Chapter 69
‘How does he reload?’
After firing, he snaps his wrist. The chamber opens, ejecting the casing. With two fingers—excluding the three holding the gun—he grabs a bullet from the ammo pouch, tosses it up, and it lands perfectly in the chamber. Another wrist snap, and the gun is reloaded.
‘…How much training does that take?’
It’s absurd. I was busy fleeing in a battlefield where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
“Found it.”
Martin muttered, entering through an open door. It was the camp’s sturdiest building—the warehouse.
‘He got here through this darkness?!’
Martin began searching for his backpack.
“Um, Cadet Martin, now…”
Without a word, he set down. Feeling the ground under my feet, I felt heat rush to my head. I’d been carried by him in the Sli Dungeon, and now again. Yet, sohow, I felt no sha. Just the heat rising after the eerie terror had passed.
Good thing there’s no light. My red face wouldn’t be seen.
“Let’s go, Cadet Elisha.”
“Oh, uh, I an, yes.”
Why did I stamr? I couldn’t ask why we were leaving or what he’d grabbed, just followed him.
I hurriedly picked up my backpack when I saw it on the way out.
“Not sothing to use here…”
Martin loaded his gun. A single bullet, taken from his backpack in the warehouse. He aid upward.
“Cadet Martin? What are you…”
He fired, and a white streak of light shot up. I understood he ant to create light, but the faint, weak streak seed about to flicker out.
But once it reached a certain height, the bullet exploded, and magic unfolded.
“Light!”
“It’s light!”
A massive orb, reminiscent of the moon, began illuminating the camp.
“The wraiths are visible! Attack!”
“Damn, they’ve been wreaking havoc all this ti!”
Sounds of magic and steel, absent until now, shook the camp. The counterattack had begun.
I… felt my heart race, like watching a scene from a movie.
“Cadet Martin, you’re…”
“No ti to chat. Let’s hunt the wraiths.”
I had no choice but to follow Martin as he charged. The darkness was resolved, but the battlefield was still rough.
“They won’t die! We cut off arms, legs, even necks, and they regenerate!”
A gunshot rang out, and a wraith with a pierced forehead turned to sand and vanished. The camp warrior who’d complained about their immortality stamred. Martin tossed out the strategy casually.
“Desert wraiths have a core in their foreheads. Aim for that, or blow their heads apart entirely.”
“The forehead! Got it!”
As the strategy spread, the desert wraiths were hunted effectively. With darkness and weaknesses resolved, the counterattack swiftly reached its climax.
“Phew! We… we won.”
“We’re lucky to be alive…”
“Wahhh, Mommy…!”
People simply savored the victory. I was so happy I smiled brightly. We protected everyone.
…Even if it was the man before —villain or hero, I couldn’t tell—who did it.
‘I owe him… too much this ti.’
Thinking about it, I owed Martin more than a few tis. Several were life debts.
‘I just kept it at bay because he was supposed to be a villain.’
I need to apologize. For the misunderstandings. And to thank him. Elisha approached him with a fluttering heart.
“Hey, Cadet Martin. Thanks for saving earlier…”
“Shh.”
Martin put a finger to his lips, signaling silence. His gaze clearly said I was annoying and to stay quiet.
Elisha glared.
‘Oh, right. You don’t want to talk to ? Fine, I was a fool for feeling grateful, even for a mont! …Huh?’
Martin was intently watching soone.
It was Willow and Faris, the leaders, tirelessly managing the aftermath.
“Damn it, we’re missing a few people.”
“We’re missing one too!”
Missing people?! Before I could react, Martin sprinted, grabbed a cal, and mounted it.
“Wait! I’m coming too!”
Gathering mana in my legs, I dashed and jumped onto Martin’s cal.
“Ugh, get off. You’re a nuisance.”
“Just go! I’ll help sohow!”
I don’t know how, but Martin knows sothing. Definitely! Logic won’t work with this enigmatic man. For now, I’ll trust him!
“Wait! Cadet Elisha! Cadet Martin! Where are you going?!”
Professor Faris called after us desperately from behind… Sorry, but I think Martin knows sothing.
“Hey, Cadet Martin. Where are we going?”
“….”
No answer. This jerk.
Racing through the desert’s darkness, crossing dunes, Martin drew his hunting rifle and fired. Not once or twice, but multiple tis.
‘…I can’t see a thing.’
My promise to help felt empty.
After the cal ran for a while, we found three people collapsed in the desert. The missing camp and club mbers.
Around them were piles of sand—wraiths with destroyed cores. Likely the result of Martin’s earlier sniping.
I jumped off and shook the missing people awake. They seed unhard.
“Hey! Are you okay?! Get up!”
“Ugh, uhh…!”
I thought I was doing well.
“Cadet Elisha! What are you doing!”
Martin’s shout pierced my eardrums.
“What, why…! Eek!”
I fell.
‘W-What? Why did I fall?’
Looking back, hell was forming. A desert hell, a desert quagmire. Sand swirled, pulling everything in. Its dreadful na filled my mind.
“Desert quicksand…!”
I tried to regain balance and escape.
“Ah…”
Right behind , the three still alive were being sucked into the quicksand.
…No.
