Alicia immediately rushed into Rosetta's arms.
For a moment, her sobs continued.
As Rosetta was stroking Alicia's hair, she asked.
"Alicia, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
At the question she was asked, Alicia looked up.
Her face was as pale as a sheet, and her eyes and nose were all puffed up.
"That looks like blood on your clothes. Are you injured anywhere?" Rosetta asked anxiously.
"No, not me."
"Not you?"
Alicia nodded, then turned to look elsewhere.
Rosetta's gaze followed suit, and she saw a man collapsed on the ground, his clothes all cut up here and there.
That man's white clothes were soaked by the rain, stained with dirt and blood.
As he opened his eyes, his pupils were quivering.
His pale lips turned up into a weak smile as he looked back at Rosetta.
"Haa… Long time no see, Your Ladyship."
And his feeble voice spoke out.
Rosetta frowned as she stared at him.
"Sir Daniel… Why are you…"
At the question that could not be completed, a hasty answer was given.
"It's because of me."
It was Alicia.
"We were hiding, but a monster suddenly appeared. He tried to stop the monster that was chasing after me, but…"
Alicia eventually trailed off, and she pursed her lips tightly.
Underneath her tightly closed lips, she was all choked up with tearful words that she couldn't utter.
"I'm quite… al…right… Lady Alicia."
Daniel's hand wavered as he reached up and held Alicia's elbow.
His hand was so cold that Alicia only cried harder.
Rosetta hugged Alicia tightly in her arms, patting her younger sister on her back.
It would have been a situation too cruel for an easily frightened girl to go through.
They were chased by monsters, and Diana risked her life trying to hide Alicia and Daniel.
In the meantime, they were suddenly attacked again, and someone else got hurt instead of her yet again.
Besides that, Alicia was someone who trembled to the point of a seizure at just the mere sight of blood.
She was a child who had an extreme fear of sickness and injury.
And this fear was heightened even more if they're inflicted upon other people.
Rosetta was proud that she held out until now without fainting.
"Don't cry, Alicia. It's alright. Sir Daniel can be healed in no time."
At Rosetta's consolation, Alicia gasped through her sobs and nodded.
Strangely, she felt so reassured whenever she was with Rosetta.
If she were to say that it's alright, then it really would be alright.
Because Rosetta was the source of Alicia's courage.
"Yes. Sister… I'm sor— I'm sorry."
Hearing Alicia speak in between gasps, Rosetta couldn't say anything back for a moment.
As she gazed at Alicia's golden hair, the look in her eyes sank deeply.
"…There's nothing for you to apologize for," Rosetta said softly.
Then, a wide smile dawned upon her lips, which no longer said anything else.
There's nothing for you to apologize for.
'I'm the one who wants to say sorry to you.'
The hunting festival could have ended with complete tragedy outside what's already happened, but it's all because of that son of a bitch.
That man who traversed between worlds just to follow me.
That man who dared break the gods' unwritten rules, perhaps now smiling while wearing a shell that was the body of another person.
Urien.
"Can't you heal yourself with your own divine power?"
While Rosetta was patting Alicia, she asked Daniel.
As if heavily pained by his injuries, he shook his head and grimaced.
"I can, but, haa… I can't heal this big of a wound… ugh… My abilities aren't… strong enough for that…"
Barely being able to say all that, Daniel smiled self-deprecatingly.
Rosetta looked at him and nodded.
Sure enough, Daniel from the original novel wasn't very talented.
"Then, let's go to the barracks first, Alicia. We need to get Sir Daniel treated."
"But, the nearby monsters…"
Alicia blinked anxiously towards Rosetta, who rose to her feet right then.
Rosetta replied with a grin.
It's true that her lips were smiling, but her eyes were serious and determined.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you."
As her back was turned against the cloudy sky, her face was covered in the shadows, and her golden eyes flashed.
"A monster, or whatever it is out there. I won't let them dare to touch even a strand of your hair."
Those eyes were the same color as Alicia's.
However, there was a distinctly contrasting gaze in them.
Alicia gulped, then she glanced back at the injured Daniel.
And soon after, she glanced at Diana as well, who was similarly wounded just like him.
Alicia looked at Rosetta again for a moment.
Meanwhile, Rosetta had been looking at her with unwavering eyes.
"Let's go, Sister."
As Alicia said this, she staggered up to her feet.
* * *
It was Rosetta's job to support Daniel.
And it was up to Alicia to support Diana.
The four of them were slow, but they steadily advanced towards the barracks.
It's been a while since they left their previous spot, and it was odd.
'Something's weird.'
Right. It was strangely quiet all around them.
As if a monster would pop out any second now.
From time to time, Rosetta concentrated her qi around her ears to check if there were any sounds around them, but she heard nothing.
