The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 41: Forty

"I thought you would never ask." Jeriel beamed at her, her blue eyes shining with delight as she let go of Jannah’s arm.

"As if I’ll let them go after hearing that." The Countess countered back as she rubbed her temples, "Did they say anything about any woman or kid getting cooked alive?"

Diazo, Kean, and Alejandro who just got on the second floor froze when they heard what the Countess said.

"What? Someone cooked someone alive?" Alejandro asked, a incredulous look in his eyes.

"The mail man’s wife." Lucienta answered the Countess’s question, "They tried to make us eat whatever part they cooked of her.. He.. He.. The husband looked delighted."

Lucienta’s face was pale and her hands were trembling as she tell Jannah what happened when they got captured, "He told us that he’ll feed us because we’re.. Special guests.."

Jannah scoffed, a look of disdain and disgust crossing her eyes.

"Special guests, huh?" She shook her head, "I knew that we will encounter those kind of people sooner or later, but I didn’t know that it would be this soon."

"This is not your first time?" Kean’s voice is hoarse with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes." She decided to come clean because the moment the Duke asked for her help, was the moment they became one of her people, "This isn’t my first rodeo either. I’ve encounter all kinds of people after the outbreak—"

"Hold on." Diazo raised a hand to stop her from talking, "After the outbreak? It just started, my lady. What are you talking about?"

"You don’t have to worry about it." Jannah was quick to brush them off and then turn to Marco, "How many men are there? I can’t stand here any longer when the mother leopard is out there."

As if to agree with her, the baby leopards simultaneously let out a quiet mew.

"You’re worried about a damn leopard? When you’re supposed to worry about those women and kids?" Jeriel narrowed her eyes towards her big sister, making Jannah raise her hands in the air.

"It’s my companion." Jannah defended herself, "If I haven’t made it clear yet, but based on what I told you before, you should have known that I wouldn’t trust people so easily. Women or men alike, they’re both humans with the ability to turn their back on us."

"Your rebuttal doesn’t make it better!" Jeriel’s eyes turned into a slit of raw anger as she clenched her hands into a fists, "You don’t know how many women or kids they have killed just to eat them at this point! Why are you being so heartless? I thought you think highly of your people? If I knew you’ll be like this then I wouldn’t have go with you!"

Jannah’s lips turned into a straight line, an offended and pained look crossing her eyes.

"Okay." Was the only thing she said, feeling her heart torn into pieces at the words that her little sister throw at her.

Jeriel seem to realized what she said, making her eyes widen. "Wait, no, that’s not what I meant—"

"Concealment." Jannah murmured, the surge of energy erupted inside her, covering her skin with a red glow slowly. She could only glance at her little sister, shaking her head as she disappear completely from their sight.

"Sis, wait!" Jeriel called out, horrified beyond words at the sudden turns of events.

Jannah walked past her and the Duke’s people, being careful not to bump to any of them and quietly made her inside the office, she pushed the curtains aside and opened the window, stepping out to the roof in front of the window sill.

She tested its strength, tapping her left foot against the roof before she completely got out.

She can hear the commotion from the gates, yelling for the others to help them take down the things outside the town.

It was obvious that the men is still unaware that their friends are now lifelessly laying somewhere in the town’s hall floorboards, their pool of blood warming their body.

"My lady."

She was startled by someone calling her, she was sure that everyone was out in the hallway, watching her argument with Jeriel.

She turned to look at the person, her eyes landing on Kirie and Duke Eulicies. The two of them on the either side of the window, hiding from the men below.

"I know that you’re still here, my lady." Kirie said in a hushed voice, "I can’t really step out of this window because the town’s men might see me, but here, please take this."

Jannah watched as Kirie held out her dagger in the air, "Alejandro gave this to me when he saw me walk here."

"Take this sword as well, Countess." Duke Eulicies fumbled on taking the sword off from his hips before slipping it out of the window, "Here, my lady. I can’t see you right now, but I know that you’re listening."

Jannah blinked rapidly in confusion at how the two managed to follow her despite using her skill. However, a small smile creeped into her lips as her heart swelled with affection.

She reached for sword and dagger, making the red glow around her expand to the weapons once she touched them.

Kirie and Duke Eulicies stared in awe as the weapons in their hands vanished.

"Thank you."

They heard the Countess whisper before they felt something soft on their cheek. The two of them looked at each other with wide eyes, as if they know what happened.

Their faces simultaneously burst into a red color, their hand touching their cheek.

[Ding!]

[Side mission (Rescue the captured) is unlocked!]

Jannah perked up, stopping behind a house, two blocks away from the town’s hall. She eyed the system and immediately pressed the text for the details.

[Rescue the captured:

The town’s women and children have been captured and locked down in the basement of the mail house, warming the men’s bed and serving as their "emergency" resources.

Free the captured of the town of Rye to gain the loyalty of your people.

Rewards can be received according to the percentage of thorough completion!]

"What?" Jannah stared at the details in disbelief, her face scrunching up in disgust.

Did this town’s men seriously do things to their children and women? She was about to curse the system, but she was quick to bite her tongue, stopping herself from saying anything, seeing someone from the corner of her eye pass by.

The morning breeze whisked past her skin, making her shudder and look down in her arms.

"Oh, right." She want to smack herself on the head for hiding when people won’t be able to see her because she’s using her skill right now.

I feel like an idiot. Jannah thought to herself, rubbing the spot between her eyebrows as she walk out of the shadows and walk among the men on the street, looking around for the mail house.

Her skill, Concealment, amazed her. No words will be able to describe how grateful she is to have the skill.

The men wouldn’t even bat an eye on her walking form because they can’t see her. She’s walking beside them in daylight which proves that the skill itself is useful beyond words.

"Those women!"

The men around her stopped walking momentarily when a man stormed out of a building. She immediately assumed that it’s the mail house.

She glanced at the map to check if it was indeed the mail house and her guess was proven correct when the map labeled the building as Mail House.

"That woman bit me! How dare she? I thought my dick will be cut off because of her!" The man was tying his pants up, his face red with anger.

Jannah didn’t have time to dwell on it because she slipped through the door before it could close itself, she froze in her spot the moment she got inside, staring at the man who was dragging a beaten up woman.

She gripped the dagger in her hand, waiting for the man to drag the woman down the basement.

I can’t kill this guy here. Whoever comes through the door might see him and report the situation to others. Jannah grimaced at the thought of waiting, but she can’t risk them finding out that someone’s killing them one by one.

I can’t have them swarming this place. Jannah mused to herself, following the man down the stairs leading to the basement.

Sure enough, the Countess was led to a small basement, the air damp and thick with the scent of decay.

She was quick to cover her nose, scanning the place in a hurry. The walls were rough and unmortared stone, and a single torch flickered feebly in the corner, casting a flickering light over the group of women and children huddled in the corner.

They were filthy and disheveled, their eyes wide with fear, their faces drawn and exhausted as they stare at the man dragging a barely awake woman.

Jannah felt her heart lodge in her throat as she took in the devastating scene, the realization of the horror at how terrible the situation is.

"Meorrawww!"

The familiar mew of the mother leopard had caught her attention, momentarily distracting her from the horrific sight of the women and children.

The mother leopard is looking at her, her eyes turn into slits with an obvious sign of exhaustion and fatigue.

However, to Jannah’s relief, she saw no wound in the leopard’s body, but——