This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 96

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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 96

“…Huh?”

That dark blue hole somehow looked familiar, like I’d seen it somewhere before. After staring at it for a moment, I remembered where I’d seen it.

“A Sea Slime hole?”

But the hole was incredibly large, big enough for three people to pass through.

Something poked its head out from inside.

A snake with flames blazing all over its body was glaring at me.

“What, what is that? Is it a Sea Slime?”

I said that, but something was strange.

I’d never seen a Sea Slime before, but it probably didn’t look like that.

“That doesn’t look like a slime, it looks like a big snake….”

Plus, it was three times larger than a Mantis Sickle Fox.

In my knowledge, there was only one type of creature that wasn’t a Sea Slime but had that kind of form.

“A monster?”

The identity of that hole became clear as well.

“Then that’s a gate?”

Sparks from the fire snake scattered and caught onto the junk warehouse.

When I flinched without realizing it, the fire snake seemed to decide I was prey and lunged at me with a sharp screech.

“Shaaaak!”

I needed to dodge, but my whole body was frozen stiff with tension and I couldn’t move.

Baron’s face flashed before my eyes.

‘If I die like this, what will happen to my Baron?’

That’s when it happened.

“Kwaaaaawk!”

A strange roar interrupted and my vision filled with flames.

Whoooosh!

“Ah, hot!”

The sudden heat wave broke my paralysis. Startled, I tried to quickly back away but ended up tumbling over.

At that moment, the heat completely disappeared.

“Kyaaaaak! Shaaaak!”

The fire snake’s sharp roars echoed one after another.

I quickly got up to assess the situation.

“?”

A black shadow resembling a person was facing off against the fire snake. Between that black shadow and me, a palm-sized salamander had positioned itself and was looking back at me.

“Peep?”

The salamander, with flames blazing all over its body, quickly approached me.

The salamander with its coral red body and yellow patterns rolled its large golden eyes as it examined me. Its gaze seemed to be asking if I was okay.

It was only palm-sized and the large pattern on top of its head was heart-shaped, making it so cute that my guard unconsciously lowered.

“Are, are you also a monster?”

“Peep!”

Was that a yes or a no?

I couldn’t tell which it was. But it didn’t seem like it would harm me.

Crash! Bang! Rumble!

Then a loud noise came from ahead. The black shadow had split the fire snake’s body in half and thrown the upper half toward the open clearing.

‘Is it dead like that?!’

I thought everything was resolved thanks to the black shadow, but the remaining lower half of the fire snake thrashed around and broke one wall of the orphanage building.

Fire from the fire snake’s lower half spread and began burning the orphanage in an instant. And the junk warehouse that had been burning earlier collapsed with a crash, fully revealing the gate.

From inside, another fire snake and an indescribably bizarre-looking monster poked their heads out.

“Kwaang!”

The salamander in front of me roared and moved toward the gate.

The salamander began shooting fireballs into the gate. Not satisfied with that, large flames rising from the salamander’s body began burning the monster.

I hesitantly got up from my spot. While the salamander was blocking the monsters, I needed to escape and call the Imperial Guard.

“Ahhh!”

“Someone help!”

I heard screams from the Orphanage Director and The Lord. They seemed to have finally grasped the situation.

‘Only the warehouse collapsed, so they’ll manage to get out on their own!’

I tried to hurry and move.

“Kyaah!”

“Mommy!”

If only I hadn’t heard the children’s screams following right after!

“Gasp! Kids!”

Only then did I remember that there might still be children inside the building.

‘Normally at this time most of them would be outside helping with work, so I didn’t think of it! How stupid of me!’

I quickly headed toward the orphanage’s main gate.

Fortunately, the children were hugging younger siblings and fleeing outside the building.

“Fire! Fire!”

Even in all this chaos, Nelloa was nowhere to be seen. Only the panicked coachman was trembling and shouting loudly.

Then the coachman saw the fleeing children and got angry.

“You ungrateful brats! If the house is on fire, you should put it out right away! Where are you running off to!”

The kids hesitated.

That damn coachman! Is that really what you should be saying to kids right now?

Before the coachman could spout more nonsense to the children, I quickly shouted.

“This isn’t just a fire! It’s a gate!”

“A, a gate?”

“Go tell the Imperial Guard immediately that monsters have appeared!”

“Y-yes!”

The shocked coachman whipped his horse fiercely. The screaming horse began running with all its might.

I also shouted to the children.

“Kids! Run to the city! Go to the government office! Tell everyone that monsters have appeared and they need to find safe places to hide!”

