Tamed or Captured

They witnessed a multitude of people on the other side of the river screaming and hastily fleeing.

“I must go to the temple immediately…!”

Asha urgently declared, prompting Jackal to hesitate for a moment.

He couldn’t take her to such a dangerous place.

But Asha is the Empire’s butterfly.

It was uncommon for the temple to be attacked by monsters during the flower festival, and such an event could deal a significant blow to the Imperial Family.

However, seeing Asha’s desperate and resolute expression, Jackal transformed into a horse.

Asha glanced back at Sonya and instructed her.

“Sonya, quickly return to the palace, inform His Majesty of the situation, and seek refuge in a safe place!”

“Yes, Lady Vanessa! You and the boss must stay safe until then!”

“Don’t worry, we will!”

With that, Asha mounted Jackal’s back, and they quickly made their way toward the temple.

As they reached the temple, they saw people evacuating in all directions, and numerous monsters emerging from the grass, creeping toward them.

Asha and Jackal’s eyes widened in unison as they saw the mites and scale insects, which were much larger than humans.

This was the first time in history that monsters had appeared in a temple protected by God, and it took the priests by surprise. They quickly took out holy water bottles used for worship and created a defense line.

While the high-ranking priests closed their eyes and recited spells with their hands together, the low-ranking priests and followers sprinkled holy water on the monsters to prevent them from advancing.

As soon as the holy water made contact with the monsters’ bodies, they let out terrible screams that sounded like scratching metal, as the places where the holy water touched them were burned.

Meanwhile, the high priest emerged with a cane.

“The Lotus Temple is untouchable…!”

As he struck the cane on the ground, a dazzling white light flowed from under it and attacked the monsters.

Asha stood there, mesmerized by the wondrous sight, with her eyes still wide open.

However, at that moment, monsters began to rise up around them like a volcanic eruption.

Jackal changed into his human form, dressed up, and drew his sword to fight the monsters.

He used quick movements to attack the monsters.

“…Lady Vanessa.”

Asha turned around, and saw Sihan, with his pink hair blowing in the wind, and his knights standing there armed.

“Duke Sihan.”

“I came to help clean up before His Majesty arrives. To kill the bugs we have to step on them.”

Sihan said, smiling brightly.

Jackal looked at Sihan with a wary expression.

Sihan also noticed him.

“Aren’t you the Leader of Lycaon? I think I saw your head hanging in the square before.”

Jackal’s face was stained with shock, and Asha was also surprised. But she quickly interjected.

“Duke Sihan has memories of the past.”

“What?”

Jackal frowned and looked at Sihan.

Sihan replied with a smile.

“Don’t worry. I’m on Lady Vanessa’s side.”

“How can I believe that?”

“I’m thinking of being chosen from now on.”

Sihan looked at Asha with great seriousness.

“Choose me as the side flower. I will fulfill your expectations..”

Asha responded with a resolute expression.

“I will trust you, Duke Sihan.”

Sihan smiled mischievously. 

He had already gained Asha’s trust just by being the first noble to come and help her.

Asha took a golden twig from her pocket and gently inserted it into Sihan’s front pocket.

He closed his eyes and smiled like the sunlight on a spring day, bowing in an aristocratic way with one hand on his stomach.

“It’s an honor, Lady Vanessa. I will do my best to repay your trust.”

Sihan, accompanied by his knights, headed straight to the temple to subdue the monsters. But then he turned around as if he had forgotten something.

“Oh, I brought this just in case.”

He signaled to someone, and a knight appeared with a bow, a gift from Nia.

Sihan smiled.

“I thought you would be safer if you had a weapon.”

“Ah…… thank you.”

After seeing Sihan’s thorough preparation, Asha accepted the bow nervously.

He seemed to be convinced that she would head straight to the temple where the monsters had appeared.

Asha was a little horrified that he knew her so well and had followed her with complete determination.

“Well then, I’ll be on my way. I’ll see you again soon.”

As he drew his sword and ran, his face became bloody as it always had.

     He really is a dangerous man….

Asha couldn’t help but think he was a dangerous man, but at the same time, she felt she had gained a reliable ally.

“Jackal, I think we should go see Priest Dart.”

“Who’s Priest Dart?”

“He’s the second flower I mentioned before.”

Jackal kept quiet.

“I think we need to find out more about what happened. He’s in the temple, so he knows how this happened.”

As Jackal was about to grab Asha’s hand and run, he suddenly transformed into his horse form.

With a charismatic look and a growling noise, he turned around and Asha climbed onto his back.

Mounted on a horse with a bow, they looked exactly like the wooden sculpture Jackal had gifted her.

They entered the temple building, and a fierce battle was raging even in the hallway.

Black monsters covered the white hallway like stains, and in the center, Dart was standing alone, blocking the monsters.

