Chapter 108 - EPISODE 108 – ENCOUNTER (2) (1/2)

“Haa…I can relax a little now…”

Having settled down inside the tent made by Gaël, Adelia stretched her legs and sighed in relief.

She had suffered from the icy blast a moment ago, so a tent that blocked the wind was something highly valuable.

“Don’t overwork yourself. We’ll take a break here for today.”

“Yes, Lord Gaël. Please come here too, Lord Gaël. I’ll cast some magic.”

“Thank you. It’ll be comfortable thanks to Lady Adelia.”

“Making it comfortable is a piece of cake, no problem.”

Gaël also smiled when Adelia responded with a gentle smile.

It was a very vibrant smile that the people from Count Bayer were familiar with.

“Please excuse me then.”

“Yes.”

Adelia gently answered and quietly waited for Gaël to sit next to her.

If Count Chase – no, her subordinates in the royal capital saw the current Adelia, who was far from her usual self, they would repeatedly blink their eyes. However, there was no one here who cared about that.

“<Heat Wave>.”

As soon as Adelia chanted the spell, a wave of heat began to warm the inside of the tent.

Her frozen fingertips and toes that felt like rock began to warm, and blood started to circulate again with a tingling sensation.

“Haaw…”

Adelia reflexively let out her voice as she felt the tingling sensation, while Gaël had a small smile as he slightly moved his body and said.

“It would be better to take your shoes off as you may get frostbite. I will take it off for you.”

“Eh? Uh…yes. Please…do so.”

Adelia gently replied again.

If her subordinates in the royal capital – no, her fellow commanders in the Royal Guard Magic Corps saw her, they would exclaim, ‘It’s an evil doppelganger! Where is the real Adelia!’, but she wasn’t fake. The person here now was the real Adelia.

‘He’s kind.’

Adelia thought as she watched Gaël carefully take her shoes off.

In fact, if it was the time when they had just begun to travel, Adelia would have coldly rejected Gaël’s kindness and said something like ‘I have hands too. Go away.’, but not now.

‘Nothing, there’s nothing between us, we’re not in a relationship.’

That day.

The words Gaël said as he gazed at Adelia with his eyes moist with tears.

‘Is there…nothing between us?’

His voice that sounded like that of a wounded lamb changed everything.

It opened up the last lock in her heart which resisted to the very end.

“Whoa, as expected, it’s frozen. I’ll give you a massage so don’t be too surprised.”

Gaël softly spoke again as he began to carefully massage her feet, and Adelia blushed as her lips squirmed.

“That…doesn’t it smell?”

Her shoes had been wet for a long time.

“It’s all right.”

As a person who was born and grew up with knights, Gaël was not quite good with his words.

However, what was important in this situation wasn’t really about his words.

The power of love was that great.

‘He’s kind…’

She liked it when he spoke genuinely instead of saying one thing after another.

Moreover, she saw the look in his eyes and felt his touch as he massaged her feet.

Wasn’t it clearly noticeable that Gaël was purely worried about Adelia and didn’t have wicked thoughts?

‘It’s okay if you have a bit of those thoughts.’

Adelia recoiled when she realized her unconscious thought, and Gaël misunderstood her sudden stiffness and carefully asked.

“Did it hurt by chance?”

“N-no. It’s okay. Thank you, it made me comfortable.”

Adelia pretended to be calm as she quickly withdrew her two feet, and Gaël smiled again as he sat down next to Adelia.

And Adelia thought.

‘Should I also give him a massage?’

No, wouldn’t that be a little strange?

Should I just make hot water for him to wash his hands?

There was snow all around them, so she could create water by heating the snow with magic.

While Adelia’s mind was spinning, Gaël took off his shoes with his own hands and began to massage his own feet.

“I need to air it a bit. I’m sorry.”

Gaël awkwardly said before slightly opening the tightly sealed tent entrance, and the cold and fresh air that blew inside made Adelia come to her senses.

‘Huu, huu. Let’s calm down, calm down. Adelia.’

They were not in a romantic relationship, but their relationship was also something that was not clearly defined.

‘That’s right, let’s calm down. Relax, Adelia.’

Adelia took a deep breath and regained her composure. In the meantime, Gaël took out the blanket from their luggage, sealed the tent entrance, and handed the blanket to her.

“Cover yourself. I’ll take a little rest and then prepare the meal.”

“Lord Gaël should warm yourself too.”

When Adelia covered herself with the blanket and spoke, Gaël hesitated for a moment before sitting down beside Adelia, who covered him with the blanket too.

“I wonder how Jude and Cordelia are doing?”

“They should be doing well. It’s only been two months…but it seems like they’ve both grown a lot during their trip.”

He wasn’t just talking about their physical power.

The two had also largely grown up mentally.

“When did they become adults?”

“I agree. I thought that they were immature children in love…”

Gaël’s words trailed off and he smiled as he gazed at Adelia, and Adelia also stared at Gaël.

