Chapter 85: Rome’s Saintess (6)
“Huff, huff!”
Tatatatak!—
A woman ran through a dark and narrow alleyway.
Her blonde hair fluttered as she gasped for breath while her skin, which was originally like white pearl, was stained with dust and sweat.
“Chase her!!”
“This way!”
Men that gave off a threatening impression chased after the woman.
“Uht…!”
The blonde woman held her breath and quickly hid her body inside a gap in the alleyway.
Her expression was infused with anxiety and fear.
“Damn it! Where did she go?!”
“She couldn’t have gone far! Quick, chase after her!”
Each of the men split up and searched for the woman with nervous expressions.
“…”
After a brief duration of silence passed…
“Haa.”
The woman who escaped from the men, Isabella Colegrande, spat out a sigh of relief.
“…I was careless.”
She had already known that they were targeting her. However, what she didn’t know was that the ‘Owls’ had joined in on the hunt.
‘At this rate… it’ll get dangerous.’
Isabella looked down to her left chest and chewed on her lip.
A stigma that had lost its light.
The mana she usually controlled like second nature refused to budge an inch.
“I can’t contact anyone, either.”
Just how thoroughly had they planned this time? The transmission starstones within her phone were all dysfunctional.
‘I need to run.’
Other than lasting as long as she could to buy time against those people that were encircling Rome, there was no other option.
However…
‘With a body that can’t even use mana…’
How could she possibly avoid the eyes of the assassins that were scattered around and escape?
“Ugh.”
Isabella frowned and clenched her fists.
Despite knowing that the chances were slim, she couldn’t do anything else but desperately try to escape.
‘If I get caught…’
Isabella closed her eyes tightly, as she didn’t even want to imagine what would happen.
It would be a relief if she died in a neat way. There was a possibility of facing an experience worse than hell if she was captured by them.
‘I need to be careful.’
Isabella lowered her posture and slowly moved her feet.
Thankfully, she knew the topography of the Gypsy village like the back of her hand.
If Isabella was able to use the characteristics of the maze-like Gypsy village to her advanta—
“There!”
“Hurry, chase after her!!”
As soon as the three men discovered her, they quickly rushed towards her.
“Tch!”
Isabella’s expression distorted as she turned around and sprinted away in a hurry.
Tatatatata!—
As Isabella ran deeper into the narrow alleyways, an unknown stench started to sting her nose.
“Haa! Haa!”
She gasped for air.
Every step she took, it felt like another massive weight was stacked on top of her shoulders. It was a consequence of a body that wasn’t imbued with mana.
“Hahahahaha! How slow!”
The men exploded out in laughter as they leisurely chased her.
“Oh, my! What do we have here!”
“Kyaa!”
Although she desperately bought time by using the complicated roads of the Gypsy village, she was eventually caught by them.
“I was a bit nervous at first, but it turns out it was no big deal!”
“Kuhuhuhu! Of course, when she’s been hit with the ‘Curse of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure’.”
The tips of the man’s lips pointed up as he grabbed her thin arm.
“Let go!!”
Isabella violently thrashed her body in an attempt to release her arm, but it was impossible to break loose from an arm imbued with mana.
“Shut up, you bitch!”
Slap!—
The man roughly swung his palm.
Her face was quickly sent sideways while her cheek started to turn red.
“You dare…”
Isabella chewed on her lips and glared at the man with venomous eyes.
“Kuhaha!! Don’t look at me like that~”
The man stuck his tongue out as he enjoyed it.
“—If you keep doing that, I’ll want to kill you in a more painful way, you know?”
He robustly grasped her thin neck and licked his lips.
“Augh! Ahk!”
Isabella’s expression distorted from pain, and she scratched the arm that was choking her with her fingernails.
“H-Hyup!”
The man subconsciously flinched and took steps back.
However, the man’s lips curved up once he discovered that her fingernails didn’t pierce his arm but instead couldn’t even leave a scratch.
“Ha… hahahaha!! Wow~! The curse is really effective, isn’t it?”
