Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Diamant Valley, the westernmost point of Nordglacier’s southern border.
The local town, which was formed more than one hundred years ago as a lodging place for miners excavating the largest ore reserves in the kingdom, developed in such a way that that the bottom of a deep canyon was blocked from east to west.
The town had only two entrances, east and west, and as long as these two gates could be defended, an invasion would be difficult.
However, it seemed that all the ores had been mined out in recent decades. The number of abandoned mineshafts was increasing, and the area was gradually becoming desolate… Yet, with the discovery of a new vein of a certain ore that could nullify magic, for which demand had surged in recent years, had suddenly brought the area back to life once again.
Such a boom only lasted for a few years until goblins suddenly attacked the town’s mines, the key to its industry, and even the town itself.
As a result of repeated attacks by organized goblins, the west gate, which had been gradually accumulating damage over the years, was finally wrecked by an explosive device brought out from somewhere.
Count Roland, who ruled the surrounding area, took the situation very seriously and dispatched troops to the region. The town’s military forces were greatly expanded, and its defenses were well prepared until the repairs were completed.
…Or it was supposed to be.
The west gate, which had been half destroyed in the previous attack, was no longer able to fulfill its role effectively, but the troops dispatched by the Count should be more than enough to defend it.
…Or it was supposed to be.
Unnamed Soldier
Since the arrival of the dispatched soldiers, there had been sporadic attacks, but they had stopped for a few days. While there were whispers that the leader of the goblins had been killed somewhere along the way, there was no denying that the peaceful days had left the people feeling somewhat at ease.
To be honest, I was not very comfortable being stationed in this town. The reason was that the town mayor, who was supposed to be in a position to ask for help… had been very uncooperative so far. He wasn’t the most likable type of person in the first place, and reeked of vulgar nouveau riche. Sometimes, men posing as thugs would even try to make things difficult for us, and he did nothing to stop them.
However, even these days were somewhat peaceful as we waited for materials to arrive and repairs to the outer walls to begin, and then we would be able to return to the capital within another month.
I was one of those people.
The third son of a merchant family, I volunteered to become a soldier as soon as he came of age at 15, thinking that there would be nothing in the family business that I could take over. I did not have any deep purpose or ideal in mind, but only because being a soldier looked kind of cool, and the treatment was generous.
Nevertheless, I completed the training, which was so rigorous that I was disgusted with it, with a moderately excellent grade, and it has been five years since I officially became a regular soldier of the Count Roland’s territory. As of now, I was often looked up to by my juniors as a senior who can be relied on to a certain extent.
I even got a girlfriend. It was nothing extraordinary like in a storybook, she was just an ordinary town girl, not a princess or anything, but I fell in love with her and finally won her approval with sheer perseverance, that’s the most important thing.
She even promised to marry me when I returned from this mission.
But what had I gotten myself into…?
“Ronnie! Anson! Are you still alive?! Answer me!”
I called out the name of my colleagues, with whom I was playing card games just yesterday, but there was no answer. The only voices that could be heard were those of anguish and pleas for help.
“Curses!”
I couldn’t back down any further, I was a soldier who volunteered to protect the town and its people, and now behind me was a town whose residents were trembling and hiding in fear.
However, as if to ridicule such pride, the front line was slowly falling back against those who, with sheer numbers, were rushing to attack in a straight line without regard to their own lives.
Our comrades fell one by one to the onrushing tide of small creatures, screaming in agony and lost sight of their allies who should have been beside them.
Our spirit was being driven into a corner by the screams and decimations coming around us.
Concerns kept popping up, but I couldn’t look back for fear that if I took my eyes off the front, I would be the next one to be swallowed, so I just kept on swinging my spear.
Just what were those creatures? Weren’t they just a bunch of goblins and other small fry monsters…?!
It wasn’t supposed to be such a tough fight. If each of us showed our strength as we had been trained to do on a daily basis, the goblins, each of which was only a small fry, would not have caused much damage, even if we were outnumbered a little. But the difference was…
“Why… WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!”
Normal goblins certainly did not keep on attacking me with their dark, lifeless eyes as if pain didn’t exist to them.
No matter how many of their own fell down in front of them, no matter whether their arms or their legs flew off, they would keep on attacking even if they had to crawl all the way. When a goblin latched onto us, the other goblins would thrust their weapon straight through its allies, paying it no mind whatsoever.
The same was true of the enemy’s covering fire. No matter how crowded the battle was, they just kept raining arrows down on both sides without any regard to friendly fire, and the enemy frontline just kept on advancing.
This was not a tactic that these cowardly little imps can take. No, I wouldn’t even call it a tactic. This was just the work of a berserker who simply rushes to the target at the cost of his own life.
Just what kind of opponents we were dealing with…?!
They were less living creatures and more of undead hellspawns at this point!!
The fear that spread quickly and easily disintegrated our battle lines, leading to an avalanche of chaos.
“Dammit! Dammitdammitdamnitall!! Ack?!”
Now it’s my turn to fall.
A flurry of arrows struck me in the shoulder, and I fell with a jerk from the impact. A few moments of writhing in agony from the intense pain in my shoulder. When I looked up, I was already surrounded by a small herd of goblins.
