TMKWPL CH 21

Chapter 21

• ────── ✦ ────── •

Summoning the Black Hounds

The child had not been kidnapped. Lucia was at a distance where she would have noticed even the slightest presence of an intruder.

But, why did she run off on her own?

Lucia didn't have time to unravel the question. Sweat beaded on her forehead for the first time in ages as she scanned her surroundings. While she knew the city map perfectly as an Imperial Knight, searching every inch of the maze-like alleys alone was a daunting task.

"This is madness."

How desperately must that slow-moving child have run to vanish in the blink of an eye? Any parent who has lost a child for even a second understands how fast that blink can be. Even the legendary commander Lucia was no different in that regard, though her method of handling it was certainly unique.

Rip. Tear.

She grabbed the puff of her sleeve and tore it away as easily as if it were paper. Without hesitation, she picked up a sharp stone and sliced it across her forearm. It wasn't a deep wound, but it was wide enough that blood began to drip onto the tips of her shoes.

Lucia closed her eyes and began counting.

 … 88, 89, 90...

Exactly one minute and thirty seconds after she began counting, the thunderous sound of galloping hooves echoed from the distance.

Soon, familiar faces appeared. Berl, Vernon, Giliana, and Heath led the charge. They leaped from their horses and knelt before Lucia. Vernon, Giliana, and Heath looked particularly ridiculous, they were still wearing their aprons, having been in the middle of a deep clean at the lodging when they were summoned.

“The Black Knights have arrived. We apologize for the delay.”

Berle steadied his ragged breathing and bowed formally. They must’ve used a teleportation scroll and then sprinted the rest of the way because the coordinates weren't exact. The other members bowed their heads, their eyes frantically checking their commander for injuries.

Lucia showed them the sharp stone and the wound on her arm. She was making it clear that she had harmed herself. The knights let out a collective sigh of relief. They were able to find her because of a tracking spell placed only on the five Great Commanders of the Eldarion Empire.

If a commander is injured or killed, the red jewel on their uniform turns black, alerting their entire division to their location. It was a crude, brutal method, but effective for high-ranking officers likely to be ambushed during war.

“We have no time. Find a five-year-old child with black hair in this area.”

The knights who knew of Nia's existence were visibly shocked. They began scouring the area immediately, but as Lucia had noted, the child was nowhere to be seen.

“Commander, did you... lose the child?”

Berl asked, sounding as if he couldn't believe it. Lucia nodded with a grim expression.

“Fire a signal flare when you find her.”

Vernon and Giliana clearly wanted to say more, but they couldn't bring themselves to approach her while she was radiating such an intimidating aura. The Black Hounds began to flood the narrow alleys, just as they once turned battlefields black with their presence.

Shortly after, a signal flare bloomed in the clear sky.

• ───────── ☽༓☾ ───────── •

Lucia arrived at the end of a narrow alley to find her knights gathered in a dense circle.

“Commander! The child is safe! But...”

“Captain! This girl won't let go of her!”

The relaxed atmosphere told Lucia that Nia was indeed unharmed, but she had to see for herself.

“Move.”

The knights scrambled to clear a path. In the centre of the circle was a young girl, glaring at the knights like a feral cat protecting its kitten.

She was one of the pickpockets from earlier

Nia had recognized the girl and followed her. Without a word, Lucia reached out and pressed a pressure point on the girl's neck, knocking her unconscious.

“C-Commander?! What did you just do to the child?!”

“I’m checking Nia first.”

Berl and a few others tried to stop her, but it was too late. Lucia understood their hesitation. To them, it felt like they were tearing a kitten away from its mother. But, Lucia didn't know the girl's true intentions and she couldn't risk Nia's safety.

She handed the unconscious girl to them and checked Nia's condition. Her breathing was normal and she had no fever. Aside from a small scratch on her knee, she had simply fainted from shock.

Lucia’s stiff expression finally softened and let out a small sigh.

“I’ll issue rewards once I officially return to duty.”

“Thank you, Commander Lucia!”

The knights roared, their cheers echoing through the sky. Still, Berle and Heath approached her with worried faces.

“Commander, you need to treat that wound.”

“Blood...”

Heath whispered.

“It’s fine. Report the situation. What happened here?”

