"We're being followed. Don't panic"

Instantly, I widened my eyes in surprise and tried to turn around to see who was following us. 

Before I could do it, however, Aryl stopped me with a low voice. "What the fuck are you doing? What part of 'don't panic' do you not understand!?"

"How can I not be panicked? Someone's following us!"

"They're weak", Aryl curtly replied. "The strongest is <E> ranked. You don't need to worry and just follow me"

And with those words, Aryl continued walking without sparing even a glance at me.
...

After a while, we arrived at a dark alley way. 

Now that we were in a place devoid of people, I could tell that there were 6 presences tailing behind us.

Before long, one of the presences gave up on trying to hide and shouted from behind us.

"You! Aryl, was it?" 

'Wait... that voice seems familiar'

And with that thought, I turned around, only to see a familiar brown-haired, blue-eyed man. Immediately, I could tell that he was Reiner, the man that Aryl robbed yesterday.

'Is he here to take revenge?'

As if to prove me wrong, Reiner got down on his knees and begged Aryl. 

"Please return all my— no, just half of my money! My mother and brother will starve without it!"

Aryl looked at him with her arms crossed, amused. "And why should I care?"

Frowning, I pulled the hems of her shirt. "Aryl, I think you should listen to hi—"

"Shhhhhh!", she shushed me. "Don't intervene"

It was then that Reiner spoke up again. "P- Please! I can't bear to watch them starve!"

"No.", Aryl replied, ignoring his desperate pleas.

Reiner's eyes turned cold at this. "Is this your final answer?"

"Yes. You should have thought it through before messing with me yesterday"

Sighing, Reiner slowly stood up and dusted the dirt off his pants. "Maybe this will change your mind"

He then shouted on the top of his lungs. "COME OUT! NEGOTIATIONS HAVE FAILED!"

Instantly, 5 men jumped out from their hiding place and positioned themselves behind Reiner. They crossed their arm imposingly as they looked at Aryl and I with a threatening glare.

Satisfied with the threatening atmosphere his gang had created, Reiner turned his attention towards Aryl again.

"No matter how strong you are, you can't beat all of us. Give me my money back or we'll beat you up!"

I sighed at his stupid words. "Reiner, was it? Please don't provoke her any further!"

After all, even I could defeat them effortlessly, let alone someone as strong as Aryl.

'And that's why I have to stop them!'

I didn't want needless bloodshed to happen, at least not in front of my eyes.

Reiner lowered his eyes as my words. "Look, half-mask lady. I'm grateful for you trying to help me earlier. So I won't beat you up unless you choose to interfere"

I sighed at his words. I then made further attempts to make him give up his ideas.

As I was trying to dissuade him from what was basically dangling his neck in front of a hungry and mad predator, however, Aryl suddenly took a heavy step forward.

'Oh no... this is bad!'

"Me? Beaten up? HAHAHAHAHA", Aryl laughed hysterically. "What a nice joke!"

She then crackled her knuckles with an evil smile. "I'm in a bad mood right now, especially so when I can't hit the source of my bad mood"

Saying that, Aryl briefly glared at me, sending chills down my spine.

'Never before have I been so relieved that I have [SS - Absolute distance]!'

Pausing my thoughts there, I turned my attention towards Aryl again.

"And...", her smile became even wider as she was now looking at Reiner. "...I also need to test out something"

"What do you mea—"

Before Reiner could finish his sentence, Aryl had already—

<[B - Ash veil]>

—Activated her Skill.

Instantly, lumps of Ashes agglomerated behind the men, forming the shape of 3 Wyverns.

Before anyone could even react, the Wyverns had already swallowed 3 of the men into their 'stomach' in an instant.

Although the men appeared to have been eaten, I could tell that they were alive judging by the fact that their presences hadn't disappeared. They were just... 'stored' in the Wyverns. As such, I looked at Aryl gratefully.

'It seems like she still values human life...'

However, only I and Aryl knew this fact.

Thus, at the sight of this, Reiner and the 'surviving' men's faces went pale, with bead of sweats running down their forehead. 

The Wyverns then opened their maws and positioned themselves so that the men's necks would be between their sharp teeth made of condensed Ashes.

