The eyes of the excited crowd, which were once focused on the oncoming magic train, were suddenly drawn elsewhere.
“Kyayaa!!!”
The magic train halted in the air. Next to it stood a huge bipedal, muscular demon. Its skin was red, and its blood vessels were swollen from rage.
“Kyayaa!!!” The huge demon roared loudly.
“Bloody demon! The Bloody Demon attacked the magic train!”
The station was always filled with many people, so it was a place where magic gathered. Surprised by the sudden situation, I watched people running back and forth. How was this happening? Have there been similar attacks at this time of year in the past? I tried to recall what happened in the original story, but I couldn’t remember anything other than Franz’s trip.
Thinking about it, I remembered that whenever a monster appeared nearby, the cadet knights from Kratie would appear. After becoming a knight, Franz was often at the epicenter of these battles.
“Emergency! Run away from the station and evacuate.” Came the loud voice of a guard as he began to ring the emergency bell. The other guards did the same.
“Grrr, khaaa!!!” The Bloody Demon hit the magic train with its huge front claws. The train, which could not bear the force, crashed to the ground.
“How did this demon get here?!”
“Kyayaa!!! Help me!!!”
Shrill screams and crackling surrounded us. People scattered in all directions, and the Bloody Demon began to slap them one by one.
Tun!
Blood splattered on the ground from the attacks as a result. People died one after another from the indiscriminate attacks of the bloody demon.
I, too, planned to get away from the station as soon as possible. But my eyes caught the girl in the black hood who was now collapsed on the ground. All the maids and attendants who were next to the girl were crushed by the monster, and blood was flowing everywhere.
‘Why doesn’t she run away? Do her legs hurt?’
Suddenly, the Bloody Demon noticed the girl.
“Grrr …”
‘Run, silly!’
The girl just wrapped herself deeper in her hood and curled up into a ball.
Haa … In the end, I couldn’t just leave her. I quickly ran to the girl and grabbed her hand. Frightened violet eyes stared up at me. Or was it anger?
“Can you run?”
The girl shook her head. A sense of humiliation flashed across her face, and she gritted her teeth.
‘I cannot.’ Is what she must have meant.
I touched my lips to the back of my right wrist.
‘Schuette!’
The girl’s eyes widened as a heavy blue-framed longsword appeared in my right hand. I wrapped my free hand around the girl’s back and helped her to the side.
‘Oh, she’s pretty … heavy.’
Despite the apparent fragility, the girl turned out to be surprisingly heavy. Even to the touch, she was denser than ordinary girls.
I had called Schuette out just in case. Schuette was normally used as a weapon, but it also had an immediate strengthening effect on the muscles, so it was better to have it equipped. I lifted the girl up like a princess and ran to where the people were hiding. When I reached the end of the station, I carefully released the girl from my embrace. I tried to examine her in case of any injuries and noticed how much she was trembling. Her face definitely reminded me of someone, but who?
“You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
Strange, but the girl evaded my gaze with enviable persistence, as if she did not want me to see her face. What was the matter with her? But there was no time to hesitate.
“Krrlok, krlok …” The head of the Bloody Demon turned its attention to the crowd we were. Slowly, the demon walked towards the people. With each step, the ground cracked under its feet. Wasting no more time, I ran to meet the demon.
“Hey lady! Where are you going? That’s dangerous!” Someone shouted to me from behind, but I didn’t look back. Even the guards were confused, because no one could stop the bloody demon. No matter how crazy I look right now, I had Schuette in my hands. I was prepared to fight the monster using the power of this heirloom. I was trying to buy time until everyone was evacuated from the station. After they were safe, I planned to run away with them.
I climbed onto the demon’s shoulder in an instant, straddling its body. No matter how large the demon’s body was, it was not invincible. My current strength could easily surpass that of an ordinary person’s. It was an awesome feeling! All the muscles in my body seemed to tell me what to do. Why didn’t Franz use this beautiful artifact more?
At that moment, the bloody demon, noticing that I was sitting on its shoulder, shook itself and roared. “Krlock, khaaa!!!”
I was shaken by its scream, and I hastily located the protruding blood vessels of the demon.
‘Where should I aim? I need to look around.’
There was a loud scream behind me as I lifted Schuette. “Don’t hit, miss! Don’t!”
It was an old guard. But it was too late. My sword had already sunken into the demon’s shoulder. The blood vessels burst.
“Khaaa!!!”
Red blood splattered, staining my shoes and outerwear.
“The blood of the Bloody Demon contains hydrochloric acid! It cannot be defeated with a simple sword!”
Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Parts of my leather shoes and skirt began to melt. My outer garment, from under which even my petticoat was now visible, was not in the best condition.
‘I loved these clothes so much!’
And yet, I was lucky my skin was spared this fate. Blood gushed from the bloody demon’s wounds, and it began to writhe in pain. Drops of hydrochloric acid flew in all directions. Everything the blood touched was dissolved in an instant.
