“Quit while you still can. You’ll only be throwing your lives away,” I warned.
I put up a magic barrier to protect Dole and the coachman, both of whom were unconscious. The barrier was the physical type, so it would remain for some time, even if I were to die. The two of them would be fine for now. I needed to think about what to do with the children.
I couldn’t let my guard down, even if they seemed young. Assuming this was Clément’s doing, these were no ordinary children. I tore the hem of my dress to free up my movement, then pulled out a magic wand.
To my surprise, the children began to fade from my sight. They seemed to have magic that obscured them. But I had ways around that.
“Flame Blossom!”
If I couldn’t see them, then I simply needed to attack in every direction. I sent fire blazing all around me, landing a hit on one and knocking them down. That left three.
“Give it up. You have no way of defeating me.”
I went on to take down two more by relying on sound, but the fourth continued to evade me.
“…Perhaps they gave up and ran away?” I wondered out loud. I continued to remain vigilant and guard Dole and the coachman.
At some point, it began to rain.
“There you are!” Noticing a gap in the rainfall, I fired off a fire arrow. The moment I hit them, they and the other three children became visible. It seemed this fourth child had been the one using the magic.
I pulled down their black hood and was shocked by what I saw. “Such a young child… Clément, how could you?”
The child, unconscious and drenched with rain, couldn’t have been much older than Claire. To be forced to commit such violent acts at such an age… It was terrible. I was sure Clément was the one behind this. There were rumors he had a hand in human trafficking, and it was hard not to imagine these children were a part of that.
“Just you wait. I’ll make sure you’re free soon.”
I laid the child down and went to check on the others. I had held back some, but there was no knowing where I had struck them. I couldn’t use healing magic, so I planned to just give them basic first aid. But as I neared the first child—
“What?!” A hail of ice arrows rained down on the children and me. “How…could you?”
I’d taken a good deal of damage, but I could still move. My assailant saw that, however, and rained down ice for a second, then a third time. I tried to intercept the attacks with a spear of fire, but the number of ice blades was too great for me to stop. Everything in my surroundings, including the children, was skewered through. The child with the obscuring magic had her leg pierced and was bleeding profusely. I used my fire magic to staunch their bleeding.
“Clément…why?!” Did he hate Dole and me that much? Enough to kill these children who bore no fault of their own?
Only one of the child assassins was still breathing. Swearing to myself that I would at least make sure she survived, I played my last gambit.
“Ngh…” After enduring countless ice arrows, I pretended to take a direct hit and fell to the ground. After some waiting, three men emerged from the darkness.
“You get her?”
“Looks like it.”
“Hmm… It doesn’t look like this barrier can be dispelled.”
“Get up, Catherine. Hurry up and erase the evidence.”
I needed them to come just a little closer. Then I could end this without the child getting hurt. The wound on my thigh had reopened at some point. I felt my consciousness fading with each moment. But I can’t give up…
I sprung up and launched spears of fire at the three men. The action brought me swiftly to my limit, and I fell to the ground once more. I couldn’t check to see if my strikes had landed, but as the minutes ticked by, no follow-up attack came. It seemed I’d been successful. But this was the end of the line for me.
“Why… Why save me?” The child assassin who’d survived roused herself and looked down at me. There was confusion on her face. She probably wanted to know why I had bothered to help her. Great big eyes looked at me from under her hair, hair the same color as Claire’s.
“What is your name, child?”
“…Catherine.”
“I see… Catherine… I suppose I saved you because I consider all children of Bauer something like my own.” That was what Dole had once said. It was the way I believed all nobles should be.
Catherine looked at me with eyes full of shock. “But…but I—”
“It’s fine, dear… The truth is, I have a little girl around your age myself. A cute, willful little girl.” I reached out and patted her hair, wet from the rain. “She has the same honey-colored hair you do. She’s strong of heart but becomes saddened easily. I’d be happy if you’d be her friend.”
I was able to say that much before I lost the fight to stay conscious.
Forgive me, Dole, Claire. I’ll be departing this world before you, but at least I was able to live as myself to the very end.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t regret leaving the two of them behind. But even so, I believed what I had done would one day find meaning.
Dole, Claire… I love you both so very much.
Dole must have woken up at some point, for he was crawling toward me in the mud, ruining his best clothes. I flashed him a smile…and then I knew no more.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I had no idea such a thing happened to you, Lady Catherine.”
“Enough of that, Emma. Lend me a hand here.”
The two of us happened across a village while I was on my self-imposed exile. The village was having monster problems but was too poor to hire adventurers, so Emma and I took it upon ourselves to help them out. The monsters were nothing special. Even Emma would have been able to handle them alone.
“Thank you so very much. Your help is duly appreciated.” The village chief thanked us, bowing his head deeply after we returned. “It’s not much, but please, take this.”
He offered us a reward, but I had no intention of taking it. “Use that money for the village instead,” I said. “If that’s all, then we’ll be on our way.”
We left, Emma pushing my wheelchair onward. All the exercise had made me rather hungry, so I was eager to leave.
“Lady Catherine, why did you not take his reward?”
“I haven’t the right, Emma.” I would be bearing this cross for the rest of my life. I had to atone as much as I could. “Plus, a certain woman’s selflessness is still vivid in my memory.”
There was once a woman who protected me, a complete stranger who had tried to kill her only moments ago. I had no right to try and carry on her will. That was for Claire to do. But if it was at all possible…
“…I want to be like her, if only a little bit.”