While listening to Violet and looking at Perez, Gallahan got up from his seat.
It was a straight, quick walk, though stumbling for a while.
But a man was waiting for Gallahan on the road.
It was Lord Ivan, who grew old in a few days.
Lord Ivan talked as he approached Gallahan with a stiff complexion.
"Si, Sir Lombardy..."
Peopleâs eyes were focused on the servile and shabby appearance.
"Please, listen to me..."
But Lord Ivan couldnât say any more.
It was because eyes with indescribable anger and tremendous pressure came as if they were pressing Lord Ivan.
Gallahan did not say anything.
He looked at Lord Ivan, who was stepping back little by little and walked back toward Perez.
Rattle! Rattle!
As he moves closer to Perez, Gallahan heard a mechanical repetition.
And the moment he finally stood behind Perez, Gallahan gritted his teeth.
Rattle dug...
Rattle dug...
Perez was lifting a stone with his bare hands.
He doesnât even have the strength to stand. Heâs sitting on his knees.
His fingertips holding the stone were already covered in blood.
But Perezâs gaze was fixed only in the ground.
Like he thinks heâll see Tia when he gets there.
"Stop, Prince."
Gallahan said, taking a step closer.
Perez stopped moving and slowly looked back.
"...Gallahan Lombardy?"
Perezâs face was even worse.
There were small and big scratches, and his lips were cracked and blood was hardened.
But it was Perezâs eyes that thrilled Gallahan more than that.
Empty, unfocused, cloudy red eyes.
His daughter has spoken before.
The story of the first time she met Perez by chance at the Palace.
âIt was red, but it looked like a fallen leaf that seemed to crumble and disappear if you hit it, Perez at that time.â
Perez, who sat on the ground and looked up at Gallahan, looked as if he had returned to that time.
A small child who lived alone in the woods before meeting his daughter.
Gallahan bent his knees, keeping Perez at eye level.
"Yes, itâs me."
Upon hearing the sweet voice of Gallahan, Perezâs face was distorted.
"...Sorry. I couldnât protect Tia."
Perez said in a trembling voice.
"I should have been... With her."
With such a murmur, Perez began to move like a machine again.
Rattled and dug up rocks and dirt.
"Iâm sure Iâll find Tia."
"Just..."
Tap.
Gallahan took Perez by the hand.
And he asked.
"If Tia looks at Your Highness now, what do you think she will say?"
Perez looked down at his body instead of answering.
And shut up tight.
"I think you already know the answer. Youâll probably be scolded loudly. And Iâm going to get in trouble, too. What have I done without stopping you from doing this?"
Gallahan said so and pulled the stone out of Perezâs hand.
"You need to take a rest now."
"I donât want to rest..."
"Iâm not asking you to rest for your sake. Itâs for Tia."
Gallahan said firmly.
"It is said that we need Your Highnessâs Aura Sword to break the enormous rock below. That way, I can get my daughter out safely and quickly."
"I can still use Aura."
Perez picked up the sword that was lying next to him and blew in his mana.
But Aura rose as feeble as a haze for a moment, not as formative as before.
"Ah..."
Perez looked down at his sword for a moment and said nothing.
"Look at that. I am telling you that this is of no help to Tia."
Gallahan raised Perez by the shoulder, speaking more strongly.
Itâs usually out of the question, but Perez came up all too easily.
That said, he was so exhausted.
Gallahan sighed softly and frowned.
"We will support you."
Before he knew it, Lombardyâs knights came to the side and said.
The twins, Clerivan, and Violet were also together.
Gallahan handed Perez over to the knight and spoke sternly.
"Take a rest and join forces from now on. They say weâll be able to remove all the rocks by tomorrow. Thatâs when we need His Highness."
"But before that, youâll need my Aura to split the big rock."
Perez shook his head at the rocks still forming a small mountain.
At that time, Gilliu and Mayron took off their robes and said.
"Leave it to us."
The two leading men simultaneously pulled out a sword from their waists.
"Whoa..."
And with a long breath, an Aura rose from the twinsâ swords.
It wasnât as intense as Perezâs, but it was an aura that enveloped the blade brilliantly.1
"We can do that much."
"The Prince said to go and take a rest."
Gilliu and Mayron, who said so, lowered their swords toward the rock in front of them.
Crackle!
There was a deep gap on the rock with slight friction.
"This is enough to split, right?"
Gilliu asked the workers waiting next to him.
