Chapter. 11. Wizards of Wizards (3)
****
If Ian was becoming very gaunt and looking like a wreck, Vex was quite the opposite.
Every small movement was sharp, and life was shining in its small, hollow eyes.
You’re not doing this because you have some grudge against me. If you go through a battle of death and death every day, you will naturally become like that. Minimize the blinking of your eyes, and even the movement of your hands when greeting or scratching your body always moves through the handle of the knife. Ready to kill anytime, anywhere.
‘It reminds me of the old days. During the Special Operations Forces days, the guy who attacked me with a knife while searching for the remaining enemy forces had eyes like that.’
It’s so dark that you can’t even hide it. What did he do and how long did he end up like this? It’s just frustrating.
“…Why have I lost so much time? It’s not like I almost died once or twice. It happened often, right? “As always, I came back alive this time too.”
“Ah uh…. Uhhhh….”
Fortunately, it wasn’t completely ruined. If this condition continues any longer, you will not be able to cry or speak. It looks like it’s not the worst yet.
Bex, who cried for a long time, instead of speaking to me, expressed her well-being in another way.
Fidget Fidget
[Target / Death / Fear / Confusion / Hallucination / Negative ally]
“You… are you in really bad condition? “Can’t you speak at all?”
“Uh…. Ah…. Mt. Hepburn rolled down and there was a lump of iron…. Yiike!”
Tuk Tuk
[Difficult Mission / Force Majeure]
A military hand signal often used during operations. Just because he talks like that doesn’t mean he’s stupid. It’s just that he, who was already unstable, was exposed to a device that was supposed to drive people crazy, and seeing me end up like this was such a shock that something completely broke down in me.
It could also be said to be a condition similar to aphasia. There’s definitely something you want to say in your head, but your mouth doesn’t listen. They asked us, ‘Do you want to make your heart beat twice as fast for a moment?’ Just as he doesn’t know what to say, he just can’t control this situation where a strange filter has suddenly formed between his head and tongue.
He must have started using sign language because he was frustrated that people couldn’t understand him. At least, if you are from the military, you will be able to understand basic military hand signals, and if you are from the special forces, you will be able to have detailed conversations like me and Ian.
However, even if communication is possible, it is heartbreaking to see that this person, who until a few days ago was almost completely healed from his emotional wounds and did not stutter or use strange words, has reached a stage where he cannot communicate except through sign language. It was
“Wow… it’s a shitty world. yes?”
Tuk-tuk-tuk.
[Agree / Action Radius / All / Serious Battlefield / No Rest]
“Okay, okay. It’s a world where damned things keep popping up wherever you go. It’s easy to understand, so don’t be so depressed. “Conversing with meaning feels like talking to Hyde, so I’m very used to it.”
Wide open!
Oh my, that’s funny. Someone is feeling sick.
When I asked him what on earth he had been doing since then to be covered in blood, he just grinned. When the inspection department asked him again why he was so upset, he just gave a thumbs up in silence.
“Do it, Hepburn….”
Tuk-tuk!
[Priority goal / Successfully completed / Injured / Veteran / Rest]
“ Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
“I’ve been going through a hard time this year without even having time to catch my breath, but I’m going to take this opportunity to rest well, so you too… don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Kihihi.”
In the end, Bex didn’t say what he had done to come here so late and covered in blood. The guy didn’t stay for long and just laughed and left.
“….me too. If you give off that ‘I’ve got something’ vibe and tell you to take a break, do you think it will go away? “I don’t know that this guy and that guy will protect me even if I die soon.”
I need to find out what that guy is doing. Because it is certain that they are wandering around an area where safety cannot be guaranteed for at least 24 hours. If I were to make a mess like this, it would be quite possible to kill people, but if I end up like this and end up attaching some meaning to murder… that’s the perfect environment for me to go crazy. That guy even uses a sword. The loss of a person’s life is very close to my fingertips.
“…Now that I think about it, if I just leave it there, it’s really going to be a big problem, right?”
It looks like you’ve been through a lot right now, but doesn’t that mean things could get even worse in the future?
“…I guess I’ll have to ask whoever comes in next to call someone who’s good at information. “I need to hear more about what’s happening throughout District 47.”
With that in mind, I used the system to connect to the community. Even if you can’t write, you can read.
So I spent a long, sleepless night reading the laments of countless people.
I wish I could at least change my mood by posting trashy posts like usual.
Most of the posts posted on the community were obituaries called missing person reports.
****
The next morning.
“What what? Want a speed wagon? Mr. Jesu… you mean Dana?”
Ian, who came to see the professor early in the morning because he thought he wouldn’t be able to come see him for a while, couldn’t believe his ears.
