Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance

Actually, it was more of a gray area than a kidnapping. It was Star’s sudden behavior that triggered the incident.

 

Shortly after leaving the carriage, Star, who was sleeping peacefully in Eileen’s bag, suddenly woke up screaming.

 “Piiiiii!!!!” 

Star cried out before Eileen could soothe him, and then wrapped her in a vine of his own creation and dragged her into the ground.

 “Aaaaahhhh!!!” “Eileen!!!!” 

Cordelia, who had summoned Lynn from among the deserted people, gave chase, but it was impossible to find Eileen, who had already disappeared into the ground.

 

Meanwhile, Eileen’s screams in terror as she is snatched by her spirit and thrown into the void.

 

Her beautifully manicured hair and clothes were tattered with dirt. Eileen picked up Star, who was still squeaking.

 “What’s wrong with you? What the hell!” *Chewing* 

Eileen felt sorry for the wide-eyed creature, but it was she who wanted to cry. She looked up, wondering where she’d been dragged to, and realized there was one alleyway she’d fallen into.

 

A man in fluffy rabbit fur stood before her.

 “Who are you…?” 

As she spoke, the rabbit began to fidget visibly, which made Eileen even more suspicious.

 “Do we know each other?” 

Bunny fidgeted.

 “Can’t you tell?” 

Nodding.

 

Eileen looked suspiciously. For now, she will try to join the others.

 “Yeah… bye.” 

The rabbit grabbed Eileen’s sleeve as she was leaving the alley with Star in her arms. 

 

Just as Eileen was about to push away in surprise, the rabbit urgently pointed to the other side of the alley.

 “……?” [The street. That way.] 

The rabbit twitched his paw and wrote on the ground. Eileen became even more suspicious of him.

 “You realize you’re being very suspicious, right? A person comes out of the ground, you didn’t panic and are now giving us directions.” 

Eileen whispered softly to Star,

“Take off the rabbit mask.” 

Better to find out now than to leave a seed of doubt. Their future depended on knowing who this rabbit was, and if it was a character from the original story.

 

A vine poked out of the rabbit’s back and grabbed the mask.

 “Ugh!” 

In a flash, the rabbit grabbed its mask and jumped into the air, landing on the roof of a building. It was so fast that it didn’t look like a rabbit at all. 

 

It even threw something at Eileen’s face as it jumped, catching her in the face.

 

Eileen screamed from the sudden impact and caught the object that hit her in the face. She saw a necklace made of an unidentified gem.

 “A… necklace?” 

The rabbit, who had been fidgeting on the roof as he watched the necklace hit Eileen, began waving his hands at her.

 “You’re apologizing for hitting me, now…? 

What the hell is he doing? As Eileen stared at him, helpless to get angry, the rabbit rubbed his hands together and then, as if coming to his senses, jumped off the roof and disappeared.

 

Feeling completely betrayed and devastated; Eileen turned to Star.

 “What? Are you one of them?” “Chew?” 

Star looked up at her with an innocent expression. Eileen, who was quickly getting tired, seriously debated whether or not to throw away the necklace in her hand.

 “Let’s at least find out what this is.” 

With the necklace in her pocket, Eileen started walking again. It was in the opposite direction from what the rabbit had told her.

  

* * *

  “Quick, quick, quick.” 

She should have gone the other way.

 

The price of forgetting that this was Rofan’s world was terrible.

 “He’ll sell for a lot of money because of her unusual hair color.” 

Back alleys = dens of third-rate scumbags.

 

The price of forgetting the obvious formula was quite high.

 

In the middle of nowhere, a boy was being dragged by two men. It wasn’t hard for Eileen to tell from the conversation that they weren’t taking him to a good place.

 “We have to save him.” 

Eileen looked at Star and then back at her. She’d never been in a real fight before, but taking down third-rate villains like that didn’t seem too difficult.

 “Star, just hold them down long enough for us to move, okay?” “Chew!” 

Eileen reached for her. The dirty sack on the child’s head fell to the floor, and her eyes caught a glimpse of his pale pink hair scattering.

 “Ah!” 

Eileen cried from her hiding place. Her vision went white when she saw the boy’s hair.

  

* * *

  “That’s enough, that’s enough!” 

Cordelia frantically grabbed the man’s arm. The man, who looked like a fairy with beautiful pink hair and bright purple eyes, spoke in a questioning voice.

 “They attacked me first. Don’t worry, I won’t kill them. I’ll just maim them a little. I’m going to hit them in the shoulder and take out their shoulder and their eye for looking at you with those filthy eyes.” 

