“Nonsense,” Loewe retorted. “I’ll be the one doing that.”
“Me too!” Lily exclaimed, blushing at her own statement, when a loud noise came from further up the path. “Huh?”
A massive log was rolling with great force toward them, spinning wildly.
“Eek! Oh no!” Lily yelped.
“I guess this won’t be simple after all,” Zophia said, licking her lips as she leaped over the log.
“Hmph!” With Lily still on her shoulders, Loewe deflected the log with one hand, sending it spinning across the gray sky until it vanished into the dense forest.
A laugh came from just ahead. “Ha ha! Not bad!” said a large, greenish-skinned man standing defiantly on the stone steps as other men began to emerge from between the trees.
Zophia narrowed her eyes at the large man. “You’re the guy from the attack on the festival. If you don’t want to get hurt, I suggest you step aside.”
The man laughed loudly. “You think I’d agree to that? Lady Liz told us to keep the rabble out. You lot! Get them!”
All the other men charged down the steps at once.
“Damn. We’ll have to fight back,” Zophia hissed.
“I don’t think I can hold back this time,” Lynga growled.
“Hold on tight, Lily,” Loewe said.
“O-Okay!” Lily replied.
The Black Guild’s forces clashed fiercely with the champions of the slums, the dull sounds of struck flesh and bone echoing through the air. Though the demi-humans had the upper hand in terms of physical ability, dodging the flurry of attacks and striking back with precision, the men kept getting back up no matter how many times they were hit. It was as though they felt neither pain nor fear.
The pouring rain drained the demi-humans’ body heat, gradually sapping their strength. “These guys...” Zophia said.
“I think they’re being controlled,” Lynga ventured.
“So these are that woman’s puppets,” Loewe concluded. “I shouldn’t have bothered with that diet.”
Catching their breath, the three demi-humans quickly exchanged glances. “Well, we know what we have to do,” Zophia remarked.
“We have no choice,” Lynga agreed. “Otherwise we’ll all be stuck here.”
“That settles it, then,” Loewe said.
A puzzled Lily tilted her head. “Um, what are you all—” Before she could finish speaking, Loewe grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. “Huh? Huh?! What’s happening?!” The orc woman swung her back in a wide motion, and Lily began to panic. “Huh?! Um, wait! L-Loeweeeeeeeee—”
“We’re counting on you, Lily!” With a mighty swing, Loewe launched the elf into the air.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Lily arced through the night sky, her small frame flying far above the heads of the men blocking the way. After several seconds and many panicked screams, she finally landed on her butt atop a distant pile of mulch next to the stone steps, bouncing off the soil multiple times before finally standing up in utter confusion. “Oof! Augh! Wah...”
The green man clicked his tongue. “You ain’t going anywhere!” Before he could give chase, however, a log landed at his feet with a loud thud. He turned back and locked eyes with Loewe as she cracked her neck.
“What kind of idiot turns his back on us?” she asked.
“Tsk!”
“Y-You guys,” Lily stammered as she watched the tense scene unfold, realizing with a gasp what her friends were doing: buying her time.
She couldn’t afford to just stand there. A rusted metal gate stood before her, and the orphanage likely lay beyond it.
The rain blurred her vision, and Lily wiped her face with an arm repeatedly, running as fast as she could. She called out the name of the one who had rescued her from slave traders. The housemate who had started the clinic with her. The man who had told her she was family to him.
“Zenos!”
***
Rain continued to pour, like tears falling from the gray sky. Lily’s heart pounded wildly, her lungs craving air, sending sharp pains shooting through her throat.
But she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.
While she ran, the Black Guild assassin, Liz, was closing in on Zenos. Pumping her arms with all her might, Lily dashed through the orphanage’s slightly open gate.
“Is this the orphanage where Zenos grew up?” she asked herself.
What stood before the breathless young elf, however, were the charred remains of a building. It had seemingly caught fire long ago, and now barely had the shape of the orphanage it once was.
“Wh-Where are they?” She couldn’t see Zenos anywhere. Not under the roof, the only part of the orphanage that could be considered intact. Not behind any of the sparse columns, with gaps between them reminiscent of missing teeth. “Zenos! Where are you?!”
