Bailonz Street 13

Plurititas passed by us without a hint of regret, as if he had never felt wistful. Seeing his temperament bubbling like boiling porridge, I wondered how he had survived this long with such a capricious nature.

‘With that temper of his.’

Jonathan followed Plurititas like a shadow. The butler also followed his master, but with a single gesture from Plurititas, he turned and left. It seemed he wouldn’t be taking even him along.

Probably the automaton butler and servants would stay here, waiting for the situation to end. A mansion filled only with automatons. Imagining it was more eerie than I had expected.

Jonathan naturally picked up something near the entrance, and I gasped when I realized it was a hunting rifle. What kind of house keeps hunting rifles like umbrellas?

After rummaging through a drawer for a moment, Jonathan then began stuffing his pockets full of ammunition!

“…”

As I stared at the scene in a daze, Jonathan blushed shyly.

“I feel more comfortable with these.”

What kind of talk is this, like an alcoholic clutching a bottle?

“You didn’t do this at Scotland Yard.”

“That was just for show.”

For show. My head is spinning. Jonathan spoke quite gently and kindly.

“Accept it now, sis. Your brother was always this kind of person.”

“Brother, I suddenly feel a distance from you.”

“Haha.”

Jonathan, having finished arming himself heavily with firearms, said to Plurititas, “I’m done.” Plurititas stepped forward and turned the doorknob to open it.

Beyond the door, a red sky was visible. I could see Jonathan’s hand tightening on the gun. The four of us walked out through the front door to the mansion’s gate.

Those ‘hybrids’ were still circling in the air, looking for new victims. As if this was the only place left to target in the area, monsters swarmed above Plurititas’s mansion.

“Oh my.”

Plurititas sighed.

“I never thought there would be so many insects above my house.”

“It seems like all the monsters from around Holleden have gathered here.”

“Yes, it seems so.”

As soon as I turned my head from looking up, Plurititas’s bright blue eyes were right in front of me. My heart nearly dropped. Why does he look at people like this? As I startled, he, who had been bending down to meet my gaze, straightened up with a hearty laugh. Liam let out a displeased groan. Plurititas’s long, thin finger pointed at the shoulder of my shirt. It was where purple blood had splattered.

“But you’ve already caught one? Your skills have improved quite impressively in such a short time.”

The sensation of catching and killing that monster came back to me. Cutting through the membrane and stabbing where the heart should be. Doing it with surprising naturalness. I clenched and unclenched my hand as I muttered.

“It was just luck.”

Just luck. I was only trying to save Liam Moore.

How many more times will I spend days with him after falling into his past, and then encounter the monsters I’ve faced before? What are the chances of facing part of El’s main body and staying sane? And luckily learning the truth, being able to draw the sword?

It’s all luck. I felt like everything surrounding me was interlocking like well-fitted gears, leading me somewhere.

But is it really luck? Such a thought suddenly occurred to me. Until a nonchalant answer cut through the air.

“Luck is a skill too.”

Ridiculously, I found some comfort in Plurititas’s words. Isn’t he talking as if I achieved this by my own power? I’m just a pitiful paper boat swept up in some huge wave, but hearing such words, how should I put it, it made me feel a bit more at ease.

‘Right, luck is a skill too.’

Who else could do this like me? Try bringing a gamer from South Korea and give them “Misty London” to play. They wouldn’t even be able to get this far. Thinking that I’m doing exceptionally well, that’s what makes me feel better.

Gunshots were heard again in the distance. The acrid smell of gunpowder carried by the wind reached us.

Plurititas was calmly crossing the street as if none of this frightened him. Striding with his long legs stretched out.

“This is crazy, has that man decided to die?”

He was already standing several steps away from us, looking around. I was about to tell him to be careful, but then realized that would be quite a foolish thing to do.

Plurititas didn’t need to. Intimidated by his strange aura, the monsters covering London’s sky didn’t even dare to come down.

Plurititas, even wearing a snow-white silk hat, seemed quite out of place in this terrible scene. The way he walked, slowly stretching his long limbs, made him look like a tourist at an amusement park.

I thought I glimpsed something huge I had seen before in that back view. But it didn’t feel… terribly frightening.

‘Probably because I’ve seen worse?’

Putting aside my thoughts for now, I took a step. Jonathan and Liam followed behind me.

“Sis, these people…”

Suddenly Jonathan spoke up. I knew what Jonathan was talking about, but I didn’t add anything more. I just pulled him along to keep walking.

These are people who are already dead. It’s foolish to try to save people who are too late to be saved. We couldn’t put ourselves in danger for that.

Even so, I kept muttering to myself.

‘They’re dead people. They’re already dead anyway.’

Therefore, we shouldn’t stop our steps due to unnecessary lingering feelings or sympathy. I deliberately ignored Jonathan’s dark expression.

＊ ＊ ＊

Crack, the sound of glass breaking made me startle and shake my shoulders.

Lucita’s house is on a street where houses seem to be packed tightly together, a bit further in from the entrance of Whitmore Gardens. Although it follows an old housing style on the outside, the deeper you go inside, the more unusual the depth of space becomes. I guessed that some magical device must be making the inside larger than the outside.

As I was trying to recall my previous visit to head towards Lucita’s house, we heard a human voice from an overturned carriage right in front of us.

“Help me! Is anyone there? Please help!”

It was truly the scream of a dying person, barely managing to cry out. As if using their last bit of strength to shout.

Someone trapped inside was weakly pounding on the carriage wall. The coachman who had been driving was already dead, and the horse was nowhere to be seen. The carriage seemed to have completely overturned due to a broken wheel.

“It’s a person! Sis! There’s a survivor!”

We had seen several carriages attacked like this on our way, but this was the first time there was a survivor inside. Jonathan approached the carriage. He tried to pull the door handle hard, but it wouldn’t budge, as if it was stuck somewhere.

“Damn, the door won’t open!”

“Wait a moment.”

I bent down to examine the carriage. After rolling several times, the wood around the door seemed to have twisted as the door sank. It couldn’t be opened from either outside or inside. Thanks to that, they had survived the attack from those monstrous creatures, so should we consider it fortunate…? Even when I rammed it with my shoulder, it didn’t budge at all.

“Help me!”

“Step away from the door!”

The (former) people’s baton protecting London citizens shouted like that and started striking the carriage door hard with the butt of his hunting rifle. As door fragments flew, Liam gently pulled me back.

But isn’t that too loud? Such a worry crossed my mind. An ominous howl could be heard from afar. We need to rescue this person and evacuate before those things are drawn by this sound. If we inevitably face them, we’ll have to fight.

I was tense, with my sword drawn, a few steps away. While some of us were on high alert, nerves on edge, Plurititas was just staring blankly at Jonathan.

“How kind.”

He said, while…

“Isn’t it natural? There’s a person in there.”

“Do we really need to help?”

I was puzzled. If there’s a living person, shouldn’t we at least help them get to a safe place? Isn’t it right to help in this situation?

But Plurititas just fixed his blue eyes on the carriage indifferently, with his long hand on his chin. As if something…

“Plurititas, what do you see?”

“…It could be. Or it might not be.”

It was a strange thing to say. But it didn’t feel good. It felt like heading towards a cliff edge while knowing a precipice awaited.

I hurriedly tried to stop Jonathan, shouting.

“Jonathan, wait a moment!”

But Jonathan’s muscles worked too well. He had already struck the door, and due to the full force he used, the twisted wood easily broke apart. The door creaked open. Jonathan, with a relieved face, asked towards the inside of the carriage.

“Are you alright? We’ve come to rescue you.”

From the dark inside, a steady voice flowed out.

“Help me! Help me!”