‘Locke... Locke!! Hang in there, I’ll heal you right away!’

Laying Locke flat on the ground, Chloe, whose voice seemed to be on the verge of crying, tore his clothes to reveal his wounds. She needs to touch the wound directly for her divine magic to take effect much easier. Leddorio couldn’t exactly tell from the distance, but the way he sees it, it’s not the blood but the amount of miasma that was beyond normal.

‘She really did it.. That girl, weren’t they childhood friends?’

‘Didn’t you hear that the one inside is a different person? For that bitch, all the humans in the whole world are nothing but game pawns.’

Lucky and Sam exchanged words with anger. These people see Locke as both an ally and a friend. They couldn’t possibly keep their composure seeing him gravely wounded.

However, as Chloe attempts to heal his wounds, Momo only sneered at the fallen young man.

‘Serves you right.. that’s because you chose to ally yourselves with the villain. Now.. the next one.. would be you, you slave bitch!!’

The target Momo chose for her next assault was Kisara. This kingdom doesn’t have slavery. Only on the surface though. There are still those like Shin, who suffered miserable treatment nonetheless. But Kisara was not the same; she didn’t even have the slightest complaints in her employment to the House Sereknight. But from Momo’s perspective, all servants are nothing but slaves.

—Four – the revelry at dusk

‘S-Shield!’

Kisara hurriedly deployed magical barriers to protect herself but the hair still pierced through it like glass. Everyone thought that she will suffer the same fate as Locke but, betraying their expectation, Dai immediately jumped between her and the witch, cutting down all the approaching hairs.

‘Dai....!’

‘Haha, sorry Momo. Can’t have you murder someone.’

‘W-What do you think you’re doing! I told you to not move from your place!’

Although successfully protected, Kisara’s voice still trembled. Rather, her entire body shook in sheer fear. Dai who realized this turned his head over her and tried to put on a cool facade.’

‘Isn’t it obvious for men to protect the women they fell in love with?’

‘..Would you stop it already, you muscle-brain!’

—Five – the sacrifice I saw sometime

The hairs that spread through their entire surrounding attacked them from all sides. Dai tried to fight them off with his blade alone but he was soon overwhelmed and swallowed by the attacks, letting out a small shriek. As the hairs pulled back from their assault, the aftermath revealed Kisara, and Dai, who was now soaked in blood.

Dai’s right arm was severed up to the elbow and massively bled. Kisara immediately put up an Aqua wall to defend themselves beforehand but it wasn’t able to protect them from everything.

‘You, your arm! Hang on, milady would fix that up with sacred magic imme..’

‘She can’t. She has to tend to Locke’s wounds first. I only lost an arm, don’t worry about it.’

Dai was putting on a tough act but his whole face was drenched in sweat and his smile was crooked. He didn’t want to look lame in front of the woman he loves. Leddorio was in awe of his immense fortitude.

‘Stupid!! This is not the time to be stubborn!’

‘Besides.. I haven’t.. apologized to Lady Chloe yet.. I grabbed her by the hair.. with the same arm. Even you hated me for that, can you forgive me with this now?’

Holding up his arm that was severed from elbows down, Dai asked Kisara pleadingly. The mage who has been watching him with narrowed eyes exuded a deep sigh and pointed her wand at his severed arm.

‘Uagh!!.. Hot!?

‘Jeez, talk about troublesome!! For your information, I’m not a clergy. So I can only clean the wound up the magician’s way.’

They will have it healed with sacred magic later but, for now, she’ll make do with stop-gap measures by burning the wound to stop the bleeding. Dai desperately grits his teeth trying to bear through the pain but his flowing tears soon mix with the sweat on his face.

‘Ugu.. You can use healing magic, couldn’t you!? Be a little more gentle!’

‘I said I cleaned it up, didn’t I? Or would you rather have the miasma eat it from the inside!? If you want someone gentler, why don’t you just cuddle up to that Lady Saintess over there?’

‘Ouch, that hurts!.. What a woman.’

Dai covered his wound to avoid the poking wand of the magician but he soon realized that the pain and the burning sensation were gone. Kisara had likely used healing magic on him.

Dai’s mouth slackens to her not-so-honest attitude.

‘..Jeez, not cute at all.’

‘Well of course. I am older than you. I don’t fancy myself with younger boys, little man.’

As Kisara smiled at him looking completely unperturbed by his snide remark, even the ever-optimistic Dai’s huge frame shrank in dejection.