Chapter 2: A Somber Tale (2)
Adeshan of Arkalucia.
The Imperial Grand General reigning over a million-strong army, and the Duke of Arkalucia.
A hero who saved countless lives with swift action during the onslaught of the giants.
But now, before Ronan’s eyes, she was fading away, torn apart like a dog’s plaything.
****
“Grand General Adeshan.”
Ronan furrowed his brow. Adeshan’s condition was unbearable to behold.
Her crimson-stained uniform was torn and tattered, losing its functionality to cover her body. Her arm, torn messily, still oozed blood.
“Ronan… a corporal, right?”
Adeshan struggled to raise her upper body, propping herself against the wall. Her grey eyes, resembling ashes, fixed on Ronan.
“By any chance, what’s the reason for this?”
“Wait, let me ask first.”
After several deep breaths, Adeshan spoke.
“Ahaiyute…?”
“I killed him.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s a body not far from here.”
“…Is that so?”
Adeshan twisted her lips. A single tear rolled down her dirtied cheek. Gazing at the sky, she mumbled in a weak voice.
“He’s dead.”
Grimacing as she forced her legs to support her, Adeshan rose. Ronan quickly rushed to her and supported her.
“Thank you.”
“It was something that needed to be done.”
“I have… nothing left. You are the Hero. The one who saved the world, The True Hero.”
“Damn it, hero or whatever, let’s start with stopping the bleeding. Your wounds are deep.”
Ronan muttered a curse as he glimpsed her arm’s injuries. Beneath the torn flesh, white bone peeked out. Tenderly clasping her shoulders, Ronan gently pressed her against the wall once more.
“I’m done for. There’s no hope.”
“What? You called me by my first name, asking for help.”
“I only wanted to know the monster’s fate. As I said, I have no hope left.”
“Still, we have to try our best.”
Ronan took off his shirt. His well-trained body was covered in scars, resembling those of a wild beast. He began tearing the shirt into strips, intending to use them as makeshift bandages.
“You are quite stubborn.”
“I’ll tell you beforehand, it’s going to hurt a lot. You might scream or even faint.”
“It doesn’t matter. If you’re going to do it, do it quickly.”
“Understood.”
Using the torn cloth, Ronan tightly bound the areas that needed staunching. Each time the fabric cinched, blood pooled and seeped from the wounds.
****
“Definitely… I’m feeling a bit better. The dizziness is less intense than before.”
“That’s a relief.”
The two of them were seated side by side on a rock. The bandages wrapped around Adeshan’s body seemed to have improved her complexion compared to earlier.
“I never thought you wouldn’t let out a scream.”
“Being a Grand General isn’t just about looks.”
“…Seems like you have more of a sense of humor than I expected.”
Ronan tilted his head as if he were exhausted. Was it because he had transformed into a human with Ora? His recovery speed was unusually fast.
“But… it seems it should’ve been you who received treatment, not me.”
Ronan sat there, wearing only his pants. Unlike Adeshan, his complexion was worsening as time went on. Watching him spit out blood as if he were spitting out saliva, Adeshan clicked her tongue.
“Tsk, at this rate, you’re just adding to the death toll on the journey to the afterlife.”
“The Grand General might still survive if the rescue team arrives in time.”
“Isn’t it the same for you?”
“No, I won’t make it.”
“What basis do you have to jump to that conclusion?”
“Well, when I heard the General’s voice and stood up, I felt it. I’m going to die.”
A smile crept onto Ronan’s lips as he said this. Perplexed, Adeshan asked.
“Then, why are you smiling when you’re saying you’ll die soon.”
“Well… I actually feel really empty, It’s like I am about to fade away for real…”
Ronan lowered his gaze to his waist. He couldn’t see the sword that he had never taken off since leaving his hometown. It looked like the scabbard had been pulled out along with the sword when he charged. It was a bit empty, but he didn’t feel any stronger emotions than that.
“At least it’s meaningful to be able to die like that? Not regrettable enough to lose the sword.”
“You’re quite an odd person.”
The two of them exchanged various stories. Adeshan had a much more flexible way of thinking than he had anticipated. Ronan was taken aback when he found out that she, like him, came from a commoner background.
“If you were to survive and return, is there something you’d like to do?”
“I’m going to die.”
“I said ‘if’.”
