volume 1 - Chapter 12 (1/2)

Chapter 12 – The lake

Both factions spent the night in high tension.

Tarkus waited for his plans to attacks to unfold, while Brendel was worried that he was unable to gauge how much time was left. Madara’s army and the eleven youths from Bucce moved through the silent darkness, their destiny closely intertwining while they moved away from each other.

Eventually the sun rose. The first ray of light hit the ground to indicate morning was here, and it seemed to pa.s.s by in a flash. The militia did not encounter even the most common brown bears in this region, and they appeared to be safe from enemies.

Afternoon came.

The militia in front of Brendel parted the obstacles in front of them with a swis.h.i.+ng sound from the vegetation, and he squinted his eyes. The golden sunlight seemed to pierce through the dense vegetation. He followed the voice and looked up from the stretcher he was in, and the surface of the scenery in front of him looked like a mirror, with the reflection of light entering into his eyes.

A lake.

It was like a dazzling emerald that was placed here with the surface s.h.i.+mmering in the midst of trees and mountains.

“Look, it’s a lake!” Little Fenix shouted in a surprise.

Freya rewarded him with a smack to his head, making him cry out in pain.

They were not traveling to relax, and everyone had to be more cautious as they might meet Madara’s army anytime. Even though they were safe the entire night, Brendel had also explained the reason that there was no Strategic Value in this vicinity.

As to what Strategic Value meant, the young girl did not know.

The youth that came from Bruglas seemed to always know more things than everyone else. Even though she was not content with that fact, she had to grudgingly accept it.

She wondered if every other youth in the city was as brilliant as he was.

Under their silent movements, Freya had transited from one extreme end to another. She could not help but feel a little jealous. If she had trained in Bruglas along with the other militia, she might be able to do better than this shameless cad.

The world was unfair!

Except that the truth was there was no ‘Bruglas’s militia training camp. Sophie, no, he should be Brendel now, trained in Dragaz. Sophie did not mention about where Brendel originally trained, as he needed to maintain a facade to gain the youths’ confidence to lead them out of this impossible situation. (TL: From now onwards Sophie will call himself Brendel.)

Freya might be able to do it in the future, but she was unable to do it now.

Brendel looked at her as he contemplated things. The girl with the ponytail was observing the surroundings and she hesitated for a while, before finally relaxing the grip on her sword and exhaled.

“We’ll take a break here.” Freya gave the order after confirming there was no danger.

Everyone relaxed at the same time.

“I almost died!”

“I’m going to bet I won’t do anything but sleep at Fortress Riedon.”

“We can discuss all we want to do when we actually reach there.”

“Shut up Irene!” Their voices could be heard in the forest. Even though they tried to keep their voices low, every sentence was uttered with a rush of delight.

They were just too tired.

A single night was not a long time, but their high tension was something akin to torture. They traveled through the forest under the dim starlight with immense pressure from the life and death situations that might occur anytime. It was so dark that they could not see their own fingers properly, and the only thing that accompanied them was the sounds from flying insects and the occasional owl hoots in the forest.

They moved across endless trees in the darkness with a somber mood on them, and it was as if silent spirits hovered over everyone. The chilly atmosphere made them even more tense.

It was always an unknown mystery what was behind the dense vegetation, and the bedtime stories that depicted the monsters in the mountain did not help at all.

When dawn finally broke and with the cold atmosphere finally disappearing, everyone appeared as if they had been hoisted out of water. Their faces were pale with clammy perspiration on their forehead. Even Brendel was not an exception. In the past he had obviously slept on a comfortable bed, away from wars and lived in a peaceful land, but he was now on a stretcher listening to all sorts of strange and scary noises from his surroundings.

Especially in this darkness where the leaves frequently brushed pa.s.sed his face, and unknown insects crawling on his neck.

Mother Marsha above, once he thought about doing this for the next whole week, he nearly flipped out. He wanted desperately to go back to his former life, even if he did appear cowardly, he wanted to go back to his former peace.

This otaku was always enthusiastic, but his pa.s.sion came and died quickly. But once he saw Freya’s exhaustion and worried demeanor, he stopped and calmed down.

Because he was being relied on.

He realized he needed to throw away the ident.i.ty of Sophie and accept his new life. He touched his own chest and realized the one who died was not Brendel, but Sophie.

It was not him that accepted this world, but this world that accommodated him.

Brendel’s stretcher was placed beside the lake, and he could see colored pebbles not far from him. He checked Jonathon’s status. He miraculously lived from the ordeal, but his condition was not optimistic.

“How is he?” Mackie asked.

“Uncertain.” Brendel shook his head.

Mackie became quiet and stared at the lake and threw pebbles into it.

This river was called the Crystal Lake, and by reaching this place, it meant that they were very close to the Green village. However, the only one that knew where they were going was Brendel. The youth stared in another direction, and saw a few faint signs of grey smoke.

It looks like Kebias had already attacked the village. Its fate was no different from Bucce. The speed at which Madara attacked was incredibly quick, and it did not play out differently from his memories within the game.

Brendel still remembered about this lake and he took a look at the other end. The trees were dense and dark under the high mountains, but he saw familiar shadows lurking nearby.

He remembered that he spent a considerable time in this area hunting brown bears and foxes, and smiled as he recalled the days where he sold the hides in-game to earn money.

He took back his hand that was on Jonathon’s head and spoke to Mackie: “Help me out with something.”

“To do what?”

“Help me take out my bandages.”