Chapter 90 : Chapter 90

Chapter 90: The Madness of Icata (8)

The zombies weren’t strong.

They weren’t the kind that used Visions, just ordinary variant zombies, like workshop employees.

If anything, that was a small mercy.

“Sir Paxen! Sir Paxen!”

I tried to make contact through the communication ring while cutting down zombies whenever I had a moment.

But strangely, there was no response, and whenever the connection flickered through, only incomprehensible static came back.

“What the hell are you doing? Sleep-talking or something?”

Groooar!

Kikikiki!

The zombies answered in his place.

“Get your filthy face out of here.”

I stabbed a zombie’s forehead as it shoved its head too close for comfort and glanced around.

Right next to me was a front door marked “406.”

This tenement housed twelve units per floor, meaning we’d cleared about half.

Yuria, nearby, was steadily reducing the zombie numbers.

Looking back, Rachel and Karina were skillfully holding off the zombies climbing the narrow staircase, using the terrain to their advantage.

Guartes, tied up in the corner…

‘He’s sending pleading looks at Rachel.’

Of course, Rachel was smiling brightly, completely ignoring him.

‘How’s the situation on the other side?’

I wasn’t worried about Ivan or Gwyn.

Those two weren’t the type to fall to zombies of this caliber.

Ivan was a given, and Gwyn had more than enough skill to protect himself.

The Gaiard family’s defensive swordsmanship was among the finest in the empire.

‘But…’

If there was any concern, it was Bain.

There was no doubting Bain’s magical prowess, but if she ended up isolated and alone, even she could be in danger.

‘It’s common knowledge that mages are weak in chaotic melees.’

If Bain got infected and turned into a zombie, that would be the absolute worst-case scenario.

‘Because I’d have to cut down a comrade.’

Blood splattering, heads flying—those weren’t the cruel parts.

The real cruelty was a situation like this.

And then.

[Senior Gerard! Senior Bain…]

We were staring that situation right in the face.

[…410!]

I didn’t catch what was said in between.

The moment I heard Bain was isolated, I drew up every ounce of mana without hesitation and activated [Starlight].

Fwooooosh──

A sensation like every sense in my body opening up enveloped me.

The zombies’ movements slowed.

The entire corridor came into focus at a glance, smells hit me intensely, and sounds rang in my ears like the volume had been cranked up.

These changes created a relative time gap.

Time around me flowed slower.

Groooaaar…

I gauged the distance to 410 and the number of zombies in between.

It was a race against time.

In that urgency, the thief’s eyes perfectly read the fastest route to 410 and relayed it to me.

I immediately shattered the window beside me.

Crash!

Shards of glass scattered.

I grabbed one of them, drove it into the eye of a zombie behind me, and stepped onto the window frame, climbing up.

“Senior?”

“Cover me.”

I ran along the window ledge,shattering every window in my path.

Clang!

Crash!

Two seconds.

Seeing the wide-open front door and the flood of zombies pouring in, I leaped into the middle of them.

Like a wolf diving into a flock of sheep.

I slashed and slashed again at the zombies blocking my way.

Swish-swish-swish!

Then I noticed something strange.

‘Why aren’t they looking at me?’

The zombies weren’t paying attention to me—they were mindlessly heading into 410.

Even as I kept putting holes in the backs of their heads.

As if there was some incredibly enticing prey inside.

Then, at some point, they started being pushed back.

‘What’s going on?’

The zombies that had been surging in were now flowing backward.

Slash!

Swoosh!

The sharp sound of flesh being sliced came from inside at that moment.

I didn’t need to think hard—the scene inside painted itself in my mind.

Someone was slaughtering zombies from within.

With the front door as the boundary,

I was outside, and someone unknown was inside.

We were gradually getting closer.

‘Who is it?’

It wasn’t Bain.

The sharp sounds, coming almost every second, were the noise of something slicing through flesh.

I’d find out soon enough, whether I wanted to or not.

He was steadily approaching me.

Then it happened.

Slash!

A red line suddenly appeared on the back of a zombie’s head right in front of me.

Its skull split in half.

A flash of light glinted between the halves.

I quickly swung my sword.

Clang!

The impact sent a jolt through my fingers.

Looking up to see my opponent, the first thing I noticed was his mismatched, haphazard clothing and the bandages wrapped tightly around his entire face.

And between the gaps in the bandages, lifeless eyes.

We froze like that.

“….”

But it was only a moment.

He lowered his sword, then spun it and began cutting down the zombies around me.

I passed him without a word and entered the apartment.

The interior was filled with zombie corpses.

