under hope

"Welcome back, Pioneers."

When I opened the door, I saw Miss Ella in Lolita costume.

"Ms. Ella is waiting for you in the basement."

Miss Ella bowed to him, and then made a"please" gesture to the back door.

"Can you go later? Let me take a little break."

The pioneer smiled apologetically, and his tired body fell heavily on the sofa.

Two hours ago, the pioneer defeated the church monster and found the secret hidden under the cathedral.

"Sure, pioneer."

Miss Ella put a cup of warm water on the coffee table, and then kept looking at the pioneer. The workshop was eerily quiet, Miss Ella had no breathing sound, and there was always a"ticking" sound in the house.

At this moment The pioneer who collapsed on the sofa had a lot of thoughts in his heart.

The old man hoped that he could hide the truth from Ella, but in fact he was hiding things about her father.

There was a pile of corpses connected to the underground of the president's office, and the syringes on the floor were undoubtedly illegal. Strong evidence of human experimentation.

The Holy Church is the most famous organization in the Western Continent and has great authority. If the news of human experimentation spreads...

The pioneers have not found the president. He may have escaped or is still hiding somewhere..

If Ella is told that her father is a crazed criminal, can she accept it calmly?

Moreover, he has been cursed by the red moon, and now he can still hear the nagging voice in his head.

Such a self can only Can it burden Ms. Ella?

——"Oh~poor guy, did that little girl give you a blood transfusion? Hee hee hee, that's cursed blood."

Cursed blood? The only one who gave him a blood transfusion was Ms. Ella. If her blood was cursed...

It was the transfusion of Ms. Ella's blood that made him see the red moon. Then would Ms. Ella Can you always see the scarlet full moon?

——"She is still a child..."

If Ms. Ella could also see the red moon, then she should face it with her.

Although it was cursed blood, it did save herself. For someone who saved herself twice Ms. Ella…

——I have to stay by her side no matter what!

Thinking of this, the pioneers already have the answer in their hearts. The real truth cannot be told yet.

"Take me to see Lady Ella."

The pioneer sat up from the sofa, his eyes became much firmer.

"OK"

Miss Ella showed a stiff smile and led the pioneer to the basement.

"Unexpectedly, there is a cave under the vegetable garden."

The pioneers who followed them all the way down sighed.

The underground is a large space with larger mechanical equipment and more weapons.

Whether it's the fierce-looking rocket launcher or the jagged short... Swords and guns almost all mean one thing:

——These weapons are used to hunt those monsters.

Ms. Ella was sitting in a garden at the end of the space, surrounded by white flowers.

When the pioneer got closer, he discovered that the flowers were white epiphyllums.

"You're back, pioneer."

Ms. Ella, who was sitting in a wheelchair, smiled at him.

Seeing that he was curious about everything in the garden, Ms. Ella added:

"These are my father's masterpieces, he keeps the epiphyllum blooming forever"

"It's really beautiful..."

The pioneer walked up to Ms. Ella, but his eyes were still looking at those epiphyllums.

"Hehehe...Okay, now tell me, what is the secret underground of the cathedral?"

Ms. Ella reached out and straightened the pioneer's face so that he looked into her eyes.

"The 'King' of those monsters has been eliminated and everything is over."

The pioneers decisively chose to conceal their connection with the president of the Holy Church.

"Really? Then it's just a matter of time to destroy the remaining monsters."

For a moment, Ms. Ella's face showed a little sadness.

"I have contacted the Empire. Support will be coming soon. You can leave the city."

Ms. Ella had a very stiff smile on her face and handed a car key to the pioneer.

"No...Ella."

The pioneer pushed the key back

"I'll stay here, you can see it, the red moon."

The pioneers' eyes showed worry and sadness.

"Hahaha……"

Ms. Ella, who was stunned for a moment, suddenly smiled bitterly.

"With a bang, Miss Ella, who was standing by the door, closed the only exit in the garden.

"You know it, my cursed blood."

Ms. Ella's voice was very strange, as if she was deliberately covering up her crying.

"Ella, you saved me twice, and I will face that red moon with you!"

The pioneers firmly uttered the oath from the heart.

"Oh my god, what's going on in your head?"

Ms. Ella covered her mouth pretending to be shocked.

"Red moon? hero? Or...wanting to redeem a cursed girl?"

"Hahaha... No, these are not important..."

Ms. Ella stood up slowly. The wheelchair under her seat was undergoing earth-shaking changes at this moment.

The wheelchairs decomposed one by one, turned into armor and attached to Ms. Ella's body, even for She assembled a prosthetic foot.

The cold and ruthless iron mask covered Ms. Ella's face, revealing only her beautiful eyes.

"After all, only the dead can keep secrets better."

Ms. Ella pulled out a church rifle with a bayonet from her armor, and opened the gun's safety with a click.

"Ella no longer needs to be protected."

Ms. Ella pulled the trigger without hesitation, and the hot bullet flew past the pioneer's armpit.

If the pioneer hadn't quickly dodged, the bullet would have penetrated his heart.

