[Vol. 8] Chapter 163: The Crossroads of Fate
Because of this, she had been used to staying in dark, hidden places ever since she was little. She rarely went out during the day, and because of that, people her age started calling her a strange nickname, “Shadow.”
Since her parents had died young and no one in the village really cared much about her real name, once the girl herself accepted the new name, fewer and fewer people called her by her original name. Eventually, she truly became Miss Shadow.
When that group of madmen attacked the village, it was broad daylight. Miss Shadow’s special ability was useless in the bright light, and she didn’t want to run away alone and leave the village behind. Because of that, she was easily caught.
But now it was night, they were in her territory, and things might turn out very differently.
Until now, aside from listening to the young mage girl talk about their current situation, Miss Shadow had purposely chosen a spot near the edge of the cage. She quietly listened to the conversations between the poachers outside, and carefully observed the surroundings along the way. All to prepare for her escape plan later tonight.
Thanks to her strange natural ability, Miss Shadow had already gathered a lot of important information. Based on that, she had come up with a rough plan for escape in her mind...
All she needed now was the right moment.
From what she overheard in the poachers' casual conversations, they were not traveling openly on proper roads. Because of the recent increase in violent crimes like this, the kingdom had formed a special force to deal with such criminals. This force patrols day and night along the major roads near the southern border.
They are powerful, hard to track, and completely unpredictable. If regular poachers run into them, it usually ends in death. So the poachers had no choice but to take the most remote paths they could find, and as a result, their travel speed was not very fast.
Right now, although the group had already left the Wangyuan City, they hadn’t fully left the borders of the Human United Kingdom. At this pace, they would have to camp for the night still inside the kingdom’s borders and wait until tomorrow to find a chance to cross the border.
So tonight was the best chance.
Miss Shadow didn’t tell anyone about her plan. She just quietly stayed in her corner and waited.
Just as she expected, as night deepened, the poachers, tired from attacking and robbing several villages earlier in the day, didn’t continue traveling. Instead, they chose a remote place to set up camp and rest.
As she had heard them mention earlier, in order to keep their "goods" (the girls in the cages) from starving or getting weak, they even sent some people to bring simple food and water to the prisoners. The food wasn’t good, but it was enough to keep them from going hungry, and that detail helped confirm some of Miss Shadow’s guesses.
Normally, they could just hand the food over through the bars, but...
Sometimes doing too much is just as bad as not doing enough. Miss Shadow didn’t do anything amazing. She simply closed her eyes and leaned against the bars, pretending to be barely alive as the two poachers put the rough bread into the cage and shouted at the begging or angry girls.
The spot Miss Shadow had chosen earlier was very clever. It looked like a hidden corner, but from the outside, it was actually very noticeable. To make her act more convincing, Miss Shadow had even secretly bitten her finger beforehand and wiped some blood around her lips, making herself look even more pitiful.
Because it was late at night and visibility was low, the poachers could only see her by the light of their torches. They couldn’t clearly tell how she looked. And to them, every “item” in the cage was valuable. They wouldn’t just let one die like that.
“Hey! What’s wrong with this one?”
Seeing her like that, the two poachers were clearly frightened. They called out to her, but when she didn’t respond, they turned to the other girls in the cage and started asking questions.
“I—I don’t know... She looked really weak from the start. She’s been sitting in that corner quietly the whole time. Maybe she was badly hurt earlier today when you guys beat her...”
Miss Shadow had predicted all of this.
She hadn’t told the others what to say, but since she had been purposely avoiding conversations and interactions along the way, no one had really noticed when she started acting this way. That made the poachers even more nervous. And finally, in their panic, they did exactly what Miss Shadow had hoped for.
They opened the cage to check.
In fact, from the poachers’ earlier conversations, it was clear they weren’t worried about the girls fighting back. Most of them were weak and had no ability to resist.
A few troublesome ones, like the mage girl from the adventurer team, had already been locked in anti-magic cuffs. The cages were mostly just to stop them from escaping or to hide them when needed.
So the two men quickly and decisively opened the cage door. While yelling threats at the other girls, they clumsily carried the "dying" Miss Shadow outside, planning to bring her to their leader to decide what to do.
And Miss Shadow... this was exactly the chance she had been waiting for.
The moment she was carried out of the cage and laid flat on the ground, when the other poachers had not yet arrived and the distance was perfect, she didn’t hesitate.
"Bang!"
"Ughhh!!!"
Empowered by the darkness, she suddenly opened her eyes and kicked one of the men as hard as she could right in the vital spot. The man groaned in pain, his face turning purple as he collapsed.
Miss Shadow immediately grabbed the weapon from his body, and before the second poacher who had his back turned could react, she used all her strength to stab him straight through with the sword.
She took down the two closest enemies in a clean and fast move. Without wasting a second, the girl turned and ran!
She dashed into the shadowy forest, not even glancing back as she sprinted toward the main road. Behind her came loud shouts, swearing, and even the sound of magic blasts hitting the ground.
But Miss Shadow didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. All she could do was run.
This was her only chance. She had to find the kingdom’s patrol team, the powerful group that the poachers had talked about, and bring them back to save the innocent girls still trapped. She would bring justice to those murderers and butchers and get revenge for the people of her village!
With that burning determination in her heart, the teenage girl ran through the forest as fast as she could. She kept running for what felt like a long, long time. Until there was no sound behind her and she had almost run out of strength.
But maybe the poachers had picked too remote a spot to camp. Or maybe Miss Shadow’s luck had simply run out. She never found any sign of the kingdom patrol.