Bain Winter lay among them, in the room at the far end, surrounded by zombies.

I approached and checked her condition.

There were no wounds from zombie attacks.

Lifting her eyelid, I saw her pupils were dilated, and dried blood from her nose and mouth had crusted over.

Classic symptoms of mana circuit overload.

A few meditations and some rest would fix this.

I laid her back down and stepped outside.

By then, the zombies in the corridor had been completely cleared.

A few stubborn ones lunged forward, but Gwyn crushed their skulls.

Zombies were still climbing up both staircases.

But it was only a matter of time before those were dealt with too.

The narrow stairways were already clogged with fallen corpses, so we’d have to go down and finish them off one by one.

And so, we managed to find and kill every zombie inside the tenement.

I turned my head.

The rain, which had been pouring like a waterfall, had stopped.

Parting storm clouds.

Bright light streamed through the gaps, breathing life into a land once steeped in death.

A man was gazing at that scene.

“…The Mysterious Swordsman.”

At Gwyn’s murmur, the man turned.

He looked at Gwyn, then Ivan, Yuria, one by one.

Finally, his gaze landed on me.

For just a moment.

Then he leaped over the railing.

“Whoa!?”

Startled, Karina clung to the railing and peered down.

“What the heck? He’s gone?”

Karina turned to me.

“Do you know him?”

It might’ve looked that way.

His final glance at me lingered longer than the others.

So I nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Who is he?”

“The Mysterious Swordsman.”

Karina stared at me like I was insane.

“…He’s really a nutcase, isn’t he?”

Ignoring Karina’s mutter, I approached Guartes.

“You…”

But someone got to him before me—Ivan.

Ivan swung his sword at him.

“Die.”

Shocked, I kicked Guartes out of the way.

“Urgh!”

Thankfully, Ivan’s sword only sliced through Guartes’s hair.

It was a hair’s breadth moment.

“….”

I closed my eyes for a second.

Within a week—

No, in that fleeting moment, the rage that surged and peaked was higher than any I’d felt since possessing this body.

I nearly smashed Ivan’s jaw the moment I saved Guartes.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I glared at Ivan.

“I was trying to execute him.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a villain.”

My anger flared again, but I held it back.

Because it was Ivan, of all people.

Because I’d played as Ivan dozens of times, empathizing with his situation over and over.

“Who are you to decide that?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. Villains are evil that must vanish from this world. If I have to be punished for eliminating such evil, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“….”

“You understand, don’t you, Senior?”

Ivan was continuing the conversation from that day.

The day we slaughtered the swamp orcs, when Ivan lay in the hospital bed.

The day he was preparing to break out of his shell and hatch.

“Yeah. I understand.”

“Then why did you stop me?”

“Because that’s your personal feelings talking, you idiot.”

Karina cut in.

“I can’t stand watching this. Hey, Ivan. That guy’s got important information. Maybe even the key to solving this zombie crisis. Does it make sense to kill someone holding that key just because of your personal feelings? Huh? You selfish jerk.”

Karina fired off her words rapid-fire, then looked around, saying, ‘Right?’

“I agree.”

“That’s my thought too.”

“You heard them, didn’t you?”

Ivan silently looked up at the sky.

The anger in his eyes, reflecting the sky, was quickly fading.

Ivan sheathed his sword.

He’s a smart guy.

Even when spoken to so bluntly, he’d grasp the core of it.

“Sorry, Senior. I lost my cool for a moment.”

“It’s fine. I said I understood, didn’t I? Just be careful next time. More importantly…”

I turned to Guartes.

Sure enough, Guartes, who’d been knocked out by my kick, still wasn’t moving.

“Huh? This guy’s not breathing!”

Rachel put her finger under his nose and widened her eyes.

“What? Hey! Move! Breathe, breathe!”

I slapped Guartes’s backside hard.

* * *

Thankfully, Guartes had only fainted.

After a few smacks, his breathing returned to normal, and we took him back to the hotel.

Since the second-years had returned to the academy, there were plenty of empty rooms.

We locked the unconscious Guartes in one of them and laid Bain, still out cold, in her room.

“I’m beat.”

I ordered the others to rest and take care of themselves, then returned to my room.

I immediately took a shower.

Shaaaa──

I washed off the blood, sweat, and rainwater that had dirtied my body with ice-cold water.

I stood still, letting the water hit me.

“Clatter.”

It was definitely Clatter.

To think the Mysterious Swordsman was Clatter.

“An identity I never could’ve imagined!”

I said, striking a ridiculous pose in front of the mirror.

I chuckled and let the cold water wash over me again.

