“Aren’t I your fian-! ....right. Ugh. I’m eighteen.”

I understand he somehow lost his memory due to the fall. But honestly, the way I felt after being treated like this? It’s terrible

Not that I’ll tell him that.

This insensitive prick.

Really. I wonder where he went. That naive cute little boy that would go “Big Sister Enli! Big Sister Enli! I love you! Hehe~” whenever he’d see me.

Just losing his memories turned him into this moody, sulking bastard that somehow manages to get on my nerves every time he speaks.

Ahh! Annoying!

[How come you’re taller than me? How old am I?]

“Fifteen! Now let’s go!”

I praised myself as I somehow managed to patiently answer the tactless question he threw at me before continuing to pull him along the road.

It wasn’t long before the frustrations I felt earlier slowly turn into fear with every step that I made as I guided him.

The reason is that every time my sandals touch the ground, my eyes were slowly opening in realization that sure enough, everything has gone to hell.

Corpses were everywhere. The old lady that gave away apples during by the church, the roguish young man who sold skewers under the tree and even the little orphan girl who timidly sells fresh flowers by the road. All of them were dead. Their once happy smiles earlier this morning were all replaced by frozen masks of fear and helplessness.

I averted my gaze from their corpses in a vain hope that my memory of them remains as how they were before; alive, and smiling.

I tried to focus on running, but the overpowering stench of death and the occasional wafts of burning flesh and blood kept me from fully investing my attention to move forward. My difficulties only managed to increase as I saw the countless amount of corpses that were piled along the road.

Some of them were missing limbs, hands, feet, fingers, even heads. Some had holes, both large and small, that pierced through their stomachs, chests, and limbs. Some were torn in half with their organs loosely scattered from the gaping wounds that divided their once whole body. Their desecrated remains, being feasted upon by an innumerable amount of rodents and pests.

We would be in a state similar to these unfortunate ones, too, if it weren’t for the selfless sacrifice of the old shopkeeper who attended us while we were browsing his store. I wonder what happened to him.

Everything. All of these deaths, caused by the sudden appearance of those demons. I don’t know what method they used to infiltrate the city’s defenses or how they managed to get in, but when everything’s said and done, in the end, there they were, and we weren’t safe anymore.

All I could remember was both of us being blasted away by the impact of some spell that shook the ground as we were leaning on the railings on the third floor. Due to the apocalyptic shakes of the ground, we inevitably fell. And coming from the third floor down, I fainted almost instantly, but only after I heard the simultaneous screams that resounded all throughout.

A peaceful evening suddenly turned deadly.

My reminiscence of the events earlier was abruptly stopped. We even haven’t run far, but I suddenly felt his hands breaking away from mine, then a howl,

[Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!”]

‘What happened?!’

Looking back, I saw his frail looking body shivering as he slowly fell to the ground.

“Ysil!?”

His shoulder length white hair quivers as he clutched them with his slender hands. His violet eyes fraught with pain and his supple lips bitten with his pearl white teeth in pain.

‘Wait. Now’s not the time to admire his looks!’

Correcting myself, I rushed to his side,

“What happened?”

I clung to him in panic,

[... don’t shake me. My head hurts.]

He groaned in reply so I removed arms from his shoulders then proceeded to rub his back to comfort and assure him.

A minute or two passed uneventfully. But we really need to get out of here before he gets comfortable. I mean, we’re in the middle of an alley and I’m pretty sure his shout earlier managed to reach the demons patrolling the area.

“I’m sorry, but can you move? We’re really in a dangerous place right now and we can’t afford to wait any longer.”

[.. I know that. It’s just my head.. felt like it’s being split.]

He continued,

[I think.. I remembered something earlier.. but I forgot.]

“We’ll think about that later. For now, we run.”

[Give.. me a second. You barbaric woman.]

My eyebrows twitched in response, therefore, I naturally pinched his arm before pulling him away,

[Ow! Oww! Hey!]

“I’m not ‘Hey’. I have a name. It’s Enli. And we need to go. Your screech earlier should’ve reached those demons. ”

[I don’t care! Stop it. I can move on my own.]

Hearing his energetic reply, I felt relieved, then I removed my hands from his arm. Then I stood up and bolted from my position.

I was doubtful whether his body had the ability to catch up to me, but seeing him almost reaching my side, I ran faster,

“Are you okay now?”

[Yeah.]

Hearing this, we continued to run in silence.

It wasn't until we reached the north-western part of the city that I refrained from darting my eyes from corner-to-corner in vigilance. When I saw the large structures made of steel, stone, and wood, I felt relief.

The area we arrived at wasn’t like the wasn’t like the western section of the city - where we were in earlier - that was largely occupied by commercial shops and stalls. This north-western section, on the other hand, was commonly used as the location for warehouses and storage buildings. In other words, although some parts of it were currently set ablaze, I think there’d be nobody else here.

It’s only a few hundred meters until the wall passage and considering that we still have some time left, I told him we’d better stop for a bit and reorganize the plan. Moving about haphazardly would only endanger us.

He thought for a bit before agreeing, then we looked for a suitable place to hide for the meantime. Although the majority of the buildings here were locked tight, there's always the occasional one that wasn't locked or was forcibly opened. Perhaps it was due to the inevitable looting that happened earlier when the demons came.

After surveying our surroundings, we immediately found a spot that seems like a good place to hide. The building we found seemed like the storage for horse and cattle feed - hay - in other words. Although it was itchy, this place would serve as decent cover for the meantime. We moved slowly and eventually arrived inside.

After I had him close the large wooden doors, I heaved a sigh of relief before saying,

“Okay, so..”