“Well… I want to go to the Hundred Rose Knights and the sea. Completely naked.”
“That’s a pretty good dream. Anything else?”
“Well… I’d like to attend the Academy.”
“The Knight Academy?”
“Anywhere. I want to learn Aura, use magic for once…”
“Was it true that the Aura transformation wasn’t successful? And how did you actually manage to defeat Ahaiyute?”
“He got stuck to me, so I cut his wings off. After that, it wasn’t anything special. Deflect his attacks, dodge and attack when there’s an opening.”
“If he had heard about that, he would have fumed and fainted. The Grand General should apologize to all the hardworking warriors.”
“By the way, General.”
“Yeah?”
“Our comrades, while they might be crude, were still pretty decent individuals.”
“Why are you suddenly saying something like that?”
“Could you use your authority as a Grand General to take care of the bodies? The regulations state that the bodies of fallen disciplinary unit members are either left as they are or collected and burned, but this time, if it wasn’t for those bastards, we probably wouldn’t have won.”
“Corporal.”
“Please. It would be even better if we could set up some kind of memorial monument.”
Ronan’s pupils gleamed with a peculiar crimson hue like twilight. After gazing at his eyes for a while, Adeshan nodded belatedly.
“Thank you, Grand General.”
“Hmm, if you make a promise like that, I’ll have to find a way to survive somehow.”
“I’ll… make it… if only for the sake of… those who died… even…”
Suddenly, blood spurted out of Ronan’s mouth. It was clearly not a normal amount. Confusion appeared on Adeshan’s face for the first time.
“Hey, snap out of it.”
“The rescue team… should be here… by tomorrow… just until then…”
“Corporal, get up.”
Even when prodding his leg, there was no response.
“You should return and participate in the Improving Ceremony according to the system.”
She looked at Ronan’s profile. The sound of his teeth clashing was audible between his half-opened lips. His long and dark eyelashes trembled like candles in the wind.
“…Damn it.”
Adeshan turned her head. Blood dripped from her chewed lips. She couldn’t bear to watch Ronan die. She had thought that she had become sufficiently numb after going through three lives, but it seemed that some traces of human emotions still remained.
“General…”
Just then, a vague voice came from Ronan’s mouth. Adeshan spoke with surprise.
“Corporal, you’re alive.”
“The sound of rain… stopped.”
“Hmm?”
Adeshan closed her mouth and listened intently. The constant drumming sound that had been echoing ceaselessly against the ceiling had vanished. Beams of light streamed through the gaps in the rocks, casting a reddish hue.
“Yeah, it looks like the rain has stopped.”
“That’s… strange.”
“What do you mean by strange? What’s the matter…”
Boom!
Suddenly, a thunderous noise, as if the earth and sky were trembling, resonated. Intense beams of light showered down upon the two of them.
“What?”
Adeshan urgently raised her head. The rocks that had acted as a ceiling were gone, revealing the evening sky ablaze with fiery colors.
Her expression contorted as her gaze reached the sky. An unbelievable scene was unfolding before her.
“No way…”
Countless giants were descending from the blazing sky. They swept away the clouds and halted the rain with their mighty wings. Their flapping created a gale that stirred up the surroundings. Her hair fluttered like flames in the blowing wind.
“The three giants weren’t the end of it?”
She gazed at the descending giants with a helpless expression. Among them were giants with six or even eight wings. They seemed stronger than Ahayute at a glance.
“Am I going to fail this time… too?”
A giant descending directly above them swung its arm. A spear made of light shot directly towards Adeshan. She closed her eyes with resignation. She couldn’t evade it, and she didn’t want to.
Then, a shadow passed in front of her.
Swoosh!
With a sharp splitting sound, the spear of light was cleaved in half.
Adeshan opened her eyes. Ronan stood before her, holding her sword tightly in his trembling hand.
“Corporal.”
“Do you know any flame or wind magic…? Anything… that can lift me up…”
“Flame magic?”
“Damn it! My sword can’t reach them from here!”
With each ragged breath Ronan took, a pungent scent of blood filled the air. It was obvious to anyone that he had far exceeded his limits.
Yet, he was still contemplating swinging his sword at the giants descending towards them.
“My sword won’t reach them from here.” Those words snapped Adeshan back to her senses. She propelled herself towards Ronan, throwing her body against his. Behind them, a steep slope awaited.
Crash!
