With that thought in mind, the young lady didn’t hold back.
She immediately stepped forward and grabbed Shiya by the collar.
Unexpectedly, Shiya’s body was far more frail than she’d imagined.
With just that light tug, Shiya stumbled backward, crashing against the wall.
Leonora, caught by the momentum, was pulled along with the girl, their bodies pressing close.
Her hand slipped down and landed squarely on the other’s ample, soft chest.
Mmmph…
Shiya trembled all over, letting out a muffled whimper of unclear meaning.
“Leonora, what are you doing?”
Hearing this, Leonora, whose head was already spinning from the sensation sinking into her palm, snapped back to her senses.
She pretended nothing had happened, maintaining her grip on the girl’s collar, her tone fierce.
‘What was that pitying look just now? Are you looking down on me?’
But the words died on her lips.
The proud girl swallowed them back down, not wanting to give the impression that she cared about Shiya’s opinion.
But while Leonora hesitated, Shiya had already misinterpreted the situation.
The young lady’s gaze inadvertently lingered on Shiya’s collar, which had been mussed by her earlier action.
A few buttons had come undone, revealing the white bandages wrapped tightly around her chest beneath.
“Pervert.”
Shiya also noticed where Leonora was looking and muttered angrily, protectively covering the exposed scenery.
“That’s not what I meant at all.”
Leonora was frantic, but after struggling for words, she couldn’t explain herself.
In the end, she could only release her grip in frustration, letting out a heavy mental sigh.
She had come to realize that Shiya held none of the reverence a daughter of a great noble house like hers should command.
Shiya didn’t truly think Leonora was a ruffian.
She tilted her head slightly, looking left and right.
Seeing Leonora looking so dejected…
She instinctively reached out and patted Leonora’s head.
It was her usual method for soothing Xiao Mei whenever she made her angry.
But she forgot that the person before her was the haughty, high-and-mighty daughter of a duke.
Instantly, Leonora bristled like a cat whose fur had been rubbed the wrong way.
She slapped Shiya’s hand away and took a step back, her maple-red hair flying and whipping against Shiya’s face.
It sent waves of heart-racing, ticklish sensations across her skin.
Leonora then seized Shiya’s wrist in a firm grip, her voice icy.
“Who gave you permission to touch me? Insulting a noble is a capital offense.”
Shiya shrank back, not understanding why Leonora was so angry.
‘If you don’t want to be touched, fine, I won’t touch you.’
Leonora was quite satisfied with Shiya’s now-frightened expression.
It seemed to give her a sense of control, and her mood lifted, a smile spreading across her face.
It was at that moment that a truly living presence came from downstairs.
Someone was calling for help.
“Is anyone there from the guard? We have many wounded here who need help!”
A short while later, the two girls found a group of survivors in a storage room on the floor below.
The leader was a middle-aged man with neatly combed hair and gold-rimmed glasses.
The moment he saw Leonora, his expression became intensely excited.
“You are Lady Leonora of the Celestine Duchy, aren’t you? I’ve seen you at a banquet. Please, you must help us.”
The man rushed forward in three quick steps, knelt before Leonora, and grabbed her hand, refusing to let go.
Following his lead, the twenty or thirty survivors behind him also knelt and began to beg and plead.
The commotion was loud enough to be heard throughout the entire hospital building.
Leonora just pulled her hand back with distaste, finding these people noisy.
She had no real intention of rescuing them.
She and Shiya were barely managing themselves.
How could they spare the effort for such charity?
But then, Shiya leaned close to Leonora and whispered advice.
“Leonora, the Sludge Person can disguise itself as a human. It might be hiding among them, waiting for a critical moment to stab you in the back—the only mage here.And there are too many survivors. You alone don’t have the ability to protect all of them.”
Leonora, who had been somewhat patient until then, cut her off with a wave of her hand upon hearing the latter part.
“That’s enough, Shiya. I have my own plans.”
Then, as if to prove a point to the girl, she lifted her chin and announced loudly.
