Stay Still.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!”

When he came to his senses, the boy realized he could hear screaming in his ears.

It’s a voice he remembers.

Certainly…

Yes, it was the girl he had competed against.

Something that he thought would never come out burst from the mouth of the girl who he believed would never lose her composure at any time.

What on earth had happened?

“Te-Teacher.”

He could immediately tell just by seeing the shadow in front of him.

The shattered ceiling.

With her back to the light still shining clearly, a woman in a white gown protecting him from above.

That face was certainly one that existed in his memory.

“Teacher, why…”

“It’s okay.”

Even with a face showing fatigue.

The face that had always smiled kindly at him.

“It’s okay, there’s no problem at all.”

That calm voice uttered from her mouth was also certainly engraved in his memory.

-Drip.

The sticky liquid that fell beneath it and.

The iron smell flowing from it, to the extent of making it seem colorless.

“Ah…”

As his blurry vision gradually became clearer.

He felt the sound of his breath exhaled from his mouth becoming thicker.

“Ah, uh…”

Before that turned into an exclamation.

And eventually into sobbing.

“It’s okay, Dale.”

Soon the shadow hiding in front of him began to exert force, quietly overlapping her body.

“Teacher is fine, so there’s no need to blame yourself because it’s not your fault.”

“But…”

“Stay still.”

He wanted to say something.

He thought he should at least apologize for causing this situation.

Even though he himself hadn’t fully realized what had happened yet, still… he was aware that he had provided the catalyst.

“Just stay still for a moment.”

But she denied such thoughts.

She repeatedly soothed his mind and moved forward from her position.

“Don’t look at anything.”

Slow but very monotonous footsteps.

The hand stroking his head showed no trembling.

“Don’t listen to anything…”

Her voice still had warmth in it.

As if she really hadn’t experienced any danger in this situation.

“…Yes, it will be fine after some time passes, so stay still.”

But he feels the iron smell in his nose getting stronger.

He buried his face deeper into her embrace to escape from that pungent smell, but even then he could feel the warmth from her embrace gradually cooling.

Yet he couldn’t utter even a single apology.

Because she didn’t want that.

As long as she didn’t request anything, he couldn’t say anything to her.

-Step, step.

And it wasn’t just the boy in her embrace who was silent.

The scene of madness where they had been tearing at each other until just before was buried in chaos with the collapse of the sky, and even that was now swallowed by silence.

No one, not one of the thousands of people gathered here, said anything even seeing the red light soaking the center of the training ground.

It was too calm for a tragedy to have occurred, because the victim’s behavior was too composed.

“Harsion. Are you alive?”

Eventually, where those footsteps stopped was the place where a man was standing in the same space.

“…Yes, thanks to you.”

Fortunately, he had succeeded in evacuating to the periphery and ended up with just minor scratches.

The girl in his arms was just trembling, with no visible external injuries at all.

“Te-Teacher Saine…”

The moment the girl called her name with difficulty, the boy’s head briefly left her embrace and turned towards the girl’s face.

Where his gaze was directed was not himself, nor her, but the path she had walked.

The shaking pupils showed that what was visible was that serious.

“I’m glad. You’re both safe.”

Looking down at such a girl, she smiled gently and looked down at the boy in her arms.

To stand modestly beside her.

Yet positioning herself so that her back wasn’t visible.

“Te-Teacher…”

“Harsion.”

Nevertheless, her attention was already withdrawn from herself.

The man whose name was called quietly raised his body and met her eyes.

“I’ll entrust these children to you while I’m gone.”

A familiar tone as if facing an old acquaintance.

The man asked her with difficulty.

“What are you… going to do…”

“What else, I can’t show the children something they shouldn’t see, so I have to withdraw.”

Something they shouldn’t see.

What kind of state is she in to say such a thing?

No, I can imagine to some extent.

That image can be recalled as vividly as what’s visible to the eye.

‘It’s okay, Dale. There’s no problem at all.’

A fragment of the nightmare I had this morning.

“It’s okay, Dale. There’s no problem at all.”

She, who uttered the same words as then.

Soon began to slowly turn her back from her position.

‘Stay still there.’

Moving her bleeding back just like then.

“Stay still there.”

Preparing to move in the opposite direction while leaving the same words.

“Teacher…”

Just as that miserable back was about to be engraved in his eyes.

“Stay still.”

A hand stretching from behind covered the boy’s eyes and pulled his body, stopping the footsteps that were about to move forward.

“Please, stay still now.”

A voice that even felt desperate.

The boy’s two eyes, unable to shake that off, gradually became wet, and soon moisture began to build up on the thick hand.

His salivary glands dried up as if that moisture was drawn up from his throat, and his breath stiffened.

“Don’t… go.”

Nevertheless, the boy finally appealed, reaching out his hand in the darkness while squeezing out his blocked breath.

“Teacher Saine… Please.”

That the only mentor who had taken him in in this isolated world would leave forever like this.

“Don’t leave me… alone…”

That he had provided the catalyst for this.

Because he was so afraid of the fact that it was none other than himself.

---

I clearly feel the sensation of glass shards stuck in my back.

The feeling of shattered fragments tearing up the inside as well.

But if I pull them out right away, the bleeding will get worse.

While using the mana that had barely returned after leaving that child’s embrace to suppress the wounds, I couldn’t accumulate any more damage.

“Eek! Teacher, what on earth happened to you…”

“It’s fine, so go do what you need to do.”

