Translated by: Miss Ruby

Edited by: Miss Ruby

–

“Kyaa!”

“Ack!”

The broken wall and pieces of broken glass fell on the people on the streets.

“Wha, What the heck is going on?!”

Anne-Marie and Bastian were petrified. Fortunately, they were not hurt because an alchemic item designed to protect them in an emergency was activated. A small, semi-transparent shield formed around them, causing the wreckage to bounce off.

However, the other passersby on the street weren’t so lucky. They were bleeding, collapsed all over the place and groaning in pain.

Boom! Booom!

At that moment, another explosion occurred. This time, it was a series of explosions.

Kalian’s sharp gaze turned to where the explosions came from. But he couldn’t see anything due to the cloud of rising dust.

“Grandfather, you need to hurry up and leave.”

“R-Right.”

With the situation like this, Bastian allowed his attendants to help him up.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“Ah!”

Kalian asked to be excused and at the same, he picked up Anne-Marie into his arms. This was because he determined that Bastian and Anne-Marie were the slowest among them. His plan was to quickly take them to a safe place then go to where the explosion occurred.

“Uwaa!”

But that very moment, someone’s screams rang out over his head. The sound grew closer and closer, causing Kalian to lift his head. Then he caught sight of someone falling from the building right in front of them.

The protective barrier around Kalian became a cushion that caught the falling person in a safer manner than expected. The man hit the barrier with a thump and bounced off, clattering onto the floor.

“Ugh…”

Kalian realized who it was and frowned.

“Damon Salvatore?”

At that, Damon who was groaning face down on the floor, lifted his head. He stared blankly at Kalian if he didn’t understand the current situation, then he abruptly sprang upright and looked up.

“Did…Did I fall down alone?”

“Were you with someone?”

Damon didn’t seem to hear Kalian’s question; his face was aghast as he looked around where he fell and yelled.

“Yuri…! Dammit, are you still there? Answer me!”

And when the three people who heard what Damon yelled, their eyes went wide at the same time.

“W-What did you say? Yuri?”

“I-Is that the Ms. Yuri I know?”

“Was your companion Ms. Yuri of the coffeehouse?”

Kalian put Anne-Marie down.

The device forming the protective barrier around them was in Bastian’s possession so they would be safe even if Kalian was gone.

“I’m going to go in and see; the both of you should leave first.”“What? How can you talk about going alone?”

Bastian tried to hold Kalian back, but Kalian firmly ordered the attendants.

“Escort him away.”

“Kalian!”

Despite Bastian calling out behind him, Kalian turned around.

“I’ll go with you!”

“You’ll be a hindrance.”

Damon quickly tried to follow but Kalian pushed him towards Bastian.

“Ack!”

The ruthless shove made Damon stumble. Thankfully, one of Bastian’s attendants caught Damon from behind so he didn’t fall.

“Hey, you…!”

Damon’s face suddenly turned unsightly and he glared as Kalian, gnashing his teeth but Kalian didn’t care and rushed out of the barrier. And in the blink of an eye, Kalian’s figure disappeared from sight.

* * *

Let’s go back to a little while ago.

–

“The, the building…!”

Yuri and Damon were stuck together at the edge of the terrace. The place where Damon was standing a second ago had collapsed, ceiling included. And seeing that, Damon’s blood ran cold.

As he realized that Yuri had helped him once again, he looked up at her with trembling eyes.

“Are you alright?”

Yuri’s expression was calm even when the situation was like this.

“I, I’m o…”

Boom!

As soon as Damon began to reply in a momentary daze, another sharp sound split his ear. Even now, the explosions continued to happen. Glass shards were flying all over the place and broken wall fragments were falling, turning the streets into a mess.

“I’m just wondering but, can’t you use your alchemic tool right now?”

Yuri asked after a glance at it. At that, Damon knit his brows.

“It has to have materials. In its empty-handed state right now…”

She was asking just in case but as expected, the principles of alchemy were different from the alchemy she read in some comic books in her previous life.

‘I sort of expected it but useless indeed.’[1]

Yuri inwardly clicked her tongue. Meanwhile, Damon was feeling a sense of crisis and clenched his teeth.

