69 Sylphiette vs Counter Arrow

"Hmm? Who are you guys?", she asked.

"Us? Err.. We live here."

She looked rather surprised at my response.

'Crap that was stupid! If she's coming to this house, obviously she knows who the real owner is! She might even live here herself!'

"You do not live here. This is my home and I would know it if you did."

The girls eyes voice shifted into a serious tone as her expression tightened while she said that.

I don't know why, but this little girl was giving me the chills. Maybe it was because of the suddenness of all that just happened, or perhaps because she claims to live in that madhouse, but something inside was telling me not to take her lightly.

"I'm sorry!"

I yelled in apology as I charged past her, pushing her to the side as I went.

Or at least that's what I intended, but she sidestepped out of my way before I got the chance. Not only that, but my feet lost traction with the ground as I slid across a newly formed patch of ice on the ground.

As I slid, I fell onto my back, dropping Suzanne beside me. Our momentum kept the two of us sliding forward until we reached the end of the ice patch.

"Timothy!", Patris yelled out as he ran up to the edge of the ice patch.

A strong gust of wind blew Suzanne and I back across the ice right back to where we started. Our bodies slid into the legs of Patris, toppling him over on top of me.

"Ugh...", I could hear Suzanne groaning.

"I'll ask again", The suddenly demonic looking elf girl questioned as she looked down upon us. "Who are you?"

*Gulp*

"... I'm sorry! I shouldn't have lied! We don't know where we are or how we got here."

The girl's face immediately softened into a kind smile.

"If that's the case, why don't you come inside so we can figure things out?"

"No! That won't be necessary! I don't want to bother you, just let us be on our way."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist. You can't blame me for being suspicious, can you? I just found the three of you fleeing our property and then you lie about it? How do I know you aren't thieves trying to make off with stolen property?"

"We haven't stolen anything. I swear it!"

"If what you said is true and you really do have no idea where you are, then you have nothing to be afraid of. Come inside and we will help you."

"Sara! Where's Sara!"

"Suzanne! You're awake!"

"...Timothy? Patris? Where are we? What happened to Sara!?"

"I-I don't know! We just woke up here ourselves. I have no idea where we are. When I woke up, it was just the three of us."

"We have to go back and find her! She must be hurt!"

"You are in the courtyard of my home, in the city of Sharia."

"SHARIA!?", all of us yelled in unison.

"T-that's impossible!", Patris yelled.

I looked around and sure enough... several of the buildings looked familiar.

'I know this place... I recognize this street. I took this street on my way to the Academy every morning when I was young.'

"It's true. I don't know how, but we really are in Sharia."

"Just how long were we out for!?", Suzanne yelled out in fear. "Sara... did she get left behind in that forest?"

"I don't know what happened, but the three of you are obviously confused", the elven girl said as she reached her hand out to help Suzanne up to her feet. "Please, come inside. Maybe Rudy knows what happened to you."

"Rudy... You mean... that boy!?"

"Suzanne, do you know him?"

"He's that boy who Sara brought back to our campsite!"

"Is he the one who attacked us!?"

"Him? No... there was another. Rudeus and another had gotten into a fight and the damage to our campsite was simply collateral damage from their duel."

"Rudy got in a fight? Is he ok? He wasn't injured, was he!?"

All of a sudden the terrifyingly strong elven girl worked herself up into a panic. The speed at which her demeanor changed was almost frightening.

"Rudeus? That boy...", Suzanne looked upwards and closed her eyes, as though she were trying to recall what had happened.

"That boy was exceptionally strong. Even against such a terrifying swordsman who slaughtered all of Ariel's knights without even trying, that boy was toying with him. He defeated the strange swordsman with magic in close range without taking even a single scratch."

"Phew", the elven girl sighed. "I'm glad he's ok. I should have known as much though. Nobody is stronger than Rudy!"

Then Suzanne's face went pale as she remembered how Sara shot Rudeus from behind.

"Who are you? How do you know Rudeus?"

"My name is Sylphiette. As far as how I know Rudeus..." Syphiette's face blushed as she thought of what to say. "He's my savior, my mentor, my friend, and above all... he's the person who I respect most."

Suzanne said nothing in response. She only looked down at the ground in shame.

"Come on guys. Follow me inside. It sounds to me like Rudeus brought you back home with him. It's cold out here and I know you have a lot of questions; I'm sure Rudy will be able to answer them.

Meanwhile, back inside the Greyrat manor...

***** Rudeus' Perspective *****

"The other members of Counter Arrow! They're not in the basement! They've disappeared!"

Immediately after I yelled that I looked around in every direction trying to scan for anyone hiding in the house using my Magic Power Eye. Once I reached the front door, I sighed in relief at what I saw.

Four humanoid figures were approaching the front door. One of the four mana signatures I recognized immediately to be Sylphy.

The door handle turned and Sylphiette pushed it open from the other side.

"Rudy!", she ran up and gave me a hug. "I'm so glad you're finally back!"

"I'm glad to be back", I said as I patted her head.

"I found these people outside. They seemed confused. You know them, don't you?"

"Ah yes. I'm glad you stopped them. It would have been unfortunate if they ran off in the middle of the night."

Suzanne bowed when she saw me address them.

"I'm so glad you're ok sir!"

