“No, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that.”
Pero slapped his cheeks and forced himself to focus.
No matter what kind of good thing that strange bell chime represented, his instincts told him that what this welfare home was about to face next was probably not anything good at all.
He needed to find his sister as quickly as possible.
Patting the spot on his chest beneath his clothes, Pero stepped out of his room while carefully listening to the sounds around him.
“The footsteps outside stopped.”
This tiny hiding place where he had lived for several years sat in the southwest corner of the welfare home, separated from the street outside by only a small stretch of open ground and a wall. With Pero’s hearing, it was naturally easy for him to notice changes outside.
The orderly sound of marching military formations had completely vanished. Beyond the wall was a terrifying silence. At this moment, the entire welfare home felt like a tiny boat floating on a lake. Aside from the occasional wind stirring ripples, nothing could be heard.
“Did they leave?”
Pero let out a slight sigh of relief.
He did not know why that unit of royal guards had been mobilized on such a large scale, but having such terrifying people around the welfare home was unsettling no matter what. It was good if they had left. As long as whatever storm might happen did not reach the welfare home, then everything would—
“No.”
Suddenly realizing something, Pero tightly grabbed the fabric over his chest as his expression slowly darkened.
“Being quiet is a good thing, but right now... isn’t it too quiet?”
Today was not an ordinary day.
Today was the day the Saintess had come to Saint Blancfazesiya for her procession, a massive celebration.
By all rights, believers throughout the entire city should have poured out into the streets in celebration together.
Just earlier, even through the fine rain, he had still been able to hear noisy cheers from far away.
But now, the rain had stopped, and instead...
Shing—
The silence shattered as the sound of something cutting through the air suddenly rang out.
A blade.
Bright steel split through the cold, and the bone-deep killing intent made every hair on his body stand up.
Even though Pero had already been on guard, the suddenness of what happened still exceeded his expectations.
Fortunately, his body was far more agile than his attacker anticipated. In the instant before the sharp blade fell, his body twisted instinctively, dodging the strike in an incredibly flexible motion.
“Who’s there?”
Cold sweat burst across Pero’s back. He had never expected to be attacked here.
This was just an ordinary welfare home. Who would suddenly attack this place? Attack a penniless nobody like him?
But when he quickly retreated and finally saw the attacker clearly, he froze again.
Magnificent steel armor. A sharp standard-issued longsword. On the chest was the sword-and-shield emblem symbolizing loyalty to the Crown.
There was no mistaking that appearance—
“The Royal Guard?”
Pero muttered in disbelief,
“Why... why would elite soldiers tasked with protecting the royal palace appear here?”
This was a welfare home. A civilian area. Church territory.
In Pero’s imagination, those royal guard knights should have been mobilized to protect places like this in some kind of crisis. So why...
“You—”
Shing!
Without a single explanation, the blade struck again!
Apparently disdaining the idea of taking a scrawny commoner seriously, even after Pero had dodged the previous attack, the royal guard knight used no fancy techniques at all—just a simple downward slash from a forward stance.
Yet even such a simple strike, swung at a frail young boy, was something incomprehensible under any circumstances.
What the hell was wrong with these bastards?
Since when did the Royal Guard raise blades against ordinary people?
“Damn it...”
Pero had no time to think about such questions. Facing the attack of an elite knight, he naturally did not dare block it head-on—and even if he wanted to, he lacked the ability.
But his agility, far beyond that of an ordinary person, came into play again. He sprang backward like a rabbit, dodging the knight’s attack once more. At the same time, the sole of his foot scraped violently across the ground as he kicked forward.
As a poor welfare home that until recently had struggled on the edge of starvation, this place naturally could not afford luxurious stone flooring. Pero’s kick sent a cloud of dust flying upward.
Then Pero pointed at the knight.
“Tailwind!”
Magic gathered. Weak currents of air rapidly converged into a gust of wind that carried the dust straight through the gaps of the knight’s heavy visor.
Even the knight himself probably had not expected that a poor welfare-home brat like Pero could use magic.
Pero executed the move with practiced precision and suddenness. It was obvious he had practiced it countless times. Even an elite knight failed to react in time. After inhaling a huge amount of dust, the knight’s movement to continue swinging his sword abruptly froze as he clawed at his visor and broke into violent coughing.
“So weak.”
After brushing against death twice, Pero showed no fear at all. Instead, he bared his teeth provocatively.
“Have the Royal Guard knights these days been corrupted by nobles too? That old bastard really slipped up, huh? Letting trash noble brats like this protect him? Can he really sleep peacefully at night like that?”
“Cough... hack...!”
The knight did not answer. He struggled to pull open his visor and spat dirt from his mouth.
Completely on guard, Pero gathered magic in his palm again, ready to throw out another attack and run for it immediately afterward. He knew that if he simply turned and ran, his skinny little legs would never outrun an elite adult knight like the one before him.
But just as he expected the humiliated knight to fly into a rage and attack again...
Tears suddenly streamed down that mud-covered face.
“Run.”
“Huh? What?”
