Chapter 200

Ch 200 . A Vow

“Ugh……”

When I regained my composure, my surroundings had changed .

The originally destroyed abandoned house had collapsed completely now, and the ground around us looked somewhat like a crater .

“Mei!? Alea!? Claire-sama!?”

Immediately after realizing that we were attacked, I frantically searched around for the three of them .

“I’m right here . ”

“Claire-sama! I’m glad you’re not hurt anywhere . ”

“More importantly, where are Mei and Alea?”

Since we were hit by a surprise attack, I didn’t have any time to set up any defensive magic for them .

There was no way they were safe .

“We’re fine!”

“Mei and Relaire saved us . ”

A pair of energetic voices called out to us from atop of the pillar that I created with my “Uplift” spell .

When I took a closer look at them, there seemed to be a magical barrier spread above their heads, which was being supported by Mei and Relaire .

This was something that I only learned of later, but it seemed that the collar that was sealing Mei’s magic had been destroyed by a piece of debris back when I used my “Uplift” spell on them .

I could feel the relief washing over my heart .

I was so glad that they were unhurt .

“I’ll cancel the spell now . ”

I shrank the pillars and brought the kids back to the ground .

The two of them came running up to us .

“Are both of you okay!? Do you have any injuries!?”

“Yeah, I’m fine . More importantly――”

“Okaa-sama, it’s coming again for us again! That black light!”

When we looked over to where Alea was pointing, we saw a dark light heading straight for us .

I hurriedly put up a barrier with my earth magic .

At that moment, I saw a shadow of somebody crawling out of the barrier .

“Lana, what are you doing!? Hurry up and get in here!”

“I can’t…… I…… betrayed you guys, after all……”

Lana, whose complexion looked pale, murmured .

“That wasn’t your fault, Lana! You were just being manipulated!”

“Even so…… I was abandoned by Papa, and my existence has no value anyway……”

I see, so that’s what it was .

This surprise attack wasn’t meant for us alone, he was willing to hurt Lana in the process .

Salas had intended to dispose of Lana along with us from the very beginning .

Lana must’ve noticed that as well .

Because she had lost the only thing that she could cling onto, she had fallen into despair .

“Just…… leave me to die . ”

“I won’t!”

As I maintained the barrier with one hand, I pulled Lana back in with the other .

Her stout body felt heavy since all of her strength had escaped her .

Right as I barely managed to drag her back into the barrier, another demon-like magical spell was fired at us .

This attack is quite long――!

“Let me die…… sensei . ”

“I won’t…… I absolutely won’t――!””

I desperately kept Lana from exiting the barrier .

“Why……? Why would you go so far for me……?”

“Isn’t it…… obvious… . . ?!”

I mean, Lana Lahna―― you are――

“You are my student, after all!”

“……!”

“As long as you keep calling me your teacher, then I will never abandon you!”

I put my strength into pulling Lana closer .

Right as Lana fell over towards me, the attacks from the enemy had stopped .

“…… Rei-sensei, you idiot… . . You’re seriously such an idiot… . . ”

“I get that a lot . ”

“You should’ve just left me behind . I did such terrible things to your children too . ”

“We can deal with that later . ”

Lana, who was smiling as she cried, started to break down a little bit .

In that moment, two small shadows ran up to Lana .

“Lana, you did something bad, didn’t you?”

“You need to be scolded whenever you do something bad, you know?”

The twins said as they gave Lana a gentle push on her back and,

“”Now then, you have to say that you are sorry . ”’

They said as they lowered their heads together .

“…… Ah…… Hic…… Waaaaaah… . !! I’m sorry…… . I’m sorry…… . !!”

Lana broke down as she apologized profusely through her tears while bowing her head repeatedly .

Mei and Alea comforted Lana as she did so .

What a strange sight .

Lana should’ve been the older one, but somehow, it felt like Mei and Alea were acting like older sisters to her .

When I thought about it, perhaps Lana really had stopped maturing, though .

I couldn’t say this for certain, but Lana was most likely also a subject of human experimentation, just like Lily-sama was .

Lana, who was toyed with by Salas, had always been under his control .

It was unreasonable to expect anybody who worked under Salas to mature normally .

Perhaps, without exaggeration, Lana was actually mentally younger than Mei and Alea .

“Lana, please don’t cry……”

“If you do, then we might also end up…… . ”

Mei and Alea both started sniffling .

Maybe the fear that they felt over being abducted was finally starting to surface .

“Okaa-sama!”

“We were so scared!”

The two of them jumped straight into Claire-sama’s chest .

They clung onto Claire-sama and started crying .

The two of them looked and acted really brave, but in the end, they really were scared after all .

“It’s fine…… Everything’s fine now . I’m glad you two are safe…… I’m really glad……”

Claire-sama hugged them back with tears of her own in her eyes .

