15. Same situation, different way
After following the hero and arriving at a place a little far from my party, Maya and other party members of the hero were sitting there, as if tired from the battle.
The fragments of the living armor piled up in piles around it were telling us that there had been a fierce battle just a moment ago.
“…You gave the Living Armor a very harpoon. It’s strong.”
I turned my gaze to the girls who were smirking for no reason and rolled their eyes at me.
Adrien and Gracie seem disapproving of something… Since I seemed to hate humans in the first place, it must be natural.
Actually, those two years are the worst years. Single years.
“Maya, move away. It’s uncomfortable to sit on.”
“…I hate it.”
“Oh, please. Really.”
I forcibly pushed Maya, who was sitting right next to me, and turned her head toward Isabel. A boy I had never seen before was lying with her eyes closed, receiving Isabel’s treatment.
“Hey. What’s with that kid?”
“……”
“…Why didn’t you answer me? I’m ashamed of whoever said it.”
For some reason, seeing him averting his gaze without answering my question, I started to question more and more.
“By the way, I heard that you guys have hired a new scout… How come you can’t even poke your nose? What, did you go scouting?”
Even though I tried to start a conversation to change the quiet atmosphere, the girls listened to my question and instead of answering it, they just lowered their heads and kept their mouths shut.
“…Don’t want to answer?”
“……”
…No, but these crazy b*tches.
Looking like they had barley bread stuffed in their mouths, they brought them to the rug like this while talking about it.
“Guys, let’s talk. Do you want to talk about your body? Dude, why are you treating your guests like this?”
When I tried to raise my voice in a tantrum, Maya opened her mouth instead of the warrior who had been sitting across from me and muttering.
“…He’s… The party’s, new… Skirmisher.”
“Huh? Who?”
Still, you answer me.
I smiled broadly at Maya’s action and turned my gaze to where her finger was pointing …
“… Hey. Does the newly recruited scout have any kind of invisibility ability? All I can see is that kid and Isabel.”
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No way… No. Sipal…
…Of course, if it’s the girls I know, it won’t happen even if a log goes in their nostrils.
Certainly… If even a small child like that was so blue, I would not be able to stand it.
“…That kid lying next to Isabelle… Is our party bird… Scout.”
However, despite my wishes, the words that came out of Maya’s mouth, who was sitting to my right, were enough to make me stunned.
“Wh… What? Did I hear that wrong. What?”
“…He’s our party’s… New skirmisher.”
The warriors and thugs I hadn’t seen in a really long time were taking care of a little kid who must have been around 15 at most.
“…These aren’t f*cking assholes.”
* * *
“Uh… Ah… Is this…?”
The dazzling, stinging light filled my vision with a wrath, so I reflexively frowned and raised my hand to cover my eyes.
The last thing I remember was fighting the… Living armor that moved without a person inside.
…The scarlet light that gives off a warm feeling as the light penetrates my hands calmed my anxious mind and body a little.
I was absorbed in such a warm color and atmosphere, so I just lay there blankly, unable to lower my hand covering my eyes.
…The last thing I saw was the gleaming blade of the living armor that slashed at me.
Is this… The afterlife?
“…I am… Dead…”
I still have a lot of things I want to do… But I have to tell you that I’m sorry for lying to the hero and causing trouble to the party…
If I knew I would die like this… I would see my mom and dad just one more time.
“Whoever dies, who dies. Don’t say anything stupid and wake up, kid.”
In the midst of such thoughts, I suddenly heard a human voice, so I jumped up in surprise and raised my upper body.
I blinked at the bright light for a while, but the first thing that came into my increasingly clear vision was… The anonymous looking man squatting next to me, looking down at me with pitiful eyes. It was a face.
“…Who… Is… Mister…?”
I asked cautiously, looking at the man who was still crouching and staring at me.
“I… There…”
“……”
Silence.
…Somehow, he’s a man who feels like he shouldn’t be involved.
But I wanted to know the situation I was in, so I opened my mouth to the unknown man again.
“…Ah… Mister… Excuse me, who… Are you…?”
“……”
I started to get a little angry at the old man’s attitude as he was still silent and looked down at me.
