The Far After (1) - 10

A year had passed since I started training with Ms. Rylvia.

I was now 11 and much more proficient with a gun than I had ever been in my past life.

So, due to the fact that I would be sacrificed for the country less than 6 months later, Rylvia decided to test me one last time, giving me my final test.

You see, over the course of the past year, Ms. Rylvia had gotten pretty close to me as she mentored me about all things guns, and I was a pretty filial disciple this time around.

I guess you could say that we both appreciated each other, as I showed her gun techniques that I had created in my past life, and she showed me some of hers that she had never shown to any other living soul.

So now, with all this knowledge, she wanted me to survive in the Truebreak Forest for a whole week.

Of course, this wasn't any regular forest, it was the forest that separated the Elven Kingdom and the Human Kingdom from each other.

It was also probably the only reason the humans hadn't won immediately, as the forest could somehow withstand our bombs, so we couldn't just clear out all the tress and cut a swath through the forest towards the Elven Kingdom.

Also, the forest was the Elves' natural home, so they had the advantage of terrain and were able to bring the human armies to a stalemate despite their low population numbers.

"Young Master, we're here."

Opening my eyes, I found myself on a tall, grassy hill overlooking the forest, the wind blowing through my hair as it flung it backwards, the grass also dancing with the wind.

Grabbing my hair, I matted it down to my head so that it didn't get into my maid's face, and looked over to my side where Rylvia was standing.

Seeing her nod, I nodded too, and so I stood up by myself to get out of the wheelchair.

"I-impossible... Y-Young Master is healed..."

I looked seriously at the maid who had been pushing my wheelchair.

"No I'm not. Ms. Rylvia has just been kind enough to give me a concoction that allows me to be able to stand and run on my own two feet for at most a week, and unfortunately, she only has one of these potions."

Hearing this, the maid's excitement died down, and her ears also drooped a little, but I saw the hope in her eyes that pointed to the fact of how much she cared for me.

You see, she had become my personal maid only 9 months ago, but she had become so attached to me that I knew she could sacrifice her life for me.

After all, I was such a sorry little boy.

I smiled a little to ease my maid's worries before starting to descend down the hill.

"Young Master! Make sure that you're here by the end of the week or everybody will presume you dead!" Shouted a voice from behind me.

"Yeah! Like that could happen!" I yelled back.

After all, yesterday had been the cutoff day for my suicidal spree.

I had actually tried over 100 different suicide methods yesterday, even trying to implode my own demonic core, but of course, my sisters knew it was the last day, and had both stuck by my side until the clock struck midnight, and so I gave up.

Well, I guessed that I could live my life now, but still, thinking about how my daughter would face an unfortunate death made me twitch in pain on the inside.

Anyways, I now had to focus on the task before me, so I took one last look at Ms. Rylvia and Estella standing there, bidding me goodbye, before I fully entered the forest.

Honestly, I was surprised at first due to the fact that the forest seemed a lot brighter and less creepier than it had appeared inside the game, but I guessed that was just because I played the game on low brightness back on Earth.

Moving further into the forest, I decided to just start traveling in one direction for the entirety of my stay, before turning around and heading back after a little less than half of the week had passed, since I would probably be slower on the way back than the way there due to factors like hunger, dehydration, and exhaustion.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

Looking up and seeing an edible bird, I took out the only weapon I had and pressed it to my cheek, just under my eye.

Looking through the enchanted sight, I calculated the bird's trajectory bounded by the trajectory of my bullet, before shooting just a little bit in front of where the bird was moving.

"..."

A noise that was almost completely negligible to my ears rang out, and almost immediately, the bird just dropped from the air.

Calculating where the bird would land, I dashed through the forest and caught it before it touched the ground.

Checking the wound of the bird, well, it was expected, but I had gotten a clean headshot that had passed all the way through.

Satisfied with my hunt, I just found a tree nearby to climb as the sun was setting, and then I plucked the bird before eating its meat raw, which gave me more nutrients due to me being in the partial absorption state right now.

After I finished eating, I disposed of the bones before slumping back in the nook of the tree and closing my eyes, slowly falling asleep.

...

<Unknown's POV>

"Bang!"

I immediately jerked my head up as I heard the unnatural sound ring through forest.

Waiting a few seconds, I caught an object that had fallen from the sky.

Studying the object, I immediately knew what it was.

'A human bullet...'

Knowing that this was an important matter, I placed my hands on the ground and relayed the warning to all the rangers that were in the same search team as me.

"There's a human in the forest, we must find the princess before anything happens."

Feeling their presences, I "watched" as they all picked up the pace and spread out across a wider area.

"My princess, your foolishness might become something far more dangerous."

Hiding the killing intent hidden in my eyes, I disappeared into the forest, melting into the plants and trees.