"Please, Please! Don't bow! There's no need for that sort of thing! I'm just glad to see you are doing well."

"I-I'm so sorry about Sara! I don't know what got into her!"

"Huh?"

'She's apologizing...? I thought she would hate me.'

"Tell me... do you know where she is? I'm really worried about her.  You didn't leave her all on her own, did you? How long have we been out?"

"Eh- What?"

My mind was still trying to process what was going on and it didn't help that she was asking so many questions at once.

"You've only been unconscious for a short time. Two hours perhaps?", Ariel said as she approached from behind me.

The others had begun to arrive from the living room to check what had happened after the commotion I made.

"Only two hours? And we made it all the way to Sharia!?"

"A lot has happened in the last couple hours", Ariel answered.

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one", Derrick said with a sigh.

"T-then... Where's Sara? Did you bring her here as well?"

I looked away in regret at that question.

"She's... here", I answered.

"Take me to her! She must have been injured after that blast! I'm sure of it!"

"Follow me", I said in a monotone voice with a dejected look on my face.

My response seemed to worry her even more. Everyone began to follow me as I started walking down the stairs to the basement, but I waved most of them off. I only wanted the other members of Counter Arrow to follow me down.

"Father, now that Sylphy is back home, why don't you introduce her to Randolph and the Princess?"

"That's a good idea. Come on everyone, let's head back to the living room", Paul answered.

"P-princess? You've brought another princess home with you?"

I facepalmed when she said that. Does everyone think I'm starting a collection or something? I hope Sylphy doesn't think I have some weird kink for royalty. No, I need to keep my mind focused! Forget about that for now!

Suzanne, Timothy, and Patris followed me into the basement while everyone else went back to the living room.

I flipped a switch on the wall that lit up the place.

While not exactly the same as a light switch, it effectively worked the same. I had engraved a summoning magic circle into the ceiling and powered this switch I created using a magic crystal. Whenever the switch was flipped 'On' it would summon a light spirit in the center of the room from the engraved magic circle in the ceiling. When flipped 'Off', it would cancel the summoning.

"What a useful magic tool...", Timothy marveled as he followed me down the stairs.

When we got back down, Suzanne looked around in confusion at Aleksander hogtied in the corner, and Ariel's things stacked on the opposite side of the room.

Eventually her eyes traced to Sara's body wrapped up in linen, laying on the ground against the wall.

"No...", she said as her face once again went pale. "That's not her! Tell me that's not her!"

Timothy and Patris gasped in shock as they realized what she meant.

I didn't say anything. I just reached my hand out and unraveled the linen towards the top, revealing Sara's face. I didn't want them to see her bloodied body from where she had been impaled by the tree branch. She had her eyes closed with a contented look on her face. If anything, it only looked as though she were sleeping.

Suzanne ran up to Sara and cupped her hands on Sara's cheeks.

"She's... She's cold..."

Tears began to stream down her face. She turned around and beat her fists against my chest.

"You monster! How could you do this! How could you do this to her!"

"I'm sorry."

That's the only thing I could think to say. I had no excuses. There was nothing I could do or say to make this right. Suzanne had every right to hate me. I know how close the two of them were.

"You're sorry! You're sorry!? What does that even mean? Apologizing isn't going to bring her back!"

"Suzanne! Calm down! We don't know what happened! It was probably that cursed swordsman who killed her!"

Timothy had embraced Suzanne from behind and was trying to pull her off of me.

"No! He did it! He killed her! You bastard! I'll kill you myself! I swear I'll kill you if it's the last th-"

She stopped mid sentence.

Suzanne had wrenched herself free of Timothy's grasp and prepared to lunge at me, but as soon as she saw my face she stopped.

*****Narrator's POV *****

'He... he's crying?', she thought.

Suzanne stood there and stared at Rudeus with wide eyes.

When she looked at Rudeus she couldn't believe what she saw.

The boy looked just as distraught as she was. He bit his lower lip fruitlessly trying to hold back tears. His teary eyes were red and he wore the most pathetic expression.

'What? What is this?', Suzanne thought. 'How can he be so upset? He's the one who did it! He killed Sara! This isn't fair! He doesn't get to be upset! How am I supposed to avenge her if her killer is so remorseful!'

"I'm sorry", Rudeus repeated.

"That's not fair!", Suzanne yelled out as she once again struck her fist against his chest. "How am I supposed to deal with this if I can't even vent my frustration on you! I need someone to be angry with! I need someone to blame!"

"You... You did this? You killed Sara?", Timothy asked in a low tone of voice as he pointed his staff at Rudeus.

"No, Don't do it Timothy! You're no match for him", Patris yelled out as he grabbed Timothy's staff and pulled it down.

"I didn't mean to... I would never... She was... my friend."

"What!?", Suzanne yelled out. "You knew Sara? How?"

"I knew her from long ago... She helped pull me out from the depths when I was at a dark point in my life."

"Then why... Why did she... Why would she try to kill you", Suzanne stammered.

"Huh?", Timothy's arm went limp as he dropped his staff. "Sara... tried to kill him?"

"Hitogami..."

"What?"

"It's that damn Hitogami!"

Rudeus' face twisted into one of rage as he clenched his teeth in anger.

"That damn bastard has taken another innocent life."