Of course, I didn’t express such pain to the students or teachers I encountered on the way.

There’s no need to unnecessarily escalate the situation when I’m not even dead yet.

-Drip.

Of course, if I leave it like this, I might really die.

“Even on the real battlefield, I’ve never been in such danger…”

I’ve been bombed before, surrounded by enemies ten times the size of my unit, or jumped into enemies over a hundred times our number to rescue prisoners.

But at those times, I could still resist.

It’s the first time I’ve been helplessly hit by such an indiscriminate disaster.

Moreover, I never thought I would voluntarily face such danger.

“…Phew.”

Anyway, I’ve managed to reach the infirmary for now.

I sat down heavily on the bed with my tired body and immediately recited a prayer with both hands clasped.

I can’t treat myself because the glass shards are stuck in my back of all places.

I can’t wait for a believer either because the bleeding is too much, so even if it’s not ideal, I have to do it.

“Cle, if you can hear my voice, please come out.”

A light appears in front of me at the end of the prayer.

What appeared then were two small hands made of light.

The moment Clea, the god of medicine I serve, descended here.

-…!

But she couldn’t express her joy by waving her hands or giving a thumbs up as usual.

It couldn’t be helped.

Anyone would be worried if they saw the body of the believer who manifested them covered in glass shards.

-!!!!!!!

Cle circles around me, shaking both hands as if very surprised.

I tried to smile at her and replied.

“It’s okay. I avoided the vital spots.”

After leaving the area of nullification, I used mana to minimize bleeding.

Even if I can’t completely stop it, it’s not enough to die right away, so you can rest assured.

-…! …!!! !!!!

But injured is injured, whatever the reason.

As if unable to face my condition properly, Cle began to wave her two hands around.

As if trying to express her emotions somehow with a body that can’t speak.

-Tap, tap tap.

Finally, Cle starts tapping the bed curtain and bedspread with her hands.

Watching this, I felt truly admirable.

“Are you making the bed for me? Thank you, I was having trouble arranging it alone.”

-!!!!!!!

As if shocked by my words, Cle pointed with her left hand and raised a thumbs up with her opposite hand, then dropped it down.

Taking the opposite action seemed to mean “don’t talk nonsense.”

If I had taught her to flip someone off, she would have told me to eat shit, right?

“I’m sorry, Cle. I’m at my limit right now, so could you treat me instead?”

But coincidentally, now wasn’t the time to dawdle.

I was at my limit both physically and mentally.

“The painkillers are over there, and the surgical thread and scissors are in that first aid kit…”

After explaining to her what was needed, the two hands began to hurriedly wander around the infirmary.

Yes, this should be fine.

Although she’s a younger god than me, she’s a superior being as a doctor.

-Thud.

As if entrusting my body to that trust, I eventually collapsed on the bed.

The moment the flowing blood soaked the bedspread.

As if that stickiness was a swamp, it deeply sank my consciousness.

And then…

---

-Whoosh.

The sound of sand wind blowing in the wilderness.

When I opened my eyes again, what I saw was rough ground and large and small boulders scattered here and there.

The shadows visible at a distance told me this was a canyon area.

‘…A dream.’

I could tell right away.

Just by the fact that I had set foot in a place I would never step into again… It was probably 5 years ago?

At that time, I was escorting wounded soldiers and had sent my subordinates ahead first, then got isolated in the middle of a canyon while shaking off the pursuing soldiers.

It was that dangerous a situation… Well, the fact that that time appeared in a dream means that at least in this dream, I won’t have to see that damn woman’s face.

No matter how messed up the situation was, she was just stuck in her own house and didn’t even think of coming out.

-Clatter.

But unfortunately, a blessing in disguise doesn’t really mean it’s a blessing.

The moment something that had been lying in ambush behind a nearby rock aimed a weapon at my back, my footsteps looking around stopped in place.

Just like at that time.

‘Stay still.’

The cool sensation felt at the tip of my back.

Looking towards the shadow cast right below, I could see a being much smaller than me standing there.

Is it aiming a knife with such a small body?

‘Stay… still…’

A voice that seemed to have not drunk water properly for days.

It wasn’t incomprehensible given that the surroundings were a wasteland.

‘Hand over all the medicine and bandages you have…’

But when I raised both hands, what the other party demanded wasn’t water or food, but medical supplies.

Was it because they knew I was a soldier who went around saving people? Or was it out of hope that I might have something they needed?

One thing I could know for sure.

By the fact that they stopped at threats when they could have killed me and taken it if I were an enemy soldier, this ‘boy’ was still untainted.

‘Will just medicine be enough?’

Thinking that would be sufficient, I immediately turned around and knocked down the knife the boy was aiming.

In the first place, he had no strength at all.

If my body was hardened with mana, I could easily deflect it.

‘G-Get away! This… Ugh!’

‘Stay still.’

I grabbed the boy who was trying to resist and stroked the wound on his face.

The wound healing through the exposed divine power.

The emaciated body and dry lips told me that this boy had gone through a lot of hardship until now.

But what caught my eye before that was the clothes the boy was wearing.

Clothes with a school uniform instead of a military uniform, with only an emblem indicating military affiliation barely attached.

‘There are more wounded children, right? Tell me where. I’ll treat them right away.’

It was a common occurrence in war.

Using boy soldiers or student soldiers to supplement insufficient troops.