“Eek?! N-no, s-stop… RAAAAAH!!”
In a panic, I thrust out my spear and felt it pierce something like a hard shell in my hand, but this time it was entangled in the flesh and bone, and I could not pull it out…
The next moment, hot, sharp pain coming from multiple places pierced through my entire body as if a bunch of burning tongs had been plunged into me.
“Ah…”
My body shut down from the pain.
With each moan and spasm, hot liquid rushed up from the back of my throat, making breathing difficult.
It was supposed to be an easy job.
My girlfriend was still waiting for me.
I still had to introduce her to my parents.
My brother wrote to me in his letter that his wife just gave birth.
There’s still so much I want to do, I can’t die in a place like this…!
The weapons were then pulled from my body, and a horrific amount of viscous liquid flowed out of it. I was lucky to still be conscious… no, that was the worst luck ever. Every second, I felt my death coming closer.
No, I still have so much to do, I can’t die, I can’t die, I can’t…
However, even though I was barely conscious because my head was intact, I understood that I could no longer survive. If I had to live only to be made to feel such things, I would have preferred to end my life in an instant, without any consciousness left, and without being tormented by pain and regret.
Resignation robbed my world of color, sound, and all five senses. And yet, I felt cold, as if my whole body was frozen.
What a cruel fate. Just yesterday it was supposed to be smooth sailing, but how did it come to this?
O Goddess from above, did this poor soul do anything to offend you?
Resenting the Goddess for my cruel fate, I gave up on everything and closed my eyes when a machete was aimed at my head.
Finally, some mercy. Now I would suffer no more.
Just before my vision completely closed, I thought I saw something flaming red twinkling at the edge of my darkening field of vision.
……
………..
……………
……………….
……………….The killing blow didn’t happen.
“Hey, are you still alive?”
A voice I didn’t recognize.
I pried open my heavy eyelids, which were tempting me to close them, and saw the back of a young man with fiery red hair tied back in a messy bun and a large sword in a swinging stance. Behind him were countless small bodies that seemed to have had their heads or torsos chopped off and were spewing some kind of liquid from their severed surfaces.
Is this a dream?
Or perhaps this person is a messenger the God of War Ares-sama sent to pick up my soul after my death?
As I was thinking about the dignified back of the young man, who looked as if he were the protagonist of some heroic tale, I heard a small sound of glass breaking with a crack.
The young man roughly broke the mouth of a vial and came pouring its contents on me… a potion? Like it would do me any good.
As I was thinking about this with a sense of resignation, he grabbed me by the collar and pulled my upper body up.
“Don’t give up just yet. As long as you stay alive, you’ll be saved… Look, she’s coming.”
Save me?
How?
With these injuries, there was no way to save me unless one of those “Saintess” who were protected by the Church passed by so conveniently.
But the way he talked to me, at such a close distance that I could almost touch his forehead, his eyes were full of conviction, and there was enough power in them to tilt the scales slightly from despair to hope. Sound and color returned to the world.
There was the sound of arrows cutting through the wind.
But they suddenly stopped in midair and fell from a high place, as if hitting an invisible wall.
The red-haired young man, who had already taken his hand away from me and disappeared before my eyes, also splattered blood and flames around him one after another with blinding speed.
Behind him, a crowd of goblins, which had been swarming and hanging on to the narrow outer gate, was swallowed and obliterated by the red flame and dazzling purple lightning that rushed in a straight line. The situation had turned around so quickly in just this few blinks of time that I couldn’t believe my own eyes.
Then I saw “that”.
A young man in knight’s armor with an androgynous beauty, fluttering his pure white feathers as he flew over the outer wall and descended with the setting sun in the background.
And… another person was being held in his arms with great care.
Even in the backlight, a beautiful girl with silver, iridescent hair wearing an azure robe was praying, a dazzling warm light surrounding her form.
“Gyss”
At first, I did not recognize that as a voice. It sounded as clear as if it were a musical instrument made with the utmost care by the finest craftsmen. Whenever her dainty little mouth made a sound, a warm, intricate, gigantic formation of light would form around her.
“Afzelia”
The tremendously huge, complex, three-dimensional formation of lights that filled my field of vision convinced me, for no reason at all, that somehow we would be able to return home. We were saved.
“Dilete”
The surroundings were enveloped in a dazzling light. But even though it was dazzling, it didn’t hurt my eyes. The light was like a gentle embrace.
My whole body was enveloped in warmth, and the pain melted away.
“Ah… Ahhh…!!”
I found myself reaching out to the light, as if clinging to its warmth.
If I had been able to move now, I would surely have knelt down and hung my head without hesitation. I’m that I would never forget this scene in my life.
Suddenly, I felt ashamed that I had resented the Goddess earlier.
Because the Goddess had sent me a helping hand right in front of me.
My eyes happened to meet the girl’s.
She looked back at me with a complicated expression, both crying and smiling, as if she were relieved to see life returning before her eyes, while at the same time she was filled with sadness and sorrow for the life that had been lost.
I couldn’t stop the warmth from flowing from the corners of my eyes.
(TL Note)
Outsider PoV wasn’t supposed to understand Iris’ chant.
Well, that was simply the AoE heal skill, but seen from the eyes of a random soldier.
APM - Translation 