Ch.336336. Destiny (2)

In the struggle against Ashpern, I must have barely managed to bring him down.

Most of my senses had dulled. My eyes, already soaked in fatigue, welcomed pitch darkness, and my nose, which had faintly detected the scent of earth and the tang of blood, now sensed nothing at all.

From my mouth, which had been exuding a sweet smell, only thin liquid now flowed. My ears felt muffled as if I’d climbed a high mountain, and my skin couldn’t even feel anything touching it.

Nevertheless, I still had to get up.

‘I need to get up right now…!’

Even if I had eliminated Ashpern, if the Imperial army remained on the second front fighting against the beast legion, casualties would inevitably increase.

I needed to reach there as quickly as possible. After checking the battle situation with the compiled information from the briefing, I had to immediately issue the next orders.

That was what I, as a person, had to do. This was no time to fall asleep and become prey for passing beasts.

And…

I had a promise to keep.

A promise to return safely, to finish everything, to ride amusement park rides together and create new memories.

‘So get up already, you lazy bastard. This is no time to lie around sleeping—you need to get up right now!’

But my body was already screaming from accumulated fatigue and wounds. It was shouting at my brain, desperately wanting rest, and it was as if all my nerves had unanimously blocked my eyes and ears, refusing to respond.

However.

-Hurry… please hurry and wake up…

Suddenly, my muffled ears opened.

My nerves responded, and my body gradually regained sensation. Without even feeling the accumulated fatigue and wounds, my body began to move automatically at the sound of her voice.

And soon, my trembling eyelids opened, and my vision brightened.

My sight slowly cleared. But it was still blurry, with only faint, whitish afterimages.

But what did it matter if my vision was a bit blurry? What did it matter if it was hazy?

Instead of the open sky, I could see a person’s face. That long, silver-white hair was unmistakably hers.

This wasn’t a mirage that appeared momentarily in response to my wish.

The person looking at me, offering her thigh as a pillow, must have arrived here already.

Carefully, I called her name.

“Lenias.”

I had so much to say. Where should I begin? Should I start by apologizing for my terrible condition?

Yes. I should probably start with an apology. I had promised to return safely, but this appearance would obviously worry her…

I was about to utter an apology first, but as I was about to speak, I realized there were major contradictions.

Why wasn’t I feeling any pain? I should have injuries all over.

Moreover, how could my voice come out so clearly?

And even if that were the case, this place wasn’t a pit, was it?

The answers to these many contradictions were things I couldn’t figure out on my own.

“My, is that the first thing you say when you wake up?”

Hearing those words, I raised my reclined body and immediately got up, rubbing my eyes several times to clear my blurry vision.

As my focus gradually returned, the person before me…

wasn’t Lenias.

***

Pwooooo-

“A horn?”

The Imperial army was currently rotating shifts to keep watch for beasts. Although they had retreated all at once, no one could tell when or where they might attack again, so they couldn’t let their guard down for even a moment.

This horn sound was the only means of communication for the Imperial army, who found it difficult to send magical signals due to the battle.

Some hurriedly armed themselves, thinking the beasts might be attacking again, but the attitude the Imperial soldiers were to take wasn’t a combat stance.

“I apologize for arriving so late.”

“Kain?”

“Look, there’s Lumia too!”

As Kain and Lumia, who had been leading, stepped aside, she appeared among the armed soldiers, wearing the Tembris insignia on her shoulder.

“Did you wait long?”

“Senia!”

The soldiers who had hurriedly armed themselves, thinking beasts had appeared, rejoiced at the good news.

Now it was time to hear the full story. Michelle led the three people indoors.

“Junon’s request to us… was an intentional staging of a crisis, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right. But the Sirens never actually asked us for help.”

“Then how did those soldiers…”

It didn’t make sense that they hadn’t responded despite the declaration of a pan-national emergency and the summoning of all Imperial troops.

To this, Kain and Lumia smiled and answered.

“You may not remember, but Lumia and I had separate orders to carry out, Senior Michelle.”

“And Shute Province needed the Sirens’ help to treat people suffering from the Lemtert plague, right?”

“Don’t tell me your separate orders were… to bring those people?”

“Correct.”

Kain and Lumia showed the item they had received. A map with Shute’s topography drawn on it. The fact that Junon had given them this meant that from the beginning, he had intended to separate Ashpern’s beast legion from Shute Province.

If they evacuated all civilians as well, the procession would obviously stretch out, and supplies and provisions would become even tighter—a predictable future.

But what if Shute Province was less affected? Unlike Sirah, which was almost incapable of self-sufficiency, they would have a chance to receive supplies once. Moreover, since the Sirens were located near the border rather than in the central city, the threat of Ashpern’s beast legion would be difficult to reach.

When Ashpern couldn’t find the Imperial army, another reason he led them to the Ripol River and engaged in battle was precisely this. Junon had made his best move to protect the people focusing on curing the Lemtert plague in Shute Province.

“I see. With supplies and manpower secured… the Imperial army might be able to fight a bit longer. With that many numbers and the Sirens who are skilled in support magic… we might even be able to communicate with the Empire again!”

