Mama Veirya
"Out of the way!! Whatever the case is, Leah should be left with us to deal with! You heretics have no right to judge demons!!"
"What right do you have?! We"re the ones who suffered most due to the demons! Our families were killed by demons! Our homes were burnt and destroyed! The demons robbed us of our a.s.sets! We"re the ones who suffered the most at the hands of the demons!! Where were you all when that happened?! Where were you?! Now, all of a sudden, you can claim that you have the right to judge?! You"re nothing but deserters!! We won"t let you take this succubus away! Her blood must be spilt here!!"
The crowd began to shout. The continuously attacked the knights that surrounded them. Angelina was squashed in the crowd. She used all her might to hold them back so that Leah wouldn"t be s.n.a.t.c.hed away. The knights didn"t retaliate. The townsfolk were Her Majesty"s a.s.sets, after all. The chapel wanted to avoid damaging the Queen"s a.s.sets. The dead couldn"t pay taxes, which was why the Queen would definitely look into the case.
Lucia spotted a group of townsfolk charging over from within the tavern. She didn"t know where they came from or who started it. She didn"t know if somebody stopped them, causing them to go to the tavern first or if there was always people lying in wait inside the tavern, waiting to provide reinforcements when necessary. The group was armed with wine barrels and barrels of oil. It wasn"t oil for cooking inflammable black oil. Once mixed, it would be a highly-flammable weapon. The group learnt how to use the frightening inflammable bottles after acc.u.mulating all of their experience in their battles against the demons, leading to the development of the superb tactic. The black oil went special processing. The oil could be used to light up lamps, so they were perfect as inflammables.
The alcoholic percentage in alcoholic beverages in the North was always particularly high. Just a tiny bit was enough to generate a big flame. By the looks of things, the group must"ve been preparing for the battle.
They lit up the cloth stuffed in the bottles in their hands, and then hurled them at the knights. The knights used their shields to fend off the flung bottles, but when the bottles broke and the alcohol ran down the shield, they"d suddenly burn up. Metal shields could defend against metal arrows and blades, but they couldn"t defend against inflammable oil. The knights were forced to throw their shields away and retreat. Their surrounding formation fell apart. The surrounded townsfolk unleashed their battle cries and leapt at the knights. Despite being unarmed, they were able to pull the knights off their horses and violently pummel them.
Everyone went wild along with the flames, shouting and battle cries. The knights" defence line was broken down as if a horde of zombies stormed them. The people outside of the encirclement continued to hurl Molotov c.o.c.ktails at the knights, thereby setting the ground on fire.
Angelina also raised her shield to block the Molotov c.o.c.ktails hurled at her, but she quickly realised that it was a mistake to do so, for the oil could get through the gaps in the shield and burn Leah!
Lucia jumped to her feet. She raised her arm and fired an arrow. The arrow pierced through the air and whistled as it flew toward its target. n.o.body could hear the arrow over the shouting and clanging of metal. It pierced the side of Angelina"s arm with absolute precision. Angelina grunted in a stifled voice. Lucia"s arrow went into Angelina"s joints; as a result, Angelina couldn"t control her forearm, thereby leading to her shield gradually slipping off it.
"d.a.m.n it!!!"
Lucia finally realised how foolish her shot was. Leah was stuck in the encirclement with Angelina. There were Molotov c.o.c.ktails being hurled all over the place. Who was to say when one might hurt Leah? Worse, in front of Angelina was a sea of fire. With her arm injured, Angelina couldn"t possibly pick up Leah.
Leah shrieked. She tightly clung to Angelina"s arm so that she wouldn"t fall down.
Lucia decided to be done with it. She leapt from rooftops in an attempt to make up for her error. She loaded up her bow and, "tw.a.n.g!" another arrow flew through the air to pierce the hand of a man armed with a Molotov c.o.c.ktail. Lucia leapt back and forth while firing arrows. As a consequence, n.o.body dared to approach the Molotov c.o.c.ktails.
"Five left!"
Lucia hopped off a roof. Whilst in mid-air, she fired another arrow, piercing the hand of another man that had just lit a Molotov c.o.c.ktail. He screamed and dropped the bottle. He ignored his wound and fled helter skelter while screaming to avoid the flames that were spreading.
"Four left!"
Lucia pierced a Molotov c.o.c.ktail that was just thrown, shattering it and consequently causing the flames to drop down and burn a citizen. The unlucky fellow screamed in terror as he ran. Unfortunately for him, it wasn"t something that was easy to put out.
"Three!
"Two!"
Lucia"s accuracy was without equal. She, alone, was able to subdue all the people that attempted to fling Molotov c.o.c.ktails.
"Last one! I can do it! I can do it! I can protect Leah! I got my friend killed, so the only tribute that I can give him is Leah"s smile! I can protect her! I can do it! It"s not far! He"s still lighting it up! I can make it in time! I got this! I got this!!"
Lucia instinctively reached behind her, but there was nothing there. She looked at the last man who hurled a Molotov c.o.c.ktail. She panicked; she was lost for what to do. She didn"t have anything in her hand. Lucia had the precision to hit anyone, but she didn"t have any more arrows. What could Lucia do without arrows?
