Flamm smacked her lips as she enjoyed the dinner Milkit made. The flavor is held by the girl with the highest praise, while Eterna who was taking advantage of the situation caused Milkit’s embarrassment to overload. However, the two were merely stating the truth. Because of how delectable they are, the food was gone in a flash.
Finishing her dinner, Eterna went ahead and took Ink’s portion to the second floor, and the two girls left behind started to clean up. Flamm washed the dishes while Milkit wipes them before putting it inside their cupboard, all in perfect coordination. It was an enjoyable, peaceful daily life, one Flamm is truly reluctant to part with…however, the truth that this reality would not continue for long is something the girl is too painfully aware of.
The church would definitely start something…it’s even likely that they have already started something.
“I wish this could go on forever…” said Milkit, whispering. Understanding that Milkit wishes for the same thing, Flamm couldn’t help but to feel elated.
The girl smiled as she passed another piece of tableware towards Milkit.
“Then I have to do my absolute best to make that happen.”
“Ah…please forgive me, that was not my intention…”
“Why are you apologizing? I feel the same way as you do, Milkit, so I’m just steeling myself again when I said that. I too want to finish fighting the church as soon as possible and live leisurely like this.”
When could that wish be fulfilled? Just thinking about that question feels like it brought back the pain of facing an impassable obstacle blocking their way, but the girl felt that she can fight anything if she considers the heavenlike everyday they could spend after clearing it.
“Do you plan to continue living in the capital for a long time, master?”
“I’ve grown fond of this house, but I do feel like I need to go back to my hometown at least once to tell everyone there that I’m still alive and kicking.”
Even if the seal on her cheek stays there permanently, she will still look forward to the future, and she will undoubtedly be more forward-facing when that time comes. Just like the happiness she felt when she had the matching figure with Milkit, this development is something she could be proud of as this is the proof of bond between the two.
“Then I believe I should not go with you when the time comes.”
“Why?”
“Because…I believe it would be of bad taste to have a slave escorting you…”
“Huh? I was planning to introduce you to my parents, you know? I’m going to tell them that you’re my precious partner.”
“Partner…?”
Milkit has long ignored the fact that she isn’t being treated like her master’s slave, yet the girl was still unsure if the word “partner” would be the correct expression to describe their relationship.
“I could just say that you’re my slave, but I think our relationship right now is different from that. I feel like we’re quite different than just friends, so…”
“That’s why you picked “partner”, is it not?”
“Well it does sound vague. Maybe when I get to introduce you to my parents, I can think of something else to call you.”
“If I am meeting your parents…I should perhaps take off my bandages, right?”
Putting the tableware in place, Milkit fidgeted as she fiddles with the end of her bandage.
Flamm, on the other hand, froze. She didn’t even think of whether Milkit should take her bandages off or not. While it’s true that it is perhaps better to show her face upon meeting her parents, she was hesitant to show Milkit’s face to other people. If anything, perhaps she doesn’t even want to.
She felt delighted and satisfied that she was able to monopolize Milkit’s beauty, and both Milkit and Flamm herself was aware of the meaning behind “ritual” they enjoyed together every night. This feeling of hers is another form of that possessiveness.
In the beginning, Flamm was satisfied if Milkit could get used to her looks and able to walk outside with her head held high. The truth? The situation had grown worse. Perhaps “worse” is not the correct term. Her feelings only…deepened, and now, Flamm has no plans to give that right of witnessing Milkit’s beauty towards others.
As she thought further into it, “Well, we’ll cross the bridge when we get there” she decided to shelf the issue for now; a decision Milkit seemed to have been thankful for as a relieved smile forms on her lips.
“That is true. We still have time.”
“That’s right. We have plenty of time, hahahaha…”
Milkit responded with a giggle of her own. The two laughed to hide their own internal conflict but being in each other’s company was enough to cause that heartache to fade away.
However, for some reason, Flamm felt that the time they spent together only worsens her insecurity, to the point that it is getting more and more likely that Flamm is going to introduce Milkit to her parents with her bandages still covering her face.
The night quietly and quickly passes, and another day dawns upon them.
Flamm’s consciousness draws closer with the melody of the birds outside, and in her half-asleep stupor, she leaned in to hear the voices coming from the first floor.
The sound of kitchen knife striking a cutting board along with the sound of something sizzling on a frying pan echoed throughout the kitchen. The sound of a normal daily life. The sound of peace. The sound of her. Those sounds alone fill Flamm’s heart with warmth.
Thinking back to it, this is the same sort of sounds Flamm heard every time she wakes up in the morning when she was still at her hometown. The sound of her mother cooking breakfast would be followed by her loud yet gentle voice telling her to wake up.
However, Milkit is not Flamm’s mother. Flamm couldn’t possibly leave all housework to her alone, so despite her earlier-than-usual awakening, Flamm rose from her bed and rubbed her eyes before sluggishly exiting her bed.
Yawning as she descended the stairs, she entered the living room, greeted by a clear voice, calling out to her, “good morning.”
“Mm…good morning…”
Flamm’s feeble greeting was replied with a gentle smile, and Flamm immediately heads for the washroom. She washed her face and quickly tidied her hair before returning to the girl’s side.
“I see that you are up early today. Do you have a work to do?”
“Mm…no, I just wake up earlier for some reason. You just need these cut, right?”
“Thank you. Ah, Master.”
“Hmmm?”
Seeing her master’s appearance, Milkit noticed a sprouting bed hair on her head, which prompted her to reach out to it. Thanks to the crude effort she made to tidy her hair, she seemed to have cut some corners, so a lot of some other parts were still left messy.
The girl’s finger combed through Flamm’s hair, making a ticklish sensation similar to if her head’s being pet, causing Flamm to stiffen up slightly.
“Okay, that should be fine.”
“Thankies, I was absentminded, so I just did it roughly.”
“Eterna-san is going to scold you again, you know?”
“I mean I always check myself again before going out so I don’t think she should’ve been ticked off, don’t you think?”