They were in a small clearing at the end of the maze. The other street children had already fled, leaving behind only the body of a man with a knife buried in his forehead.

“Yes, Commander, from what we gathered, the leader of the pickpockets tried to kidnap the young lady for human trafficking, but he died before we could obtain further information. The guards will have to investigate.”

Berl shot a sharp look at three of the knights, who began to sweat. While they were behaving themselves now, these men were notorious troublemakers. Vernon and Giliana had once been high-ranking members of a dark guild. Hesitation to kill was not in their nature.

Lucia’s face darkened, she would have to write an incident report. The nightmare of paperwork, which she hated more than anything, was resurfacing. The knights, seeing her expression, began to look like frightened children, fearing they might be forced to run laps around the training grounds all day.

“Good job, as long as the child is safe, that's what matters.”

They all doubted their ears. This wasn't the commander they knew. She had never wounded herself to call them before, nor had she ever offered a word of praise. The knights exchanged glances.

Becoming a parent really does change a person.

As they nodded warmly to each other, Lucia looked at the dead man with cold eyes. The man was lucky to be dead. If she had caught him alive, the leader of these troublemakers would have shown him a level of cruelty that a mere incident report could never describe.

• ───────── ☽༓☾ ───────── •

Back at the lodging, Lucia laid the two unconscious children on the sofa. Soon after, Nia blinked her eyes open.

“Ugh...”

As soon as she woke, Nia clung to Lucia as if escaping a nightmare.

“Waaaaah!”

She sobbed into Lucia’s arms, refusing to let go. Though flustered, Lucia calmly patted the child’s back.

“You must have been scared.”

At Lucia’s gentle tone, Nia lifted her tear-streaked face. Her face was a mess of emotions.

“N-Nia was bad! I saw big sister and ran to her! But then Mommy wasn't there! Waaaaah!”

With her messy hair, tear-streaked face, and runny nose, she looked like a little beggar, which made Lucia smile. She didn't look much better either: her blouse was torn, she was covered in blood and sweat, and she looked like she'd been through a war.

Surprisingly, she wasn't angry that Nia had disappeared. She was just relieved. When Nia’s sobbing finally quieted, Lucia held her at eye level.

“Nia, wherever you want to go, let’s go together next time.”

Lucia wiped the tears from the child's face. Nia leaned into the warmth, but then her eyes widened. “M-Mommy... blood! There's blood here!”

“Oh.”

Nia began to gasp for air.

“It's... it's because of Nia. Because Nia was caught by the mister... Nia caused this...”

The shock triggered a memory of the warehouse. On days when her divine power wouldn't manifest, she was whipped without mercy. Blood followed after the tears. If she was lucky enough to manifest her power, the wounds healed, but otherwise, they would fester until she ran a fever.

Even so, Nia had hated using her divine powers. To her, it was just a way to wipe the slate clean so there was room for tomorrow's wounds.

Lucia stroked her hair.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I did this to myself.”

“Mommy did...?”

Nia looked at her in disbelief. Lucia smiled to reassure her, but the child continued to mutter.

“Why did you do that? This hurts a lot. You can't do this anymore, okay?”

“I'm fine. It doesn't hurt. I did it to protect you.”

Nia froze.

 “To... protect Nia?”

Her mother hadn't been hurt because of her. Her mother had accepted a wound to protect her. The distinction was small, but it resonated deeply in Nia’s heart.

Nia closed her eyes. She began to pray desperately to heal the wound before her. This wasn't a prayer to survive until tomorrow; it was a prayer of a different kind.

Please let Nia protect mommy, too.

A light brighter than ever before gathered in the child’s hands. A soft, white sphere shimmering with gold seeped into Lucia’s arm. Nia, who had only ever used her power on herself or let it leak out aimlessly, had used her strength for someone else for the first time. Lucia, who knew that using divine power on others required intense training, was paralyzed by the strange warmth.

Perhaps it was too much for her first time. Nia slumped back into Lucia’s arms and fell into a deep sleep.

“I knew it.”

A raspy voice made Lucia turn her head. Mia, who had been lying on the sofa, was awake and glaring at her like a cat with its fur standing on end.

Chapter 20

Chapter List

Chapter 22