Chapter 21 – Rescue
21.
Lloyd couldn’t figure out where he went wrong. Carl Leben had been a trusted ally for a long time, but he was secretly wary of the endless creepiness and ominous rushes that sometimes manifested his inner madness.
Now that the achievement of killing the demon king was added, he thought that the only person who could stop him was himself. In fact, after killing the demon king, his gaze towards Carl Leben changed a lot. This is a story about being a hero. Hero Lloyd couldn’t help but be wary of what Carl would do after gaining favorable attention from people.
Then news came that Sophia had gone to Karl Leben’s house. Lloyd couldn’t help but react quickly. In fact, he had the idea that he was a step too late. Until he sent someone to Carl’s house, he thought, ‘If she doesn’t respond, I’ll have to protect Sophia at the cost of my life.’
He thought it was a mistake for Lloyd not to pick up Sophia himself, as the nobles were entangled here and there. Still, he heard that Carl Leben readily agreed to take Sophia for a medical examination. Lloyd was relieved to hear the news. Premature relief.
It was after that that he heard the news that Sophia had been kidnapped.
The culprit is an imperial knight.
Lloyd was very suspicious of Carl Leben.
*
The meeting room of the imperial family.
“Sophia is my colleague before being a saint of the empire. If this situation is not resolved soon, she is willing to take out her anger personally.”
At the words of Carl Leben’s declaration, silence fell in the imperial meeting hall. Aside from the official status of the subject, the urge to properly investigate her because I have a deep personal relationship was quite an unfamiliar form of intimidation, but the effect was significant. In fact, some of them were already making faces as if they were sitting on a cushion of thorns.
The silence lasted for quite a long time because there were few people who could properly face the gaze of the knife that radiated cold force. “Fix it first… “
The imperial knight commander opened his mouth sweating profusely, but it was a mistake.
“Fix? Are you saying I’m talking like a pig? Interesting comment. Yeah- Wouldn’t it be better to be the leader of the knights who is the main culprit of this kidnapping? Huh?”
“The main culprit!”
“Your knights committed kidnapping, but they had nothing to do with it. I want a joke too.”
“The leap is serious, it’s just a personal deviation… !”
“You should remember that you are looking at me as an idiot.”
“It’s not like that!”
When the commander of the knights was indignant and tried to stand up, there was someone who forced him to sit down and gave him a glare. He is the chief of the emperor’s bodyguard. Until he heard the news that Sofia had been kidnapped, he had been saying, ‘Then we’ll just have to find it.’
“Okay. Dear Captain. Where would you like to hear some famous opinions? What am I doing to find my precious comrade?”
“Greatness! At a time like this, issuing a general mobilization order to all troops and instructing them to search!”
“Have you not done it yet?”
“It’s not that easy! … Kyung!”
“It’s okay. You can call me a thief.”
There are no highs and lows in his speech, so he doesn’t sound like a human being. The timbre is constant and there is no shaking, and the breathing is consistent from beginning to end. However, even with such words, Carl’s emotions filled the room without leaving even a speck of space. Even Lloyd was suffocating.
“Calm down, Carl. Because everyone is working hard.”
“Effort? That’s funny. If Sophia dies-“
“No way… We just need to find out before that happens.”
Carl glared at Lloyd.
“No way?”
“Are we going to find Sophia?”
“Lloyd.”
Against Carl’s momentum, Lloyd also raises his momentum. She was confident that she would not be pushed back in a head-to-head match. The scary thing about the knife is that it is a surprise attack that is difficult to react to, so there was no reason for Lloyd to be pushed back in a situation where he was prepared. Nonetheless-. The moment Lloyd met Carl’s gaze, he had to include the possibility of death in the number of all cases.
“I wonder if something happens to Sophia. I intend to live a life of committing crimes again.”
“What… ?”
“You should hope that doesn’t happen.”
Carl Leben looked at the people in the audience and said as he went out.
“Because I don’t have to foolishly occupy the land.”
*
“Shit! Then, wouldn’t Ji just have to find it herself!”
“I will be looking for you. Carl is that kind of person.”
“You bastard criminal… !”
“Even a human scum knows the importance of his colleagues. Huh, true. To be honest, it’s a little embarrassing.”
Even after the knife was out, the meeting made no progress. After swearing at Carl Leben, who had already left, and asking a little about how he was doing, he came to a conclusion like “Let’s work hard to find it.” There were no specific search methods, expected routes, or future countermeasures. Lloyd’s bone throbbed.
After many talented people died in the war with the demon king, it was said that the situation was filled with a little lacking talented people, but that was too severe. Lloyd clapped and drew attention. “Now, let’s talk about the search routes that each can apply for—”
Lloyd was too upright. As much as he was, he didn’t know much about the psychology of criminals, and he didn’t know where criminals usually hide, where to kidnap, or where to search. Carl Leben’s help is desperately needed, but he has already gone. You will probably find out.
To be honest, I thought Carl would find it, but Lloyd couldn’t sit still, so he expressed his opinion and asked me to do my best.
Okay,
That’s it.
*
“Carl, Lloyd, Maya… Where are you all? I miss you.”
Sophia mumbled weakly. She was imprisoned in the dungeon. “They don’t come.” A whisper is heard. It was a knight in plain clothes. Clap clap clap. I can hear the soldiers scurrying around, but Sophia no longer screams.
Even if they shouted for the guards, the knight would slap Sophia to silence her mouth and say, “We are interrogating a criminal,” And the soldiers would salute and return to patrol the roads. There was no way they could be rescued no matter how hard they searched.
