Chapter 69
‘How does he reload?’
After firing, he snaps his wrist. The chamber opens, ejecting the casing. With two fingers—excluding the three holding the gun—he grabs a bullet from the ammo pouch, tosses it up, and it lands perfectly in the chamber. Another wrist snap, and the gun is reloaded.
‘…How much training does that take?’
It’s absurd. I was busy fleeing in a battlefield where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
“Found it.”
Martin muttered, entering through an open door. It was the camp’s sturdiest building—the warehouse.
‘He got here through this darkness?!’
Martin began searching for his backpack.
“Um, Cadet Martin, now…”
Without a word, he set me down. Feeling the ground under my feet, I felt heat rush to my head. I’d been carried by him in the Slime Dungeon, and now again. Yet, somehow, I felt no shame. Just the heat rising after the eerie terror had passed.
Good thing there’s no light. My red face wouldn’t be seen.
“Let’s go, Cadet Elisha.”
“Oh, uh, I mean, yes.”
Why did I stammer? I couldn’t ask why we were leaving or what he’d grabbed, just followed him.
I hurriedly picked up my backpack when I saw it on the way out.
“Not something to use here…”
Martin loaded his gun. A single bullet, taken from his backpack in the warehouse. He aimed upward.
“Cadet Martin? What are you…”
He fired, and a white streak of light shot up. I understood he meant to create light, but the faint, weak streak seemed about to flicker out.
But once it reached a certain height, the bullet exploded, and magic unfolded.
“Light!”
“It’s light!”
A massive orb, reminiscent of the moon, began illuminating the camp.
“The wraiths are visible! Attack!”
“Damn, they’ve been wreaking havoc all this time!”
Sounds of magic and steel, absent until now, shook the camp. The counterattack had begun.
I… felt my heart race, like watching a scene from a movie.
“Cadet Martin, you’re…”
“No time to chat. Let’s hunt the wraiths.”
I had no choice but to follow Martin as he charged. The darkness was resolved, but the battlefield was still rough.
“They won’t die! We cut off arms, legs, even necks, and they regenerate!”
A gunshot rang out, and a wraith with a pierced forehead turned to sand and vanished. The camp warrior who’d complained about their immortality stammered. Martin tossed out the strategy casually.
“Desert wraiths have a core in their foreheads. Aim for that, or blow their heads apart entirely.”
“The forehead! Got it!”
As the strategy spread, the desert wraiths were hunted effectively. With darkness and weaknesses resolved, the counterattack swiftly reached its climax.
“Phew! We… we won.”
“We’re lucky to be alive…”
“Wahhh, Mommy…!”
People simply savored the victory. I was so happy I smiled brightly. We protected everyone.
…Even if it was the man before me—villain or hero, I couldn’t tell—who did it.
‘I owe him… too much this time.’
Thinking about it, I owed Martin more than a few times. Several were life debts.
‘I just kept it at bay because he was supposed to be a villain.’
I need to apologize. For the misunderstandings. And to thank him. Elisha approached him with a fluttering heart.
“Hey, Cadet Martin. Thanks for saving me earlier…”
“Shh.”
Martin put a finger to his lips, signaling silence. His gaze clearly said I was annoying and to stay quiet.
Elisha glared.
‘Oh, right. You don’t want to talk to me? Fine, I was a fool for feeling grateful, even for a moment! …Huh?’
Martin was intently watching someone.
It was Willow and Faris, the leaders, tirelessly managing the aftermath.
“Damn it, we’re missing a few people.”
“We’re missing one too!”
Missing people?! Before I could react, Martin sprinted, grabbed a camel, and mounted it.
“Wait! I’m coming too!”
Gathering mana in my legs, I dashed and jumped onto Martin’s camel.
“Ugh, get off. You’re a nuisance.”
“Just go! I’ll help somehow!”
I don’t know how, but Martin knows something. Definitely! Logic won’t work with this enigmatic man. For now, I’ll trust him!
“Wait! Cadet Elisha! Cadet Martin! Where are you going?!”
Professor Faris called after us desperately from behind… Sorry, but I think Martin knows something.
“Hey, Cadet Martin. Where are we going?”
“….”
No answer. This jerk.
Racing through the desert’s darkness, crossing dunes, Martin drew his hunting rifle and fired. Not once or twice, but multiple times.
‘…I can’t see a thing.’
My promise to help felt empty.
After the camel ran for a while, we found three people collapsed in the desert. The missing camp and club members.
Around them were piles of sand—wraiths with destroyed cores. Likely the result of Martin’s earlier sniping.
I jumped off and shook the missing people awake. They seemed unharmed.
“Hey! Are you okay?! Get up!”
“Ugh, uhh…!”
I thought I was doing well.
“Cadet Elisha! What are you doing!”
Martin’s shout pierced my eardrums.
“What, why…! Eek!”
I fell.
‘W-What? Why did I fall?’
Looking back, hell was forming. A desert hell, a desert quagmire. Sand swirled, pulling everything in. Its dreadful name filled my mind.
“Desert quicksand…!”
I tried to regain balance and escape.
“Ah…”
Right behind me, the three still alive were being sucked into the quicksand.
…No.
