CH 68

Chapter 68: Memory

At that moment, Mikhail, the commander of Fort Polwyn, and the Three Black bloods came to the cemetery of the cadets of the Academy who had fought in the war.

“It must be a long time since you’ve been here, yes. It’s a shame Priscilla couldn’t come with us.”

Mikhail said softly, looking at the headstones.

“Priscilla said it would be hard for her to see…”

Reina answered Mikhail.

They had been sacrificed so young for their country, for their families, or for humanity.

Unfinished flowers always carried a sense of futility.

“It wasn’t easy, for you and for me.”

When Mikhail heard his superiors’ orders to command a unit of academy cadets during the war, he thought they were screwing with him. But they say heroes rise to the occasion.

In Mikhail’s eyes, he sees Raina and Edward, The Three Black bloods.

They were war heroes who had distinguished themselves in the war.

Mikhail himself was said to be a brilliant commander, but they were like queens in chess.

The strongest pieces, moved across the battlefield like age was nothing but a number, slaughtering countless demons.

“Don’t look so defeated. Because you were there, we had the courage… Is Kaliman still there?”

“Yes. I think we should give him a moment alone.”

Edward answered Mikhail’s question silently.

Kaliman had lost his lover in the war, a young, innocent, impressionable female cadet who had attended the academy with him.

When she died, Raina had a hard time stopping him from running into enemy territory while blinded by fury.

They walked through the cemetery in silence, scanning the names on the tombstones. Comrades-in-arms who had shed blood together, friends and loyal subordinates.

Mikhail was deep in thought, swallowing bitter regret as a soldier rushed up to him.

“What’s going on?”

Mikhail asks him, shaking his head.

The soldier, looking quite serious, turns to him and whispers.

“Commander. They say that the lich in the snowy mountains has been resurrected, but…”

“The lich has been revived…? What’s the damage?”

“Well… they say it’s already been destroyed and there is no damage to the fortress…”

“What?”

“From the looks of it, it appears that an Academy cadet at the scene managed to defeat it alone, but they’re still investigating.”

“A cadet single-handedly defeated the lich…? Why are they investigating?”

“Because there was also the body of one of our allied soldiers at the scene…and a demonic tome was found in the soldier’s arms.”

“Ha…”

Mikhail sighed heavily, rubbing his brow at the troubling news.

“I guess that’s what resurrected the Lich with the Demon Book…”

“I’d say so. Is there any chance that a cadet was involved in the resurrection…?”

“The cadet on the scene is… ‘blind’, so…”

“I guess he can’t read……”

Mikhail replied, cutting the soldier off.

It was then that it became clear that the soldier was a demon worshiper.

He knew there was a blind first-year cadet on the academy’s tour and   Mikhail had had a bit of a falling out with him over Edward’s ridiculous request to put him on the night scouting party.

“The blind man, or rather the cadet…why did he say he was in the snowy mountains?”

“The cadet said, ‘To memorize the roads to make scouting easier.’ I was eager to hear the information as well, but is it possible for a blind man to be assigned to a scouting party?”

The soldier tilted his head in response to Mikhail’s question and Mikhail barely held back the sigh that threatened to escape him as he continued.

“…The cadet will be on the night reconnaissance team. I put him in there myself at the request of the instructors, and there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the cadet… How many people know about this?”

“A few soldiers who traveled to the snowy mountain, the academy’s medical officer, and the cadets who were there, not many.”

“Hah… Alright, prepare to return to the fortress immediately.”

“Yes!”

Mikhail dismissed the soldier then called Edward over from the other side.

“Edward, I need to speak with you for a moment.”

***

While responding to inquiries, I spoke with Mikhail, who had returned to the fortress in a hurry about the reward for killing the lich alone.

In the end I received a small box.

“I happened to have an elixir on hand and I’ve heard you use techniques that take a toll on your body. With Priscilla and Edward’s testimony, you shouldn’t be afraid to take it.”

With that, Mikhail handed me the box although it wasn’t the reward I was supposed to receive.

In the game, the reward you received from Commander Mikhail for defeating the Lich depended on how you handled it and what your weapon was.

If you defeated him with the soldiers, there was no reward. However, a successful solo kill could result in rewards such as weapons and armor.