"Now...", Aryl spoke with an evil grin on her face. "...Who's beating up who again?"

SNAP—!

With a snap of her fingers, the Wyverns swallowed 2 men, only leaving Reiner behind.

With the 3 Wyverns now only mere moments away from 'killing' him, Reiner broke down in fear.

"D- DON'T KILL ME!", he screamed desperately. "I WON'T MESS WITH YOU EVER AGAIN!"

Aryl looked at him with an amused smile.

"Did he really think I'd waste my time killing him?", she muttered under her breath.

Being as scared and desperate as he was, Reiner couldn't hear Aryl's low mutter.

Before long, Aryl spoke up again. "Okay. But I won't do it for free though"

'Of course she has to squeeze the most out of it!', I rolled my eyes at Aryl.

"Th- That...", although Reiner was desperate to keep his life, he decided not to, or well, he couldn't lie in front of Aryl. "...You took my wallet yesterday, I don't have any money left on me"

"Alright then, your life is no use to me anymore"

Hearing this, Reiner's eyes widened in fear as he begged for his life again.

"Please! My mother is sick, and my brother is too young to work! They can't survive without me!"

Seeing Reiner's expression which was full of despair, Aryl desperately tried to hold in her laughter.

'What a sadist...', I looked at her with a frown. However, I decided to not intervene.

After all, I wouldn't want to get in Aryl's way when she was having her fun, and Reiner was in no danger of dying anyways.

After a while, Aryl calmed down and cleared her throat as she continued tormenting Reiner. "Like I said before, I don't care. Your family is of no concern to me, and I don't benefit from keeping you alive, especially when you saw me—"

She paused for a bit before continuing with a cold and chilling tone. "—Killing those human trash..."

However, judging by the hint of playfulness that was apparent in her eyes, I could tell that her cold tone was nothing but a farce.

Reiner's body trembled even more upon hearing her words. He was so scared that he didn't even notice that she was just fucking with him for her own amusement.

"I won't tell a soul about what I saw!". But seeing that Aryl wasn't going to let him go, he hurriedly continued. "I- I can do anything! I can cook, clean, hunt small animals, pick locks, a- and I'm an <E> rank too! P- Please! I can be of use to you!"

Aryl widened her eyes in surprise upon hearing his words. "Y- You...!"

Reiner must have been cheering inwardly upon seeing Aryl's expression, overjoyed that he had managed to gain the interest of what must have seemed like the Evil God's incarnate in his mind. As such, he looked at her with hopeful eyes.

Ignorance of Reiner's thoughts, Aryl stared at him with a wide smile. "You said that you can cook?"

"Y- Yes! I'm a <E> ranke— huh?", Reiner looked at Aryl confusedly.

"Don't let me repeat my question again. You can cook, correct?"

"Y- Yes!", he hurriedly answered, desperately grasping at straws to try and live through this ordeal he had gotten himself into. "My meal is rumored to be the most delicious in the town!"

"I see...", Aryl muttered as she nodded her head thoughtfully. "...Alright, you get to live. But only until I confirm that you can indeed cook a decent meal"

She then turned towards me. "Celi, take care of this guy"

"Huh? Why me?"

"Because I need to do something important right now. Make sure he doesn't escape, and when morning comes, go to the market and buy ingredients with him or something. I'll check his cooking for myself later"

'Looks like she's pushing everything onto me again', I sighed in frustration.

Unaware of my thoughts, Aryl deactivated her Skill, making all the Ashes disperse into the air.

As soon as the Wyverns disappeared, the men, who Reiner had thought to have died mere minutes ago, dropped to the ground from the Wyverns' belly.

"What!?", Reiner stared at the men in disbelief. "I thought they died!?"

"You think I killed them just because I felt like it?", Aryl looked at Reiner with a pained expression, though it was fairly obvious that she was just pretending. "That hurts! Even a random street thug thinks that I'm an insane murderer!"

She then walked past the men, exiting the alleyway. 

"Oh, I almost forgot!", Aryl suddenly turned around and look at me with an unusually serious tone. "I'm going to stay in my room for about 3 days. Don't bother me during that time. Surely, you can take care of a mere <E> ranker, right?"

