Ch.304304. Broken Clock Hand (4)

Still occasionally, I feel pain in my stomach. Though the wound should have healed completely with no pain remaining, it feels as if it’s been branded into me.

Despite receiving multiple medical examinations confirming there’s nothing wrong, I sometimes experience a strange sensation in my perfectly normal abdomen, as if there’s a hole pierced through it.

I attribute this to the Osoptera Defense Battle.

The memory of losing consciousness after being skewered through the abdomen during combat will never fade.

It was an experience from which I could have easily lost my life.

The Osoptera Defense Battle was that intense of a memory, and despite the wound in my abdomen healing completely, the occasional pain serves as a reminder of my inadequacy. Until now, I had simply dismissed it as nothing serious.

But now, something more invasive fills my abdomen with the sensation of having a large hole. And the pain has intensified several times over.

Just days before the defense battle took place, I had threatened him while he was talking with Michelle. Telling him to stay away from the Tembris members.

And yet.

The person I believed had abandoned his comrades and fled.

The person I felt had taken a position of power despite being utterly helpless and filled with anger.

The person I considered Tembris’s only blemish and mortal enemy.

He turned out to be the one who minimized casualties in a battle where total annihilation wouldn’t have been surprising, and who enhanced the prestige of Levrant Academy, which had been gradually declining due to the unresolved quality issues of its students.

Minimal damage and a successful defense battle.

That alone was already jaw-dropping news, but…

The truth emerged that he was the benefactor who saved my life, and that I was able to recover after receiving surgery with his help, not my comrades’.

To think that my mortal enemy was actually the benefactor who saved my life.

No matter how much I mutter that it can’t be true, no matter how much I try to recall my memories and insist it doesn’t make sense.

“Why… is there nothing wrong with this…?”

There were no more contradictions to be found.

As soon as she realized this was the truth, Erica grabbed and pulled at her own hair.

But once again, there was no time for repentance.

Whoosh.

“What… what is it now…”

Junon’s figure appears again. What is it this time?

What’s happening that makes my vision shift so dramatically again?

I didn’t want to see any more.

“I’ve seen enough already. Stop… please, stop now…!”

With eyes tightly shut.

Clutching her head with both hands.

Erica cries out into the void as if screaming.

“I was wrong, so please stop showing me this!!”

Even with her eyes closed, it plays in her mind as if projected on a screen.

Even as she tries to cover her vision while clutching her head, it continues to play automatically.

“Ah, aah… No. D-don’t do this… don’t…!”

The opportunity for her to reflect had already passed long ago.

Beyond her control.

***

*Rustle*

A tactical map unfolds in the cave.

The map Renias brought showed the Imperial Army’s front lines, forward bases, and the routes of the magical beasts.

Quite detailed, in fact.

It’s comprehensive enough that hardly anything seems to be missing.

‘It seems not only Senia but also Michelle helped.’

Creating a map from scratch, not just a tactical one, consumes a considerable amount of time.

Forget about organizing search parties and gathering information—marking surrounding mountain ranges, terrain features, hills, plains, as well as lakes, riverbanks, and streams takes time.

Moreover, this tactical map indicates troop deployments, positions of magical beasts, and their approximate numbers, which would have required even more time.

When I asked Renias to go in my place to help the front lines, I thought it would take at least two or three days. I didn’t expect to receive the tactical map so quickly.

However.

“…It’s impossible after all.”

Even if I were to hand this operation over to Senia, I don’t think she would follow through with it.

“The soldiers are more exhausted than I expected. Many are confused by the sudden disappearance of Professor Muniher and Professor Jake. I’d like some advice on this matter as well, if possible? -Senia.”

Always calm and seemingly unwavering in her rationality, Senia has already once fled the battlefield just to save the Sirens.

And not only that, when she first encountered corpses, her shock was visibly apparent.

I don’t know about others, but if anyone else had witnessed that, they would have asked her the same question.

Are you scared?

‘I’m probably right about this.’

Senia fears seeing lives vanish before her eyes.

I don’t know why, but judging by her reaction when I subtly inquired about Adel’s whereabouts after taking her to Count Kutelli’s house, I can conclude it’s not much different.

She would rush in to save someone dying, but if she knew someone was going to die and couldn’t intervene, she would visibly falter.

The worst-case scenario is that she can’t bring herself to ask someone to be bait or order them into danger.