“Consider yourselves fortunate. As the noble young lady of House Celestine, I will naturally lead all of you to safety out of this hospital.”
Finally, the young lady didn’t forget to give Shiya a cold snort and turn her head away.
Shiya was completely bewildered.
Her first impression of Leonora was that she was calculating and skilled at exploiting others’ weaknesses to achieve her goals.
Why was she suddenly so emotionally charged?
In the end, it was the middle-aged man, Toby, who stood up first.
He gave a slight bow, introduced himself, and then asked Leonora as if it were a casual inquiry.
“Young lady, is the person beside you a friend of yours?”
Hearing this, Leonora snorted with a laugh.
“No. Like all of you, she’s just someone I saved. So she has no right to criticize my actions in aiding commoners.”
Toby nodded, looking thoughtful.
The survivors didn’t dawdle.
Soon, the young were helping the elderly, and the able-bodied were carrying the injured.
The whole group followed behind Leonora in a large procession.
Leonora walked a few steps and noticed Shiya still hesitating, standing in place.
She raised a beautiful eyebrow, paused for a moment, and spoke in a deliberately nonchalant tone.
“Non-combatants should just follow obediently. Don’t keep thinking about unnecessary things.”
The journey was tense but uneventful.
Perhaps the Sludge Person had hunted enough and was tired.
Leonora surveyed the lobby.
It was a complete mess.
Medical equipment stained with mud and filth lay overturned everywhere.
Stains of spilled blood soaked through the floor tiles.
Yet, there wasn’t a single corpse to be seen.
Her gaze finally settled on the hospital’s main doors, now covered in a thick layer of sludge.
Looking closely, one could see the faint glow of an earthen-colored sealing magic circle in operation.
She didn’t act immediately.
First, she ordered everyone present to search every corner of the lobby, inside and out, thoroughly and carefully.
“Young lady, we’ve checked everywhere. No sludge monsters are hiding.”
Only when the group reported this reassuring news did Leonora, in her leather boots, stride unhurriedly toward the sludge-covered doors.
Her staff completed its charging process, gathering a mass of violent flame elementals.
With a light flick of her staff, a massive, writhing fire dragon roared forth and slammed into the sludge doors.
The resulting shockwave caused dust to rain down throughout the entire lobby.
Some people even lost their footing and fell on their backsides.
Despite the massive commotion, Leonora’s heart sank.
‘Such a powerful magical attack can’t even budge these doors?’
But just as she was about to increase her mana output, a sudden change occurred behind her.
“They’re alive! All these things have come alive!”
A male survivor shouted.
His arm was caught in a piece of medical equipment.
As sludge pulsed through it like a black blood vessel, the metal machine’s gears clamped shut, severing his entire arm.
Blood arced through the air in a beautiful parabola, as if igniting a signal.
Screams from the survivors erupted one after another throughout the lobby.
Damn it!
Leonora’s pupils constricted.
She realized her oversight.
She had neglected that these medical instruments, also stained with sludge spots, could be controlled.
In such a wide-open lobby, this almost formed an encirclement.
Glancing over, she saw Shiya already surrounded by several sharp surgical blades floating in the air, swaying like a school of piranhas.
Shiya could only fend off these monsters with a ridiculous mop that barely qualified as a weapon.
But judging by how she was panting and struggling just to hold the mop up, she could trip and fall at any moment, ending up with several holes in her.
Sure enough, the mop in her hands was quickly sliced into three pieces by the surgical blades, falling to the ground.
Leonora’s heart felt like it was being squeezed tight by a fist.
The girl’s earlier warning echoed in her mind:
‘Leonora, you alone don’t have the ability to protect all of them.’
Without further delay, Leonora dispersed the crimson fire dragon magic and turned to rush back and provide support.
And at that very moment, the previously immovable sludge doors rippled.
A sludge monster covered in tentacles emerged from within, opened its jaw, and shot out a tongue reeking of rot and blood, aiming straight for the back of Leonora’s head.
Instantly, Leonora spat out a mouthful of blood.