Book 7: Chapter 46
‘After abandoning all of our men and resources, I only had Lorana next to me and the tribesmen behind me. I don’t know how far we’ve gone but it was basically peaceful. There were only large flames and bits of flying remains. There were no enemies sighted. If enemies did come at us right now, I would’ve obediently surrendered, regardless of how weak they might have been. Lorana is the only one left who can fight and she’s injured, so basically, I have no fighting power at this stage. All we could do now was pray that we wouldn’t be discovered by any enemies.’
‘Well, I think running into any enemies would be a better way to put it. But even if it was a skirmish, I had no way of retaliating.’
‘If we weren’t hit with the sandstorm, I would still have the combined might of my three teams that split off, and we would’ve been able to defeat our pursuers just now with ease. But that’s impossible now. I never considered what we’d do if we were to get swallowed by a sandstorm. I never thought that the sandstorm I’d been concerned about the entire time would hit me in the face at our final battle. If I knew about it sooner, I wouldn’t have split my group up.’
‘I honestly never expected to find myself in such a pathetic situation this time. Every single time we got closer to the goal, we ran into one thing after another. What seemed to be a simple task became so arduous. We fended off a wave of enemies and I then abandoned my own guards for these tribesmen, who were meaningless existences to me. I wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t for the remaining half of the map they had. All of this was akin to a nightmare one wouldn’t dare believe.’
‘Was it worth it?’
I looked at the sea of yellow sand and wiped my eyes. I asked myself if it was really worth it without thinking.
‘How much had I given up? I gave up virtually half of my Guard Unit. If the other teams that I’ve lost contact with didn’t suffer any losses, then I would be left with just half of my Guard Unit. I brought a hundred people here, and yet only fifty are returning. Most of them died in the battle that was comparable to waves to the shore. I lost half of my Guard Unit for a single map. Every single one of them was a weapon I diligently raised and they couldn’t be replaced. I sacrificed half of them for a mine that wasn’t absolutely necessary.’
‘Was it really worth it?’
‘How am I going to face the rest of them even if I manage to return safely? How am I going to face the families who were left behind by the soldiers who came with me? What did they sacrifice their lives for? Was it to protect me or some greater dream?’