I nodded my head.

Satisfied, she turned around away and walked back to her inn.

In the alleyway that was now dyed orange in dusk, I slowly walked towards Reiner, who was blankly looking at the men lying on the ground and baffled by what had just happened, and looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

"That's Aryl for you. You'll get used to it... eventually..."
...

Due to Aryl's overwhelming display of power, at least compared to his meager strength, Reiner obediently listened to my every words.

"Go wake these guys on the ground up"

He carried out my order by smacking their cheeks until they were awake.

"Tell them to not tell anyone what happened here today, or else Aryl will personally make them regret living", I ordered him.

"Guys, I know that I made you do this and all but please listen to her! It's for my and your safety!", Reiner hurriedly told the now-conscious men, who immediately nodded their head and ran away.

Watching the men flee the scene, and Reiner still not using this chance to run away, I had a weird thought.

'What if...'

"Hey Reiner!"

"Y- Yes...?"

"Carry these for me!", I threw him my backpack and shovel, which he caught almost immediately.

'He's obedient to a fault...'. My eyes twinkled as I had that thought. I now understood why Aryl liked to order my around to do trivial things for her so much.

However, I quickly shook my head and reprimanded myself inwardly.

'No, get a hold of yourself, Araceli! You're going to become just like Aryl if you keep doing this'

Thus, I had to regrettably swallow the urge to command him to strip his clothes and dance on the streets like a madman. However, that didn't stop me from ordering him to do something else.

"Reiner, take me to your home"

"W- Wait! I've been obedient! Please don't hurt my family!", he looked at me with pleading eyes.

I blankly stared at him for a few seconds, trying to make sense of his words. Before long, I finally realized what he was talking about.

"N- No! It's not like that! With Aryl keeping most of our funds, and she locking herself up in her room, I can't pay for tonight's lodgings"

"I- I see...", he heaved a sigh of relief. "...So you just want to stay the night in my house?"

"That is the case"

"Well... I hope you don't mind. It's a bit shabby compared to the inn you're staying at"

"That's not a problem"

After all, I've slept under much worse conditions. 

However, I soon looked at Reiner again with a pouty face and lightly jabbed his arm.

"Ouch! Wh- What was that for?"

"For thinking that I would act like Aryl! Seriously, how can anyone think that the cute me would act like a street thug? I'll have you know,..."

I then spent several minutes ranting about all the things that Aryl made me do, including the time where she threw me inside that god damn hellish dungeon!

Reiner chuckled throughout my story, seemingly fascinated that a person who looked so scary just mere minutes ago was actually quite rude and almost... comical at times. He was even more bewildered upon hearing that Aryl decided to protect a town that had nothing to do with her.

Though, maybe it was because I deliberately excluded the fact that she only did it for the rewards.

Before long, I had ran out of things to say.

"Haaah... and that's Aryl. I kind of hate her sometimes, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy my time with her"

"I see...", Reiner nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Anyways", I suddenly spoke up as I led Reiner out of the alleyway. "It's getting pretty dark, we should get back to your house"
...  

Following Reiner to his house, I couldn't help but to ask him a question.

"Reiner, are you sure this is the way to your house?"

"Yes", he nodded. "I'm sure. It's my house after all. Is there anything wrong"

"Well, it's just that... nevermind..."

Despite saying that, however, I was still worried. After all, we were moving towards the Southern part of the town. And I didn't exactly have the best experience with this place yesterday.

'E- Even if I'm not a Halfling, they might still remember me being with Aryl yesterday!'

And with that thought, I gulped a mouthful of saliva in nervousness before quickly catching up with Reiner.
...

Unexpectedly, as soon as we entered the Southern part, no one dared to approach us, or well, me.

'That's strange... they definitely saw me with Aryl yesterday...'

It was then that I remembered what she did yesterday.

'Ah, of course they'd be scared of me'

However, that did nothing to stop the glares directed towards me, and Reiner seemed to have picked up on it too. "Hey, half-mask lady"

"Araceli"

"Huh?"

