"I found it."
Sella nodded as she set down the hard bread and dried fruit.
"It's the Lothair Kingdom."
She exhaled heavily, saying she had discovered which kingdom the knights who kidnapped the villagers came from.
"L-Lothair?"
Merlin swallowed dryly as she looked at Sella.
'To think it was the greatest kingdom in the south.'
The Lothair Kingdom was known as the empire of the south, so even someone like her who had never left the village knew of its reputation.
"Why would such a country target a small village like ours..."
"They called us demons. They said this cross in our eyes is an inverted cross, a symbol of evil."
Sella bit her lip as she pointed to her red eyes, which she had always thought beautiful.
"Ah, demons..."
Merlin's jaw trembled.
'But why?'
They had lived peacefully without harming anyone, so she couldn't understand why they were being called demons. It was so absurd that she couldn't even feel frustrated.
"Anyway, we need to go to Lothair. If we delay any longer, we might not be able to save everyone."
Sella said she would go rescue the villagers and return, looking at Merlin.
"B-But..."
"It's okay. I've already deciphered the Magic Suppression Array completely."
She clasped her hands together, saying she had figured out the array that was blocking the villagers' magic.
"Can you wait here while I go rescue everyone?"
"I-I'll go with you. I don't want to be alone..."
Merlin cried out not to leave her behind, grabbing Sella's torn sleeve.
"Please..."
If Sella didn't return either, she wouldn't be able to go on living. She wanted to be together, whether they lived or died.
"Haaa..."
Unable to ignore the look in the young girl's eyes, Sella let out a long sigh.
"I suppose if they found us while we were hiding, they might discover you alone too."
She took Merlin's hand, seeming to think she might be tracked if left alone.
"Let's go together. However..."
Sella placed her hand on top of Merlin's head.
"If my identity is discovered, you and I have no relationship. Understand?"
She gripped Merlin's shoulders, telling her to abandon everything and run away alone if things became dangerous.
"I'll go with you if you promise just that."
"Ah..."
Merlin looked into Sella's desperate eyes and nodded with difficulty.
"I understand."
"I'll trust you, my daughter."
Sella embraced her, calling her daughter. Not wanting to lose that warmth, Merlin raised her trembling hands to hold onto Sella's back. She wished time would stop like this. No, she wanted to go back to the past when they all lived together.
* * *
Gulp. Merlin swallowed dryly as she looked at the entrance to the Lothair Kingdom.
'What if we're caught...'
Her whole body trembled just at the sight of the kingdom, as the Lothair knights she had seen for the first time outside her village had mercilessly thrust their swords.
"Don't worry. Your mother is with you."
Sella held her hand and walked confidently through the kingdom's gates. As they passed through the gates larger than giants, they saw countless people walking through the royal capital. There were more people on just one street than in their entire village. The overflowing vitality made her realize what a great kingdom truly was.
However, Merlin tightened her fist as she watched the lively people of the kingdom.
'Why...'
Why was it so normal... Seeing the citizens of the cruel kingdom that had kidnapped the villagers like animals living like ordinary humans, her fingertips trembled with the sense of dissonance. The more she looked around the Lothair Kingdom following Sella, the more nauseous and angry she felt at this normalcy.
No matter how much she looked, she couldn't understand why they viewed fellow humans as demons and treated them like monsters.
As Merlin was barely containing her anger, people began to gather towards the upper part of the royal capital.
"Let's go see too."
Sella, seeming to feel the same as Merlin, gripped her trembling hand tightly and headed up towards the upper part of the royal capital. The place where people had gathered was an execution platform, and those kneeling on the stage were the villagers who had lived with her.
“L-Lady Sella.”
"We must endure."
Sella grasped Merlin's hand tightly, telling her not to move at all. She was squeezing so hard that it hurt, as if she too was struggling to hold back.
"Are those the ones who conspired with the demons?"
"Their eyes do look strange."
"They say it looks like a cross, but it's actually an inverted cross. They're not just siding with demons for no reason."
"I heard their mana flow is different from ours too. It's easier to think of them as monsters."
The people of the kingdom mocked the Para, treating them as monsters rather than humans.
"Execute the demons!"
"Kill them all!
"Kill them!"
People threw stones at the hanging Para and shouted for them to be killed immediately.