That’s why she can’t take up the command. That’s why she shook her head when Goden once designated her as sub-leader—because of that unbreakable altruism.

I can explain the operation.

But attempting this operation requires pushing some people into danger, and Senia would refuse to accept it.

‘It can’t be helped.’

There needs to be at least one person who becomes the scapegoat, no one else.

“Where are you going again?”

“…Renias.”

After carefully examining the tactical map and leaving the cave, I find Renias waiting.

But… judging by the atmosphere, she wasn’t just waiting.

She seemed to be standing guard, certain that I might come out, blocking my path so openly.

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“Do you have to go?”

I expected this, but I didn’t think she’d throw such a direct question. Even when contacting Tembris, she seemed rather reluctant.

When she said there was no need for me to step forward, that’s probably what she meant.

Nevertheless, Junon had to go. He knew better than anyone that things couldn’t continue like this.

Renias blocks Junon’s path again as he tries to move past her.

“…Renias.”

“I’ll allow indirect help. But I don’t want you to be directly involved like this.”

Instead of comrades helping each other, they dump enormous burdens on one person.

Not content with that, they cause all sorts of incidents, escalating problems and directing all blame toward one place.

In the end, someone directly stabbed their comrade to death, and the other comrades failed to prevent it—Renias was thoroughly dissatisfied with this.

“At this rate, the Imperial Army will be annihilated.”

“Are you saying they’ll be annihilated just because one person—you—isn’t there? That doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s a complex operation. To execute it, I need to be there.”

“You can give commands without being there yourself. Besides, couldn’t I just relay information back and forth like this?”

“…That won’t work. Senia wouldn’t approve of that operation.”

At this, Renias exploded with frustration.

“Then you’ll end up shouldering everything again!!”

She understood perfectly well his intention to take up the commander’s position again and lead.

Complaints, criticism, and if it fails, he would be in the same position as before.

Having seen everything, there was no way she could just let him go.

“No. I… I can’t let you go there. I won’t!”

Renias stretched out her arms like a totem pole, blocking Junon’s path.

‘…Oh dear.’

She seemed to have no intention of letting him pass.

Invisible flames sparked in her dark purple eyes, and with her lips tightly pressed together, she stood with her arms outstretched, determined to block his way.

“…!”

With mixed feelings, Junon embraces Renias tightly and tries to persuade her once more.

“I’m not going there to die, Renias.”

Renias flinched involuntarily as she found herself enveloped in Junon’s embrace, but quickly regained her composure.

“I know. But you’re asking me to let you go when I know exactly what will happen there?”

This must be just a deception.

She didn’t want to see this overly kind senior sacrifice himself by returning to the Imperial Army to fulfill his duty.

Junon holds Renias tighter and says:

“Do you remember what we promised before parting?”

“Promise…?”

“We said we’d ride the amusement rides together once they were all completed.”

Come to think of it, they did make such a promise. But that was something they could only do if accidents like this hadn’t happened.

Now, in this wartime situation with the Empire, what does that promise have to do with anything?

“I really want to keep that promise. And to ride those amusement rides, the Empire needs to be intact, right?”

He wants to keep his promise. So he’s asking her to let him go. That’s what he meant.

It was an unreasonable request. Setting aside the wartime situation, how could he head toward the army to take on the burden of being both the leader of the Tembris party and the commander of the Imperial Army, just to keep that one promise?

Her tightly pressed lips began to twist.

Then.

“I’m going because I want you to be safe. Besides, if the Imperial Army gets pushed back, my newly acquired girlfriend would be in danger, right?”

*Thump!*

Renias’s heart pounded at the words “newly acquired girlfriend.”

“Please, Renias.”

“Ugh…”

She knew she shouldn’t let him go, but she couldn’t help imagining.

A future day when this subjugation ends and peace returns to the Empire.

A future where she can hold Junon’s hand tightly and play without any worries, just like during the Real Winter Parade.

The mere thought made her happy.

If she had to weigh Junon’s suffering against future happiness, she should definitely choose to break his spirit of sacrifice and give up on happiness.

But the scale tips toward future happiness. The reason another weight was added to future happiness was separate.

Because it wasn’t a lie.

For Renias, who had always quickly detected his lies, not a single grain of falsehood was visible.

“In that case, I’m coming with you, okay?”

The silver rabbit declared her surrender, wrapping her arms around Junon’s waist instead of blocking his path.

“Yes. Let’s go together.”