Are you this old man who can’t hear…?
…No. Just now, he listened to me and said, “Who died?”
For some reason, I felt the anger in the eyes of the man who was still staring at me, so I shrank even more and managed to open my mouth.
“Uh… Uh… Who is this man…”
“…This f*cking thing, I’ve been watching it for a while.”
I was a little shocked by the sudden swear words that hit my ears, and I stared blankly at the face of the unknown man.
“You little bastard… Hey, do I look like an old man to you? Huh?”
“Yes, yes…?! Hey, what is that…”
What do you mean…?
I couldn’t understand what the man in front of me was saying, so my already dizzy head was messed up.
His beard that stands out and looks razor-sharp, and his eyes are somewhere wide open… What the hell have he been doing up until now?
“…Are you right…?”
“I’m 21 years old. I should call you hyung, someone you call uncle… Are you blaming me right now?”
“Ah… No…!! I’m sorry, man… No, brother…”
“…Sipal, that sucks. Maybe it’s because I haven’t shaved in over a week…”
A man who looks a bit unfair… Noticing the expression of an unknown older brother, I lifted my head and looked around.
The hero and his companions … Are safe.
Looking at the shattered fragments of the armor around, it seems fortunate that they beat the living armor.
“Who the hell is your brother…?”
Somehow he looks a little upset, but he doesn’t seem like a bad hyung, so I summoned up the courage to ask a question one last time.
When I called him older brother, not uncle, the unknown older brother seemed to finally have the heart to answer.
“…Your predecessor.”
* * *
As I blushed and expressed my anger, the bewildered warriors and party members tried their best to calm me down by grabbing me.
Thanks to that, the anger subsided a bit, but the fact that they brought such a child to a dangerous place still doesn’t change.
“Hey… Uh… Austin…?”
I was swearing at the guy who called me uncle just now, and Max, a kid who had become very polite before I knew it, started talking to me cautiously.
“Uh, why?”
“Can I… Uh… Sit here…?”
At Max’s hesitant attitude, I pointed my finger in the direction where my party was resting and said.
“…Would you like to go over there for a while? If you go there, there will be a priest who is strange. Just tell him that Austin sent you.”
“Uh… Yes…”
The story to be shared from now on is a dark story of adults who are too young for children to hear. I don’t see any need to hear it.
After sending Max away for a while, I hardened her face and turned my head toward the hero and party members.
“So, what are you talking about?”
After the story related to Max is over for a while, the hero seems to have the heart to open his mouth now.
“…As before… We wanted to talk openly with each other.”
“To say that, don’t you feel sorry for what you did to me?”
A warrior who, as if struck by my words, licked his lips and bowed his head.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…I did my best for you guys. I cooked for you, did the laundry, and even gave you a massage. .”
“…That’s… Yes…”
“Of course, it’s not that I don’t fully understand you guys. You must be tired of the battle against the Demon King’s army that dragged on for three years. I can understand to some extent that I was the target to relieve that stress. “
Yes. If you live a life of constantly killing something and seeing blood without missing a day for three years, you can understand to some extent that your mind and body are exhausted.
Isn’t there a saying that pain diminishes when shared?
“Yeah… I kind of understand. But…”
I also once had a dream that could have been a reckless dream, that I was going to kill the demon king.
Together with the hero and other party members, defeat the demon king and save the world.
What a heart-throbbing heroic story this is.
There was a time when a hero, Lee Yu-jeong, was also just and kind like the hero in a fairy tale.
A warrior who always helps others, never ignores injustice, always stands in the forefront and calls for justice.
I thought that such a hero’s good deeds would last forever.
That was funny. How can a person stay sober when they kill monsters like butchering pigs without a day off for three years?
A series of bloody and fleshy battles that cannot be compared to simply hunting something and exploring dungeons like adventurers.
Because he was a warrior, he always stood at the forefront, and because he was a hero, he was always thrown into the most dangerous place.
Yes. You must be getting tired of killing things.
You must have been afraid of being threatened with life, that you might die every moment.
…By the way.
“…I didn’t want you to do that to me.”
Didn’t I?
“You motherf*ckers.”