After I got back to the inn, I told them we were heading to the elf forest.
They both agreed, still crying.
I told them we'd leave tomorrow, and that I needed to prepare carefully first.
When night came, I was out on the balcony smoking, same as always.
Then something tugged at my shirt.
I looked down. It was Seijo.
I picked him up. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"What's that thing in your mouth?"
Damn. I dropped the cigarette.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it — it's for adults only. But why aren't you asleep?"
"Why should we sleep when you're still awake?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll sleep soon."
I tried to put him down. He held on and wouldn't let go.
I smiled. "Let go. I'll sleep, I promise."
Tears ran down his face. "No. I won't let go."
I sighed. Then I went inside to sleep.
I woke up the next morning. He was still holding on.
We left the next day, the two of them and me. We grabbed our gear and headed out.
When I got into the carriage, I felt something strange — but it was a good kind of strange.
Seijo sat beside me. Carmela stayed in the back.
As we tried to leave the kingdom, a group of well-armed guards stopped us. Their gear and movement made it obvious they weren't ordinary.
"Can I help you?"
One of them stepped forward — the leader, by the look of him.
"The two with you don't belong to you. And you're currently under charges that carry the death penalty."
Both siblings grabbed onto me, scared. A feeling I hadn't felt in a long time came back.
I looked at the leader and said, calm:
"Get out of my way. You have no claim over me or them."
"Show some respect. Your situation doesn't give you the right to talk like that."
The siblings started crying. Carmela said: "Brother… please don't leave us."
I got angry. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and said to the leader:
"I'm warning you for the last time — get out of my face, or I'll wipe the floor with you."
He laughed and stepped forward.
I got down from the carriage and walked until my chest was almost touching his. He was taller than me, looking down at me.
I brought out a single thread and cut through both his legs in one motion. He dropped onto what was left of his feet.
I looked down at him.
"Now you finally have to look up at me. Standing over someone and looking down at them with that kind of arrogance — that's a declaration of war."
The rest of his men moved to rush me. My aura came out.
Their expressions went blank. Their eyes went wide. Their hair turned white from fear where they stood.
I looked at the leader on the ground.
"Get away from here. You told me to respect myself — in front of me, you're not even worth a discarded pawn on a chessboard. I'm the one who sets the rules here. And tell whatever queen sent you: if she interferes again, her kingdom's end will come sooner than she thinks."
I continued on toward the elf forest.
The soldiers were still lost in whatever my aura had put them in. Most of them ended their own lives just to escape the nightmare my aura had trapped them in. We waited for the road to clear, and after an hour we were out.
And so began my strange journey with the siblings — Carmela and Seijo.
About thirty kilometers in, we found a wrecked carriage on the side of the road. I could hear a girl screaming nearby.
I went to look.
There were men trying to take her as a personal servant before she could be officially sold as a slave. I stepped in.
"Stop. Get away from her, or you die."
One of them stepped forward — thin, holding a knife.
"Who are you to protect her?"
"Will you back off if I tell you?"
"No. We won't."
"Then you'll die."
The man and his companions laughed.
The thin man's knife was suddenly in front of my face. I stepped back, caught it with the wire, pulled him toward me, and kicked him.
Another one stepped up and launched a magic attack with his staff — a fireball. I dodged it.
Then I felt someone on my blind spot. A knife went into my back.
The blade was poisoned. He spoke while it was still in me:
"You won't survive this. It's not just any poison — it's hydra venom. You'll be dead soon."
My vision started to ripple. Heat moved through my entire body. My tongue slowed. My movements slowed.
Damn. Every single fight I end up in.
I took a deep breath and activated enhancement magic.
The shield sent a notification: Detecting strong poison. Would you like us to neutralize it?
I refused. If I start depending on the shield for everything, all my training becomes worthless.
I felt the enhancement spread through my body.
It felt as though the enhancement had fused with my blood.
I looked up at them. Six standing, one already down behind me, one unconscious somewhere — eight total. Seven standing, one fallen.
