Chapter 4
She looked at the mercenary through her disorganized hair, he was sprawled and looked as if he had been beaten up by something.
He was holding his head and lying on the ground just like Reinhardt but, unlike her, the mercenary was covered in blood.
Reinhardt didn’t miss her chance. She grabbed the sword that fell on the floor and pulled it out.
She cut her second left finger deeply because of her hasty pull, but she kept the sword in her hands and stabbed the mercenary in his back with all her might.
“Keuk.”
The last breath of the mercenary was a scream. Struggling was useless.
Reinhardt put all her weight down on the sword so that the man could never get up again.
Suddenly, she felt a terrible pain in her left leg.
The man had bitten her leg through her clothes.
Since that hadn’t made her move, the mercenary grabbed her leg with his arms and scratched her, but Reinhardt only clenched her teeth and continued holding on.
The man’s arms had gone weak and his body was completely stretched, but Reinhardt continued holding onto the sword for a long time and did not move.
It was just in case the man woke up again.
Soon after, when the surrounding area had become quiet, she slightly relaxed.
She had gripped it so hard that her hand felt like it had hardened around the sword.
Reinhardt pulled herself up. At the foot of the cold mountain, it was only her and the casualty.
She had managed to stab near the mercenary’s heart.
She was lucky.
If she had stabbed his arm or leg, as she did to the crown prince, she might have died.
Reinhardt sat down on the ground and was staring at the black blood oozing from his body when she saw that beside the head of the body was a large, hard thing that no one had seen fall and that didn’t seem like it was from the tree. It was as big as the two of her fists combined.
‘Who is it?’
Reinhardt looked around.
There was no sign of anyone.
Did someone help her?
Or…
A sudden fear came upon her.
It might be another bandit.
She was about to get up quickly, but she winced.
Blood was oozing from her legs since the mercenary had bitten her.
“You bastard…”
Reinhardt, who unknowingly started swearing, picked up her belt that had fallen nearby and tied it around her pants.
Even if she runs away, she has to take care of her pants.
She was about to get up after picking up her pants, but something caught her eye.
Reinhardt almost let a scream slip out without realizing it.
It was because there was something dirty standing in front of her.
At first, she had thought it was just an object, it looked like a huge bush covered in mud all lumped together.
She only realized it was a person when she saw that there was a leg under the lump.
It was dirty and muddy, but it was definitely a human leg.
It was so incredibly concealed that she’d thought it was just a bunch of bushes.
It was probably a pretty good fur coat originally, but now it looked like a magical object had appeared in the Pram Mountains because such a thing was a messy, clumped bush with lumps of mud.
It probably hadn’t washed the shawl in a long time.
Reinhardt stared at her opponent with wide eyes.
The black lump at the top of the shawl was surely the head. Its hair was wild and grown out.
She couldn’t even see its eyes.
Only the chin, which was exposed under all the hair, pointed to it being a person and not an object.
“Boo, Boo…”
And when its mouth moved, Reinhardt almost fainted.
The tremendously cracked and hoarse sound that came from its throat was too strange.
“Burr…”
She made a quick decision.
“Help me!”
Reinhardt quickly fell flat.
“I’m on my way to Luden. I’ll give you anything you want. Help me!”
She broke out in a cold sweat again.
There were mountains upon mountains around here. Looking at him, he looked like a monster who’s lived in the mountains for quite a long time. Anyway, it was clear that he is not normal.
‘Is he one of the cannibalistic barbarians that I’ve heard rumors of?’
Beyond the northern border were barbarians who have been at odds with Allanquez for decades. She heard that these barbarians couldn’t stand the harsh winter and would eat people.
Does it want to eat the mercenary?
Reinhardt thought so and laid on her stomach for a long time.
‘……?’
But it was a bit weird. It was just quiet everywhere.
She frowned, scrunching her forehead. She slowly raised her head up to take a look around.
She was surprised.
The monster had squatted right in front of her.
There was a strong and terrible scent, but Reinhardt couldn’t turn her head away.
Because her eyes and its sparkling black eyes, that showed through its dirty and messy hair, had met.