"My name's Araceli"

"O- Okay", Reiner scratched the back of his head in embarrassment before speaking up again. "Araceli, why are people looking at you like that?"

I pursed my lips at his question, deliberating on whether or not to tell him the truth. Eventually, I sighed as I decided not to.

"I'm not sure myself..."

"I see...", Reiner muttered. "That's definitely strange. They usually only give this kind of treatment to Halflings like Aryl. And you're not one however close I look at you" 

Realizing what he had said, Reiner tried to salvage the situation. "U- Uh I didn't look at you closely at all! I what I meant was uh... first glance! That's right! You don't look like you're a Halfling at first glance!"

I chuckled at his desperate attempt to make it sound like he wasn't a creep. Wanting to spare him from embarrassing himself even further, I changed the topic. "Why are Halflings hated in this part of town though? I mean, everyone was okay with Aryl in literally every other places"

Reiner heaved a sigh of relief at the change of topic. However, his expression soon turned serious and somewhat... sad.

"Well, as you can see", he pointed towards our surroundings. "The South isn't exactly the most prosperous part of the town"

Seeing the dilapidated buildings full of moss and overgrown plants that people apparently lived in, I nodded my head.

Reiner then continued. "That's because the town mayor exiled the so-called 'useless citizens' and ex-criminals to this part of the town"

"..."

"And of course, he didn't invest anything in this part at all. Hence, the current state"

"..."

"Well, here comes the main part: My father"

"Your father?", I looked at him confusedly.

"Yes, my father. Not to brag or anything, but he was considered somewhat of a Saint to people here"

"How so?". I was getting invested in his story.

"He was... a doctor and a healer. The only one that volunteered to come here and cure the sick and the homeless free of charge when there was a plague going around"

If Aryl was here, she would have laughed at his face, telling how stupid he was for doing things for free; I, however, wasn't her.

"He sounds like a good person"

"He was", Reiner nodded his head. "But then he was killed by a Halfling"

"Huh?"

'That suddenly took a dark turn...'

Unaware of my thoughts, Reiner continued. "Well, it wasn't exactly a Halfling that killed my father. I later found out that he was just an insane dog-beastkin that had his tail cut off"

"..."

"But of course, the people of the South didn't know about it. Well, maybe they did, but they just desperately needed someone to put the blame on, especially when people are dying at a fast rate thanks to the only doctor dying in the middle of a plague"

"I- I see..."

"And, that's how we got here", he chuckled self-deprecatingly. "After a month of 'Halfling hunting', the Southern part of the town was cleared of 'those inferior, psychopathic, murderous bastards', and everyone lived happily ever after!"

I didn't laugh at Reiner's attempt to make a joke though, as I was busy processing the information.

'People can be scary sometimes...'

After all, the people here even persecuted and murdered what could well have been hundreds of people just for being able to feel more at ease. 

It was then that we arrived at Reiner's house, which looked slightly better than the houses beside it.

"Well, here we are", Reiner said as he held the door open for me. "I hope you enjoy your stay"
...

As soon as I entered the house, I was met with a cozy atmosphere. The orange light of the lamps, the crackling of the fireplace that was somehow lit up in the middle of summer, and the stare of a middle-aged woman who looked quite pale and sickly.

"Ah!", I lets out a yelp of surprise as I jolted back from the woman's face, which was mere inches away from mine.

The woman ignored my surprise and cautious stare, and scrutinized my body even more.

Eventually, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Good, she's not a Halfling"

She then turned towards Reiner with a warm smile. "Son, you chose a good bride. Look how cute she is!"

"M- Mom! She's not my g—"

Before Reiner could finish his sentence, the woman suddenly turned towards me and tried to grab my hand. Of course, she was stopped by [SS - Absolute distance].

"Sorry", I looked at her apologetically. "It's because of my Skill"

The woman looked surprised for a second before she regained her composure. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure you guys can figure out a way to give me grandchildren without doing it"

As soon as she finished her sentence, the woman ran deeper into the house, leaving behind the embarrassed Reiner and me, who was flushing red.

"S- Sorry, my mother is a bit... eccentric..."

"It's okay", I recovered from my blushing and spoke with a sigh. "My mother was like that too..."