“Kuhuhu! Dumbass. Why’d you get so scared if you knew about it?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
The two men raised their voices and started to bicker.
A gap was created due to them letting their guard down.
‘I need to escape right now…!’
It was an opportunity that wouldn’t arise once again.
Isabella wretchedly endured the pain in her neck as she was being choked and raised her foot.
She was planning to kick his groin using the heel of her shoe and escape.
“Oi, oi. Stop messing around and hold onto that bitch tight so she doesn’t escape.”
“I’m already holding on t—”
“Huh? Would you take a look at this?”
However, the man on the sideline was able to take notice of her movements before she was able to make her move.
“Kuhuhu! You’re still thinking of escaping in a situation like this.”
“I guess you really do live up to your name.”
The men looked at her in ridicule.
“Well, then. Don’t be so sad, miss.”
“Once you come with us, you’ll be able to experience a bunch of pleasant things!”
Their eyes, thick with lust, looked at her.
‘No…’
Her consciousness slowly faded away.
Isabella’s body gradually started to shake from the encroaching fear.
‘There’s still… a bunch of things I have left to do.’
“I don’t… want to.”
—Without being able to accomplish anything.
—Just like that.
—Futilely.
—In vain.
She couldn’t let things end this way—
Bzzzzzzzzzt!!!—
Blue lightning filled up her field of vision.
As if a furious god was giving down divine punishment, blue thunderbolts shot down from the sky into the area.
“Aaahhh!”
“Wh-What’s going on?”
The men started to panic.
Slash!!—
“Kugk!! Ahh!”
A spear engulfed in blue flames started to dance.
While blocking off all routes of escape, while restricting their movement…
The sharp spear occupied all eight directions and started to tear the men’s bodies to shreds.
“Guaaaaaaa!!”
“M-My armmmmm! Kuah! Kruuk!”
The three men were turned into diced-up corpses in an instant and scattered around the ground.
“…huh?”
Isabella’s eyes opened wide as she hadn’t yet comprehended the situation.
She stroked her neck that had been bruised blue and looked up.
And what she saw was—
“Are you alright?”
—a youth with black, curly hair and gentle eyes that made one feel comfortable with just a glance.
“Ohjin…?”
The Lightning Wolf.
The Star of the Weaver Girl’s Wolf was standing in front of her.
“How did you find… ugh.”
Stumble—
Isabella’s body swayed as she tried to get back on her feet.
Ohjin grabbed her hand and smiled.
“I found you with your smell.”
“…Pardon? S-Smell?”
Isabella looked around her body with a flushed expression.
“I’m just kidding.”
“Ah! S-Seriously!”
Was it because she recalled her first encounter with Ohjin? Isabella’s cheeks turned slightly red.
“I said I didn’t chase after your smell back then!”
“Haha! I know.”
Ohjin lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“I happened to be walking by and heard someone scream.”
“Ah.”
A short exclamation escaped Isabella’s mouth.
“…Thank you.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she deeply bowed her head.
As Ohjin looked at Isabella bowing—
“Don’t worry about it.”
—the edges of his lips brightly curved up.
‘Alright.’
Using the Black Curtain to follow her around starting from the early morning had paid off.
‘The timing was perfect.’
The goal of his current plans wasn’t simply saving her life but to make her ‘indebted’ and willing to follow his words from then on.
‘This is different from the Valhalla guild.’
Though he was currently in a cooperative relationship with the Valhalla guild, it didn’t mean he was able to hand down orders to them as he pleased.
On the other hand…
‘With Isabella’s personality, she won’t be able to refuse the words of the one who saved her life.’
—Especially if that person had risked their life to ‘desperately’ protect her, then they would thoroughly have her in the palm of their hand.
* * *
“First, let’s get out of here.”
Ohjin grasped her hand.
“Ah, yes!”
Tatata!—
They held hands as they ran through the alleyways.
“Over there!!”
“Damn it! Who the fuck is that guy?!”
It didn’t take long for other assassins to show up.
Ohjin’s eyes shone keenly as he observed the distinct mana of the ‘Black Stars’ within them.
‘The Black Star Organization, as expected.’
