Chapter 59: At the End of Despair (1)

[59] 9. At the End of Despair (1)

It began with a roar that felt like the world was ending.

I was barely able to fall asleep when that sound, as if a giant were hammering the world, jolted me awake, and I stepped outside the tent.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Outside, I saw people with similar expressions.

Bewilderment, confusion, exhaustion,

And vigilance.

It was as if a taut thread, humming with anticipation, was hidden in the night air.

“_____________!!”

And then came the second roar,

but this time, a blinding light led our gazes to its source.

The cultist’s moving fortress,

Planer’s End.

That monstrous abomination, at the very spot where it had been roaming the prairies…

An enormous pillar of fire was burning the night sky.

A flame so bright that even the starlight was washed out.

I could see the fortress struggling to escape the pillar of fire, its appendages flailing wildly.

But the pillar of fire persistently chased the fortress, burning the monsters and cultists that swarmed beneath it.

But the fire didn’t spread to the prairie.

It meant that there was someone controlling the magic.

And as far as I knew, there was only one person who could pull this off.

In the reddened night sky.

A single blue dot was embedded.

Parsley.

The first thing I felt was confusion.

It hadn’t even been three hours since she left the tent, smiling.

What in the world happened in those three hours?

And why was she incinerating that fortress?

“Battle stations!!”

A shout, loud enough to pierce even the deafening roar, snapped me out of my thoughts. Turning around, I saw the Captain.

Barely having the time to put on her brigandine, she galloped through the camp on horseback. Raising her sword, she shouted,

“The mage has opened a path! Everyone, prepare for battle!!”

Thought is rarely a ration given to soldiers.

At those words, ‘prepare for battle’, people scrambled to action, putting on armor and preparing their weapons.

Not because they understood the situation,

to most, the pillar of fire must have been a mystery.

But they were simply pushed forward by the Captain’s shout,

Pushed by the inertia of their training,

They mechanically prepare for battle.

It was the same with me.

I shoved my questions aside and dashed back into the tent,

thinking I could get a proper explanation when this was all over.

…It was a terrible miscalculation.

***

The unrest in the west, which had been going on for months, came to an end in a single night.

This was thanks to a single mage who had incinerated a fortress along with the night.

The cultists, having suddenly lost their base, were in disarray, and, taking advantage of this opportunity, we attacked.

By the time dawn broke, painting the cloudy sky with its light, and a drizzle had begun to soak the plains, most of the cultists were dead or had fled.

It was a complete victory.

The problem was, this wasn’t planned.

“You’re saying you guys didn’t know about this either?”

Wiping blood from her face, Sheila showed an annoyed look.

“Not at all. I think we woke up at the same time as you. Thankfully, Ms. Rosalia was able to handle the situation, riding around on her horse, and organizing everyone, but…”

“You’re saying that was Parsley’s doing? Alone?”

I couldn’t believe it and asked again. Displeasure clouded Sheila’s face as she frowned.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Sheila shook her head.

“Of course, I knew she was planning to do it. After all, that was the condition for us handing over Alain’s pocket watch. For her to take care of the fortress.”

*Krik*. Sheila bit her nails.

“But I didn’t know she’d attack at night, on her own. And besides…”

Sheila’s gaze landed on a single spot. Following her gaze, I couldn’t help but sigh.

It was more of a drizzle than rain.

That’s probably why smoke was still rising from the charred remains of the cultists’ fortress. I could even see red flames flickering here and there.

But the Captain was still there, pickaxe in hand, digging through the debris.

“…I didn’t know she’d take the pocket watch herself.”

The Captain held a mana detection tool over the debris. But it wouldn’t detect anything.

This was because the cultist we had captured had already told us.

That a mage in a blue robe had taken the pocket watch. The pocket watch that had been the power source of the moving fortress.

But the Captain didn’t give up.

“Aren’t you going to stop her?”

“Are you?”

“You think she’ll listen?”

“…For once, I feel the same way.”

This was her way of venting.

She’ll probably collapse from exhaustion tonight.

Is it stubbornness, or persistence?

I rubbed my face.

And then, feeling my heart sink even further, I opened my mouth.

“So what about searching for Parsley?”

Sheila shook her head.

“Not a clue. It seems like she teleported out as soon as she got the watch… You know how it is. It’s practically impossible to find a mage if they’re deliberately trying to hide.”

Then she added, fiddling with the hilt of her sword,

“And we don’t even have a reason to search for her anymore. We have to go back. You and I both.”

Her words weighed heavily on my chest.

After the battle, Parsley vanished. Completely. She didn’t leave any letters, messages, nothing.

Because of that, my questions, which I had been suppressing, started running wild.

I looked up. Looking at the grey sky that met the green prairie at the horizon, I couldn’t help but poured out my questions.

*Why?*

*Just why did you do that, Parsley?*

But there was no one to answer those questions.

In the end, I had no choice but to force myself to swallow those questions.

***

In the end, I returned to Essier, our base, without finding Parsley.

Of course, even after I was back, I continued to try and search for her.

I spent money to hire people and collected rumors through Irene. It wasn’t that hard.

It’s something I’d been doing since we parted ways with the hero party.

But just like Amy, Parsley was nowhere to be found.

As if she’d evaporated from the world.

…In the end, all I could do was swallow the questions that surfaced every night. And put out requests to adventurers to search for Amy and Parsley, even though I knew it would be futile.