No strand in Eterna’s hair would be disheveled even as she just wakes up, perhaps thanks to her ability to control water, but Flamm couldn’t help but to think that it’s unfair that only Eterna gets to use that skill.
“I shall go outside and water the flowers after I finish frying the food.”
“Got it. The flowers grow pretty beautifully, don’t they.”
“I heard that watering them would be enough, but I am worried if they could bloom well or not. If I can get more confident, perhaps I will try growing them from seeds.”
“Sounds good! Can I pick the seeds with you!”
“Of course!”
“Then let’s go shopping together on our next day off.”
Flamm swiftly prepared an appointment together as the two continued on with their breakfast preparation. It seemed that Milkit spent no time deciding where to go shopping, which was evident in how the corners of her lips slacken as a smile begin to bloom.
The sunny-side up eggs finished frying, and as the girl moved served them to plates, she left the kitchen. Milkit then went towards the entrance, picked up a watering can stored in a cabinet and heads out, leaving Flamm inside as the sound of the door opening and closing echoed through the hallway. The girl walked away from the door, approached the planters and crouched down, watering one planter after another.
In the meantime, Flamm who was left alone inside proceeded to prepare the salad. She cut up some vegetables and split them to four different plates when she realized that she couldn’t hear anything from outside the house. Immediately, she jogged through the living room into the hallway and outside the front door.
“Milkit?”
Looking around, she couldn’t find her partner’s figure, and the only thing she could see was the watering can, toppled over as it spills its content. Could she perhaps be gone to draw water? Or is she gone to talk with the neighborhood lady?
However, that wasn’t the case. Focusing on her senses, she captured a noise.
“…above…”
Two sets of footsteps could be heard from above the roof. One of the sets of footsteps sounds heavy, as if one of the two possible figures were dragging the other as they move.
An error of judgment. Flamm’s own carelessness incited her self-hatred to roar. Knowing that the person aimed for the chance Milkit went out clearly shows that whoever the perpetrator is, they are not an amateur, and it is likely that their target is not Flamm herself, but Milkit.
It isn’t clear as of whose order the perpetrator is under, but she definitely had to find out if she wants to protect Milkit.
She shouldn’t be so negligent that she could easily think that it would be safe for her to get out of the house, even if it’s just to their yard.
She regretted that decision…she regretted it so much that she bit into her lips until they start to bleed. With her anger fueling her legs, she kicked the ground as if to unleash that pent-up rage and flew towards the roof. Landing in a kneeling position, the girl immediately looked around, trying to capture her target. With her expanded field of vision from an elevated view, she immediately found two figures, clad in black, running towards the east.
Flamm grits her teeth in annoyance, darting off the edge of the roof as she glares at the two figures in the distance, dancing in the air unhesitatingly. Jumping from houses to houses, the girl gave chase to the figures carrying Milkit away.
“—Scan!” she whispered, quietly activating her spell.
The one person carrying Milkit was a man with a largue build. His name is Tryte Lancylla, possessing both Strength and Endurance easily exceeding 2,000, and the total amount of his status score is just a little short of 8,000. His partner, which seemed as if he’s fooling around as he performed somersaults on his escape, displayed the agility of his dainty body as he did. His name is Demiserico Radius, possessing over 2,500 points in agility, and his heightened Intuition clarifies his specialty as a speed-focused combatant. He, too, had a total status number of just short of 8,000, while his biggest weak point was his Endurance which was the only status that had a three-digit number to it.
Long story short, they weren’t just any ordinary adventurers; they were rank A adventurers, which explained how they could abduct Milkit without so much of a sound or sign. However, unlike before, the current Flamm had the strength to take them both on. The issue she has right now is whether she could close her distance or not.
Perching at the corner of a roof, Flamm sent a surge of refined Prana towards her entire legs before making a huge leap, flying over an entire house and cut their distance greatly.
“What the fuck!?”
“I didn’t sign up for this shit, man, you said it was an easy job!!”
The two men obviously grew anxious seeing the girl with smaller build than them easily surpass their speed.
The job they took from Satyllus was simply to kidnap a single slave, and their scan indicated that their pursuer had flat zeroes in her stat block. They’ve heard about the girl called Flamm Apricot before, and they couldn’t help but to wonder why the girl was branded as a slave if she really is the Flamm Apricot they’ve heard of. On the other hand, if she’s not the Flamm Apricot they’ve heard of before, who is this girl who could keep up with their speed?
“Tch…so be it. I’ll take her on. Get on forward before me, Tryte.”
“Sure. You gotta run away if it gets rough though.”
Judging by how plentiful the reward is, the two knew that this is not a clean job. In the first place, the request from Satyllus didn’t come through the guild, something the adventurers would often refer to a “Black Request”, and while it’s true that the reward is handsome, the two was prepared for a great risk for its price.
It was their mistake for trusting Satyllus’ words, saying that it was an “easy job” despite the possibility of them losing their lives in this predicament.
“Let’s test this girl out for now…”
The man pulled out a pair of daggers from a case on his belt, holding each drenched blade with one hand each. With a short, sharp exhale, he turned around with a twist and threw one before making a leap backwards and throwing the other, sending the two daggers cutting straight through the air like a bullet. Immediately after releasing his two daggers, he proceeded to procure more from his case and threw them at the approaching girl; to her left, to her right, and even above. All for the sake of shaking the girl off from pursuing them.
However, the girl didn’t even have the slightest intention to get out of harm’s way. Straightforwardly and recklessly, the girl is intent in keeping on moving straight towards Demiserico.
“Fuckin’ moron, you’re about to die!”
Did she not se it? Or is she planning something by not dodging? Regardless of the answer, the man turned away from Flamm’s direction and continued running.
Then, just as the pointed end of the first dagger touched the girl’s flank, she whispered;
“Reversal”
The girl inverted the man’s attempt to test her. The dagger instantly changed its direction and quickly began to dart towards Demiserico.
The second dagger was a different story. Flamm reached her hand out towards the blade, taking in the hit as the blade penetrates palm with a dull, wet sound. The stinging pain on her right arm shot across her entire body, causing her to flinch in response. Of course, the poison effect is negated completely thanks to her belt that removes her resistance to poison.
