The Damn Family Is Back Again

365. Yggdrasil Project (5) – 1:13 AM Update.

“Huff, huff…”

Heavy breaths burst out from the small body.

Flora, after deceiving the soldiers at the villa, ran and ran again to escape as quickly as possible.

“Ugh. So tired…”

Flora, with her hands on her knees, exhaled heavily.

Just escaping with this weak body significantly increased her laziness index. It made her want to rest immediately.

In fact, it’s not strange to think that way.

Who is around? No one.

It seems okay to rest a little.

Chasing soldiers? They don’t exist.

It’s been quite some time since she left the villa, and it will take a while for them to find her.

Hasn’t she gained enough distance? She ran that much, so she’s farther away now.

She had thoroughly deceived the soldiers at the villa, so the search might be delayed.

Isn’t it okay to rest a little more here since it’s so hard?

Such thoughts were growing rapidly in Flora’s mind.

But Flora shakes her head and takes her hands off her knees.

“No. You can’t relax.”

All they escaped from was just one villa.

No matter how much they escaped from the villa, they were still on the land occupied by the Shiren villa itself.

They never knew when or where the soldiers might chase them.

Even at the moment when they thought they had gained enough distance, the fact that they had left the villa where they were supposed to stay might be revealed.

Once it’s known that they left the place of confinement, the pursuit would follow immediately.

No matter how much she hated the hassle, she had to move.

No matter how much she hated the hardship, she had to move now.

Even if her dress got ruined, even if she wanted to just eat snacks on the sofa without sweating.

If they stopped here and got caught, everything would be ruined.

If she wanted to save Carsein, she had to move as quickly as possible.

“We have to go…!”

With her trembling, delicate legs leading the way, Flora moves forward.

How long had they been moving like that?

By the time her dress was ruined and she had wiped the sweat off her forehead several times.

Flora tripped over a stone.

Her knee was scraped. Blood was forming. She wanted to whimper from the stinging pain, but she couldn’t make a loud noise now.

“So, what the hell is this?”

Flora, who had barely held back her tears, checked what she had tripped over.

But then.

“…What is this?”

Lying on the ground was a sword that someone hadn’t even managed to draw.

“…”

Why is something like this here?

There are knights wearing swords at the Shiren villa, but… lying around like this?

Upon closer inspection, that wasn’t all.

Something strange and hard, whose identity was unknown, was also cut.

‘Did something happen here…?’

Just as she was feeling a strange sensation.

“Miss Flora. Here! Over here!”

A familiar person appeared, calling her in a low voice from nearby.

Flora’s expression brightened immediately.

That maid was the one Flora had asked to prepare a carriage while she sneaked out of the mansion where she was under house arrest.

After all, if she wanted to leave the Shiren villa area, she couldn’t do it alone.

Flora glanced around and approached the maid without being noticed.

“Is anyone around? Did anyone see you?”

“No, no one saw me.”

“Is there anyone suspicious? Anyone following us?”

“Don’t worry. I just pretended to be doing my job, so no one noticed. Oh, and of course, because of the task you gave me, all suspicions vanished.”

That was a relief. Because the voices of the knights could be heard nearby, I was worried that we might get caught while preparing this carriage.

The voices of the knights began to be heard nearby.

‘Those people…’

Flora flinched and hid inside the carriage.

“Thank you for your hard work…”

“Hmm? You are… the maid who was next to Miss Flora, right?”

“What are you doing here? There shouldn’t be a lady to escort in this carriage, right?”

“Oh, well!”

Judging by their attire, they were not knights of the Bagrande territory.

It was fortunate that they were not caught, but… it was troublesome.

Normally, they could have passed by just because they were from the Bagrande duchy, but now the Bagrande family was rather a hindrance.

“An errand for Miss Flora?”

“Yes. She said she wanted something to eat. You know, from that famous donut shop! Here, you see what I’m holding, right?”

“…”

The maid explained once, but the knights clearly showed a strange attitude.

Whoosh.

“Ah!”

The person who snatched the donut box from the maid spoke.

“If it’s such an important task, let us handle it.”

“What? Instead… you mean?”

“Why are you so wary? We’re just doing your errand for you.”

“You said it was an errand. Yes. We also want to gain some favor from Miss Flora.”

“Uh… uh…”

“Oh dear. The donut box is getting cold. We need to move quickly.”

“It’ll be faster for us to deliver it on horseback than by carriage.”

They continuously tried to appeal to the maid.

“Hah. I didn’t want to go this far.”

Clink.

A sound of considerable weight was heard.

The three knights handed money to the maid from their pockets.

“Uh, what? Why are you doing this?”

“Just keep it a secret that we passed through here. Got it?”

“This is a bit better than the usual errand fee, isn’t it?”

“Give us a chance. Huh?”

Entrust this errand to us.

We want to gain Miss Flora’s trust.

They kept persuading and persuading.

The maid, overwhelmed by this onslaught, could only break out in a cold sweat, unable to give any response.

‘What…?’

It felt strange.

The direction of the conversation kept getting disrupted.

There was no reason to be so entangled over a box of donuts, nor did it seem necessary for them to take over the errand. Yet, Flora couldn’t understand why they were asking her to overlook it, even offering money.

Then, in the last conversation, she felt a chill run down her spine.

“So, where is Miss Flora now?”