"The execution of these ones will be in a week."
The Knight Commander only said that the Para would be executed at this place in a week before leaving.
"Ah..."
As Merlin bit her lip and tried to walk forward, Sella held her hand and wouldn't let go. She shook her head with bloodshot eyes.
"No. Not now..."
Even though it must have been harder for her than for Merlin, Sella turned her back without showing any excitement.
"Let's go down."
She took Merlin and rented a separate house on the outskirts of the royal capital.
"It'll be alright."
As soon as they entered the house, Sella hugged Merlin and patted her back.
"We can save everyone."
She nodded as she met Merlin's eyes. Though her eye color had changed to conceal her identity, they were still beautiful.
"Let's go back with everyone. It might be nice to live by the sea this time."
Sella smiled, saying it would be even better than before.
"Yes..."
Merlin nodded, pretending not to notice the anxiety in Sella's voice.
'Am I useless again?'
If only she could use magic, she could have helped Sella. She cursed her own incompetence, unable to use magic or wield a sword. Haaa... Merlin inwardly sighed as she watched Sella's back trembling anxiously.
* * *
Since coming to the Lothair Kingdom, Sella had changed her appearance countless times to understand the geography and factions here. After figuring out who she needed to fight and where to escape, she stood before Merlin the day before the execution.
"I'm going to start now."
Sella smiled and took Merlin's hand.
"Even if I'm discovered and chased, you must not move at all. Understand?"
She held out her pinky finger, reminding Merlin of the promise they made before coming here.
"Mmm..."
Merlin bit her lip as she looked at the tip of Sella's finger.
"Do you know what your name means?"
Sella smiled as she met Merlin's eyes.
"Light and hope..."
Merlin nodded slightly.
"That's right. Everything will work out, just like your name."
Sella smiled and stroked Merlin's head.
"Now, you have to promise."
"...Alright."
Knowing how dangerous and urgent the current situation was, Merlin raised her pinky finger and hooked it with Sella's.
"Good. I'll see you later."
Sella left those words and disappeared.
'Now I'm alone.'
This was a separate house that Sella had rented entirely, so there was no one coming or going, but that made it even more unsettling. She wished for a quick result, whatever it might be. As Merlin was hiding under the blanket with her head covered, a huge rumble came from the direction of the palace.
'Has it started?'
She immediately came out from under the blanket and looked out the window. The walls that had seemed as unyielding as armor were crumbling, and a storm of fire and frost was raging inside.
‘Lady Sella….’
It was clear that Sella was fighting while rescuing the others.
'I need to prepare to escape.'
Merlin immediately got out of bed. Not knowing when Sella would return, she packed her belongings so they could leave right away and waited by the door. But no matter how long she waited, Sella didn't come back. Instead, the flow of mana inside the castle was rapidly fluctuating.
'What's happening...'
As Merlin was biting her lip with her trembling hand gripping the backpack, it happened. A red pillar of light rose from the ground where she was standing, accompanied by an eerie sound. However, the pillar of light only made a loud noise without affecting her at all.
'What is this?'
As Merlin blinked at the light, she heard people rushing in from outside.
"It's here!"
"There's a demon inside!"
After confirming that the door to the separate house was locked, people began breaking down the walls with hammers and axes. Crash! Finally, the walls and door collapsed, and people turned their fierce eyes towards her.
"Here it is! A young demon!"
"B-But there's no cross in its eyes?"
"No! That mark proves it! Believe in the Sage!"
The people called her a demon and started climbing over the collapsed wall to enter.
"Ah..."
Merlin tried to run away, but she didn't get far before her back hit the wall.
"Demon!"
Just as people were about to reach out towards her, a blue wind blew from behind her and pushed them all away.
"Are you alright?"
It was Sella. Despite being covered in wounds and blood all over her body, she worried about Merlin first.
"I'm sorry. It was all a trap..."
She bit her lip, saying that capturing the Para and the execution were all traps. Indeed, there was a red light rising from beneath Sella's feet as well.
"Let's get out of here quickly."
Sella put her hands together to activate a teleportation spell. But her magic faded away helplessly like Merlin's fire magic.
"This is blocked too, as I thought."
Sella bit her lip and shook her head. As she was about to cast another teleportation spell, it happened. A white hand burst through Sella's abdomen.
