Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero chapter 51

51 – The Man with the Red Spear

As a child, Oznia’s day always began and ended with prayer.

The deeply religious villagers regarded the ‘strange’ Oznia, who communicated with things that ordinary people could not see, hear, or speak, as an ominous existence, and even the parents were afraid of the child they gave birth to.

So she put her in her cramped cellar and left her out of the way on her own.

Just a life despised.

So all she could do was pray for her.

As Oznia knelt on her cold, hard floor, she opened the Bible of the Goddess Church given to her by her village priest.

Although the verses of the bible with her fingers scorched and worn out were already in her head, Oznia turned the pages of the bible and chanted it as was her habit.

“Goddess, we pray to you, our guide and protector.”

The village priest told Oznia to constantly admit her faults, repent, and ask her goddess for her forgiveness. Doing so will allow her to come clean, she said.

However, Oznia did not know what wrong she had done. She did so, and eventually she begged forgiveness for her existence.

She believed that if she regretted even that, one day her parents would embrace her warmly. Someday. She longed for something she had never experienced.

She also thought that if she faithfully followed the goddess’ teachings, these mysterious beings that tormented her would also disappear.

“Guide our souls and test our lives… By overcoming the ordeal, let us get closer to the goddess….”

But even at this moment when Oznia is memorizing her bible.

The whispering voice by her side had not ceased.

It wasn’t a real language. The young Oznia thought they were voices, but they communicated her will, weakly connected to her spirit and not her words.

Those beings always stayed by Oznia’s side and constantly whispered something about her.

Don’t you hate this wall that confines you?

Don’t you hate your parents and villagers who bully you?

If you want to, you can get rid of everything that bothers you.

But they couldn’t grant Osnia’s real wish.

A desperate wish to make his parents and villagers love him.

No, even if they could, Oznia herself wouldn’t have believed it.

Because the beings wandering around Osnia used to grant her wishes, usually in ways she didn’t want.

“Humble our hearts and give us the strength and wisdom we need to obey your will… We serve the goddess and gladly accept her sacrifice… Due to that, let it grow spiritually….”

Oznia was afraid.

Her parents and villagers bully her.

A village priest who constantly demands repentance.

Unknown beings lingering around her.

But the scariest thing was different.

It was the fact that one day she might succumb to these whispers and commit her terrible deeds.

Eventually, Oznia couldn’t stand it any longer and threw her bible to the floor.

“Stop, stop!”

She cried out to the unseen in a voice that trembled with fear.

“Why won’t you leave me alone… !”

This was one of her routines that she had repeated countless times.

Ozunia already knew that nothing would change with such actions, but she was too young to endure this pain that would never end, and she was getting closer and closer to her limit.

She earnestly prayed to the goddess.

I hope that one day I will be free from this pain.

That night, Oznia’s prayers were carried out in the most brutal way.

***

It was an eerily quiet night. That was until the first scream broke the stillness.

“It’s the Demon Lord!”

“Aagh! Help me!!”

Soon, screams echoed throughout the village, and the smell of blood and acrid smoke filled the air.

Oznia had no idea what was going on up there. But at least she could sense that something terrible had happened.

She curled up in the corner of her basement, hugging her knees to her chest. She then covered her mouth with both of her hands, afraid that she might hear her breathing.

Every time Osnia heard a scream from up there, her body trembled and she was haunted by all sorts of ominous imaginations.

The sound of the door to her cabin breaking was heard.

“Kyaaa!!”

“Please! Help me!”

As her parents’ screams rang out at the same time, Oznia’s breathing began to quiver uncontrollably. Her vague fear of her death and her desire for it to end quickly were intricately intertwined.

Ozunia knew that the being that raided the village would kill her parents right away. Instead of killing her parents, however, the entity spoke in a harsh, cracked voice.

“Where are the awakened ones?”

“Wake up, wake up… what do you mean by that….”

“Transcendence. The one who is loved by Mana. Anything you call is fine. There must be a very ‘peculiar’ person in this town?”

Oznia realized that she was looking for him himself. Her parents might have noticed this too, and they answered in a desperate voice as if they didn’t want to die like this.

“Oh, I know! Here! I am here!”

Oznia’s father said that and hurriedly opened the basement door.

Oznia fled into a deep corner to avoid the light as the light entered the darkness underground. But her father didn’t care and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her forcibly.

“Kyaaak!”

“Me, come out! Come out right now!”

Oznia was led out of her cellar by her father’s arm. Then she was finally able to see.

I see knights in armor riding opaque horses and roaming around the village.

And a man in front of them. He was wearing a black robe that was tightly pressed down, so his face could not be seen properly, but the exposed lower body was pale and there was no expression.

He was not particularly strong, so it was not a presence that aroused a sense of intimidation just by looking at him. After all, he was tall, but thin and skinny, giving off a bit of a nervous feeling.

But Oznia was able to realize at once that it was he who led this army. She had never felt such an ominous and sinister aura. Instinctively, fear boiled over. My legs trembled before her mighty presence.

In front of him, he could not even hear the voices of the beings who always whispered around Osnia. As if he ran away because he felt the great difference in rank.

It was a power she certainly didn’t want so much, but Oznia was devastated by the fact that she wasn’t helpful even when she needed it. She was just helpless at this moment.

