After the Rain (6)
* * *
Boom!
The boy’s body flew upon the impact to his side. The sudden hit to his vitals made him choke.
However, something was strange.
An attack from a demonic beast shouldn’t have been such a blunt blow, but a flesh-splitting attack.
He looked down at his side.
‘Hair?’
Long blonde hair fluttered in the wind.
An unknown girl was hugging his wait tightly. She was hovering in the air and looked like she was about to fall.
He reflexively pulled the girl’s body into his arms and covered her. Since he was holding her, he couldn’t manage his fall.
To minimize his impact, the boy fell onto his back and rolled his body.
At the same time, the sharp demon claw hit where the boy was initially standing.
Seeing that, the boy turned to the girl in his arms.
He couldn’t see her face since her head was buried in his chest but from her physique, she seemed like a very young child.
And it seems he was able to avoid that attack because this child threw herself on him.
《…》
A doubtful expression arose on his face.
Was it possible for a child like this to not only push him, but push him hard enough to float in the air?
The girl was small and light, and maybe he was exaggerating but she looked like she would be blown away by the wind.
Furthermore, why exactly was a young child in the demonic beast plain, where civilians were prohibited from entering…?
The boy had moved around cautiously for several days, but he hadn’t seen a single human shadow.
In the battle just now, he was on guard for any movement in any direction but he hadn’t felt any present.
Yet, this girl appeared, as if coming out of thin air—.
At that moment, the girl suddenly raised her head.
The boy’s eyes grew wide at her completely unexpected appearance.
《Dodge.》
She spoke.
His body responded before he could even process what she said.
The boy rolled across the floor while hugging the girl tightly. The demonic beast’s claw slammed on the ground, ripping it apart.
《From right.》
The girl whispered.
With not even a chance to think, the boy dodged to the left.
《From front and back!》
He hugged the girl tighter and used the flexibility of his body to soar upwards.
In an instant, some distance was made from the demonic beasts.
Dealing with the beasts alone was already difficult, and he certainly couldn’t fight while carrying a child.
Even now, he was too occupied with dodging, let alone making a counterattack.
For now, the first thing he had to do was to get away from here and get the girl to a safe location.
‘…But I don’t think there’s anywhere safe here.’
The boy started running with the girl in his arms.
《It will catch up.》
The girl looked up at him and said.
The boy looked into the girl’s eyes.
Strangely, it didn’t seem like she was saying the demonic beasts might catch up soon because they were moving fast.
It felt like she was talking about what happens next.
Come to think of it, it felt like that earlier too.
She wasn’t reading the movement of the beasts and telling him where to attack, rather it was more like she was reading their movements first…
《Leave me and go》
The girl’s words interrupted the boy’s thoughts.
He looked down at her, wondering if he had heard right.
The girl had a calm expression. Her expression was very much unlike a child.
The boy had often heard that he was not like his peers, but this girl was worse.
This little girl was telling him, with all her sincerity, to sacrifice her and survive.
Eventually, his face distorted, and he couldn’t help but retort with a growl.
《 What?》
《 You think I’m suspicious anyway.》
At those words, the boy’s face darkened even more.
《 Shut up before I cut your tongue.》
After spitting those words, he increased his speed.
The distance between them and the demonic beasts chasing them began to widen.
The girl looked stiffly at the boy for a moment, then she looked down.
The images that had floated in front of her earlier like predictions, scattered and disappeared into thin air.
Even she didn’t know what was going to happen now.
She looked down at her body and gripped her fluttering hair.
‘Blonde…’
Her hair was originally silver.
‘It feels like my body though…’
Although she couldn’t see it, her eyes, nose, and mouth felt like they were handing in the right places; it didn’t feel awkward.
Her limbs were also a familiar length and shape.
‘Is this a dream after all?’
Or perhaps as the holder of the Monarch’s Sight, she was bound to see something else, rather than her life flashing before her eyes.
Or maybe this was the afterlife.
In the first place, it didn’t make sense for her body to be sucked into the mirrored water surface.
Her whole body felt light.
The ear-splitting headache, and the pain gnawing at her limbs were all gone.
As if all that pain was an imagination.
Or, like this entire moment was an imagination.
Aristine pondered for a while, then raised her head to look at boy.
His teeth were clenched, and he was running.
‘He has a higher chance of surviving if he left me though.’
No matter how much distance he made from the demonic beasts, the boy’s stamina was not infinite.
Right then, the boy hid behind a large rock.
Even as he pressed her down, Aristine opened her mouth.
《 They will detect our presence or smell.》
She knew that even if she couldn’t see the future right now.
《 Shh.》
The boy covered Aristine with his body. Then a thin golden aura spread over him.
He seemed to be suppressing their presence with aura.
Aristine looked at the boy with surprise.
The boy had a big physique, but his face was still that of a child’s. She couldn’t tell his exact age because they were different races, but she didn’t think he was that old.
But to think he had aura at such an age.
That was incredible talent.
She didn’t know because he hadn’t used aura in his fight with the demonic beasts earlier.
Before long, the demonic beasts appeared.
They kept running along their path without any suspicion.
When they passed by the rock, they was so close that she could feel the ground shake.
However, the demonic beasts never noticed the humans hiding behind the rock.
Even after the beasts were completely gone, the boy didn’t withdraw the shield until after a good while.
He looked a little tired.
《 Are you okay?》
When Aristine asked, the boy turned to her.
For the first time, the eyes of the boy and the girl met properly.
The two looked into each other’s eyes and for a while, they both forgot how to speak.
The girl lay against the grass of the plains and the rock while the boy lay low on top of her, in a protective stance.
A nervous, trembling breath escaped their lips.
Neither the boy nor the girl, had ever been this close to another person.
wewwweww so young but their lovelife is much more blooming then when I was their age HAHAHAHA
anyway cutie babies 💕
thank you for the translation 🙇🙇
lmfaoooo their child selves sure got closer faster than their older selves… nothing like a near-death experience ig
“He couldn’t see her face since her head was buried in his chest”
… is this how Aristine’s obsession with Tarkan’s chest began??
Tarkan’s first love is really her, I thought the blonde girl (Aristine sister) impersonate Aristine to make it look like she’s the one who save’s Tarkan. Really not aware Aristine can change her hair color… 😊