Chapter 33: 25

It had become dusk outside the house.

The scenery that I’m used to seeing was dyed bright red.

Does this scenery feel ominous because I know the destiny I’ll be facing will be the worst?

“…It’s not out front.”

I look around, but it doesn’t seem to be at the front of the house.

If the impact from me being eaten causes the house to come crashing down, and the three get crushed beneath, my getting eaten will be meaningless.

Keeping that in mind, as I separate from the house, a black wolf the size of a horse carriage appears around the corner.
This must be the monster that came out the forest, which Kili mentioned.

(So dark, and, big.)*

I was a little worried if it would be satisfied with my size even if it had a small appetite, but I couldn’t go about changing my strategy now.

As if it was wary of me who suddenly came out of the building, the monster approaches me slowly.

I close my eyes and kneel down, waiting for my last moment.
I couldn’t stand the fear of the slowly approaching monster, and the thought of that monster’s face being the last thing I see was too much.

With my eyes shut, the smiling faces of Aria and Kili, of Reno and Sui, and of Lain come to mind.
I heard that before dying, the faces of those that resented me would appear in my head, but it was my loved ones instead.
If I could protect these smiles, then my life might not have been so bad.

“[Water Manipuation]”
“[Soil Manipulation]”

I heard voices I shouldn’t be hearing.
My eyes open unconsciously.
After doing so, I see something hit the monster standing right before me.

“GYA?”

There were no signs of it taking damage.
Though it seemed aware of it being hit by something.

The monster looks in the direction it was hit from.
The figures of Reno and Sui could be seen standing there.

(No way, did those two manage to do that? From that distance?)

The two were stretching their arms out as hard as they could.
There is a considerable distance from here to the place where the two are.
Amazing. They shouldn’t have been able to do that till now.

However, it seems that the two had used up all their magic.
They seemed to be fluttering about.

“GYAAA!”
“! This is bad! Run away!!”

I return to my senses hearing the monster’s howl.
It was now baring its fangs towards the two of them.

It’s aiming right at them!

As I utter those words, the black wolf rushes towards Reno and Sui.
Kili who grabs the two of them from behind, tries to run back into the house.

But she wasn’t going to make it in time with her speed.

“NOOOOOOO!!”

I could do nothing but cover my face and scream.

*Thud*!

Soon after, a loud collision sound that drowns out my screams echoes.
I look towards the monster dreadfully.

The black wolf had collided with a large stone wall.

The wolf stood back up, and looked towards the outside of the village.

A light breeze blows.
With it, the black wolf’s head falls to the ground.

The monster which had dropped us to the pits of despair, turns into a magic stone without even a cry.

“W, what just…”

If you looked in the direction the black wolf was last looking at, you could see a shadow approaching us from the distance.

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As the shadow gets bigger and bigger, I finally realize who it was when it comes to the front of the moat. Lain rushes to help us.

Jumping over the moat, he lands next to me and puts down Aria in his arms. Aria then begins to hug me.

“Milia, I’m so glad you’re not hurt.”
“…A…a.”

I tried comforting Aria who was crying while hugging me, but no words come out. I then realize that tears were streaming down my face as well.

We were slumped down and crying together, but Lain makes us stand up.

“Let’s get back into the house for now. Another one like that might attack us at any moment.”

I nod with a gulp, and return inside as told by Lain.

***

“You idiot!”

As I return to the house along with Milia and Aria, Kili scolds us with a threatening attitude.

At first I thought it was directed at me.
However, based on what I gathered from their roundabout explanation, her target wasn’t me but Milia.

After all, she did try to run-off the monster by offering herself as bait.
True enough, monsters usually returned to the forest after eating one human.

Still, her method was too unreasonable.
Even if that’s true, no one would be happy with Milia sacrificing herself.

In fact, Kili, Sui, and Reno were hugging her right now as if saying they would never let her go again. Aria joins them, and the scene of the five rejoicing at being alive seemed reminiscent of a painting.

I felt happy at being able to protect this scene, and let go of the tension in my chest knowing I reached them in time.

***

After that, the window of the girls’ room was broken, so we moved the personal belongings of the five into the men’s room and decided to all sleep there.
I was going to sleep in the dining room, but Sui and Reno didn’t let me go, and Milia asked me to stay as close as possible since she was afraid of the black wolf, so I was made to sleep in the same room.

In the end, I didn’t manage to sleep at all.
How could I sleep in the room as girls from the same generation as me?!

In the morning, after they’d finally calmed down, I got to hear yesterday’s happening in detail.

It seems that black wolf attacked the village before dinner, last evening.

At first they hid inside the house, but the window to the girls’ room broke.

They moved to the men’s room, but Milia became worried that the house would get destroyed and all four of them would be eaten.

Based on her knowledge that monsters had small appetites, Milia tried to offer herself as sacrifice and make the monster go back, after saying she forgot something in the girls’ room.

Suspicious of Milia, who never returned, Kili and the others headed to the girls’ room to see what was going on, but Milia wasn’t there.

Dreading that she had gone outside, they peak outside only to find Milia about to be eaten by the monster.

In a hurry, Sui and Reno attacked the monster with magic.
The wolf, indignant at being attacked, tried attacking the two when I arrived and raised a wall to protect them, before taking its head.

Man, that was really cutting it close.
If I had been a second late, Kili, Sui, and Reno might have lost their lives.

More importantly, if Sui and Reno hadn’t taken action, Milia wouldn’t have been alive now.

Seeing the house after waking up, it appeared to be in shambles and looked like it would fall apart at any moment.
If they had done nothing and stayed hidden inside the house, they might have gotten crushed underneath its debris with no way of surviving.

To be honest, I never expected things to get this bad.

I apologized to them for failing at my magic, drawing the black wolf out, as well as for not noticing the changes in the forest.
The five said they didn’t blame me, but no matter how you look at it, this incident was my fault.

I thought if it’s just greywolves, the moat would provide enough safety.
It was a mistake to put off strengthening the village defenses for the sake of Reno’s and Sui’s training.

(Safety first. You should do what you can as early as possible.)

I decided to thoroughly strengthen the village defenses so that an incident like this never happens again.

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