A War Hero With No Regrets – Chapter 73

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Colonel Arwen Orka sat quietly in her office.

And as always, without fail, she began to scribble in a small diary.

It was a diary that recorded her daily schedule, the situation on the front lines, and news from the outside.

As Luthers Edan, who oversaw the Graveyard Fortress, was a very busy person, it was entirely Arwen’s job as the deputy commander to grasp and record the front lines.

That way, her beloved fiancé, the man who always rushed into the flames of war without regard for his own well-being to save humanity, could sleep an extra hour.

That was all there was to it.

“Uwaaaaah…”

Arwen let out a groan as she stretched.

Just then, Lea Gilliard entered her office.

“Sis, are you busy?”

Arwen had become close with Lea since the third cycle.

Lea looked up to her like an older sister, and Arwen, who had been taking care of younger siblings since she was little, couldn’t help but become close to her.

In terms of rank alone, Lea was just a second lieutenant commissioned as a local officer.

However, there was a reason why she was able to be so friendly with the deputy commander colonel, who was practically the second-in-command of the Graveyard Fortress.

The fact that Arwen willingly allowed Luthers to embrace Lea also had an undeniable influence.

He was such an outstanding man that even if Lea, whom she considered a younger sister, had feelings for him, Arwen wouldn’t burn with jealousy.

However, Charlotte Evergreen was an exception.

Just thinking about the time they had grabbed each other’s hair and fought made the blood vessels on Arwen’s forehead throb again.

She shook her head to scatter the memory and smiled brightly at Lea.

“No, I’m not busy. I was just doing some stretching.”

“Yeah, you need to take care of yourself too, sis. You’ll get sick if you only take care of Commander Luthers, you know?”

“You’re the only one who says that to me, Lea.”

Arwen patted the butt of her younger sister who had come close to her at some point.

But oh my, this girl?

“You’ve been working out hard these days, and it seems like your hips have gotten a bit bigger?”

“Gasp…! Really?!”

“Yeah, you can keep working hard from now on. That guy pretends he doesn’t like it, but he actually does.”

“Hehe, it was worth dragging him to do lower body exercises even when he was tired. Lieutenant Colonel Drake has been helping me out continuously….”

“Of course it’s Drake when it comes to exercise.”

Arwen let out a chuckle and tapped on the black screen of the tablet.

The screen flickered and lit up.

Soon, the letters Arwen had written filled the entire screen.

“Sis, you’re really amazing…”

Lea uttered with admiration as she looked at the densely filled letters.

In fact, it wasn’t even finished yet.

“I have to help.”

Arwen just smiled faintly and added.

It was already the eighth cycle.

Arwen could still vividly recall the moment when she died in the first cycle and awakened to those memories in the second cycle.

The feeling of memories being forcibly shoved into her head.

Including this cycle, she had undergone memory recovery a whopping seven times.

In other words, it meant she had experienced that terrible experience seven times.

Moreover, no matter how much Akasha and Luthers initially censored it, the emotions and thoughts felt at that time were delivered intact, so she would groan in pain for days after memory recovery.

But she couldn’t stop.

If it was this difficult for her, who was merely reviving memories, how much pain would Luthers, who had witnessed all those scenes with his own eyes, endure?

Every time she recovered her memories, she recalled the face of her lover who looked at her with a worried expression.

Seven times.

Even though it could be considered many cycles, Luthers always had the same expression.

No, rather, as the cycles repeated, his expression was getting worse and worse.

Even if he possessed the regression ability, which anyone could see was clearly given by God to save the world, Luthers was human.

As his experience grew, his thoughts became seasoned, and his movements became quicker, his soul was being worn out faster.

Of course, Arwen wasn’t the only one who had such thoughts.

Lea right next to her, the rude Charlotte, the muscle-brained Drake, and the taciturn Durand were all doing their best to help Luthers in their respective positions.

It was just that Arwen’s sense of obligation as the deputy commander and Luthers’ only ally and co-regressor until the third cycle was felt a little more strongly than others.

These logs were also part of such activities.

Unlike Akasha, which could only provide fragmentary memories to prevent memory contamination or mental breakdown, if she backed up the logs she wrote in Akasha, it was clear that Luthers would be able to prepare better even if the world turned once more.

Regressors didn’t have 48 hours in a day.

Within the same given stamina and time, there were only numerous tasks to be accomplished, so these details were the most valuable thing Arwen could do for Luthers.

In short, it was her way of supporting him.

It was natural to cherish it more than anything else, a right that Lea, whom she cherished, and Charlotte, who always interfered with her relationship with Luthers, could never have.

“But take a break while doing it….”

“Should I? But I’ve already written quite a bit, so I should finish it when the commander comes in a bit.”

“Well, I’d be happier if you played with me, sis.”

“Of course, Lea.”

Arwen got up from her seat after pressing the power button on the tablet to put it in sleep mode.

However, the completion of the August 21st tablet, which had been put off for a while, never happened.

On that day, the Graveyard was annihilated by Titans who had infiltrated through tunnels from the rear radar node.

