Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Teheki blinked his eyes and stared at Ian.
Having spent his entire life in the forest of demonic beasts seeing only Moner's soldiers and knights, Teheki could not understand Ian's actions.
As Teheki stared at the back, stooped like a shaman's, and the quivering smile, like that of a goblin that had eaten a rotten corpse, his face flushed red.
Finally convinced that Ian was insulting him, Teheki's roar of anger erupted.
“How dare you insult me!”
Even as the mana in the air trembled as if to represent his emotions, and the force he unleashed pressed down on him, Ian remained completely unshaken.
“How could I possibly dare to insult you, Lord Teheki?”
His back was still awkwardly bent, but the sly expression had vanished, replaced by a serious one as he spoke.
“In a situation where I’m not even sure if we can handle the Orcs and Goblins currently heading for the fortress, I am not foolish enough to make an enemy of you and your clan, Lord Teheki.”
As expected of a Dwarf, known for their foul temper, Teheki continued to huff with a displeased look on his face.
“Lord Teheki, if I could, I would show you my sincerity right this instant, but as you’ve seen for yourself, I am a master who cannot be called a master.”
“A master who is not a master?”
“Yes.
Even if I were to give the order, the fortress gates would not move.”
No matter how much Teheki insisted he was a Dwarf and not a Goblin, they would not believe him.
Even if they did believe him, they would not let a Dwarf who could turn into a monster at any moment inside the walls.
Unlike the Dark Elves who already lived within Moner's territory, accepting Dwarves would not be easy at all.
“Instead, I will make a promise in the name of Moner.”
The Dwarves were a variable that hadn't existed in the game.
An important variable that could perhaps change the outcome of the war.
Therefore, the opinions of those who hadn't even seen a single bad ending were not important in the slightest.
“That no matter what, I will give you and your clan freedom, Lord Teheki.”
***
After hearing Ian's heartfelt words, Teheki, who had been breathing heavily, stood up with a laugh.
“You have a smooth tongue for someone with a mouth.”
He glanced for a moment beyond the now-faint bonfire, then began to rummage through a large sack beside him.
“I hear humans exchange objects when they make an important promise, right?”
He had said so proudly, showing off the small shackle on his finger.
An important promise, he had said, one he wore in a visible place to remember it more often.
After rummaging through the sack, he finally pulled out a sword.
“I made this to give to a human, should I ever have a reason to make a promise with one.”
It was a sword he had started making for fun, thinking that someday he might have a reason to exchange promises with a human.
After the curse began, how long had it taken to complete it, hoping the human who received it would save him and his people, and for how long had he carried that sword?
“Hehe, take it.”
He said playfully, watching the young master pick up the sword.
“If you don’t keep your promise, I’ll run you through with that very sword.”
The young master promised freedom.
That alone was enough.
If he broke the promise, he would pay the price.
***
The bow, drawn so taut it seemed about to break, moved here and there searching for an enemy, but not a single one remained on the battlefield.
“Hah, hah, hah.”
As he exhaled as if to vomit, his sense of reality returned a little.
“……”
There was no need to look around.
There were no urgent shouts, no irritated cries, no sound of arrows piercing the air.
“We won!”
Hoodwock shouted.
If you asked a fortress soldier if victory was precious, a hundred out of a hundred would scoff and say.
It's not victory that's important, but survival.
“We survived!”
Feeling as if his pounding heart would truly burst if he didn't scream, he yelled with all his might.
“Waaah!”
Hearing the soldiers' resounding cheers echo through the forest, he quickly turned his head, searching for the Young Lord.
If not for his training, if he hadn't taken the lead to fend off the surprise attack, if not for him, not a single person would be alive here.
“What?
Where did he go?”
There were so many things he had to say.
He wanted to show off the blood streaming from his hand from drawing the bowstring without a thimble, to boast.
That he had finally drawn this damn bow.
He had to tell him how many Hobgoblins and Goblins he had taken down with the bow…….
“……?”
The Young Lord was gone.
The man who should have been strutting around with a confident look, as if to say, ‘See?’, was nowhere to be found.
Reina, who followed him like a shadow, was also not in sight.
With a sinking feeling, he looked for Knight Commander Vergil, but he too was nowhere to be found.
“Shit.”
For a moment, his heartbeat stopped, and his head grew cold as if doused with ice.
His grip on the bow tightened involuntarily.
“Everyone, assemble!”
In the forest swallowed by darkness, Hoodwock's cold, sunken eyes gleamed.
***
Reina ran without rest.
The cumbersome flail had long been tossed aside, and even her maid uniform, which she had cherished ever since she started her work as a maid, was torn early on, revealing her white legs.
From the moment she realized he, who had never once left without a word, was gone, she had sprinted madly in the direction she thought he might be.
How long had she run like that?
She saw a knight running towards her.
The moment she saw the knight rushing towards her, mana erupting from his contorted face, it felt as if the world had stopped.
As if the world had stopped, she could hear no sound.
In truth, she couldn't think of anything either.
After running for a long while, forgetting even to breathe, she saw a twinkling light and a faint figure in the distance.
Ah…….