I felt powerless.

But thankfully, powerlessness is a familiar emotion to me.

It was like that when I’d lost both my hands,

it was like that when I’d lost both my eyes,

and it was like that when I’d lost my voice and ability to use magic.

It was even like that when I lost my legs and my heart… ah, to fucking hell with it.

Anyway, I was used to looking away from problems I couldn’t solve.

The more my questions and sense of powerlessness grew, the more I focused on the mercenary group.

Spring came and went.

And then summer arrived,

The season of vibrant colors.

***

Irene stared at the mountain of documents, dumbfounded.

“Oppa, seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“You want me…”

She pointed to the documents and crossed her arms.

“…To finish all of this… ‘today’?”

“You’ve done a great job so far. And besides, I’ll help too.”

I took a small stack from the mountain of documents and placed them in front of me. It was about three percent of the total.

“Maybe about this much?”

At that moment, I won’t even try to describe the look on her face. Let’s just say…

Irene then collapsed onto the floor and declared,

“I quit.”

I could hear our men chuckling. But Irene, without even flinching, added,

“Wahhh, I’m baby Irene. I don’t know how to do paperwork. Wahhh.”

One thing I’d learned after Irene joined the mercenary group was…

…That she was a woman with drastically different public and private sides.

She lay there, sprawled out, as if she had no intention of getting up. Remembering her calm, composed demeanor when we had first met, I sighed.

Then, squatting down, I poked her cheek and asked.

“What do you want?”

“Are you asking because you really don’t know?!”

Irene suddenly sat up, furrowing her brow as she raised her voice.

“It’s been six months! Six whole months! I’ve been stuck in this building for six months, going through documents!”

“Well, we hired you as an accountant…”

“Even so, having me go through documents every single day for six months? It’s just wrong!”

…Hearing her say that, I could finally realize just how murderous my workload was before she joined us.

And that was precisely why I couldn’t let her go even more.

I had already had enough of paperwork after four years.

“That’s why you’re getting paid a lot. And I returned that return stone, too.”

Irene flinched and looked at her wrist.

A leather bracelet with the return stone embedded in its center.

Her face darkened.

“What good is it when that stubborn old fart refuses to accept it? Especially since he’s the one who told me to bring it back… that rotten bastard.”

Right,

Irene’s dream of being a high-ranking official was crushed.

The high-ranking official who’d fired her for losing the return stone… fired her again, even *after* she’d brought it back.

She had become like a dog chasing a chicken and then giving up, and I, who had planned on using her as an office slave from the beginning, offered her a position in the mercenary group.

And after much deliberation, Irene had accepted, and she’d been working diligently.

“Anyway, I don’t care. I’m not doing it. Wahh, I’m baby Irene. Oppa, do it for me. Wahhh.”

…That is, at least, until recently.

Sighing, I said,

“You know I have a lot of other things to do besides paperwork. And it’s not like I don’t help you…”

“Wahhh, Baby Irene doesn’t know anything like that.”

*Crack-*

I could hear the sound of my patience breaking. And my patience wasn’t very strong to begin with.

“Oweeek-”

When I came to my senses, I was already pulling both of Irene’s cheeks.

“Can you stop that? I’m paying you three times more than everyone else. Hmm? Hmm?”

“Oomp- Owe- Umph-”

“And for a grown woman, to act like this in front of everyone…!”

It was at that moment the door opened and Feya appeared.

She was lightly dressed, wiping sweat off her forehead with a towel. She spoke without even looking at me,

“Big bro, I’m back from patrol. Nothing really hap… Huh?”

And then, at the same time, Irene swatted my hands away and ran to Feya, hiding behind her, a pitiful look on her face.

“Feya, *Unnie*, Rem *Oppa* is bullying me again…”

A strange expression appeared on Feya’s face.

She let out a sigh and ran her hand through her hair.

“Big bro, didn’t I tell you to stop dumping Irene so much work?”

The second thing I learned after Irene joined the mercenary group was…

…That she had supernatural social skills.

After officially joining, she blended in perfectly.

She’d become especially close with Feya, which was truly impressive, considering Feya’s personality.

Feya, in general, was only interested in the Captain and me. In fact, her relationship with the Captain wasn’t even that good.

Practically speaking, I was the only one she treated with genuine affection.

…Even I took about four months to get close to her…

Feeling a little uncomfortable, I scratched my head.

“I’m not ‘dumping’ her work, it’s just…”

“No, *Unnie*, he really is giving me too much work. Look at all those papers, and he just took a tiny stack and then told me to do the rest! Seriously, it’s just so heartbreaking and unfair…”

The third thing I learned after Irene joined was that…

…She was a bit more annoying than I had thought.

I felt my fists clench.

It was at that moment.

“Brother!”

Big-nosed guy, bursting through the door, rushed toward me. He spoke, his face pale,

“There’s… someone here… Someone…”

He trailed off.

He didn’t need to say more.

Because that ‘someone’ was standing right behind him.

Hair like moonlight,

Eyes that shined like rubies,

And skin as translucent as glass.

Gently pushing Big-nosed guy aside, she stepped into the building. She gave me a shy smile, her eyes fixed on my stunned face.

“I came to see you, Rem. Because I missed you.”

Clara,

the saint of the Church and the Pope, had come to visit our mercenary guild.