Leon purchased dried meat, smoked meat, and various grains from the inn where they were staying. He didn’t spare any expense because he knew that material things would soon lose their value, whether it was gold, silver, or a brilliant white diamond.
In just a few weeks, these Northerners would refuse to trade food for gold bars.
Feeling the increasingly cold wind, Leon put a cigarette he had gotten from the innkeeper between his lips. The innkeeper had introduced and sold it as if it were some new invention, but for Leon, who had spent time in the south, it was hardly a novelty.
As he blew out smoke and tilted his head back, he could see the city walls being built higher above the low buildings.
What a pointless endeavor.
While he briefly admired the embodiment of their futile hope, the inn door creaked open slightly. Veronica, wearing only a single layer of clothing, hunched her shoulders against the cold and awkwardly approached him.
“Um, I heard inside that refugees are gathering in the central square.”
Though she was gauging his reaction, she still spoke her mind.
Leon fixed his gaze on her wet hair and trembling shoulders and asked, “And?”
“I was thinking of going there. I might find someone I know, and I could hear about what happened afterward.”
Undisguised hope and expectation swelled in the woman’s eyes.
Leon smiled crookedly. Had he been so nice to her that she felt comfortable asking for favors? He had merely been annoyed by the woman’s obvious hostility and thorny attitude. It was pathetic how easily her guard had crumbled.
He discarded the still-burning cigarette, melting a round patch in the accumulated snow. Leon turned his body toward her as he stepped on it.
“You must be looking for someone.”
As his shadow fell over her, the woman’s breathing visibly quickened. Her breath fogged in front of her, and her shoulders hunched further. Yet her gaze remained unwavering.
He regarded her bold stare with interest. The woman clearly knew that he needed her—and that he probably wouldn’t kill her as long as she followed his conditions.
But even she seemed surprised by what happened next. Her eyes widened as his black knight’s cloak lined with wolf fur was suddenly draped over her trembling shoulders.
Her eyes wavered uncertainly. As he wrapped the cloak around her, her unsteady gaze drifted over Leon’s impassive face before being caught by his persistent stare. Their shared breaths scattered and dissolved between them as they looked at each other. Leon tilted his head slightly.
“The problem is, how can I trust you enough to let you go? Who knows if you’ll run away once you meet someone you know?”
He recalled the name she had muttered in her sleep. Benjamin, was it? Perhaps she wasn’t lowering her guard but merely pretending.
At the mention of escape, Veronica frowned as if suddenly coming to her senses. She looked down at the cloak covering her entire body.
“I won’t run away,” she said, her voice calm.
“Sorry, but I find that hard to believe.”
“You seem to lack faith in humans.”
“That’s why I believe in God.”
After briefly frowning at his wordplay, Veronica blurted out rather impulsively, “If you can’t trust me, then just come with me.”
She startled herself with her own words. They were practically strangers. Why would he want to accompany her to meet her acquaintances?
The thick cloak must have dampened her judgment as well. Going to a crowded square full of refugees would be troublesome for him. Veronica couldn’t even imagine Leon standing beside her, being introduced to her friends.
She hurriedly tried to add, “No, I didn’t mean—”
Suddenly, a woman’s blood-curdling scream cut through the street, interrupting her. Veronica froze in shock. It might’ve seemed more natural if the scream had continued for a long time, but it was abruptly cut off—as though the woman had died.
Leon pulled Veronica behind him just as a headless woman was thrown from the alley entrance.
The passersby screamed in utter panic, frantically trying to escape like fish scattering when a stone disturbs their calm waters. The peace of the afternoon was shattered in an instant.
Veronica’s head spun as she stared open-mouthed at the corpse. Red blood flowed across the snow. The woman’s throat was violently torn open. There was no mistaking what it was—only days ago, she’d seen enough corpses like that to make her sick.
That’s… those wounds were made by…
“Get inside,” Leon commanded, drawing his sword. A sharp metallic sound accompanied the gleaming silver blade.
Veronica froze in place, as though she had been blinded by the sword’s light. For a while, she simply stood there behind Leon, listening to the approaching footsteps. The rhythmic steps sounded like heartbeats. They were heavier than human footsteps, with something slightly dragging at the end.
“B-Bahamut!”
“Take the children inside! Lock the doors!”
“Run!”
People screamed shrilly, and panic spread like wildfire. Veronica could hear children crying and doors being hastily slammed shut and locked.
Her eyes widened when she saw the figure emerging from the narrow alley. It was unmistakably a Bahamut, but how was that possible with city walls in place? And even if those high, thick walls had been breached, how could Bahamuts have infiltrated this deep into the city without making a bigger ruckus?
The Bahamut was busily chewing something—probably the head of the woman it had just torn apart. The red eye in its chest area rolled around, searching for its next prey. Then, as if by fate, its eyeball rolled in her direction.
Eyes of the same color and nature as Veronica’s caught her own. The strange monster stood motionless in the middle of the street, looking at her as though it were seeing something impossible.
Veronica exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
As soon as she did that, the Bahamut suddenly kicked off the ground and started charging toward them. Veronica stared directly at the approaching monster, unable to look away or blink.
It’s coming. Closer. Coming to me—
There was a sharp slashing sound, and a sword’s light flashed in the sunlight. The thumping footsteps stopped. At first, Veronica thought the Bahamut had hesitated in its tracks, but then she saw its body flying past her, split in half. Blood sprayed in all directions like a fountain.