"What's the meaning?"

The pioneer retreated in horror. Although his hand had touched the handle of the knife, he still did not want to fight against Ella.

"You are just like them, pioneers."

Ms. Ella's cold eyes came towards the pioneers with a sharp bayonet.

It was not difficult to avoid these attacks. After all, she encountered many monsters.

"Ella, what happened?"

The pioneer dodged the stabbing sideways and reached out to grab the barrel of the gun.

However, Ms. Ella directly pulled the trigger, and at the same time turned the gun sideways and slashed the blade towards the pioneer. The sound of gunshots that rang in his ears made the pioneer's head buzz. There was a loud sound, and he hurriedly squatted down again, trying to use this force to knock Ella down.

But Ms. Ella showed agility that was not meant for a scientific researcher, and the armor prompted her to slide backwards to avoid it.

""Bang!"

Ms. Ella fired another shot. She didn't know what she did, but this time it turned into a shotgun.

The pioneer jumped sideways to avoid the shotgun shot with a wide range, and at the same time helplessly pulled out his weapon to block the shot that followed. Coming to chop

"Huh, I don't need someone who can tell lies around me."

Seeing that the bayonet was jammed by the saw teeth, Ms. Ella sneered and opened the butt of the gun with her left hand.

It turned out to be a short-barreled shotgun, and the remaining part turned into a sword and halberd for pure slashing and stabbing.

——Ella meant it, she really wanted to kill herself!

The pioneer flipped up the sword and halberd part, quickly pressed the transformation button and whipped the sword whip towards the firearm in Ms. Ella's left hand.

After all, Ella has not received combat training and can only fight based on instinct. She cannot take care of two weapons at the same time.

Because she was distracted by looking at the bounced sword and halberd, she slowed down the action of pulling the trigger with her left hand.

The short-barreled gun was beaten to the ground, and the sword and halberd were also disarmed by the pioneers when she went to look at the short-barreled gun.

"you win."

The armor gradually separated and turned into a wheelchair again.

Ms. Ella sat in the wheelchair, covering her face with her hands, and asked in an almost pleading tone:

"Please, tell me, is this change really caused by my father?"

The pioneer did not reply immediately, but slowly put his hand on Ms. Ella's shoulder and sighed softly.

"You always know, Ella. Now you just know that 'changes happen suddenly'"

"I think the government would also explain it this way. After all... half of the Theocracy is the hard work of that person." replied the pioneer

"Is it is it……"

Ella didn't raise her head and muttered to herself almost paranoidly.

After this, Ella, who returned to normal, connected communications with the Empire again.

The empire sent soldiers to encircle and suppress the surrounding sand beasts, and stationed troops in every city in the Theocracy.

Because the leader of the Theocracy and the president of the Holy Church could not be found, the supreme leader of the empire decided to merge the Theocracy into the empire.

The pioneers had been hesitant about how to explain Ella's situation, but unexpectedly discovered that there was no precise information on the Internet about"who are the children of the leaders of the Holy Church?"

Ask Ella and she only says:

"I have never relied on my father's reputation to enhance my status."

The leaders of the empire don't seem to know Ella's true identity. They only know that Ella is a very capable scientist.

The pioneers chose to stay in the workshop to take care of Ella. After all, she has always been on the second floor since that battle. Staring at the moon in a daze.

The pioneer also often heard that annoying murmur, but it was much better than before. He was used to it.

……

"Miss Ella, please send it to Ms. Ella again."

The pioneer put the prepared dishes on the plate and handed them to Miss Ella who was waiting aside.

"Okay, Mr. Pioneer."

Miss Ella took the plate, turned around and walked to the second floor.

"Hmm... My head hurts..."

As soon as I put down the work at hand, my headache started again.

Since that war, I have had splitting headaches every once in a while.

"It's okay...it's okay...just take a nap……"

The pioneer staggered and fell on the sofa.

In the dream, he once again returned to the place full of night-blooming cereus.

What was different from the past was that the ceiling was no longer overhead, but the dark night sky.

The scarlet moon hung in the night sky, gradually getting bigger and bigger. The invisible pressure made him unable to straighten his body.

"I said, there is no need for people who can lie..."

Ms. Ella's cold voice sounded on his back, but he couldn't turn his head.

"ah……"

The cold bayonet penetrated his heart from the back, and with a"bang", his chest was blown open.

There was darkness before his eyes, and after that, he knew nothing.

……

"Mr. Pioneer? Mr. Pioneer?"

Miss Ella pushed the pioneer who fell on the sofa and clutched his chest with a painful expression.

"Mr. Pioneer, you shouldn't sleep here."

After a simple scan, Miss Ella picked up the pioneer and dragged the shovel to the back garden.

"May the Holy Emperor bless you on your journey, Mr. Pioneer, and I hope the three-headed dog will not make things difficult for you."

Miss Ella dumped the last shovelful of soil, then clasped her hands and recited a prayer

"Hee hee hee."

In the sky, the scarlet moon laughed mercilessly at everything.