"N-nagi... We're going to be alright, right?"

"I-I don't know, but it w-will be fine."

Millie, who was beside me, held my clothes as her hands were shaking non-stop. Her lips were trembling, and she was sweating a lot too. It can't be helped that she was afraid as I was not different from her.

I looked at my two hands, who won't stop shaking in fear while having goosebumps all over my body. My legs were trembling and can't exert any power to move at all.

I'm scared. What should I do? Should we escape now? Should we stay here? Are we going to survive this? There's nothing like this back on earth! Why is this happening to us! Different thoughts started to flow in my mind from the combination of fear and panic.

Tu-tump... Tu-tump... Tu-tump...

My chest became tight as it became started to breathe. My heart was beating so fast that I could even hear its beat. Ack. My chest hurts, but my heart won't stop beating so fast.

"gi!.. Na... Nagi!"

"Pant... Pant... Pant... Y-yes?."

"Nagi! A-are you okay? You look like you’re in pain."

When I looked at Millie, whose eyes were red from crying earlier, I realized that my hands were already in my head, and I was making a terrible expression right now. My heartbeat started to slow down a little bit. I bit my lips, and the pain from it made me come back to reality.

"Don't worry. I'm fine now."

How come everything became like this? It started after Sylphie departed. Several days have passed since then, and everything was still normal, where I continued my daily routine of collecting some herbs as part of my job while waiting for her return.

At that time, it was already afternoon, and my job was already done. I was about to come back to the inn to eat and clean myself when everyone heard the sound of the bell.

At that moment, soldiers started to run in the direction of the gates while the other people hurriedly went back to their houses and locked their doors and windows.

Everything happened so fast that I wasn't able to react. In a split second, everyone was already gone in the streets. Soon, I saw adventurers were also rushing towards the gate.

"Hello, can you tell me what is happening right now?" I stopped one of the adventurers who were in my front and asked him.

"You don't know? Well, whatever. It's the alarm sound when a monster is spotted near the walls. Don't worry, we will deal with it, so go back to your house and wait for the good news!"

Several hours since then, and right now, what I saw in front of my eyes was hell. The reassurance that adventurer said earlier was gone in a blink of an eye.

In the night, which only the moon illuminates the dark, the houses covered in fires lit this hellish and long night where the peaceful lives earlier were like an illusion.

On the road, monsters were roaming freely, searching for people to devour.

"Ahh—"

"NOOooo"

"H-Help me... SoMEoNE!"

"Mother! AnyonE, PLeASe, saVe my moTHer!"

The scream of a person was on their last breath begging for mercy and asking for help can be heard in every direction.

Bang!

Out of nowhere, the front door opened hurriedly by the two people covered in wounds and blood all over the body. Anyone can see that both of them are heavily tired as they are catching their breath.

"Please, somebody! Please help us!"

The mother was panicking, and she started to shout non-stop.

Howl!

"M-mom... t-they're already h-here..."

Little by little, a footstep was heard coming from outside. The sound was irregular as the one coming from the outside had many legs, and soon it made its entrance. It was a four-legged beast.

"NO! Don't come near us! Someone please... please help us! No, even my daughter is fine, so, please..."

The mother was crying while hugging her daughter, trying to protect her from the beast, but the beast didn't stop as it continued to walk to them slowly.

Its saliva was drooling as it only saw the mother and daughter in front of it as food. There was no compassion or mercy from it as the beast wasn't capable of such emotions in the first place, and it was only following its animalistic instinct.

"Sob sob. Why... Why won't you help us? I clearly saw some people hiding here earlier. I don't care of whatever happened to me, but my daughter, she is still young."

The mother, whose tears won't stop, lost her strength as her legs fell to the floor, but she didn't let go of her daughter. Inside the inn, the atmosphere was quiet, that the only sounds that could be heard were the mother crying and begging for her daughter to be saved and the beast walking to them slowly.

The mother was right. Inside the inn, some people are hiding, just like Nagi and Millie. Every one of them was hiding in different places within the room.

Some flip the table and place it near the walls, while some hide inside the kitchen. Millie and I hid inside at the small front desk that used to greet the customers.

If my guess was correct, at least twelve people were hiding together with us in this room, and yet no one had the guts to come out and save the mother and daughter, and even I was no different from them.

I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I put my hands in Millie's ears to cover the sound of the beast who was brutally killing the mother. Everyone heard the mother's scream, who was in pain, and the daughter crying as she saw her mother being eaten alive.

No one cared what was happening as they feigned ignorance of it while praying for the beast to finished its business as soon as possible and leave. Even Millie, whose ears were covered, was still able to hear everything.

A chill ran down my spine as I shivered in fear from what I heard. It was my first time hearing the sound of an alive person being eaten right beside me.

The smell of the blood like a rusty copper was so strong that it started to spread in the room and reached my nose. The new and unfamiliar smell I was feeling right now made me want to puke.

Tears started to flow in my eyes as I bit my lips again. I was angry at myself for how powerless and coward I was. I was mad at everyone who was there inside.

How can they just ignore it?! Despite everything that the mother did, and begged for them to be helped. I want to curse them, yet I don't have the right to do as I know that even they wanted to do something for those two, but they couldn't as they also want to live.

I realized that I was the one who was unfair as I wanted to blame them for my weakness. Ha...Ha... I'm the worse. What would Sylphie think of me if she knew what I was thinking right now?

Sylphie... As I remember her name... her face... and even the short time we spent together, my eyes that were covered in despair started to glow.

Right, I forgot. Sylphie is still waiting for me. The beast left while having the mother's body in its mouth, leaving the daughter behind. Maybe it was satisfied already with its food as it didn't pursue the daughter anymore and leave quietly.

The daughter, whose legs were lying in the ground without any strength, was in shock as her eyes became like an empty husk. I made sure that the beast was really gone before I stood from where I was and rushed to the girl and grabbed her back from where we were hiding.

With our current situation staying inside the inn is not an option anymore.

"Millie, we're going to move out."

"M-mom and Dad are not here yet! I need to wait for them!" Millie said while shaking from fear.

"I'm sure they are okay. Your parents are already in a safe place waiting for you that's why we need to move, or else they will come back here and search for you! Do you want your parents to come here and risked their lives?"

Forgive me, Millie, but it was a lie. Because telling you the truth right now is not the time. I even don't know if there's a safe place waiting for us. Millie's parents are probably... No, I shouldn't think like this.

"You, what is your name?" I looked at the lifeless girl I rescued and asked her, but she didn't answer while her eyes were staring at the void of despair.

I placed my hands on her face as I put my face to her, close enough for each of us to see our figure in the other's eyes.

"You weren't able to protect your mother because you are weak. Don't waste the sacrifice your mother made to save you. You need to survive. Be strong, and maybe one day, if you become strong enough, you take revenge for your mother!"

Sorry, I don't have the leisure to use some thoughtful words right now. We don't have much time, and what I can only do right now is give her a reason to live.

"S-Sera... My name is Sera." Tears began to flow from her eyes as she said her name.