There were no words that could describe how relieved we were .

I could feel that we had truly rescued them now .

After the attacks stopped, we returned to the Imperial capital city .

And thus, the case of the abduction of the twins had come to an end .

◆◇◆◇◆

After the incident, Lana was privately interrogated by a person from Bauer .

Although the kidnapping itself was already considered a crime, Claire-sama and I reported that we suffered no damages whatsoever to the Imperial police .

According to Lana, she and Lily-sama both underwent human experimentation by Salas .

The subjects were said to have been competing with each other, and in the middle of all of that, they were made to be dependent on Salas as well .

After Lily-sama was deemed the most successful of the bunch, Lana and the other remaining subjects were considered “discarded”, but about a year ago, somebody that worked under Salas had contacted Lana .

“I was incredibly happy . Even though I thought I had already been tossed aside, I was now being told that I was needed . ”

Salas took advantage of Lana’s loneliness .

The white headband that she always wore was something that Salas had gifted her long ago, and it was the only thing she had ever received from him .

Of course, it was used as nothing more than a magic tool to control Lana, but to her, it was something irreplaceable to her and served as a representation of her faith in him .

Like Joel, both Eve and Lana were being sent back to Bauer .

They were going to be interrogated further back home and then assist in capturing Salas .

Before we had to part, we had one last conversation with Lana and the others .

“Sensei, I’m really glad that you’re you . ”

“What’s with that? You’re saying something quite confusing . ”

“Fufu, I guess so . Before, I kept on telling you about how much I liked you because I was ordered to by my Papa, but right now, I feel like I’ve actually fallen in love with you . ”

“I can’t respond to those feelings, though . ”

“Fufu, I know,” Lana said as she laughed .

“Rei-sensei, Claire-sensei, I’m really sorry . I know what I did was unforgiveable, but I’ll atone for it for rest of my life . If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know whenever . ”

“The sentiment alone is enough for us . ”

“That’s right . Anyway, just focus on capturing Salas for now . ”

“Yeah . I need to learn how to be independent from my parents now, huh . ”

Despite being washed over with guilt and remorse, Lana spoke with a refreshed look on her face .

“Come on, Eve . You should say something too . ”

“…… . I don’t know how I should apologize . ”

Eve said awkwardly .

She was also being sent back to Bauer for now, but after that, she was being called to Sousa .

Apparently, it was something that Manaria-sama had asked for .

“You didn’t do anything wrong either, Eve . Everything is Salas’ fault . ”

“But if only my will was a bit stronger――”

“That’s wrong, Eve . ”

Claire-sama interrupted Eve while she was in the middle of expressing her lament .

“Magic is an incredibly powerful force . It’s not something you can fight back against with your will . It really wasn’t your fault, Eve . ”

“…… But…”

“If there’s anything you need to feel remorseful about, it should be the fact that you left onee-sama behind with a word . Once you return to Sousa, be sure to have a proper conversation with her . ”

“… . . I’ll think about it . ”

Eve said with a bitter smile .

She seemed to have something on her mind still .

I won’t say anything, since it was something that was between Manaria-sama and Eve, but still, I wished I could do something for them .

“The carriage is about to arrive soon . ”

The person in charge called out to us .

It seemed like it was almost time for them to leave .

“Well, this is goodbye, sensei . See you later . ”

“…… Thank you for looking after us . ”

“Take care . ”

“I wish you the best . ”

All of us shook hands .

Right before she got onto the carriage, Lana looked like she had suddenly remembered something .

“Hey, sensei . Could you leave a message to Mei-chan and Alea-chan for me?”

“Hm?”

“I…… I’m really glad I was scolded by them . ”

“I’ll let them know . ”

“Yes . ”

When we nodded, Lana broke into a huge grin .

Claire-sama and I watched the carriage as it gradually disappeared from our line of sight .

“Claire-sama . ”

“What is it?”

“Salas is such a terrible person . ”

“Yes, you’re right . ”

“I’ve always hated him, but this incident has made it perfectly clear to me . ”

“I agree . ”

Claire-sama nodded deeply .

“He did something absolutely unforgiveable . It’s safe to say that he has incurred our wrath now . ”

“You’re right . ”

“We’ll definitely capture him . ”

“Yes, for sure . ”

We quietly―― but resolutely nodded our heads .

We were never going to forgive the man that keeps on spreading malice everywhere .

“Shall we go home?”

“Yes, let’s return to our beloved children . ”

In response to the incident that had just taken place, security at the Bauer dormitory had been tightened .

As usual, somebody was watching over Mei and Alea right now .

Dor-sama was the one looking after them today .

I will never let something like this ever happen again .

That was something I vowed .