Chapter 97: Old Tony's Request

                                    

                                          
"Grandpa! Grandpa! I want Grandpa..." The girl's tender voice was hoarse as she called out, her small hands reaching helplessly forward.
A long sword pressed against the old man's neck, as the solemn royal guards led him away. A woman, clad in a luxurious corset, held the girl tightly, preventing her from chasing after the old man. Tears flowed ceaselessly down the woman's face, dripping onto the girl's neck.
Bodies hung from the bell tower, swaying in the wind...
"Ah!" Stella Famillion suddenly sat up in bed. In the middle of the night, a bolt of lightning split the stormy sky outside, casting cold light upon the windowpane and illuminating her pale face.
She had once told her teammates in the Last Defender of the Way adventurer squad that she was born into a declining noble family. The decline of the family itself wasn't frightening, but what was terrifying was experiencing the process of that decline.
Two years of tense adventuring life had driven those painful memories from her mind.
But the day before yesterday, seeing the bodies of the executed hanging under the bell tower once again, even though she knew this place was thousands of miles away from her hometown in Re-Estize, the dark memories surged back like a tide.
In her sleep, she drowned in those memories. She stretched her arms forward, her eyes wide open, memories flooding into her throat, leaving her unable to speak...
Her sleep had been of poor quality these past few days, and not even soundproof spells worked; the noise of thunder was enough to wake her. Stella rubbed her temples and used magic to light the copper candlestick on her bedside table, then groped her way out of bed.
Winter had come, and the thunderstorm late at night made it bitterly cold. She wrapped herself in a cotton robe, picked up the candlestick, and walked out of her room, intending to get a cup of hot water from the kitchen.
Stella tiptoed, making as little noise as possible. The captain, Barrett, and Sean were still deep asleep in their rooms, and she did not wish to wake them.
"Hoo... hoo..." A faint snoring sound came through a door, the unmistakable sound of Barrett snoring.
Fortunately, Sean doesn't snore at night; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to stand it. Wait, why am I even thinking like this?
Stella paused, startled by her sudden thought. In the dim light of the candlestick, a blush crept onto her pale cheeks.
"Bang... bang... bang..." Aside from Barrett's snoring and the sound of the storm muffled by the walls, there seemed to be a knocking sound coming from the dark.
Her experiences as an adventurer had made Stella braver. She stood still and listened carefully for a moment, realizing that the disjointed knocking came from outside the front door.
In this cold, rainy, stormy night, someone was knocking?
Stella quietly approached the front door. Amidst the rain hitting the oak door, the knocking sound became clearer, its rhythm growing weaker, as if the person outside was becoming more feeble.
The young cleric lit the candles and oil lamps inside, gripping her staff tightly. After preparing two spells, she cautiously whispered, "Who is it?"
"It's me..."
To Stella's surprise, it was the weak voice of a boy. She felt like she had heard that voice somewhere before... After a moment of thought, Stella quickly retrieved the key from the bottom of the flowerpot by the wall, inserted it into the lock, and opened the door.
As the door swung open, a drenched figure collapsed at her feet.
It was Eddie! Old Tony's nephew! He was soaked to the bone, his wet robe clinging to his skin as if he had jumped into the river and been pulled out after ten minutes underwater.