Like only the four of them were left in the woods.
Of course, the closer they got to the barracks, the louder other miscellaneous sounds could be heard.
With such an enormous lizard running amok, there's no doubt that a commotion had started.
However, this only added a sense of unease to the already strange stillness around them.
'…Never mind. As long as there's nothing stopping us in our tracks, it's fine.'
Even if it was uncomfortable and strange, this was better than any other annoying obstacles hindering them for no reason.
Right now, the highest priority was to get Daniel treated as soon as possible.
Rosetta glanced sideways at Daniel, who she was supporting.
His green eyes were out of focus, just staring at the ground.
Perhaps he didn't notice her gaze, but he just kept on gasping for breaths with those pale lips.
Rosetta stared at Daniel for a moment, then she looked up again at one particular thing near the barracks.
To be precise, at the lizard that was towering over that area.
And the two men who had soared above as well.
One was Cassion, and the other was Leo.
Rosetta's brows became furrowed.
And her eyes glinted sharply.
'Daniel and Leo.'
Which one of them was Urien?
* * *
Rosetta had deliberately been putting off any thought of Urien.
It wouldn't be easy to ascertain who Urien was in this situation.
However, two suspicious people stood out to her.
Leo and Daniel.
Leo looked unphased even though the beast he had been raising until now had turned into a blue monster.
Didn't he find Rosetta too quickly, then smile at her with a calm face like that?
However, she wasn't fully convinced that Leo was Urien.
Perhaps everything was just a coincidence.
'And, Daniel.'
The reason she had suspicions about Daniel was because his relevance to the events that were transpiring now was different from how it was in the original novel.
He was a mere side character in the novel.
A frail young man who appeared only whenever the three dukedoms would meet.
A man who did not care about power and authority, had divine power. Was not remarkable in any way.
Literally, just a 'side character'.
Now, however, he kept hovering around the main characters.
This side character, who didn't even have many scenes in the original, suddenly jumped into the fray and got entangled in one thing or another.
Additionally, when Rosetta had attended Cassion's funeral and saw that blue monster, Daniel had been in attendance.
Above all, the most suspicious thing was that this man could use divine power just like Urien.
'…But just that is not enough to cement my doubt.'
Just like Leo's case, there wasn't enough evidence to make sure that Daniel was indeed Urien.
The story was already changing.
It wouldn't be strange if a side character like him got entangled with the main events by happenstance.
Just because he started getting involved, this didn't mean that Leo and Alicia's interactions would be interrupted.
And it was the same with his divine power.
Just as the 'being' who had come to possess Rosetta's body could use the strength she had during her second transmigration, it's possible that whichever body Urien had come to possess would be able to use his power from the previous world.
'And it's clear to see that Urien came over here with his power.'
Just those things running wild here were evidence enough.
Those blue monsters.
In any case.
It was too early to ascertain just who Urien was.
Leo or Daniel.
Or perhaps the premise was entirely wrong, and it was a completely different person.
If she were to make a mistake for no reason, that would benefit no one but Urien.
She couldn't afford to do that.
While walking diligently, wrestling with her thoughts all the way, she found that they were nearly at their destination before she knew it.
Rosetta and the rest of those in her group paused to examine the situation.
It was urgent to have the patients here treated, but they didn't want to jump into the chaotic fray of panicking people without thinking.
The objective was to reach House Valentine's barracks while passing through the shortest path as much as possible. Then…
'I'll need to get ahold of the priests again, just like earlier.'
In Daniel's case, at least his injury was less grave than Cassion's.
It looked painful, but it didn't look like he was going to drop dead.
Perhaps, he could be cured in one go.
Since he was someone who could wield sacred power himself, the priests would have a close affinity to him, and the treatment would go smoothly.
Briefly considering which path they should take, Rosetta nodded to Diana and Alicia, then took a step forward.
They needed to walk into the heart of chaos as quietly as possible.
Right, that surely was the intention.
However, all the uproar stopped as soon as they moved.
It's not mere quietude. The air had turned eerie.
All monsters stopped moving, like broken puppets.
Even the monsters that were swinging their tails and slashing their nails at people.
Even the monsters that circled the sky and cried out in the air.
Even the monsters that had kicked off the ground, as if they were in the middle of running.
As if time itself had stopped.
Fwick.
Then, at that moment—
All the monsters that had stopped in place… looked back in unison.
Their completely black gazes turned towards just one location.
Towards the four people who had just taken one step into the barracks.
The unnatural scene was horrifically unnerving.
Suddenly at the center of this shitshow, Rosetta couldn't help but smile. It was a frustrated smile.
Ah. Goddamn it.
Saying only that brief mutter under her breath.