“No, Michelle. We can’t rely on the Sirens’ help.”

“What are you saying? In this situation, they wouldn’t refuse to collaborate with humans.”

“Well…”

If there’s good news, there’s also bad news.

To Michelle’s question, Lumia closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and began with difficulty.

“Senior Junon asked for one more thing. He wanted us to request reinforcements again from Shute using the Sirens’ magical amplification ability.”

“Didn’t we already try that in Sirah? Lord Dusen definitely brought us news.”

“But we can’t receive continuous updates. We need to know how much time is needed and where exactly we’ll establish a port before we can set sail.”

Just as the Imperial side had to report the battle situation after moving troops to the second front, the same applied to the Empire’s forces responding to the support request. Kain’s words were a hundred times right.

Besides, once inside Ashpern’s domain, communication devices would obviously be useless, even if they moved to Sirah. That’s why Shute was chosen.

“So the Sirens’ lake, being even farther from Shute… would be suitable for communication unless Ashpern came directly.”

“That’s right. So after connecting the communication device, we asked if they could arrive at the port we’d build here… but the Empire said wyverns are already blocking the route outside the winter barrier.”

“That’s why we had to send the Sirens. Moving an army, including us, would be too risky for the Imperial forces, and if the Sirens helped, it would be easier to eliminate the wyverns.”

“…So that’s why the Empire’s support is so delayed.”

It made sense. Wyverns. If flying beasts were stationed in the air, there was no way ships could sail peacefully.

“How long do they think it will take to deal with them?”

“Unfortunately, there’s apparently a Lord-class wyvern there… Even if the Sirens reach the Empire, eliminate all the wyverns, and then sail back here, it would take at least three days…”

Michelle covered her face with her palm, feeling dizzy.

Junon’s plan had been twisted once. He had moved the capital to Alperatz to eliminate Feltiburugos with the Empire’s support and had established a front in Sirah.

‘There are about three days left until the sealing formula is broken… It’s impossible. Even including the time to reach Sirah from the port, it’s too tight.’

Although Senia, Kain, and Lumia had succeeded in supplementing the Imperial army’s insufficient soldiers and various supplies, the Empire’s support was ultimately unavailable.

The prospect darkens with the condition that they must face Feltiburugos with only the Imperial army’s strength. Despite overcoming the wall named Ashpern, there’s still a bigger wall remaining. A sigh escaped involuntarily.

“By the way… where is Senior Junon?”

And the worst news of all is that Junon is still unconscious.

***

Now that my focus is properly adjusted, I can see clearly.

What looked like silver-white hair actually has waves of light purple mixed in when observed closely. Though the atmosphere seems similar, she’s a bit taller, and her eyes are closer to purple.

She’s a different person.

‘So it wasn’t Lenias.’

Was this person the silver hair I faintly saw before collapsing after the battle with Ashpern?

…That’s probably the correct answer. It was just my wishful thinking, a momentary vision of someone I wanted to see.

“Why don’t we sit down and talk for a bit?”

As if suggesting we have a cup of tea, she poured another cup and handed it to me across the opposite chair. But I don’t have time for this.

“Where is this place?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I need to return to the front line. I’m grateful for your healing, but I can’t properly thank you right now.”

Then the woman before me asked:

“Do you think a place like this exists in the Empire right now?”

“…”

For a moment, it felt like a bell rang in my brain.

Come to think of it, why is it so peaceful here?

Could such a place exist in an empire that should be filled with blood and corpses due to war?

‘No. That’s impossible.’

Even if it were a region away from the war, it made no sense to rescue me from a pit and bring me to a place like this.

I tried to gather mana in my hand just in case… but I couldn’t feel any mana at all.

‘For a living being in the Kempton continent to not have even a speck of the mana they should possess. Am I dreaming? Otherwise…’

Then came an immediate answer.

“That’s right. This is a dream, and I’ve entered your dream. You collapsed after defeating Ashpern with Anti-Cast, didn’t you?”

She knows too much detail to just be aware. Besides, pinching my cheek doesn’t hurt, and my other wounds weren’t the kind that could heal so quickly.

It really is a dream.

I wondered if there was magic that allowed one to enter another’s dream and converse… but considering there’s something like the Clock Hand Formation that can make people regress in time, it’s not entirely impossible.

‘Then who is this person?’

The woman, who elegantly sipped her tea, delivered another immediate answer.

“The one who permitted your regression, if that helps.”

“…What did you say?”

“You just recalled it, didn’t you? The Clock Hand Formation that your comrades executed, paying the price of losing their past memories.”

The one who permitted my regression? Someone who knows about the Clock Hand Formation? Not only that, but someone who can completely see through my thoughts?

That’s not even something that can be called magic.

It’s a power of a different level, an incomparable higher dimension.

‘Could it be.’

It’s just a thought, but the person before me…

“Are you… a god?”

“More precisely, the constellation of Sagittarius. I’m the one who granted my power to make the Clock Hand Formation possible, something humans alone couldn’t achieve. Junon.”

What was even more shocking was the next statement.

“No. Not Junon, should I call you Jun-woo?”