“Stepping into... destruction?”
Those terrifying words were like a clap of thunder in the night, making him tremble instinctively.
Fortunately, Pero was still fairly strong. He quickly steadied himself, fleeing while beginning to analyze the situation seriously.
“Why? Why would soldiers suddenly attack ordinary people? What are they trying to do?”
“I don’t know... that’s why I said they went crazy!”
The young nun shook her head hard, her voice thick with tears.
“Crazy? There’s no way all of them went crazy. Something we don’t know about must have happened. Those soldiers... maybe those soldiers are being controlled by someone.”
The scene from earlier surfaced in Pero’s mind.
That powerful royal knight had trembled while struggling against something, telling him to run while tears streamed down his face.
That did not look like ordinary madness.
No, in a certain sense, it was madness too, but it was absolutely not that simple.
“They must have some kind of objective. It can’t just be for the sake of slaughtering ordinary people.”
“What if it is just to kill people?”
“Killing ordinary people has no meaning, especially for some big shot capable of controlling an entire city’s military and guards,” Pero said coldly.
“Huh? You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing.” The young nun lowered her head to look at the young boy and asked in surprise.
“Nothing much. This kind of thing doesn’t need any special knowledge, does it? You can figure it out just by thinking. Those people high above us don’t care about the lowest commoners... unless we truly threaten them, they’re too lazy to even pick up a knife, because it wastes strength and money. Besides, they still need to squeeze oil from those bottom-feeder commoners.”
Pero curled his lip in disdain, then quickly suppressed that mocking smile again.
If that was the case, then what was their goal?
Could it be...
No.
Pero suddenly bit his lip hard.
It was absolutely impossible that it was because of that. So many years had already passed. No one should still care about that insignificant little matter from back then.
That old bastard should have forgotten about him by now.
And if this was an extension of that incident, there was no way they would make such a huge commotion and drag the entire West District into the flames of destruction.
He, Pero, was not worth that much.
Nor had he been worth it several years ago.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing.”
Pero took a deep breath. “Can you walk by yourself? I’m almost out of strength.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Thanks.”
Pero let go of the young nun, and his whole body swayed a few times. Fortunately, he still had the wind’s assistance, so he did not collapse directly.
Although the nun was not heavy, he was still far too thin and weak. Long-term malnutrition and labor had left his build much frailer than others his age.
“Are you all right?”
The nun asked worriedly, “D-Do you need me to help you?”
“I’m fine. I’m not so fragile that I’d break from this.”
Pero staggered, but his speed did not slow at all.
“Sorry. I still haven’t learned any Holy Light spell that can restore stamina. Otherwise I could help you.”
The young nun pressed her hands together and said regretfully, “If I’d known, I would have worked harder. They say the Saintess can keep her stamina from running out as long as her Holy Light doesn’t run dry. I clearly admire the Saintess so much, but I’m this useless. How embarrassing.”
“It’s great that you can repent for slacking off all the time. Remember not to skip the welfare home’s cleaning duty in the future. Otherwise, if you slack off, how am I supposed to?”
Pero gritted his teeth and led the young nun along a narrow path. They soon crossed the dangerous area where they were most likely to be discovered and reached the welfare home’s main building.
The prayer classroom was here.
“Hurry up and get in. Damn it, why is your butt so big? The food at the welfare home is terrible! We only get brown bread and boiled potatoes every day!”
Pero pushed the young nun’s butt—which did not look like it could have grown so plump from brown bread and boiled potatoes—through a hidden ventilation window on the second floor. Compared to the young nun, who had large breasts and a big butt, Pero had a much easier time squeezing through such a narrow space himself. Not to mention, this window was the very one he usually used to skip class.
Only...
The instant he entered the window, Pero suddenly fell into another daze.
Faint images began surfacing in his mind. Shadows moved through blinding light. Blurry figures he could not make out were shrieking, screaming, roaring... telling him to leave, to run... to hurry and escape from here... or else...
“What’s wrong?” The [N O V E L I G H T] nun turned back and looked at Pero worriedly.
“I-I’m fine.”
Pero shook his head hard, throwing all those annoying things out of his mind.
Damn it, had that dream earlier really messed with his head? How could he keep spacing out at such a critical moment?
“Let’s hurry. My sister, the matron, and everyone else are waiting for us.”
“Mm!”
The young nun nodded hard.
The two of them did not dare delay and continued sprinting.
But just then... a burst of glaring firelight suddenly lit their eyes.
As the welfare home’s main building, this structure had a very long history. Supposedly, it had been built together with that magnificent Saint Blancfazesiya Cathedral.
Of course, in terms of grandeur, this place could never compare to the cathedral. In fact, after the erosion of time, this classical wooden building had long since become shabby and old.
And this kind of shabby, aged building, where even the floor creaked beneath their feet, often shared one common trait.
Flammable.
Pero watched the flames bloom before him, then spread rapidly outward like ink staining tissue paper. The flames continuously devoured the wooden structure, as if there were no process of burning at all. In the blink of an eye, they had covered more than half the corridor.
“Damn it, arson!”
Pero’s eyes instantly reddened as he cursed.
“Have those bastards really lost their minds? The West District is full of old wooden buildings like this, and now the rain has stopped too. If they set this place on fire and the flames spread...”
“P-Pero, l-look outside.”
The young nun’s voice suddenly trembled.
Pero turned to look out the window.
Then his curses stopped, replaced by...
Blankness.
The blazing firelight was not limited to the small space in front of them. Outside the welfare home, in the distance, and even farther away several streets over, flames were rising fiercely.
Like terrifying monsters, they were greedily devouring the city.
“Are they trying to destroy this place?”
Pero trembled all over. “Have they... or has that old bastard, really gone insane?”
“I told you, those people’s heads aren’t right anymore! This city has already gone mad tonight!”
The young nun shouted, “Hurry, hurry and go! The fire is already burning this way!”
Pero abruptly came back to himself and realized the flames had already drawn extremely close. The scorching heat made his skin sting, and the thickening black smoke made it hard to breathe.
He realized that just like that strange premonition from earlier, staying inside the building was completely seeking death...
But just as he was about to retreat, violent tongues of flame surged up behind them. At the same time, the shadows of several royal knights flashed past outside the window.
The way back had been completely sealed off.
They could only keep going forward.
