The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 106

‘Still, this much should be manageable…’

[Warning: User, this is by no means manageable. Fortunately, the femoral artery was avoided, but the thigh is densely packed with blood vessels and muscles, making it a high-risk area for massive bleeding. The user is currently in a state of severe trauma and may faint or die from blood loss.]

[Notice: I will immediately transmit a signal to the creator.]

‘No, don’t do that. There are healing potions and oath concentrates in the reticule. I can handle this myself.’

Rita blocked Grace’s report as she recalled Oli’s tearful face after slapping her cheek.

In the first place, unless one was a transfer-type oath holder specialized in long-distance transmission, there were limits to the communication possible with such small magical devices.

If it were a large device like a mirror, they could have two-way conversations like when she communicated with Sera, but the functions built into the small Grace could only handle brief status reports like minor injury, serious injury, critical, unconscious, and location transmission.

‘If I report this condition as is, it’ll send a signal saying serious injury or critical. Olivia would be horrified.’

It wasn’t even that dangerous, but she might worry excessively or force herself to come looking. So it would be better to treat herself a little first before sending word.

‘Absolutely don’t send any signals, understand? If you really want to send one, do it after I’ve treated myself.’

[Lament: User…]

Grace trailed off with a tone suggesting she had much to say. Regardless, Rita moved with practiced efficiency. She assessed the size of the injury, checked the tools needed to remove the horn, and simultaneously surveyed the surrounding situation.

‘More monsters might appear. Since I’ll be vulnerable while pulling out the horn, it would be better to do it up in a tree. Hanna is…’

Rita looked back at the maid. Hanna was crying with a pale complexion, looking like she might collapse at any moment.

“Miss got hurt because of me, what do I do, what do I do, sob… M-Miss, what should I do? Sob, stop the bleeding, stop the bleeding first…”

“Hanna.”

Rita examined Hanna’s trembling hands, checking her condition.

To her at this moment, Hanna wasn’t her maid but a civilian rescue target.

Rita Pascal didn’t rely on civilians on the battlefield. Civilians were beings to be grateful for if they just didn’t panic and thrash about or scream in terror.

Therefore, rather than asking for help from a civilian who wasn’t even a medic, it was better to send her somewhere safe first and focus on treatment alone with peace of mind. It would also be difficult to protect her if other monsters appeared in this condition.

‘It would be too much for a civilian to transport an injured patient with a leg wound alone. Let’s send her back first.’

Fortunately, she hadn’t seen any monsters or beasts other than the horned boar while coming this far. Rita pointed to the path she had taken.

“Hanna, do you see that? The broken trees and grass. That’s the path I took, so follow that trail straight. If you keep going, you’ll see the Central Camp Watchtower soon, so finding the barracks won’t be difficult.”

“What…? G-go? How can I leave Miss in this condition!”

Hanna shook her head while trembling. Rita thought for a moment, then gave a suitable excuse.

“I don’t mean leave me here alone, but since I can’t move right now, go and bring someone to help.”

“Ah, I see… Yes!”

Rita looked at Hanna nodding with a determined expression and suddenly worried about her family. If Hanna went and told them about her situation, wouldn’t her mother at the barracks faint?

‘Not the family. It’ll become a big deal. Who… who should I tell her to talk to?’

Cold sweat was beading on her forehead from the pain. The pain was so severe that she could barely feel the side effects from mimicking the enhancement type. Without time to think deeply, Rita mentioned the first person who came to mind.

Someone who would act appropriately for the situation without detailed explanation. Someone who would reliably handle any situation. The person who was most dependable in difficult moments.

The person she wished was by her side right now.

“…Go, don’t tell anyone else, just find Gid… Crown Prince Gideon. Only tell him.”

“What? Why him…?”

Hanna was confused, but seeing Lillieta’s bloodless face and the cold sweat on her forehead, she closed her mouth.

She jumped up from her spot.

“I’ll bring him as fast as possible! Please wait just a little, Miss!”

“Wait, take this!”

