"You see, I told you... Alright, men, take their weapons and anything of value. I can't wait to see my sweet Laila!"
And so it was. After stripping the men of their belongings, they continued their journey east. However, because of their new load, the horses moved slower, causing a two-day delay in reaching the camp where Linhart awaited them. Upon their arrival, Linhart greeted them:
"Good to see you again, Captain. I hope your journey went well..."
"It was fine, I've had worse... But tell me, where's Laila? Why isn't she here to greet me?"
"Laila?! I haven't seen her."
"What?!!!!!"
Linhart immediately bowed his head and continued in a trembling voice, "I thought she stayed with you until the end..."
"You idiot!!! You know that's not possible! And instead of looking for her when she didn't meet you, you stayed here grazing like a fool!!!"
"I-I'm sorry, forgive me, Captain, I..."
"Silence!!!"
"..."
"..."
His men were completely paralyzed, and no one dared make a sound. In that absolute silence, the Captain began to think:
"(Could it be that she decided to betray me? After all the love I showed her, this is how she repays me?)"
Then, suddenly consumed with rage, he yelled:
"RAAAAAHHHHH!!! Why are all women such whores?! She'll pay for this! I warned her!!!"
One of his men approached cautiously and asked, "What should we do, Captain?"
The Captain's only answer was his fist to the man's face, sending him flying off his horse. This displayed the monstrous strength of the man, who was now completely blinded by anger. But then, a thought, the complete opposite of what had been consuming him, crossed his mind.
"(Wait a minute... maybe she didn't betray me. Maybe those dogs wounded her badly, and she's still in the forest, dying, desperately waiting for me to save her... Yes, that's it!)"
He caught his breath and shouted to his men, "Bring the dogs and get them to sniff one of Laila's garments so they can track her down!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"As for you, Linhart, if anything happens to my sweet Laila, I'll hold you personally responsible."
"...GLOUPSE..."
The dogs were brought, and one of the men handed them a piece of Laila's clothing to sniff. Barking wildly, the dogs took off on her trail, leading the chase, followed closely by the Captain galloping like the wind on his faithful steed, like a prince riding to save his princess from a terrible dragon. But ironically, wasn't he the dragon from whose clutches the princess needed to be saved? Regardless, the Captain wasn't asking himself these questions; instead, he kept telling himself:
"Hold on, my love, I'm coming!!!"
_______________________________________
For the past few days, Nate and Laila had been living together. During these days, the two young Elementalists had taken the time to get to know each other better and had grown quite close. They laughed a lot together, and Laila was rediscovering the joy of wholehearted laughter, thanks to Nate's constant antics. Her face, once shadowed by sorrow and sadness, now glowed with happiness and had regained its color. Nate would gather wood and light the fire, while Laila prepared the food and did the laundry. This simple, monotonous life filled the young girl with happiness and nostalgia, reminding her of the way her parents used to live. Every night before bed, Nate would tell her wonderful stories that he said came from his previous mentor.
One day, while lying down with her head resting on Nate's lap as he told another one of his stories, Laila suddenly started to tear up. Surprised, Nate asked:
"Hey, what's wrong, Laila? Are you okay?"
"No, no, it's just... I'm so happy. I never thought I'd experience moments like this again. I wish this moment could last forever..."
Nate gently stroked her hair and replied with a smile:
"Ahahaha, don't say that. If it lasts forever, it'll get boring. And trust me, there will be plenty more moments like this; big brother Nate will make sure of it!"
"Big brother?"
"Oh, sorry. You don't want me to think of myself like that?"
"No... It's not that. It's just that I would have preferred you to see me differently..."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Once again, Nate hadn't understood what she was trying to say. But could he really be blamed? After all, he was only a 12-year-old boy who had, not long ago, been living alone with his mentor in the forest. It was only natural that he didn't understand girls. On her side, now feeling embarrassed, Laila could only stammer, "Uh, well, I mean..."
"..."
She eventually said, "Ah, you know what? Never mind. Big brother is just fine."
"Are you sure?"
"(I guess it's a good start... The rest is up to me to win his heart.)"
