𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗
The next day, Mabel stood in front of a dense forest.
She had changed from her usual dress into a set of full armor.
As she took a step forward, her shoe soles sank into the damp soil as usual. She grimaced slightly but firmly placed her other foot forward and continued on, walking confidently with a map in hand. The sunlight was quickly blocked by the protruding trees.
‘The forest is still as creepy as ever…’
Upon further thought, Mabel couldn’t help but admire Cero, who traveled back and forth through this forest almost every other day. Even though she did it before, it was definitely not an easy path.
She took a sip of water from her bottle and rested for a moment, catching her breath. Moments later, she continued walking towards the area Cero had told her about. Soon, she saw a brightly lit spot beyond the trees.
“This must be the cliff.”
It seemed like she had made it out of the forest.
The sunlight poured down, and a plain stretched out before her.
However, it wasn’t very wide, and she quickly reached an elevated area. Beyond that, it seemed to be a deep valley, with a straight cliff exposing its steep slope.
‘Oh, it’s so high…’
She immediately turned her back to the cliff and headed back towards the forest. Looking around, she found short trees lined up at the base of a large rock.
As Mabel approached and squatted down, she saw many small red fruits swaying there.
“Found them!”
With a smile on her face, Mabel plucked one of the fruits. She wiped it lightly and put it in her mouth.
The perfect balance of sourness and sweetness made her close her eyes in bliss. She carefully selected the ripe ones and picked them, one after the other.
‘It was not a good idea to take too much,’ she thought. It was when she carefully selected and put about ten of them in a hemp bag that she stopped
Then, she heard a sound that made the air tremble. Looking up, what entered Mabel’s eyes were the golden eyes looking at her from between the trees of the forest she had just left.
“W-What?!”
Emerging from the darkness, it soon revealed its beastly form.
It was much larger than a dog. Mabel gasped, thinking it might be a wolf.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just one, but two, then three. The wolves appeared one after the other. The wolves slowly approached Mabel. Standing up, she felt a sense of danger surrounding her.
‘What should I do?! Wolves, of all things!’
The wolves didn’t lower their pace. Mabel took a step back, trying not to turn her back, but the three wolves continued to approach.
Before she knew it, she had climbed up to the top of the cliff and reached a position where she couldn’t go any further back. The wolves kept a certain distance from Mabel, baring their teeth in a threatening manner.
‘No way, there’s nowhere to go!’
She reluctantly threw a stone at their feet, but they showed no signs of fear. Worried, she turned around, but the wind blowing up from the bottom of the valley only increased her fear.
Meanwhile, the wolves closed in. One of them, showing its well-aligned fangs, bent its front legs.
“――Ah!”
In an instant, the wolf’s hind legs jumped and pounced toward Mabel. Caught off guard, Mabel instinctively took a step back. At the same time, the ground beneath her feet gave way, and Mabel’s body floated in the air.
Falling!
Gravity suddenly pulled on her body.
Feeling herself being dragged toward the bottom of the valley, Mabel clenched her teeth. However, she was hit by a strong recoil, causing her neck and legs to sway up and down.
Amidst the shaking that rattled her brain, Mabel soon realized that her shoulders and the back of her knees were being supported.
And there, she saw a black mask up close.
“Eugene-sama?!”
Before she knew it, Eugene was holding onto Mabel’s body. When she looked down, there was an endless abyss.
“Huh?”
“If you move, you’ll fall.”
Letting out a pitiful voice, Mabel finally noticed that she and Eugene were floating in the air. The question of ‘how’ was resolved by what she saw over Eugene’s shoulder.
It was a pair of large white wings.
Like a giant bird taking flight, long wings extended from his back.
