C31- The Destruction of Piscea (2)

Felyp and Amy walked towards the hospital with quick steps. Even with her emotions suppressed, Amy still didn't want to look at the area around her. Corpses of ratmen were lying around, some cut in half, some cut to even more pieces. The cuts were all burnt, and some of the corpses still had smoke coming out of the wounds.

Even then, Felyp didn't show disgust on his face. He was used to killing and seeing death. Even if he knew the monsters he killed were mostly innocent civilians, because they turned into monsters, he felt no remorse. And he didn't have time to feel remorse, since he didn't know where his son is or what had happened to him and Corvin that caused this disaster.

"Is this the place?"

"Yes. The two were launched from a catapult here, towards there. They must be in that direction, but quite far away."

"It's okay, I have my ways to reach them."

Felyp brought two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Soon, a horse appeared next to him.

"I am glad I brought these. Even though they are slightly expensive, they are really useful in emergencies."

He took out four round metal pieces from the storage on the horse. Then he lifted his foot and equipped the two bigger pieces. Then he wore the other two pieces on his hands and nodded to himself.

The equipment he wore was called Energy Pushers. It was equipment made from a heat resistant material made by an alchemist, that allowed an energy mage to push something by heating the air inside the equipment until it provided high pressure and thrust. Usually sold in sets of four for personal flight in emergencies because once they are used, unless the mage puts in extra effort to cool them while flying, they become unusable.

Felyp turned to Amy.

"You said this direction, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, thank you."

He turned to the north and jumped. Before he fell back, light suddenly appeared from the holes at the end of the Pushers on his hands and feet. Fire bursted out and he started flying. Amy squinted her eyes at the bright light, and closed her ears because of the loud rumbling noise. After the noise and the light became bearable, she looked towards where he went.

"I hope they are okay..."

She decided to stop taking the red drug once she confirmed the Plaguehorn was killed.

*****

"Uuugghhh... It hurts...", said Corvin while lying on the ground.

The two felt more and more exhausted as the pills effects started to diminish. Corvin's whole body was aching but Noah was just mentally exhausted, so he decided to look after Corvin this time.

"Noah..."

"Hm?"

"Can't you just use the painting, why are you trying to light up a flame."

"Forget about that, I am forcing myself to just do this. If I use magic a little bit more, I will pass out."

Corvin looked at the deep scar their last attack left in the deserted village. A crack that went as far away as twenty meters with the widest place being one meters across.

"You overdid it. Look at this ridiculous scar on the ground. Why did you force yourself that much?"

"What? Did you want me to underestimate my enemy, especially when I saw that sword shatter the second it hit it's head? No way, I would rather struggle to light fire like this, than do that."

"But you still are an idiot."

"Why? What did I do this time?"

Corvin grinned and pointed to the village with his chin.

"Look around you."

Noah looked around. The village was completely deserted and destroyed. The houses were burnt, and most were still on fire.

...

'Hm? On fire?'

"Ah."

"KHKUHAHAHAHA!! You realized it now? How did you not notice?"

"Wh-why didn't you tell me? I was rubbing these sticks for minutes! Aren't you cold?"

"Hahaha~ Freezing for a bit was definitely worth it."

"Sigh~ Where did I find a friend like you?"

"You can go and try to find a better friend from those noble guys back in the Instute, if you want. Still, you won't find a better friend than me."

"Since when making fun of your friend makes you a good friend?"

"Since forever, no? And, didn't I help you find a beautiful girlfriend?"

"Sh-she isn't my girlfriend."

"Yeah, sorry I forgot. I meant wife."

"Sh-she isn't my wife either, yet."

Corvin looked at Noah for a while and said. But Noah looked the same as he gathered some burning material from the village. With a normal expression and just a little bit of blush.

"You didn't even realize you said 'yet'. How long do you want to deny it?"

"Huh?"

"A~aah, young love! Doesn't everyone dream of that?"

Noah didn't answer and just put the campfire together while his face got redder. His blush was visible, even if the red light of the fire camouflaged it. Corvin's grin got wider and he opened his mouth again.

"Thank you for the fire, Noah. For this, I will forgive you and Clair going on dates and leaving me behind, all alone and sad.", he said, as he wiped his fake tears.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You can't fool me. I am your guard, you know. I usually have an idea what you are doing and where you are."

Noah covered his body with his arms and he looked at Corvin coldly.

"Pervert."

"It's my job, idiot. I don't like sticking my nose in other's relations as well... But maybe I like watching a love story being written in front of me more than I realized. You two look cute together, I am rooting for you!"

He gave Noah a thumbs up in exchange for a slight glare.

Rumble Rumble

Suddenly, a loud noise came from above. The two stared up and looked towards where the noise came from. It was a bright light in the sky, coming closer and closer.

"What is that?"

Noah thought for a second.

"I don't know, it might be an energy mage."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, there is a tool that let's them fly, and it is loud and bright like this."

"Then... Is it your father?"

"It might be, but why would my dad be here? Did something happen? No, even if something happened in the north, it would take much longer to get here."

"Maybe he was already in the north?"

"...Well, we will see."

The loud noise came closer and the bright light became brighter. Soon, the silhouette of a man landed near the two and the bright lights disappeared.

"Hah~ This thing is so tiring to use...", Felyp mumbled, before dropping the half molten equipment on the ground. He looked around and spotted the two boys ten steps away from him.

"Noah! Corvin! Are you okay?"

He shouted and ran towards the two. Noah and Corvin stood still, and he hugged the two and looked around.

"Is there any monster around here?"

"Dad... What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I had some business in the north, so I came to check up on you two."

"Business?", Noah muttered. His face soured, he looked clearly unhappy and stressed.

Felyp didn't see it while hugging his son, but Corvin saw it.

"Noah?"

"Huh? O-oh, nothing. Dad, why did you come all the way over here? Didn't you talk with Amy?"

"Oh, that girl? I did talk with her, but then blue light appeared on the skies."

"Blue light?"

"Yeah. After it appeared, a whole bunch of those ratmen came pouring out of the hospital and started attacking people randomly. After stabilizing the situation over there, I flew here to check if you two were okay."

"What? But, we killed the colossus...", Corvin asked.

"Hmm... Maybe it somehow escaped or.... Did something weird happen after killing it?"

"Ah... It did make a blue light in the sky..."

Felyp thought for a second and said.

"It seems, before it died, the colossus turned every patient into ratmen with it's last power remaining or something of the sort. Probably, the rest of Piscea is in turmoil right now."

"Th-then, didn't we cause that? Did we do wrong? Why did that happen?!"

"Calm down, Noah. Calm down."

Felyp patted his son's head.

"It's okay, you don't need to feel guilty. If you didn't do it, it would have been worse. And, listen. The Emperor is sending help to Piscea, it isn't that bad. You did the correct thing."

Noah hugged his father back.