Only after running for a while longer and seeing Ian swinging his sword did her stopped heart begin to beat again, and the frozen world began to move.
“Young Master.”
Tears tickled her face as they streamed down.
It's unsightly, but it's okay.
Once he starts swinging the sword like that, he finds it hard to stop.
She called out to him as he swung the sword, as if complaining.
“Young Master.”
I'm so glad nothing happened to you.
Next time, you must tell me.
Because foolish me worries like this when I can't see you, Young Master.
Suppressing the emotions that threatened to pour out, she carefully straightened her torn skirt.
“So foolish.”
She slapped her cheek with her empty hand.
Vowing never, ever to lose him again.
***
Teheki, who had handed over the sword, said he had to go and left the campsite.
Leaving behind Teheki, who vanished into the darkness before taking even two full steps, he looked down at the sword he had been given.
A crude scabbard that looked as if it had been roughly carved from wood.
And on the common hilt, an unidentifiable black leather was roughly wound.
There was no pommel at the end of the hilt, no cross-guard to stop a blade from sliding down, not even a common tassel; it was a truly crude sword.
“Ah……”
The moment he drew the sword from its scabbard, a gasp escaped him at the sharpness he felt through the air.
Had he truly been unable to find a scabbard that could contain this sharpness, forcing him to make one from the trees in the forest of demonic beasts?
Seeing the crude scabbard and the beautiful sword, a laugh escaped him.
Wasn't this sword the spitting image of the Dwarf who resembled a Goblin?
He slowly thrust the sword.
The secret arts of the great assassin contained neither the splendor to overwhelm an opponent nor any elegance.
It only drew monotonous straight lines to eliminate the target in the most efficient way.
“Hoo……”
As he infused mana into the slowly advancing sword, a faint mana covered the blade.
‘Is this necessary?’
He moved the mana that covered the blade.
Since he wasn't cutting, there was no need to cover the blade with mana.
Just as he had twisted the muscles of his entire body to gather strength, he gathered the sword energy to the tip of the blade.
‘Just a little more…….’
Unstable mana shimmered like a heat haze at the sword's tip.
He intuitively felt that it would explode with the slightest mistake, but he couldn't stop.
Focusing his mind, he moved the mana without rest.
Both the sword and the mana must be allowed to flow.
Like a craftsman who forges a sword by ceaselessly hammering steel, he constantly hammered and condensed the mana.
Just before reaching the end of the sword path, the thin sword energy covering the tip of the sword finally coalesced into one and shone with a cool light.
[A personal skill has been elevated.]
[Dark Sword First Form One Point Death has been registered.]
The moment he withdrew his mana, his strength drained away.
Only after the extreme tension and immersion dissipated did he see the knights surrounding him and the soldiers gathered in the campsite.
The moment his eyes met with Vergil, who was guarding one side, he ran over, knelt on one knee, and spoke.
“I apologize for being late.”
Seeing him speak with his head bowed low, a cold voice came out naturally.
“Late?
I told you to run.”
Running away was the only way they could have survived.
If Teheki had been hostile, none of them would have made it out alive.
“I am sorry.”
“‘Sorry’ is not enough.
Did you think you could stop Teheki with just this number of troops?
If he had intended to kill me, I wouldn't have lasted a single breath.”
“I ordered the soldiers and Lady Reina to retreat.”
Leaving Ian behind, Vergil had run towards the scouting party and met Reina and the soldiers, shouting at them several times to go back.
He had intended to send only the soldiers and Reina back to the fortress and return with the knights, but neither Reina nor the soldiers had listened to his order.
Only then did he realize.
“Among those here, there is no one who would turn their back on the Young Lord and flee.”
Vergil glanced back at the soldiers in the campsite and bit his lip.
“They are far more suited to be knights than I am.”
When they spotted the ambushing Goblins, and when they met Teheki, the soldiers and the maid had followed such an Ian without a hint of hesitation.
Only he, who called himself a knight, had considered retreat.
To the crestfallen Vergil who bowed his head, suppressing his miserable feelings, Ian spoke.
“Next time, knock them out if you have to.”
Ian's voice continued, as if doing simple arithmetic.
“When you encounter an enemy you can’t face, someone always has to make a sacrifice.
This time, it just happened to be me.
Next time, it could be you.
So—”
The survival method of the weak is desperate and miserable.
Even if the weak themselves do not admit it.
“So never let another person's sacrifice be in vain.”
At least, that's how it was in the game.
The more sacrifices are respected, the more people are willing to make them.
The more sacrifices are made in vain, the fewer people are willing to make them.
That is the ‘most efficient method of survival’ the weak can have.
Swallowing his last words with effort, Ian trudged towards the soldiers who were glancing in his direction.
Vergil, left behind, remained motionless in that spot for a long while.
***
The next morning.
Instead of returning to the fortress, the scouting party, having decided to continue moving, quickly packed up the campsite and headed towards the first clearing.
“I see a light!”
Even without Hoodwock shouting, there was no one in the group who hadn't noticed the light.
Everyone was frowning at the sudden appearance of the light.
“Let’s stop for a moment.”
After stopping for a moment to adjust to the light, they advanced towards it, and a blue sky and a vast clearing welcomed them.