"But now it feels worse! Something isn't right!" She speaks in a loud tone, arriving at the city wall. Some soldiers see her and look like they're going to do something to stop her since she can't just leave by going over the wall.
"Air Burst!" She uses magic, detonating the rooftop we're on and launching us upward.
"S-Syl'Vyr!! Calm down and--you're making me dizzy!" I say, seeing how high up in the air we are. She lands on a tree and starts leaping, using the thin branches and wind magic to move around up here.
I look down and see that Eve literally went through the wall using her own body and has already caught up to us, but she still can't get up here without magic.
If it were just about catching Syl'Vyr, Eve could knock down all the trees to bring Syl'Vyr down from here, but since I'm here, Eve doesn't risk hurting me.
"Syl'Vyr, can you explain how bad it is?!" I ask, confused, trying not to faint from dizziness. I'm still exhausted after surviving my encounter with Arial.
"I don't know... I just feel a sense of dread that kept growing, and today it reached its limit. I just feel like a destructive storm is near!" She speaks more metaphorically than literally.
'But if something bad is going to happen... shouldn't I warn everyone?' I don't think it would work; if I warned them, most demons would ignore me, but still, I should warn them.
"Syl'Vyr, we should warn everyone that they're in danger!" I say, a little angry that she's kind of "kidnapping" me like this out of nowhere.
"No! You'd just waste time on that!" She says angrily while continuing to run through the trees, and soon she falls silent. I could force her to stop or knock her down from here, but I think it's better to just listen to her.
To begin with, it's useful for her to detect dangers before they happen, so it's better for me to just flee that city while I can. I stay silent, just waiting to see where she will stop or how far she can run from Eve, who is furiously chasing us from the ground.
Hours pass like this, and it has already started to get dark as the sun is gone. And despite my nausea, Syl'Vyr is finally starting to show exhaustion. Syl'Vyr will never be able to compete with Eve in speed because Syl'Vyr is a mage, and although she has good stamina, she still doesn't match Eve.
But Syl'Vyr is still agitated, so she keeps running at a slower pace. However, being slower gives Eve more opportunity to catch her up here. Eve is down below, just waiting for trees with branches strong enough for her to climb.
It's already night. My money should be on my card by now. In other words, at this moment, I should be eating a delicious meal and thinking about how to create the new puppet, but instead I'm here, being carried like a sack of potatoes.
There's only one reason why I don't stop Syl'Vyr, and it's not just her good instincts. The real reason is my bad luck. Fate has made it clear that it hates me through my curse.
And fortunately, according to its own description, fate can only create minor inconveniences to trouble me. However, there's also the famous "butterfly effect," where minimal actions generate giant consequences.
And nothing stops fate from using small actions to create truly dangerous situations for my life. I really, really wanted to stay in the city, but if one of my companions senses danger, should I trust my faulty instincts or hers?
Well, obviously, I can't trust my own instincts!!! Not with this curse affecting me. So, all that's left is to trust their opinion.
'Now I'm left thinking... should I return to the castle? Or go to another city...' I ponder this. I don't want to go back to the castle. I'm only Rank B, and Eve and Syl'Vyr are too. I want to at least make them Rank S before going to the castle.
'How can I strengthen them to Rank S?' I've already realized that my dungeon plan isn't bearing the fruit I wanted, so I think about cheating to achieve this.
I have knowledge of the game. There are ways to strengthen them both, and using this knowledge is kind of cheating, but it doesn't matter!
'Let's see... to strengthen Eve and Syl'Vyr... I think I know...' The forest surrounding the kingdom has the means for it, but it's kind of dangerous, and the weather is cold, so it must be even colder there.
"..." I look at Syl'Vyr. She's completely drenched in sweat and is way too slow now. I look down and see Eve preparing something.
'Oh... this is going to go badly...' I immediately see Eve using the thickest, sturdiest trees as support. She jumps from one to another at extreme speed, managing to climb up here.
She reaches out her hand, grabs me, and pulls me from Syl'Vyr's arms. Syl'Vyr stops and looks back, but that's a mistake. Eve delivers a powerful kick, sending her flying through the trees while holding me protectively.
"Eve, don't worry, I'm fine! I trust Syl'Vyr's instincts!" I say quickly to prevent Eve and Syl'Vyr from fighting. Eve starts leaping from tree to tree, descending safely.
"Why did you do that!" Syl'Vyr, on the ground, shouts at Eve.
"Why the hell did you try to kidnap Evelyn-sama?" Eve retorts protectively.
"I just felt something bad and..." Before Syl'Vyr can finish, the entire ground shakes and a violent wave of wind surges forth, making me let out a frightened scream as a gigantic light turns the night into day.
The wind is so strong that even Eve is nearly ripped from the ground, and Syl'Vyr uses magic to keep us stable in place. When the wind stops, I look at the horizon in the distance and see an enormous pillar of light that I recognize.
'T-That's... angelic magic! And high-level! O-Oh no... my father is going to be furious.' What scares me the most isn't that immense magic in the sky, but the Demon King's reaction to this attack.
I know that if I had been near that, I would have died. Syl'Vyr probably saved my life. But now the Demon King will become insanely angry, and considering what I know from the game, an angry Demon King is terrifying, and my own body recognizes the fear he causes.
"Eve and Syl'Vyr... we must return to the castle..." I say, staring at the giant beam of light. It seems almost like a scorching summer day from the sheer brilliance it emits.
I didn't want to have to go back yet. I wanted to strengthen Eve and Syl'Vyr. But my father will undoubtedly order all his children to return because the angels attacked a city that isn't too far from the city where the castle is located.
'Could it be... this has something to do with that delivery Laplace took to the fortress city? Are those people okay? Did anyone get out alive...' I look on, worried, as an immense wave of fear hits me.
I could have died. If I had been caught in that city, I would have been completely vaporized. I look at Eve, who stares at Syl'Vyr in shock.
"I-I TOLD YOU!!! I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WAS WRONG!" Syl'Vyr screams at Eve, who looks at me with an apologetic expression for not having noticed anything.
"And you kicked me out of that tree, you bitch! I told you I had a bad feeling! If we hadn't left, we'd be dead!" Syl'Vyr says, poking Eve's chest. Eve lets me down onto the ground.
'W-Was this my bad luck? Or was it going to happen anyway?' I don't know if it was my bad luck trying to kill me or if it was just chance. Regardless of what it was, I feel dizzy. I'm still tired, and the adrenaline, the nausea, and the fear make me collapse to the ground.
"E-Evelyn-sama!" Eve quickly crouches down to check on me as I close my eyes, not exactly fainting, just too exhausted to speak or open my eyes.