“Is this that Reversal power they were talkin’ about!?” yelled Demiserico, evading the returned dagger that sank itself into a building wall right next to him.
Once again, he shot another blade to keep stalling the girl.
Flamm lightly twists her body to avoid the incoming blade while simultaneously pulling out the blade stuck to her palm. With her posture off balance, Flamm planted her sole firmly into the next roof before rotating her body to the side, fluttering through the air once more. Using the centrifugal force fully, the girl used her bloodstained hand to toss the knife back towards Demiserico who had just landed on his feet.
Her toss was awkward and clumsy, perhaps because she wasn’t too proficient in throwing knives to begin with, and therefore it went all over the place with barely enough speed to reach its target, but Demiserico who just landed on his feet couldn’t find enough leeway to dodge her counterattack. He procured a gladius from a holster on his lower back, sporting a fifty-centimeter blade that was unfit to be a throwing weapon unlike his knives, and with one swift swing and a ringing noise, he deflected the blade Flamm threw back.
However, what Flamm did wasn’t in vain; he stopped the man dead on his tracks. The distance between the two had closed up so much that it was nigh impossible for the man to escape her at this point. Preparing himself for a close quarter combat, the man pulled another short sword from another holster and faced Flamm head-on.
Then, the man began to speak.
“I should’ve known most of the people with the strength of A-ranked adventurers, but…didn’t think there’s an adventurer I haven’t seen before…and a young girl at that…”
Of course, his words didn’t reach Flamm’s ears, for the girl was thinking of one and one thing only; that the men who hurt Milkit are—
“UNFORGIVABLE…!”
Flamm’s arms were clad in jet-black gauntlets, and with her right hand brandishing her Soul Eater emitting an ominous aura, she swung it down recklessly without even a plan.
Demiserico barely dodged the strike, and the pointed end of the great sword grazes his chest. He immediately counterattacked and unleashed a cut towards Flamm, cutting the girl’s thigh along with her shorts before jumping back and taking some distance, held his hands aloft and cast a spell.
“Shadow Mist!”
The spell invokes a black mist, robbing the girl of her vision. Unable to find her escape, Flamm found herself taking another throwing knife on her arm. Then she took another on her flank, her cheek, her leg, her shoulder, before taking another in her arm once again, incessantly, from all directions, creating countless shallow wounds on her fair skin. Unable to see her surrounding, her movement gradually dulls with the accumulated damage she took, and it won’t be long until the man would deal a fatal blow to her.
That, was Demiserico’s style of fighting.
“So absurd,” Flamm spat, wondering if this fighting style of a thousand cuts is commonplace.
Her wounds quickly recover, and she could barely feel any pain, and even this mist is…something her dark blade could take care of.
“HAAA!!”
Flamm swung her sword down, fueled with bursting prana she brought forth and created a powerful gale.
The Prana Storm quickly dissipates the mist, and Demiserico avoided the strike as he swiftly jumped to a house next to him.
Without delay, Flamm who had reacquired her target activated her Cavalier Arts.
“DON’T YOU RUN AWAY FROM MEEEE!!”
The girl swung her sword horizontally, unleashing her Arts—the Prana Slash, yet once again, Demiserico nimbly avoided the strike like a flying insect. He threw another dagger at the girl, but it was nothing but a futile resistance, as Flamm could easily dodge that attack by slightly tilting her head.
Flamm unleashed another strike, diagonally this time, shooting her refined Prana at the man, though the prana fueling this attack is infused with Reverse Magic.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!?” yelled Demiserico, leaping once again with cold sweat drenching his forehead as the Prana Slash robbed him of his footing and flew past him.
However, Flamm whispered; “Return!¹”, and the blast of energy that passed through the man turned around and approached Demiserico from his rear. He sensed the murderous aura coming from straight behind him and thus tried to twist his stance to avoid it.
However, the energy heartlessly severed his right arm.
“GGAAAAAAHHH!!!” The man screamed in anguish as his body began to bathe in sweat.
The figure of a girl holding her dark blade aloft still stood tall in front of him, reflecting in his eyes, and realizing that he had no chance of winning, he began to turn tail and escape. He understood that his chance of being able get out of this engagement alive is at least higher than his chance of winning this battle.
Seeing the man scampering away, the girl readied her stance once again. Pointing the edge of her blade towards the man’s back, she twists her hands, tightly gripping the handle of her sword towards her back and stretching them like bowstrings. Drawing her breath, she fills her blade with the clearest form of Prana she had ever refined.
Jumping from rooftops to rooftops, Demiserico’s figure grows distant, but Flamm’s aim was to strike him the moment his body was suspended mid-air, leaving him defenseless.
The man who had Milkit in his arms had been long gone from her sight, which means the only way to get to know her location was to squeeze it out from the man she can still see. This means that she could not kill the man, and if she had to stab through him, it had to be a non-lethal shot to the leg.
Timing is of the essence. The man is currently running right in the middle of the roof of a stone-built house.
His right leg kicks the ground, propelling him forward. Immediately after, it was his right.
Left, right, left, right, left…and before long, the muscles in his calf constricts as his toes depart from the roof surface. Now is the time.
Flamm opened her eyes wide and exerted strength into her two hands.
“HAAAA!!”
She unleashed her Prana Sting, forming into an energy that was sharp and thin, flying like an arrow that pierced straight through Demiserico’s calf. The open hole made in his flesh was quickly filled with blood, and with his posture crumbling, the man falls to an alley between the houses. Unable to break his fall, the man took the full brunt of the fall damage on his left arm, sending a shattering pain across. With the height he fell from, it was not impossible for him to have broken several bones.
However, he clearly understood that he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, for the girl is definitely coming.
With his only working leg, he limped his way out of the alley, but even then, he still wouldn’t be able to escape. Flamm landed right next to him with a light thud before immediately stomping on his open wound.
“Ack…GAAAAAHH!!”
Demiserico writhed about in anguish while Flamm mercilessly twists her heel in his wound, and the man couldn’t help but to cry in agony.
“Where is Milkit?”