"Yes! No problem!"
Those who answered vigorously followed the marks left by Aura and knocked on the hammer.
And before long, the rock cracked with a thud.
"Okay, see?"
"Weâll be cleaning up the rocks, so just get rest."
"Besides, we are two people, so we can take a break while taking turns."
Perez looked at the twins for a moment and nodded slowly.
And looking back at Gallahan, he said.
"Iâm not going to work anymore, Iâm going to sit here and rest. Here, I feel at ease."
"...Please do so."
When Gallahan answered, Perez, walked straight and sat on a distant rock.
"Food is important, Your Highness."
Violet said, quickly handing Perez soft bread and water.
"Eating gives you strength. You have to prepare properly to cut through that thick rock. We need to get Tia out of here."
Thatâs what Gallahan said to Perez, who hesitates slightly.2
Then Perez obediently took the bread and water.
"Come on, get ready one more time!"
Mayron raised an Aura by shouting loudly.
Bang!
Crackle!
The scene, which had been stagnant, began to rejuvenate.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Perez sat quietly on the rock and chewed on the bread.
He moved his chin and gulped down the water again.
It was only a move to conserve energy.
Meanwhile, Perezâs gaze did not fall from a single, half-exposed rock.
As if it had become the most important goal of his life, he constantly stared and chewed on bread.
* * *
Goooong. Thud.
I woke up with a low, heavy sound.
Ruttle!
With a slight vibration coming from the ceiling of the carriage.
"This... did I hear something?"
Fortunately, Migente Ivan woke up, as if it was only his auditory hallucination.
"Maybe there will be another landslide?"
"It could be, but..."
Ruttle!.
Another low vibration followed by a sound.
"Whoa..."
Migente Ivan now looked completely hopeless.
With desperate eyes, he looked up at the ceiling where dust fell and fell asleep again.
Now Iâm almost fainting because I donât have the power.
I was in a bad condition as well.
Whenever the vibration rang, I was worried about the dripping soil, but my eyes kept closing.
If the ceiling collapses at this rate, Iâll die.
Then it wouldnât be bad to go without knowing anything in my sleep.
It was time for my eyes to slowly close thinking about it.
Whoosh!
One side of the ceiling was crushed with an unparalleled loud noise.
"Uh..."
But thatâs not why I was surprised.
"...Quickly ...Lift it up!"
"This is all... Hurry...!"
In the meantime, the sound began to come into the carriage, which had only been quiet.
At the same time, my heart started pounding.
I managed to pick myself up and start shouting at the ceiling.
"Here! Iâm here! Someoneâs alive, here!"
But the sound didnât come out as loud as I thought.
To make matters worse, I was exhausted and short of breath because of it.
"Haa..."
But I canât give up here.
I closed my eyes again and screamed.
"Here! Can you hear me!"
It doesnât seem to work.
Well. You canât hear a voice like this while youâre up there...
"Tia!"
"Pe, Perez?"
Thatâs right. Perez has far superiority in five senses than ordinary people.
As he began to deal with Aura, he began to hear even more and louder sounds.
At the same time, the amount of intermittent drops has increased.
Gradually, I started to hear peopleâs voices better.
I managed to reach out and wake Migente Ivan.
"Uhhh..."
But Migente Ivan barely opened his eyes and could not lift himself.
I lifted the box containing chocolate cookies and shouted, hitting the wall of the carriage.
"Here! Perez, Iâm here!"
But for a while, I was breathless and buzzing in front of my eyes.
Eventually, I leaned my head against the wall and fought against my eyelids which kept closing.
"Perez, Perez..."
All I could do was call Perez by his name in a voice as big as an ant.
"Perez, Iâm here..."
It was a moment when I thought I couldnât beat my heavier eyelids anymore.
Crash!
Light poured into the carriage with heavy noise.
Having been accustomed to darkness for a long time, I couldnât see anything.
But thereâs only one thing.
"Tia."
There was a voice of Perez.
I blindly reached out to the side where I could hear the voice, with my eyes closed to avoid the light.
Snap.
And there was a hand that held my hand in the air.
The hand snatched up my body.
And I felt Perezâs body hugging me.
I stretched out my stuttering hand and grabbed Perezâs collar with all my might.
"Itâs okay now. Itâs okay, Tia."3
That was all he said.
At that moment, all the tension that had been holding me up was relieved and I lost my consciousness.