“Hah… hah…”
Exhausted, the girl fell to the ground, gasping for breath but not daring to make a sound. She didn’t even shout for help, in case someone from the kingdom army was nearby, because she didn’t know if those monsters were still chasing her.
If she called out too early, she might lose her last chance to survive.
What should she do now…?
As the rush of fear and adrenaline slowly faded, Miss Shadow looked around, unsure of what to do next.
Logic told her the smartest choice now would be to give up on rescuing the other girls and keep escaping alone. She wasn’t far from Wangyuan City.
If she could make it there and tell the soldiers and adventurers what had happened, they would protect her, and she wouldn’t have to live in fear anymore.
But…
If she did that, it would mean letting those horrible murderers go free. Even if the army believed her and actually sent people to chase the poachers, it would take nearly a full day to go back and forth. By then, those men would already be deep inside lawless territory, impossible to find.
She might never get another chance to find them again. She would never be able to get revenge for her friends and elders from the village. Those criminals would go free forever…
How could she accept that?
But… if she didn’t do that, what could she do?
Did she really have a second option?
Even though her strange gift gave her better senses, faster reactions, and quicker movement in the dark, it didn’t make her some kind of unbeatable warrior. She had only managed to defeat the two poachers just now because she surprised them and gave it everything she had.
If she went back now, she wouldn’t be able to save anyone, she would just throw her life away for nothing.
A deep feeling of helplessness filled the young girl’s heart.
Was there really… no way out?
“No, actually… there is one way~”
Just then, as if echoing Miss Shadow’s inner struggle and hesitation. A sweet, clear female voice suddenly rang out in the dark forest. The voice sounded cheerful and girlish, but there was also something strange and wicked in its tone, like a devil whispering in your mind.
“!?”
Miss Shadow was shocked.
Even though her hearing was now sharp enough to catch whispers from tens of meters away in the dark, she hadn’t noticed anything until now. Not even a hint that someone had gotten so close to her.
That was impossible!
She quickly stood up and raised the sword she had taken from the poachers, watching the stranger carefully with a wary look on her face.
The one who had suddenly appeared in front of Miss Shadow, blending into the night like a ghost, was a small girl with pale skin and long dark red hair. But what really stood out was her strange outfit.
She was wrapped in a large, dark cloak that covered most of her body. Her face was exposed, but for some reason, Miss Shadow couldn’t clearly see her features.
It was like a blurry shadow covered her, as if some invisible filter surrounded her whole body.
She gave off a strange feeling, like she didn’t belong in this world at all. That strange presence made Miss Shadow even more cautious and suspicious.
“Who… are you?” she asked.
After all, this was the middle of the night, near the borders of the Human United Kingdom. A normal girl wouldn’t be walking around in the wild alone, especially not wearing such strange clothes.
Even though Miss Shadow wasn’t very experienced in the outside world, she could easily tell from the many odd details. This person was definitely not ordinary. In fact… she might not even be human.
When Miss Shadow asked her question, her voice tense like a scared cat, the mysterious girl smiled.
And it was strange, even though that blurry shadow around her made it impossible to see her face clearly, Miss Shadow could still somehow understand her expressions and feel the change in her mood.
It was hard to explain, but that was how it felt.
Before Miss Shadow could think too much about it, the girl spoke again.
“When you humans meet something unknown, the first thing you ask is always the same. Is it really important who I am? What matters is this, you need my help. And right now, I’m the only one who can help you. Isn’t that true?”
“…What do you mean?” Miss Shadow asked.
The girl sighed and scratched her head, as if a little frustrated, then shook it several times.
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I forgot you humans need things explained more simply. Okay, I’ll say it directly. Right now, you want to get revenge. You want to kill the horrible people who hurt you. You want to save the other girls and heal the wounds in your heart. But the problem is, you don’t have enough power to do it. And I just happen to be able to give you that power.”
Her words were completely different from how villagers or adventurers spoke. No hesitation, no polite tone, just blunt and straightforward, like she was offering a deal in a marketplace.
Miss Shadow frowned a little at first, but she had to admit… she kind of liked this way of talking.
And more importantly… she was interested.
“Why would you help me? I heard from the adventurers in Wangyuan City… there are creatures from other worlds called demons. They like to tempt people by offering them power, money, or other things they can’t resist. But in the end, they lead people to ruin and swallow their souls full of despair. Are you… a demon?”
Miss Shadow said that mostly to test the girl. She didn’t really believe she was a demon.
But to her surprise, the mysterious girl suddenly got very upset!
She stomped her feet and even pointed at her own face, the one Miss Shadow still couldn’t see clearly, and shouted loudly.
“Hey hey hey! What demon!? Do I look anything like those ugly beasts who go around trying to feed on people’s dark emotions? Just being compared to them is already a huge insult! Ugh! Unforgivable! You rude human!!”
It seemed like Miss Shadow had touched a nerve. The girl's mood turned worse all at once, and her voice became sharp and annoyed.
“Hmph! Rude little brat! If it weren’t for— Hmph, whatever! What’s your answer? Yes or no? Make up your mind right now!”
“…?”
In that moment, Miss Shadow suddenly had a strange feeling.
It was like she was standing at a major crossroads in her life. What she said next would completely change everything, leading to two totally different futures, one full of light, the other full of shadow.
So she hesitated.
But only for a moment.
Maybe… the answer had already been decided long ago.
Just like her life was never meant to be ordinary. Neither was her future, or her fate.
“I accept.”