Rita hurriedly rummaged through her reticule and pulled out a small glass vial the size of a finger.

One of the tools Olivia had distributed to the Beacon Squad members in preparation for monsters appearing at the Frontier Festival.

“When you break it in danger, smoke will rise to signal your location while hiding your body. Use it if you encounter monsters or wild beasts on the way back. Got it?”

She explained quickly and pressed the glass vial into Hanna’s hand.

Hanna looked at what was pressed into her hand and at Miss’s face, which was covered in cold sweat and reeking of blood yet looking at her with worry, and barely swallowed the surge of emotion rising within her.

“Yes, just wait, please wait just a little. I’ll bring Crown Prince back right away…!”

The dark, unfamiliar forest was no longer frightening. Hanna clutched the glass vial and ran through the forest, tears streaming down her face. Even when she tripped over tree roots, she got up immediately. The scrapes and scratches somehow didn’t hurt at all.

Lillieta’s calm words saying she was fine and the glass vial she’d given her out of concern hurt much more. Both her heart and the hand holding the vial ached and throbbed.

‘It’s because of me.’

Because of foolish me, Miss got hurt. Yet Miss didn’t even blame me. There was no reason for Miss to get hurt like that, what am I, just a mere maid, because of me, why did I do such a stupid thing…

‘What if something goes wrong with Miss’s leg…’

She felt the lingering attachment to Ethan and her confused emotions fly away without a trace with the wind hitting her face as she ran.

‘I didn’t know what was important. None of that stuff mattered at all.’

In her bursting tears, regret and self-blame, emotion and confusion tangled together and ripened into a single resolution.

‘I want to become stronger.’

I want to become a better person than I am now.

‘I want to be helpful to Miss.’

Next time, I’ll stand in front of Miss and protect her. So she never gets hurt again…

Though her mouth tasted sweet and her breath rose to her chin, Hanna didn’t stop running.

The trees around her gradually grew shorter and the top of the Central Camp’s watchtower began to appear. Then suddenly, something pitch black appeared in her tear-blurred vision.

“…!”

Hanna was startled and raised the hand holding the glass vial, but stopped when her pooled tears fell and her vision cleared.

“Y-Your Highness?”

The Crown Prince, dressed in dark black hunting clothes with leather reinforcement and wearing a short cape with golden silk lining showing, was alone at the forest entrance and frowned slightly at Hanna.

“You are…”

“Please help, Your Highness! Miss Lillieta is badly injured!”

The Crown Prince, who was about to say something, had his expression change drastically at Hanna’s sudden cry. He approached her with a terrifying intensity and asked urgently.

“Injured? Where? What’s the location?”

“Her leg, sob, her leg is injured, and there’s so much blood… sob, the location, the location is, um, if you follow the path I came from straight…”

The Crown Prince didn’t listen to the end of Hanna’s gasping words.

She didn’t even have a chance to offer to guide him. As soon as he saw the traces left in the direction she pointed, he instantly disappeared into the forest shadows.

* * *

After confirming Hanna’s departure, Rita carefully leaned against a tree.

‘Climbing a tree normally with this leg would be too much.’

She first found a tree branch thick enough for a person to sit on.

‘It’s not a technique I’m particularly good at, but…’

Golden light rippled along the gun barrel. The golden light gathering at the muzzle formed a harpoon shape.

Even within the classification of Fabrication Pact Holders, there were various types.

Rita had unparalleled skill in fabrication methods that transformed the very nature of oaths, but was relatively inexperienced in fabrication that molded oath forms like clay into different shapes.

Of course, she was only inexperienced compared to nature fabrication; her form fabrication skills were still far above average.

Rita confirmed the oath-formed harpoon at the gun’s muzzle and sighed.

‘As expected, creating forms takes a long time.’

[Opinion: User, the time you spent on form fabrication was 5 seconds. User, 5 seconds is not a long time by common sense.]

‘Compared to making bullets, it’s an enormously long time. And Grace, on the battlefield, 5 seconds is enough time for lives to be lost five times over.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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