"The man-from-the-auction was in the lead, looking menacingly at us. His previous calm had vanished, clearly affected by the death of the man Lady Faustina had just finished off.
They saw through her escape plan and immediately engaged her in a fight.
Just as things were looking bleak for us, we heard a commotion coming from behind the enemy.
To our pleasant surprise, it was Uncle Benny! As Lady Faustina had said to me earlier, he was really a tough guy.
Even our adversaries were in disbelief. Their gazes turned towards the path from where Uncle Benny had arrived, clearly looking for someone.
They must have left quickly after hearing the commotion caused by Lady Faustina and the masked man's fight. They should have left some people to deal with Uncle Benny, who was half-dead when they left.
But it was clear that they had underestimated him even more than I had.
Uncle Benny charged into the bandit group and dealt with anyone who appeared in his path. The original four who had been stalling him earlier also had difficulty keeping him in check because he appeared to have regained his full strength.
But before I could thank the stars for saving him, Lady Faustina informed me in secret. Uncle Benny's technique was unique in that it allowed him to regain strength even after being severely injured. But it comes at a cost.
First off, it won't be maintained for very long. Second, and most importantly, his body will suffer as a result of his regenerative abilities being exhausted.
She informed me so that I should remain alert and not miss the opportunity to get out of there.
While I was hesitant to leave, I also realized that it was no longer up to me. The enemy will not leave until I am captured. I could only hope that Lady Faustina and Uncle Benny would make it through.
At the time, the buyer from the auction had also decided to join in the fun. He knew that the situation would only deteriorate if allowed to develop as it was.
Having said that, he lacked the strength to confront any of them directly. However, he continued to disrupt Lady Faustina and Uncle Benny's rhythm by throwing explosives. Although the explosives were not as powerful as the big ones and thus posed no direct threat to us, they did provide some breathing room for the weak bandits. The situation that had just shifted in our favor was on the verge of unravelling.
The fact that the man was clearly concerned about injuring me worked in our favor. Unlike the masked man earlier, he never tried to use my presence to bait Lady Faustina.
But that didn't make me feel any better; it just proved that they won't stop until they've extracted all of my worth.
Just as I was getting progressively anxious, I saw Lady Faustina gesturing to Uncle Benny. I didn't understand everything, but I'd known them long enough to understand some of their nonverbal communication.
Uncle Benny appeared to stumble the next moment as he couldn't avoid the incoming explosion. Just as I was getting worried about him, he appeared in front of that man. His hands were crossed in front of his face as he emerged out of the explosion cloud.
He had clearly taken advantage of the explosion's dust and noise to appear near the man, catching him off guard.
Uncle Benny made use of the chance to attack the man. He broke one of his thighs with his bare fist, causing it to bend backward. Uncle Benny had seen the man use some kind of nimble movement technique, and someone who could deal damage from a distance was too dangerous to be left mobile.
But he couldn't finish him off because the man had backed up quickly. He limped back, ordering the bandits to cover for him. The bandits could only carry out his orders and obstruct Uncle Benny's advance. Some of the bandits fighting Lady Faustina had also gone to assist them, as saving their boss seemed to take precedence for them.
But that was also what Uncle Benny had sought to achieve by employing that dangerous maneuver. He wanted to lessen the burden on Lady Faustina's side.
Lady Faustina did not squander the opportunity her husband had secured for her. She dealt with all of the bandits before they could react to the change. She clearly wasn't using her full power earlier and was waiting for this kind of opportunity.
Then I noticed her turn around and sprint towards me before she enveloped me in her arms.
I had thought that she would jump together with me down the waterfall, followed by Uncle Benny.
But she just stood there, with me in her embrace. She then said:
"Live on, child. I won't be able to continue being your pillar of support anymore. But that doesn't mean you'll be alone. You have to live a good life while carrying my hope as well. The hope that someday, life will get better."
Those were the last words I heard from her. By the time I felt her warmth leave me, she had already turned around and charged towards the group Uncle Benny was dealing with.
Uncle Benny was running towards me at the same time, as if they had switched roles. They had determined through their subtle communication earlier that Uncle Benny would be the one to jump down the waterfall with me, while Lady Faustina would stay behind to stall the enemies.
I was perplexed by this choice. I believed they could easily defeat the remaining bandits and flee with me. Maybe we wouldn't even need to jump down and could just walk through the forest.
But then I noticed that more bandits had emerged from the woods. And when I saw who was leading them, my desperation only grew.
It was a masked woman dressed similarly to the masked man from just earlier. Her uniform also had that obscure white symbol. But hers seemed more detailed, as she also appeared stronger than her dead teammate.
Only then did I realize that the couple had already sensed the danger and decided on their course of action.
By the time I realized what was going on, my body had already started to feel weightless as Uncle Benny jumped down the waterfall with me in tow.
The sight of Lady Faustina colliding with the new group of enemies was the last thing I witnessed before everything turned dark for me."
Loreana stooped talking as she seemed to need some time to calm herself. Anom and Crystal also didn't disturb her and let her be.
Loreana finally looked at them before smiling after a short while. "Would you like to know what happened after that?"
Crystal exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw her mother was fine before nodding. "I want to."
Loreana smiled, having expected the answer.
She then said, "The next time I opened my eyes, I was in a carriage with only a young merchant for company. It was your father."