The sun was high in the sky. The brightened landscape made the carnage even more evident. The sll of blood still perated the air, thick and overwhelming.
The soldiers who had taken a short rest began to wake one by one, and among them was the orc, Rex, who had lost an arm.
Rex had cauterized the wound with fire to stop the bleeding. In such a battlefield, there was no chance of finding proper antiseptic supplies, so it was the only option.
Of the soldiers who had survived the previous battle, only five remained.
The Swordmaster had kept watch throughout the night, ensuring the soldiers could rest, even briefly. No one dared challenge him, the walking power of the continent, in his presence.
Rex and the soldiers collected fragnts of the shattered cart and assembled a rough wagon. They began to place the bodies of their fallen comrades on it.
Rex gritted his teeth as he pulled arrows from the red-haired Herion’s body. He quietly tore off pieces of his own clothes to cover the lted, poisoned face of Balder.
Out of about thirty soldiers, only five had survived, and their conditions were far from good.
An orc who had lost his arm, a soldier who had his leg amputated due to poisoning, and others covered in burns...
"Everyone’s heavily injured. It’ll be impossible for any of us to fight as soldiers again. I’ll make sure to tell the higher-ups. After all, we’re the ones who found a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} clue about the Great Lord."
The Swordmaster looked at the faces of the soldiers, their expressions twisted in grief as they gazed at the bodies stacked neatly on the cart. He gently patted their shoulders.
"...What are you talking about?"
Rex, his teeth clenched so tightly that they cracked, opened his mouth.
"The lives of these n are all on our backs. If we retire now, what happens to them? I won’t retire until that Great Lord is dead."
Blood dripped from Rex’s lips as his eyes glistened with emotion, staring at the bodies of Balder and Herion. He looked as though he could cry at any mont.
On this giant orc’s shoulders, the spirits of over twenty comrades rested. His eyes burned with rage, and his limbs trembled with frustration at his own inadequacies.
Rex felt the burning sha of his weakness.
He couldn’t protect his comrades who trusted and followed him.
It wasn’t him who protected the white-haired boy; it was the Swordmaster, who had appeared at the right mont on the battlefield.
What he had done was barely survive an intense fight with a giant mutated beast, and even then, it had been a hard-fought victory, one that had cost him an arm.
‘I am weak.’
Never had he felt it so acutely.
‘...I really am terribly weak.’
The reality hit him hard, and in that mont, his anger began to shift into disappointnt in his own inadequacy.
The Swordmaster nodded as he observed Rex's tornted expression.
"When you realize you’re weak, it’s also the mont when you can beco stronger."
The Swordmaster slowly pulled a short dagger from his cloak and placed it gently over the bodies of the fallen comrades.
"It’s a dagger blessed by the Saint. It will guide the souls of the departed to Astella."
It was a ceremonial dagger, shaped like a cross.
Its blade was blunt, more for decoration than practical use, lacking the killing power expected of a weapon.
"May Astella watch over you."
As I surveyed the scene, I lowered my head in reverence, following the others who were paying respects to the ceremonial dagger placed on the white cloth.
In the chaos of the battlefield, I couldn’t say I fully understood what they were doing.
But there was one thing I knew for certain.
Ever since I had begun facing off against the Great Lord, not a single poisoned arrow or attack from other mutated beasts had co toward .
It was likely because they had thrown their lives into fighting the mutated beasts to protect .
Had the mutated beasts joined the fight between and the Great Lord, I would’ve certainly been dead by now, just like them.
"..."
They could have abandoned .
The mont they realized the Great Lord was targeting , they could have made a quick decision to flee, and probably most of the soldiers would have survived.
They had no obligation to protect .
To them, I was just a naless, wandering mage they happened to pick up because our destination was the sa.
Yet, they fought bravely, wielding their swords and charging at the mutated beasts.
The honorable soldiers had thrown their lives away without hesitation, for a mage whose na they didn’t even know.
They knew their courage would likely lead them to death, yet they didn’t falter.
...The weight of complicated emotions pressed heavily on my shoulders.
People die, get injured... change.
This was reality.
The sll from the cart full of corpses seed to constantly remind of that truth.
"Boy, we should move soon."
The Swordmaster waited for to finish my quiet reverence before speaking in a soft voice.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yes, I’ve got a lot to handle, so I’ll be going ahead. I won’t be able to accompany you to the capital. I’m sorry."
"You must be busy, but thank you for guarding us, even if just for a short while."
"Thank him. It was thanks to him stalling that we were able to save at least five."
The Swordmaster finished speaking, grabbed my clothes, and effortlessly lifted as if I were a doll. My legs and arms dangled uselessly in the air.
"...Thank you, Wizard. I have one last request."
Rex, with red eyes, looked at and carefully spoke.
"Please, survive for as long as you can, and don’t let our deaths be in vain. Live long, and unfold your talent to its fullest."
The red hands gripping the cart handle trembled. His back seed to carry complex emotions that could not be sumd up in one word.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
"Please, beco a great mage, one who can proudly say to our fallen comrades that we gave our lives to protect a mage who could change the world."
"..."
I couldn’t bring myself to et Rex’s red eyes.
I couldn’t confess that I wasn’t the talented mage he thought I was.
"...We’ll begin to move soon."
Rex didn’t wait for my response. After bowing once more to the Swordmaster, he slowly began pulling the cart filled with the dead comrades, heading toward the capital.
The cart, rattling and creaking, quietly and sadly made its way out of the forest that was now nothing but ash and blood.
I just stood there, staring blankly as they disappeared into the distance.
"..."
I had never looked at a human corpse so closely before.
I saw them when I was first born into this world, but it didn’t resonate with back then.
But now, with the stench of death filling the air, the grief stirred in my chest for people I didn’t even know.
Was it frustration? Anger?
I didn’t know exactly what the emotion was. I was confused.
"...Boy?"
I had entered my favorite ga and used magic according to a strange build I had crafted.
When the bloom triggered, it was nothing but joy. It felt like an almost absurdly vivid VR experience.
After the bloom's duration ended, waking up in the barracks was a little shocking.
It was because I felt the pain of a broken arm.
But at that point, I still hadn’t recognized it as reality.
Maybe it was because everything around seed perfectly identical to the ga’s models, that I subconsciously thought everything happening now was an illusion.
Perhaps I was secretly hoping that if my character died, I would just wake up in my cramped little room, continuing my usual day, as if nothing had happened.
But that naive, unthought-out expectation disappeared completely when I saw the bodies of the soldiers I had spent the day with.
The soldiers who threw their lives away to protect , their determination still seed to linger in their eyes. Their hands gripped their shields and swords, their necks still showing the veins of battle.
They had fought to protect and faced the mutated beasts in the forest; it was real.
And the fact that they lost their lives in that fierce battle was also real.
‘This is reality.’
A reality where people die in an instant.
A dirty, miserable reality where people fight with swords and spears to protect each other, facing monsters.
"...What’s your na?"
Had I not accepted this reality, I would have introduced myself with the ridiculous nickna ‘One Blow.’
Because I thought this world was a 'ga.'
But now, it’s different.
This is a damn reality, and the white-haired boy standing here is not a character, but .
"My surna is Gyeong, and my na is Bin."
Gyeong Bin. I told the Swordmaster my real na. I wasn’t sure what significance it held, but I said it anyway.
"Gyeong Bin. Calling you by your full na makes it feel like addressing a noble."
I had to live in this world. A harsh, dangerous reality.
"Just call Bin, please."
I had to fully imrse myself in this world.
Because in such a brutal and harsh world, I couldn’t survive with a casual, half-hearted mindset.
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