“Sto…p…please…AAAGH…!!”
Flamm puts more strength into her leg, but because of the pain, the man was unable to answer her question.
“ANSWER ME! WHERE IS MILKIT!?”
“AGH…! AAAAHH…HAAAHH…!!”
No matter how she pushed him, the girl still couldn’t get an answer out, and if she were to wait as she is, the man is just going to bleed out and die. Dead man tells no tale, and perhaps with that thought in mind, the man is intentionally keeping silent as to not let her get that information. No matter how rotten he is, the man is still an A-rank adventurer, and he seemed to still have the pride of one.
However, Flamm couldn’t give up now. She picked up Demiserico’s fallen gladius and put its pointed edge towards the top of his foot.
“I really don’t want to do this but you are PUSHING IT!”
As a matter of fact, she hated having to do this. She hated pain and inflicting them onto others. She hated suffering and bringing about suffering onto others. She hated getting hurt and hurting others. She hated all of it, and she would have avoided them at all costs if she could.
However, she would have to do it if she wanted to save Milkit. Otherwise, the world overflowing with irrationality would not even bat an ear to her wish.
Flamm held the short sword aloft, and with intense speed, she dropped the sword, piercing through the man’s foot along through his bones.
“G…AAAAAAAHHH!!!”
However, Flamm still entertains the possibility of the man not saying anything since he managed to keep quiet with his calf thoroughly perforated, so she took a step further and channeled her Inverse mana through the blade.
“Peel off².”
A dry, cracking sound echoed from the man’s foot.
“—!?”
The pain was so intense that the man couldn’t even make a voice. The nail on his toe being inversed—turned inside out.
“Where is Milkit?”
Demiserico frantically shook his head, clearly showing his remaining will to retaliate. In the end, it was nothing more than an ad hoc, so Flamm understood that she hasn’t done enough.
Seeing no other choice, Flamm reversed yet another of his toenail.
Another dry sound, and despite his low gasp of pain, the man is still not interested in giving her an answer.
She then goes on to reverse more of the man’s toenails, from his middle toe, all the way to his pinky toe, and even as the man twists his back in agony and his teeth clattering in pain and his neck trembling in suffering, the man still did not disclose the information.
It was then when Flamm realized that the man had run out of toenails. Perhaps mistakenly thinking that he finally can catch his breather, Demiserico began to regulate his breathing, which irritated Flamm further. With no other choice, Flamm decided that she needs to reverse something else.
She grabbed the hilt once again and cast her spell.
“Break!³”
The man’s pinky toe immediately begins to twist and turn.
“Gg…GAAAAAAAAHHH!!”
Perhaps this will be enough to change his mind. Flamm put one of her leg on top of the man’s abdominal muscle, and the man’s scream of agony was interrupted as only a little O-sound leak from his mouth.
“Where. Is. Milkit?” asked the girl, her voice filled with intensity, but yet again, Demiserico slowly shook his head sideways. His tight lips deserve a recognition as an adventure, but that fact is only shaving Flamm’s patience at the moment.
She twists yet another toe, and another, and another one, but he still refuses to say a word, bringing Flamm closer and closer to the peak of her stress. His toenails won’t make him speak, and there will still not a whisper even after she twisted his toes, which means her next step would be to twist his entire leg.
She really wanted to avoid doing this, but the man had pushed her a step too far. Once again, the girl grips the hilt and poured her mana into it.
“Get shredded!”
Crack, sounded the man’s bones being cracked and his flesh and blood minced.
“AAH…AAAAAAHHH!!!” the man screamed, unable to hold back the pain. Which is to be expected of someone who is currently having his upper leg completely twisted. Even though he had his heels planted firmly on the ground, his toes curled up facing the sky.
With the man panting and wheezing, Flamm once again posed her question along with a threat;
“Where is Milkit? If you still refuse to say anything, I’ll make it hurt so bad you’ll start to beg for death.”
Demiserico shuddered under the assumption that Flamm could do something even worse. His face is now ruined by the amount of tears and snot, not caring about the embarrassment of it all.
“Okay…okay…! I’ll tell you…blease stop it already…!”
The torture he’s subjected to is something that no humans was supposed to endure, and if he were to keep his quiet, there’s no telling what he’ll be subjected to next. Judging by how capable the girl is, it is not out of the question that she is not merely spouting out empty threats and it is likely that he will indeed face a fate worse than death, and so he decided that his pride is just going to be in the way of his survival at this point.
“It…it was Satyllus…!” said the man, effeminately. “Satyllus…told us…to take that bandage-clad girl…!”
Is that piece of shit old fart still dissatisfied even after hurting her that much? Flamm cursed in her heart. She had a hunch that the old lady is going to be behind this, but it still doesn’t give her a location of where Milkit is being dragged to. She couldn’t think that they simply brought her to their estate, since if that was the case, Welcy would have caught wind of that, so the only possible alternative would be that she was taken to another facility or alleyway.
“I’m asking you where you’re taking her! Tell me where you’re planning to take her!”
“The basement…! That woman…has a room in the basement of her mansion…for her sick hobby…! There’s…a house with green roof due northeast…that’s no normal house…it’s another entrance to the basement…it’s got a passageway…connected to the basement…”
“Is it? I can find Milkit if I go there, right?”
There is no time to waste. As the man saw the girl facing east, he heaved a sigh, thinking that his suffering had come to an end, however—
“GAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Flamm turned back towards the man, took out the short sword that penetrated his feet and stabbed it on the man’s thigh. Immediately afterwards, she pulled the sword out again and threw it away, leaving the man to bleed profusely from his open wound as the sword apparently severed his femoral artery. At this point, the dying man couldn’t even muster enough strength to call out for help, and thus he could only writhe about like an insect. If she was to leave him be, it would take a miracle and a nun to prevent him from drawing his last breath in several minutes.
Flamm wasn’t interested in the man being stuck between his life and death, but if she had to choose, she would opt for the man to die. That was why she gave another stab, but she couldn’t care less as to confirm the kill.
With the information she obtained from the man, she left the area and heads to the East district on double time.