Only the interrupted record was saved in Akasha.

It was the eighth regression.

And the ninth cycle began.

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“Gasp!!”

Arwen’s eyes snapped open.

Her pupils were fully dilated.

‘1000-yard stare’.

It was a typical PTSD symptom and a phenomenon caused by a sudden release of adrenaline.

It was natural, as the very end of memory recovery always ended with their deaths.

Their consciousness was still in the middle of the battlefield.

Her breathing was rough, and her eyes darted around like a madman, surveying the surroundings.

“Gasp, huff… huff…!!”

Soon, the first thing that came in was a gray landscape.

Next was the grand mechanical sound of the quantum computer Akasha piercing through her eardrums.

The red glowing lights caught her eyes.

“Arwen, are you okay?!”

And the warm embrace of Luthers, who hugged her tightly.

Only then did Arwen realize that she had returned to reality.

“Ah… Luthers!!”

She buried herself in the arms of her lover, who was holding her neck, with a sobbing voice.

“I’m sorry… I failed again in the last cycle….”

“No, Arwen. It’s not your fault.”

“I should have moved as soon as I heard the intelligence about the radar base….”

Luthers gently patted the back of Arwen, who was rambling, with his large hand.

“No, Arwen. Don’t blame yourself. Thanks to you, we gained a lot of valuable information.”

“Really…?”

“Of course, really. This cycle will surely be much better than the last. I promise. Sincerely.”

The man and woman stayed in each other’s arms like that for a long time.

Until Arwen calmed herself down.

It was a kind of routine they always did every time she recovered her memories.

They always reassured each other and reaffirmed their determination, saying that this cycle would be different.

They freely shared feedback with comrades who had regained their memories, researched better strategies and tactics, and applied them.

Until then, everyone in the Graveyard was burning with enthusiasm, expressing their bold ambition to surely achieve victory this time.

But the end was always not much different.

Arwen, who had risen to the rank of major general instead of colonel this time, was acidified by an attack from a flying Titan while inspecting the front lines by helicopter.

A self-destructing Titan broke through the anti-aircraft defense network of the anti-aircraft guns deployed forward to expand the front lines and cut the helicopter in half.

It was the ninth regression.

And the tenth cycle began.

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“Gasp!!”

Arwen’s eyes snapped open.

Her pupils were fully dilated.

This time, as always, Luthers hugged her and calmed her down.

“We need more anti-aircraft guns. And frontline inspections should always be done by ground vehicles unless it’s an emergency….”

This time, as always, they discussed countermeasures, but the end still did not change.

This time, it was an assassination.

It was because of other troops who held a grudge against the Graveyard for overloading supply demands and concentrating them on the Graveyard.

Bang!

Arwen, who had visited another unit for cooperation, was suddenly shot in the head, and her head was tilted back.

It was the tenth regression.

And the eleventh cycle began.

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Arwen Orka opened her eyes.

…
……
…

This time, it was an explosion.

While deploying explosives in advance due to a large-scale offensive being observed, a Titan that happened to attack the long supply line caused an ammunition truck to explode, leading to a chain explosion.

Arwen’s consciousness was cut off with the last of the consecutive explosions.

It was the eleventh regression.

And the twelfth cycle began.

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Arwen opened her eyes.

…
……
…

She took on Luthers’ duty in place of him, who had fled from the battlefield with Lea.

After resisting until the end, she was eaten alive by Titans that had pushed into the second line of defense inside the fortress.

It was the twelfth.

Thirteenth.

Beheaded.

Fourteenth.

Killed by subordinates whose minds were contaminated by ideological infection.

Fifteenth.

Traffic accident.

Sixteenth, seventeenth….

Twentieth, thirtieth.

And until the very last thirty-ninth.

Arwen always experienced death and came to her senses in Luthers’ arms.

But now, as the fortieth had arrived—.

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“Gasp!!”

Arwen’s eyes snapped open.

Her pupils were fully dilated.

‘1000-yard stare’.

It was a typical PTSD symptom and a phenomenon caused by a sudden release of adrenaline.

It was natural, as the very end of memory recovery always ended with their deaths.

Their consciousness was still in the middle of the battlefield.

Her breathing was rough, and her eyes darted around like a madman, surveying the surroundings.

“Gasp, huff… huff…!!”

Soon, the first thing that came in was a gray landscape.

Next was the trivial mechanical sound coming from the computer.

The red glowing lights caught her eyes.

And a frighteningly cold silence and chill.

“Ah….”

Arwen finally realized.

She thought she had squeezed out all her tears and had no more to shed, but tears were still endlessly flowing from her eyes.

“Luthers… Luthers… Please….”

The lover who would wipe away her tears was no longer with her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I… I was wrong…. Please….”

Because she, Arwen Orka, had betrayed the lover who had always steadfastly supported her in any situation of her own will.

Arwen called out his name countless times and soon let out a bitterly cold laugh as if she had gone mad.

“Ha, haha, hahahahaha….”

Truly, even death was a luxurious punishment for a traitor.

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