She replied, "Yes, yes, I'm sure."
"Hmmmm... I feel like you're hiding something from me..."
"Ahaha, I swear, you're imagining things."
"Hmph, we'll see about that!"
Laila nervously scratched her cheek with her finger, avoiding eye contact with Nate. Seeing that she was clearly hiding something, Nate said:
"Alright, since you won't talk, I'm going to tickle the truth out of you. You'll see!"
"Ahahahah no, please, not the tickles! Ahahah..."
"Guili guili guili guiliiiii..."
"Ahahahaha stop, I can't take it anymore... hahaha..."
Meanwhile, it had been three days since Captain Misset and his men started searching for Laila without success. But today, they finally got a break. They had found the spot where Nate had saved Laila from the dogs. Upon seeing the corpses of the dogs Nate had killed, the Captain wondered who or what had caused such carnage. He ordered his men to intensify their efforts, knowing they were close.
That same night, as the rain poured down heavily as usual, Nate, asleep in his room, was suddenly jolted awake by screams coming from Laila's room.
"What?! Are we under attack?!"
He rushed to her room, fearing the worst. But when he arrived, he found Laila lying in bed, screaming in her sleep. She was clearly having a nightmare. He approached her and gently tapped her to wake her up.
"Hey, hey, wake up."
She woke up, flailing and agitated.
"Hey, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. You're safe..."
"Nate?!"
Once she recognized him, she threw herself into his arms, crying.
"It's alright. It's over now. You don't have anything to fear."
But the tears kept flowing, and her sobs were heavy and heart-wrenching. They stayed like that for a while before eventually falling asleep, wrapped in each other's arms.
Laila didn't wake up until the next morning, and as usual, Nate was already training. She headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and had just begun when Nate joined her.
"Oh, um, good morning, Nate."
"Good morning, Laila."
"Already done with your training?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, give me a second, and breakfast will be ready."
"Take your time. I'm not really hungry."
"Oh... okay."
"..."
"..."
"But you really scared me last night."
"Oh, sorry for worrying you..."
"No, it's fine. But I'd like to know what put you in such a state."
"Hahaha... it's nothing, really. Just silly stuff."
"I still want to hear about it."
"No, seriously, I promise it's not important, you don..."
"I insist! Please."
Faced with his persistence, Laila fell silent, hesitating for a moment. Then she finally gave in.
"Alright... if you really want to know, I had a dream about something terrible that happened to a friend of mine... Her name was Ladi."
"And what happened to her?"
"You remember I told you I was sold to Captain Misset?"
"Yeah."
"Well, when I joined his group, there were two other girls with me; Ladi and Tania. We were close, helping each other survive the hell we were living in. One day, they decided to escape. Tania succeeded, but Ladi... Ladi was caught. As punishment for betraying him, the Captain put her on a pillory, stripped her, and forced her to be publicly raped by a horse they had drugged. I could hear her screams echoing in my head, along with the horse's frenzied neighing. He forced me to stand in the front row and watch the whole thing while he licked my face, whispering that he'd do the same to me if I tried to escape. I watched that horse destroy her, ripping her apart as she bled out, and no one lifted a finger to help her. Worse, they all seemed to enjoy it..."
Once again, Nate was overwhelmed by the horror of what he had just heard. He lowered his head slightly, speechless. Sensing the weight of the moment, Laila, her eyes brimming with tears, continued:
"It's not that I don't trust you, Nate, but I absolutely cannot go through something like that. It's beyond me; I wouldn't survive it."
Nate gently wrapped her in his arms and spoke softly, "Don't worry. I'll never let something like that happen to you. Trust me, lean on me."
Hearing his reassuring words, Laila felt deeply moved and somewhat relieved. She returned the embrace, holding him tightly, full of warmth and affection. It was at that very moment that the door was kicked open, and a certain man, the leader of a band of brigands, burst in, consumed with rage.
"LAILA!!! What the hell is going on?!"
When the young girl saw who had spoken, her face instantly hardened like stone, her throat going dry like a desert. Her wide, terrified eyes locked onto him as she stammered in disbelief,
"C-Captain?!"
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