The moment Reinhardt tried to say something, the monster reached out of his coat.
He snatched Reinhardt’s left hand and put it in his mouth.
Not having the time to think about whether or not he was a real cannibal, Reinhardt closed her eyes. She thought the monster would chew her finger right away. She was ready for the pain to come but, surprisingly, she only felt a strange touch as she opened her eyes wide the next moment.
There was a sound of licking.
Yes, the monster was licking her left hand.
To be exact, the middle part of the second, third, and fourth fingers where there were cuts and blood.
Reinhardt watched this scene for a long time, her face hardened.
Unlike his dirty face, the monster licked my fingers and gaps in between them clean with his red tongue.
Soon after the blood stopped, the monster put his hand down. He looked up at her, blinking his dark eyes.
“… A person?”
The monster, who didn’t care about what she’d said, tilted his head slightly and stretched his neck toward her left leg.
My left leg was still bleeding.
No way.
At that moment, it knelt right in front of her.
Reinhardt was horrified and pulled her legs away from him.
“D-D-Don’t!”
It was a reflexive scream. She didn’t think the monster would listen to her.
But the effect was amazing.
The monster flinched and raised its arm, looking up at her while on its knees.
“I-I should.”
Besides, it understood what she’d said. It even fumbled along and responded.
Now Reinhardt knew for sure.
This wasn’t a monster. It was a human being, and it was clear that he had no intention of harming her.
Having observed him briefly, Reinhardt noticed that this person was a child.
It was hard to tell how long he’d wandered in the wilderness.
But what was certain was that he had no hostility towards Reinhardt and that he’d even tried to save her.
Reinhardt stood up and pointed to the bloodstained thing.
When she asked, “……Did you do this?” he hesitated but nodded.
“……Thank you.”
There was no response to what Reinhardt said.
As she limped along, the child was restless and started moving around.
She tried to pull the sword out of the mercenary’s body and then came back.
“……Can you help me?”
The child didn’t answer her question and just looked at her.
Reinhardt thought about it for a while and then removed her hands from the sword and stepped back.
The child approached the sword and used his strength to pull the sword.
Surprisingly, the sword, which hadn’t come out when Reinhardt tried, was pulled out straight away when he did.
Blood trickled down the sword, making Reinhardt nervous.
She wondered what would happen if the child licked the blood of the body, just as he licked her blood. However, the child did not care about the blood and just held out the sword to her.
Reinhardt received the sword and clicked her tongue.
The blade seemed to have broken the bones of the mercenary’s body because she’d rammed it into him without hesitation.
It was upsetting that the teeth of the beautiful and smooth blade were a little cracked. She had thought it wouldn’t matter if she gave it up to the mercenary, but now that it was back in her hands, she felt bad.
She looked at the child and tilted her head. The child was shrugging his shoulders.
What is it?
The child’s head came close to Reinhardt’s shoulder and he looked about twelve or thirteen, considering the fact that Reinhardt is quite tall.
He seems to understand…
She reached out her hand. It was a bit dirty, but it was to express her gratitude.
But the next moment, Reinhardt was a little surprised.
Because she reached over the child’s head, the child raised his arms in surprise and covered his head.
“……You.”
When he heard her, the child leaned down and curled up.
Reinhardt frowned.
She now roughly understood why the child stopped and raised his arms when she shouted at him not to lick her leg.
This child was accustomed to being beaten by someone.
“No.”
Reinhardt spoke in a hurry and raised her hand.
When she hadn’t spoken for a long time, the child peeked through his hands and looked her way.
Reinhardt sighed. But when she saw the child flinch at her sigh, she closed her mouth reflexively and spoke again quickly.
“No, I’m not going to hit you.”
“……”
“I’m not hitting you.”
“……”
The child took a step back.
Reinhardt spoke with great emphasis.
“Thank you.”
“……”
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Only then did the child slowly lower his arm that was covering his head.
But he still did not come near her.
Reinhardt said it one last time.
“Thank you.”
His glistening black eyes shook fiercely.