Flamm smacked her lips as she enjoyed the dinner Milkit made. The flavor is held by the girl with the highest praise, while Eterna who was taking advantage of the situation caused Milkit’s embarrassment to overload. However, the two were merely stating the truth. Because of how delectable they are, the food was gone in a flash.
Finishing her dinner, Eterna went ahead and took Ink’s portion to the second floor, and the two girls left behind started to clean up. Flamm washed the dishes while Milkit wipes them before putting it inside their cupboard, all in perfect coordination. It was an enjoyable, peaceful daily life, one Flamm is truly reluctant to part with…however, the truth that this reality would not continue for long is something the girl is too painfully aware of.
The church would definitely start something…it’s even likely that they have already started something.
“I wish this could go on forever…” said Milkit, whispering. Understanding that Milkit wishes for the same thing, Flamm couldn’t help but to feel elated.
The girl smiled as she passed another piece of tableware towards Milkit.
“Then I have to do my absolute best to make that happen.”
“Ah…please forgive me, that was not my intention…”
“Why are you apologizing? I feel the same way as you do, Milkit, so I’m just steeling myself again when I said that. I too want to finish fighting the church as soon as possible and live leisurely like this.”
When could that wish be fulfilled? Just thinking about that question feels like it brought back the pain of facing an impassable obstacle blocking their way, but the girl felt that she can fight anything if she considers the heavenlike everyday they could spend after clearing it.
“Do you plan to continue living in the capital for a long time, master?”
“I’ve grown fond of this house, but I do feel like I need to go back to my hometown at least once to tell everyone there that I’m still alive and kicking.”
Even if the seal on her cheek stays there permanently, she will still look forward to the future, and she will undoubtedly be more forward-facing when that time comes. Just like the happiness she felt when she had the matching figure with Milkit, this development is something she could be proud of as this is the proof of bond between the two.
“Then I believe I should not go with you when the time comes.”
“Why?”
“Because…I believe it would be of bad taste to have a slave escorting you…”
“Huh? I was planning to introduce you to my parents, you know? I’m going to tell them that you’re my precious partner.”
“Partner…?”
Milkit has long ignored the fact that she isn’t being treated like her master’s slave, yet the girl was still unsure if the word “partner” would be the correct expression to describe their relationship.
“I could just say that you’re my slave, but I think our relationship right now is different from that. I feel like we’re quite different than just friends, so…”
“That’s why you picked “partner”, is it not?”
“Well it does sound vague. Maybe when I get to introduce you to my parents, I can think of something else to call you.”
“If I am meeting your parents…I should perhaps take off my bandages, right?”
Putting the tableware in place, Milkit fidgeted as she fiddles with the end of her bandage.
Flamm, on the other hand, froze. She didn’t even think of whether Milkit should take her bandages off or not. While it’s true that it is perhaps better to show her face upon meeting her parents, she was hesitant to show Milkit’s face to other people. If anything, perhaps she doesn’t even want to.
She felt delighted and satisfied that she was able to monopolize Milkit’s beauty, and both Milkit and Flamm herself was aware of the meaning behind “ritual” they enjoyed together every night. This feeling of hers is another form of that possessiveness.
In the beginning, Flamm was satisfied if Milkit could get used to her looks and able to walk outside with her head held high. The truth? The situation had grown worse. Perhaps “worse” is not the correct term. Her feelings only…deepened, and now, Flamm has no plans to give that right of witnessing Milkit’s beauty towards others.
As she thought further into it, “Well, we’ll cross the bridge when we get there” she decided to shelf the issue for now; a decision Milkit seemed to have been thankful for as a relieved smile forms on her lips.
“That is true. We still have time.”
“That’s right. We have plenty of time, hahahaha…”
Milkit responded with a giggle of her own. The two laughed to hide their own internal conflict but being in each other’s company was enough to cause that heartache to fade away.
However, for some reason, Flamm felt that the time they spent together only worsens her insecurity, to the point that it is getting more and more likely that Flamm is going to introduce Milkit to her parents with her bandages still covering her face.
The night quietly and quickly passes, and another day dawns upon them.
Flamm’s consciousness draws closer with the melody of the birds outside, and in her half-asleep stupor, she leaned in to hear the voices coming from the first floor.
The sound of kitchen knife striking a cutting board along with the sound of something sizzling on a frying pan echoed throughout the kitchen. The sound of a normal daily life. The sound of peace. The sound of her. Those sounds alone fill Flamm’s heart with warmth.
Thinking back to it, this is the same sort of sounds Flamm heard every time she wakes up in the morning when she was still at her hometown. The sound of her mother cooking breakfast would be followed by her loud yet gentle voice telling her to wake up.
However, Milkit is not Flamm’s mother. Flamm couldn’t possibly leave all housework to her alone, so despite her earlier-than-usual awakening, Flamm rose from her bed and rubbed her eyes before sluggishly exiting her bed.
Yawning as she descended the stairs, she entered the living room, greeted by a clear voice, calling out to her, “good morning.”
“Mm…good morning…”
Flamm’s feeble greeting was replied with a gentle smile, and Flamm immediately heads for the washroom. She washed her face and quickly tidied her hair before returning to the girl’s side.
“I see that you are up early today. Do you have a work to do?”
“Mm…no, I just wake up earlier for some reason. You just need these cut, right?”
“Thank you. Ah, Master.”
“Hmmm?”
Seeing her master’s appearance, Milkit noticed a sprouting bed hair on her head, which prompted her to reach out to it. Thanks to the crude effort she made to tidy her hair, she seemed to have cut some corners, so a lot of some other parts were still left messy.
The girl’s finger combed through Flamm’s hair, making a ticklish sensation similar to if her head’s being pet, causing Flamm to stiffen up slightly.
“Okay, that should be fine.”
“Thankies, I was absentminded, so I just did it roughly.”
“Eterna-san is going to scold you again, you know?”
“I mean I always check myself again before going out so I don’t think she should’ve been ticked off, don’t you think?”