The two of them tumbled down the slope, intertwined. When they finally reached flat ground, Adeshan ended up straddling Ronan’s chest.
Ronan was flustered and shouted,
“What are you doing? Get off me! Right now… ugh!”
Ronan’s pupils constricted. Adeshan’s lips covered his own, and her loose hair tickled his nose and eyes.
A cold, bead-like object flowed into Ronan’s mouth along with saliva. Its unfamiliar metallic taste mixed with bitterness. Adeshan used her tongue to push the bead inside and then withdrew her lips.
“Swallow.”
Ronan managed to do so in astonishment. He felt the bead descend down his throat. In the sky above, dozens of giants were forming a circular formation, preparing to hurl their spears. Adeshan pressed her forehead against Ronan’s and spoke.
“What you just swallowed is a time-reversing bead. It’s the secret that allowed me, who was once a daughter of a layman, to become a Grand General. I lived three lifetimes using this. It can rewind time a total of four times, and I’ve already used it three times except for one.
“You can guess the reason without me saying, right?”
Adeshan gestured towards the sky. The light around them was gathering into the shape of spears in the hands of the giants.
“I’ve decided to count on you. Your peculiar combat skills, which even I, who have lived through three lifetimes, couldn’t comprehend, I think they hold the key to averting the end. If you want to learn, go to Philleon academy. It’s a place where extraordinary talents gather, so it’s bound to be helpful.”
“What are you blabbering about now!”
“That’s how it might sound to you. I thought the same at first…”
As Adeshan finished her sentence, a deluge of rain suddenly poured down from the sky. Spears existed in quantities matching the number of giants. Even with their wings, it seemed impossible to evade them.
“By the way, if… We meet again, Can you tell me to not do anything stupid and just become a tailor?”
“Adeshan!”
His vision turned white. Their eyes met for a final time. The last image he saw of her was her wearing a strange expression—neither smiling nor crying.
“I’ve tried everything possible, but nothing seems to work.”
The flying spear pierced through both of them simultaneously.
***
Ronan shot up as if propelled by a spring. He gasped for breath and frantically looked down at his chest, but there was no hole.
“W-where is this…?”
He scanned his surroundings, catching his breath. The nightmarish battlefield had vanished, replaced by a grassy hillside that smelled of meadows. Beside him lay a long stick, the type used for herding sheep.
Below the hill, a small village stood. Children played on makeshift rafts in the river that curved alongside the village.
It didn’t take long for memories to return. Ronan chanted his hometown’s name as though calling out to the deceased.
“Nimbuten.”
It felt like he had just woken up from a long dream. Ronan stretched out his hand and touched his lips. The sensation of the unexpected kiss still lingered vividly. Adeshan’s words about the time-reversing treasure echoed in his mind.
“Did I really return to… past?”
He groped his body all over. It was still the physique of a young boy. Ronan pinched his thigh, twirled in the air, and only after all of this did he realize that the current situation wasn’t a dream.
“I-I’ve really come back.”
Memories overwhelmed him like a flood. The food he had eaten, the songs he loved, the starry sky he looked up at during his travels, and the people he had lost forever. And…
“Sister.”
Suddenly, the face of a person floated to the surface of his consciousness. The fact that he had returned to the past also meant that she was still alive. His only family. His gentle sister who had died without being able to meet her runaway little brother, and who had eventually lost her life at the hands of the giants.
“Sister… Iril.”
Uttering her name under his breath, Ronan gripped the stick. His steps, which had initially quickened, soon turned into a full sprint. Not long after, his childhood home came into view.
But just as he was almost down the hill, an annoying noise arrested his steps.
“Bring it on time! You need to bring the money! No way!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Near the top of a nearby hill, boys who seemed to be around Ronan’s age surrounded a child who didn’t even look ten years old. They were stomping on him and taunting him. Among the smirking faces, there were a few that Ronan recognized.
“Hmm? Who’s that guy?”
One among them seemed oddly familiar. He was a boy with vibrant red hair, and due to his small stature, he stood out even more. Was his name Aselle or something? Ronan rubbed his chin and tried to recall past memories.
“Wasn’t he… a magician?”
As Ronan pondered, he turned his steps around. Even if not for Aselle, he didn’t like seeing kids bullying other kids. He picked up a stick and swung it experimentally, and it made a satisfying sound.
