31 - Chapter 31

Seeing Tarina rushing into the thick fog, Charles followed her without thinking. Before, Tarina didn’t even have the strength to speak, but now she was running as fast as a deer, and Charles didn’t dare to slow down a step, for fear that she would be lost if he hesitated.

After running out for a short while, he couldn’t hear the movement of the team on the other side. This fog not only obscured his vision, but also cut off the sound, but he didn’t want to turn back, and didn’t want to leave Tarina alone.

He ran with Tarina all the way up the hills, into the trees, stepped over the fallen dead wood…It was difficult to see the terrain in the fog, and occasionally branches rubbed him and scratched his cheeks. He didn’t know how Tarina could run so fast, she was only thirteen years old, she had never learned fighting skills, and was seriously ill…

They didn’t know how much time passed, but when Charles began to pant, Tarina finally stopped. She fell to the ground, looking around; her breathing was not disturbed.

Charles hurried forward. “Don’t be afraid, I will take you back…”

Tarina stared at him in confusion for a long time, as if temporarily forgetting who he was: “Charles? It’s you…how could you…are you the same as me?”

Charles did not understand what she wanted to ask. He carried her on his back, drew out his long sword with one hand, pushed aside the bushes, and tried to return the same way.

Tarina seemed to have recovered a little bit, and she spoke more. She repeated the question just now: “Charles, are you the same as me?”

“What? I don´t understand…”

“Did you feel it?”

Charles still didn’t understand. His younger sister hugged his neck, tilted her head to look at him, and after looking at him for a while, she assuredly said: “It doesn’t seem to be. Great, you are not sick…Why were you following me…?”

“Why were you running?” Charles said. “Of course I have to follow you, what else could I do? Could I let you run into the mountains alone?”

“Why should I run?… it’s weird, I don’t know…” Tarina’s tone contained a sadness that didn’t match her age. “Maybe because…I’m sick, Charles, I’m just like my mother. I can’t resist…it will kill me sooner or later. I will be as crazy as my mother and die alone in the mountains…”

“No, it won’t happen…” Charles comforted his sister, but he panicked. He couldn’t make out the direction in the fog, and he didn’t know whether he was walking in the right way.

The sun began to set, and the foggy forest became even darker. Tarina was crying silently on her brother’s back, her tears wetting Charles’ neck. Charles himself was very scared. He was still very young. Although he was a soldier, he hadn’t participated in any decent battle… But he could not show fear, otherwise Tarina would be even more scared.

After walking for a while, a soft light appeared in front of him. Charles approached it and found a lantern hanging on a tree trunk. There were several such lights in the distance, one hanging every few steps, pointing out a path in the dim woods.

“Maybe it’s a hunter on the mountain.” Charles was overjoyed. “Even a barbarian tent is fine… Now we are no longer fighting, it’s better to meet a barbarian than a monster.”

The road separated by the lantern was very smooth. After a short walk, a wooden hut faintly appeared at the end of the lights.

Outside the house, red and white roses were blooming in a season that doesn’t belong to them. Many chains made of animal bones, feathers and small stones hang on the walls and wooden windows, as if they can play a protective role under the eaves. The skull of a young goat was hanging in the center of the wooden door, and warm light overflowed from the crack of the door…

Either continue to explore in the woods or knock on the door for help… Charles walked over with his sister on his back. When approaching the wooden door, a breeze blew by, and the door opened with a creak.

Both Charles and Tarina looked nervously inside the room, for fear that something terrifying would take the opportunity to jump out. The stove was burning in the room, and many candles were lit on the windowsill and table. A slender figure was sitting in front of the stove, slowly stirring the stew in the small round pot with a long-handled spoon.

The man heard the movement but didn’t immediately turn his head. He put down the spoon and took off the anti-scalding cotton gloves… Charles discovered that this man had a pair of hands with slender bones and delicate skin. They were definitely not a hunter’s hands. Even most mages’ hands were not so soft and white…

The man slowly turned around, and a bright red hair appeared under the hood of his fur cloak.

“Mom?” Tarina was confused and couldn’t help but whisper.