"I apologize. I can't let our guest who came all this way leave just like that."
A man with golden eyes appeared behind her, wearing a cold smile.
"Oh! It's the Sage!"
"The Sage has come!"
The people of the kingdom who had tried to capture Merlin knelt down at the sight of the golden-eyed man.
"You..."
Sella trembled her lips as she looked at her bleeding abdomen, seemingly not expecting such an ambush.
"So you really are the last queen of Sirken."
The man called the Sage nodded with a smile.
"Actually, once we catch you, we don't care what happens to the rest."
He gave a sinister smile, apparently having some connection to the vanished Sirken kingdom.
"Ah, ah..."
Merlin drew in a sharp, broken breath.
'Sella?'
The arm piercing through Sella's abdomen, the blood pouring onto the ground, that monster smiling with a human face, the people praying like fanatics - everything felt like a nightmare. Thump! Thump! Thump! Her heart ached with a pounding that felt like it would burst. Her mind began to turn white.
"Now, to mark you as well..."
Just as the Sage was about to grab Sella's neck and twist it, it happened. An enormous flame erupted from Merlin's hand, destroying the separate house and spreading intense heat in all directions. It wasn't just fire. Wind and frost descended from the sky in a storm, and the earth overturned, burying all the approaching knights. Roar!
Merlin unleashed magic of all four elements simultaneously, her purple eyes displaying a blood-red cross. The power swept across heaven and earth, mercilessly tearing apart even the knights emitting powerful auras.
"S-Sage!"
The knights and kingdom citizens who barely survived reached out to the Sage for help. The man called the Sage pulled his hand out of Sella's abdomen and erected a wall of mana to block Merlin's magic.
"Kuhahahahaha!"
He burst into a twisted laugh as he looked at Merlin's eyes floating in the air.
"Yes. You were the real one!"
The Sage reached out his hand to interfere with Merlin's magic. Merlin continued to pour out powerful magic, but she began to be pushed back, coughing up blood as if she had reached her limit.
"Die!"
She poured out all her rampaging power to save Sella, but the Sage didn't take even a single step back.
"Stop resisting and come to me."
As the Sage reached out, Merlin's body began to be pulled towards him. Just before Merlin's neck was about to be caught in the Sage's grasp, it happened. A silver flash of light flickered from the right, cutting off the Sage's arm and catching the falling Merlin.
"I am Loktar Defort. Following Her Majesty's orders, I will protect the princess first."
Loktar bit his lip deeply as he looked at the fallen Sella. He bid farewell to his lord with a single blink before dashing northward with Merlin in his arms.
"N-No..."
Merlin coughed up black blood and spoke in a cracked voice.
"I'm sorry. It's already too late."
Loktar shook his head, saying he couldn't save Sella. He kept moving his legs endlessly while shedding tears.
'Not yet...'
Merlin reached out towards Sella, who couldn't get up.
'I couldn't even say thank you or that I loved you.'
She regretted not being able to thank Sella for treating her like her own daughter, or to say how grateful she was for always loving her. No, more than that... She regretted never calling Sella "Mom."
If this was to be their farewell, she wished she had called her by that name, even if it would have been embarrassing and awkward. She deeply regretted her past self who couldn't do anything.
"Please..."
Loktar Defort, seemingly determined to fulfill his mission of saving Merlin, kept moving forward, cutting down the knights blocking their path without even looking back.
"This was unexpected."
The Sage, whose arm had been cut off, appeared blocking their path, looking perfectly fine without a single wound.
"However, this is the end. You might be able to go, but that young lady cannot."
As the Sage spread his hand, red magic was released, enveloping Loktar and Merlin's bodies. Their bodies floated in the air, being squeezed as if about to crumble.
"M-Mom!"
Unable to contain the heart-wrenching regret, Merlin let out a final cry towards the fallen Sella.
"It's already too late. The princess of Sirken..."
Just as the Sage was shaking his head with a faint smile, it happened. Sella, who had seemed to be lying dead, appeared before him and thrust out her fist crackling with red lightning. The Sage tilted to the ground, his head exploding while his face was still frozen in a smile.
"Finally..."
Sella turned to look at Merlin, unable to wipe the black blood flowing from her mouth.
"You called me Mom."
She nodded with a smile, as if bidding her final farewell.
"Evelyn."