I stopped escaping, turned, and walked into the quicksand. I grabbed the nearest missing person and threw them far. It’d hurt, but better than being swallowed. The other two were near the quicksand’s center. If I went for them, I wouldn’t escape. Definitely.
‘Even so!’
Elisha waded through the sticky sand, grabbed the two, and pulled.
“Ah, ugh!”
The sand’s suction was too strong; they wouldn’t budge.
“Haa…”
A sigh came from beside me. Martin, looking tired, had somehow reached the quagmire’s center. He effortlessly pulled out the two I was struggling with, one in each hand, and tossed them up.
I… felt elation at this unexpected turn.
Really, Martin, what are you…
“Th-Thanks… Eek!”
The quicksand accelerated, sand surging to my thighs. Escape was impossible.
Looking over, Martin was in the same state. He’d die trying to help me.
‘…What.’
Even facing death, Martin was expressionless. Was that… calm? Serious? Or had he given up?
‘…I have no regrets.’
Being buried in quicksand means death. Even slamming mana into the ground only speeds it up. It’s called a desert hell for a reason.
Still, saving three people makes it less bitter.
No, one thing remains.
“Hey, you…!”
“…?”
“…You’re a better person than I thought!”
“…?”
His expression said, What’s she talking about? Fine, I decided to be honest now.
“In the next life, be a bit more honest! Ask for help if you need it! Stop hiding! We’re about to die, so let’s be real! You’re kinder than you seem, right?! I know it!”
“….”
“And you! You defused the grand plaza bomb, didn’t you?! I know it all! I know you fought Gilbert… Ugh, sand!”
“….”
“Hey! Say something! …Hah! I wanted to be enshrined in the Harmadun family’s mausoleum! Pfft, pfft!”
“….”
Spouting cool words, I sank into the quicksand.
But Martin’s final What’s wrong with her? look was… such a jerk.
Still, before dying, I realized he’s not all bad. Helping me save the missing and choosing to die alongside me. I even saw a bit of Gilbert in him.
Anyway… I… should I wait for someone to find me… Please, don’t let me be just bones rolling in the desert…!
“Time to get up, Cadet Elisha.”
“Huh?”
Opening my eyes, I was in Martin’s arms again. This time, a proper princess carry.
But being with Martin, this must be…
“Hell?”
“Enough with the hell talk. Walk on your own now.”
“Ahh!”
Dropped to the ground. My trained body barely felt pain, but it’s still annoying!
“Hey!”
About to argue, I widened my eyes. Massive pillars, ancient symbols carved on the walls. Like stepping back in time, an ancient ruin.
“Where… are we…?”
***
A herd of camels galloped across the parched desert.
The expressions of those riding were uniformly grave.
Willow, at the forefront, called out to Faris.
“Gold Knight Faris! Still nothing?!”
“The tracks continue! Soon… Ah! Stop! Everyone stop!”
Faris signaled with his hands and mouth, gently pulling the camel’s reins.
The galloping camel slowed and halted.
Willow, frustrated by Faris' silence, pressed him.
“Faris, what’s wrong? Why stop?”
Faris stared ahead wordlessly.
Willow glanced at him, then had no choice but to join him in glaring at the desert, filled only with darkness and sand.
“…!”
Then she saw it.
Something was charging toward them at ferocious speed.
“A camel?”
No rider—just a saddled camel running.
“Camp Leader, the tracks have vanished.
Since the camel came from far off, someone must have deliberately erased them.”
Willow gritted her teeth and issued orders to the combat team she’d brought.
“Spread out and search! No solo actions!
With an organized culprit likely hiding, move in groups of at least five!”
“Understood!”
The combat team swiftly formed groups and dispersed, as if rehearsed.
Faris, a Gold Knight, intended to move alone, but—
“Brother! Let’s go together!”
“Nelson!”
He looked at his younger brother, who’d appeared suddenly, with startled eyes.
“You followed?! What about the club?!”
“Of course, I handled everything!
They’re high-ranking nobles, even if students.
Calming chaos is like sipping cold soup for them.”
“…Fine. We need every hand we can get.”
Faris decided to move with Nelson.
Coldly assessed, Nelson, a third-year at Imperium Academy, was more valuable than most active-duty rabble.
“Alright! Want to see the tracking gear I grabbed from the warehouse, Brother?
First, this one…”
Faris couldn’t help but smile at his commendable brother.
Thank you for growing into a good person.
Faris knew the other side of Nelson, eight years his junior.
A being consumed by inferiority, fiercely jealous of his brother.
The day Faris became an academy professor, he saw Nelson, then a first-year, strangle a stray cat with his bare hands.
…As a brother, he had a duty to intervene, to stop him, but he didn’t.
On the surface, Nelson was filial to their parents and affectionate toward his brother.
Faris believed time would mature Nelson’s mind.
That judgment seemed correct.
Even now, Nelson was taking the lead to find the missing cadets and those who’d gone ahead, Cadet Elisha and Cadet Martin.
Especially since Nelson must’ve felt jealous after losing to Martin in today’s shooting match.
Faris was impressed.
Proud.
He thought his brother had grown greatly with time.
“Brother, let’s go that way.”
“Why?”
“It feels right.”
“Sure, let’s do it.”
…Unaware it was a complete misjudgment.