I had so many questions.

At first, I thought it was just a rivalry with Zad.

But today, I realized that wasn’t it.

“If that were the case, he’d have come back to me somehow.”

The look in Clatter’s eyes during our brief encounter held a fierce longing.

“Did he hit puberty or something?”

It wasn’t just Clatter.

My head was tangled with what to do about Guartes’s fate.

I couldn’t kill him.

There were too many things I needed to ask him.

Especially since Guartes’s death was what Zad wanted.

“Everything that happened today was definitely Zad’s doing.”

The reason was simple.

To kill Guartes.

“For some reason, he can’t kill Guartes himself. So he’s trying to borrow someone else’s hand.”

Using others to do his dirty work.

Of course, he probably didn’t expect us to show up.

He likely had the knights, the magic corps, or other soldiers in mind.

‘But we, being quick on our feet, got to the tenement first. And Guartes, with his uncanny luck, survived thanks to me.’

For now, it was obvious I had to let Guartes go from here.

That was the only way to resolve my questions.

“The problem is how to let him go.”

It had to be done discreetly, naturally.

“In the end, it all comes back to scheming.”

Maybe Gerard was just born destined to be a thief.

“Sigh.”

I wanted to hold the showerhead pouring cool water over my head and let it wash away all the complicated worries, stress, and heat.

I finished my shower and stepped out of the bathroom.

On the bed,someone was sitting, watching me.

“I didn’t order room service.”

I said, toweling off my hair.

“Mysterious Swordsman.”

Snap!

Clatter sprang up and rushed toward me.

He hugged me and started dancing gleefully.

“Haha. What’s this about?”

His body was covered in dust and blood.

I’d just showered, but I felt no repulsion.

Only joy.

If anything, his ragged appearance made me feel uneasy, like he’d been through hell.

“Sit down for now.”

I sat across from Clatter.

Only then could I really look at him.

He seemed… slightly bigger.

Maybe that was why.

It hadn’t even been that long, but Clatter, who used to seem like a kid, now looked like a seasoned swordsman.

‘Is it because I kept going on about the Mysterious Swordsman? Did I brainwash him or something?’

This is why gaslighting is scary.

“What’s with the bandages? Some new fashion you picked up?”

Snap!

“You think it’s cool? It’s not cool at all. And where’d you get those eyes?”

Snap!

“Oh, you stole them from a zombie?”

I knew it.

Now that I looked closer, he’d attached skin to his face too.

Probably peeled off a dead zombie.

“If you’re gonna attach something, why not pick a handsome one?”

Snap!

“What? Better than me? Isn’t that a bit harsh? Worse than a zombie’s looks? You’ve gotten cheeky while I wasn’t around.”

As an apology, Clatter rubbed his hands together like a fly.

I chuckled at the sight and asked,“So, you’re not coming back?”

Clatter’s hands, which had been rubbing furiously, stopped abruptly.

“You know, I thought a lot about why you left. At first, I thought it was because of Zad. But when I thought it over, that didn’t seem right.”

“….”

“Why did you leave so suddenly? Are you… coming back?”

The last question was asked seriously.

If he’d just come back, the reason he left didn’t really matter.

Clatter stared at me, then wrote on the table with his finger.

<Come back. Of course.>

I knew it.

Why did I ask something so obvious like such a loser?

Still, it was a relief.

“Then why did you leave?”

I asked, my heart lighter.

<Must get stronger.>

“Why?”

<To protect.>

Protect?

Protect what?

As I drew a question mark, Clatter answered.

<Don’t know well.>

“….”

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

What do you mean, you don’t know?

Couldn’t you at least say it’s me, even if it’s a lie?

“And what’s with ‘don’t know well’? If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.”

That’s when it happened.

A red dot appeared in Clatter’s eyes as he looked at me.

Fwoosh!

‘…Fire?’

It was on fire.

“Lu□s.”

──No.

It was a memory.

The red dot grew rapidly, engulfing me in an instant, and soon the hotel room was consumed by a massive blaze.

Fwoooosh!

In those flames, I saw a middle-aged man and a boy about fourteen years old.

“This is as far as we go, it seems.”

“Ma, Ma□ro, sir.”

The boy had white hair.

And he was carrying another boy, who looked even younger, on his back.

“….”

I shut my mouth.

Because I recognized both their faces.

Luis and Gerard.

Their cheeks still had baby fat, and their faces were youthful, but the white-haired boy was unmistakably Luis.

And the boy on young Luis’s back was me.

Gerard.

“Stop calling me ‘sir.’ You’re not a kid anymore. You’re a proud thief of Shadow, my comrade.”