The startled children began running frantically toward the city.

Then I heard another crashing sound from behind.

“Kyaah!”

“Mom!”

“Dad!”

When I turned around, chills ran down my spine.

The orphanage entrance had completely collapsed.

The stairs connecting the 2nd floor and 1st floor were blocked when the walls burned and collapsed, and I could see children who had been coming down the stairs getting frightened and going back up to the 2nd floor.

Soon children appeared at the window of the end room on the building’s 2nd floor, crying and banging on the window.

“That damn director blocked the windows so they can’t open!”

I counted the children with my eyes.

Seven.

The oldest among them was Paul, a twelve-year-old boy.

“Kraaaak!”

“Keeeeek!”

The monsters’ cries from near the gate grew louder. It seemed their numbers had increased.

My instincts whispered that to survive, I should abandon the children and run away immediately. Otherwise, whether devoured by monsters or consumed by flames, I would die.

But I couldn’t do that.

“What do I do? How do I do this? How can I save the kids?”

Should I wait until the Imperial Guard arrives? What if the flames reach the kids before then?

While I was restlessly pacing, something stopped me in my tracks. I could see a long wooden ladder lying around in one corner of the garden beyond the main gate.

There was no time to think further.

I quickly ran over, picked up the wooden ladder, and placed it under the window where the children were.

The ladder was a bit short to reach the window where the children were. However, if I climbed up and grabbed the children’s hands to help them down, it seemed like they could just barely step on the ladder and come down.

It was dangerous, but there was no time to find a safer method.

“Paul! Can you completely break the window? Is there any big object you can throw inside?”

Whether he heard my shout or not, Paul hurriedly went somewhere. Soon the children gathered at the window also moved away, so I quickly stepped back as well.

Crash!

Soon a wooden chair burst through the window and came flying out, completely shattering the window.

Paul’s feet coming out of the window quickly reached the ladder. I held the ladder steady so the child could come down safely.

“N-Nuna!”

“You did really well, Paul!”

As soon as he came down, the child cried sorrowfully. He must have been very scared, but there was no time to comfort the child. The other children had to come down before the fire spread further.

“Let’s talk after everyone comes down. Nuna will bring the other kids down. It’ll be hard, but can you hold the ladder tight?”

Paul grabbed the ladder while crying.

I quickly climbed the ladder up to the 2nd floor.

The opposite side of the building was blazing wildly in chaos. Fortunately, thanks to the wind blowing in the opposite direction, the smoke wasn’t blowing toward this side.

“Nuna!”

“Nuna!”

When I went inside, the children who had been crying in fear all rushed to hug me.

“Now, kids. It’ll be okay. Help me a bit, drag all the blankets and bedding toward the window.”

The children dragged the bedding while crying.

I hung one of them over the window frame to cover the broken glass so they wouldn’t get cut, and dropped the rest outside the window. The bedding fluttered down and fell near the ladder.

This was in case they accidentally fell while climbing down the ladder, to reduce the impact even a little.

“Now, let’s go down one by one, calmly, okay?”

Paul, who had wisely stepped back earlier, came back and grabbed the ladder once all the bedding had fallen. I started sending the children down one by one.

The children crawled out the window, gripped my hand tightly, fumbled with their feet, then stepped on the ladder and climbed down.

Two, three, four.

The fourth child missed their footing while climbing down the ladder and ended up falling. Fortunately, it was where the bedding was piled up.

After confirming that the child quickly brushed themselves off and got up, I helped the fifth and sixth children down as well.

It was when I was about to help the seventh and last child down.

“Nuna.”

The tear-stained child looked at me as if just remembering something.

“Yes?”

“What about Toto?”

“Toto? Who’s that?”

The child pointed to under the wardrobe that sat alone against one wall.

“He’s hiding there. He won’t come out.”

I quickly checked under the wardrobe. There was a tuxedo cat that looked about four or five months old, all curled up in a ball.

“Wait, why is there a cat here?”

“Actually.”

The child confessed while shedding tears.

A stray cat had come into the yard and was so cute that they secretly brought it in.

Since then, the cat had gone under there and wouldn’t come out.

Oh my goodness.

“Toto? Come here. Let’s get out quickly.”

Hisssss!

I tried talking to it first, but the cat was immovable. Instead, it seemed frightened and only hissed more fiercely.

Crack!

A loud noise came from the adjacent room. Part of one wall collapsed and smoke began pouring in. Through the broken wall, flames flickered and spewed hot heat.

There wasn’t much time left.

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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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