No strand in Eterna’s hair would be disheveled even as she just wakes up, perhaps thanks to her ability to control water, but Flamm couldn’t help but to think that it’s unfair that only Eterna gets to use that skill.
“I shall go outside and water the flowers after I finish frying the food.”
“Got it. The flowers grow pretty beautifully, don’t they.”
“I heard that watering them would be enough, but I am worried if they could bloom well or not. If I can get more confident, perhaps I will try growing them from seeds.”
“Sounds good! Can I pick the seeds with you!”
“Of course!”
“Then let’s go shopping together on our next day off.”
Flamm swiftly prepared an appointment together as the two continued on with their breakfast preparation. It seemed that Milkit spent no time deciding where to go shopping, which was evident in how the corners of her lips slacken as a smile begin to bloom.
The sunny-side up eggs finished frying, and as the girl moved served them to plates, she left the kitchen. Milkit then went towards the entrance, picked up a watering can stored in a cabinet and heads out, leaving Flamm inside as the sound of the door opening and closing echoed through the hallway. The girl walked away from the door, approached the planters and crouched down, watering one planter after another.
In the meantime, Flamm who was left alone inside proceeded to prepare the salad. She cut up some vegetables and split them to four different plates when she realized that she couldn’t hear anything from outside the house. Immediately, she jogged through the living room into the hallway and outside the front door.
“Milkit?”
Looking around, she couldn’t find her partner’s figure, and the only thing she could see was the watering can, toppled over as it spills its content. Could she perhaps be gone to draw water? Or is she gone to talk with the neighborhood lady?
However, that wasn’t the case. Focusing on her senses, she captured a noise.
“…above…”
Two sets of footsteps could be heard from above the roof. One of the sets of footsteps sounds heavy, as if one of the two possible figures were dragging the other as they move.
An error of judgment. Flamm’s own carelessness incited her self-hatred to roar. Knowing that the person aimed for the chance Milkit went out clearly shows that whoever the perpetrator is, they are not an amateur, and it is likely that their target is not Flamm herself, but Milkit.
It isn’t clear as of whose order the perpetrator is under, but she definitely had to find out if she wants to protect Milkit.
She shouldn’t be so negligent that she could easily think that it would be safe for her to get out of the house, even if it’s just to their yard.
She regretted that decision…she regretted it so much that she bit into her lips until they start to bleed. With her anger fueling her legs, she kicked the ground as if to unleash that pent-up rage and flew towards the roof. Landing in a kneeling position, the girl immediately looked around, trying to capture her target. With her expanded field of vision from an elevated view, she immediately found two figures, clad in black, running towards the east.
Flamm grits her teeth in annoyance, darting off the edge of the roof as she glares at the two figures in the distance, dancing in the air unhesitatingly. Jumping from houses to houses, the girl gave chase to the figures carrying Milkit away.
“—Scan!” she whispered, quietly activating her spell.
The one person carrying Milkit was a man with a largue build. His name is Tryte Lancylla, possessing both Strength and Endurance easily exceeding 2,000, and the total amount of his status score is just a little short of 8,000. His partner, which seemed as if he’s fooling around as he performed somersaults on his escape, displayed the agility of his dainty body as he did. His name is Demiserico Radius, possessing over 2,500 points in agility, and his heightened Intuition clarifies his specialty as a speed-focused combatant. He, too, had a total status number of just short of 8,000, while his biggest weak point was his Endurance which was the only status that had a three-digit number to it.
Long story short, they weren’t just any ordinary adventurers; they were rank A adventurers, which explained how they could abduct Milkit without so much of a sound or sign. However, unlike before, the current Flamm had the strength to take them both on. The issue she has right now is whether she could close her distance or not.
Perching at the corner of a roof, Flamm sent a surge of refined Prana towards her entire legs before making a huge leap, flying over an entire house and cut their distance greatly.
“What the fuck!?”
“I didn’t sign up for this shit, man, you said it was an easy job!!”
The two men obviously grew anxious seeing the girl with smaller build than them easily surpass their speed.
The job they took from Satyllus was simply to kidnap a single slave, and their scan indicated that their pursuer had flat zeroes in her stat block. They’ve heard about the girl called Flamm Apricot before, and they couldn’t help but to wonder why the girl was branded as a slave if she really is the Flamm Apricot they’ve heard of. On the other hand, if she’s not the Flamm Apricot they’ve heard of before, who is this girl who could keep up with their speed?
“Tch…so be it. I’ll take her on. Get on forward before me, Tryte.”
“Sure. You gotta run away if it gets rough though.”
Judging by how plentiful the reward is, the two knew that this is not a clean job. In the first place, the request from Satyllus didn’t come through the guild, something the adventurers would often refer to a “Black Request”, and while it’s true that the reward is handsome, the two was prepared for a great risk for its price.
It was their mistake for trusting Satyllus’ words, saying that it was an “easy job” despite the possibility of them losing their lives in this predicament.
“Let’s test this girl out for now…”
The man pulled out a pair of daggers from a case on his belt, holding each drenched blade with one hand each. With a short, sharp exhale, he turned around with a twist and threw one before making a leap backwards and throwing the other, sending the two daggers cutting straight through the air like a bullet. Immediately after releasing his two daggers, he proceeded to procure more from his case and threw them at the approaching girl; to her left, to her right, and even above. All for the sake of shaking the girl off from pursuing them.
However, the girl didn’t even have the slightest intention to get out of harm’s way. Straightforwardly and recklessly, the girl is intent in keeping on moving straight towards Demiserico.
“Fuckin’ moron, you’re about to die!”
Did she not se it? Or is she planning something by not dodging? Regardless of the answer, the man turned away from Flamm’s direction and continued running.
Then, just as the pointed end of the first dagger touched the girl’s flank, she whispered;
“Reversal”
The girl inverted the man’s attempt to test her. The dagger instantly changed its direction and quickly began to dart towards Demiserico.
The second dagger was a different story. Flamm reached her hand out towards the blade, taking in the hit as the blade penetrates palm with a dull, wet sound. The stinging pain on her right arm shot across her entire body, causing her to flinch in response. Of course, the poison effect is negated completely thanks to her belt that removes her resistance to poison.
