Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

Baraha followed Yuriel’s trail and went out into the street. Prophecies were always vague, and it was up to those who see the prophecies to interpret them.

It used to be easy to interpret, but it took him a while to figure out because he hadn’t read the prophecy for a long time. According to the prophecy, Yuriel was a saint. Had it not been for the fact that the saint was in danger, these prophecies would have been burned as soon as they were written.

In fact, Baraha had a history of burning them without reading the prophecies he wrote before going to the Krug Ruins.

The first prophecy he read in detail after having not read them in a long time was very different from the past.

‘In particular, the content about the saint has changed a lot.’

In the prophecies written before, the saint was a being that was created to oppose demons.

Baraha thought as he looked at the paper that mentioned the saint.

It was written that the saint would be threatened by people, not monsters. Up to that point, he could have taken it as a warning of Yuriel’s danger.

What followed was a problem. He couldn’t understand the meaning of a saint getting closer to a monster.

Baraha’s brow furrowed as he recalled the moment when he had lost his place a long time ago.

At the moment when Yuriel was saved by Raphlet, something seemed to have gone terribly wrong.

The saint saves those in the Imperial Capital? That’s nonsense.

Baraha hated the people in the Imperial Capital. He did not understand the fact that he would kill monsters for them in the prophecy he had.

But maybe, he would sometimes imagine what it would be like if Yuriel and him had met at the Mogris Estate and lived together until now as planned. He wondered if he might have changed his mind.

As he looked around the noisy streets, the knights in Albraka’s uniform approached him.

The paladins who recognized Baraha approached him. Baraha greeted them and crumpled the paper in his pocket.

One of the knights stepped forward and said. An annoying look was evident.

“I have received a message from the Princess.”

“During the festival, pickpockets are extremely common, so you have been told to strengthen your vigilance. We will take care of the street security, so you can go back to the Princess. Commander Baraha.”

“Pickpocketing is not a problem.”

“What?”

Even though they looked annoyed at being dragged out during the festival, they spoke well. Baraha suppressed his irritated mind and took time to explain to the knights.

“Yuriel has been kidnapped. I have found traces of her being dragged by slave traders and is pursuing them.”

“Are you saying that Miss Yuriel was kidnapped?”

“Shi…. I said so.”

Seeing the knight muttering what he had said with round eyes, Baraha tried to spit out a curse and turned away. The paladins raised in the temple are only old-fashioned people who thought they were being challenged to a duel when they heard abusive language.

They have to go rescue Yuriel, so he mustn’t make things more troublesome.

The knights murmured in surprise. One of them said quickly.

“I will report to Commander Raphlet, who is the direct supervisor of Miss Yuriel!”

The knight ran towards the Temple before Baraha could even stop him.

Baraha pondered for a moment while looking back at the Princess’ knights and the knights belonging to the Temple. He was going to go to the place where the slave traders are now and kill all the people there.

He was guessing which one would be more helpful in the process.

The Princess’ knights have a heavy mouth. If Baraha asks them to keep quiet about this, they would bury the slave trader for what Baraha took the lead in dealing with.

However, using that as an excuse, there was a possibility that the Princess would try to summon him.

The Paladins would help deal with the slave traders if Baraha ordered them, but they would report directly to the upper management, and there was a possibility that the Temple that had traded with slave traders in the past could impose sanctions on Baraha.

After thinking for a while, Baraha looked back at the knights of Albraka and said.

“You strengthen the street boundaries so that no other damage occurs.”

Even if it bothered him a little, he thought it would be better to get help from the princess.

＊＊＊

As soon as she regained consciousness, her head throbbed. Yuriel curled up, rubbing the back of her sore head, but when her fingers touched it, the throbbing pain got even worse, so she removed the hand that touched her head.

There was blood on her fingers. She didn’t know how long it had been, but the blood was still oozing out.

Yuriel didn’t get up and remembered the words she had heard from the medical officer. It was what he said while Yuriel watched a knight who passed out due to a head injury during training.

There was a time when Yuriel, who was bored while staying in the infirmary, helped the medical officer treat him.

The medical officer, whom she hasn’t seen often since being disciplined by Shudmuel, was a talkative and easygoing person, so he was happy that Yuriel helped and showed off his medical knowledge.

‘Sometimes people come in with head trauma during training.’

‘He passed out, and he was bleeding…. Isn’t that serious? They need to get treatment right away. Why are you talking, medical officer?’

