TFR 396

Rather Than Smiling Through Fear [Part 2]

"Ah, William-kun... HOT!"

"Ughh..."

Faces fully scrunched up, Arthur and Marion couldn't afford to worry about William as it took all their willpower to endure the growing flames on their body.

A blink of an eye was all it took.

The knights and the hunters on the front line, who had been watching Emma and the prince with lukewarm eyes until just a few minutes ago, were now rolling around on the ground, their whole bodies wrapped in flames.

The Bell siblings, who had been stifling their laughter until just a few minutes ago, also suffered from and were rendered immobile by the flames that kept getting stronger.

The Stuart family, who governed the Kingdom's largest borderland territory, wanted to move. Still, as they seemed like they would bump into their comrades who had turned into masses of flames rolling around on the ground, they could only be on the lookout for the surroundings with their hands and feet tucked in.

"This is... already..." ...a one-way trip to total annihilation.

That happy-go-lucky king sank to his knees.

Between the monsters and where they stood was a sea of flames. The whole area outside their fireproof cloth was burning crimson. Even if they took a risk and charged forward to attack, they would turn into ash before reaching the monsters.

Their hands were tied. If this place at this moment were not hell, then where else in this world could be called one?

The king experienced true despair for the first time in his life.

Be they humans or countries, monsters could destroy them easily.

Anyone living in this world, including the king, knew that. Yet, he would never have thought that he would be the one to be destroyed.

If one lived in the Royal Capital, one would hardly encounter monsters throughout one's life.

Monsters were dangerous.

Everybody knew that fact. Everybody knew, yet couldn't imagine what was beyond that danger.

It didn't even cross the king's mind until just a few minutes ago that his life was nearing its end.

'Things will work out somehow. We can do it. I'll do whatever it takes,' he thought. 'I'm prepared to fight. I'm ready.' He was full of conviction.

Now he finally understood that his determination itself was too naive. His body stiffened from the fear of death. The flames burst forth from his tense limbs one after another relentlessly like a predator to its prey.

Everyone burning on the nonburnable fireproof cloth unanimously thought,

'Is my life going to end this soon, and in such a place?'

'It's just terrifying.

I feel like I'm going out of my mind.

Someone... Someone please, save me.

Anyone...

Tell me a way to break away from this horror as soon as possible...!'

The more afraid everyone felt, the more the Fire Fox's flames spread. There was no guarantee whether they would still be alive five minutes or ten minutes later.

Just as everyone thought, 'There's no other choice but to give up my life...'

At that moment,

"Pardon me... Your Highness? I'm completely alright so can you let go of your hand?"

Emma grabbed Prince Edward's hand covering her eyes. Her voice was as airy and carefree as how she always sounded like.

"What are you saying?! No way, Emma, you... Are you telling me that you want to see the monsters?"

With large beads of sweat on his forehead, Prince Edward shook his head vigorously and said, "No!"

"Your Highness, we can't go on like this. We must find a breakthrough."

There was only one thing Emma, who held no strength like George nor knowledge of monsters like William, could do in this situation. If she still couldn't think up a countermeasure at this point in time, she could only change her approach and look at the real thing.

"I will find it. I'll find a way to defeat those monsters."

"You can't! Emma!" The prince shouted.

"Wait, Nee-sama, there's no telling you'll be able to come up with one smoothly every time, you know!"

"Emma! Don't be reckless!"