“Miss, Miss Flora? Well… she’s at the villa now.”

“At the Shiren Villa?”

“Yes. I suggested a walk since the weather has cleared up a bit today… but Miss Arina kept calling her a fool and getting angry in the room…”

“Hmm. I see.”

“Then we can go right away?”

“By the way, tell the coachman to come back a bit later. It’s not a bad idea to have some fun with that money, right?”

Clang.

This time, it wasn’t the sound of coins rubbing together in a money pouch.

A strange metallic sound. A sound far from Flora. Yet, it was a sound she had heard somewhere before.

As soon as she heard this friction sound, her knee throbbed.

Her bloodshot knee trembled and sent a warning.

That’s right.

It was the sound she had heard just a few minutes ago.

The sound she heard when she hurt her knee and fell, and the sound she heard when she tripped over that object.

This knee, that thing over there.

It was revealing their purpose.

The moment Flora heard those words, she was horrified, clutching her body inside the carriage.

‘Those, those people… they…’

Terrifying.

Only a carriage door separated them.

She was scared.

She was afraid.

The realization that death was approaching made her feel like she was about to burst into tears.

Every time she heard the clinking sound, the sound of those knights handling their swords, her fear deepened.

Just then.

A loud noise erupted, as if to erase the eerie metallic sounds.

“Hey. Look over there…!”

“Damn it. This is annoying!”

“If they die like that, it’s troublesome. Hey, let’s go quickly!”

“Ahhh!”

Thud!

A donut box was thrown to the ground, and soon the three knights moved away.

‘What? What’s happening…?’

She was bewildered at that moment.

There is a faint sound of something falling.

Thud! Thump.

Thud! Thump.

Thud! Thump.

It was heard from afar, and since it was inside the carriage, the sound wasn’t perfectly clear, but…

Three times.

The three consecutive sounds snapped Flora to attention.

“Phew. Why are those people like this… Oh my!”

-Thud!

“Young lady. Why did you come out suddenly! It’s dangerous. Those people are suspicious. If they find us, it will be a big problem, so go back in quickly!”

The maid’s words are not heard.

“No way…”

When she opened the window, the villa, presumed to have been hit by a huge explosion, was engulfed in enormous flames.

Seeing the black smoke rising from there, Flora couldn’t help but ask.

“Hey, didn’t anyone come here?”

“What?”

“Didn’t anyone come here! To this place─”

Flora abruptly cut off her words and approached the maid.

This time, something caught at her feet.

What was under her shoe was not the heavy sword or the strange wooden block.

“Bandages and medicine? Why are these here…”

“…Let’s go.”

“What?”

“Let’s head there. We’re in a hurry.”

“Oh, yes! I’ll get ready quickly.”

I had always missed it.

I never understood what was being said.

I was just a dumb, foolish kid who ignored reality.

But… this time, I didn’t miss it.

The burning villa.

The three assassins who were struck down in succession.

The bandages and medicine lying in front of me.

As soon as Flora saw them, she felt like she was about to burst into tears.

‘Brother Carsein…’

He had saved her.

He had been watching and helping in this situation.

There was no other explanation.

*

Flora quickly left in the carriage.

Seeing the fire, seeing the villa burning, she left without a moment’s hesitation.

For now, it was a success.

-Ding!

▶Episode I. Escort Target I has been cleared.◀

▶You have successfully escorted the designated person from the Shiren Villa.◀

It was confirmed that Flora had safely escaped in the carriage.

But…

That wasn’t all.

-Ding!

The Shiren Villa was filled with knights hidden by Belian.

With every step forward, enemies appeared.

The paths leading nearby were all in their hands, and they were lurking everywhere.

Considering that… if we wanted to cause more confusion in Belian’s plans, additional information was absolutely necessary.

▶Emergency Mission!◀

▶Fake Flora’s death to mislead the enemies.◀

▶The disguise rate will be displayed as a numerical value proportional to the remaining time limit.◀

▶Depending on the disguise rate, you can deliver false information.◀

The emergency mission to fake Flora’s death.

There were no options, but not proceeding was not an option. Every single move was precious in this situation.

That’s why the conditions were quite difficult.

Starting with the location of the Shiren Villa, and despite endlessly reducing the number of assassins, in the end, this was not something in my hands.

The success of this plan hinged on how quickly Flora could get away from that spot. In other words, she had to understand my intention.

Otherwise, I might end up in danger instead.

I could rush forward to protect Flora, engage in combat with the assassins, and in the worst-case scenario, trigger a chase event and be pursued again.

An absurdly unfavorable condition, but…

All those unfavorable conditions were resolved.

▶The timer ends.◀

[ 5: 59 ]

The time limit was 6 minutes.

From the moment the timer appeared, Flora had to get back into the carriage within the 6-minute time limit.

Moreover, the camouflage rate would change depending on when she decided to move while contemplating in the carriage. It was a situation where she had to head to the original destination as quickly as possible.

But.

Only 1 second had passed.

…She thought of me in just 1 second.

After seeing that bandage and medicine.

“…Ha. Really.”

It was a strange feeling.

In many ways.

▶Due to Flora Bagrand’s change, time has not been delayed!◀

▶The enemies are more convinced of Flora’s death!◀

▶Camouflage rate: 100%◀

▶With the success of the urgent mission, level 8 information is now accessible.◀

…

…