Chapter 24: After Who?

"No one's… nothing's chasing after us anymore."

"Nothing's been chasing us from the start, the two of you were overreacting."

"They were chasing after us! How… bleugh… how long have we even been running?"

"I think… I think for an hour, my love."

"Look at you, Freddy my boy — so strong."

Rosa and Adelfred did not really know what was louder — the hard thumping of their hearts, or the gasps that were trying to just burst forth from their lungs. They did not stop at all, not even once — they just ran until they were completely out of energy.

Fortunately for them, the monsters truly did not completely chase after them — there were some who followed them longer than the others, but they all soon just turned around, probably to return to the Verdant Turtle.

And so, now that they knew they were completely safe, Rosa and Adelfred just fell straight to the ground.

"I've… I've never been this tired in my life," Rosa gasped for air as she held Adelfred's hand.

"M…me too," Adelfred let out a small chuckle as he just looked at the setting sun, "I've… I've never felt so free."

"You young ones are so dramatic," Lucian, who created this entire mess in the first place, was just admiring the thing he supposedly sliced off the Verdant Turtle; his face, just reflecting on its incredibly shiny surface, "It's good that you are moving your body and exercising. Especially you, Freddy boy — parts of your body are already going into necrosis."

"Nec…rosis?" Adelfred whispered.

"It means your flesh is dying," Lucian just let out a small sigh as he looked at Adelfred's disfigured face, "At least you don't have to live with the face longer, no?"

"L…Lucian!" Rosa gasped as she glared at Lucian.

"It's… alright," Adelfred only breathed out heavily before very gently patting Lucian with his finger.

"What the—you wanna die?" Lucian quickly slapped Adelfred's finger away with his tiny hand.

"My disfigured face is proof that Rosa truly loves me not for my looks," Adelfred then turned to look at Rosa; the two of them just leaning closer to each other.

"Adelfred…"

"I swear, if you two kiss in front of me, I will kill you myself," Lucian pointed his blades at the two, "And what do you mean love you for your looks? Were you handsome, eh?"

"Ho… hohoho," Rosa then quickly covered her mouth as she forced out a chuckle. She then rummaged through her bag before just handing a photo to Lucian, waving her hand and urging for him to get it.

"What's this…?" Lucian squinted his eyes as he grabbed the photo from Rosa using his hair, only for him to be absolutely blinded by how dazzling and beautiful Adelfred looked; his head, just violently leaning back from the shock, "This… is you!?"

"Ahem…" Adelfred did not answer at all and just nodded.

"For some reason, I want to rip this photo apart," Lucian gritted his teeth.

"What!? No!" Rosa quickly snatched the photo back and securely hid it in her bag.

"Hm… No wonder you were willing to drag his heavy ass through the Wasteland," Lucian sighed before looking at the sky, "If only I was also blessed with such looks, I probably would not have been so lonely in my previous life."

"What… are you talking about, Lucian?" Rosa sighed, "You're really cute."

"Pft. Yeah, now…" Lucian scoffed while waving his hand, "...You should have seen me before."

"...Right," Rosa squinted her eyes as she looked at Lucian before placing her attention on the golden plate beside him, "What… do you think that is? It doesn't look like a scale."

"Well, whatever it is, it is mine now," Lucian just shrugged as he returned to admiring the golden plate, "My swords couldn't even scratch it when I was slicing… when I picked it up earlier. And then the next thing I know, these large skinny monkeys were chasing me."

"Right… I wonder what they were?"

"Guardians of the Verdant Turtle," Adelfred breathed out as he closed his eyes, "We learned about them back in the temple."

"Meh, whatever they are, they are irrelevant now," Lucian just waved his hand before placing the golden plate flat on the ground and then slithering over it, "The two of you get some rest — we continue our journey again before daylight!"

"Hm," Rosa nodded as she created a fire before snuggling with Adelfred. This has been their routine for the past few days, at first, Lucian was just forcing them to walk even at night — but now, it was he who just asked them to rest from time to time.

She couldn't really quite gauge Lucian — most of the time, he acts like a child; but sometimes, something just slips through and it feels like she truly is talking to a sacred spirit… someone who has already experienced it all.

"We are really lucky, Rosa…" Adelfred held Rosa's hand as he looked at Lucian, who was already coiled on top of the golden plate with his eyes closed, "...to be escorted to our final destination by a sacred spirit."

"Adelfred, you know he doesn't like us calling him that," Rosa whispered as she rested her head on Adelfred's shoulder, "And you also shouldn't talk like that… the settlement isn't our final destination, it's… merely one of our stops. We will get married there, and then… we're going to take care of our child, okay?"

"Are you… really pregnant?" Adelfred very lightly chuckled as he gently placed his non-mutated hand on Rosa's belly; his eyes, looking at Rosa's face; not just the part of her face that was still normal, but even at her disfigured parts, "If so, then… then I truly am the happiest and luckiest man in Ipiros. I…

…I am truly glad I met you."

"We met each other," Rosa sniffled, "And my only wish is that we would have met even sooner, maybe when we were younger. Or just… a few years."

"Even a million years wouldn't have been enough, my love. We—"

"Oh, shut up!" Lucian pointed at the two, "I swear, if the two of you start making out, I am going to puke!"

"..." Rosa and Adelfred just looked at each other… before a quiet burst of laughter just escaped their mouths. But very soon, however, the two fell asleep holding each other's hands.

"Hm…?" And a few hours later, in the dead of the night where even the moon was blocked by the dark clouds, Lucian opened his eyes as he heard something approaching them from a distance.

It was faint, but he could tell that whatever it—no. Whatever they were, they had them surrounded on all sides.

"Psst, Rosa…"

"...Rosa!"

"Eep…!?" Rosa woke up as Lucian just threw the golden plate at her. The only thing she could really do was instinctively hold it before quickly sitting up and staring blankly at Lucian, "L…Lucian? What's going on?"

Adelfred also soon started to wake up, slightly struggling to lift himself.

"There's something approaching us," Lucian then said.

"What…?" And as soon as he did so, Rosa grabbed her wand and started whispering her cast.

"Judging from their footsteps…" Lucian's large mouse ears started to fidget and twitch, "...They're humans."

"Could it be…?" Adelfred quickly moved closer to Rosa to block her using his body, "...Have the hunters found us?"

"Perhaps. We—"

"Uh… Lucian? I don't think these are Hestians."

"What?" Lucian then turned to look at Rosa and Adelfred, only to see the both of them just staring at him with their eyes incredibly wide, while Rosa was very slowly starting to point at him, "Hm?"

And so, Lucian just looked down… only to see his entire body covered in a red light—no, red dots… lasers.

"Oh…" Lucian blinked a couple of times,

"...I think they're after me?"