And the two realized it.

The fact that their faces were too close.

That they were very close to the point that they felt each other’s breath.

Adelia unknowingly opened her lips a little. Gaël stared at Adelia’s lips, and at some point, the eyes of the two met again.

The two simultaneously narrowed their distance.

Adelia let out a hot breath and gripped the blanket as her heart trembled in fear and anticipation before she slowly closed her eyes.

And right after she did that.

Baaaang!

The tent was destroyed with a loud sound. At the same time, no, a little earlier than that, Gaël pushed her down as he avoided the attack that flew straight at them.

Tuuuk!

The tent had been destroyed, and a bolt trembled as it stuck to the stone wall.

Finding herself under Gaël, Adelia opened her eyes in a flash and the pink atmosphere between them was instantly broken.

Bang!

A second blast went off. It was Adelia this time. The tent was broken by the powerful wave of magic and even the bolt that was about to explode was blown away.

And Gaël stood up. He quickly drew his sword and glared in the direction where the arrow came from.

“Nine.”

He figured out the number of enemies at once.

The number was determined not only by sight but also by feeling.

“Demon follower.”

Perhaps a demonic human too.

A giant who held a small ballista in his hand, smiled from a distance.

Around him were some horribly disfigured monsters like those seen in Karaval, that were wearing dog collars and drooling as they sharply looked at the two.

Gaël thought.

He figured out at once why they appeared in this place far down south.

‘They thought like Jude.’

Jude left to destroy the rear of the west.

The same was true of the west. Having a similar thought, they also sent some troops to the east.

‘Sky Roof mountain range.’

A land of death where even the wild gods did not live in.

Therefore, instead of crossing the Sky Roof mountain range, they took a large detour southward to infiltrate the east.

The current situation of the two was that they ran into these guys who were moving like that.

“I’m lucky.”

Garad, the mid-ranking demonic human who attacked Gaël, laughed. The moment he saw Gaël and Adelia, he was also thinking.

‘It’s obviously them.’

The coldblooded monsters who did not hesitate to kill and destroy one-by-one the demonic humans of the Devil’s Eye who operated in the east.

It was a considerable misunderstanding and a complete misidentification of the wrong people, but Garad’s misunderstandings also had their own basis.

It was difficult to think why a couple with eye-opening looks from the Sälen Kingdom would be here in the wild lands.

“Haraken will be pleased.”

There was no need for him to take their lives, so he thought that he could violate them to his heart’s content.

The corners of Garad’s mouth was raised and he began his transformation.

His eyes that were glistening with ambition and vulgar desire split into dozens of pieces and became compound eyes, and his giant body swelled and even became bigger.

A black and glossy shell resembling that of a stag beetle surrounded his whole body like an armor.

Horns sprouted from his forehead, and his jaws split as it became like the mouth of an insect.

“I’ll make you my puppets.”

Garad thought what he would do after winning.

The small ballista on his right arm shook as he also began running.

“Go!”

Gaël loudly cried at that moment. He dashed across the ground towards the running Garad, while Adelia began to chant a spell.

The low-ranking demonic humans who were together with the monsters screamed as they also began running towards them.

Baaaang!

The moment Garad and Gaël collided, a loud sound reverberated.

To be exact, it was the sound of Garad’s huge fist breaking the ground.

Twaaaaak!

Like the wind, Gaël evaded Garad’s attack as his sword glowed blue and violently struck.

His sharp sword broke apart the shell on Garad’s waist.

“Gaah!”

Garad was flustered by Gaël’s attack, which was more powerful than he expected. But his body was already too close for him to step back. So he swung his fist again and ordered his subordinates.

“Kill the woman!”

This was to distract Gaël.

It was a reasonable command.

But even at the moment Garad shouted, Gaël did not look back at Adelia.

Because he believed in her.

No, he just knew.

Adelia’s power.

Her strength.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lightning struck. The powerful lightning that was created from Adelia’s specialty, High-Speed Incantation, hit the low-ranking demonic humans who were charging at them. It didn’t end with one shot as it spread around as if bouncing.

<Chain Lightning>.

Even within the Royal Guard Magic Corps, she was called the ‘Flash’ because her spell chanting was three times the normal speed. In addition, the composition of her magic and its precision did not significantly drop despite her fast incantation.

“Aaaaaah!”

As the lightning bounced, the low-ranking demonic humans who were trapped in the hellish lightning chain screamed and rolled over the floor, but this was only the beginning.

“These scumbags!”

Adelia cursed and chanted a new spell again. The sight of her eyes glistening as she released attack magic with the white snow on the background was like the battle angel Solari who descended into this world.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Adelia did not show them any mercy. Or rather, she cornered the enemies with excessive power more than what she usually used.

Because she was angry.

‘Of all times! Of all times! Of all times!’

It was at that moment!