It was then that Reiner's mother suddenly poked her head into the room and shouted. "Reiner, take that girl to the dinning room! We're having a meal!"

Before Reiner could apologize to me again, I hurriedly spoke up. "It's okay. I'm hungry too" 
...

Now sitting at the dinner table with Reiner and his mother, I looked at the meal in front of me; It was merely stale bread with maybe some salt sprinkled on top of it. 

However, I still decided to eat it. After all, I was a guest in this house, and it would be extremely impolite if I refused the meal out of disgust.

Seeing that I was chewing on the bread intensely, Reiner's mother chuckled. "Enjoying the meal?"

I nodded my head.

Smiling, she spoke up again. "My name's Tiana, what's yours?"

Swallowing the bread, I cleared my throat before answering. "I'm Araceli"

"Oh, what a cute name! Befitting of my cute daughter-in-law!"

"Mom!", Reiner suddenly interjected. "I've already told you! She's just a friend staying for a night"

"Like I'd believe that!", she waved her hand dismissively.

Watching Reiner and his mother bicker, I couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle.

"Hehe... they act just like me and my... father..."

My eyes then turned sad. However, I soon shook my head and looked around the dinning room to distract myself from such thoughts.

It was then that I realized that there was an empty chair right besides me.

'It's probably his brother's', I thought.

Reiner noticed me staring at the chair and confirmed my thoughts. "Ah, you don't need to worry too much. That seat is my brother's. He's probably sleeping now or something"

I nodded at his words and continued eating.

After the meal, I helped Reiner's mother do the dishes before going to sleep.

"This is my room", Reiner said as he opened the door for me. "You can sleep in there for tonight. I'll take the couch in the living room" 

I bowed gratefully and went into his room to sleep.
...

Early morning, I woke up with a yawn.

Stretching my arms and lethargically walking towards the door, I was met with the sight of Reiner preparing his stuff in the hallway.

"Oh, Araceli", he said as soon as he noticed me. "It's good that you're up this early. I'm going to go to the marketplace to buy ingredients to practice for..."

His body trembled as he said his next words. "...Aryl's test"

Forcibly calming himself down, he then turned towards me with a smile. "Would you like to join me?"

"Of course!"
...

We walked out of Reiner's house and arrived at the wall separating the Southern and Northern part of the town. 

It should be noted that although everyone could go to the South, not everyone was allowed to go to the North.

As such, I was ready to pull out my Adventurer card and hand it to the gate guard. 

However, Reiner was one step ahead of me and handed the guard a card of his own.

Alternating his gaze between Reiner and the card, the guard snorted before letting us in.

Now on the other side of the gate, I hurriedly ask Reiner. "Reiner, you're an Adventurer?"

"I used to be", he sighed. "That was when I was under the delusion of being able to make it big. But I soon realized that it was the job full of danger, and the pay is even shitter than my current job"

I nodded my head in understanding.

Being an Adventurer was indeed a tough job, and the pay wasn't even that great for quests that weren't big subjugations. And then there was the danger; I couldn't count how many times I'd have died if I didn't have my Skill.

Pausing my thoughts there, I followed Reiner into the bustling marketplace of the Northern part.
...

After a few hours, we managed to buy almost everything we needed. Almost.

"Onion, potato, carrot, garlic... now all we're missing is radish...", Reiner muttered as he checked his basket.

It was then that we felt an intense gaze on us. Startled, we turned towards the source of the gaze, only to see a green-skinned, huge-sized creature with protruding fangs that looked like tusks intensely looking at us. Of course, the creature was an Orc, one of the sentient races on the continent.

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, we watched each of the Orc's movements with careful eyes.

Under our watchful and cautious gaze, the Orc lifted something up as it still locked eyes with us.

There was only a handful of things violent and scary creatures such as Orcs would reasonably hold in their hands.

Hammer? Greatsword? Battle axe? No! It was a... radish!¹PRAISE THE ORC!

It was then that I realized that he was the same Orc who was selling vegetable yesterday. As such, I lowered my vigilance and heaved a sigh of relief.

However, Reiner was still as tense as ever. No doubt he was bracing himself for the Orc throwing the radish at him like a brute.

