Chapter : 07
“A-A monster!”
“Kyahhh!”
The people who had been standing around in confusion began screaming as the wyvern drew close enough to be seen clearly with the naked eye. Chaos quickly spread among the believers gathered near the stage, waiting for the sermon to begin.
Panic swept through the crowd. Everyone screamed and struggled to flee, but the sheer number of people made any semblance of order impossible.
“Eek!”
“Aaaah!”
The pilgrims around me were no different. Before Samuel could grab me, someone ran between us, and I immediately hunched down as though startled as well.
Some people’s hoods had fallen back, while others still wore theirs, but everyone was dressed in similar pilgrimage robes. If I blended into the commotion, I could disappear unnoticed.
Ah, now!
The moment I released the necklace I had been holding, the unnatural aura covering my face vanished. A squirrel quickly snatched up the necklace from the ground and ran toward the pocket of someone standing nearby.
The man was so frightened by the wyvern that he had nearly collapsed. As he crawled away in a desperate attempt to escape, the necklace settled neatly into his pocket.
“Move!”
“Help! Somebody save me!”
As people shoved one another aside, the wyvern drew close enough that its scales were visible. Unable to land, it swept across the sky above the plaza in a broad arc.
That movement alone generated fierce gusts of wind. Cloaks fluttered violently, and people stumbled around unable to keep their eyes open.
Rather than flying away, the wyvern continued circling above the plaza, letting out long cries. Each sharp screech only amplified the panic and screams below.
Of course, everyone else was panicking.
I wasn’t.
My ears just hurt.
[Aaaaaneeeeliii! Wheeeere aaare yooouuu?!]
I needed to let them know I was here.
A quick glance around revealed a familiar eagle perched atop the stage platform originally prepared for the sermon. First, I ran around wildly like everyone else.
“Kyahhh! A monster appeared!”
Appearance-altering magic never worked on animals.
Animals had always seen my true appearance.
So if I pretended to be swept along by the fleeing crowd and then slipped away to reveal myself—
“Resurrected One!”
A powerful grip seized my arm.
Startled, I turned around to find Samuel staring at me with a grave expression.
The certainty in his eyes wavered the instant he saw my face. Not missing that brief moment, I screamed like a terrified believer.
“Help me! Oh God!”
Perhaps because my appearance had changed in an instant, Samuel couldn’t forcefully drag me away. Taking advantage of his hesitation, I shook off his arm and immediately turned to flee.
I squeezed through the crowd, pushing past shoulders and bodies, trying desperately to put as much distance between myself and Samuel as possible.
Fortunately, Samuel couldn’t recklessly shove aside the faithful.
I, on the other hand, could push people out of my way without hesitation.
Still, I’d already gotten rid of the necklace.
How had he recognized me?
I had fully expected him to go after someone else. The realization filled me with confusion.
One thing was certain.
If I missed this opportunity amid the chaos, that man would finally catch me with complete confidence.
And soon the Holy Knights would arrive to deal with the wyvern. There were still too many civilians in the plaza for them to launch an attack, but several priests and guards who had regained their composure were already guiding people toward the exits.
I abruptly changed direction.
At that moment, another fierce gust blew overhead.
My tightly wrapped hood finally lost the battle against the wind and was thrown back.
The silver hair I had concealed with a magical artifact streamed freely into the air.
Damn it.
At this point, it was all or nothing!
Far more people had already fled from around the sermon stage, making it easier to approach.
The eagle spotted my striking silver hair and flapped its wings excitedly.
[Over here! Over here, big brother!]
[Wheeeere exaaactlyyy?!]
The wyvern, tracing wide circles through the air, gradually descended toward the ground.
The people who hadn’t escaped in time collapsed to the ground, trembling and screaming.
Leaping over them, I sprinted straight toward the stage and climbed onto it in a single bound.
From the elevated platform, I could see the entire plaza.
Spotting Samuel was easy.
He stood a head taller than most people.
And he was coming.
“Here!”
I tore off my cloak and waved it wildly with both hands as I climbed onto the highest point of the stage.
In the distance, armed Holy Knights and soldiers had finally arrived outside the plaza.
“Over here!”
The wyvern’s claws spread wide as it identified its target.
“Resurrected One!”
[Anelli, tighten your stomach muscles!]
The instant Samuel reached the stage, a massive black shadow swept overhead.
I clenched the cloak tightly and squeezed my eyes shut.
Something hard snatched me up.
The impact felt as though I’d been punched squarely in the chest.
My breath vanished, and my body suddenly became weightless.
