Ch.8584. Not-So-Ordinary Daily Life (9)

# 84. Not-So-Ordinary Daily Life (9)

In my lord’s dictionary, there was no such word as defeat.

She knew only victory, and because of that, even when we fell in those difficult situations, we could always get back up.

In the midst of that war, even when wounded, I comforted myself by repeating in my heart that with her, victory was certain.

‘We can win this time too… We have the Empress with us.’

That’s how we endured that grueling war, whispering those words to ourselves.

But even those self-assurances couldn’t always protect us, and at some point, they disappeared, only to reappear in a slightly different form.

‘Did we win this time…?’

That moment came when the strongest and most terrible Demon King, who had always been hidden behind a veil—Bael—revealed himself before us.

After winning dozens of battles and finally setting foot on Babylon Kingdom’s territory.

That’s when we first saw him.

Him, who glared at us with eyes full of resentment, as if he wanted to kill us right then and there.

***

After yet another battle ended, a soldier intoxicated with the thrill of victory spoke to our lord, who still maintained her composure.

“Your Majesty! We’ve won this battle too!”

Unlike them, not drunk on victory and still calmly assessing the situation, she replied.

“The detachment did well this time. I should reward them when we return.”

In this battle, the detachment had cleared the enemy’s rear lines before our main force even clashed with the enemy’s main force.

More precisely, the detachment commander had done it alone.

And now, wiping the blood from his sword after slaughtering the enemies, he stood before her.

“We were just lucky this time.”

“Luck is also a skill.”

“If Your Majesty says so, then it must be. But what now? Are we going back?”

She shook her head and said.

“We can’t turn back after coming this far. Now it’s our turn to advance forward.”

The Empress’s spirited words spread instantly among the soldiers, and those who heard that they would finally invade the Babylon Kingdom let out cries of joy.

-Woah!!!!-

-Finally, we too!!!-

Those who had always been on the receiving end rejoiced at the opportunity for revenge.

However, there was one person who couldn’t smile at the scene.

Seeing Albert with a sullen expression, Chris asked.

“Why the long face? We can finally teach those damn demon bastards a lesson.”

“Well… I don’t know why, but I feel uneasy.”

“Have you been reading too many comics lately? Just because you say something like that doesn’t mean something bad will actually happen.”

Chris’s words only made Albert more anxious.

Still, thinking it would be fine since she was also there, Albert advanced toward the Babylon Kingdom with her.

Not long after, they arrived at the border of the Babylon Kingdom, and just before the soldier at the front could step onto the kingdom’s territory, she said.

“Everyone, be careful.”

As soon as she finished speaking and the soldier stepped onto Babylon’s territory, a mysterious spell flew toward them with a chilling sensation that could be felt throughout their bodies.

-Boom! Crash!-

A spell of tremendous power flew toward the soldiers at the front, but fortunately, she blocked it.

Albert, who had been behind her, somehow approached the caster of the spell.

The man standing before Albert looked back and forth between him and her, then said.

“Indeed, there are quite useful ones among humans.”

Though he said this, his eyes were incredibly fierce.

Eyes that looked as if he might cast a spell on the human before him at any moment.

“For someone saying that, you’re looking at me too murderously, aren’t you?”

He cursed at Albert with a voice that seemed to burst with long-suppressed resentment.

“Shut up, you inferior human.”

Then he struck Albert with his heavy fist, enhanced by his magical power.

-Thud!!!-

Albert barely blocked that ridiculously fast and powerful fist with his sword.

However, the sword that directly received his punch was cracked as if it might shatter at any moment.

“Ugh!…”

Having directly experienced his overwhelming power, Albert maintained his distance warily, and the man looked at Albert’s appearance with an arrogant expression.

“Are you scared of my fist? You look quite tense.”

“My…? Are you perhaps…”

“Addressing me as ‘you’? You’ve got some nerve.”

He referred to himself as “my.”