The Black Stars’ mana he could feel in the surroundings weren’t from just a couple of people.
‘Just how many are there?’
The number of assassins that surrounded the Gypsy village far exceeded what he had imagined.
‘Four… no, five hundred?’
The fact that they invested so many personnel in eliminating one 6-Star Awakener felt strange, however…
‘This is better for me.’
Thanks to them, he would be able to draw a picture that was a little bit more perfect.
“Fuu.”
Ohjin took in a deep breath and charged forward. He thrusted the spear and pierced the assassins that were approaching them.
Pshk!—
“Kugh!”
“Damn it!! Just who the fuck is this guy?!”
The assassins started to throw up complaints as they went into a panic. Although their unsophisticated demeanor made it hard to think of them as trained assassins, their skills were above average.
Clang! Cla-Clang!—
The assassins barely avoided Ohjin’s barrage of attacks.
However, that was all.
The fiercely blazing blue lightning gradually pushed them back.
Bang!—
“Argh!”
“Wh-What’s this?”
Blue lightning ran down the wires that jam-packed the narrow alleyway.
Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!—
“Aaaahh!”
The assassins’ screams rang out with a rising black smoke.
Thud!—
The assassins that blocked the road collapsed on the spot.
“Wow…”
Isabella let out a short exclamation and briefly looked at Ohjin. She then grabbed his hand and ran forward.
“There are a lot of crossroads this way!”
“I know.”
As he had investigated the layout of the area for the past six days in advance, he had a firm understanding of the area.
“Then quickly…”
“No.”
He shook his head and approached the assassins that had collapsed.
‘As expected.’
Once he rummaged through a corpse, he discovered a star relic that blinked with a red light. It was most likely a communication device that was planted for the pursuit.
‘And if that’s the case…’
“Ohjin?”
“Wait a minute.”
Ohjin tied the star relic to the tip of his wire shooter.
Bang!—
He shot the star relic to a location he had thought of beforehand.
‘It’ll be difficult to track it down over there.’
As long as they didn’t destroy buildings in a straight line, they would need to run circles.
“Come this way.”
Ohjin held her hand and went into a worn-out apartment building that was nearby.
“Weren’t we running away?”
“Even if we run away like this, we’ll get caught eventually.”
The number of assassins that encircled them was a minimum of five hundred.
That was just the number of assassins he could sense the presence of; it was likely that there would be more of them in reality.
“We’ll need to stay hidden for now and move later.”
Well, that didn’t mean they would be able to shake them off completely, but it would at least be better than confronting them head-on.
“…I understand.”
Isabella nodded and entered the worn-out apartment building that Ohjin led her to.
It appeared that no one lived there, as the interior was completely empty.
“Fuu. Let’s rest here for the time being.”
Ohjin sat down on the floor and exhaled a short breath.
He took off the jacket he was wearing and laid it down on the floor.
“You can sit on top of this.”
“…Thank you.”
Isabella carefully sat down on the floor.
“…”
“…”
An abrupt and awkward silence settled down.
“…Ohjin.”
Breaking the awkward silence, Isabella cautiously opened her mouth.
“Ohjin… why are you helping me?”
She stared at Ohjin with her shaking eyes.
A light smile was placed on Ohjin’s mouth.
“Didn’t I say that carrying out a good deed while hoping for a reward is still a good deed before?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“Then let’s just call this somewhat of a good deed as well.”
“…”
Isabella’s pupils shook.
“However, there’s no reward I can—”
“There’s no need for you to give me a reward. Isabella, the reason why you volunteered to help those Gypsies wasn’t because you wanted something either, was it?
“B-But this is different!”
There was no way pretending to be kind while helping others was the same as risking one’s life to protect another.
“If you insist…”
Ohjin put on a gentle smile.
“There’s one thing I would like to request.”
“What is it?”
He slowly stretched out his hand and placed it on her shaking cheek.
‘Look into her eyes, speak in a serene tone…’
Ohjin was able to create the mood he desired as naturally as breathing.
“Isabella… I want you to stay by my side from now on.”
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