At the thought of Seraphin and Lucia, a surge of anger naturally rose within her again. Roseliel even had a momentary urge to turn back and risk it all against Lucia.
Of course, her urge to survive quickly brought her back to her senses.
She had a clear self-awareness. While she couldn't claim to be particularly rational or resolute, at the very least, she was extremely afraid of dying.
Very, very afraid of dying.
"This thing is truly dangerous. No wonder those cultists end up going mad."
Roseliel glanced at the wraith floating beside her and let out a helpless sigh.
After all, it was a double-edged sword. Once she got through this ordeal and found a proper method to increase her strength, she would definitely deliver this fellow to the afterlife at the very first opportunity.
Even so, now that she had obtained the most crucial items, as long as she scrubbed all records related to her from the letters, most of her suspicion would be cleared.
Then, she could just take the letters back for Lucia to see, and everyone would be happy.
...Right?
Roseliel was just about to hold those few sheets of paper over the candle flame to ignite them when her hand suddenly froze in midair.
Her current relationship with Lucia was, to say the least, hardly intimate, and more accurately, utterly fire and water.
In Lucia's eyes, whether Roseliel even belonged to the human species was debatable, let alone anything resembling "trust."
If she brought these letters straight back, would Lucia actually believe her and make peace?
Don't make Sister Lucia laugh.
The best approach would be to let Lucia discover these things herself, rather than hand them to her directly.
Right then, the wraith that had been floating blankly beside her flickered suddenly. A faint trace of pain actually appeared on its hollow face.
Roseliel's brows knit together tightly.
...
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Lucia moved at a rapid pace, sprinting toward Maple Creek Town as fast as she could.
Damn it, she had actually fallen for Roseliel's scheme!
Not long ago, a scout had arrived at the windmill.
He brought good news: militia from surrounding towns had engaged the living corpses in the outskirts, and after a fierce battle involving several hundred men, they had successfully wiped them all out.
From his description, Lucia had caught a crucial piece of information.
"You're saying a horse charged straight into your ranks?"
The scout nodded repeatedly. "Yeah, isn't that bizarre? Such a huge horde of living corpses was actually chasing a single horse!
"I saw that horse from way off and thought it had strayed from somewhere, so I didn't think much of it at first. Who knew a massive swarm of living corpses was right behind it? Scared the life out of me, so I hurried back to report."
"Only a horse... Could it be that Master... she..."
Mona's eyes instantly turned red, and Amy covered her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
In their eyes, Roseliel was surely dead or dying. Before her demise, she must have done everything possible to use the horse to delay the living corpses, thinking of them even in her final moments.
What a noble person!
Naturally, Lucia didn't view it so naively.
If Roseliel were truly dead, that would save a lot of trouble.
But if she wasn't dead, it meant Roseliel had taken the opportunity to flee!
Lucia instinctively felt the urge to activate the servitude collar. If she did, Roseliel would turn into a corpse in short order, no matter where she was.
In the end, she refrained; her reason checked her impulse.
A single Roseliel was nothing. Only by using her as a breakthrough point to uncover more Snake Cult spies could she do justice to those who had died.
So where would Roseliel go?
Clues reassembled rapidly in her mind.
First, in all likelihood, Roseliel could not control the living corpses, and might even be attacked by them.
Otherwise, she could have simply ordered the living corpses to attack Lucia last night, which would have meant certain death for Lucia.
Second, Roseliel luring away the living corpses was not merely to let Lucia treat Nancy smoothly, but also to create an opportunity for herself.
And drawing away the living corpses would leave Maple Creek Town empty.
At this thought, Lucia hesitated no longer. She rushed to the second-floor window and leapt straight out.
Both intuition and logic told her that going to Maple Creek Town now would yield results!
Running at full speed, it didn't take Lucia long to reach the ruined town.
By now, the sky was dimly lighting up at the horizon; the night was finally drawing to a close.
Mona had set the town ablaze using demonic magic, and a dense demonic aura still lingered in the air, making Lucia uncomfortable all over and raising goosebumps on her skin.
She stepped up onto a nearby hillock in a few strides, surveying the ash-strewn ruins from above.
Sure enough, amidst the sprawling ash, she noticed several areas that looked unnatural, as if someone had just walked through.
The fire had raged only last night; who would come here now?
A name already crossed Lucia's mind.
She jumped off the hillock and tracked the marks all the way until she stopped before a half-open trapdoor.
She drew her sword and cautiously stepped down.
The light inside the basement was dim, and the air was thick with a damp, burnt stench. After her eyes adjusted for a few breaths, she finally made out the sight before her.
A large figure clad in white stood in the center of the room, and next to it lay a small figure with pale-golden hair.
It was Roseliel!
She really was here!
"I... I won't let you leave..." Right then, Roseliel, lying on the ground, pushed herself up with difficulty and looked toward the tall figure.
Her voice was weak yet carried a certain resolve, as though she were desperately trying to stop something from leaving.
She did not seem to have noticed Lucia's presence.
As her voice fell, the tall figure whipped around to face her.
An extremely frigid aura burst forth in an instant, washing over them.
An undead creature!
Lucia made the judgment in an instant.
Under normal circumstances, an undead creature of this level would have been sensed by Lucia from a great distance.
But now, her perception was heavily disturbed by the pervasive demonic aura, which was why she only saw the creature's true nature just now.
In that case, there was nothing more to say. A raging white flame coated Lucia's blade in an instant, illuminating most of the basement.
"In the name of the Goddess!"
She shouted, charging straight at the undead.
Upon seeing her, the undead creature instantly erupted with astonishing momentum as well.
A shrill, tragic screech exploded from its body, crashing into Lucia's brain like an invisible axe and making her vision blur with pain.
Roseliel, lying half-prostrate on the floor, curled up directly from the agony. Possessing no resistance whatsoever, she rolled back and forth on the ground, letting out miserable screams.
Even Lucia felt a bit of pity for her.
Despite suffering the attack, Lucia's strike did not falter; her sharp blade plunged straight into the body covered in white cloth.
Yet no sensation met her strike; it felt as though she had stabbed empty air.
Lucia immediately realized: it was a wraith!
She snapped her head up, meeting the wraith's hollow eyes.
Her brows instantly furrowed—not because she found the wraith difficult to deal with, but because...
She felt as though she had seen this wraith somewhere before.
Not at this moment, not in these ruins, but earlier.
On an occasion she ought to remember, on a face she ought to recall.
Rate on N.U.