The red-haired homeowner pursed his lips, with some embarrassment in his eyes: “I’m not your mother.”

After he spoke, Tarina shrank on Charles’s back. Of course, the owner was not her mother, this was the voice of a man. It became more obvious when he turned around completely. He was a young red-haired man, probably about the same age as Charles, but he was much slender than him, and his features were exquisite, and his skin was fair. He was not like a person who would live in a place like this.

Looking at his back and his red hair, she did not know what was going on. For a moment, Tarina thought she had seen her dead mother…His face is indeed somewhat like their mother, it doesn’t look very much the same.

Although there was a warm fire in the house, Charles did not dare to move forward easily. The beautiful red-haired boy took a few steps forward: “Good evening, you two. My name is Rosey. Maybe you have heard of this name?”

Charles tried to step back, but suddenly his legs stiffened and he couldn’t move a step.

“If you don’t know the name ‘Rosey’…” The boy walked up to Charles and looked up at him. “Then you remember who Sinig [1] is?”

Of course they remember. This is their mother’s name.

Charles just wanted to ask something more, when a rustling voice came from the forest behind him. Lanterns illuminated the night fog, and there were countless figures swaying and squatting in the fog, slowly approaching the hut. Some of them had complete bodies, some were missing some limbs or even their heads, and some had only dried bones… Obviously these were not living people.

Several corpses walked faster and more steadily than others. They quickly passed through the forest, left the mist, and stood outside the fence of the cabin. Charles recognized them; they were the dead assassins from before.

“It seems that they have not been able to bring him back.” The young man named Rosey sighed. The ‘he’ he said obviously did not refer to any corpse. “Forget it, what if I get…”

He lowered his head, his voice getting smaller and smaller, mumbling, not knowing what he was saying. Suddenly he raised his head again and looked at Tarina on Charles’s back.

“Child, I can help you.” Rosey stretched out his hand, stroking the tears of the little girl. Charles wanted to take his sister away, but he couldn’t move. “You are like your mother, and like me, you have the innate ability to manipulate elements. It’s a pity that your brothers have not inherited this kind of talent… Now it must be very painful to you, the magic disturbance is raging on you, and it may tear you to pieces at any time… Do you want to recover? Do you want to live?”

The little girl nodded in a daze, she didn’t know if she really understood or was so scared that she couldn’t speak.

Rosey raised the corner of his mouth and looked at her with admiration: “Generally, a sorceress like you can no longer be saved…But now the situation is different. I have mastered elements that do not exist in this world. It has healed my pain, washed my soul, and delivered me an endless stream of great power…Come on.” He walked to Charles and reached out to Tarina. “Come into the house with me. As soon as you walk in, the pain will be relieved immediately, and I will continue to teach you some skills to help you get rid of this torture completely.”

Charles could not move, but Tarina moved freely. With the help of Rosey, she hesitantly crawled down Charles’s back and looked at the corpse in the fog from time to time, her eyes full of fear.

Rosey helped her into the house. Just as he was about to close the door, Tarina rushed to stop him: “Wait! You…what are you going to do?”

“Little girl.” Said Rosey with a gentle smile. “I can save you, but only you. Look at the puppets outside. They’re like an army. Your father also has an army. Does he have to have the army drill regularly? Is it necessary to pay the soldiers? I do the same with these corpses. The elements of the outside world make them yearn for violence and blood. Since they gather here obediently, I must give them some rewards to satisfy their desire a little bit.”

He was talking to Tarina, but his eyes were on Charles: “My child, as long as you come with me, I will love you like Sinig. I will help you maintain your body and restore your health, and teach you to control the elements…In the future, you will no longer be a weak little girl, you will become a better spellcaster than me. If you don’t like this kind of life in deep mountains and old forests, you can also return to Silver Falcon…By that time, you will be the only mistress of Silver Falcon.”

“Then… What about Charles?” Tarina clutched the wooden door tightly.

“He must stay outside.” Rosey said coldly. “I have had close blood relatives, and I can understand your feelings… But no matter how close you are, I only want you. If you want to live, you must let him stay outside.”

