The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 36: Thirty-five

"Can’t you see? It buried itself under the dirt." Jannah pointed out as she nudged the point of her boot on the marks on the ground, "It was desperate to hide."

She surveyed the soft dirt around the corpse, she saw some marks being dragged somewhere and spotted several patches of soft dirt near it.

"And it looks like this guy wasn’t the only one who was desperate to hide." Jannah’s statement had made everyone shudder in fright.

As if to prove her statement correct, a sound went off in her head then single red dot on the map started to multiply. She glanced at it, watching the process of the red dots slowly cover their surroundings in the map.

Her eyebrows creased as her grip on the bow tightened, "It’s best that we move now. If my hunch is correct then they might sleeping right now and will wake up by sunrise."

"By sunrise?" Dante inquired with a horrified expression on his face, "But that is just a few hours from now!"

"Which is why we need to leave now." Duke Eulicies butted in and dug the point of his sword on the corpse’s head, "We can reach Rye before sunrise if we hurry."

"The Duke is right." Jannah agreed with a nod of her head, "Let’s go."

The Duke put the sword back to its sheath and stepped over the corpse. He motioned for his men to follow the Countess out of there, trailing behind her as the leopard turn her head to look at them.

The mother leopard kept them in line, her tail moving from left to right slowly.

She stared at the map, counting the red dots around them and looking away from the map to look at the spots of the red dots.

"My lady, one of the cubs are limping."

She glanced over her shoulders and stopped walking when Arthur called out to her, informing the state of the cubs.

Her lips formed a straight line, looking down on the mother leopard that has been staring at her the moment she stopped walking. She let out a sigh, turning in her heels and walked towards the cubs.

"Which one?" Jannah inspected the three cubs who sat down when she started walking towards them.

"This one." Arthur pointed his finger on the baby leopard in the middle.

Jannah sighed through her nostrils and slipped the bow to her head, letting it hang over her shoulders.

"Come up here, little guy." She crouched down, wrapping her arms around the cub’s body and pulled it close to her chest. She felt the baby leopard purr and rub its head against her chin, making her smile.

"Alright, back on the move." Her words echoed in the air and they started moving again.

[Favorability increased.]

The sound catched her attention and made her look up to the system. She raised an eyebrow when she read that her favorability points increased once more, but she really can’t see how much points she have.

The group of knights walks quietly and cautiously through the forest, not wanting to step on those soft patches of dirt where a corpse might have buried itself under.

Their footsteps are barely audible as they move carefully, trying to avoid any loud noises that might attract the attention of any predators in the forest.

They might have a leopard attached on the Countess’s hip, but that doesn’t guarantee their safety from other predators.

Jannah, just like earlier, is ahead of the group and leading them out of them while carrying the tiny, injured baby leopard in her arms. The cub is trembling and meowing weakly, its body covered in dirt, she could only guess that it was probably because of the hyenas.

[Favorability increased.]

Jannah looked up to the system, snapping her attention away from the baby leopard when she heard the system chime again.

"What the hell?" She whispered, blinking owlishly at the system.

Just whose favorability points is she increasing? There are no pointers or indication on which person or animal is favoring her as minutes pass by, but it’s getting ridiculous at this point.

[Favorability increased.]

Okay, what the hell?

Jannah whipped her head to look at the knights. They looked back at her, confused and startled.

"What’s wrong, Countess?" Loren stared at her, his eyebrows shooting up to his hair line.

She squinted her eyes into a glare, not uttering a word before she slowly turned her head to watch where she’s going.

The notification about the rising favorability disappeared from her sight, making the map reduce its transparency so she could see where they are right now.

Her eyebrows shot up, seeing that they are near the town of Rye.

Excited to reunite with her people, she started running as she tightened her arms around the cub who let out a chuff.

"My lady!"

The knights called out to her and started to run when they saw her picking up the pace before her walking pace turned into a full-blown sprint. They were startled because she just decided to run without giving any signal.

She’s a carrying an injured cub which should slow her down, but she seems so fast for them to just catch up to.

Unfortunately for them, the mother leopard and her cubs were quick to catch up to Jannah.

The leopards were in front of them just a second ago and when they blinked, they saw that the small family of leopards are already trailing behind the Countess.

"I guess that’s why they are leopards!" Dante exclaimed, saying what was on his mind.

"Those felines.."

The knights felt a shiver run down their spines when a sudden chill filled the atmosphere. All of them simultaneously turned their heads to their lordship who has a dark look on his face.

"How dare they?!" Duke Eulicies growled and the knights blinked once, only to see their lordship picking up the pace and running after the Countess.

"My lord?!" Kean called out, his eyes wide as he pushed himself to run faster to go after the two nobles.

"Wait up!"

Few calls echoed in the air as they chase after their lordship who went after the Countess.

Jannah was clueless about the race she unconsciously started. She was desperate to get to her little sister which is why she’s running as fast as she could in her whole life.

Her legs move rapidly as she pushes herself forward, each step taking her closer to Rye.

She keep on looking on the map before looking at the path in front of her, being careful to not trip over her feet.

Her breaths come in short, ragged gasps as she runs, her heartbeat pounding in her ears like a war drum. Her mind is filled with a whirlwind of emotions— excitement, longing, and anxiety.

She is both terrified and excited to see her people— her little sister specifically, her heart a tangled mess of conflicting feelings.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the watch tower of the town in the distance.

The tower looks like a beacon in the night for Jannah, the flames from its torches casting dancing shadows across the surrounding area.

The sound of footsteps and voices can be heard from inside and the Countess can see the shadows of the people moving behind the logs of the walls of the town.

The night is quiet, she can feel a sense of unease as she approaches the town of Rye.

Despite the comfort of the closes gates and flickering lights from the torches inside the town, he can’t shake off the feeling that something is amiss.

She increases her pace, sprinting towards the town with everything she has left.

She can hear the pitter patter of the leopards’ paws behind her, she could tell that they were able to match her pace— well, she would be shocked if they didn’t.

They are one of the fastest felines in the animal kingdom after all.

[Ding!]

An exclamation point appeared on the map before its size decreased and hovered itself on Rye. She didn’t stop running, focusing her eyes ahead as she run towards the gates.

The moment she got to the gate, she screamed on the top of her lungs.

"Hello? This is Countess Rafelon!" Jannah introduced herself just in case her people didn’t want to open the gate.

However, she was surprised to find that there are no one checking the outside of the gate by the watch tower. Her eyebrows furrowed and tried to shake the gates to see if it wasn’t locked.

Her thought was proven wrong when the gate itself refused to budge.

It is closed and likely locked from the inside because she could see the plank on its place through the gap. Right then and there, she knew that her people have made it inside.

"Jeriel? Lucienta? Marco!" She slammed her first against the gates, "Let me inside!"

There were no response, but she can hear whispers inside the town.

She pursed her lips and stepped back, she can’t help, but feel uneasy at the fact that they are ignoring her plea to get inside the town.

That uneasiness worsened when the system appeared before her eyes.

[Mission (Rescue my people) is unlocked!]