The man lowered his head and smiled shyly. 

 

At the man’s feet, a man in what looked like rags lay on the ground, his fine hair blowing pleasantly in the breeze. The ground around him was damp, as if he had urinated.

 “I’m going to stop this.” 

Cordelia asked in a choked voice as the man held out his hand as if he meant it. The man turned around happily, as if he had been waiting for the words.

 “Name. Call me by my name, Cordelia!” 

The man’s cheeks flushed, and he smiled, like a child receiving an unexpected gift. She opened her mouth slowly, staring at his innocent face as if she saw something strange.

 “Felix.” “Yes, Cordelia!”  

* * *

  

There it was another ruined route.

 

Felix Forss.

 

Eileen wiped her face in disbelief. The future she’d seen for so long included her first encounter with Felix, the second Ruined Route, and the countless misfortunes Cordelia had endured because of him.

 

‘A sadistic matriarch with a fairy face who plays with people’s lives like a demon… But why is he already here!!!’

 

Eileen felt like crying a little. In the original story, he was a character Cordelia would only meet after she entered the Academy at the age of 17. At twelve it was too soon.

 

‘Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. He’s probably the same age as Lucian. Is the premise that he’s been constantly abused by his sadistic half-brother and has lost a bit of his humanity, so why is he now in the hands of a slave trader?’

 

Eileen looked at Felix again, desperately trying to piece together the situation from the clues in his conversations with the future Cordelia.

 

The child was being held roughly in the man’s hands, but his face was calm, as if it didn’t hurt. His pale silver-violet eyes showed no emotion.

 

He looks like a doll, so lifeless.

 

Eileen was disturbed.

 

She didn’t know why he was in the hands of a slave trader at a time when he was being abused by the Count of Forss, but there were some things about him that she couldn’t let go of.

 

If his sadistic personality was based on a painful childhood, then saving Felix now might be an easier way to prevent a second path of destruction than she thought.

 

But what if it was innate?

 

She’d rather stop him before he became corrupted like Lucian, but she didn’t know what he was like.

 

Eileen clicked her tongue. She’ll save him with her elemental powers, but if he was already predisposed to trash, it would be a complete waste.

 

‘I’m a bastard for making such calculations in front of a child.’

 

She sulked, unaware of the man behind her.

 *Growl* 

Star poked his head out of the bag, and Eileen turned at the sound of his warning, only to have her mouth covered by a thick hand.

 “Ugh.” “Hey, you assholes, I told you to be aware of your surroundings, didn’t I?” 

A man who seemed to be in cahoots with the thugs in the alley grabbed Eileen and yelled, apparently hearing the noise she was making and sneaking up on her.

 “What’s the matter with her, she’s dressed so well, isn’t she a damn noble?” “You idiot, why would a noble be in an alley like this without an escort? She must have picked up something dirty from somewhere.” 

An escort. There it was.

 

Eileen quietly calmed Star, who was about to pounce on the men.

 “That’s all right. We’ll take her with us, see what’s going on, and then we’ll decide. 

Eileen planned to use her elemental powers to escape if she could. The men didn’t know she was an elementalist, and it would be easy to escape under those circumstances.

 

‘It’s certainly nice to have the power.’

 

With that, Eileen feigned moderate fear and was dragged into a building with Felix.

  

* * *

  

Same time.

 “Found it.” 

Cordelia’s eyes glazed over as she scanned the area through Lynn. Lucian sighed as she raised the sword she’d brought with her at the mention of someone being held captive.

 “I think we should give him a tracking artifact.” “Agreed.” “Let’s go, get Eileen back.” 

The somewhat murderous rescue party headed for Eileen.

 

Same time, different alley.

 

A boy walked down the street, carrying a rabbit’s head, his fine white hair brushing past his ears.

 “Master Aire” 

The boy turned at the sound of his name. A man dressed as a high priest stood there.

 “You have no idea how surprised I was to see you disappear like that. Now go.” 

Nodding, the boy finished removing his thick fur robe, and the man draped the boy in a pure white robe that looked more precious than his own. Then he politely held out his full-length sword.

 

It was a well-worn sword, its hilt stained with blood and smelling of blood.

 

The boy took the sword, which a grown man could barely lift with both hands and walked away with light steps.

 “Something good must have happened to you.” 

The boy, Aire, smiled softly. It was a simple but resonant smile, like sunlight peeking through a dark cloud.

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