‘If it bleeds out like this, it’s fine. Internal bleeding is more serious. You’ll have to keep watching him, but he’ll be fine. The knights treated him well and came to the infirmary afterwards. He fell and didn’t move his head much, didn’t he?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s a relief.’

Having said that, the medical officer lifted his eyelids to examine the reflexes of his pupils, and checked his pulse. Concerned that the medical officer was just fluttering his mouth in front of a fainted person, she looked at the medical officer with a bandage, and she checked the condition of the patient with an awkward face.

Yuriel groped her eyes as she recalled what the medical officer had done, realizing she couldn’t check her reflexes, so she put her hands together and lay in an upright position.

Well, first, to not move her head. She must have moved a lot when she was brought here….

While lying down, Yuriel remembered what had happened to her.

She remembered that someone had come into the alley and hit her head.

Those who hit her head said that they would also take the child Yuriel was persuading. Yuriel lay down and looked around with only her eyes open.

When she looked away from the low wall, she saw an iron fence. It was a small prison that could barely hold one person. Unlike Yuriel, who was lying quietly, the surroundings were quite noisy.

It sounds kind of familiar….

Raphlet was always by her side, so she wasn’t afraid, but when she was alone, it was the sound that Yuriel feared the most.

It was the sound of a monster that could be heard from a group of monsters. Yuriel forgot that she had to calm down first and got up.

She didn’t know if it was because she got up in a hurry or because she had been hit in the head, but she felt a bit nauseous.

Yuriel looked around and was terribly surprised.

Most of the things imprisoned in the surrounding prisons were monsters. The child brought with her was nowhere to be seen.

The place where Yuriel was imprisoned was a prison infested with monsters.

Among it, there were also monsters that looked quite strong.

“Is, is it a dream… ?”

Yuriel sighed as she blinked her eyes hard and recited them.

She wished this was a dream, but she didn’t feel the sense of a dream.

In reality, she felt like she was going to burst into tears in fear as she thought she was lying among the monsters.

There were still many things I haven’t been able to do with Raphlet.

Being alone among the monsters, she immediately thought of death. Yuriel, who was brimming with tears, crouched to avoid hearing the cry of the monsters, felt the sensation of an object caught next to her leg, and found hope.

“Baraha!”

There were times when Baraha was helpful!

It was unknown where the robe that was covering her face had gone, but the disassembled gun she had hidden all over her body, as Baraha said, remained on her body.

It was a problem that the box containing the monster core was stolen, whether it looked important or not, but compared to her life, a stolen monster core was not important?

Yuriel took out the barrel attached to the garter belt and was thrilled.

Baraha, thank you so much. Do you have any foresight?

If he was in front of her, she would have said so to Baraha.

She’ll have to ask Baraha if there’s anything she can do for him after she got out.

Yuriel skillfully assembled the gun. The gun found its form in an instant. She became proficient enough to assemble even with her eyes closed, so she was able to assemble a gun quickly even in the dark.

In her heartfelt thanks to Baraha, Yuriel rose from the spot.

From the lack of light, this place seemed to be underground. Yuriel took a deep breath and checked to see if there was anyone around.

The cries of the monsters were so loud that it was difficult to grasp. The good news was that there was a possibility that the sound of a gun would be buried by the cries of the monsters.

The monsters were making such a loud noise, what must have been done to prevent it from being heard outside?

Yuriel pressed her chest, which was pounding with tension, and put her finger on the trigger. There were no restraints, as if the kidnappers thought she would not be able to escape.

She pointed her gun at the locked doorknob and pulled the trigger, and a loud noise echoed through the basement. After hearing the sound, the monsters became quiet for a moment, and then started to cry louder.

Yuriel pushed the open door and pushed the iron bar away.

Every time she passed through the iron bars, the eyes of the monsters were fixed on Yuriel. She carefully turned her gaze away from the monsters who were trying to approach her that slammed their bodies against the iron bars.

As she kept going forward she saw a staircase going up.

Yuriel went up the stairs slowly, looking back at the monsters trapped. Even while climbing, she was worried about the strangely trapped monsters and kept looking back.

Seeing them locked up reminded her of the monster she had seen at the Krug Ruins. Monsters who were working.

The monsters she had always feared looked sad for the first time. It was a very small amount, but she still felt the same emotions as back then.

She would rather they be killed and the cores extracted, what are they going to do with the monsters locked up like that?

Yuriel thought while raising her eyebrows because of her throbbing head whenever her heart was beating greatly.

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