‘Dammit, I should have brought a protective device when I went out or something.’

Since he spent most of his time at the Alchemist Tower anyways or like now, stepped out to take a brief look around a Salvatore-owned store, he didn’t carry anything to protect himself. Damon cursed at himself for his own complacency.

While he did that, Yuri’s sharp gaze scoured their surroundings. The roof of the building connected to the terrace had already collapsed so it was impossible to secure a safe escape route for Damon. Because Damon was there, she couldn’t use the power of the ruins.

‘Like I thought, the best way out of here would be to fall down.’

Just under the terrace where they were, was Kalian’s group. Earlier when she was looking down, she suddenly found a few familiar faces. Anne-Marie, Kalian, the old man Anne-Marie was caring after were right below the terrace.

‘I guess Kalian’s the one who recommended Anne-Marie as a caretaker for the old man.’

Yuri didn’t know that the old man who hired Anne-Marie was Kalian’s grandfather, Bastian, but she guessed this after she recalled when Kalian and Anne-Marie were together.

Either ways, the thing currently spread out around them was definitely an alchemy based protective barrier. Judging from Damon’s face, he was ashamed that despite carrying the title of an alchemist, he didn’t have a protective item like that.Yuri glanced down again. Kalian’s barrier seemed like it could withstand a few more explosions and she felt that this was the best way to get Damon out of here uninjured.

Yuri made her decision and spoke to Damon.

“You never know so just wrap your arms around your head.”

“What? Ahh…!”

Boom!

The moment the building shook again, Damon’s body leaned over the edge. He fell off the terrace and disappeared into the white dust. Yuri quietly listened intently. Damon seemed to have fallen onto Kalian’s barrier safely. Right away, Yuri moved and leapt off the terrace.

Boom-Boom!

The outside was just as bad as inside, forming a heartrending scene. She could see people groaning under shattered debris, blood spilling from their bodies.

Yuri was about to just go past them then she stopped.

“…”

Soon, deep lines formed on her forehead.

Fwip! Fwip!

The next moment, threads shot out of Yuri’s hand, spreading out into the air like a net. It ground the fragments that had been crushing people into dust and held up the ceiling that was about to collapse.

Yuri was still frowning and turned to move towards where she could hear other people weeping.

Tak!

That very moment, a tight grip grabbed her arm.

“…What are you doing right now.”

And at the same time, a familiar, low, deep voice pierced her ears. Yuri flinchingly turned her head. And she immediately locked eyes with a pair of cold blue eyes looking down at her.

“Mr. Lakis.”

Who knew when Lakis arrived, but he was standing next to Yuri and holding her arm. Perhaps he had come over in a hurry because his hair and clothing were a mess. If you listened closely, even his breathing was a little rougher than usual.

“When the explosions keep happening…”

Lakis’ low voice cut through the blasts that were still going on.

“Doesn’t it make sense to leave there right away?”

His eyes were fixed on Yuri and they were shining with a frostiness she had never seen in them before.

“Instead, why are you helping people for no reason?”

That very moment, Yuri realized that Lakis knew what she did just now.

The white threads supporting the ceiling that shook with every roar of explosion. It was obvious he knew they came from Yuri.

“I guess you don’t think you might be in danger.”

Right now, Lakis seemed angry for some reason. He clenched his jaw the next moment as if he was trying to suppress his emotions.

Yuri didn’t blink at all, instead she just stared at Lakis acting like this. Soon, he let out a repressed breath and squeezed Yuri’s arm tighter before pulling her closer to him.

Right after, Yuri felt herself rising into the air and held Lakis’ shoulders. Then his arm wrapped tightly around her waist.

Only

“Mr. Lakis, wait…”

“Be quiet.”

Yuri opened her mouth but Lakis’ cold voice cut her off. Like that, Lakis hugged Yuri, almost over on his shoulders and kicked off from where he stood.[2]

Translator’s Corner:

[1] I honestly can’t tell if she’s calling Damon useless or the alchemy.

[2]I think I’ll research the phrase used here a bit more. I can’t quite tell the pose.

*So, the word for ‘boom!’ can be translated to ‘bang!’ depending on the situation so I had bang-bang-bang playing in my head the entire time.