Chapter 674

Chapter 59: Going in Opposite Directions – Part 2

“So, the chase turned into a prolonged battle…”

After I nodded, Carlos narrowed his eyes even more. The rhythm of his finger tapping on the table stopped, and he leaned forward, his flickering gaze fixed intently on my face.

I felt a sudden pause in my heart.

I thought he was going to question me about something, but the man didn’t have that intention. After a brief pause, he continued, “We fought while running. After several probing attacks, we became increasingly unrestrained in our intensity because we found that no matter what we did, we couldn’t seem to injure that woman… Of course, it wasn’t that we never hurt her at all.”

“Apfel and I often missed our marks, and although Teacher’s stamina gradually started to lag, every time he swung his sword, that woman could not avoid it. She lost hands or legs, and once, half of her head was cut off. However, despite the severity of her wounds, she would recover almost instantly, and her speed hardly slowed down. We found it extremely difficult to stop her.”

“Later, we chased her relentlessly, facing a young, obscure female heretic. Including Teacher, the three legendary Papal Knights… Ha, though this might sound boastful, it was indeed the case. We chased her from night until dawn, when the sky began to turn red, and we still couldn’t do anything about her. Instead, we ended up in a sorry state.”

“But… ”

The man gathered his hair behind his head, stroked his beard, and spoke with steady force, “Even if that woman’s strength is great, there must be limits. When the sky began to lighten, she started to show signs of exhaustion. We pressed our advantage and left her no room for retaliation.”

“At that point, we no longer had any intention of capturing her alive. That battle left no room for侥幸. The woman’s strength was too formidable; one misstep could have cost me everything… Once the fight reached its climax, there was no holding back.”

“In the end, we chased her across the upper reaches of the Red River and a green oasis, moving the battlefield near the Sand Valley. There, we engaged in a fierce battle. That woman finally stopped fleeing. At that moment, I realized she might have lured us there on purpose.”

“That was an ancient relic, ruins from a thousand years ago, possibly left by the Immortals. We confronted each other directly at the edge of the ruins. The fight was incredibly tough. During the battle, the woman finally revealed some information to us…”

At this point, Carlos suddenly stopped talking.

“…Little Hill.”

He softly called my name, and all the vitality on his face disappeared instantly, becoming serious and focused. He rested his chin on his hand, his elbow on the table, and said in a low voice, “Before I tell you what the woman said, there are some things… I want to confirm with you first.”

“…”

I didn’t respond, just stared at him.

“Previously…”

The man slowly exhaled, “Did you stay in that town?”

“…”

“The reason that woman risked luring us out of town was primarily… actually to protect you, wasn’t it?”

“…”

I remained silent.

I wanted to say something, but I truly didn’t know what to say or how to explain it.

Because Carlos’ guess might very well be correct.

At that time, I hadn’t yet woken up from the cellar. By the time I woke up later, all these events had already occurred. The woman had left Messer Town and never returned since. Old Robert might have known the situation, but he probably wasn’t entirely clear about what happened to that dancer after she left the town.

So the old man

Tell me that Elma should be back soon… He genuinely hoped it would be so and had no intention of deceiving or delaying me, but previously I didn’t know any of this; no one explained the specific reasons to me, so I couldn’t help but imagine all sorts of things…

Looking at it now…

That dancer, she has never returned, perhaps because she has—

No, this can’t be…

“You…”

After a brief silence, the man in front of me spoke again, interrupting my somewhat dazed, drifting thoughts.

“Have you chosen to stand on the side of the Gate of Truth?”

His voice was low, and as he spoke, his deep blue eyes gazed at me. His face, with its stubble, showed no obvious fluctuations.

“…No.”

After some thought, I rejected it out loud.

There were no surges of emotion on my face or in my heart.

Carlos stared at me for a moment longer.

One second, two seconds, three seconds… Many seconds passed, and we just looked at each other, not saying anything more. It wasn’t until footsteps were heard from upstairs that the red-haired woman who had gone up earlier came down the stairs, carrying a tray and walking seductively, looking rather displeased as she approached us.

“Clunk clunk,” she placed the tray on the table, putting a plate in front of each of us. The plates contained golden pastries, baked from a mixture of wheat flour and egg batter, probably some kind of cake. They were still emitting a few wisps of steam and smelled sweet.

“Here! That’s all there is, eat it if you want.”

The woman frowned her pretty curved eyebrows and said to us, then prepared to leave.

“Hey…”

Just as she turned around, Carlos suddenly called out to her: “Leah, you mentioned having wine earlier, right?”

“…You—”

Her beautiful eyes narrowed, and she couldn’t help but get angry. Seeing the man’s gaze, she opened her mouth, and after a moment, her expression finally softened.

“…Yes.”

“I’ll get it.”

She didn’t move towards the stairs but walked to the bar counter, searched under the wine rack for a while, and returned with an unopened bottle of rum. She placed the bottle in front of Carlos and seemed about to say something, but after hesitating, she only said, “Drink less.”

After saying that, she seemed very unsatisfied and turned to look at me, her rosy lips forming a slightly mocking curve: “Children shouldn’t drink; it affects their development.”

!!!

I immediately raised my eyes to glare at her, gritting my teeth.

“Alright, alright, Leah, don’t provoke her; be careful or she might turn everything upside down…”

“Oh oh oh, so protective of her?”

The woman pouted, glanced at me unintentionally, said nothing more, and left, swaying her slender waist and leaving a fragrant breeze.

The sound of footsteps faded away. Carlos popped the cork with a “pop,” and the strong aroma of alcohol filled the air. He took a big gulp, his face turning red from the strong liquor, and exhaled sharply.

I watched him with a slight frown.

But ultimately, I said nothing.

“Wine, this thing… the taste is actually quite unpleasant; I’ve never liked it, no matter how good the wine is. But it has one benefit: when drinking to one’s heart’s content, it always allows people to temporarily forget… those things they don’t want to face but will eventually have to confront… some unsettling matters.”

The man said, then took another sip.

Just let him drink himself to death…

I looked at the pastries on the plate in front of me. For some reason, I felt restless, reaching out to poke and pinch them, with absolutely no desire to eat them.

Then, I heard Carlos suddenly say to me, “That woman should already be dead.”