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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I thought about contacting Miragen again, but decided against it as it seemed like I would be fighting again soon.
Even though I had just dealt with the tribal warriors, they would probably gather again and challenge me to a fight if some time passed.
I had fought them as an example earlier, but if their numbers increased further, it would become troublesome for me.
I needed to respond calmly.
My purpose now was not to fight, but to save Miragen.
Saving her and safely escaping to join up with Adele would be the best course of action.
I checked my physical condition, but there wasn’t anything particularly bad.
My stamina was depleted, but there would be no problem facing a few more opponents.
Temuzin… well, I had fought him before, and it was manageable.
In the first place, the reason Temuzin was tricky was because he would run away here and there using the wolf’s mobility.
The place where the princess was staying was indoors, so even if I faced him, it would obviously be inside.
There was nothing to fear.
“Phew.”
Being accustomed to pain was helpful in many ways.
I wasn’t sure if it was thanks to Yuria or being stabbed so much all over my body, but these wounds weren’t particularly painful.
I roughly stopped the bleeding and walked slowly.
Even as I exhaled breaths with white mist from the cold weather, my gaze was searching for a passage to enter this building.
In fact, the distance from the building was quite far.
I had deliberately circled around after fighting the tribes once, so they wouldn’t have noticed that I had come here.
Still, I needed to be careful.
Looking around, I could only see snow-covered rocks.
Rocks much larger than humans were piled up, surrounding this area like a mountain range.
This was the reason it was called rough terrain.
If one were to enter such a place, a single person would barely be able to move.
After searching the surroundings for a moment, I discovered a rock in a strange location.
That rock alone had shallow snow, and when I brushed it aside, a small hole leading inside appeared.
If it was like this, it would be easy to find.
When I covered the rock again, snow magically reappeared as if concealing it.
Perhaps an illusion spell had been applied to it.
Indeed, it would be difficult to examine each and every rock in this snowy field.
If someone hadn’t told me, it would have been impossible to even think of finding this area.
After scanning my surroundings for a moment, I pushed my body into the hole like that.
“…It’s not as narrow as I thought.”
What was inside the hole could simply be called a building.
As it was a building directly built by the princess, it was quite luxurious, comparable to having slightly better facilities than a typical research facility.
The magic stones embedded here and there lit up the interior like lanterns.
As I went straight down the corridor, I noticed stairs leading downward.
The place where Miragen was hiding was down there.
I spread out mana to detect any possible presence, but there was nothing distinct.
They were probably all dead.
I felt sorry for those who had sacrificed themselves to protect the princess alone, but there was no need to waste time thinking about such things in this situation.
Their sacrifice would be completed by me saving Miragen.
I started walking with slightly hastened steps.
As soon as I went down, I felt the presence of countless overlapping barriers.
It might take some time to break through.
Since there had been no battles along the way, I took out the artifact again and called Miragen.
“Can you hear me?”
– Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?
I felt slightly pricked by the question of whether I was hurt, but soon answered in a calm voice.
There was no need to worry her in advance when we would see each other soon anyway.
“More importantly, I’m in front of the barrier now. If I try to break through it, I think it will take quite a lot of time, so is there a way to operate it from your side?”
– Ah, the… barrier. Wait a moment, I know how to dispel it.
Even while waiting, Miragen kept asking about me.
Am I injured, how many people did I fight?
When I said I fought around thirty people, she was startled and persistently asked how much I was injured.
She could just dispel the barrier and see for herself.
Sighing softly, I spoke in a slightly hesitant manner.
“I think I’m slightly injured.”
– You think you’re slightly injured? How bad is the injury? Were you shot by arrows?
“I was hit a few times, but I think it’s fine-”
– What do you mean it’s fine if you were hit a few times-!
Hearing her shouting through the artifact, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Was she like this before?
It was because my relationship with Miragen wasn’t limited to a single round.
How many times had we met… and in several instances, there had even been talk of marriage.
Although it had never proceeded that way.
Come to think of it, I had been involved in various relationships with everyone except the Saint.
Even with Adele… strictly speaking, it wasn’t an ordinary relationship.
However, I didn’t want to form any ties with anyone in this life.
Even if the other person got hurt, I thought it would be better to reject them coldly.
So the more I felt Miragen’s familiar appearance, the darker my expression became.
