Chapter 60: Debt 60 - Persecuted for Helping a Principality

Ryan had already made his decision.

He had to save Beatrice.

It didn’t matter what would happen next. For the moment, it was the only thing he could do.

But Mirian’s arrows were already in flight.

Even if she knew who the demon in front of Ryan was... she simply had no reason to want to help.

I mean, she is a demon after all. The logical thing for any adventurer is to finish one off as soon as they encounter it. And that same logic applies to demons.

Those were the thoughts Ryan was processing as quickly as he possibly could.

But the arrows were not aimed at him; they were aimed at Beatrice.

Just as Ryan was about to activate his defensive skill.

A barrier appeared, surrounding both him and Beatrice.

No one present could understand what was happening.

Or who had made the barrier appear.

The last thing the other adventurers noticed was the heroines entering the fray with that attack.

But the impact of the arrows against the barrier caused a massive cloud of smoke that covered them.

’That barrier is... Karol’s. Damn, was Mirian really trying to kill Beatrice? In any case, I’ll take advantage of this opportunity.’

He ran toward Beatrice and lifted her in his arms.

"Recovery."

He took off running with her in his arms.

"Leave me here. You’ve already done enough for me and you’re in trouble now; I’ll stay behind to distract them all," she said, still in Ryan’s arms but gripping his shoulder tightly.

"And you think I did all that just to let you die afterward? Are you stupid or what?"

"I know, but... even so..."

"Shut up. For now, I’m ordering you to come with me. We’re escaping from here."

Ryan continued running with her in his arms.

Ryan leaped across the rooftops of the houses and buildings; although he was escaping, he couldn’t help but wonder what was happening back in the plaza. Was that attack meant to help him, or did they really want to kill the demon?

It was a doubt he had; at least he knew Karol had helped him, but at this point, would the same be true for Helen? Or for Mirian?

In the eyes of anyone else, and even to himself, his current actions were an act of treason against humanity.

And now there wasn’t much he could do. Despite everything, perhaps he hadn’t thought it through much; he simply did what he wanted to do in that moment.

"But there’s something I don’t understand. Why were you captured here? It makes no sense. Did you really come to seal that dungeon?" Ryan asked as he floated through the air after jumping from one building to another.

"Yes... I came for that reason," she said without turning to look at him.

"But I didn’t see you inside the dungeon. And they say they found you wounded. Was that done by an adventurer?"

Beatrice was about to respond.

But a screech like that of an animal rang out.

Ryan stopped on top of one of the buildings.

There was something like a stable located in a large open space.

The screech echoed again, and along with the noise, there was the sound of powerful wings flapping.

"What is that?" Ryan murmured.

"They must be wyverns. Perhaps."

’Wyverns... but it doesn’t make sense for them to be here, does it? Of course... they must belong to them.’

Ryan jumped down in front of the door to that place and set Beatrice down.

She stayed by his side as Ryan kicked the door and swung it open.

Three wyverns were in that stable; they wore collars with symbols that he recognized as being identical to the symbols on the holy knights’ uniforms.

"Alright, I think we can leave on one of these."

"One?" Beatrice asked.

"I think it will be easier to hide if we leave on just one," Ryan said as he approached and the wyverns began to grow restless.

"You might be right, but... leaving them here would mean they’ll just chase us..."

"Yes, but I don’t want to kill these beautiful creatures either."

"You’re far too kind. That’s going to cost you dearly one day."

’Maybe that day has already arrived...’

She approached the wyverns.

"Don’t worry, I’ll put them to sleep with my skill."

And so she did; two of the wyverns fell asleep, looking almost as if they were dead.

"What exactly did you do?" Ryan asked with curiosity.

"I didn’t just put them to sleep. In fact, it’s a skill superior to Mana Burn; besides putting them to sleep, it drains all their energy. So even if a support or someone with relics wakes them up, they won’t be able to move or receive energy for quite a while."

She looked at him and winked.

"This way they’ll stay alive and it will give us time to escape. Isn’t that what you wanted?"

"Alright, that sounds good to me," Ryan said and walked directly toward the wyvern that remained standing.

The wyvern became agitated and spread its wings, growling fiercely at Ryan.

’I don’t have time for this.’

Ryan scolded the wyvern just like a person would scold a dog that failed to recognize its master.

The wyvern calmed down; when Beatrice saw the absurdity of the situation, she couldn’t help but laugh.

He mounted the wyvern and placed Beatrice in front of him.

With Ryan at Beatrice’s back.

Gripping the reins, the wyvern began to walk and exited the stable.

"Ryan!"

He turned around.

Karol had arrived, using her flight magic, and stood before them on top of one of the buildings.

"I know what you’re going to say, Karol, but do you really think she deserved to die like that?"

"I didn’t come to question you. If anything, I’m angry at myself for not acting in time, leaving you to carry it all on your own."

"But you helped me too, didn’t you?"

"What I did wasn’t even noticed. Everyone thought you used some kind of scroll or relic to stop Mirian’s attack..."

"But they didn’t come with you?"

"They’re angry. I didn’t know what to tell them. I’ll have to explain everything to them later, but I don’t know how they’ll take it."

She paused.

"What are you going to do now? There aren’t many places left for you to go."

Ryan didn’t answer. And Beatrice didn’t dare look at Karol.

"I knew it. This is all my fault; I only brought you more trouble," Beatrice murmured.

"That’s not true. To us, you’re a companion. Isn’t that right, Ryan?"

Beatrice, with tears in her eyes, turned to look at Karol.

And Karol spoke again.

"So stop worrying. Just trust in Ryan, and don’t cause him any trouble by trying to be suicidal along the way."

Karol raised her staff, and lightning began to spark from it.

"For now, this is the only thing I can do. Now, go!" Karol shouted. "The rest of the adventurers went to get S-rank reinforcements, and they won’t be long."

Ryan looked at Karol and shook the wyvern’s reins.

"Tell Helen and Mirian that I promise to explain everything to them. After that, I’ll accept whatever they choose to do; I’ll even put my life in their hands if necessary."

"But how do you plan to see them again?"

"That’s easy. Tell them that in ten days... I’ll be waiting for them where it all began!" Ryan shouted as the wyvern rose forcefully, stirring the surrounding air.

And once he was high enough, Karol’s attacks began to fire off. Like a rain of lightning, Ryan kept dodging in flight with the wyvern until he disappeared into the clouds.