This is going to hurt a little.
I moved toward the mage. Felt two people behind me. I turned on them.
"Good. This is exactly what I wanted."
I drew the sword and started fighting with the scabbard — the shield covering one man, the scabbard handling the other.
I kicked the first one in the groin. Drew the sword and grabbed the second — it shocked him and knocked him out.
I went back to the first and kicked his face in.
Three down. Five left.
The heat from the poison was spreading through my whole body. My vision trembled from the poison.
I laughed.
"Three down.
Five left.
Come on — entertain me."
All four moved forward at once, forming a wall around the mage while he began chanting.
Their plan was obvious.
Two came from the right, two from the left. I pulled the poisoned knife out of my back and threw it at the left pair — they split apart. I went straight at them.
The other two turned toward me. I smiled.
"Five down. Three left."
The two remaining fighters — one with red hair, one wearing a helmet.
I went for the helmeted one, drew fast, and cut through his stomach. Sheathed the sword in the same motion.
The red-haired one came at me while I was doing it. I raised my left hand toward his face and launched a fireball — bigger than a normal one. He dodged it, but lost his right arm.
When he looked up, I was already standing in front of him.
I grabbed his head and drove it into the ground.
Three left: the mage, a man with a shield, and an unarmed fighter who looked like he knew what he was doing.
I moved toward the remaining two.
The shielded one came at me first. His movements were synchronized with the shield — he was hitting with it and trying to grab me at the same time.
I stepped forward to take the shield's hit, but his unarmed partner cut in. The situation was getting bad. I laughed — then screamed — grabbed the shielded man's shield and crushed it with my bare hands, then tore his left arm out of the socket.
He screamed and dropped to his knees, clutching what was left.
I went to kick him — the unarmed fighter blocked it and punched me.
I took the hit but it pushed me away from the shielded man. I realized then: the unarmed one was an enhancement-type fighter.
I pulled my shirt off — it was restricting my movement.
The scars across my back came into full view. Everyone went quiet for a second.
I cracked my neck and both shoulders. Then I went at the unarmed man.
His reactions were sharp. Really sharp.
While we fought, we were both smiling. His kicks I blocked, my punches he blocked. Back and forth — punches and kicks, punches and kicks — until the ground under us was cracked from the pressure. I stepped on a small stone that threw off my footing for half a second. He used it — punched me across the face.
I didn't move back. I punched him back.
He hit my stomach. I hit his face again.
He kicked my leg and broke my balance. I grabbed his face.
"Goodbye."
I crushed his skull with my hand and drove him into the ground.
I turned to the shielded man, picked up the poisoned knife, and threw it into his head.
"Seven down. Just you left."
The mage backed away, scared.
"In your dreams. You're finished. Fire Storm."
He launched it at the carriage.
I looked back. The siblings were watching me.
I looked at the girl. Looked at the siblings. Didn't know which way to move.
Then time slowed.
I ran toward the carriage and put myself between it and the attack. I took the full hit and reduced the damage going to the carriage. I raised both hands to absorb it — and it exploded directly on me.
The explosion was massive. But the carriage was untouched.
My clothes were shredded. I was still alive because of the enhancement magic.
I looked at the mage, staggering from the pain. He was terrified.
"Impossible — how did you survive that?"
I walked toward him, limping. He moved toward the girl to grab her as a hostage. She screamed.
And I saw Nino where the girl was standing.
I stopped. Time stopped with me.
My aura came out and wrapped around me like I was wearing it.
One step. One step was all it took — and I was standing in front of the mage.
I took hold of him.
"Eight. You're all finished."
His body was torn apart before it exploded. His blood covered me completely.
I wanted to say something to the girl.
Then I lost consciousness.
In the dark — sinking, deeper and deeper.
Then light appeared.
I reached up for it.
I woke up holding a girl's face in my hands.
Her face had gone red. She was crying. I was lying with my head in her lap while she treated my wounds.
When I looked at her properly, I could see she was an elf.
End of Chapter 42