I could hear her grumbling and dispelling the barrier now.
As the barriers disappeared one by one and I completely erased them with my hand, the door inside suddenly swung open.
“How badly are you injured- Oh my.”
In fact, I hadn’t expected her to come out so quickly, so I ended up showing her my blood-stained appearance as it was.
My cloak would be a mess if I took it off midway.
Miragen, who had been blankly staring at me for a moment, then approached me with a dismayed expression.
“Are you crazy, are you out of your mind? Really.”
“…I tried not to get hurt.”
“This, now… it doesn’t look like someone who tried not to get hurt. Am I stupid? Does a person who bled this much look uninjured to you?”
“Not all of this blood is mine. You could say just a very small amount of it is.”
Miragen glared at me as if frustrated, then examined my wounds while tapping her chest.
When she counted them one by one like that, there were quite a lot.
There was no way to win against thirty people without a single wound, right?
Around the time I felt a bit disappointed in myself, Miragen, who had uncannily raised her head, poked my chest with her finger.
“Don’t make a disappointed expression. I even gave you an order not to get hurt, so what were you going to do if you came back wounded like this? Do I seem like such an easy person to you?”
“Yes, you’re easy.”
“No… Uh. Then what am I supposed to say to that?”
When I laughed slightly at that reaction, Miragen shook her head with a sullen expression.
If I were to pick the person I felt most comfortable with in this life, I think it would be Miragen.
In fact, wouldn’t it be the same across all the rounds?
I don’t know if this relationship will continue in the future, but that’s how it is right now.
“Even if I want to treat your wounds, I can’t treat them now. Is that okay?”
“If it wasn’t okay, I wouldn’t have been able to come here. I stopped the bleeding with mana, so there will be no problem even if I fight a few more times.”
Miragen looked at me with a gaze of suspicion, then nodded as if there was no choice.
Actually, there was no problem staying here for a while.
We could wait until Adele arrived, and when Adele reached here, we could join up with her then.
The problem was that our opponent was Temuzin.
If it was Temuzin, he might come up with the idea of blowing up this entire place, right?
“I’ll go out through the passage I came in from. But, is there no other place besides that?”
“Of course there is. But you’re saying there’s a possibility they discovered it too, right?”
“…Just in case, it would be good to consider the possibility of going that way. In the first place, didn’t you not expect the tribes to come all the way to the northwest?”
“But what happened to the other soldiers?”
When I didn’t answer that question, Miragen, who had understood the meaning to some extent, smiled bitterly.
As Miragen had said several times that she sometimes disliked her position as a princess, she probably wouldn’t like this situation either.
However, she had to live.
For the sacrifices of others to truly become sacrifices, she had to escape safely from here.
“Wait a moment.”
Miragen, who had stopped me from going forward, then put something on my chest and patted my back.
When I asked what it was, she turned forward and opened her mouth.
“It’s an artifact I brought in secret. It has the function to temporarily conceal the body. Wouldn’t it be better for Lord Taylor, who will be fighting, to use it rather than me?”
An artifact that conceals the body, I wonder how it should be used during a fight.
If we consider unforeseen situations, it would be better for Miragen to have it.
However, her expression was so serious that I couldn’t refute it and could only express my gratitude.
As we walked along the corridor for a while, I noticed the blood trail I had left while walking.
Even though I had dragged my feet to erase it just in case, Miragen frowned when she discovered it at some point.
I couldn’t help but bleed when I was bleeding, right?
I don’t think it’s my fault.
If we must assign blame, it would be the fault of the tribesmen who shot arrows at me.
Miragen didn’t say anything while walking.
She only occasionally furrowed her brows while glancing in the direction the soldiers had fought, as if she was concerned about the people who had died to protect her.
There was no point in saying anything in this situation.
It was better to just give her time to think on her own.
In the meantime, what I was doing was spreading out mana to examine the presence around us.
Since the tribes might discover the passage, it would be right to attack them first before they noticed us.
Not in a hurry, but slowly we moved.
A strange atmosphere flowed as we walked together through the quiet corridor.
Was there something she wanted to say?
I shrugged my shoulders at Miragen, who was staring at me intently.
“Do you have something to say?”
“…No, well. It’s just something I’ve been curious about.”
Miragen hesitated for a moment, then glanced at me and continued.
