## Chapter 92 – What I Wanted to Reclaim
“Ms. Leah, how far have we come now?”
“I do not know.”
“Ugh…”
The seemingly endless march of the four of them (?).
Even walking had become tiresome, and Pina, feigning grumbling, asked Leah the question as a lament.
But Leah’s indifferent answer deflated Pina, who let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders.
Leah, glancing at her, chuckled softly, then raised her head slightly, pondered something, and offered an answer again.
“If what I heard is correct, it should be soon.
Prepare to face the sun.”
“Wow!! The sun!! We’re going to see the sun!!”
“Waaah!!”
Her words were so welcome that the beastkin girls also burst into laughter like blossoming flowers, their steps seeming to regain strength.
Leah, who had been blankly watching the two girls, quickly turned her head and looked ahead again.
‘It is not far now…’
The time she had been waiting for so long.
The time she thought would never return.
Like in the wilderness she had walked with Yunmei, in a cozy place where bright sunlight shone and a vast sky was visible.
Now, belatedly, the time to follow her was approaching.
And so, amidst the bustling atmosphere, the mismatched group silently moved forward, finally reaching the end.
“It’s blocked… though…?”
“That is what the end means.”
Leah, slamming her solid foreleg into the blocked wall in front of her, began to dig into the ground as if scraping the wall.
After a while, Leah felt her foreleg, which she had momentarily plunged into the wall, sink inward, and she carefully pulled her foreleg back.
Confirming the faint light coming in from where she had pulled out her foreleg, she began to gently scrape away the surrounding dirt.
“Stand back.”
Leah gently pushed the girls, who were cheering as they watched her dig, behind her and stepped forward alone, her leg piercing the ground.
Eventually, the earthen wall, weakened by being dug and dug, collapsed in an instant, revealing its entrance along with a cloud of rising dry dust.
“Cough!! Cough!!”
“Cough!! Kuugh…!! It’s… it’s open…!!”
“Finally…”
Clear light shone through the dust.
The beastkin group, who were covering their noses with rags and excitedly trying to follow Leah as she slowly walked out, stopped in surprise at the unexpected situation.
“What’s wrong…?”
As Pina asked her, seeing Leah standing still, Leah suddenly retreated quickly, grabbing the beastkin girls’ armpits with her middle legs, causing Pina to freeze.
“Ms. Leah…!!”
“Quiet. Just peek your face out there.”
Pina was confused by her incomprehensible actions and words, but she had no choice but to obey her.
As Pina slowly poked her head outside, she also paused and quietly turned back into the tunnel.
“No way…”
“I suppose they did their best…
Yes. Getting out of there…
Was not everything.”
As Pina recalled what she had seen and sat down weakly, Leah’s quiet murmur echoed softly through the tunnel.
What they had seen was a towering fortress wall.
A high and solid barrier that had been used to defend cities from monster attacks since ancient times.
But the fortress wall, meant to prevent monster invasions, was ironically blocking their will to leave this place.
The location of the tunnel entrance was fortunately in a corner that was not easily visible to people, but that did not mean they could simply rest assured.
Ultimately, if they could not pass through that fortress wall without being seen by humans, it was virtually impossible for them to achieve the freedom they had been thinking of.
“W-What do we do…?”
“Even I have never climbed a wall this high.
And probably…”
Leah carefully walked out of the tunnel and gently placed the tip of her foreleg against the fortress wall, as if testing something, then quickly returned to the tunnel.
“It is slippery and hard.
It would be impossible to climb with my legs…
Humans would not have made it so carelessly…”
A fortress wall that could not be climbed, befitting its purpose of stopping monsters.
Seeing Leah, who let out a small sigh after realizing the reality, Pina bit her lip tightly and slowly lowered her head, her eyes trembling.
What they had to decide now was clear.
Either challenge the fortress wall, which was almost impossible to climb, or be satisfied with escaping the academy and somehow live inside here.
In fact, if the beastkin could somehow launder their identities inside here, it was not entirely impossible for them to live secretly in the back alleys, even if they were somewhat threatened in terms of their lives or their bodies as females.
But the biggest problem was Arachnella, Leah, who would be shunned in either case and ultimately hunted down.
“It seems my journey ends here, so we must part ways now.”
“Ms. Leah…”
Therefore, there was only one choice she could make.
To risk her life and climb over that high, steep, and slippery fortress wall, even if it meant facing death if an accident occurred.
And she could not take the beastkin with her on a path that was already difficult enough for her to walk alone.
Of course, the beastkin girls and Pina had not even thought about climbing that steep fortress wall, but even if they did, Leah’s capabilities were barely enough to take care of herself.
‘Or…’
It did not turn out as she had expected, but she had finally gained freedom.
Maybe it would not be so bad to end it like this.
“No way…!!”
“…?”
“That’s… that’s not okay…
Don’t do that anymore…”
“What are you talking about…?”
The blood instantly drained from Leah’s face, which had been wearing a questioning expression.
Pina had already experienced seeing through Enic’s accident.
Realizing that she had read her mind this time, Leah stumbled back and hit the wall.
Her pathetic and ugly self, who had lost all pride and everything else, to the point where she could no longer be called human.
The unavoidable truth that had driven her most precious friend and the man she loved to their deaths.
How much had she seen?
She had been trying to liquidate everything and disappear quietly from the world without anyone knowing.
Finally, everything was about to be buried in time and secrets, and she was about to have a peaceful end, but at this very moment.
Pina might have found out all of her past mistakes and failures that she had been trying so hard to hide.
She could not leave her like this.
‘I have to… silence her…’
As Leah slowly flicked her fingers and began to glare at Pina with sharp eyes, something else soon caught her eye.
The beastkin girls, still relying on Pina, peeking out from behind her.
And the smaller girl, who had somehow started to approach her.
“Sister, why are you crying?”
Leah froze as she faced the girl, who was still looking up at her with innocent eyes, offering her a crumpled, dirty piece of cloth that she had unfolded from her pocket, not knowing who had given it to her.
‘Ah… I… I am…’
Was she crying?
It did not feel like it at all.
She did not feel the lukewarm sensation of tears running down her cheeks.
She did not feel the dampness of the tears that had cooled and clumped at the tip of her chin, falling one by one.
Only at the moment when the girl, who was stubbornly pulling on her arm and making her bend over, brought the messy but warm piece of cloth to her face.
Only at that moment could Leah realize.
That the cold tears were definitely flowing from her eyes.
That she could feel it again with this warm feeling.
Just like the day she had lost Yunmei, Leah, whose legs had given way, collapsed on the spot, feeling her vision blur and emitting something hot that began to rise from her chest.
“Ah… Aah… Heu… Euhheu… sob…”
“Don’t cry…”
And the small girl, busily moving the cloth to wipe the face of Leah, who was bowing her head and crying, was conveying her warmth.
The larger girl, who also did not know what was going on, came over and began to wipe away the tears as well, and soon the two girls, moving as if they had a common purpose, began to be reflected in her eyes.
‘Yunmei…’
Had she been reminded of herself and Yunmei as she looked at these two friendly girls?
When she was first asked to take care of these girls, she had not refused even though it had nothing to do with her purpose.
And the moments when her gaze had continued to linger on these girls.
Was it just that she wanted to recall that time again like this?
Eventually, when she felt the sound of Pina’s footsteps stopping in front of her, Leah slowly raised her head.
“I’m sorry… for bringing up your wounds…”
“……”
“But really… don’t do that…
Your friend… wouldn’t have wanted Leah to do that…”
Along with Pina’s choked voice, quiet sobs continued to echo through the tunnel for a while.