[Got her!]
[Is this truly the one I was supposed to catch, little brother?]
[That’s her, big brother!]
Between the roaring winds, I could hear the eagle and wyvern conversing.
When I opened my eyes, the central plaza was already shrinking rapidly below us.
Archers had aimed their bows in our direction, but they hadn’t fired.
With only a few beats of its wings, the wyvern put tremendous distance between us and the city.
People below seemed to be shouting something, but they were too far away to hear.
The escape had been far noisier than I’d imagined, but I was satisfied.
Completely exhausted, I released a long breath while still clutching the cloak for dear life.
Then, without a trace of regret, I let go of the pilgrim’s cloak.
Watching it flutter down toward the ground, I couldn’t help but laugh.
…
At last.
I was free.
* * *
“We can hit it from this distance!”
“No! A person has been abducted!”
“If we let it escape, the casualties could become far worse! Please give the order!”
The bows aimed at the wyvern looked ready to fire at any moment.
Ordinary arrows would have fallen harmlessly in an arc.
But the archers holding these bows were skilled users of divine power.
Right now, they could easily tear through the wyvern’s wings and bring it crashing down.
A monster appearing in the City of God.
If they wanted to prevent panic and absurd rumors from spreading among the citizens later, they needed to eliminate it immediately.
Even knowing that, the captain of the city guard couldn’t give the order to attack.
Because a grim-faced Holy Knight was vehemently opposing it.
“No!”
His opinion couldn’t be ignored.
After all, he was Samuel—a Holy Knight of unparalleled skill and one favored by the High Priest.
“She must not be harmed!”
“But—!”
“She is the Resurrected One!”
“The Resurrected One?”
“The one sent by God?”
The captain and the surrounding Holy Knights stared at the retreating wyvern in confusion.
Samuel also clenched his teeth and glared after it.
“Something’s falling!”
A black object dropped from the wyvern, which had already flown beyond the range of their arrows.
The dark cloth fluttering down from the sky resembled the cloak worn by the Resurrected One.
Samuel’s face immediately turned pale.
For a brief moment, he thought the wyvern had dropped her.
His heart nearly stopped.
Fortunately, it was only the cloak.
“Sir Samuel, are you truly saying that person was the Resurrected One?”
Someone grabbed his arm and asked urgently.
Samuel silently nodded, never taking his eyes off the wyvern until it disappeared into a tiny speck.
“My goodness… the Resurrected One sacrificed herself for us.”
“She threw herself at the monster to protect the people!”
“Ah, God truly has sent us a Resurrected One to destroy evil!”
The crowd’s frightened murmurs gradually transformed into cries of admiration.
Some knelt and offered prayers.
Others shouted that they needed to rescue the Resurrected One immediately.
The captain of the guard quickly dispatched a messenger to the Grand Temple to report the kidnapping.
By then, the wyvern was gone.
Samuel stood motionless, his face rigid, before finally turning away.
Silver hair.
Mysterious violet eyes.
That must have been the true appearance of the Resurrected One who had hidden herself all this time behind the Treasure of God.
On the back of her neck, visible as she stood atop the stage staring into the sky despite the fierce winds, was a vivid scar.
The unmistakable proof that she had once been the infamous villainess of the Empire who had been executed by beheading.
“Anelli Roam.”
The name slipped from his lips.
He had never spoken it aloud before.
Compared to the title Resurrected One, which he had used countless times, it felt strangely unfamiliar.
And yet, once spoken, no other name seemed more fitting.
“Looks like you haven’t heard the rumors about me. I was famous for being cruel.”
Her indifferent voice resurfaced in his memory.
At the time, he had barely paid attention to her words.
It had been obvious she didn’t want to remain in the Grand Temple, and her sharp remarks likely stemmed from that frustration.
Nothing he said would have reduced her hostility anyway, so he had chosen to ignore it and focus solely on protecting her.
“My name isn’t Resurrected One, Sir Samuel.”
He had known her name from the beginning.
He simply hadn’t considered it important.
Whether she had once been called a villainess meant nothing to Samuel.
She was the Resurrected One chosen by God.
And it was not his place to question whom God chose or why.
Perhaps he should have approached her differently from the start.
Finding Anelli had been so easy that he had never imagined she would slip away right before his eyes.
“Why? Afraid I’ll run away? With your abilities, you could easily catch me even in a crowd this large.”
He had to admit it.
He had overestimated his own abilities.
Whenever he pursued someone, he always had.
And this time as well, he believed his cool-headed judgment would quickly assess the situation and bring it under control.