Contrary to what Reiner might have expected, the Orc extended the radish out and said with a smile. "Radish, you need?"

"!". Reiner widened his eyes in surprise. He was mistaken to have thought the Orc to be a barbarian; Instead, he was one of the few rare civilized Orcs.

As such, he nodded his head fervently since he was indeed in need of a radish anyways. "I do!"

Smiling even wider, the Orc gestured for us to come closer, which of course, we complied.

Now standing right before the Orc's vegetable stand, Reiner inspected the radish with scrutiny. He then nodded in satisfaction as he realized that it was as clean and fresh as one could ever realistically hope a radish to be.

"Kulkulkul!", the Orc lets out a stereotypical Orcish laugh. "It seems that our friend here have good eyes"

His expressions then turned serious as he suddenly turned his head towards me. "Lady, I will only sell this to you if you answer this one question to my satisfaction"

I nodded my head nervously.

Seeing this, the Orc continued. "What are you going to do with the radish?"

"I- I'm... not sure", I answered immediately and truthfully. After all, I couldn't lie to the Orc, whose words seemed infinitely reliable and trustworthy.

The Orc shook his head in disappointment at my answer. "Then I can't sell you this"

He then turned towards Reiner. "What will you do with the radish?"

"I will use it to make salad for my sick mother!"

The Orc's face stiffened at Reiner's instant answer. Before long, tears of sadness and sympathy could be seen rolling down his cheeks.

"Take it!", the Orc forced the radish, and 3 more radishes into Reiner's hands. "You only need to pay for the price of one. You are worthy of my radishes!"

After handing 15 Bronzes to the Orc, both Reiner and I let out an almost instinctive mutter. "Bul'tar..."

The Orc widened his eyes in surprise, before returning a small mutter of his own. "Bul'tar indeed... stay alive, my friends"
...

After our enlightening meeting with the Orc, we made our way back to the South again. However, I couldn't help but to notice something strange.

"Reiner, people are running away from the South... is this normal?"

After all, during the past few minutes, the number of people running away from the Southern gate as if their lives depended on it had exceeded more than a hundred as far as I can tell.

Frowning, Reiner answered. "No... that's definitely not normal"

Saying that, he immediately stopped one of those running people in his track and asked. "What's going on? Why are you running?"

"YOU DON'T KNOW!?", the person shouted. "THERE'S A DUNGEON BREAK! THE SOUTH HAS FALLEN TO THE MONSTERS!"

He then immediately ran away, ignoring the horror apparently on my and Reiner's face.

Before long, Reiner recovered from his shock and immediately ran into the South.

And of course, I followed him suit.
...

The sight of the South was... devastating, more so than before.

Buildings were turned into rubbles, people ran desperately for their lives, with some even abandoning their children behind to escape.

Amidst all that, I held in my disgust as I ran after Reiner, who was rushing towards his house as if his entire life was depended on it.

Eventually, we reached his house, which was now nothing more than a pile of concrete. Not just that, we could see the corpse of his mother lying on the ground, along with the lower half of a child's body, which presumably belonged to Reiner's brother, hanging on a concrete beam not that far from where we were.

"MOM! TIM!", Reiner shouted as he ran towards the corpse of his mother.

I, however, fell down to my knees on the spot.

"I can't take it anymor— BLARGGGGGGHHH!"

I puked; Everything I've eaten for the past 5 days, including the skinned Wolf and the stale breads came out of my mouth as disgusting puke.

Glancing around, I could see even more dead bodies, which only made me more nauseous.

WOOOOOSH—!

It was then that I heard something flying towards me, presumably an arrow shot by a goblin archer, with great speed. However, I didn't even bother to dodge it.

'My Skill will stop it anyways...'

Spurt—!

But instead of the clunking sound of the arrow bouncing off the barrier, the sound of the arrow digging into flesh and blood spurting could be heard instead.

Startled, I instantly turned my gaze up, only to see that Reiner had taken the arrow to his stomach.

"What are you doing!?", I shouted at him. "Are you crazy!?"

