175 Run, please! part Ryu wasn’t as reckless as to leave everything behind and run away, but he took only what he considered essential to stay alive. Money, weapons, clothes, his leather rucksack and a bit of food. Then he bolted through the door in the direction where the girls were located.
Only then did he remember about the small wurm hatchling he recently adopted as his pet, he still didn’t believe Heimar’s words stating that it would eventually become a mythical beast, but he already had tamed an amarok so anything was possible.
Without any time to spare he headed right into the hot springs where the girls were relaxing, this time Sera included. When they saw Ryu appear out of nowhere they were all startled, except for Risa who bared her breasts proudly with both arms extended onto the rim of the pond.
“Deja vu”
Risa giggled, but Anne didn’t take it as calmly as her. She covered her exposed chest by crossing her arms and blushed heavily. Not knowing if it was embarrassment or anger. But Ryu didn’t give her any time to figure it out.
“Get dressed and gather only the essential, Sera come with me, we’re leaving right now”
“How bad is it?”
Anne inquired having completely forgotten about her nakedness.
“Worse than the hill”
.....
Those words brought Anne to shivers, the mere thought was enough to become alert and even though she wasn’t able to sense anything, she trusted Ryu more than she trusted her own instincts.
Sera jumped out of the pond and ran to the changing room, leaving only Risa and Hana still dipped into the water.
“Are you not going to follow them miss Risa?”
“I am, but I left all my belongings in the changing room, I don’t mind if I risk my life by staying just another minute. I know if I don’t stay inside this hot spring as much as I can I’ll regret it later”
Bob and Luke were having dinner on the main building and, fortunately, they were ready to go because they wanted to do a bit of exploring at night. It’s not that they were actually going to hunt something, but they liked the feeling of walking around carrying weapons, it made them feel like real adventurers.
“What’s going on Ryu?”
Luke asked when everyone was gathered at the entrance.
“There’s a threat coming this way, I can’t explain but...”
“He’s right, there’s people from the sacred empire coming”
Lea, who had been freed with the condition of not making any attempt to escape, said in a loud voice.
“How long have you known that?”
Ryu didn’t waste a second in anger, all of his senses were focused solely on surviving.
“I don’t really know that, but I figured father Stefan would come to free me. If you let me go, I promise I’ll speak nice words about you and your party. After all you’ve treated me well so far”
“Thanks, but I don’t think that’s a possibility”
Ryu said in a serious tone, staring at her right into the eye.
“W-what makes you say that”
“I hate to break it to you, but you were abandoned by that guy”
“That’s impossible! I’m a priestess of the sacred empire! He cares about me!”
“What makes you think that? are you more important than the guy he let die in the maws of my dog?”
Lea shuddered at the memory of the huge beast appearing out of the woods and taking her fellow priest away to kill him.
“I-I...”
Her voice broke to pieces, she couldn’t thread a single thought that allowed her to rebuke Ryu’s words.
“Why do you think someone that let others die so easily and abandons his companions without so much as attempting to bargain for her life, would go through the trouble of coming back to set you free? you’re of no use to them and I bet he’s willing to dispose of you the same way he planned to dispose of the soldiers once they outlived their usefulness”
Lea started crying in complete silence, tears simply ran down her tears without even sobbing. It didn’t look dramatic, but those were definitely the most bitter tears she had ever shed.
“Take me with you, please!”
“Why should we do something like that?”
Luke barged in, now understanding the situation a little better
“I’m still your prisoner!”
“You’re a liability, what would stop you from backstabbing us? just stay here and repent for your sins”
Anne added, knowing full well her words would hurt Lea’s already weakened heart even more.
“Please, I beg you, don’t let me die! I’ll do anything!”
“Again!? why does this keep happening to me? I’m sorry, but I can’t take care of you now, our lives are at risk and...”
“I’m a priest! I can heal you! I can even restore the curse!”
Lea said the last part in utter despair as the heroes were already turning their backs to her one by one. She didn’t know if she was actually able to do something like restoring a curse, what she did know was that most of Ryu’s strength vanished along with the curse she dispelled with her blessing. Even if the chance was slim, it would at least buy her enough time to run away from the adventurers.
Even for a priest as skilled as her, leaving the heroes behind was difficult, but outrunning people from the sacred empire sent on a holy assassination mission was completely impossible.
“What are you saying you dumb bitch, why would someone want a curse back!?”
“Please, miss Risa, let her talk”
“I’ll do my best to restore your curse to its previous state!”
“Are you absolutely certain you can do something like that?”
Ryu asked with suspicion.
“I- I actually don’t know, what I do know is you have no chance of doing so by yourself!”
“Sera, tie her up, Bob you’ll be in charge of carrying her, Famine will carry Sera and the supplies”
He said after crossing the exit door, then he whistled by putting his fingers on his mouth and a huge wolf-like creature split the night with its amazing speed.
Famine, the amarok, stood proudly in front of the group and howled at the moon in a gallant way.
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