"Anna, where are Ghislaine and the wizard?!" asked a boy, defending himself from a man's blow before slashing his arm and then being burned by a fireball.
"I don't know, they should be here!" I replied, defending a girl from being hit by a dagger that was heading straight for her head.
The boy was right. Several minutes had passed since they, along with Conan and the others, had been dragged away by the woman. Even though I don't want them to die, I know how strong that woman is, and even though we are now able to defend ourselves against these guys, we are not strong enough to win fairly, I thought. I lunged at the man who had thrown his dagger, kicking him hard to push him away before joining the others in a group so we could help each other.
Together with the others, we managed to defend ourselves and kill the men one by one, repeating this process until only a couple of them remained. Seeing that they were the only ones left alive, they decided to run for their lives instead of continuing a fight they knew they would lose.
Seeing them flee, everyone decided to let them go, focusing on healing and helping the wounded, covering them with pieces we cut from our own clothes. While the others helped each other, Jumyeong and I went to where Conan and the others might be, surprised by what we saw.
There were the bodies of the boys, with blood spattered on the ground, and a few meters away from them, Conan, with tears in his eyes and dirty clothes, cutting the woman's arm in a swift movement before falling to the ground unconscious. Seeing this, neither of us wasted any time, and seeing that the woman was still standing, we lunged at her like rabid dogs, plunging both weapons into her body.
"Even though Conan did a good job, I'll be the one to kill you!" I said, swinging his sword and cutting off a piece of the woman's body.
She fell to the ground, her eyes about to close, and looked at me and Jumyeong before saying with a smile "You were able to keep the promise you made to your companions, weren't you?" the woman asked in a mocking tone. When I heard what she said, I gripped my sword with fury, cutting off the woman's head with one swift movement
"Let's help them, they can still live," said Jumyeong, running towards the wizard, who was in the worst condition due to the severity and duration of the attack he had suffered.
"Yes, let's do it," I replied, going to Ghislaine to cover her wounds with cloth. "Let's do it improvised. After we get out of here, we'll help them properly," I said to Jumyeong as I put Ghislaine on my back and carried her to the others.
Once we all gathered and covered everyone's wounds or bruises, we went outside, taking a deep breath as we smelled the fresh air. Having managed to escape, even with several lives lost, felt good and refreshing. As we walked, I could hear sobbing and laughter. Looking back, I saw that all the children had tears streaming down their faces, and the other kids were joining them, getting so emotional that they broke down. At the same time, I could hear one of them shouting at the top of his lungs,
"We finally escaped!" he shouted, collapsing on the ground while crying.
Seeing everyone get emotional, I couldn't pretend to be strong and cried too, smiling as I felt the happiness of escaping alive flood every part of my body.
<<<>>>
Feeling my face covered in water, I woke up, standing up and alert. Looking around, I saw the other children and kids sitting around a campfire. I was surprised to see them and stared at them when, suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm. Turning around, I saw Anna, holding a piece of wood.
"You're finally awake. You're the last one to do so. Even Ghislaine, who is in worse shape, woke up before you," she said in a mocking tone as she smiled at me.
"An-Anna...? Where are we? Did the woman and the men die? How did we escape?" I asked her quickly.
"You seem to be fine, considering all your questions, but to answer you, We managed to escape, and now we're just getting as far away from that place as possible," she said, pointing to one side, and I could see a large house in the distance, which I guessed was the slave farm. "And yes, the woman and the men died. I killed the woman," she said with a proud smile on her face as she put her hand on her chest.
I couldn't help but be happy to hear Anna's good news, causing me to smile knowing that we had managed to escape. At that moment, I remembered that the others had been attacked, so I asked Anna, "Are the wizard boy and the other one who used a sword okay?" As I spoke, I looked around, hoping to find them. Although Anna told me that Ghislaine was fine, she didn't say the same for the others.
"I thought it was strange that you didn't ask about them, but yes, they're both fine. The wizard, whose name is Oswin, is fine, although a sword pierced him, it didn't hurt him significantly, and the swordsman named Cyril is also fine. He fainted from exhaustion, so it's not serious," he told me, walking toward the circle where the others were gathered.
There I could see Oswin and Cyril eating what looked like fruit. When they saw me, they both raised their hands and greeted me with a smile. "Conan, you're finally awake," Cyril said, smiling at me. "Hey, Anna told us that you almost defeated that woman. It seems that the pain was not in vain," Oswin said as he lifted his clothes and I could see bloody fabric that disgusted me when I saw it.
"Conan, for now we're going to keep walking. We're just taking a break, so let me know if anything hurts," someone said from behind me as they put a hand on my shoulder. When I turned around, I saw Ghislaine, with some leaves on her chest, trying to hide her body.
"All right, I'll rest until it's time to go," I said, walking over to the others and sitting down with them to talk, still with a silly smile on my face.