“I swear I’m going to kill that damn b*tch.”
Alberto gritted his teeth.
The dress he was wearing was too cumbersome.
And the carriage, which rattled every time it moved, infuriated him even more.
‘That fox-like woman.’
I should never let her live. She will probably become a lifelong stumbling block and backlashes.
‘And when did she see me hit the kid and even heal him?’
Alberto was cursing, but the carriage jolted and he accidentally bit his tongue.
“ARGH! ACK!”
He didn’t bite hard enough to cut his tongue off, but it was numb as if paralyzed and blood gushed out. Today is the day when nothing went as planned.
“AMHI!! (DAMN IT!!)”
He shouted, his mouth bleeding,
“HOP! HOPI! (STOP! STOP IT!)”
But the coachman drove on, pretending not to hear his screams.
At some point, the carriage he was riding in began to make its way into the forest. He was so enraged that he acted irrationally. Until the carriage stopped.
“Hyuk! AHH!”
It wasn’t until the coachman hurriedly got off the driver’s seat and ran away alone past the window did he remember the scheme he had planned.
A flying arrow shattered the carriage’s glass and narrowly pierced the other wall at that precise moment.
“……!”
Alberto’s eyes dilated.
The reason for having the saint participate in this Hunting Festival was to harm her.
He’d draw Kyle’s attention by claiming that a high-grade monster had appeared out of nowhere to separate him from the saint, and then have the coachman he hired in advance drag her in the other direction. After that, it’ll be a breeze*.
(T/N: Breeze here means easy.)
“Kekeke! You’re here!”
He could hear the carriage door slamming along with a peal of harsh laughter.
Alberto’s eyes widened as he looked around. There were few people around him, and he could only sense the presence of strangers.
“……!”
Alberto jumped up from his seat and was thrown out of the carriage by the man who had just entered.
“ARGH!”
He felt a dull pain in his hip that touched the ground. His head was also tingling as it bumped into something.
From above, he heard a harsh, hoarse voice,
“You’re unlucky to meet a bandit.”
Alberto stared at them with his head raised and his eyes wide open.
There were men in commoner’s garb with their mouths covered. They were not, however, bandits. They were all assassins hired by Alberto.
“HU! (YOU!)”
“Nice to meet you, Saintess.”
Riding in her carriage and even wearing her clothes, he was mistaken for a saint.
The sound of the sword he was drawing sent shivers up his spine.
“Don’t blame us too much. Because you’re a saint, God will send you to a better place even if you die.”
“AHM OT HA HAIHESS! HA HAIHESS IS OER ER! (I AM NOT THE SAINTESS! THE SAINTESS IS OVER THERE!)”
Alberto, baffled by the situation, complained while glaring hard at them.
But he bit his tongue so hard that blood was dripping from his mouth, and his pronunciation was poor.
“What?”
The man, who appeared to be the boss of the contractors, frowned.
“AHM OT HA HAIHESS! YOU MOHERF*CKERH! (I’M NOT THE SAINTESS, YOU MOTHERF*CKERS!)”
The man wielding the sword came to a halt and frowned; he then heard the men whispering,
“There’s a rumor that the Saintess is an idiot, it looks like it’s true.”
“I hear she’s beautiful, but she actually looks awful.”
“I’ve never seen such a messed-up face in my life.”
“Doesn’t it look like a man dressed as a woman? Disgusting.”
Shocked, Alberto went crazy.
“CRAHI BATHARTH, WHATH WRONG WIT MY FATH! (CRAZY B*STARDS, WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY FACE!)”
He cried hard, but blood poured from his mouth.
Soon, the captain holding the sword raised it towards him again.
Alberto then realized. No matter how hard he tries, there was no way these guys would recognize him.
He quickly smeared dirt on their faces. Then he started running, holding the hem of the dress with both hands.
“HEY! GET HER!”
He could hear the men’s angry voices behind him a split second later.
“Ah… my back.”
Unlike the main characters in the movie, who are unaffected when running through the night, Ariel’s body was far from exercising, so my lower back quickly began to ache.
Kyle, who was running alongside me, stopped his horse, and so did I.
He got off his horse and extended his hand.
I took his hand in mine, hugged him briefly, and then stepped down. A cool scent hovered on the tip of my nose.
“What about the holy knights?”
“I should advise Reyhas to clean the temple.”
We were alone because the holy knights, who had been following us to some extent, began vomiting and grabbing their stomachs.
Someone must have mixed a stomach ache-causing drug into their meals today.
Alberto seemed to have meticulously planned everything, so I didn’t see that coming.
This location was in the woods, and it was quiet because no one’s here. We probably went the farthest of all those who took part in the Hunting Festival.
“If I had known this was going to happen, I would have taken the carriage.”
Kyle parted his lips at my words,
“If you did, you’d be dealing with the most troublesome ones.”
Kyle also seemed to have guessed that Alberto and the Queen had a hand in this.
He soon took off his cloak and covered the trunk of the fallen tree.
“Sit down.”
I was hesitant for a while and sat on it. I felt alive when I rested for some time after riding a shaky horse.
“Can I protect myself in this type of hunting?”
Looking deep into the forest, he replied,
“Would you like to go alone?”
“No.”
I could hear him laughing at my firm response.
I never wanted to be left alone in a forest teeming with monsters. Plus, I’m not good with directions. Although the oracle is helpful, it was still safe to stick with Kyle.
“Take me back after I purify the stone. Then it won’t be too late to go and enjoy hunting alone, right?”
A Hunting Festival typically lasts until midnight. For those who are unable to return even after midnight, search teams are dispatched around that time.
“No. I don’t intend to participate in this hunt.”
I asked him with a curious expression,
“Wouldn’t it be a good way to show your bravery by hunting gigantic monsters?”
“Sometimes one should take care of oneself.”
“Yes?”
He didn’t answer my question. Instead, he turned to me and asked,
“Are you getting enough rest now?”
My back certainly hurts less than it did before. But I shook my head.
“No. It hadn’t even been five minutes yet.”
It’s too early to get up, what an impatient personality.
But unexpected words sprang from his mouth,
“Don’t be surprised, sit back and wait.”
With a sharp sound, the blade was drawn from his scabbard. Immediately, a thump was heard in the forest, and the two horses standing neighed, hiing.
‘What’s going on?’
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
That’s when the earth started rumbling.
I peered towards the direction of the sound because I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
A moment later, a hazy shadow precipitated and gradually revealed its form.
Something fat, green-skinned, and about three meters tall was rushing here.
It held a large stone axe in its hand and resembled a troll.
‘My whole body will break if I get hit by that stone axe once.’
I jumped up with a white face.
Hihi hiing—
Contrary to Kyle’s calm words at the moment, my horse… no, Alberto’s horse, raised its front feet and cried, then it suddenly began to run away in the other direction.
“No! Don’t go!”
I hurriedly went and tried to catch the horse. But it already fled.
“I forgot to tell you to tie it up.”
Kyle frowned as he faced the monster with his sword drawn.
‘I can’t even run away now!’
Even at this moment, the troll was still running at great speed.
I stood behind him with clenched fists, resisting my instinct to flee at any moment.
‘Save me!’