While listening to Violet and looking at Perez, Gallahan got up from his seat.

  It was a straight, quick walk, though stumbling for a while.

  But a man was waiting for Gallahan on the road.

  It was Lord Ivan, who grew old in a few days.

  Lord Ivan talked as he approached Gallahan with a stiff complexion.

  "Si, Sir Lombardy……"

  People’s eyes were focused on the servile and shabby appearance.

  "Please, listen to me……"

  But Lord Ivan couldn’t say any more.

  It was because eyes with indescribable anger and tremendous pressure came as if they were pressing Lord Ivan.

  Gallahan did not say anything.

  He looked at Lord Ivan, who was stepping back little by little and walked back toward Perez.

  Rattle! Rattle!

  As he moves closer to Perez, Gallahan heard a mechanical repetition.

  And the moment he finally stood behind Perez, Gallahan gritted his teeth.

  Rattle dug……

  Rattle dug……

  Perez was lifting a stone with his bare hands.

  He doesn’t even have the strength to stand. He’s sitting on his knees.

  His fingertips holding the stone were already covered in blood.

  But Perez’s gaze was fixed only in the ground.

  Like he thinks he’ll see Tia when he gets there.

  "Stop, Prince."

  Gallahan said, taking a step closer.

  Perez stopped moving and slowly looked back.

  "……Gallahan Lombardy?"

  Perez’s face was even worse.

  There were small and big scratches, and his lips were cracked and blood was hardened.

  But it was Perez’s eyes that thrilled Gallahan more than that.

  Empty, unfocused, cloudy red eyes.

  His daughter has spoken before.

  The story of the first time she met Perez by chance at the Palace.

  “It was red, but it looked like a fallen leaf that seemed to crumble and disappear if you hit it, Perez at that time.”


  Perez, who sat on the ground and looked up at Gallahan, looked as if he had returned to that time.

  A small child who lived alone in the woods before meeting his daughter.

  Gallahan bent his knees, keeping Perez at eye level.

  "Yes, it’s me."

  Upon hearing the sweet voice of Gallahan, Perez’s face was distorted.

  "……Sorry. I couldn’t protect Tia."

  Perez said in a trembling voice.

  "I should have been…… With her."

  With such a murmur, Perez began to move like a machine again.

  Rattled and dug up rocks and dirt.

  "I’m sure I’ll find Tia."

  "Just……"

  Tap.

  Gallahan took Perez by the hand.

  "If Tia looks at Your Highness now, what do you think she will say?"

  Perez looked down at his body instead of answering.

  And shut up tight.

  "I think you already know the answer. You’ll probably be scolded loudly. And I’m going to get in trouble, too. What have I done without stopping you from doing this?"

  Gallahan said so and pulled the stone out of Perez’s hand.

  "You need to take a rest now."

  "I don’t want to rest……"

  "I’m not asking you to rest for your sake. It’s for Tia."

  Gallahan said firmly.

  "It is said that we need Your Highness’s Aura Sword to break the enormous rock below. That way, I can get my daughter out safely and quickly."

  "I can still use Aura."

  Perez picked up the sword that was lying next to him and blew in his mana.

  But Aura rose as feeble as a haze for a moment, not as formative as before.

  "Ah……"

  Perez looked down at his sword for a moment and said nothing.

  "Look at that. I am telling you that this is of no help to Tia."

  Gallahan raised Perez by the shoulder, speaking more strongly.

  It’s usually out of the question, but Perez came up all too easily.

  That said, he was so exhausted.

  Gallahan sighed softly and frowned.

  "We will support you."

  Before he knew it, Lombardy’s knights came to the side and said.

  The twins, Clerivan, and Violet were also together.

  Gallahan handed Perez over to the knight and spoke sternly.

  "Take a rest and join forces from now on. They say we’ll be able to remove all the rocks by tomorrow. That’s when we need His Highness."

  "But before that, you’ll need my Aura to split the big rock."

  Perez shook his head at the rocks still forming a small mountain.

  At that time, Gilliu and Mayron took off their robes and said.

  "Leave it to us."

  The two leading men simultaneously pulled out a sword from their waists.

  "Whoa……"

  And with a long breath, an Aura rose from the twins’ swords.

  It wasn’t as intense as Perez’s, but it was an aura that enveloped the blade brilliantly.1

  "We can do that much."

  "The Prince said to go and take a rest."

  Gilliu and Mayron, who said so, lowered their swords toward the rock in front of them.

  Crackle!

  There was a deep gap on the rock with slight friction.

  "This is enough to split, right?"

  Gilliu asked the workers waiting next to him.