Hearing this, Reiner shouted back with an expression of rage on his face. "No, I should be asking that question! Did you want to die that badly? Why didn't you dodge the arrow!? You would have died if I hadn't took the hit for you!"

It was then that I realized that Reiner didn't know that my Skill stopped all attacks. As such, he took the hit for me, thinking that I'd die.

Thus, I looked at him and his wound in guilt.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME FOR!? RUN!"

At his shout, I woke up from my stupor.

'H- He's right!'

He had just lost his house, his family, his everything in a matter of minutes, and he was still calm and rational enough to make good decisions such as running away from an impending monster horde created by a dungeon break.

I, however, sat still in the middle of a monster horde upon merely seeing people dying around me. Even if I was untouchable, such behaviors were unacceptable, especially for an Adventurer.

As such, I stood up again and ran towards the Northern gate.

However, even after a few seconds of me running, Reiner still stood in his spot, unmoving.

"Run!", I shouted at him. "What are you standing there for?"

At my question though, Reiner merely gave me a sad smile. "Ah, you go first. Those bastard smeared Paralytic poison on their arrows. It'll take a while before I can move again"

Hearing this, I instantly turned around and ran up to him. I then took out the shovel from my back and held it out to him. "Grab onto it"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

At my suddenly shout, Reiner instinctively grabbed onto the shovel tightly. 

I then turned around and ran towards the gate, dragging Reiner, who was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down and grabbing onto my shovel, on the ground.
...

We should have arrived at the gate a few minutes ago. However, thanks to Reiner basically being dragged on the ground, I had to take routes that had no debris on them.

Sensing that the monsters were getting ever closer, Reiner shouted. "Araceli, you go first! I'll catch up with you later"

"I won't leave you here!". Knowing full-well what he was trying to do, I shouted back at him.

I didn't want him to die!

"Just leave me! I'll just slow you down!"

"NO! YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!"

I wanted him to live.

"Leave me! My family's all dead anyways, they were the only ones that accepted me"

'You're not worthless!', I wanted to tell him. But strangely, those words never came out of my mouth.

It was then that I could see monsters emerging from the fallen buildings, slowing approaching us.

Seeing the huge number of monsters, I gulped a mouthful of saliva in nervousness. Even I couldn't fight them all and protect Reiner at the same time.

"Come on Reiner! We're so close!"

After all, the wall separating the Southern part to the rest of the town was merely 100m away from us. 

"Araceli! Listen to me! I can't make it—"

"NO! YOU WILL LIVE!"

The monsters were now a mere dozen of meters away from us. And almost immediately, a goblin jumped at Reiner.

As I was too late to react, the goblin had already latched itself onto Reiner's body, slowly tearing his flesh apart.

Wooooosh—!

I hurriedly grabbed my crossbow and shot it in the head, killing it instantly.

However, the damage was already done.

Reiner had already gone unconscious from either the pain and the blood loss; And I could tell that he was going to bleed to death soon.

Realizing this, I fell into despair.

'He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't die He can't di—'

A translucent black screen suddenly appeared in front of me. 

Flinching in surprise, I unconsciously took a step backwards. As soon as I did that, however—

"Huh? H- How are we here!?"

—We suddenly appeared behind the Northern wall.

As soon as another black screen appeared in front of my eyes, I felt as if all the energy was sapped from my body. My legs wobbled as they became heavy, and before long, they gave out and I completely fell to the ground.

Despite my exhaustion, I wasn't about to faint yet. No, I wouldn't allow myself to faint! After all, Reiner was still gravely injured and bleeding all over.

Slowly crawling towards him, I took a Recovery potion out from my backpack, popped the cap off my with teeth and poured it over his wounds.

This seemed to work, as Reiner slowly gained awareness of his surroundings. "H- Huh...? Where are we?"

"Behind the Northern walls", I weakly smiled.

Reiner looked confused by my words. "But I could have sworn that the wall of hundreds of meters from us before! And the gate was even closed! How the hell did you carry me here?"

However, I couldn't answer his questions, as my mind was slowly drifting into the deep abyss of unconsciousness.

"Hehe... I just did. There are bandages in my backpack. Now if you excuse me, I'll take a short nap..."

My vision was then dyed black.