Chapter 426 – On the Scar.

As soon as she stepped out of her inn, the feeling of the dawn air clinging to her and robbing her of the heat made her shrink and tighten her robe.

‘Cold.’

Sulshien knew at least that it was humid because of the unique environment, but she hadn’t expected it to be this cold. Her hometown was a place where the climate was warm all year round except for the rainy season.

‘I should say thank you to Mr. Nausicaa.’

If he hadn’t borrowed her clothes, he would have caught a cold, putting aside the manliness. She followed Usher, who was ahead of her, wrapping her arms around her shivering body, along with her robe. Soon after, she arrived at a large stable next to the inn.

-Kurreuk

There, Hildisbini with white feathers heard their footsteps and was looking this way. When I first saw it, I couldn’t tell it apart in detail, but seeing it like this, I was sure.

‘As expected, they were friends.’

Seol Shien was amazed at the appearance of Hildisbini, which seemed to glow softly even in the gloomy dawn air. Of course, he was especially tricky among the Hildisbini, who were said to be difficult to tame, and was a species considered sacred in Paciphenia.

‘I heard that knights who can tame a chin are rare.’

She went over to Hill Disbinny and glanced at Usher as she saddled her and put on the reins. Since End also had her knights as her escorts, she was familiar with them wearing her armor, but her Usher appearance was unfamiliar to her as well.

‘Is he also from the Holy Land?’

Even compared to normal knights, he was quite flashy. Especially the yellow embroidered fabric that is close to gold that connects the plates apart from the leather.

“Get on board quickly.”
“Ah, I get it!”

Maybe it’s an article with a higher status than I thought? When she came to her senses at the sound of Usher’s voice in her ears as she guessed, she saw him already on top of Hildis Beanie, looking down.

“Well, how do I get on?”
“Grab the ladder and climb up.”
“Is this what you mean?”

There was a small rope ladder hanging from the saddle so that he could climb on top, but even that reached only the boat at a length that did not interfere with Hildisbini’s running. Because of her size, the ladder is also in the same place as her line of sight.

It was too high, but I thought I couldn’t help it, so I grabbed the ladder and felt the rough texture of the rope. Still, since I made it so people could ride it, I thought it would work somehow, so I grabbed the ladder and pulled myself up with all my might.

“Turn it off!!”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t climb on it, and the limit was that she clung to it with a grunt. She somehow struggled to get up on her feet, but all she could feel was the pain of the rough grooves in the ropes that tightened her hands and pinched them.

-Kurreuk? Kreuk

Perhaps because of the feeling that the saddle was tilting to the side, Hildisbini looked at her curiously and immediately made an expression as if she had seen something pathetic, and she was moved.

“Turn it off!”

Seolshien tried to climb up on her own somehow, but as expected, she was limited by her own strength. Even that was hard for her to hold on to because of the ropes that pinched her hands.

“…”

Then, Usher, who looked down at Sulsien in silence for a moment, as if thinking about something, jumped off Hildis Beanie and stood next to her. When she thinks of her, she wonders at the figure of him who came next to her without even having time to say anything.

“When I signal, grab the ladder and climb it.”
“Hey! What?!”

For a moment she was surprised by Usher, who immediately fell on her knees and grabbed her hamstrings.

“Pull.”
“Kyaaak!?”

In the act of grabbing herself and lifting her up, Sulsian was able to step on the ladder and get on top of Hildis Beanie.

“Huh.”

She was startled by the feeling of being suddenly elevated, and as she shuddered, she felt Usher jump up behind her and ride.

“It’s standard for knights here to treat a lady like this…”
“Here!”

She protested, barely feeling at ease at the sensation of her hard armor hitting her back and offering her back.

-Kurrureuk!
“Kyaaaaa?!”

He waved the reins with both hands as a signal to move Hildisbini before Sulchen’s words were finished. She couldn’t help but bend down and hold the handle on the front of her saddle at the feel of the mist that seeped into her face.

She barely got used to her headwind, and she looked resentfully at Usher, who held the reins, but he didn’t even seem to care about her gaze, he just stared in front of her silently and led the hill this beanie. How long did it run like that? We reached the end of the city that was submerged at dawn.

