700 – 8. Last Words (74)
The snowstorm is cold.
The demon world ruled by the evil god Omeros is stuffed into eternal winter. The reason why the northern wind and cold snow hit the territory in the middle of summer was also closely related to that.
Because it meant that the door to the demon world had been opened.
That was the disaster that struck my hometown, which I miss so much. A situation that no one self-author’s second son could handle, and should truly be called a natural disaster.
Suddenly, I remembered the advice given by the man from the future.
‘Throw away what you want to throw away.’
Yes, I thought that was definitely the truth.
‘Love Letter from the Future’ always guided us on the right path. The man who advised me was a man who had been through countless battlefields, struggled, and suffered.
Of course his judgment would be right.
Didn’t you try to think like that and look away?
The price is now in my arms.
Ha, ha. The exhaled breath freezes to white and disperses. It’s only been a few minutes since the snowstorm began, but the snow that begins to pile up on my shoulders cools me down.
What on earth am I doing at this time?
I didn’t cry. However, my eyes were hot and my vision was blurry.
“S, Master.”
“Yes.”
I hugged my cold body and just said a few words in my voice.
My throbbing heart is frustrating. I felt like my rib cage was too narrow to hold the overflowing emotions.
The snowstorm keeps hitting my skin like a whip.
“Master, just as you said… Cough! I didn’t neglect my training…….”
“Yes, yes.”
I thought about the boy’s courage.
Blooding chunks of flesh were strewn among the burning houses. The constantly recovering monster must have pushed Ned with its infinite stamina.
It is right to run away.
That was the best. If it’s a fight you can’t win anyway, you’ll have to do it.
Ned couldn’t leave. No, I chose not to.
Because behind his back was his younger sister May.
This little boy finally kept his promise.
To protect her younger sister, I made a decision from a long time ago that I had long ago forgotten.
Compared to him, how pathetic I am.
After being knocked down, defeated, and losing a friend who was like half of my soul.
I reached this place by running away, averting my eyes, and staying in.
A coward was crying, hugging the one he could not protect.
“Woah, little sister… I was able to take down the bad guy who was attacking her sister…….”
“Yes, yes…” Phew, great… It turned out great. “Ned.”
Golden eyes shine on the boy’s retina as the light fades.
He was crying with a distorted expression. He wants to smile, but he can’t, with an ugly face.
I asked myself once again.
Is this me?
“More than me, yes… Even more than me. “You grew up wonderfully, Ned.”
It was sincere without any lies.
As I cried, unable to hide it, I tightened my arms around Ned.
Stutter, stutter. The view is very watery and inaccurate.
“Actually, actually I…” “I couldn’t protect anything.”
“Master…” … ?”
“Yes.”
A confession made in a trembling voice.
To my horror, I was kneeling here with the heart of a sinner and confessing my sins.
“My, my precious childhood friends… Celine and Leto. “We couldn’t save anyone.”
The young man has nothing to say. The spark of life was fading in the eyes that were staring at me from afar.
“In my own way, I struggled… He said he would do his best and that he didn’t want to give up. I tried being stubborn, but… “After all, I was just a child.”
Huh, I tried to suppress myself somehow, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted. The corners of my mouth were shaking and I was laughing as if I was going to cry at any moment.
“I’m sorry, Ned… “Because this pathetic guy is my teacher.”
And the eyelids tightly shut.
The heated dew leaves a mark on the cheek. Like a prisoner waiting to be sentenced to death, I waited for the end of silence.
You must have been disappointed. I didn’t know I might be regretting it. I have lived a life of admiration and had as a teacher a man of only this stature.
I wasn’t worthy of that.
The silence that followed lasted only a few seconds.
“This is bad… That can’t be possible…….”
Ned asked in such a weak voice.
“Master, are you weak?”
Are you weak?
Of course it is. I tried to struggle, but I fell and got up and ran at him several times, but I couldn’t protect myself and ran away, locked in a corner of unconsciousness.
There is no way he could be this strong.
I gritted my teeth, wanting to spit out that kind of self-torture right now. But the moment my eyelids opened, a scene suddenly appeared at the edge of my vision.
You can see a spear inserted deep into the body of a flesh monster.
It was a blade that had been painstakingly hammered in by a child who had not yet become an adult. He must have felt powerless and scared, but his stubbornness ultimately pushed him through without running away.
