Chapter 78
—
[They say the walls have ears and fields have eyes.]
[And here we are, meeting a scholar-mouse.]
—
I listened in on the conversation between Johanna and Shin Yerim for a moment and thought to myself.
‘Shin Yerim.’
So she was the one who devised today’s operation. That meant she had directly interacted with things. Not just ‘following orders’, but ‘making proposals’. For the sake of this world.
‘…At this rate, her synchronization must be right on the verge of 100%.’
In the end, Shin Yerim had essentially made her choice to remain here.
I tapped my fingertips briefly, thinking. If things were to proceed according to the original story, then at the very least, Leon Wolf needed to show some level of interest in Shin Yerim.
But right now, the old man seemed far more interested in my pathetic magical talent.
—
[A single loach has muddied the entire pond.]
—
Then what about the ‘Broken Oath’? And ‘Johanna’s Escape’?
My head became a mess. Damn it, everything had gotten twisted from start to finish. Was this even a good direction? Honestly, I had no idea.
If Shin Yerim didn’t receive the ‘Broken Oath,’ then sure, her chances of dying would decrease. The reason she chose death in the original story was because of that very oath.
That part was good.
But if ‘Johanna’s Escape’ became difficult, then we would lose our strongest ally…
Which meant…
‘Sa Jaeheon will find out.’
Fuck.
Johanna wasn’t exactly a “companion,” but she had always been in the position of an “ally.” Almost like a deus ex machina.
She was strong to begin with. So strong that the narrator in the original work even said that if she had just five more years, she, not ‘him’, would have become the hero of this world.
She was absurdly powerful. To the point that it almost felt like she wasn’t chosen as a companion because she was too strong.
‘If someone like Johanna disappears…’
Sa Jaeheon would dig into why she disappeared. Of course, I couldn’t arrogantly assume that I’d be at the center of that investigation just because I didn’t even understand why things had gotten this twisted.
—
[So you ‘are’ aware that your ego is inflated.]
—
But if that paranoid bastard started noticing a name that kept coming up in situations like this, it was obvious what he’d do.
‘…It’s not like I ever thought I wouldn’t affect the original story.’
If I didn’t know the original, that’d be one thing. But I do know it. There’s no reason not to use that knowledge to survive.
And if I did that, then inevitably, things would get distorted. I knew that. But I never intended to twist the ‘main axis’ of the story to this extent.
All I’ve been doing so far is getting beaten up, so why the hell is everything getting twisted like this?
Instead of sighing, I rolled my eyes before limping back toward the medical tent. For now, at least, I’d managed to save an innocent life… Shin Yerim.
Sure, her staying in this world as someone with crafting talent meant another kind of loss, but… You can’t measure lives purely as losses and gains.
‘If she’s alive, we’ll meet again someday.’
That’s just how this world works. If you’re alive, you’ll meet again eventually.
My head felt complicated. First, I needed to go back to the medical tent and either sleep or rest. My thoughts were too tangled; I needed a bit of escapism.
—
[Sleep, is it?]
[Yes. A very classic method of escaping reality.]
[If it is allowed, of course!]
—
***
“If it is allowed.” Those words came true.
It hadn’t even been an hour since I fell asleep before the door to the medical tent slammed open with a loud ‘bang’… a very familiar sound.
The same sound that used to crack my skull open.
Startled, I sprang up reflexively, only to find the old man quietly looking down at me. The way he opened the door so violently yet looked at me as if asking ‘why I woke up’ was more baffling than anything.
I awkwardly got up and greeted him.
“Hello.”
“…You brat.”
His eyes briefly dropped to my leg before he shook his head.
“You got off cheap.”
He wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t an injury that would last for days, just something that would make me limp for a bit. Still, the old man stared at me for quite a while.
‘…’
I recognized that kind of expression.
Adults with that face always looked… devastated.
Why? Just like he said, I ‘did’ get off cheap. With this scale of battle, ending up with just a slight limp was practically a miracle.
Lee Hoin, on the other hand, had been completely wrecked. ‘That’ was something worth calling devastating.
Ah. After glancing at the old man, I pulled out the brooch from my pocket.
“I’ll return this.”
It was the brooch he had given me. He looked at it for a moment with complicated eyes before speaking.
“Keep it. I won’t die just because I lost one. You seem foolish anyway.”
He wanted me to keep it? I mean, I didn’t mind, but…
“Didn’t you say it was something precious?”
After a brief silence, Leon turned his head and replied,
“Yes, it is precious. But even that is just… attachment.”
Attachment. I didn’t know exactly who it was tied to, but since it belonged to a child, it was clearly something with a story.
I didn’t try to figure out why he was giving it to me. It felt better not to.
“There isn’t much time left.”
As Leon said that, I realized he was right. There really wasn’t much time left before this world closed. And until then, everything would come rushing in nonstop.
Which meant…
There would be no more time to rest.
Time was insufficient, people were being ground down, and not just people, even usable resources would soon run out. At this point, we were basically forcing ourselves to endure for a few more days.
‘In the original, Leon eventually told them to kill him.’
Because he could then be summoned again, along with the elite soldiers who had died. But Leon himself had already exhausted too much strength.
Perhaps when he said that, he meant he’d die and answer the summons himself.
The spirits called through the ‘Broken Oath’ varied depending on the caster, who they summoned, and how many, but if conditions allowed, they could be brought back in their prime.
And Leon Wolf in his prime? He surpassed multiple generals combined.
Of course, whether that power could be obtained after absorbing the core was another matter.
Still, in that gamble, he must have been aiming for the best possible outcome.
“What are you standing around for? Not preparing? Do you think I came here to slack off?”
That aside, it was time for me to get beaten up again.
I’m a patient, damn it.
***
While my head was being thoroughly smashed in, several changes took place in Hermadion.
One was the city wall.
A thin iron plate barrier had been installed along the lower part of the wall. It didn’t cover everything, just the sections between pillars, but even that made things easier.
The creatures started slipping.
When an invasion began, cold water would be poured down the walls. As it froze, the monsters would lose their grip and slide down.
Though honestly… wouldn’t their hands just stick to the iron? The real problem was that they could pile up and climb anyway.
Like that scene from old zombie movies, where bodies stack up into a mountain.
Still, preventing them from climbing bought time. The biggest significance of this strategy was that it reduced the minimum number of troops needed on the walls.
Not by much, but still.
All of this ultimately served one purpose: enabling special strike units.
More resources could be invested in them, and more time could be secured for their operations.
There were some trial-and-error phases, but eventually, everything started to ‘function’. And compared to before, things became slightly more manageable.
Shin Yerim still came to find me from time to time, practicing breathing techniques and talking.
“Th-then… let’s tr-try it th-that way. It’s b-better to tr-try anything. The risk isn’t b-bad either.”
“Y-yes, yes! A-and… th-this… I… m-made it…”
She kept working on fixing her speech.
Lee Hoin recovered as well. The old man still cracked my skull open regularly, but even he seemed slightly relieved by this fragile sense of normalcy.
Within that time, we found a faint peace.
Today as well, Shin Yerim sat with me in the counseling space.
“Th-this place… feels… li-like… a st-strange sp-space.”
“Does it?”
“Y-yes… it m-makes me… f-feel at ease…”
She seemed to be stabilizing.
Several of the operations she led turned into major successes, and she regained some confidence.
At the same time, she began sharing bits of her story. She said she never really had friends. She was good at studying, but never confident about it.
So I asked her what rank she got.
She said she was first in her entire school.
“…B-but… n-nationwide… my r-rank… dr-dropped a l-lot…”
…After hearing her national ranking, I fell into deep thought for a moment.
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