Chapter 28 Chapter 28: Leave Clara!!!
Chapter 28: Leave Clara!!!
"Wow... Sister Seele, that was amazing."
Clara, who had been clinging to the rock wall, naturally watched the entire battle unfold, and little stars almost sparkled in her eyes: "To solve the trouble so easily all by herself... If only Clara could be that strong too, then she could help everyone even more."
Continuously helping others didn't actually bring Clara any tangible benefits, and no one had ever specifically taught her that she should do this... This child was simply kind-hearted by nature.
"Ah, no, no. Since the matter is already resolved, I need to hurry back. Mr. Svarog must be very worried right now."
From Svarog's perspective, the moment Clara separated from Pascal counted as her being completely missing; there was no such thing as waiting twenty-four hours for some nonsense rule.
Clara remembered very clearly that when she was little, she once got separated from Pascal in the mines because she was playing around, and Mr. Svarog almost blew up the entire mountain.
Realizing the current situation wasn't good, Clara immediately started climbing back down. But while getting up such a steep rock wall was easy, trying to go down was very prone to accidents.
Just as her fair little foot found a suitable foothold on the cliff face, the rock she was holding onto suddenly broke under her weight, causing Clara's entire body to lose balance in mid-air.
"Yahhh—!"
The girl's panicked cry instantly echoed throughout the entire mine. The members of Wildfire below, who were cleaning up the aftermath, naturally noticed this too, but they could only watch helplessly as this lovely girl fell from a great height. Even Seele couldn't make it in time from that distance to try and save her.
The sudden crisis left the girl with no time to react. She could only scream loudly while tightly closing her eyes mid-air, constantly praying that Mr. Svarog would save her in the next instant.
But she herself knew that was completely impossible. Mr. Svarog probably didn't even know she was here; how could he possibly appear out of nowhere?
It was all her fault for being too impatient, ending up separated from Pascal. If she fell straight down like this, she'd definitely turn into a pulp... Mr. Svarog, and everyone else, would surely be very sad...
"...Huh??"
Clara had almost fully imagined in her mind how everyone would react after her death, but only then did she realize she seemed to have already stopped falling and had landed in some solid yet warm embrace.
Was this... Mr. Svarog?
No, no, Mr. Svarog's arms didn't feel like this.
With a mix of surprise and apprehension, Clara clenched her hands and peeked open her eyes, only to see a completely unfamiliar face.
However, although this gentleman's expression looked icy cold, he was very handsome. She could sense that his heart must be very gentle; he definitely wasn't a bad person.
"Thank you for saving me, sir..."
Perhaps because she had just been extremely frightened, Clara's voice still sounded very soft and tender at this moment. Probably anyone who heard it would feel their heart soften involuntarily.
But this seemed to have absolutely no effect on Kevin. Even facing such a cute and fragile young girl, his reply remained cold in tone: "Since you know you've caused trouble, don't run off alone next time. What problems can you solve by yourself?"
The stern tone paired with the icy expression—Kevin could definitely easily scare many children to tears. If timely support hadn't come from the other side just then, Clara might have become one of them.
"Since you've already saved her, why are you deliberately saying harsh things? Just to scare the little girl into crying?" Even though she was a step slower, Seele still managed to arrive quite promptly.
"It's okay, Sister Seele. This gentleman just doesn't want Clara to take risks again in the future. Clara can sense that he's actually a very gentle person. It feels... it feels like Mr. Svarog—harsh words but a soft heart."
Although the child was speaking up for him, in Kevin's view, these words might as well not have been said.
"..."
"Can you get off me now?"
"!!!"
"S-sorry!"
Clara had almost forgotten she was still being held by Kevin. Her fair cheeks instantly flushed bright red. She hurriedly jumped down, lowered her head, tugged at the hem of her clothes, and stood there not knowing what to do.
"Whew, that really scared this old man just now. I thought something really was going to happen to this lovely little girl."
Coincidentally right at this moment, the Wildfire group who had lagged behind also caught up. And walking at the very front was naturally the leader of Wildfire.
"You said earlier you wanted to see the leader of Wildfire? Well, here he is." Seele tilted her head slightly, signaling Kevin to look at Oleg beside her.
"Hey now, it's nothing that impressive. It's just that everyone wants to do their part to protect our home, and I happened to be pushed into this position."
Noticing Kevin looking at him, Oleg quickly waved his hands. He had just witnessed this man's abilities firsthand—dashing down from such a high rock wall in a few moves and still catching someone mid-fall. He definitely wasn't an ordinary character.
"No, you have my respect."
Anyone willing to step forward and lead others in times of crisis is great, no matter what.
"Oh dear, saying things like that is fine in private, but saying it in front of so many people just embarrasses this old face of mine."
"Who says so? Leader Oleg, of course you deserve respect from all of us."
"That's right! Whoever disagrees, I won't stand for it!"
Judging from the excited reactions of the other members, this Wildfire leader usually worked diligently and earnestly; otherwise, it would be hard to earn so much affection from everyone.
Clank clank clank—!
Suddenly at that moment, a series of metallic collision sounds came from far away. When everyone looked toward the source, they saw a large group of robots swarming over, and standing at the very front was that tall, imposing humanoid machine.
Its crimson single eye instantly locked onto Clara in the corner, and then onto Kevin standing beside the girl.
"Extreme anomalous energy source detected. Attempting to analyze target identity. Analysis result: Unknown. Non-human. Threat level assessed as extremely high. Requesting activation of extermination protocol..."
"Threat target is too close to Clara... Protection agreement triggered. Skipping extermination request..."
"—Leave Clara!!!"
(There is an illustration here; it can be viewed after updating the version.)
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