Fight Before the Flames

Now that she could see his face illuminated by the growing flames, Carolyn could tell that Henry looked older than last time, but this age seemed to fit him better. With her bow aimed at him, Carolyn prepared to shoot the moment he took a step. She had seen far too many atrocities committed by his hand to think he would surrender just because he was caught red-handed.

"That must be your true face, 'Dr. Henry'."

"A patient of mine? And that voice, I see. You must be the young lady that came to see me with that boy, Derrick. Tell me, how have he and his sister been?"

"They've been very well. Thankfully, they didn't have to take that 'medicine' of yours."

"I see. The medicine was only to make them feel better, so it's fine if they didn't need it."

"Even now I find it hard to believe. Do you really feel no guilt over spreading that drug?"

"Guilt? Why? I'm saving them by purifying their souls of the filth inherent in mankind."

"So that's it. Truly such strange eyes."

Right then, the fire roared as it devoured a chair, and Henry charged at Carolyn the moment she glanced in the direction of the flame. Carolyn immediately released her arrow, but Henry decisively sacrificed his left arm to block the projectile. With no time to change weapons, Carolyn stopped his short sword with her bow. Unlike the thief she encountered on the way to Vernum City, Henry was very skilled with the blade, so his short sword bit into the bow and gradually gnawed at it. Carolyn kicked his stomach to push him away and switched her bow for a knife. From now on, she couldn't allow any leniency.

Waiting would be beneficial to Henry, but Carolyn didn't rush in either. She carefully observed Henry's stance and weapon to determine the best way to make her approach. Since the primary goal of her father's training was to teach her self-defence, initiating attacks was her weak point. However, that didn't mean she had no way to get around it.

With a crackle from the fire, Carolyn pounced at Henry. He stayed in place with the blade at his side and thrust forward right as Carolyn entered his range. His thrust was like lightning, leaving almost no gap between the start of his movement and when the tip approached Carolyn. However, Carolyn was prepared for his attack and spun around to avoid the thrust before using the centrifugal force to deliver a kick to Henry's shin. Henry quickly pulled his leg back and swung his short sword towards Carolyn, but it was deflected by her knife.

As their weapons clashed, the fire roared with increasing ferocity. In terms of technical skill, Carolyn was superior to Henry, but he was doing a fine job at maintaining a stalemate. He had good enough reflexes to avoid her critical attacks, and the speed and accuracy of his sword made it difficult for her to press on her advantage. She wanted to stop the fire, but she couldn't afford to be distracted.

Although Carolyn couldn't land a proper strike, she managed to leave several cuts on Henry's body. Time would be enough to ensure that he bled out, but Carolyn predicted she would have a golden opportunity before then. The door was open, but the room was still smoky enough to make breathing difficult. Carolyn was able to endure, but eventually Henry's stance broke because he was forced to cough. Right then, Carolyn kicked the blade from Henry's hand and moved in to subdue him, but suddenly there was a burst of flames.

Carolyn was forced outside the house, while Henry seemed to be swallowed by the fire. She didn't dare enter, as the entrance was quickly blocked by flames, but she couldn't believe that Henry had died so anticlimactically.

"Carol, is that you?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Carolyn turned and found Lavender heading towards her. She seemed tired, and there were spots of blood and dirt on her clothes, proving she had faced trouble as well. Carolyn wasn't sure if it was safe to remove her mask yet, but she still nodded.

"Are you okay, Ms. Lavender?"

"Oh, don't mind the blood. None of it's mine. That fiend Henry sent waves of addicts to the inn, so it took me a while to tame them. What about you? Did you fight Henry in there?"

Carolyn didn't know how Lavender learnt that Henry was here, but this wasn't the time for such questions.

"Yes. He started the fire, and there was a pile of sacks inside the house which I suspect are crucial to his plan. Unfortunately, I couldn't subdue him before the fire forced me out."

"A shame, but what's done is done. Those sacks are probably burning by now, but we should at least work on putting out the flames. Luckily, there's a well nearby."

Just as Lavender mentioned the well, the two saw a young man in tattered clothes rushing towards the house with a bucket of water. Just that bucket wouldn't do much against the fiery beast, but the warning bells in her head told Carolyn that she had to stop him.

"Wait!"

She reached out and grabbed the back of the man's shirt, but it was too late to stop him from throwing the water on the house.

It was just a brief moment, but once the water reached the fire, it exploded in the man's face, ending his life in an instant.

"It's not a coincidence; this must be some sort of oil fire. We have to stop them from using water!"

"I see your point, but how else do we stop the fire? I doubt these people are going to be very welcome to the idea of watching their houses burn down."

Lavender didn't want Henry to have his way, but it was unlikely that this fire would escape this side of the slums district, so she had little motivation to interfere. Carolyn also understood that with just the two of them, the only way to stop everyone else from trying to douse the fire was with persuasion. However, she couldn't think of any alternative that they could use in a short time. Given that Henry had originally been trying to burn a pile of sacks, there was likely another problem hidden in the fire, so they had no time to waste. Unfortunately, the pressure didn't make her brain miraculously come up with any ideas.

When more people tried to douse the fire with water, Carolyn warned them not to get too close with the water and pointed at the burnt face of the corpse on the ground. This didn't stop them from splashing the fire with water, but they got off with minor burns. Carolyn knew that their efforts were futile at best and counterproductive at worst, but she didn't have a way to convince them to watch as the fire grew, nor did she know how to put out the fire without using water. She was already distressed when Lavender gave even more concerning news.

"Carol, we need to leave. That psycho's trying to turn everyone here into his next customers."

Before Carolyn could express an opinion, Lavender grabbed her hand and pulled her to leave the slums.

"Wait! What do you mean?"

"The smoke from that fire, it's faint, but I can smell his drug from it. Honestly, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have even noticed that I stopped feeling any pain."

With Lavender's warning, Carolyn checked her own condition and was frightened to realise that the minor burns the fire had inflicted on her skin no longer hurt despite the redness still present. Normally, Carolyn wouldn't have missed such a change, but she had been too conscious of the fire.

"This is terrible! Those people, we have to warn them!"

Carolyn forced herself to stop in place, but Lavender's grip remained firm.

"Little Carol, I know you can't help but play the hero, but what can you do even if you go back there? Those people might know about the drug, but do you really think that'll be enough to make them give up the little shelter they have in this city? Even if we told the guards, they would probably just laugh at us. Look, I'm worried too since the smoke might spread outside the slums, but if we want to find a solution, then we can't stay there slowly losing our minds to that drug."

Lavender's logic weakened Carolyn's resistance, but even if it was just a warning that they would ignore, she wanted to give them at least that before leaving. As the two stared at each other silently, a third party suddenly approached them with a heavy sack. They were unfamiliar to both Carolyn and Lavender, but their cloaked figure made them recall a certain someone.

"I come with news from the Devout One. He informed me of a plan to use this to smother the fire."

'Devout One' was the codename that Benedict's helpers used to refer to him, so the mention of it confirmed Carolyn and Lavender's suspicions. With anticipation in her heart, Carolyn checked the sack and gasped at what she found.