ERTHMB Chapter 73

A Welcome Accident

 

“······Sister?”

 

“Stay back, Lily.”

 

Helena warned while gripping Vivian’s wrist. After confirming that Lily had moved back two or three steps, Helena turned her head forward again.

 

Eyes blazing with fire pinned Vivian in place, unable to move. Crushed under the fierce aura, she struggled to maintain a composed facade.

 

“You, what are you?”

 

“Even when born human, it seems one doesn’t easily become humane. How can you so easily raise your hand against a child?”

 

“What are you saying? L-let go!”

 

Vivian shook her captured wrist. Helena opened her palm. As momentum was already carrying Vivian backward, she stumbled with the added weight of her own force and lost her footing.

 

A shrill scream erupted in the green garden.

 

“Kyaa!”

 

Vivian, having fallen on her bottom, glared fiercely. Helena met her gaze impassively. She had let go when told to let go, so what was there to complain about even when complying with the demand?

 

Vivian shrieked.

 

“Guards! Guards! Why aren’t you coming out immediately?”

 

At her shrill cry, three or four lightly armed soldiers came running. They surrounded Vivian while checking for the stranger who had attacked. Then they looked at Helena and Lily with puzzled expressions.

 

Just a frail woman and a young child. Where exactly was the enemy?

 

Vivian, helped to her feet by one of them, spewed curses.

 

“Useless idiots, what are you standing around gawking for! That woman hit me! Arrest her immediately!”

 

When the soldiers hesitated, even more vicious profanity followed.

 

Having no choice, the soldier at the front approached Helena with apologetic eyes. Perhaps due to some sense of chivalry, he had discarded his sword and came bare-handed.

 

Helena felt sorry for him instead. After lightly evading his attack, Helena took advantage of the close distance to whisper quietly.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

She struck the vital point at the nape of his neck, and the soldier collapsed unconscious. Confirming that Helena’s skills were not ordinary, the remaining soldiers finally took proper defensive positions.

 

“You insects, I don’t care if she gets hurt, so use your swords!”

 

Vivian’s scolding added fuel to their sharpened attitudes.

 

The soldiers gradually tightened their encirclement. The metallic sound of swords being drawn rang out from various directions.

 

As Helena looked around for something to defend herself with, Lily threw something to her with a grunt.

 

“Sister!”

 

It was a sword pulled from the unconscious soldier’s belt. The sword that flew through the air in a circular trajectory landed precisely in Helena’s grasp.

 

Lily couldn’t handle the weight of a longsword. Therefore, it was a gladius sword, slightly longer than a dagger, but this was sufficient.

 

Helena immediately swung with sword energy toward a soldier who had closed in.

 

The soldier who was struck in the chest at the center point collapsed with a thud.

 

Then she slid around and deflected a blade aimed at her back.

 

While her hands moved reflexively, her eyes sought new vital points. When she struck the temple and the inner thigh pressure point, two more soldiers groaned and fell onto the grass one after another.

 

These were techniques she had learned after the unfortunate incident that worsened her previous ankle injury. It was thanks to special training where Ian had appointed himself as instructor.

 

As if he were an assassin rather than a merchant, he had taught her about vital point locations for a full week.

 

At the time, she had thought it was just an excuse to spend time together until midnight. If she had known it would be this useful, she would have looked upon him with more trusting eyes.

 

Helena caught her breath and approached Vivian. She casually tossed aside the sword she had finished using.

 

Though it was a sword that had subdued four grown men without a drop of blood on it, Vivian recoiled in terror.

 

“You, you! Do you know how many crimes you’ve just committed?”

 

“Well, I didn’t count them so I don’t know, but isn’t it self-defense?”

 

“How many people are unconscious right now and you call it self-defense, you crazy woman!”

 

“You seem to call standing still and getting cut up ‘self-defense.'”

 

Helena answered casually while quietly shifting her gaze. Passersby had slowed their pace and were looking toward the garden.

 

However, half not wanting to get involved in troublesome affairs, and half disapproving of Vivian’s usual tyrannical behavior, no one stepped forward. There was no law against being a bystander to force involvement, so there was no particular reason to help.

 

Vivian threw her fan as if venting her anger. The hard silver stick struck Lily, who had timidly approached Helena’s side, right on the forehead.

 

“Ah!”

 

Helena immediately erupted with blazing fury.

 

“I told you not to lay a hand on the child.”

 

“Did I wield a sword like you? Did I kill someone with a fan? Why such a fuss?”

 

“Apologize immediately.”

 

“Ha, apologize? You’ve really lost your mind. Let’s see if you can be so defiant when you’re kneeling before Uncle—”

 

That’s when it happened.

 

A loud cracking sound came from a corner one block away. Helena withdrew her hand that had been examining Lily’s face and turned toward the source of the sound.

 

A slight vibration passed beneath their feet.

 

Just as danger signals raced down her spine, a tremendous roar erupted. The four-story abandoned theater was collapsing with a crash.

 

CRASH—!

 

The collapse was instantaneous. A huge cloud of dust billowed up thickly. Acrid air began rolling toward them like waves.