Before Tarina answered, Charles said: “Are you telling the truth? You really…Can you save Tarina?”

Rosey looked at him provocatively: “What I said is true. In fact, I can kill both of you. What’s the point of deceiving you under such a huge advantage?”

Charles lowered his eyes and looked at Tarina beside the door. She also looked at him, tears in her bloodshot eyes.

“Tarina, follow him in.” Charles said.

It took him a lot of strength to make the sword in his hand move, pretending that he could still fight.

“Follow him in… I’m not afraid of those corpses. I am a soldier; you should know how good I am. Besides, even if there are too many of them, and I can’t beat them, at least I can run away! I can kill several corpses first, and if the situation is not good, I will escape to find more people…”

Tarina shook her head, wiped away her tears, let go of the wooden door, and stood swaying outside the door, leaning against her brother.

Rosey squinted impatiently: “Little girl, I said I only want you.”

“Then…Isn’t it alright if I’m not alive?” Tarina sobbed. “Anyway, I’ve long felt I’m going to die… I’ve always felt that way since I was a kid. I’m not strong enough, and not beautiful enough, I’m stupid, my body is bad, I was stung by a durian… Yesterday, I thought I was going to die soon! Anyway, it’s a matter of time before I die… It’s okay, you don’t need to save me, just let Charles and I die outside to feed your army!”

“Tarina!” Charles was anxious and sad.

The girl glanced at the walking corpses in the fog, then raised her head to look at Charles. “Although I was young at that time, I remember it clearly… Mom once said to us…”

Charles took her words in a daze: “She said…brothers and sisters should be together forever…”

Tarina nodded firmly: “As long as we live, we will always be together.”

There was a crash in the door. Rosey stepped back pale, hitting the corner of the table with his back. The glass on the table broke to the ground, and the candle almost overturned.

The siblings looked at him fearfully and suspiciously. Why is this vicious red-haired man suddenly panicked?

At this time, a white light suddenly appeared in the forest. It was bright but not dazzling, penetrating the darkness like the brilliance of a full moon. At the same time, a blast of wind tore apart the dense fog, creating an airy area near the hut. The corpses gathered here became restless, some ran to the depths of the woods, and some instinctively faced the enemies that appeared.

In the distance came the sound of horseshoes, roars, vague curses… and sporadic screams. The scream was very familiar, it should be the pale elf.

The shackles on Charles suddenly disappeared. He hugged Tarina by his side and rushed into the house with his sword… Now there was no one in the house, and the red-haired man disappeared without a trace.

“Sir Charles, Miss Tarina!” Burris ran in with blood on his face and hands, followed by Roth.

“You…what’s wrong with you?” Tarina was startled by his face.

“Oh, I’m all right.” The mage kept a little distance from her. “I was knocked by a carriage before… people’s scalp bleeds easily, it looks scary, but the wound is very small.”

With that said, he wiped a bit of blood that was about to be dried off and dipped his finger into a small tin box. After the blood and the ointment of his fingertips were fused together, he raised his hand and gestured a few invisible runes in the air.

“The Red Vulture ran away, and it was quite far.” The mage shook his head, “For a warlock, his reaction is very rare…”

“The Red vulture?” Charles and Tarina looked at each other.

Burris frowned: “What? Didn’t you meet him?”

Although Tarina was young, she knew that this person cursed her to be stabbed to death by durian. But… there is something that she and Charles didn’t know: “Your Excellency, that Red Vulture…what is his name?”

Burris didn’t know. Roth was very good at finding out gossips, mastering the details and so on: “I know. The Red Vulture’s name is Rosey Green.”

Meanwhile, Rosey Green regained consciousness from the spell’s vertigo and fell into a dark alley.

We will be together forever.

As long as we live, we must be together forever.

He knelt on the ground, holding his shoulders, trembling and crying, repeating these two sentences.

Translation notes:

丝妮格 : Her name could be Sinig, Sinige or another variant. I’m not sure if this name is made up by the author, but please, tell me any suggestion. I know I’m probably butchering the names here 🙁