INTERLUDE 5: PRINCESS FALL (Patreon)
Content
"Princess! Run!"
A young blue-haired girl was running with a blank expression on her face. She was wearing a bright white and red kimono filled with jewels.
Despite her clearly expensive clothes that would make anyone envious, the situation she was in wasn't something to be envious of. After all, she was fleeing.
Under the light of the moon, the princess was being pulled by one of her kunoichis. Despite that, she would sometimes look behind her in dismay.
In her eyes, the reflection of the burning castle and the golden lightning falling like the Wrath of the Heavens was being seared in her young mind.
High in the sky, three large wolves that were at least four meters tall, two with beautiful golden fur and another one with a deep blue color could be seen fighting. The result of this fight being of apocalyptic proportion. Lightning flashed and storms gathered. Nothing in a kilometer radius aside from the burning castle was still standing.
"Father."
Murmuring under her breath, tears began to gather and her blank expression was replaced by one filled with sorrow.
"Father and mother will win, right!?"
She couldn't help but ask one of the women who were pulling her. It was difficult to see their faces under their black clothes, but she knew them for as long as she could remember and trusted them deeply.
The one pulling her had an expression of pain and sorrow flashing in her eyes. She wanted to say some kind words. Something to give hope to the princess she swore to protect. But–
"Princess, you must be strong. His majesty and the queen are fighting to give us enough time to flee."
Those words broke the little girl's heart. Despite her young age, she could understand the hidden meaning in those words.
Closing her eyes to stop her tears from falling down, she nodded her head and continued running.
She swore in her heart to one day come back and avenge her family.
----
[A few days later.]
'I am thirsty.'
A little girl was trudging under the merciless light of the sun.
Her body was covered in dried blood and mud. Her eyes were lifeless with dark circles around them. Her stomach was growling and complaining.
No one seeing her right now would believe that she was Setsuna Ira, the princess of the Wratharis Republic.
Even now, she herself couldn't believe how her life came crashing down.
All of this began when her uncle suddenly obtained a blessing, making him try to claim the throne.
In this world, only a Blessed one could become a king. Meaning, in the situation where more than one Blessed existed in the same zone, they had to fight for ownership.
After getting his blessing, her uncle, who she believed was so kind he wouldn't hurt a bug began to show his true face. His power had grown by leaps and bounds after he evolved from a blue wolf to a lightning wolf.
'Papa, Mama, Mio, Kio. I miss you so much.'
After fleeing from the zone of the battle, they had begun walking towards the elven forest. The elf race forest was a zone where absolutely no strife of human nature was allowed. Her servant planned to seek asylum.
Sadly, nothing happened as it should have.
Mio and Kio used themselves as bait and their fate was unknown. As for the remaining servants, most of them had fled while some of the other betrayed her and decided to sell her as a slave to the demons or her uncle. She could only flee in despair and now she didn't even know where she was.
Currently, even though her mind was muddled by the pain, anger, lack of blood, hunger, and sadness, she still continued to walk.
She didn't know where she was going.
She didn't know if she would die on the road and have her body serve as a meal for the hyenas.
But, even though her future seemed bleaker and bleaker, she continued to walk.
She knew that if she stopped even once, she would never be able to continue walking.
She didn't want to die.
She refused to die.
If she died, all the people who sacrificed themselves for her would have died in vain.
She refused to accept such a truth.
Right now, even as the soles of her feet cracked and began to bleed again, she did not pay attention to any of it.
---
The few days that followed were much of the same. The only difference was that she had to meet humans for the first time.
Sadly, it wasn't a pleasant meeting. After all, they were bandits.
They had attacked her, hoping to capture her and use her before selling her as a slave.
They would have succeeded if only they didn't underestimate her. After all, even though she was weak and tired, a wolf only became more dangerous in such situations
On that day, for the first time, she took a life.
It was something far easier than she thought it was. Life was so fragile. It was a reality she understood after all the events that happened to her.
The meeting with those bandits wasn't all bad thankfully. Thanks to that, she was able to use the food they had in their reserve.
It was disgusting and dirty. Something she would have never eaten nor even thrown a look at in the past, but right now she was eating it with relish as if it was the greatest food in the world.
---
A few days later, she finally reached a city. Her looks, completely different. Her hair was spiky and uncared for. Some of the last jewels she had hung around her neck. But they were so dirty no one could guess their values. She had used the clothes of some female bandits she killed in the past few days during her hunt for more food and torn them before adjusting the size.
Thanks to the money she had accumulated from all those bandit nests she wiped out, she had accumulated enough money to take a carriage that would smuggle her toward the capital. As of now, her only way was to take asylum in the church of Castitas or the royal family.
She didn't know why no one pursued her lately but she didn't want to leave anything to chance.
What after she obtained asylum? She didn't know. She doubted they would be willing to go to war because of her. As such there was only one way.
"I need to become stronger."