“Stop.”

Blocking their path is a wall made of white bricks surrounding the city and a large gate leading to it. The gatekeeper, who was guarding the front of the place with a torch, called them to stop and came to the side. I was worried that there might be other problems.

“Are you going out again?”
“Yes, I have some business to do in the Cloud Zone.”

Unexpectedly, it was a conversation that felt quite familiar. I thought it was not a simple wandering knight, but could it be related to the king or lord who runs this city? As she blinked her eyes, the conversation ended briefly and the closed door opened.

-Hey hey!

Crisp! At the same time as the huge barbed wire blocking the way is lifted enough, Hildisbini kicks off the ground again.

‘What is he really doing?’

If the position of a knight is high, it would be normal if it was difficult to go out of the city unless it was to subdue monsters or go on a campaign. Instead of diminishing, her doubts only increased.

-Quarreung!
“Ugh.”

Then, the faint sound of thunder echoed in my ears. It was a faint sound coming from afar, but Seol Shien shivered reflexively. If you look up, you can see the silhouette of a wall of old clouds, layer upon layer of smoke rising above the bright blue sky.

I calmed my trembling body with a deep breath and looked ahead, but what I saw there was a dark space where I could not see anything as if it had swallowed up even a handful of light.

“Do I really have to go in there right now?”

Even though she had been there before, her past self was beginning to question how confident she had gotten into such a place. Even though it was just a day ago, the atmosphere seemed like she would fall into a bottomless abyss if she took a wrong step.

“If you don’t go in now, it’s too late.”

Even so, Usher didn’t care and ran under the cloud zone, and Sulsien was in a daze. It’s true that time is urgent, but do you really have to go to a place where you can’t see anything like that? It was when she tried to shed even her tears in the darkness that was approaching.

“Uh?”

At that moment, a warm beam of light flying in from somewhere slowly began to clear the darkness. When she turned her head and looked behind her, the sun had poked out its head and stretched out its scarlet stems in the blue sky, shining the dawn.

The beam of light was not enough just to gradually dye the blue sky, but it crossed the air and shook off the dust of the night that had colored the cloud region black overnight, and spread its light to every corner below it.

Captivated by the sight of the dawn coloring the river with the city, she looked up at Usher, realizing that she was still running.

“Are you in such a hurry for this?”

If Seol Shien asked him just in case, she nodded her head kindly.

“There is no way to safely enter the Cloud Zone when understaffed, except now.”
“…I guess so.”

I was expecting a bit of a romantic story, but as expected, what I got from Usher was a blunt reply. I knew that it was a pointless question, but at this point, I felt sad.

‘There were so many men who confessed to me in my hometown.’

Seol-shien complained softly in his heart, but for a moment he forgot the situation and immersed himself in the scene. Transparent water slithers under the clouds where sunlight rarely reaches, revealing the white sandy bottom before dawn.

Perhaps thanks to the reflection of the light by the water, dawn dyed the clouds in the cloud zone where only the dark night seemed to continue, like cotton candy soaked in scarlet juice. Outgoing ripples are everything here.

With a splash! Chaaaaak! Amidst their silence, the sound of water hitting Hildisbini’s feet and retreating along with the blowing wind scattering the water and creating waves is also short-lived. In front of them, a transparent waterway stretched endlessly.

“That creature…”

Also, what caught her eye were numerous creatures swimming on the transparent sandy bottom exposed by the sunlight. From the wide creature that jumped out from under the sandy bottom as if surprised by Hildisbini’s kick and ran away.

A group of translucent shadows, smaller than the little finger, hop around in the water. Something like a snake poking out of a hole in the floor and disappearing gave a chill up her spine, but when she raised her head to the shadows covering the sky for a moment, she opened her eyes wide.

– Whoa!

Above their heads, there was a large lozenge-shaped kite-like creature flying through the air with a wide tail flapping its flat, yet slippery body like wings. She knew the creature’s name.

“Manta.”

It was a very huge fish that was rarely found among the numerous fish species living in the cloud region, but most of them were dead. Sulsien never thought he would be able to see that fish alive.