Chapter 58

Word count (including spaces and line breaks): 2391 characters

Word count (excluding spaces and line breaks): 2250 characters

Sorry for the shortness.

Neet, entrusted with the letter, let out a cry as if to say, "Leave it to me," and flapped its wings vigorously before taking off. The deep green body of Neet gradually receded and merged into the darkness before dawn. After seeing it off, Johan turned his gaze back to the ground and noticed that the evacuation had progressed significantly since earlier.

A stable boy approached Johan to report.

"Sir, we're about to set off with the carriage."

"How many children and women are left in the village?"

"Just the young ladies. We'll depart as soon as they board."

"Understood. Thank you for your hard work."

The Oblaire family, while noble, is not of great stature. Therefore, they do not own a luxurious carriage like those of the dukes, and the Oblaire family members had to evacuate with the villagers in a common carriage. The carriage was requisitioned from a merchant who had been staying in the village. It was a cargo carriage with a canopy, but it lacked any shock-absorbing boards or soft cushioned seats. The carriage was packed with village women and children.

"Alright, Emilia, Aria, hold on tight."

He handed the adopted sisters he was carrying to his wife, Katia, who had already boarded the carriage. With this, all the women of the Oblaire family were on board.

"Alright, no other children or women are left... We can go!"

He signaled the driver, and the carriage began to move, the wheels creaking.

Inside the moving carriage, surrounded by village women and children of her age, Aria, the youngest sister of the Oblaire family, asked her sisters a question.

"Where are we all going?"

"A dangerous monster is coming, so we're evacuating."

"Evacuating?"

"We're going on a trip far away."

The sisters gently explained to Aria, who was still young and didn't understand the situation. Aria, held in Katia's arms, played with her hair accessory and tilted her head again.

"Everyone... but what about the boys?"

In the carriage, there was no sign of her father, her brother Johan, or Nod, the new brother she had met this year.

"Father and Johan are still in the village. Nod will... come later."

Katia, holding Aria, hesitated slightly when she mentioned Nod's name. In the Oblaire manor, Katia had overheard a conversation between her father and husband. A powerful monster had settled deep in the forest and was forming a pack. There was a high possibility that it would spill out of the forest and attack Alba Village. And in that dangerous forest, the young boy who was her step-brother was still left behind. Katia, born as a knight's daughter and now a wife, understood what this meant.

She unconsciously tightened her grip on Aria, as if to dispel the anxiety that crossed her mind.

"Ow, it hurts!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Aria."

She reflexively loosened her arms at the sound from her arms. Just as she was about to ask if Aria was okay—

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

The carriage wheels must have hit a pothole. The carriage jolted violently, and the people on the cargo bed screamed.

"My hair accessory!"

She realized Aria, who had been in her arms, was gone. She quickly followed the sound with her eyes and saw Aria trying to run out of the carriage.

"No!!"

A scream escaped Katia's lips. She reached out to grab her sister, but her hand only grasped air. She visualized Aria falling off the moving carriage, chasing after the dropped hair accessory, and her entire body shuddered.

"Dangerous!"

"Ah!"

Fortunately, Aria did not fall off the carriage. A woman behind her had quickly grabbed Aria. Katia hurriedly ran to her sister, thanked the woman, and hugged Aria.

"That was dangerous, Aria!"

"Aww, my hair accessory..."

Scolding her had no effect. Aria was still reaching out of the carriage, tears in her eyes from losing her hair accessory.

"Little kids should move to the front of the carriage so they don't fall off."

"I'm sorry..."

Together with the other children, they moved Aria to the back of the carriage.

"You have to stay still!"

"But my hair accessory fell... waaah!"

"Alright, here, take my hair accessory and stop crying."

To calm Aria, who was crying and whining, Katia removed the hair accessory from her own hair and gave it to Aria.

"That's not the one... Aria's was given by her brother."

Then she realized that the hair accessory Aria had been holding was the one given to her by her step-brother at the pre-festival of the Spirit Festival. She had left hers behind in the manor.

"Franca, do you have the hair accessory Nod gave you?"

"Wait a moment... here it is."

"Thank you..."

Franca, the second daughter, removed the hair accessory from her own hair and handed it to Aria. With this, Aria finally stopped crying.

Finally, she stopped crying... Katia, feeling a wave of exhaustion, sat down on the cargo bed and held Aria tightly to prevent her from escaping again. She then glanced back at the rear of the carriage.

The darkness still stretched out behind the carriage, seemingly ready to swallow everything. Aria's hair accessory had been swallowed by the darkness and was now lost.

He said the story would move forward next time. That was a lie.

Well, to be honest, I just wanted to write the final scene... I wonder if this was necessary.

Next time, the story will definitely move forward.

The following is a plug (shameless plug):

A comic adaptation of my work, "The Adventures of the Poor Noble Nod," is currently serialized on Comic Earth Star. For more details, please see the activity report titled "Comic Adaptation!"