She, who had somehow approached Albert’s side, said to him.

“Are you perhaps the king of the Babylon Kingdom?”

“What if I am?”

“Is there a reason you keep invading our country?”

“Because inferior humans like you should disappear from this world.”

He said something incomprehensible and pointed his hand toward the soldiers of the Kainis Empire. In an instant, a massive magical power that surpassed her [Absolute Zero] gathered in his hand.

“I shall specially show you what true magic is.”

With those words, a beam with enough power to easily wipe out an entire village struck the imperial soldiers.

-Boom boom boom boom!!!!-

***

‘It was horrific..’

Where the beam had passed, not even a single living creature could be seen, and it was so destroyed that one couldn’t even tell what had been there originally.

She too sensed the enormous magical power gathering in Bael’s hand and tried to stop him, but it was futile.

The beam massacred most of the imperial army, and we had no choice but to retreat with the remaining soldiers.

‘Should we consider that a victory…’

Although a catastrophe occurred due to Bael’s unexpected appearance, since we had won the previous battles, later generations would record and learn about that battle as a victory.

But in reality, that battle was our defeat.

We had lost most of our forces, and the morale of the soldiers was broken.

When I first saw Bael’s power, I momentarily lost hope too.

‘Can we kill such a monster… What if he appears in the next battle too?..’

And indeed, Bael appeared before us in the next battle as well.

However, in that battle, thanks to the participation of all the empire’s skilled fighters, we managed to wound him and win the battle itself.

Of course, her performance stood out in that battle too.

She was the only one who could somewhat block Bael’s overwhelming power, and thanks to her, many lives were saved.

Despite being in the position of an empress, she always went to the battlefield for her people.

‘She was so cool then too…’

I looked at the current her while recalling her from my past life.

Her, lost in thought.

“I must have been quite remarkable in my past life…”

“You’re remarkable enough now.”

“Never having been defeated… It’s a bit admirable.”

As she spoke, she looked at her reflection in my eyes.

“I can’t say I ‘always won,’ but I never lost.”

“That sounds quite ambiguous…”

“There are still too many things left, especially related to war. It will be tough, but we need to endure and never lose.”

Hearing this, she tilted her head and asked me.

“Not always winning?”

“We can’t always win, but isn’t it possible to at least not lose?”

“Then I’ll need to work hard.”

“Of course. Right now, both you and I are too weak.”

Though we might be elites ranking first and second in the academy, we were definitely not skilled enough for the battlefield yet.

“Hearing that directly makes everything seem so bleak…”

“The future is always dark. We can never see what’s ahead or know what to do, but we must move forward anyway.”

Hearing this, her eyes sparkled as if she had made some resolution, and she looked straight at me.

“I need to work hard, so I won’t fall behind the me that Albert remembers.”

“That… might be quite difficult.”

“Nothing’s impossible if Albert helps me.”

Indeed, she and she were the same person, and the only difference was me.

“That’s right, ultimately I need to do well.”

“If I were in your position, I don’t think I could handle that pressure… Albert, you seem confident.”

Though she says this now, if she were in my situation, she would do much better than me.

From the beginning, the person who felt the most pressure and had to endure it was her.

I am just a soldier, but she is the empress of this country.

“The pressure is something for our princess to bear, not me. I’m just here to lighten that burden.”

“It really is a burdensome position…”

“You can have a bit more confidence. You will definitely do well.”

She did well even when I couldn’t help her, so this time she will do even better.

“Indeed… Albert gives me strength… Thank you. I’ve been worrying a lot lately, but being beside Albert makes me feel better…”

“I’m just doing what I should. But we should go now. It’s getting late.”

As we talked about various things, evening had already passed.

“What about dinner? Isn’t it too late?”

“Oh… you’re right…”

As we were leaving the aquarium in confusion.

-Ding!!-

Both our phones rang simultaneously.

‘Who could it be…’

We glanced at each other for a moment before checking the messages.