“…Priest Dart!”

Dart was startled by Asha’s scream and turned around.

“Lady Vanessa! What are you doing here?!”

“I came to see the festival. But as soon as I heard that monsters had appeared in the temple, I rushed here.”

“No! This place is dangerous. Please go back to the palace!”

But then, something happened.

A scream was heard from the direction of the chapel.

“Oh no…”

The three quickly headed towards the chapel.

Suddenly, an earthquake occurred, causing them to stumble and stand in place.

A gigantic, elongated monster like a caterpillar came running from the hallway and blocked their path.

It was a looper.

Asha immediately fired an arrow without hesitation. 

The looper screamed horribly when hit by the arrow but didn’t die easily and started to flee along the temple’s wall.

Just seeing the monster wriggling and disappearing up the wall made one shiver.

The three quickly entered the chapel through a gap.

Inside, young believers who had not been able to escape were gathered and crouched in front of the stone statue of God Etzheim.

The statue was surrounded by a small flower garden, and the priests always watered it with holy water and cast spells to keep it safe.

However, as the flower garden was destroyed, the power of the barrier was gradually weakening.

“Priest Dart…!”

When the young believers found him, they shouted with relief.

Dart looked at them surprised for a moment before reaching out his hand.

At that moment, an indescribable unpleasant pressure flowed from his body, and Asha’s eyes widened in shock.

It was similar to the aura that Karaf had exuded before, but different.

     Could he also know that he possesses the flower spirit?

Or had he realized it through practice with the high priest?

Asha was confused, but she suddenly felt a chill as if she had jumped into cold water.

It was as if her butterfly intuition told her that his ability was dangerous.

“…Snap out of it, Asha!”

Jackal’s shout brought her back to reality.

When he saw her trembling with widened eyes, he leaned in close with a worried face.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… I think I was just too nervous.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

Jackal hugged Asha and patted her back, and all her uneasiness disappeared as she felt calm again.

Suddenly, another long, high-pitched scream followed by the sound of something fluttering in the sky nearby interrupted their moment.

Asha and Jackal looked up at the sky, and she opened her mouth in surprise. 

A giant moth was flying in the sky.

The moth, which had been flying in the sky, suddenly lunged at Asha with a whirling motion that resembled a vortex or whirlwind and struck her with a whip-like motion.

Jackal quickly grabbed her and dodged the attack.

“Asha, are you okay?”

“I’m fine! I’ll take care of the moth!”

Asha frowned and immediately shot an arrow at the moth with the power of the wind, but the moth blew the arrow away with the force of the wind.

A power struggle ensued between the moth and the wind.

“Do you want to see who wins? Let’s have a go.”

Asha pulled the bowstring hard once again. 

Meanwhile, Jackal took an attacking stance and followed the looper with a keen eye as it attacked at a terrifying speed.

The two fought against the monsters together, with their backs on each other.

Jackal said quietly.

“…… I take back what I said about you not being suited for a hunter. You’re more suited than anyone.”

Asha laughed, and they trusted each other completely, entrusting their backs to one another.

Asha’s arrow relentlessly flew towards the moth with the wind behind it.

The moth tried to flap its wings to block it, but the arrow pierced one of its wings, unable to overcome the wind.

At the same time, the looper flicked its upper body and attempted a quick attack, but Jackal rolled on the ground to avoid it.

He quickly stood up and clung to the body of the looper.

The looper wriggled and shook its body as Jackal hung on.

Jackal frowned, regained his balance, climbed over the looper’s torso, and began sprinting across its long, single-legged trunk.

Finally reaching its head, he made a sharp stab with his sword into the head.

The looper twisted its whole body and screamed in agony.

The rebound knocked Jackal off, and he rolled violently on the ground.

“Jackal!”

As Asha looked towards him in surprise, Dart urgently shouted.

“It’s dangerous, Lady Vanessa!”

Jackal raised his head from the ground in surprise.

When Asha turned around, Dart used his ability to catch a scale insect that emerged from the soil behind her.

It was an armored insect that was segmented like a crustacean.

A green light emanated from Dart’s hand and stems suddenly sprouted, immobilizing the scale insect.

But in the blink of an eye, the moth that had been hovering in the sky whipped its tail at Dart.

“Dart……!”

Asha screamed in shock and ran to him.

There was a deep wound that had dug into Dart’s back as if he had been slashed diagonally by a sword.

Smoke rose from the hot flesh, and blood flowed from the wound.

Dart looked at Asha with his eyes dimly open, as if he were about to lose consciousness, and his breathing was faint.

“Run away, Lady Vanessa……”

He muttered weakly as if he was about to die.

He had sacrificed himself to protect her.

Asha looked at him with teary and trembling eyes.

“Why…why did you do that?”