Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 44
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44
A sharp prick.
“Ouch.”
As I went to put the handkerchief I used to wipe away the blood back into my robe pocket, the back of my hand stung.
Checking it, I saw a thin scratch across the back of my hand, though I had no idea when I’d gotten it.
“Oh dear.”
Giselle is going to worry.
Picturing her making a massive fuss over even my tiniest injuries, I wiped away the remaining drops of blood welling up on the back of my hand.
‘I didn’t think there would be only one spy, but seeing how they banded together to attack so quickly, they must have had some means of coordination.’
Or perhaps they usually stayed in close communication, keeping themselves ready to launch a surprise attack at any moment.
‘It’s safer to assume this entire area is a den of spies.’
Having reached that conclusion, I stood perfectly still and focused on the sounds around me.
The sound of the rain obscured too much information, making it difficult to discern anything, but I couldn’t sense any immediate presence nearby.
I cast off the cumbersome hood.
It was much better now that my unnecessarily obscured vision had cleared up entirely.
I signaled toward the empty air, flicking my index and middle fingers in turn.
Only then did the guard, who had been thoroughly concealing his presence, finally reveal himself.
“One of you guard my side. The other, check on the condition of Deyan Boislav Nemanic. Do not make contact under any circumstances.”
Instead of answering aloud, they bowed low.
One vanished once more, while the other came to stand beside me.
“We move east to regroup.”
As I explained, the guard gave a short nod.
His entire body wrapped tightly in black cloth, he kept exactly one pace behind me as he followed.
He signaled me with hand gestures only when he sensed danger.
‘Second alley, right corner.’
“Don’t interfere.”
Reading his hand movements, I nodded and adjusted my grip on my sword.
Pressing my body flush against the wall, I lowered my posture and advanced with cautious steps.
The moment I rounded the corner, I swiftly lunged at the silhouette before me and pinned them down.
Wrapping my forearm around the person’s throat and pressing the blade right beneath their jaw, their body froze.
“Don’t move.”
I had anticipated resistance, but the target was surprisingly submissive.
‘A woman?’
No wonder suppressing them had felt so easy.
Sensing something amiss, I checked again and confirmed the person was indeed a woman.
Of course, there was no law stating that every spy in the world had to be male, so this woman could very well be one.
However, what made me hesitate was the staff she had dropped.
A distinct emblem I had definitely seen somewhere before was engraved on the staff’s handle.
“……You are the person who purchased the Angel Statue before, aren’t you?”
Just then, a soft, quiet voice drifted out.
Only then did I recognize who she was.
‘Ah!’
When I had successfully summoned Beval, that very problematic Angel Statue had manifested Sariel.
The source of that Angel Statue was none other than this elderly woman.
When I had crossed paths with her by chance on the street, she had been helping an old man who had collapsed.
Given her cloudy, unfocused white eyes, it was clear she couldn’t see, yet her image of throwing down her staff without hesitation to feel around for the old man’s body had left quite an impression, prompting me to approach her first.
“I will help this man.”
“You are a noble person.”
“I’m just a passerby.”
“No. I know.”
The woman had spoken with absolute certainty, reaching out to give my hand a firm squeeze.
“May you walk straight ahead without wandering in confusion.”
I remember being truly grateful for that prayer, as if she understood my heart.
With no other way to express my gratitude, I had purchased one of the items she had laid out for sale on the street, but for things to turn out like this…….
‘To think we would meet this way.’
Though suspicious of this mysterious woman’s true identity, I relaxed the strength in my arm.
I even picked up the dropped staff and placed it back into her hand.
“This is hardly an appropriate place to set up a stall. The weather is terrible, too.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s dangerous, so please go back. Unless you wish to be suspected of being a spy.”
“I had business to attend to, so I walked here intentionally.”
The woman smiled faintly, gazing toward the area of my neck.
“Noble one, you are still wandering in confusion.”
“Did God tell you that as well?”
“I am merely faithful as His servant.”
The woman’s expression was serene and peaceful.