I stopped escaping, turned, and walked into the quicksand. I grabbed the nearest missing person and threw them far. It’d hurt, but better than being swallowed. The other two were near the quicksand’s center. If I went for them, I wouldn’t escape. Definitely.
‘Even so!’
Elisha waded through the sticky sand, grabbed the two, and pulled.
“Ah, ugh!”
The sand’s suction was too strong; they wouldn’t budge.
“Haa…”
A sigh ca from beside . Martin, looking tired, had sohow reached the quagmire’s center. He effortlessly pulled out the two I was struggling with, one in each hand, and tossed them up.
I… felt elation at this unexpected turn.
Really, Martin, what are you…
“Th-Thanks… Eek!”
The quicksand accelerated, sand surging to my thighs. Escape was impossible.
Looking over, Martin was in the sa state. He’d die trying to help .
‘…What.’
Even facing death, Martin was expressionless. Was that… calm? Serious? Or had he given up?
‘…I have no regrets.’
Being buried in quicksand ans death. Even slamming mana into the ground only speeds it up. It’s called a desert hell for a reason.
Still, saving three people makes it less bitter.
No, one thing remains.
“Hey, you…!”
“…?”
“…You’re a better person than I thought!”
“…?”
His expression said, What’s she talking about? Fine, I decided to be honest now.
“In the next life, be a bit more honest! Ask for help if you need it! Stop hiding! We’re about to die, so let’s be real! You’re kinder than you seem, right?! I know it!”
“….”
“And you! You defused the grand plaza bomb, didn’t you?! I know it all! I know you fought Gilbert… Ugh, sand!”
“….”
“Hey! Say sothing! …Hah! I wanted to be enshrined in the Harmadun family’s mausoleum! Pfft, pfft!”
“….”
Spouting cool words, I sank into the quicksand.
But Martin’s final What’s wrong with her? look was… such a jerk.
Still, before dying, I realized he’s not all bad. Helping save the missing and choosing to die alongside . I even saw a bit of Gilbert in him.
Anyway… I… should I wait for soone to find … Please, don’t let be just bones rolling in the desert…!
“Ti to get up, Cadet Elisha.”
“Huh?”
Opening my eyes, I was in Martin’s arms again. This ti, a proper princess carry.
But being with Martin, this must be…
“Hell?”
“Enough with the hell talk. Walk on your own now.”
“Ahh!”
Dropped to the ground. My trained body barely felt pain, but it’s still annoying!
“Hey!”
About to argue, I widened my eyes. Massive pillars, ancient symbols carved on the walls. Like stepping back in ti, an ancient ruin.
“Where… are we…?”
***
A herd of cals galloped across the parched desert.
The expressions of those riding were uniformly grave.
Willow, at the forefront, called out to Faris.
“Gold Knight Faris! Still nothing?!”
“The tracks continue! Soon… Ah! Stop! Everyone stop!”
Faris signaled with his hands and mouth, gently pulling the cal’s reins.
The galloping cal slowed and halted.
Willow, frustrated by Faris' silence, pressed him.
“Faris, what’s wrong? Why stop?”
Faris stared ahead wordlessly.
Willow glanced at him, then had no choice but to join him in glaring at the desert, filled only with darkness and sand.
“…!”
Then she saw it.
Sothing was charging toward them at ferocious speed.
“A cal?”
No rider—just a saddled cal running.
“Camp Leader, the tracks have vanished.
Since the cal ca from far off, soone must have deliberately erased them.”
Willow gritted her teeth and issued orders to the combat team she’d brought.
“Spread out and search! No solo actions!
With an organized culprit likely hiding, move in groups of at least five!”
“Understood!”
The combat team swiftly ford groups and dispersed, as if rehearsed.
Faris, a Gold Knight, intended to move alone, but—
“Brother! Let’s go together!”
“Nelson!”
He looked at his younger brother, who’d appeared suddenly, with startled eyes.
“You followed?! What about the club?!”
“Of course, I handled everything!
They’re high-ranking nobles, even if students.
Calming chaos is like sipping cold soup for them.”
“…Fine. We need every hand we can get.”
Faris decided to move with Nelson.
Coldly assessed, Nelson, a third-year at Imperium Academy, was more valuable than most active-duty rabble.
“Alright! Want to see the tracking gear I grabbed from the warehouse, Brother?
First, this one…”
Faris couldn’t help but smile at his comndable brother.
Thank you for growing into a good person.
Faris knew the other side of Nelson, eight years his junior.
A being consud by inferiority, fiercely jealous of his brother.
The day Faris beca an academy professor, he saw Nelson, then a first-year, strangle a stray cat with his bare hands.
…As a brother, he had a duty to intervene, to stop him, but he didn’t.
On the surface, Nelson was filial to their parents and affectionate toward his brother.
Faris believed ti would mature Nelson’s mind.
That judgnt seed correct.
Even now, Nelson was taking the lead to find the missing cadets and those who’d gone ahead, Cadet Elisha and Cadet Martin.
Especially since Nelson must’ve felt jealous after losing to Martin in today’s shooting match.
Faris was impressed.
Proud.
He thought his brother had grown greatly with ti.
“Brother, let’s go that way.”
“Why?”
“It feels right.”
“Sure, let’s do it.”
…Unaware it was a complete misjudgnt.
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