Inside the apothecary, a short-haired blonde figure lay slumped on the floor. Drops of black blood trickled from her mouth.
"Cough… cough…!"
Another violent fit seized her, and she spat out a mouthful of dark blood. Clementine leaned against the wall, her face pale and her skin red and swollen. It was obvious she was in bad shape.
"Just inhaling that tiny bit of air… and I completely lost the ability to fight back?"
She let out a strained laugh.
"So I really did run into a monster… a real one."
Bracing herself against the cold wall, Clementine reached into a nearby cabinet with difficulty and pulled out a bottle of deep blue potion.
This was an apothecary. At least she didn't have to worry about running out of supplies.
Crash. Crash. Crash.
The rough glass bottles shattered one after another. As she repeatedly used healing potions, a faint green light glowed around her body.
Her ragged breathing gradually steadied. Warmth spread through her limbs as strength returned.
The swelling on her skin quickly faded, restoring her usual fair complexion.
Luckily, Herohero had noticed something was wrong and dispersed the corrosive gas in time. Otherwise, recovery would not have been this easy.
"That monster's strength… it's comparable to a God-kin."
Clementine pressed a hand to her still-aching abdomen, her expression dark.
"So powerful it makes you despair. Just the gas it released without thinking nearly killed me."
Even now, her heart pounded with lingering fear. That half-hour standoff had almost driven her insane. The relentless mental tension, combined with that grotesque expression, had placed enormous pressure on her.
She had no idea why he let her go in the end. Maybe he was simply in a good mood.
But she would never assume she'd be that lucky again.
Clementine could clearly sense the overwhelming gap between them. That was a monster she could never defeat.
Even if she risked her life, she doubted she could leave so much as a scratch on him.
In her understanding, there were only a handful of beings in this world capable of something like that. At least one came to mind. Perhaps more.
The God-kin secretly preserved by the Slane Theocracy—those who had perfectly inherited the blood of the Six Great Gods. They were said to be the Theocracy's ultimate trump card.
She had never fought them, never even seen them, but she believed in their strength. After all, even she—just a thin-blooded descendant of the Six Great Gods—had reached the Hero realm.
How much more powerful would a true God-kin be?
And that monster from earlier had undoubtedly reached that same realm. The fact that she, a Hero-class individual, had been so helpless was proof enough.
"What a pathetic sight, Clementine."
"If I had died just now… would anyone have been sad for me?"
The thought drifted through her mind as faces flashed past—her flawless older brother, her teammates from the Black Scripture, her parents…
But each image vanished as quickly as it appeared. Clementine knew very well that they would sooner celebrate her death than mourn it.
She let out a self-mocking laugh.
In the end, one more figure surfaced in her mind. Familiar, yet somehow distant.
"Naohara… Maybe that guy would be sad for a little while."
"No… he'd probably be sad for Clem."
Clementine shook her head, yet her mood lightened slightly.
At least when she died one day, someone would remember that a girl named Clem had existed.
"I'll warn him tomorrow. This city isn't safe anymore. With that monster around, it's too dangerous."
"I should leave too. Those damned people are probably catching up. That Kaire woman is like a hunting dog. What a nuisance."
She couldn't stay here any longer. If Naohara ran into that monster, it would be dangerous. She had to find a way to make him leave.
She knew he had subdued the Wise King of the Forest. His strength wasn't weak, and his two companions were probably close to Hero-class as well.
But in front of that terrifying monster, they would be nothing more than chickens and dogs, crushed in an instant.
And she herself had to retreat quickly. The Windflower Scripture of the Slane Theocracy had exceptional tracking abilities. She had lingered here too long already. Originally, it was for the sake of the plan—but with that monster in the city, the plan was clearly doomed.
Better to cut her losses and run.
"Ha… what rotten luck, Khajiit. With a monster like that in the city, failure is guaranteed. Absolutely guaranteed. I'd love to see the look of despair on your face when that happens. Just thinking about it is entertaining."
"If it's bound to fail anyway, I might as well squeeze out a bit of usefulness at the end."
Something crossed her mind, and a smile slowly spread across her face.
She returned to the second-floor room and looked down at the old woman and the youth on the floor, a glint flashing through her eyes.
From the small pouch at her waist, she took out an ancient scroll. It was a rare teleportation scroll capable of transferring inanimate objects over a short distance.
She had taken it when she defected from the Slane Theocracy. Now, it finally had a use.
Placing the scroll on the youth's cold corpse, Clementine activated the teleportation magic stored within without hesitation.
After setting the coordinates, the boy's body vanished in a flash of light.
"You'd better draw plenty of attention for me, Khajiit."
Standing outside the apothecary, Clementine looked toward the direction of E-Rantel's cemetery and let out a cold laugh.
Then she briskly headed into the alley. It was time to prepare her departure as well.
Her footsteps gradually faded into the darkness until they disappeared completely. Her figure dissolved along with the sound.
What Clementine didn't know was that a hundred meters above her, a mechanical construct shaped like an eyeball had been quietly watching.
Only after her figure vanished entirely into the alley did the mechanical eye slowly drift away into the distance.
...
E-Rantel, on the street.
Naohara was on his way back to the inn, a faint smile on his face as he casually played with the mechanical eyeball in his hand.
"What bad luck, Clem. Running into Blackie while he was enjoying his buffet."
"But at least she didn't die. Saves me the trouble of going over."
"Let's look forward to tomorrow's reunion…"