I was thinking about how to deal with it. If I hesitated, it looked like the demon would soon reach the people.
‘Can I hit … with the bottom of my sword?’
I looked at Schuette in my arms. Ah, if only it was a wooden sword. As soon as I thought about striking with the bottom of the sword hilt, Schuette began to glow blue.
Schuette slowly reshaped in my hands, transforming into a familiar figure. Long and heavy, smooth wooden texture, slightly curved … The magical artifact took the form of a wooden training sword.
“Mother, what just happened? Is that lady a magician?”
I heard the voices of the people who had evacuated to a safe place nearby. They all witnessed Schuette’s transformation process.
‘You have such an awesome ability!’
I was not aware that Schuette was capable of transforming into other weapons, perhaps because I had only studied Shitsuro. Although Schuette was still glowing blue, I had the same wooden sword in my hands that I was used to in my past life. When I first studied kendo, I preferred a wooden sword to any other. The shape, weight, and the feel of the handle in my hands – everything was comfortable.
I grabbed the bloody demon’s mane and climbed from its shoulders to its head. I pulled myself together and hit it as hard as I could. As you would expect, Kayla’s body was not strong enough, no matter how hard I trained. I’ve tried to strengthen my muscles, but it was impossible to rebuild my body in a short amount of time.
I picked up Schuette again and hit the demon once more over the head. It seemed that the blow came out quite painful, because the Bloody Demon began to beat its head without stopping. There was not even a hint of pity in my heart.
Finally, the body of the Bloody Demon tilted sideways and …
Tun!
… A heavy body fell onto the stone floor of the station. Thunderous shouts and applause echoed from the crowd.
“The girl alone was able to defeat the bloody demon!”
“That’s amazing, who is she?”
“This lady saved us!”
I was stunned to hear the people’s applause. Was that all? Was the battle over? When I turned towards the guards with a strange feeling, everyone stared at me blankly.
“She defeated the Blood Demon.”
An old man in a black uniform, probably a captain, came out from behind the guards and gave the command. Only then did the guards come to their senses and rush to cover the demon’s body with a magic net. Now the monster resembled Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians.
That’s when it happened.
“Lady Kayla?”
I looked back towards the voice calling me and was amazed. Kratie’s students had arrived in blue uniforms, and Ritaus was at the forefront. Each of the students were armed with either a sword or a gun loaded with magic bullets.
‘Boarding academy students were sent instead of the Guardian Knights.’
Ritaus, who had just been made a knight, was the strongest student to arrive. In the original story, this was described in great length. Franz had followed him then.
“The Lady alone … defeated the Blood Demon?” Ritaus asked with a somewhat tense look. I showed Schuette with a blue glow in my right hand.
“As expected, the Vesta family Schuette is amazing.”
“Yes it is. How can such a fragile lady deal with a demon all on her own?”
I didn’t answer because it was true.
Ritaus slowly raised his head and looked somewhere over my shoulders. I turned around. Ritaus’s gaze was fixed on the girl in the black hood.
“Ast– … Astel!” Ritaus ran over to the girl. The girl got up, swaying, and gently held Ritaus’s hand. At that moment, the hood flew off the girl’s head, and thick pink hair fell around her shoulders. Ritaus hastily pulled the hood back on. Did they know each other? The relationship between them was clearly deeper than a superficial acquaintance.
‘Wait a minute.’
A beautiful girl with thick hair named Astel standing alongside Ritaus.
My heart was about to stop beating.
I finally remembered. The personality of a girl … that is, not a girl. This boy with long pink hair only looked like a girl. Beauty that could both warm and freeze a person.
Aster Lithi Elbach.
Since childhood, Aster had to grow up in a girl’s dress. He was cursed.
‘If the child turns out to be a boy, he will die before his coming-of-age ceremony.’
In the original story, Aster appeared in women’s clothing from the ages of 15-16. It didn’t take long before Aster turned up as a legitimate adult on his 16th birthday. Therefore, I could not even remember that Aster was introduced at the very beginning of the ‘Magic Mirage’ as a girl.
The color image of Aster was only on the cover, but he looked very masculine. In addition, I saw Aster’s female outfit in black and white. Therefore, I did not immediately make the connection that the girl with pink hair was Aster.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’
At that moment, Aster, who was standing next to Ritaus, raised his head and looked at me. Amethyst-like eyes turned insolently towards me. Why was he looking at me like that?
‘Why?’
I felt discontent. Did he think I could help him knowing who he was? I helped him, but I didn’t harm him! But why? I turned away, avoiding Aster’s gaze. Just in time, the captain of the guards came up and asked me to testify on the spot. Without thinking, I rushed to the platform where the guards were standing. I need to make Franz the master of Shitsuro as soon as possible!
Aster’s dark purple eyes seemed to follow me relentlessly.