“You must eat.”
A knight in plain clothes served rice in his dog bowl. Sophia watched the meal being pushed into her cage. Honeydew skin porridge made by collecting leftovers from food eaten by people. It was food that would be given as pig feed. It smells like food waste.
And the same smell emanated from Sophia’s mouth. I couldn’t stand the hunger, so I ended up eating grunt porridge. The smell came from her body as well as from her mouth because she didn’t want to eat it with her face down like a dog, so she tried to lift it up and eat it with her arm that was only up to her elbow.
Sophia’s short arms couldn’t properly support the full bowl, and it spilled right into her face. The sad thing is that Sophia, unable to overcome her hunger, licked up all the food that had been spilled.
And this time, she said, the hunger that was harder to bear than before had overtaken her body.
Sophia knew her knight was staring at her, but she crawled and slid her face into her bowl of rice and mumbled. Saint Sophia Gracia. She is a child of God who gives grace to the poor, guides the fallen to the right path, and presents peace to the sorrowful.
She was licking like a dog the pork porridge from her bowl of dog food because she was hungry.
The foot of the knight in her plain clothes pressed down on the back of Sophia’s head. “Town… Uhh… !” Sophia opened her mouth and ate the food in her mouth even as she choked. Her knight’s foot rubbed her Sophia’s head against her bowl, and Sophia licked the surface of her bowl, leaving her face full of her food scraps. A drop of her nosebleed leaked out. It tastes salty.
Sophia’s eyes are now lifeless.
*
Huh. You’re not coming to rescue me.
Yes. Actually I know. That there is no reason to come to the rescue. Carl says he likes me too, but I’m sure he despises me. That’s right. Who would like someone like me
As the day passed, I was holding out hope. Even if it’s a little late. Cal will come to get you. Lloyd will find it. Maya will show up with a salty expression. So, after all, I thought you would nag me with things like, “I can’t be without me,” Like “What is this?” And “A kidnapper is bad.”
Like a sick
It’s okay, ’cause I’m sick. See! You don’t have limbs? So did the knight. The knight who kidnapped me.
I want to vomit I’m feeling a little sick to my stomach. I guess it’s because it’s a bit odd to call what I forcibly ate while hungry.
I miss Carl’s house. He ate delicious dishes. While Carl was feeding them himself, he didn’t hesitate to do things that lovers like him would do. I was a bit embarrassed at the time, but I really liked it.
So I guess I was a little mistaken. I can be happy too- something like that.
They have no arms or legs, so they just crawl like pigs and dogs. If you want to eat food on your own, you have to lower your head and eat it without caring whether it gets into your nose or not, just like dogs, worms, and maggots do. That’s right, what am I? Is it like a worm? Procrastinate. Wriggling wriggling? It’s a little sad.
In the morning, he said he would wash it. Do you know how to wash? Well, he filled the bathtub with water- Oh, and he used that bathtub when he water-tortured the criminals.
With a splash.
No matter how much he struggles, he can’t swim, and when he tries to float on his back, he presses down on his stomach, suffocates and suffocates, and passes out, and when he opens his eyes, it repeats again with a splash. The fear of falling into the water where no feet can reach will drown the mind.
The knife was carefully washed with soap in every corner. That’s unkind!
That’s right, a knife. Come to think of it, Carl really was like an angel. Oh my god. I never knew there were such vicious people! He prepared the rice himself, but where is the ‘reward’? Did I say that before? Dog food bowl-. Hi-Hi. I can’t help but laugh. I’m not laughing because it’s funny. Just. Huh.
Knife. Should I kiss you when I get back? It seems that I have lived only receiving too much. Sorry. But, I haven’t been hurt in a while. So I wanted to be a little selfish. I’m a patient, so it’s okay – while saying. I’m not going to live as a patient for the rest of my life. Oh, is it true in this case? Hot.
Knife. Where are you? I’ll kiss you.
I’ll kiss you.
Or, do you have a wish?
I’ll do anything, anything.
I was wrong.
Save me
Save me
I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to be sold out.
Sick.
Other than a rough cloth wrapped around a wooden club, they keep sticking it in my mouth. He said he had to be good at these things in order to be loved when he was sold as a sex slave. He kept stabbing me in the throat. Aha- Carl. Will they come to the rescue when they strip me off? It’s really bad taste. You want to see me naked? Like when you stole a bath. You want to see me naked legally? Right?
Right?
Right?
Is that so?
Do you know where I am?
Why no answer
Knife.
Knife.
Knife.
Knife.
Knife.
… Knife.
*
“Oh, Carl-nim, I’m almost done, so I’ll tell you anyway—”
Squeak.
“Oh fuck, this is different from the promise… “
Hooked
“Found. I finally found it. Sophia, Sophia. Can you hear me? Sophia!”
“… Knife… ?”
“I’m glad, I’m really glad… “
Carl cries.
I’m the one who really wants to cry
I stroke Carl’s head. As always.
Oops,
I didn’t have a hand.
Ah.
Hand…
I have no hands…
I’m sorry Carl. Because I’m an idiot who can’t even stroke him properly.
Because I’m an idiot whose body smells like food waste.
Because it’s an asshole that uglyly licked food waste like a dog.
Sorry.
Took.
Sophia’s elbow touched her sword’s forehead and it fell off.
Carl pretended to cry,
Sophia was pretending to be laughing.