The question and answer I had with the orphanage director flashed through my mind.
‘The courage of the powerful is a right. Anyone can do that… But what about those who have no power?’
‘Is that ‘strength’? ‘The struggle of a powerless person?’
‘That is ‘diffraction’.’
Struggling, struggling.
I ended up dismissing it as a child’s beating.
Is it weak? For a moment, I was speechless and forgot to breathe.
The voice of a young friend keeps reaching my ears.
“If not, Master, now… Isn’t this the master I used to know? … ?”
A fox who was once a comrade in arms told me.
‘Do you want to say no?! However, no matter how I look at you, you are not the ‘Ian’ I knew… ….’
Then a rough but careful hand touches my cheek.
Wiping away my tear stains, Ned smiled slightly.
“Well, that can’t be possible…” In that case, only one Youngmin died… There’s no way you’re crying like this…….”
That can’t be possible.
I thought it was already worn out. After losing Celine, losing Leto, and experiencing defeat and frustration so many times, didn’t you cry out that you couldn’t stop now?
Ned’s friend, teacher, and neighbor.
I should say that ‘Ian Perkus’ is no more.
When I saw Ned’s brightly smiling face, I couldn’t form anything to say.
I gritted my teeth and lowered my head.
“If that’s not the case, Master… Have you lost your courage?”
Is it a coincidence?
The relationships I encountered here keep coming back to me like waves. When I was lost and wandering, an archmage who was a mercenary made a rant to me.
‘If not you, who will do it?’
‘But… ….’
‘I saw it that day. A man named ‘Ian Perkus’ is different from me… ‘He is someone who has the courage to choose the right path.’
Tuk, thuk.
Frozen tears fall in the blizzard and sigh in despair. Following the rhyme, consciousness is immersed in the past.
Slowly, as if walking into a lake.
“Ho, perhaps…” “Was my belief wrong?”
In the end, I am reminded of Leoric’s final moments.
The sight of him screaming and blaming God was still vivid. But in the end, what did he leave as a will?
‘Lord, thank you… you… ….’
What is faith?
Why did I forget today’s questions and answers? What on earth did Ned see that made him trust me so much? I couldn’t figure it out, and it was so confusing that it made my mind explode.
The answer came out suddenly, like a seizure.
“…… No.”
Okay, I said.
Because the force of clenching the teeth was too strong, the teeth that were aligned were misaligned. Sick. The bitter pain spread like a solution diluted in water, and my consciousness, which had been immersed in memories, suddenly rose.
Nevertheless, once the lips are sweet, they do not stop. Just holding back the tears, with a quivering tone.
I answered again.
“No.”
Only then did Ned smile brightly, as if relieved.
“What, after all…” “He is the teacher I knew.”
My chest feels itchy, as if I had been administered an anesthetic. Like a teacup about to overflow, my heart was pounding with each and every unknown emotion.
The will in my memory flows once again.
“May is still behind me.”
What did I answer?
“There are many more than May… I was supposed to protect Rudy from Gunnut Village and Charles from next door…….”
I remember the path I walked like a cripple.
My miserable life was one in which I walked unsteadily despite bleeding and broken bones.
There was no way that a talentless person could become strong for nothing just because he met talent. The path I walked, dragging my broken legs countless times.
You won’t lose anything?
“Master… ….”
From Noble mtl dot com
That is impossible.
“Chi, friends… The neighbors… The village, no… The world… ….”
I decided to think of it as a stroke of my youth. This was the result of ignoring the advice I had heard countless times that I needed to become an adult now.
Selene became the Seven Sins.
I was terminally ill and had to wait until I died, and Leto sacrificed his life to save such an ugly friend.
I couldn’t see anything going right.
It was impossible not to lose anything. Haven’t we paid too much to realize this fact?
Celine and Leto!
Yes, that would be the case.
“Up, it’s dangerous…” ….”
My chin was trembling as I held Ned in my arms. Because I couldn’t control the emotions that were surging, all the blood vessels in my arms, shoulders, and eyelids were burning hot.
I said, holding back my tears.
“…… “I will protect you.”
And then I realized.
Actually, I’ve wanted to say this for a long time.
I didn’t want to run away, and I didn’t want to act cowardly. Even if people laugh and point at me for being a child’s stubbornness, I still don’t want to lose anything.