“Is this that Reversal power they were talkin’ about!?” yelled Demiserico, evading the returned dagger that sank itself into a building wall right next to him.
Once again, he shot another blade to keep stalling the girl.
Flamm lightly twists her body to avoid the incoming blade while simultaneously pulling out the blade stuck to her palm. With her posture off balance, Flamm planted her sole firmly into the next roof before rotating her body to the side, fluttering through the air once more. Using the centrifugal force fully, the girl used her bloodstained hand to toss the knife back towards Demiserico who had just landed on his feet.
Her toss was awkward and clumsy, perhaps because she wasn’t too proficient in throwing knives to begin with, and therefore it went all over the place with barely enough speed to reach its target, but Demiserico who just landed on his feet couldn’t find enough leeway to dodge her counterattack. He procured a gladius from a holster on his lower back, sporting a fifty-centimeter blade that was unfit to be a throwing weapon unlike his knives, and with one swift swing and a ringing noise, he deflected the blade Flamm threw back.
However, what Flamm did wasn’t in vain; he stopped the man dead on his tracks. The distance between the two had closed up so much that it was nigh impossible for the man to escape her at this point. Preparing himself for a close quarter combat, the man pulled another short sword from another holster and faced Flamm head-on.
Then, the man began to speak.
“I should’ve known most of the people with the strength of A-ranked adventurers, but…didn’t think there’s an adventurer I haven’t seen before…and a young girl at that…”
Of course, his words didn’t reach Flamm’s ears, for the girl was thinking of one and one thing only; that the men who hurt Milkit are—
“UNFORGIVABLE…!”
Flamm’s arms were clad in jet-black gauntlets, and with her right hand brandishing her Soul Eater emitting an ominous aura, she swung it down recklessly without even a plan.
Demiserico barely dodged the strike, and the pointed end of the great sword grazes his chest. He immediately counterattacked and unleashed a cut towards Flamm, cutting the girl’s thigh along with her shorts before jumping back and taking some distance, held his hands aloft and cast a spell.
“Shadow Mist!”
The spell invokes a black mist, robbing the girl of her vision. Unable to find her escape, Flamm found herself taking another throwing knife on her arm. Then she took another on her flank, her cheek, her leg, her shoulder, before taking another in her arm once again, incessantly, from all directions, creating countless shallow wounds on her fair skin. Unable to see her surrounding, her movement gradually dulls with the accumulated damage she took, and it won’t be long until the man would deal a fatal blow to her.
That, was Demiserico’s style of fighting.
“So absurd,” Flamm spat, wondering if this fighting style of a thousand cuts is commonplace.
Her wounds quickly recover, and she could barely feel any pain, and even this mist is…something her dark blade could take care of.
“HAAA!!”
Flamm swung her sword down, fueled with bursting prana she brought forth and created a powerful gale.
The Prana Storm quickly dissipates the mist, and Demiserico avoided the strike as he swiftly jumped to a house next to him.
Without delay, Flamm who had reacquired her target activated her Cavalier Arts.
“DON’T YOU RUN AWAY FROM MEEEE!!”
The girl swung her sword horizontally, unleashing her Arts—the Prana Slash, yet once again, Demiserico nimbly avoided the strike like a flying insect. He threw another dagger at the girl, but it was nothing but a futile resistance, as Flamm could easily dodge that attack by slightly tilting her head.
Flamm unleashed another strike, diagonally this time, shooting her refined Prana at the man, though the prana fueling this attack is infused with Reverse Magic.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!?” yelled Demiserico, leaping once again with cold sweat drenching his forehead as the Prana Slash robbed him of his footing and flew past him.
However, Flamm whispered; “Return!¹”, and the blast of energy that passed through the man turned around and approached Demiserico from his rear. He sensed the murderous aura coming from straight behind him and thus tried to twist his stance to avoid it.
However, the energy heartlessly severed his right arm.
“GGAAAAAAHHH!!!” The man screamed in anguish as his body began to bathe in sweat.
The figure of a girl holding her dark blade aloft still stood tall in front of him, reflecting in his eyes, and realizing that he had no chance of winning, he began to turn tail and escape. He understood that his chance of being able get out of this engagement alive is at least higher than his chance of winning this battle.
Seeing the man scampering away, the girl readied her stance once again. Pointing the edge of her blade towards the man’s back, she twists her hands, tightly gripping the handle of her sword towards her back and stretching them like bowstrings. Drawing her breath, she fills her blade with the clearest form of Prana she had ever refined.
Jumping from rooftops to rooftops, Demiserico’s figure grows distant, but Flamm’s aim was to strike him the moment his body was suspended mid-air, leaving him defenseless.
The man who had Milkit in his arms had been long gone from her sight, which means the only way to get to know her location was to squeeze it out from the man she can still see. This means that she could not kill the man, and if she had to stab through him, it had to be a non-lethal shot to the leg.
Timing is of the essence. The man is currently running right in the middle of the roof of a stone-built house.
His right leg kicks the ground, propelling him forward. Immediately after, it was his right.
Left, right, left, right, left…and before long, the muscles in his calf constricts as his toes depart from the roof surface. Now is the time.
Flamm opened her eyes wide and exerted strength into her two hands.
“HAAAA!!”
She unleashed her Prana Sting, forming into an energy that was sharp and thin, flying like an arrow that pierced straight through Demiserico’s calf. The open hole made in his flesh was quickly filled with blood, and with his posture crumbling, the man falls to an alley between the houses. Unable to break his fall, the man took the full brunt of the fall damage on his left arm, sending a shattering pain across. With the height he fell from, it was not impossible for him to have broken several bones.
However, he clearly understood that he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, for the girl is definitely coming.
With his only working leg, he limped his way out of the alley, but even then, he still wouldn’t be able to escape. Flamm landed right next to him with a light thud before immediately stomping on his open wound.
“Ack…GAAAAAHH!!”
Demiserico writhed about in anguish while Flamm mercilessly twists her heel in his wound, and the man couldn’t help but to cry in agony.
“Where is Milkit?”
