Chapter 10

"Bro!"

A lone message materialized in the barren chat window.

"Dude, you're amazing. How did you pull that off?"

I found myself at a loss for words.

This was the first message from a viewer since I had initiated the stream, and I was clueless about how to react.

As I sat there, flabbergasted, another message from the same viewer emerged.

"I'm subscribing to you. You'll be streaming again, right?"

And then...

...then, I found myself wondering about my response.

***

"Ugh!"

My eyes flickered open.

As I tried to heave my sweaty torso into a sitting position, a searing, pulsating pain lanced through my arms and shoulders.

"Damn, that hurts..."

Casting a glance downwards, I took in my present state.

My entire upper body was swathed in tight bandages. Both of my hands were ensconced like a mummy's, rendering my fingers immobile.

"What on earth..."

"You should rest, Your Highness Damien."

As I was inspecting my wounded body, a soft feminine voice chimed in.

"Damien applied healing magic to you, but the burns were too severe. It'll take time to fully recover."

Startled, I swiveled around.

Next to me on a bed, swamped under a pile of documents and industriously writing... Was a redhead magician.

In a daze, I murmured her name.

"Lilly?"

"You've been unconscious for three days, Your Highness."

Setting her quill aside, Lilly offered me a faint smile.

"I feared you wouldn't awaken after vanquishing the Black Spider Legion."

"I'm... still alive."

"All thanks to your directive, Your Highness."

Lilly shrugged her shoulders, rustling the papers in her grasp.

"Do you wish for the report now? Or do you require more rest?"

Despite my body throbbing in pain, I understood the urgency of hearing the report. I requested a rundown of the current situation.

"The final salvo eliminated the Spider Queen, and the Black Spider Legion is currently immobilized."

Lilly delivered the results in a crisp manner.

"We prevailed, Your Highness."

"..."

"Everyone survived, albeit with injuries. Thankfully, we had Damien, the healing priest... He administered first aid and tended to the wounded until reinforcement troops arrived the following day."

Lilly gestured towards the window. Soldiers were bustling about.

"The reinforcement troops collected our fallen comrades and dealt with the inert spiders. The clean-up is nearly finished."

"I see."

Reality began to settle in.

We had survived.

We had just about scraped through this damned tutorial stage.

"Your Highness, you sustained serious burns to your hands, arms, shoulders, and neck."

Lilly soberly updated me on my injuries.

"Upon our return to Crossroad, you should pay a visit to the temple. Even after you recover, the scars will linger."

"Scars are a small price to pay for life."

I was earnest. If survival was the trade-off, I was more than willing to bear burns and scars as tokens of valor.

Exhaling a sigh of relief, I noticed Lilly. Lilly too was swathed in bandages around her torso.

"Lilly, your injuries are...?"

"When I ran out of mana at the very end, one of those damn spiders grazed my back. Fortunately, the queen succumbed shortly after, so there were no more onslaughts."

Lilly snickered darkly, kneading her leg.

"I must've damaged my spinal cord then, I couldn't move my lower body."

"..."

"Don't fret about it, Your Highness."

Lilly reassured me in a calm voice as I grappled for words.

"I'm just grateful to be alive."

"..."

Lost for words, I faltered when Lilly veered the conversation.

"There are four survivors. Lucas. Damien. Myself. And you, Your Highness. That's all."

"..."

Four people.

Even before the last battle, we were hundreds. But now, just four.

"Damn..."

Gritting my teeth, I covered my forehead with my bandaged hand.

Could there have been a different path?

Was there a strategy I had overlooked?

Could there have been a way to rescue even one more person...?

"Your Highness. You're not omnipotent."

Lilly cautiously reminded me, observing my anguish.

"It was impossible to save everyone in that scenario. You did your utmost, didn't you?"

"But... I was the one who led the troops here."

It wasn't me, it was Ash who did it. But it wasn't a situation where I could refute that it was me who orchestrated it.

As long as I inhabited Ash's body, I shared in the responsibility.

"Your Highness. No one predicted that the Black Spider Legion would materialize here. No one anticipated that the monsters would mobilize on such a massive scale for the first time in years. That's why no one opposed your departure."

Lilly sought to comfort me, scrutinizing my reaction.

"While your strategy may have been audacious, it wasn't imprudent. In the final battle, you showcased your capabilities and executed a daring maneuver, culminating in victory."

"..."

"So... don't be too severe on yourself."

I bit down on my lower lip.

Just then, Lucas barged into the ward, his eyes widening at the sight of me.

"Your Highness!"

Lucas sprinted to my bedside.

With his towering stature charging like that, he resembled a colossal golden retriever bounding towards me.

"Lucas."

"I'm overjoyed you're awake, Your Highness..."

Lucas, who had reached my side, was even welling up.

"Do you feel any discomfort? I'll summon Damien immediately."

"No, I'm fine. I can endure it."

Sporting a wry smile, I pointed at the bandages encasing Lucas' body.

"You appear to have sustained quite a few injuries as well, haven't you? Is it safe for you to be scampering around like this?"

"As you're aware, my resilience has always been my forte."

Well, that's accurate. After all, he's an SSR rank knight.

Seeing him unscathed was a comfort. Lucas offered an awkward smile as he retrieved a bundle of documents from his pocket.

"I've compiled the death registry. There are many whose bodies we couldn't retrieve... but we have collected all the corpses we could."

"Where have you assembled the bodies?"

"They are in the open field north of the advance base."

"I want to see them."