“hmm? Did he wake up early? What is Jesu and who is Dana? You know Speed Wagon, he’s in chat room number 47! A talkative guy! You don’t even know what Bex is doing! You should find out! I can assure you that there is no intelligence dealer as reliable and skilled as Speed Wagon. Anyway, we decided to meet in real life while playing the last game, so it won’t be too burdensome, right? The whole town is in an uproar and everyone is flocking to the District 47 dome, so it’s obvious that it must be around here. “I’m sure the intelligence merchant is not isolated because he moves slower than others.”
“…So the thing you look for as soon as you open your eyes is a speed wagon? “Is this the power of love or something?”
As I watched him speak, it seemed like Professor Park’s memories from two months ago had returned and he was not looking for ‘Dana Elisha Hyacinth’ but was just looking for ‘Speed Wagon’, an information dealer he knew.
“…I thought I had remembered that one thing in my brain that had cooled down due to the enormous obsession of a 24-year-old virgin.”
“Have you been drinking? I heard something unintelligible from earlier… Wait a minute. Have I ever met a speed wagon? “It feels like that’s exactly what you’re saying, right?”
In response to the professor’s question, Ian told the professor the story of meeting her by going to the coordinates of the speed wagon that he had received in advance in Area 41, which had been covered with all kinds of rescue signals since he left two months ago.
“Speed Wagon was a woman?”
“okay.”
“Did you seem to be in a good mood with me?”
“hmm. I felt like I was going to rummage around in frustration, but when I looked at it, there was something… something. Wait a moment. It could be a sign that my memories are coming back, so I need to go out and get a doctor. Maybe your time here will be drastically reduced…”
Boom!
“…is it pretty?”
“Does that matter now? “Your condition right now…”
“Then is there anything more important than this? pretty? “Is it pretty?”
The professor’s face turns bright red just imagining it, and before he can answer, he holds on to his clothes as if he will never let go. When Ian saw that, he couldn’t help but forget his serious mood and burst into laughter.
Yeah, he was like this.
“Hehehe. It is said that a man who has been with her for a long time becomes a wizard. You really are like a ghost, finding the person you need to meet. I’ll call you if you’re coming, so you can see it and judge for yourself. “I already put my name on the visiting list, but if I tell the researchers I can change the order, they will do it.”
Ian grinned, looking at the professor with a desperate expression.
“I will talk to you shortly and send it to you, so just wait a moment. I’m going. Stay healthy until next time I see you.”
“At least a table or a chair… Dammit! Can’t it be like Hyde’s ritual space? Is there no avatar function in the play waiting room? “I’m going to go!”
“I’m going!”
“Yeah, uh. good. “I’ll see you next time.”
“After being blindsided by a woman who was rude to me as a friend…”
Ian shook his head, patted the professor on the shoulder, and pressed the logout button. Okay, there’s no need to tell me. Because he was sure that they would meet again, just as that guy was sure that they would meet again next time.
Tiring-!
[Player ‘DOOMgay’ has logged out.]
Push profit – Drurk!
When the connector opened and he went outside, he soon met President Young, who was waiting for him nearby.
“Did you have a good conversation?”
“There is nothing else to do but do well. “Is there any need to worry about this guy who is already so distraught?”
“The situation in the outlying battlefield is more difficult than expected. You know, right? There is no place to meet Professor Park except through the connector connected here. “It’s literally like a battlefield, so we might not be able to meet again for a very long time.”
It will be so. At the border of Areas 45 and 46, there was no time to cool down the melted gun barrels, so they prepared several spare machine guns and fired them, setting the mountain of corpses of mutants on fire to build a new defense line. You won’t be able to return from such a fierce battle often. Maybe forever.
However, Ian erased such thoughts from his mind. Professor Park’s carefree attitude. It was an attitude that enabled him to come out because he completely believed that he would be able to go back outside. Isn’t this Metal Joe supposed to be crying when the person who is probably in the most despair right now is so determined?
Instead of answering, Ian grabbed President Young’s outstretched right hand.
“I’m sorry, but I’m the one who decides who returns from the battlefield.”
“…I feel reassured. Ashfield.”
Ian felt something hard come into his hand from the president’s hand that he was holding. A gold badge with the inspection department’s seal.
“I hope you can show me the skills that terrorized the entire wasteland in its heyday.”
Ian glanced at the badge and placed it on his chest. I wore it next to a large patch with the four letters BDSM that I had gotten tailored at a clothing store not long ago. A stylish design featuring a black hand grasping the four letters of the BDSM alphabet. It was prepared based on the design of something Bex had hand-sewn and hung on the back of his field uniform not long ago.
“Hehehe…. As always, we will see more than we imagined, President.”
When Ian opened the door without hesitation, he saw the number of people in the BDSM caravan waiting in front of him, which had grown to nearly 30 people.
As the professor’s previously sky-high reputation became widely known and the sacrifices he had made this time, elite members were selected from among the clouds of applicants to join.
“Hey vice-captain! “The name is BDSM, so I think they should wear leather jackets instead of patches like this!”
“Yes, that’s right! “It’s black and very shiny!”