If you used a spear, Mikhail would give you one of his old spears.  It was an Epic-ranked spear, and it was considered a useful weapon until midway through the story.

I wasn’t expecting much from him, but he gave me the elixir I needed for Chapter 2. It was an unexpected gain.

The elixir I received from him was a byproduct of the antlers of Dius, a deer-like spirit creature that lives in the north.

I wasn’t quite sure how to use it, but it seemed to be a better quality elixir than Mandragora.

He’d originally planned to give it to a new captain when the fort got one, but with the way things had turned out, he didn’t think a captain would be assigned for a while.

Sierra glanced at the contents of the box and muttered something along the lines of, “Now you’re eating deer antlers.”

In any case, the cadets’ tours of the fortress have been suspended since then.

Polwyn has publicized the incident and launched a full-scale investigation of the soldiers but the aftermath seemed to have gone as well as could be expected, with no suspicions raised.

Time passed and it was our last day in the fortress.

The first-year cadets, who had been scattered and reunited, had a secret party, led by Lucia and Crank.

“Thanks to Mr. Zetto, I didn’t freeze to death standing guard on the ramparts!”

Lucia exclaimed excitedly, raising her drink to the top while Orphele glanced at her and spoke up.

“…You’ve been dozing off instead of standing guard, haven’t you?”

“Well, that’s because I was bored and… sleepy…”

Everyone laughs out loud at Lucia and Orphele’s conversation. They were all glad to have the last two days off because they couldn’t get used to the cold in the north.

Then Kaen, sitting next to me, whispers to me.

“Did you already know that Buckland was a demon worshiper?”

“No, it’s a coincidence.”

Kaen seems to be bothered that I single-handedly defeated the lich.

[Hmph, shameless gigolo.]

Sierra, who’s been listening to my answer, snorts.

The lich brought me many rewards, especially the Tear of the Dead…

..I see Aizel sitting across from me, sipping her drink but I don’t think giving the Tear of the Dead to Aizel will save her from repeated deaths. Something more fundamental had to be done.

The only way to save her was to erase the demons who wanted her from the world and with this much growth, I think I can finally touch them.

‘But first, I need to meet Deidros.’

Hopefully he hasn’t gotten tired of pretending to be the village chief yet.

Sierra hasn’t spoken much to me in public, not even at the last drinking party. She didn’t say much to me in the crowd, as she wanted me to enjoy this time to the fullest.

Just then, Lucia stands up and exclaims.

“Oh, that’s right! I brought you guys a souvenir, because today is our last day in the North!”

At the mention of souvenirs, everyone’s attention is drawn.

“I heard it’s a special souvenir that can only be bought here!”

Lucia says, and gives everyone a souvenir.

“Here, Zetto. Hehe.”

I glanced at the souvenir Lucia handed me, it was a small ice cube. Curiously, it wasn’t cold or melting.

“What is this?”

Yuri takes the souvenir and asks Lucia to explain.

Lucia, who has been eagerly handing out souvenirs, speaks up.

“I heard that if you put mana into this ice while thinking of a memory you want to capture, it will store it!”

“That… Lucia… it sounds pretty expensive just by listening…? Saving memories…”

After listening to Lucia’s explanation for a while, Crank said in a trembling voice.

“It’s not that expensive! It’s only 1 gold a piece!”

“One gold?!”

Lucia’s cheerful response is met with astonishment from everyone in the room.

“Why, why do you say that…?! The merchant said it was only one gold… He said it was a bargain…”

Lucia starts to cry.

Looking at Lucia, Orphele speaks up to clear up the situation.

“No one pays one gold for a souvenir. And in such large quantities…”

“Considering Lord Windless’ personality…you’ll be in trouble, I’m sure.”

“It won’t be that serious since he’s a mild-mannered man.”

After that, Yuri and Amon chimed in.

From Lucia’s subsequent account, it seems that the merchant was a traveling merchant from the north.

This leads to the conclusion that a refund is unlikely.

Lucia sobbed, but… her face brightens as everyone thanks her and pats her on the back.

The good news is that Lucia bought it according to the number of people, and since it wasn’t a gathering of all first-year cadets, she probably spent about a dozen gold coins.

“If it’s a souvenir that costs a gold piece, I’m not surprised I don’t recognize it.