Pero stared blankly in confusion.
“Run...”
The knight’s entire body trembled, his armor creaking loudly.
He gripped the longsword tightly enough that Pero could clearly see dark veins throbbing across the back of his hand.
“Run.”
The knight’s expression twisted in agony as he gasped heavily.
“I can’t control myself...”
“You...”
“Run!”
“Damn it!”
Pero desperately wanted answers to the questions in his heart, but the knight was obviously on the verge of completely losing control. Pero immediately stopped hesitating and turned to run.
But the moment he rounded a corner, his face abruptly changed.
In the empty courtyard, two towering figures wandered back and forth. The terrifying killing intent and smell of blood made them look like murderers from urban legends.
But they were not murderers.
Even in the darkness, their imposing armor reflected a cold metallic gleam.
They were knights. Knights who should have protected this country and its people.
And yet now they...
Sensing Pero’s presence, the knights roaming the courtyard immediately charged toward him, far faster than the one he had fought earlier.
A thread of despair rose in Pero’s heart.
He had escaped the previous knight so easily only because that man had intentionally let him go.
Whether in speed, strength, or overall ability, a child his age could never compare to even one little toe of an elite royal guard knight.
And his magic...
Because of poverty, he had gone years without proper practice or study. It had long since grown rusty. Only his wind magic remained somewhat familiar—enough to help him smash the balls of thugs trying to “borrow money” from him in alleyways before calmly escaping.
Magic was that kind of thing. You needed money to become strong.
And besides, the people he faced now were not street punks blocking alleyways for extortion. The armor worn by these royal knights was also perfectly designed.
There was no way to kick their balls.
“I’m screwed.”
Cold sweat formed on his forehead as Pero’s mind spun wildly.
Then from the corner of his eye, he saw that the knight from before had also finished struggling between mind and body. Clearly, the body had won. With tears streaming down his face, the knight gripped his sword once more and charged toward him.
Pero truly began to despair.
Surrounded on three sides—even if he could weave skillfully through the most chaotic streets of the West District, there was no way he could face royal knights countless times stronger than himself all at once.
“Sis... and...”
Pero grabbed the clothes over his chest again and clenched his teeth to suppress his fear, preparing for one final desperate gamble—
“Holy Light—Suppress!”
Suddenly—
Blinding radiance lit up the darkness of the courtyard.
At the same moment Pero saw agony appear across the faces of all three knights, he also saw brilliant Holy Light descend forcefully upon them, temporarily pinning them in place.
“This is...”
“Run.”
Pero heard a weak voice squeezed out almost through clenched teeth.
He turned and saw, at the far side of the courtyard, a young nun with a deathly pale face. While using her still-unfamiliar Holy Light spell to suppress the knights, she urgently motioned for Pero to leave.
It was one of those young nuns sent here from above for “training”...
“What are you standing there for? Hurry!”
“O-Okay!”
Pero activated his wind magic to accelerate, crossing the courtyard as quickly as possible.
As he passed by the young nun, he smoothly wrapped an arm around her waist. Using wind magic to lighten her body, he carried her away with him.
Only after all three royal knights vanished from sight did the young nun dare release the suppression spell. Sweat soaked her body as she let out a long breath.
“T-That scared me to death.”
The young nun patted her chest with lingering fear.
“I didn’t expect that Holy Light spell to drain so much stamina. Good thing you carried me while running, or I definitely wouldn’t have had the strength left to escape afterward.”
“I’m not the kind of person who forgets a favor.”
Pero hurried through the familiar pathways, making sure they had temporarily shaken pursuit before continuing:
“More importantly, why were you even there? Didn’t you go with my sister to the prayer classroom?”
“I...”
The young nun scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“I actually just snuck back in from outside.”
“Outside?”
“R-Right.”
The young nun twisted nervously.
“A huge event like the Saintess arriving—how could devoted believers of the Goddess like us possibly resist? So we secretly snuck out to watch.”
“What about the others?”
Pero remembered that besides this nun, there were several others who always slacked off together with her...
“They...”
At the mention of her companions, the young nun’s face dimmed. A trace of terror flashed through her eyes.
“Don’t tell me...”
Pero’s breathing caught as he realized something.
“What happened out there?”
“I don’t know. But... they all went crazy.”
“They all went crazy?”
“That’s right. Completely insane. The security forces, patrol units, wall guards... even those royal knights just now. Every official soldier in the Kingdom suddenly went mad and started attacking ordinary civilians.”
The young nun trembled violently, hugging her shoulders.
“It... it was a massacre. The civilians couldn’t react at all. One after another, they were butchered beneath the blades. Blood flowed everywhere... it even stained the sewers red...”
Gulp.
Pero swallowed hard. Even without seeing it himself, he could imagine how horrifying the scene must have been.
“T-The entire royal capital turned into this?”
“I-I don’t know. But I don’t think the number of crazed soldiers is enough to attack the entire city directly.”
The nun’s lips trembled as despair filled her voice.
“But the entire West District... by now, it’s probably already stepping into destruction.”