"Leah… No! No!!!"
Lucia was dozens of metres away from the Molotov c.o.c.ktail. Unless she could teleport, there was no way she could make it in time. Angelina was stuck in the crowd. All she could do was wield her sword to keep the crowd at bay. Leah weakly sat down to one side. Her fear had overwhelmed her to the point she could no longer even cry. She blankly looked at everything around her. She didn"t notice the Molotov c.o.c.ktail coming down from overhead.
"Leah!!" screamed Angelina at the top of her lungs.
Unfortunately, she was held down by the crowd in front of her. She wasn"t their match with just one hand. A clear liquid slowly seeped out from between Leah"s legs. She couldn"t stand. She just looked at the furious adult in before her with her blank look. She couldn"t cry; her mind was blank. She fearfully looked left and right. Her lips trembled as she mumbled, "Papa… Veirya… anyone… please… save me…"
"Leah!!"
Lucia"s lung-shattering scream resonated through the night sky as the Molotov c.o.c.ktail slowly headed south. Suddenly, a red lightning bolt zipped through the crowd. She crashed everyone out of the way to open a path. She shoved Angelina aside. She bent over and shielded Leah with her body.
The Molotov c.o.c.ktail didn"t hesitate to smash into her back. The Molotov c.o.c.ktail instantly set her back ablaze with a raging flame. Despite that, Veirya tightly hugged Leah and didn"t budge. She protected her in spite of her own injury.
After the bottle violently smashed into her back, the fire boldly spread. The Molotov c.o.c.ktail burnt her clothes, her long silver hair and her perfect body. Her back released smoke. It looked as if her entire body was ablaze. Still, she tightly hugged the girl and didn"t budge regardless.
"Veirya!! Are you crazy?!!" Angelina belted at Veirya.
Angelina swiftly ran over and sliced off Veirya"s burning cloak. However, she was too late. Veirya clothes and back were burnt; her skin was red. Angelina quickly used the back of her sword to put out the flames on Veirya"s clothing. Angelina could no longer contain her anger. She swung her sword at the crowd. In an instant, a batch of blood splattered onto Veirya"s back.
"Ah!!"
The best thing for silencing a rioting crowd when words didn"t work was blood. Anybody be afraid after seeing their companion"s head in the sky from behind.
The aggressive crowd was frightened off by Angelina; they fled helter skelter. The bishop vanished off somewhere ages ago. The knights, who survived, were also gone. Angelina huffed and puffed. She pulled out the arrow stuck in her left arm. Then, she snapped it and threw it aside. She wrapped it up in a simple fashion. She turned around feeling concerned. Nonetheless, Veirya looked emotionless.
Veirya gently clasped Leah"s face and, with her emotionless expression, looked at her. She sincerely apologised: "Sorry."
Leah was dumbfounded. She didn"t even speak. Veirya went on in a sincere tone: "I failed to protect you. Sorry, Leah. It was my fault. I"m glad. You"re okay. From now on. I"ll make sure to protect your properly."
"No!!" Leah couldn"t control her emotions any longer. She went up on her toes and tightly hugged Veirya around her neck. She leaned on Veirya"s shoulder and wailed. Veirya froze in place. She didn"t know what to do with her two hands. She just crouched there. Leah cried by her ear, yet Veirya didn"t dare to do anything, for the reason that she was afraid she"d scare Leah. Leah apologised in a loud voice: "Sorry… Sorry… Veirya… Veirya… Sorry… Thank you… Thank you…Veirya… Veirya…Sorry!"
"I hope. You can call me. Mama."
Veirya raised her head. The rancid smell of burnt flesh and her burnt clothing were mixed together. The heat on her back had yet to disperse.
Leah looked into Veirya"s blue eyes. Her body stiffened up for a moment. Behind Veirya were bright flames. The flame on Veirya"s back burnt her flesh, but she didn"t back down or hide. She tightly hugged Leah in her embrace. Veirya"s embrace was very warm. It was the first time someone hugged Leah so resolutely on the night of anarchy. Despite being burnt, Veirya resolutely covered her.
"When Papa wasn"t by my side, when the entire world was against me, the woman, who once tried to kill me, I hurt and resisted against countless times, fearlessly protect me. For the first time tonight, I found safety in Veirya"s embrace," thought Leah.
Leah felt an urge to cry. Soon enough, droplets of tears coursed down her face. She tightly hugged Veirya"s arm and whimpered: "Sorry… Mama Veirya…"
When "Mama" came out of Leah"s mouth, Veirya"s final defence collapsed. After a moment of hesitation, Vierya gently placed her fingers on her own lips. She used her fingers to form a smile on her face. Leah responded with a spurt of laughter, and then revealed a teary smile. Then, she tightly hugged Veirya.
"Thank you… Mama Veirya… I… I… I won"t be wilful again… Sorry… Sorry…"
"You. Never did anything wrong." Veirya paused for a moment then lightly stood up. She grabbed hold of Leah"s hand and added, "Go home. I have. To go find him."
"Papa?!"
"Mm."
l