As I attempted to hoist my quivering body, a startled Lilly and Lucas tried to restrain me.

"Your Majesty!"

"You mustn't, Your Majesty! You need further rest..."

"They fell under my command."

My entire body throbbed with intense pain, but I remained resolute.

"I will go to see them. Assist me, Lucas."

Lucas, looking bewildered, turned and knelt, extending his back to me.

"Mount up, Your Majesty. I will transport you."

***

Lucas's back was broad and his walking stance evenly balanced, leading to minimal jostling. It was comfortable.

"Lucas, would you consider being my personal carriage?"

"If you decree it, I'm more than ready."

"Just joking, man. Don't take it to heart."

As I perched on Lucas's back and emerged, a boy leaning against the castle wall drew my attention.

It was Damien, a curly-haired brown healer, gazing vacantly into the distance. His shattered spectacles were not on his face, but cradled in his hand.

"Damien."

Upon hearing me call him, Damien slowly swiveled his head in my direction.

"Prince. You're awake."

"How are your eyes?"

I was concerned he might have sustained vision impairment, as his eyes had shed blood when he utilized his clairvoyance.

With a weary expression, Damien conjured a faint smile.

"They're... Okay. Since yesterday, my sight has been returning gradually. Now, I can see almost as before."

So, he had been using healing magic and maneuvering without vision. He truly had had a difficult ordeal.

Observing Damien's youthful, worn face, I felt a wave of sympathy and spoke.

"Damien. Thanks to you, we prevailed in this operation."

"..."

"If you desire, I can bestow you with sufficient funds to sustain you for a lifetime, and ensure you don't have to return to this battlefield. You were initially a mercenary, so you're free to choose your path henceforth."

"Your Highness."

But Damien gently shook his head.

"You once told me, I'm your trigger."

"..."

"I... wish to know."

Damien's gaze wandered back over the castle wall.

"The origin of those monsters. Who, why, and how conjured those creatures. Why we lost so many."

"..."

"So, please allow me to accompany you, your Highness..."

With a wistful smile, I signaled him.

"Alright, then accompany me right now. We'll need a priest to pay homage to the deceased."

Damien awkwardly trailed us as we ventured towards the northern field.

***

Advance base. Northern field.

Innumerable bodies were meticulously laid out, ready to be claimed by the elements.

For those who we could recover the bodies, there was the solace of mourning. Yet, many didn't even leave a trace behind.

For them, we lit a fire.

The sacred flame transported from the Crossroads' temple sprang into blue sparks in the middle of a vacant lot.

I stood in silence, my gaze held by the flames. They danced with an eerie resonance, as though brimming with indignation.

"..."

I understood.

There was no superior tactic, no improved path. Nothing was more futile than dwelling on the past.

I chose the operation, executed it, and this was the outcome.

If so, it was mine to shoulder.

These shoulders would bear the weight.

"After the makeshift funeral is over, gather all the bodies and convey them to the Crossroads."

"Eh?"

Lucas' eyes bulged in surprise at my command.

"Aren't we leaving them here?"

Every year, tens of thousands of lives were lost in the Crossroads.

It was a world where funerals cost more than the value of life itself. Cheap lives flooded into this monstrous frontline, dissipating in the effort to uphold it.

If we attempted to create a cemetery, it would quickly overflow. Therefore, bodies were typically strewn across the wilderness.

A world where death outnumbered wildflowers.

I intended to change this world.

"There's an unused plot west of the Crossroads. Set up a cemetery there. Bury them all and conduct a memorial service."

I instructed them to establish a cemetery in the western plot where I had constructed a memorial site in the game.

"Moreover, designate the last day of February each year... as a day to honor their sacrifice."

This was not solely to commemorate those who laid down their lives in this battle.

It was also my penance for all the characters I had mercilessly killed, through hundreds of game resets and playthroughs.

Lucas, who was about to interject, swallowed his words and nodded his approval.

"I will obey your command."

Soon after, the makeshift funeral commenced.

The priest, who arrived with the reinforcements, scattered holy water over the corpses, blessing their journey to the afterlife.

The sheer number of bodies meant the funeral took some time, despite its brevity.

I witnessed the entire process, never stepping back.

"Lucas."

The makeshift funeral concluded under the evening's moonlight, casting an icy illumination.

"I won't falter again."

A chill emanated from the aftermath of death. A coldness that the sacred fire's flames couldn't mitigate filled the plain.

I shivered, my teeth grinding against the cold as I leaned on Lucas's back.

"I won't... falter again."

"..."

Lucas kept his mouth tightly shut, silently absorbing my words.

"Let's return."

One battle had concluded, but the real war was only just commencing.

I cast a final, resolute glance at the fallen soldiers whose lives I had taken, and spoke with newfound determination.

"To Crossroads."

***

[STAGE 0 - COMPLETED!]

[STAGE MVP - Damien(N)]

[Characters Leveling Up]

- Ash(EX) Lv.5 (↑4) (Job selection now unlocked!)

- Lucas(SSR) Lv.27 (↑2)

- Lilly(R) Lv.17 (↑2)

- Damien(N) Lv.15 (↑5)

[Fallen and Wounded Characters]

- Ken(N) : Fallen

- Lilly(R) : Critically wounded

[Collected Items]

- Black Spider Legion Magic Stones : 388

- Black Spider Queen Magic Core(SSR) : 1

[Stage completion rewards have been dispersed. Please check your inventory.]

- EX-grade Reward Box : 1

>> Prepare For The Next STAGE

>> [STAGE 1 : City Above the Tomb]