The man looked at Oznia as she was being dragged out of the cellar and smiled as she pulled her mouth up from under her robes.

“I finally found it.”

The man in black robes gave orders to the knights around the hut with a chin. Oznia later learned that they were called Death Knights.

“Drag and go.”

Oznia and her parents were captured by the Death Knight and taken to the town square.

In her place, her villagers who had hated her and persecuted her as a sinister existence, and even her village priest who forced her to repent were all gathered with her terrified expression. .

A man in a robe gathered all the villagers and spoke to Oznia while standing with their backs to them. His voice was somber, like the branches of a tree swaying in a raging winter wind.

“Human kid. They are the ones who have been bothering you for a long time. Don’t you hate it?”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate them.

I’ve desperately wanted their love all my life, but her sincerity has never been reciprocated.

Oznia didn’t even dare to tell her lie, she nodded her head slowly in fright. The man’s smile deepened.

“You can kill them all if you want. What will you do?”

The villagers roared at the man’s words.

“Oh no! Don’t kill me!”

“Please save me… !”

Among them were her parents who were praying earnestly. It looked very desperate.

Oznia, like me, desperately wanted a piece of their affection. But to her, the love between her family is only an illusion written in the scriptures, and the two of her always showed only fear and hatred.

But that didn’t mean I wanted them dead.

However, she did not know how this man would behave depending on her answer. Oznia hesitated for a long time before she finally shook her head.

“You want them to live?”

“… Yes.”

Oznia nodded her head amidst her heavy heart and fear.

Even if they were people who had bullied her, even if they had never shown her the love she longed for, if everyone died because of her own choices, she wasn’t confident enough to bear the consequences.

The man in the robe said with a sneer.

“You are a coward, human child. Then make a contract with me. Spare all their lives In return, swear that you will completely dedicate your body to me.”

From noble mtl dot com

Oznia looked around at the people gathered in the plaza.

“Oznia, please! Save us!”

“My daughter… ! Mom has done a lot of wrong! Please save me!”

Along with her parents, countless villagers shouted and begged for their lives.

Eyes filled with fear and earnestness.

That was the same look in Oznia’s eyes when she was looking at them.

That’s why she couldn’t pretend not to know those eyes.

It was like betraying herself for what she so desperately wanted.

I don’t know exactly what the oath of total dedication is, but I do know that it will deprive me of my free will. Nevertheless.

“… I will do the contract.”

“Good.”

Finally she nodded her head heavily. The man raised the corners of her mouth in her satisfaction, and he pointed his staff at her.

In an instant, her vision was dizzy and she stumbled over her body.

She felt some unsettling magic enveloping her, and eventually suppressing her heart. It was a contract, an oath, and a binding.

But Oznia saw it as hope.

She

She thought that if the villagers could survive through her sacrifice, that would be enough for her. Obedience and sacrifice. Because that was the way to truly repent, as described in the Bible that Osnia had been reading.

However, the moment the contract was established, the Robe’s man gave orders to the Death Knight in a tone that conveyed a deep hatred for humans.

“Now kill them all.”

“…… Yes?”

Oznia didn’t understand the meaning of the words for a moment and repeated it in a blank voice.

However, the Death Knight faithfully followed the man’s command, drew his sword and began slaughtering the villagers gathered in the square.

“No! Help me! Please save me!!”

“Kyaaa!!”

“God! Goddess! Please have mercy!”

The villagers all screamed in horror.

Some people ran away, but even so, they couldn’t escape the knight riding the ghost horse.

It didn’t take long for all the villagers to turn into cold corpses. Oznia’s parents also met a terrible death.

Staring blankly at the mountain of miserable dead bodies, Oznia said in her despairing voice.

“Why, why… ? I’ll give it to you… Contract… I did….”

“Yes, I signed a contract. I mean it will save you.”

The robed man raised his cane. Soon, black and evil magic spread to the corpses of the villagers.

Oznia was soon able to see. The scene where the corpses of villagers move by themselves and wake up as living corpses.

“Ahhhhh….”

“Turn it off….”

They are literally ‘alive’.

“Now, with this, we have kept the contract.”

“Ugh… Ahhh… !”

Looking at the terrible scene, Oznia didn’t even have the strength to shout that this was an unfair contract.

Maybe the villagers were right from the beginning.

Did she bring such ruin to the village?

Am I really a sinister being?

Oznia’s sacrifice, tricked by Rob’s man, did nothing to save her family or village in the end.

As she was dragged away by the Death Knight, Oznia wondered if she was really cursed, or if something in her had ruined everyone.

That was the moment.

Cutting through the darkness of the dark night, a sharp red spear like a devil’s fang flew and pierced the man’s chest.

“Kyaaak!!”

Oznia fell behind her and hit her buttock. When she instinctively opened her tightly closed eyes with difficulty, the scene she saw was not the corpse of a man who died at once.

“Damn it… Have you been following me all this way already?”

The robed man pulled out the spear that had pierced his body and made a crackling sound.

Not a single drop of blood or flesh fell out of the hole. The man immediately threw the spear to the floor as if dealing with something unpleasant.

At that time, there was the sound of heavy footsteps.

Someone was walking towards this place.

He was a man who wore black armor and had golden eyes that looked more like a devil than a devil.