And at that moment, I realized who this man was.

Magello.

The man who stood by us until the end during the Fall of the Moon.

…Clatter’s former self.

“Si…”

“I told you not to call me that!”

Magello shouted at young Luis.

“Sniff. Sob…”

Young Luis shed tears like bird droppings.

“Ma□ro…”

Seeing this, Magello’s face crumpled horribly.

His bloodshot eyes looked ready to spill transparent tears any moment.

But he forced them back, glaring.

He bit his lip until it bled and pulled young Luis and Gerard into a tight embrace.

“Sob. Ma□ro…!”

“Don’t cry. It’s just… a brief parting.”

Magello set Luis down.

“As a thief, this is my first commission to you. Run. Don’t look back, run as fast and as far as you can from here.”

“Sob.”

“Protect the young master safely.”

Young Luis nodded.

With a face smeared with soot and tears, he looked at Magello, trying to etch his image into his memory, and asked,

“We… sob! We’ll meet again, right?”

Finally, Magello broke down.

Tears welled up crazily in his eyes, overflowing and leaving deep tracks on his cheeks.

But he smiled.

He forced a smile to hide his distorted expression and tears.

“Of course. As long as that moon hangs in the night sky, we’ll definitely meet again.”

Luis turned and ran.

With the younger young master on his back.

“I couldn’t keep my promise in the end.”

Watching the two boys, Magello turned around.

Below the hill, he saw Icata, a sea of red flames.

Countless people he’d failed to protect lay within that blazing inferno.

Friends, comrades, family, memories.

Everything he couldn’t protect was burning fiercely within.

“What a pathetic adult, entrusting the future to children.”

With a bitter chuckle, Magello slowly lowered his head.

Before him stood a line of mages in red cloaks.

.

.

.

.

And so, the flames vanished.

The searing heat along with them.

I was left sitting alone in the hotel room.

Clatter was gone.

He’d left only words on the table before disappearing.

<Will come back when stronger.>

I let out a deep sigh.

* * *

Thud.

Luis, who was organizing documents in the study, looked up.

A book had fallen in front of the bookshelf.

Step, step.

Luis picked it up.

Instead of putting it back, he stared at it for a moment.

“….”

It was a photo album.

For some reason, Luis took it to the desk and opened it.

Inside, black-and-white photos were neatly pasted on every page.

It was Luis’s most treasured possession, his number one treasure.

Memories nearly lost to fire, but Luis had managed to save them and transfer them to this pristine album.

“…It’s been a while since I looked through this.”

He must’ve been that busy.

With a slight smirk, Luis slowly flipped through the album.

His touch was as careful as if handling a newborn.

With each page, the smile on his lips deepened, and occasionally, he let out a soft chuckle.

But what was it?

When he turned to the last page, a misty veil of tears had formed in his eyes.

Drip.

A transparent tear fell onto the final photo.

In the picture, a young Luis was awkwardly smiling while perched on a man’s shoulders.

“…Uncle Magello.”

Luis gently touched the man’s face in the photo.

“I… completed the commission.”

Magello had kept his promise too.

Though in a pitiful form.

Not a brief parting, but a return after a long, long time.

But he’d returned, nonetheless.

“That’s enough…”

“Hey, Luis!”

At that moment, the door burst open, and Dayle stormed in.

Luis hurriedly closed the album.

“…What is it?”

Dayle looked at Luis with a sly grin.

“Knocking would be nice, Dayle.”

“Haha. It’s fine. It happens.”

“It’s not fine for me.”

“It’s fine, I say! Wait, that guy was a dude?”

“…Are you insane?”

Dayle grinned mischievously.

“Come on. No need to be shy between guys… Wait! Did you cry!?”

“I didn’t do anything to be shy about, and I didn’t cry.”

“Oh, come on! Anyone can see that your eyes are all teary!”

Luis turned his head.

“Stop talking nonsense. Why are you in my room?”

“Oh, to ask you to cook. Dayle’s hungry.”

Dayle patted his stomach.

Maybe from spending too long in the basement, Dayle had started speaking in the third person at some point.

Luis suppressed the urge to strangle him and stood up.

“…Let’s go.”

Then his eyes caught the album.

Luis called out to Dayle.

“Dayle.”

“Yeah.”

“Can you make a camera?”

Dayle answered casually.

“Sure, if I can get the parts. Why?”

“I want to keep one. A photo of us.”

Dayle scratched his chin.

“Can’t you just buy one? Dayle’s lazy.”

Unable to hold back, Luis smacked Dayle’s head.

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