  "Yes! No problem!"

  Those who answered vigorously followed the marks left by Aura and knocked on the hammer.

  And before long, the rock cracked with a thud.

  "Okay, see?"

  "We’ll be cleaning up the rocks, so just get rest."

  "Besides, we are two people, so we can take a break while taking turns."

  Perez looked at the twins for a moment and nodded slowly.

  And looking back at Gallahan, he said.

  "I’m not going to work anymore, I’m going to sit here and rest. Here, I feel at ease."

  "……Please do so."

  When Gallahan answered, Perez, walked straight and sat on a distant rock.

  "Food is important, Your Highness."

  Violet said, quickly handing Perez soft bread and water.

  "Eating gives you strength. You have to prepare properly to cut through that thick rock. We need to get Tia out of here."

  That’s what Gallahan said to Perez, who hesitates slightly.2

  Then Perez obediently took the bread and water.

  "Come on, get ready one more time!"

  Mayron raised an Aura by shouting loudly.

  Bang!

  Crackle!

  The scene, which had been stagnant, began to rejuvenate.

  Perez sat quietly on the rock and chewed on the bread.

  He moved his chin and gulped down the water again.

  It was only a move to conserve energy.

  Meanwhile, Perez’s gaze did not fall from a single, half-exposed rock.

  As if it had become the most important goal of his life, he constantly stared and chewed on bread.

  * * *

  Goooong. Thud.

  I woke up with a low, heavy sound.

  Ruttle!

  With a slight vibration coming from the ceiling of the carriage.

  "This…… did I hear something?"

  Fortunately, Migente Ivan woke up, as if it was only his auditory hallucination.

  "Maybe there will be another landslide?"

  "It could be, but……"

  Ruttle!.

  Another low vibration followed by a sound.

  "Whoa……"

  Migente Ivan now looked completely hopeless.

  With desperate eyes, he looked up at the ceiling where dust fell and fell asleep again.

  Now I’m almost fainting because I don’t have the power.

  I was in a bad condition as well.

  Whenever the vibration rang, I was worried about the dripping soil, but my eyes kept closing.

  If the ceiling collapses at this rate, I’ll die.

  Then it wouldn’t be bad to go without knowing anything in my sleep.

  It was time for my eyes to slowly close thinking about it.

  Whoosh!

  One side of the ceiling was crushed with an unparalleled loud noise.

  "Uh……"

  But that’s not why I was surprised.

  "……Quickly ……Lift it up!"

  "This is all…… Hurry……!"

  In the meantime, the sound began to come into the carriage, which had only been quiet.

  At the same time, my heart started pounding.

  I managed to pick myself up and start shouting at the ceiling.

  "Here! I’m here! Someone’s alive, here!"

  But the sound didn’t come out as loud as I thought.

  To make matters worse, I was exhausted and short of breath because of it.

  "Haa……"

  But I can’t give up here.

  I closed my eyes again and screamed.

  "Here! Can you hear me!"

  It doesn’t seem to work.

  Well. You can’t hear a voice like this while you’re up there……

  "Tia!"

  "Pe, Perez?"

  That’s right. Perez has far superiority in five senses than ordinary people.

  As he began to deal with Aura, he began to hear even more and louder sounds.

  At the same time, the amount of intermittent drops has increased.

  Gradually, I started to hear people’s voices better.

  I managed to reach out and wake Migente Ivan.

  "Uhhh……"

  But Migente Ivan barely opened his eyes and could not lift himself.

  I lifted the box containing chocolate cookies and shouted, hitting the wall of the carriage.

  "Here! Perez, I’m here!"

  But for a while, I was breathless and buzzing in front of my eyes.

  Eventually, I leaned my head against the wall and fought against my eyelids which kept closing.

  "Perez, Perez……"

  All I could do was call Perez by his name in a voice as big as an ant.

  "Perez, I’m here……"

  It was a moment when I thought I couldn’t beat my heavier eyelids anymore.

  Crash!

  Light poured into the carriage with heavy noise.

  Having been accustomed to darkness for a long time, I couldn’t see anything.

  But there’s only one thing.

  "Tia."

  There was a voice of Perez.

  I blindly reached out to the side where I could hear the voice, with my eyes closed to avoid the light.

  Snap.

  And there was a hand that held my hand in the air.

  The hand snatched up my body.

  And I felt Perez’s body hugging me.

  I stretched out my stuttering hand and grabbed Perez’s collar with all my might.

  "It’s okay now. It’s okay, Tia."3

  That was all he said.

  At that moment, all the tension that had been holding me up was relieved and I lost my consciousness.