◈ 337. [STAGE 14] My thoughts (2)
Lucas opened his eyes.
A low, dirty ceiling I had never seen before caught my eye.
“… !”
As I shuddered and raised my upper body, I felt a throbbing pain. Examining his body, he saw bandages clumsily wrapped around his upper body.
“here is… ?”
Lucas muttered bewildered,
“Oh, I’m awake!”
A child’s voice was heard.
I turned around and saw a scruffy boy walking into the room carrying a water bottle and a towel.
“Are you okay, driver? You bled a lot.”
“you… .”
Lucas soon realized the boy’s identity.
It was the boy Lucas had just met when fighting Mason.
Just before delivering the final blow to Mason, he met eyes with the boy looking this way through the semi-basement window.
Because of this action, he was unable to finish Mason and, conversely, Lucas was attacked and knocked out.
But instead, this house and the people living in it were safe.
“I just did first aid. But the driver is really strong! I actually thought he was dead!”
The boy laughed innocently.
Lucas smiled bitterly and squeezed the bloody bandage with his hand.
Mason’s greatsword aimed precisely at Lucas’ heart and cut through it sharply. So Mason left convinced that Lucas was dead.
However, Lucas has the passive skill [Man of Steel].
A miraculous power that blocks lethal damage once per stage.
Thank you for saving my life.
But that’s it.
The sword is shattered, the armor split, and death is avoided, but the damage left on the body remains. Even now, I felt terrible fatigue and pain all over my body.
‘But I have to go.’
Ash is dangerous. We must move before it is too late… … !
“My lord… where are you… … .”
As Lucas, who staggered up, murmured, the boy spoke urgently.
“I saw it.”
“huh?”
“Where is the furry man who fought with the knight going?”
Surprised, Lucas widened his eyes. the boy explained.
“I went to the northern ruins. Even a few days ago, there was a lot of talk among the people in the neighborhood about strange people snooping around there.”
“Northern ruins… .”
Lucas nodded and patted the boy’s head lightly.
“Thank you so much, kid.”
The boy, who was looking up at Lucas, stuttered and asked.
“I know. Did the knight lose because of me? If I hadn’t interfered, the knight would have won, right?”
“… .”
“I’m sorry because of me… .”
Lucas smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“It’s not because of you. I lost because I was weak.”
yes it was weak
Why couldn’t I eat my heart more harshly?
Why couldn’t I properly judge what was more important?
I should have killed Mason. There were plenty of opportunities to kill. At least I should have written a beast painting.
Otherwise, even if this boy was swept away, he should have cut Mason’s life with a sword.
But it didn’t.
I didn’t dare to hate Mason. He wasn’t brazen enough to run over an unrelated boy to his death.
He hesitated, struggled, and failed.
In the end, because of that weak heart, Ash was in danger.
Isn’t this disqualification even as a guard dog… … .
“I am… I’m weak.”
Lucas muttered to himself, and the boy shook his head.
“No, the knight is strong!”
“huh?”
“You lost to protect me, who had never seen your face before, right?”
The boy clenched his small fist tightly.
“So the knight… Strong!”
“I lost, but why are you so strong?”
“You have a strong heart!”
A light of envy shimmered in the boy’s eyes.
“You’re the one who fights to protect people like the knight in the fairy tale!”
Lucas blinked blankly.
to protect people… … .
– Kill monsters and protect people.
Ash’s words, which he had heard so much that they stuck in his ears, suddenly lingered in his mind. Lucas sighed slowly.
“Killing monsters and protecting people… .”
Why is this disgusting word so unfamiliar?
I just followed Ash’s orders.
That cause… … Have you ever truly understood and tried to practice it from the bottom of your heart?
Even though I was closest to Ash, I just didn’t think about it… … Maybe it was just following his orders.
‘I’m a guard dog, is that enough?’
If not enough.
I am… .
what do you want to do
“Knight?”
When the boy questioned, Lucas suddenly came to his senses.
Lucas said to the boy as he hurriedly put on the upper body armor that was lying in the corner of the room.
“Go to the upper branch of Wintersilver immediately and ask for help. Tell them that His Highness the Prince has been kidnapped and that the culprits are in the northern ruins.”
Crossroad’s troops are currently dispatched to the forward base.
If the defensive battle is urgent, even if you ask for help from this side, it will be too late to return.
However, the Winter Silver Merchants are currently preparing troops inside the Crossroads. This is the quickest request for help.
The boy nodded and asked urgently.
“What about the knight?”
“Every minute and every second is urgent, so we have to go straight to the ruined village.”
“but… .”
The boy glanced at Lucas’s smashed longsword.
“You don’t have a weapon?”
Lucas also saw [Carmaiter] rolling on the floor. The beautiful longsword was broken unsightly and only fragments remained.
There are no other weapons in hand right now. However, the waste of copper wire is too extreme to go to the forge.
Lucas clenched his bare fists.
“… You still have to go.”