Staring quietly into her cloudy eyes, I felt as though I were looking at a calm lake.
“At any rate, please return. It’s easy to meet with senseless misfortune here.”
“You are as kind as ever.”
The woman’s smile deepened for a brief moment.
“Then, would you accept this on my behalf?”
She reached into her shirt and drew something out, holding it across to me.
Absently accepting it, I checked to find it was a small pendant.
A prayer was engraved inside it in tiny script.
Because it was a script I had never seen before, I couldn’t decipher the contents.
“What is this?”
“There is someone in desperate need of it. I was on my way to deliver this to them, but since you have warned me of the danger, noble one, I shall take my leave now.”
The woman brought her hands together around her staff.
“Please, deliver this to the person who needs it. I beg of you.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“No. You already know.”
She bowed politely to me and began to slowly retrace her steps along the path she had come.
I couldn’t even bring myself to stop her, standing blankly as I watched her receding figure grow smaller for a long while.
Would it feel like this to encounter a messenger of God?
Watching the actions of this mystical woman left my mind completely blank, compelling me to just quietly follow whatever she did.
“……Shall we move on?”
I watched until the woman’s figure disappeared around the corner before turning around.
The plain pendant she had handed me was shoved deep into my pocket.
Judging by how the distant sounds of battle had died down, the spies must have been mostly cleared away by now.
As we were moving eastward to regroup, the guard suddenly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me behind his back.
‘An ambush?’
The moment I turned my head in shock, a dark shadow swamped over the guard in the blink of an eye.
Almost simultaneously, a hot liquid sprayed across my face.
Reflexively squeezing my eyes shut, I quickly pulled myself together to regain my bearings.
“Nemanic 경.”
The entity appearing before me was Deyan, whose reason had vanished entirely.
What on earth had he done on his way here? He was already half-drenched in blood.
His blood-shot eyes scanned the surroundings like a wild beast searching for prey before locking squarely onto me.
“Snap out of it.”
I glanced at his cheek and the nape of his neck, which were twisted as though burned.
It was difficult to judge whether the wounds had healed or worsened compared to his initial state.
‘He certainly didn’t act like this when he was injured because of Sariel 님.’
Did he react to injuries inflicted by Holy Artifacts, while a direct attack from an Angel was fine?
Perhaps his Murderous Impulse had been suppressed due to the Angel’s power.
As my thoughts reached this point.
I recalled the presence of the pendant inside my pocket.
“No. You already know.”
A mysterious woman whose exact identity was unknown, but whose deep piety was certain.
‘Oh my god.’
To think this was the purpose of the prayer-engraved pendant she had pressed into my hand before leaving.
How had she anticipated this situation in the first place to appear before me on a day like today?
‘I wish I could have the chance to meet her one more time.’
Next time, I’ll have to tie her down if I must to interrogate her about her identity.
Why she had appeared before my eyes with that Angel Statue.
Why she had helped me this time as well.
Who intended this, what their will was. And also…….
[How pitiful.]
If nothing else, I wanted to ask if God held pity for me.
If that was why His blessing had descended upon me, I would dare to beg.
O God, grant me the strength to enact my revenge.
“Nemanic 경!”
Deyan extended a hand stained with blood toward me.
Before his hand could even reach me, I threw myself forward into the man’s embrace instead.
Seizing his waist to throw off his balance, I strangled the falling Deyan’s neck with the cord of the pendant.
“Wake up!”
“Cough!”
This was a man who had killed my highly trained guard in the blink of an eye.
Strangling him with all my might under the assumption that I would die if I didn’t kill him now, a hand thick with calluses gripped my wrist.
‘In terms of pure physical strength, I’m at a disadvantage!’
I wrapped the pendant cord tightly around my fingers.
“I told you to snap out of it!”
Tap, tap.
The strength drained from the hand that had pinned my wrist.
Then, this time, he tapped my arm.
“Lady Hubert.”
Deyan called my name as if exhaling his trapped breath.
“Are you back to your senses?”
I asked, still choking his neck.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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