“There’s no need for anything, let’s leave quickly! Bex is so anxious to get out that I feel like I’m going to go crazy just watching from the side!
These guys are battle-hardened. I immediately checked the video to see where they were going, and even though some of them were people that the Vex had rescued from the chaos, they were sitting there making jokes even though they knew what a terrible place it was.
After giving orders to his crew, Ian walked towards Bex and Ezel sitting in a corner.
“….how is it? Does it seem more unstable or difficult than yesterday?”
Ian recalled the professor who repeatedly asked Ezel’s question, ‘Are you pretty?’
“under! Professor Park didn’t seem to have any thoughts, let alone worry about that kid. “The only thing on my mind right now is Jesu.”
“I am indeed. It’s the same. “I feel like an idiot for worrying.”
Tuk-tuk
“I uh….”
[Departure delay / Unfavorable battlefield / Recapture of supply route / Rapid operation]
“I understand! I miss you so much. “If I leave now, I won’t be back for a while, so I have to do what I have to do.”
Ian took one last look back at the administration building where the professor was, then turned around and headed out of the city.
“Let’s go, friends. “My friend who became an asshole lives so hard, but we who are fine can’t just hang out, right?”
That day, the 30-member BDSM caravan, including three people, left for Area 46, where the battle with endless mutants was in full swing.
BDSM is a small elite team consisting of a tank, two armed trucks, and three combat vehicles.
“What are you going to catch this time?”
“The guy who ignorantly pushed in from the 74th position, where the defense line had been breached two days ago. “It is called Pangolin or Pangolin.”
Their mission was to support the most unfavorable battlefields and specialize in hunting down the 2.5 and 3 variants that acted as wedges throughout the battlefield.
****
Around this time, the friends were getting into the vehicle heading to the battlefield, strengthening their fighting spirit.
….gulp.
The professor had the same level of fighting spirit, perhaps even more so than them.
Tiring-!
[Player ‘Speed Wagon’ has entered!]
He has arrived. A woman who is a long-time acquaintance of mine, an advisor, an online friend, and with whom I have become a lover without even remembering!
‘This guy Ian said he had a good vibe… so he must be a lover, right? How far has the progress progressed? If you see me like this, you will definitely cry, right? What should I do if a woman cries? Who am I? Where are we? When you first meet, what should you say….’
Hwaaaaaaa!
Even before the start, a small cloud of light appears in front of the panicked professor, and from within it appears… a
slender woman in a wheelchair, smiling softly.
“…It’s been a while…. Isn’t it? professor.”
Cooung.
“Ah…”
Hundreds of thoughts and thoughts that had been floating in my head disappeared in an instant. Watery eyes looking up at him from his wheelchair. Because the deep and sorrowful emotions contained within flowed into him through the eyes he met.
The person I met for the first time. The professor didn’t know how to deal with the feelings that were clearly returned even though they had no memories of sharing them.
Speed Wagon. my friend. For information. And I don’t remember… a lover.
“It’s been a long time… uh… nice to meet you? Dana Elisha Hyacinth… Ms. Speedwagon?”
A strange greeting squeezed out of awkwardness. It was a strange greeting with nothing to say even if she laughed at it right away, but why was she smiling with those eyes?
“I knew you were a resourceful person, but… I didn’t know it would be to this extent. Is that the greeting from back then, when you said that you might leave forever, leaving behind only the emotions in a person’s heart, and then say it for the first time to a subject that you have forgotten all about so that you can’t even hold a grudge? “Aren’t you so… seasoned?”
“Uh… um… are you sorry-”
“That’s not what I want to hear.”
With a trembling voice, she opened her arms to me.
“Come on.”
I approached her.
“eight.”
He bent down and awkwardly hugged her shoulders, who were wearing a white dress. Her arm gently pulled me in, and our shoulders touched.
“Now… tell me you’ve been there.”
A soft voice whispering in my ear. I couldn’t tell if what I was feeling now was what I felt two months ago, or if it was just how I was feeling for her, who was showing such deep emotions even though it was our first time meeting.
“I’m back… Dana.”
But one thing is for sure, whether it’s rekindling old feelings or falling in love at first sight for the second time, I feel fulfilled talking to her.
“….Come on. I miss you.”
As I listened to her quiet voice, I realized. Regardless of old memories, this moment was the moment I needed the most.
My situation is like a ghost. I pretended not to be strong, but I could feel the anxiety that had been building up inside me melting away like snow in her warm body temperature.
The soft, warm warmth felt from the skin touching each other.
Two weak but strong arms holding me and shoulders soaked in overflowing emotions.
A scent reminiscent of longing from her long hair, which resembles a rich wheat field.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
Sometimes you can communicate more through actions than words.
I could finally feel that I was back in her arms.
Even though it looks like this, I am back. Home.
Two months ago, I am deeply grateful to Professor Park for his aesthetic sense.
My lover was the most beautiful woman in the world.
****