“Sto…p…please…AAAGH…!!”
Flamm puts more strength into her leg, but because of the pain, the man was unable to answer her question.
“ANSWER ME! WHERE IS MILKIT!?”
“AGH…! AAAAHH…HAAAHH…!!”
No matter how she pushed him, the girl still couldn’t get an answer out, and if she were to wait as she is, the man is just going to bleed out and die. Dead man tells no tale, and perhaps with that thought in mind, the man is intentionally keeping silent as to not let her get that information. No matter how rotten he is, the man is still an A-rank adventurer, and he seemed to still have the pride of one.
However, Flamm couldn’t give up now. She picked up Demiserico’s fallen gladius and put its pointed edge towards the top of his foot.
“I really don’t want to do this but you are PUSHING IT!”
As a matter of fact, she hated having to do this. She hated pain and inflicting them onto others. She hated suffering and bringing about suffering onto others. She hated getting hurt and hurting others. She hated all of it, and she would have avoided them at all costs if she could.
However, she would have to do it if she wanted to save Milkit. Otherwise, the world overflowing with irrationality would not even bat an ear to her wish.
Flamm held the short sword aloft, and with intense speed, she dropped the sword, piercing through the man’s foot along through his bones.
“G…AAAAAAAHHH!!!”
However, Flamm still entertains the possibility of the man not saying anything since he managed to keep quiet with his calf thoroughly perforated, so she took a step further and channeled her Inverse mana through the blade.
“Peel off².”
A dry, cracking sound echoed from the man’s foot.
“—!?”
The pain was so intense that the man couldn’t even make a voice. The nail on his toe being inversed—turned inside out.
“Where is Milkit?”
Demiserico frantically shook his head, clearly showing his remaining will to retaliate. In the end, it was nothing more than an ad hoc, so Flamm understood that she hasn’t done enough.
Seeing no other choice, Flamm reversed yet another of his toenail.
Another dry sound, and despite his low gasp of pain, the man is still not interested in giving her an answer.
She then goes on to reverse more of the man’s toenails, from his middle toe, all the way to his pinky toe, and even as the man twists his back in agony and his teeth clattering in pain and his neck trembling in suffering, the man still did not disclose the information.
It was then when Flamm realized that the man had run out of toenails. Perhaps mistakenly thinking that he finally can catch his breather, Demiserico began to regulate his breathing, which irritated Flamm further. With no other choice, Flamm decided that she needs to reverse something else.
She grabbed the hilt once again and cast her spell.
“Break!³”
The man’s pinky toe immediately begins to twist and turn.
“Gg…GAAAAAAAAHHH!!”
Perhaps this will be enough to change his mind. Flamm put one of her leg on top of the man’s abdominal muscle, and the man’s scream of agony was interrupted as only a little O-sound leak from his mouth.
“Where. Is. Milkit?” asked the girl, her voice filled with intensity, but yet again, Demiserico slowly shook his head sideways. His tight lips deserve a recognition as an adventure, but that fact is only shaving Flamm’s patience at the moment.
She twists yet another toe, and another, and another one, but he still refuses to say a word, bringing Flamm closer and closer to the peak of her stress. His toenails won’t make him speak, and there will still not a whisper even after she twisted his toes, which means her next step would be to twist his entire leg.
She really wanted to avoid doing this, but the man had pushed her a step too far. Once again, the girl grips the hilt and poured her mana into it.
“Get shredded!”
Crack, sounded the man’s bones being cracked and his flesh and blood minced.
“AAH…AAAAAAHHH!!!” the man screamed, unable to hold back the pain. Which is to be expected of someone who is currently having his upper leg completely twisted. Even though he had his heels planted firmly on the ground, his toes curled up facing the sky.
With the man panting and wheezing, Flamm once again posed her question along with a threat;
“Where is Milkit? If you still refuse to say anything, I’ll make it hurt so bad you’ll start to beg for death.”
Demiserico shuddered under the assumption that Flamm could do something even worse. His face is now ruined by the amount of tears and snot, not caring about the embarrassment of it all.
“Okay…okay…! I’ll tell you…blease stop it already…!”
The torture he’s subjected to is something that no humans was supposed to endure, and if he were to keep his quiet, there’s no telling what he’ll be subjected to next. Judging by how capable the girl is, it is not out of the question that she is not merely spouting out empty threats and it is likely that he will indeed face a fate worse than death, and so he decided that his pride is just going to be in the way of his survival at this point.
“It…it was Satyllus…!” said the man, effeminately. “Satyllus…told us…to take that bandage-clad girl…!”
Is that piece of shit old fart still dissatisfied even after hurting her that much? Flamm cursed in her heart. She had a hunch that the old lady is going to be behind this, but it still doesn’t give her a location of where Milkit is being dragged to. She couldn’t think that they simply brought her to their estate, since if that was the case, Welcy would have caught wind of that, so the only possible alternative would be that she was taken to another facility or alleyway.
“I’m asking you where you’re taking her! Tell me where you’re planning to take her!”
“The basement…! That woman…has a room in the basement of her mansion…for her sick hobby…! There’s…a house with green roof due northeast…that’s no normal house…it’s another entrance to the basement…it’s got a passageway…connected to the basement…”
“Is it? I can find Milkit if I go there, right?”
There is no time to waste. As the man saw the girl facing east, he heaved a sigh, thinking that his suffering had come to an end, however—
“GAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Flamm turned back towards the man, took out the short sword that penetrated his feet and stabbed it on the man’s thigh. Immediately afterwards, she pulled the sword out again and threw it away, leaving the man to bleed profusely from his open wound as the sword apparently severed his femoral artery. At this point, the dying man couldn’t even muster enough strength to call out for help, and thus he could only writhe about like an insect. If she was to leave him be, it would take a miracle and a nun to prevent him from drawing his last breath in several minutes.
Flamm wasn’t interested in the man being stuck between his life and death, but if she had to choose, she would opt for the man to die. That was why she gave another stab, but she couldn’t care less as to confirm the kill.
With the information she obtained from the man, she left the area and heads to the East district on double time.