“Why did you come to save me? We barely know each other. There was no need for you to come alone, and it wouldn’t have been strange for you to come together with the Grand Duchess. Wasn’t there no need for you to come alone?”
“There was a need for that.”
“What did you just say-”
However, Miragen’s words didn’t continue.
As my expression hardened upon suddenly feeling a presence, Miragen covered her mouth and held her breath.
Until just now, there was nothing, but a group had entered this building.
Not just one or two, but several.
Their purpose in heading this way must be to capture Miragen.
“…It seems the tribes have infiltrated. It looks like the defense line has been breached.”
Miragen didn’t answer.
She just nodded her head, as if waiting for what I would say.
The direction the tribes had infiltrated was coincidentally close to the passage we were trying to head towards.
Then it meant we couldn’t go that way.
Fighting while protecting Miragen at the same time would be nearly impossible.
We had to find another direction.
However, the problem was that I couldn’t go with Miragen now.
The large and powerful presence I felt must be Temuzin’s.
No matter how much I thought about it, our probability of escaping together was low.
“We have to go in a different direction.”
“Then we should change directions. Why are you standing there?”
Miragen grabbed my wrist, but I politely released her hand and replied.
“I can’t go. I have to stop them here for Your Highness to escape.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re saying right now. You’re not thinking of stopping the tribes alone, are you? In your current state?”
I didn’t answer and just nodded my head.
Miragen put on a deliberately angry expression.
She said it was absurd not to go together and tried to go with me somehow.
However, that was impossible.
Even if we went together, the tribes would surely block the way and surround this place.
Even for me, it would be impossible to break through that while protecting Miragen.
“It’s the only way. Don’t you have to live?”
“What about you? Are you thinking of just …dying here?”
“I won’t die. I’m confident I won’t die, and in the first place, I can fight the tribal chief.”
It was half a bluff, but Miragen stared at me intently, hesitating.
I thought the situation was the opposite of before.
Miragen had opposed going together and died after going alone.
Perhaps if I stopped the tribes here, Miragen would be able to escape safely.
Temuzin alone wouldn’t be able to handle me, so he would definitely gather his subordinates here.
I gently grasped Miragen’s hand as she stared at me intently.
It was an act to reassure her and at the same time to hand her the artifact.
“You can use it when you’re in danger. If you escape, go north and join up with the Grand Duchess. I’ll take care of the tribes and come out on my own.”
“……Ha.”
Miragen stared at me as if dumbfounded.
Her eyes quickly turned red.
Wouldn’t it be a bit strange to stare at me like that?
It’s not like I’m going to die.
It wouldn’t be that difficult to kill the tribes.
I might get slightly injured.
But I won’t die.
Tap tap.
I tapped Miragen’s shoulder to signal her.
There was no more time to delay.
If I drew attention, Miragen had to run in the opposite direction, and I had to stop Temuzin here.
Miragen must have known that too, as she turned her back without saying anything.
She looked like she had a lot to say, as she hesitated.
However, Miragen didn’t say anything more.
She ran forward like that and disappeared from my sight.
Only after confirming that Miragen had disappeared could I sigh and mutter.
“I don’t think I’ll die.”
There was a sense you got when it was time for you to die.
I didn’t feel that, and in the worst case, I had hidden measures.
I’ve lived a hundred times, so how could I die here?
…And this was why I had picked up the sword.
If a situation like the last day of the thirty-fifth regression came.
To finally be able to protect, to not regret.
That’s why I had picked up the sword.
I deliberately drew out my mana to the maximum.
As the blue mana emitted light, I felt Temuzin’s presence heading this way, realizing I was here.
There was something I had thought about when I picked up the sword.
The reason I had picked up the sword and the goal I would reach in the future.
My reason was to overcome my own weakness, even if I had to use force.
In order not to lose the one I cherished before my eyes, in order not to easily succumb under the excuse of powerlessness.
That was my goal.
Sling-
There were a few things I had done for someone.
Memories that remained vivid even now, that came to mind intensely when I reminisced sometimes.
However, one thing was certain: the reason I had picked up the sword.
Miragen.
The life in which I had picked up the sword was a life for you.
Recalling the Miragen of the thirty-fifth regression, the Robert of the hundredth regression grasped his sword.
There was a life I had lived for you.
At least that much was an undeniable fact.
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