MCFATTKM

9

"Sigh..."

Kalix sat there and pulled out the dagger stuck in the beast's neck. His injured ankle was causing a fever all over his body. He exhaled a harsh breath, just to keep his eyes open.

"Kalix!"

Lelia, standing in a daze, came to her senses and rushed to him. Griffith also immediately found Kalix's wounds.

"If it's a real, real beast... You should have told me it was real... You idiot!"

"I told you, you idiot!"

In the meantime, Lelia held Kalix by the collar and held back what she wanted to say. Kalix was on the verge of fainting again.

"Griffith, are you okay with your arm? We have to go back quickly."

"... It's fine. But if I blew a whistle earlier, wouldn't the new recruits be coming?"

"No, they'll be gathered at the entrance of the mountain. It's a whistle that means 'gather at the entrance of a mountain.'"

"...Then why did you blow it?"

"I thought the ones who planned this, who made that beast appear, would be frightened and run away with it..."

At those words, Kalix turned his head and saw the beast's body.

It was then the beast's body scattered and disappeared like sand. Kalix's eyes twitched at the sight.

"Really... it was real. My real uncle wanted to kill me..."

The beast itself was not magically made of sand, but what caused the beast's body to disappear was magic using sand.

A magic used only in the land of the desert, the Ascad Empire.

"... Kalix, calm down. Still..."

Your arms are fine...

But I couldn't say that.

Lelia swallowed the words, and she again knelt in front of Kalix and held out her back.

"I'll do it."

"You hurt your arm. No."

Lelia rejected Griffith's words and urged Kalix.

"Kalix, get up quickly. There's no time to wait like before. I'm going to run out of strength."

"... Damn."

While shedding hot tears, Kalix gritted his teeth and endured the sobbing.

Yet, he slowly rose up and climbed onto Lelia's back with his own will.

Lelia felt the pain in her belly, but held her legs tightly.

The three weakly started down the mountain. Kalix cried, groaning for a long time on Lelia's back.

The sun had risen, and the light of the dawn was shining.

"... But why does the right ankle hurt so much? The wound is on the left side."

"..."

On the way down the twisted mountain, Kalix had stopped crying.

Lelia was stabbed by her conscience, and she was forced to confess.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake when I knocked you unconscious and carried you on my back."

"... This guy."

"..." Griffith looked at the two strangely and instantly smiled.

It is normal to feel the pain in the arm, being bitten by a beast, but it didn't feel painful for some reason.