Chapter 4.9 (1/2)

Chapter 4. And so their story begins. (9)

4.5 Their Story

[3] Harnel Rel Cia: If you think you can run, just try it.

“Ah…”

He left.

That was the only thing I could think of when I came back to my senses.

I had never thought of failing from the start. Teacher was the most talented and detailed person I knew about, but apart from that, he was weaker than the average person.

That was… what teacher was like.

Because he was better than no one, he had to be better than everyone,

And because he was better than no one, he had to think more than anyone.

Because of that, he always strove to make the best situation for himself at all times.

But I thought that as long as I could dig into his weaknesses, I would be able to render him powerless.

Because of that, I did not think that I would lose.

“…You’re always above me.”

Who would’ve thought? Who would’ve thought that the tool of pain would’ve transformed into an armor? Who would’ve thought that that armor would be able to use magic?

With that, I understood. Teacher was never thinking of the “best situation” for himself in the first place. No, he had been always thinking of the worst situation. He was always thinking of a battlefield where he could never win nor survive.

And he thought of methods to survive in such a place.

Did the teacher know that his escape path was discovered from the start? No, he probably expected something like this to happen.

Did the teacher never think about fighting long-ranged attackers? No. Since they were his greatest weakness, he probably thought about them the most.

That was who he was. He was someone who was always one step ahead, someone who always went for your weaknesses.

“…The damage?”

“…Those who were struck are still unable to move, and the rest are casualties from our own troops. Two are heavily injured, and twenty are paralyzed from our arrows… By the way, what in the world was that?”

“…The unknown.”

“What?”

“It is the unknown. It is something we cannot comprehend.”

“…The unknown, is it.”

“Yes.”

I could not understand it from the start. I could not take it from the start.

After all, teacher was the person who taught me, who thought I could take anything in this world, that something known as the unknown existed.

“Those who can move will take the injured with them. Those who have fainted… Just beat them till they wake up. They won’t die from just a single hit from that thing.”

“…I think death would be a better option.”

“I got beat for an hour because of that thing.”

“…He beat an unconscious woman…?”

“Nope. When you get hit by that thing, you come back to life. Fainting? That would be a heavenly blessing. Honestly, that thing isn’t too painful. Just a little bit more painful than the wooden bat?”

Everyone looked at me with a sick face, but they didn’t know. After all, I didn’t know before I experienced it myself.

“What’s the wooden bat…?”

“…The unknown.”

“That’s the unknown as well…?”