“excuse me… .”
Then the hesitant boy ran out of the room and brought something.
“Would you like to write this?”
What the boy held out was a wooden sword.
When I accepted it and examined it, it was short and crude in shape, but the hardness was not bad. It was a level that could be received with a fairly modest iron sword.
“That’s because my dream is to be a knight too… .”
The boy chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
“It is a sword that I usually train. I will lend you!”
“… thanks. Don’t use it well.”
It couldn’t compare to the famous swords he had used so far, but it would be better than nothing.
After thanking the boy, Lucas put on his helmet for the last time and left the semi-basement room.
The more intense snow was raging fiercely. The boy shouted at Lucas, who was walking through the snow.
“Knight!”
“… ?”
“Please save the lord!”
The boy grinned at Lucas who turned around.
“Because he’s as cool as a knight!”
Lucas smiled and started moving north again.
“… Please.”
Even at the cost of this life.
After muttering a little, he gathered his mana and kicked off the ground, and Lucas started to run as if he were flying.
Taat!
Watching them move away in an instant, the boy turned around and started running toward the center of the Crossroads—the upper branch of Wintersilver.
***
Mason injected the dream horse hypnotic into my neck and carefully removed the syringe.
I opened my eyes in a daze and looked ahead. I open my mouth small and saliva drips. Ebebe.
“Hypnotic test. Can you hear me, Your Highness?”
“ah… It sounds very good… … .”
“Please tell me your name, age and occupation.”
“ash… Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack… … 23 years old… … I am the lord of Crossroads… … .”
If you’ve been hit by the real dream ingredient, here’s ‘Goduk…’ … 3N years old… … I am a game streamer… … .’ did you mean Just imagining it gives me goosebumps.
“Please get up from your seat.”
I slowly got up from my chair.
“One turn to the left. One lap to the right.”
Round and round.
“Stand high jump. three times.”
fault! fault! fault!
“Finally, fire a 3-second shout in front!”
“Aaaaaah!”
“Well, that’s a success.”
Mason nodded in satisfaction.
I smiled on the outside and shuddered on the inside. Damn you son of a bitch! Do you think this is a Marine Corps camp?! You jockey, you motherfucker!
‘Anyway, thank you Dream Demon Corps! Thank you, Salome!’
Thanks to your offspring for making such a crappy drug, you’re tricking this bastard like this! Thank you very much!
‘I’ll give you a hug next time we meet, Salome.’
After that, I’m going to put on a headlock and go into a joint!
While I was grateful for Salome and the dream demon army, Mason, who sat me back in the chair, asked with a serious face.
“From now on, please answer the questions I ask without lying.”
“of course… no see… one point… … Even lies… … I won’t hit… … .”
My mouth is watering at the thought of cheating with Gura already.
“First of all, how do I enter the Lake Kingdom?”
“A ticket to the Lake Kingdom… Must buy… … 60,000 Adele for adults, 48,000 Adele for children… .”
E ○ Land tickets are so damn expensive.
“Where do I buy that ticket?”
“The red roots of the earth… A place to haggle with each other… … .”
However, you can get it cheaply in our ○ Market.
“… Please explain in a more understandable way.”
“On site, it is possible to purchase a discount at a preferential price… That seems to be it… … .”
“yes? What do you mean?”
“There is a preferential treatment for pregnant women… Seeing that belly fat, it’s cheap to deceive… … .”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. eek. I need to stop teasing before I get caught.
“If you knock secretly at the main gate of the Lake Kingdom… opens right away… … .”
Mason’s eyes lit up at my words.
“A secret knock?”
“If you knock on a specific pattern… It’s like hearing that and opening the door… … .”
I was just talking random things out of my head, but it was funny to see Mason listening seriously.
Mason took out his notebook and even prepared to take notes.
“Which pattern is it?”
“So that… .”
what. What to do with the secret knock pattern.
After hesitating, I knocked on the table next to me, exactly as it came to my mind.
Knock. smart. Knock.
once twice once.
I don’t know why such a simple pattern suddenly popped up, but I did it without realizing it.
Mason nodded slowly.
“hmm… All right. I guess I just had to knock… … .”
Fucking sick bastard. Now go to the lake and knock on the door. While it will take a while, this side will prepare for a counterattack.
I’m calling for joy in my heart like that… … .
“But other than that, I know there is a shortcut in this city.”
Mason slammed his face in front of me and said,
“We have scouting information that guests from the last festival suddenly ‘appeared’ in the vicinity of the manor house.”
“… .”
“Is there a shortcut to the Lake Kingdom within this city? Where exactly are you?”
With the corner of his mouth raised viciously, Mason asked in a bloody tone.
I tried my best to keep my stupid expression, but a cold sweat ran down my back.
this bastard… … .
That’s not normal.
“Why are you hesitating?”
Facing my trembling gaze, Mason flashed his beastly eyes.
“Isn’t it possible that the hypnotic drug didn’t work?”