 

And… through it all, there was a figure running toward them.

 

Somehow the hair color looked familiar. A blue ponytail fluttering against the murky yellow background was remarkably vivid. Lily gently tugged at Helena’s dress hem.

 

“Sister. Isn’t that… Mr. Sakin?”

 

“Indeed. Since you and I are seeing the same scene, it’s not a dream.”

 

Unfortunately.

 

To make matters worse, he wasn’t alone. A whole crowd of people was chasing after him as he ran at full speed.

 

“Catch him! He’s the building bomber!”

 

“Waaah, it wasn’t on purpose!”

 

“Stop right there!”

 

“I haven’t been awake long so I couldn’t control my strength! I was cracking really hard walnuts in my dream!”

 

Helena and Lily exchanged a brief look and each let out a sigh.

 

Meanwhile, the distance to Sakin was only about ten meters. As soon as he spotted them, his face spread with pure joy.

 

No.

 

The opposite expression simultaneously appeared on Lily and Helena’s faces.

 

Please don’t acknowledge us. Please just pass by.

 

Lily crossed both arms above her head and shook her head vigorously.

 

Of course, Sakin was not particularly good at understanding non-verbal gestures.

 

“Miss—! Lily—!”

 

He showed no sign of slowing down and slid right up to them. With the same momentum, he first lifted Lily up, then wrapped his other arm around Helena’s waist.

 

“Whoa, mister!”

 

“Sakin!”

 

Helena opened her mouth to protest something. Naturally, it was like pulling on broken reins atop a runaway racehorse.

 

The sensation of feet dangling in mid-air felt strange. Her body, easily hoisted and carried by strong arms around her side, swayed with his running stride.

 

Helena had no choice but to cling to Sakin’s arm like a lifeline. Lily also wrapped her arms tightly around Sakin’s neck.

 

Sakin smiled as brightly as a mischievous boy absorbed in play.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

****

 

That evening, the three stood in a row before Gelda’s work desk.

 

The line stretched out like dominoes, all showing only the tops of their heads. Gelda moved her gaze from the shortest height to the tallest in order. Finally, her eyes met with the middle height that had raised its head.

 

“……I’m sorry.”

 

Helena mumbled awkwardly. She knew it wasn’t something that could be repaid with a single word. So all the more reason to apologize first.

 

However, Gelda waved her hand as if that settled everything.

 

“Forget it, Partren was already a marked group even without you. You don’t avoid shit because you’re scared of it.”

 

“Still—”

 

“If it’s something to get on the bad side for, we’ve already done more than enough. When I was young, I even grabbed that Vivian girl by the hair.”

 

Gelda chuckled, saying it was quite a pleasant memory. Sakin thoughtlessly joined in with giggles. Then Gelda’s expression hardened coldly as she looked diagonally up and to the right of Helena.

 

“But this one…”

 

Her sharpened gaze bore into Sakin. Like a leaky faucet properly shut off, he gradually stopped laughing. Gelda sighed and lowered her head to the desk.

 

The sound of papers flipping continued for a while. It was a twelve-page damage compensation claim. While reciting the details she had already checked multiple times, Gelda held her head.

 

“You really did it big, huh?”

 

Sakin’s eyes drooped downward apologetically. As if there were nerves that moved with emotion even in his hair, his usually lively ponytail also looked somehow dampened as if caught in rain.

 

Gelda snapped shut the leather folder containing the documents and leaned back in her chair. Sakin deliberately avoided the eyes of her as she looked up with arms crossed.

 

Fortunately, the words that followed were welcome news.

 

“Luckily there were no casualties, it was an abandoned theater scheduled for reconstruction, and the owner was someone I knew, so it worked out. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have ended with just this much damage. You might be gnawing on moldy bread in that pig’s underground dungeon right now. Got it?”

 

Pop. Sakin’s face, which had been under a downpour, quickly regained sunny weather.

 

“Hehe, I’m pretty lucky.”

 

“Is that all you have to say?”

 

“Next time I’ll offer five Cerberus!”

 

“Seven.”

 

“Yes! I’ll catch ten!”

 

“Good. Get out.”

 

Gelda jerked her chin toward the door. With Lily in the lead, the dominoes filed out of the reception room. Once in the hallway, Helena promised Sakin.

 

“I’ll try to catch two of them.”

 

Lily also helped from the side.

 

“I’ll help with meal duty from now on! For a whole month!”

 

“Hehe, I won’t forget either of you. I promise.”

 

Of course he would forget. But this time, Helena and Lily decided they wouldn’t forget.

 

Humming a tune, Sakin walked away, leaving only the two of them in the corridor lit by sparse yellow lamps. Helena extended her hand, saying she would escort her to her room.

 

Lily didn’t take that hand as usual. Instead, she plunged her hand deep into her dress pocket.

 

After fumbling around, what emerged was a smooth leather case the size of her palm.

 

Placing it on Helena’s hand, Lily mumbled as if embarrassed.

 

“Could you… possibly deliver this to the Captain?”

 

Having identified what the object was, Helena finally understood. Why Lily had been on the street adjacent to the upscale residential district today.