I said it was an unfamiliar item since it was very expensive for a souvenir and I hadn’t bought any of these souvenirs while playing the game.

After a while the mood lightened up again, and we talked about what each of us wanted to capture.

“Thank goodness, it works.”

Orphele is the first to test the souvenir, proving it was worth one gold.

When she infused the ice with mana, the memories would replay in her mind. But it was made in a special way, so it didn’t seem to be shared with anyone but her.

I was relieved that it wasn’t shared.

After giving everyone their souvenirs and sitting down, Lucia asks Orphele.

“What memories did you capture, Orphele?!”

“Just… something that happened recently.”

Suddenly, Amon imitates Orphele’s voice comically.

“That’s obvious… The ice of the Aisin family… doesn’t break easily…”

“Phew!”

Crank, who had been quietly sipping his drink, spits it out, unable to contain his laughter.

It was the story Lucia had told everyone earlier.

She said that after Orphele spoke those words, the lich was revived and the ice block was shattered.

Orphele’s cold gaze falls on Amon.

Since then, the cadets have been talking about what memories they’d like to capture.

Yuri looked at me and spoke up.

“Zetto, how do you capture memories…?”

“There’s smell, there’s hearing, and there’s feeling. It should be enough to bring back memories.”

“What memories are you trying to capture?”

Yuri asked me while Aizel and Kaen distracted gazes are then focused on me.

What memory do I want to capture?

“Maybe now.”

…I think I’d like to capture a memory of this moment, when everyone is laughing and talking without worrying, eating delicious food, and enjoying the atmosphere.

Everyone looked so happy.

“That’s… boring.”

Aizel reacts to my boring answer, and everyone else’s disappointment is palpable.

Shrugging, I turn to Yuri to change the subject.

“So, Ms. Yuri, what kind of memories are you going to capture? Everyone else seems to be capturing memories of the North.”

“Umm… Secret!”

I didn’t give up and asked Kaen and Aizel as well.

“It’s a secret too!”

“…Well.”

Their answers were no different from Yuri’s and I wondered what memories they’ll capture.

***

The moonlight was just beginning to filter through the windows.

As they walked back to their lodgings after a long night of partying, they held a small ice cube in their hands, an ice cube that holds a memory.

Someone captured the happiness of loved ones chattering away.

‘It’s a nice view.’

‘……Phew, yeah.’

Some captured unforgettable memories, even if they weren’t meant to be kept.

“He said only I can see this…”

Someone else captured a memory of standing next to a man in a sweaty place, his muscles bared, and then…He had a nosebleed.

And someone else…

“This isn’t working…”

…the memory of him, and the pain of not being able to save him.

She dropped the ice cube to the floor and stomped on it.

With that, their tour of the North comes to an end, meanwhile, far away from the north, in a city near the Academy.

In the early hours of the night, a luxurious carriage pulls up to a stop on a darkened street and following the carriage, a knight in polished silver armor dismounts from his horse.

The knight then opens the carriage door and the woman who steps out of the carriage is dressed in a flawless, snow-white gown.

“Are you sure this is the house?”

“Yes, my research tells me that this is the home of Anthony the Merchant.”

“I believe he was a target when he was in the city, and I can’t believe those sneaky bastards’ tongues reach outside the city limits… Let’s get moving, I hear his daughter is in critical condition.”

With that conversation, they headed for the manor’s gates.

Fortunately, the lights were still on.

‘I wonder if we’re too late. May the Lord protect this poor lamb…’

The woman in the dress knocked on the door, hiding her nervousness. Then she heard a voice from inside the mansion.

“Daddy, I’ll open it!”

“Emilia, isn’t it past your bedtime?”

The voice from inside the mansion was the last thing she expected as the door swung open but nothing was at her eye level.

As she looked down, she saw a young girl had opened the door.

“Uh… Who are you…?”

The girl tilted her head in question.

“Emilia, go inside…”

A man’s voice comes from behind her as he approaches the door but after seeing who it was Anthony panicked.

“……Saint…? Even you…”

But the saint was just as bewildered.

‘I heard his daughter was in critical condition.’

The saint placed her hand on her chest and bowed her head slightly before speaking.

“…Anthony, I apologize for coming at such a late hour, but if you don’t mind, may I speak with you for a moment?”