Chapter 52

Chapter 52. "What the Dead Feel Toward the Dying." 12

When I came to my senses, I was lying on the ground with my head pillowed on Rene’s lap.

My head throbbed.

Hm?

When I looked around, people who looked like Huria were moving back and forth, supporting the Lizard Men and carrying them away.

I turned my head and looked up.

I saw Rene’s face.

She was staring blankly down at me with an expressionless face.

I raised my hand.

Rene did not move.

I lightly touched her cheek.

As I always felt, it was soft.

However, she showed no reaction at all.

Strange.

I lowered my hand and looked into her eyes.

Against the backdrop of the forest at twilight, Rene’s golden eyes were even more beautiful.

However, her pupils were unfocused.

They were blank eyes, as though she was deep in thought.

Mm, this is strange.

I was about to open my mouth and call her name when I turned my head at the sound of a nearby voice.

“Look. Why not stop now?”

“Do not, concern yourself. So, many of my comrades were injured. Are you telling me to, simply, let that pass?”

Exel, who was roughly sitting on a broken tree, nodded.

“Yes.”

At that, Kan frowned and bared his teeth, then looked at Jeff and Kal, who were lying there with bandages wrapped around their shoulders and legs.

Kan looked down at them, bared his teeth, and growled.

Now that I looked, Kan also had a bandage wrapped around one arm, with a cloth looped around his neck to keep that arm fixed in place.

In his other hand, he held a shortsword whose entire edge on one side had been crushed.

What happened?

While I was thinking that, a Lizard Man with bandages wrapped tightly around his chest approached him.

When Kan saw him, he glanced back and asked,

“The, dead?”

The Lizard Man shook his head.

Beside him, a Huria with long chestnut hair tied back approached, crossed his arms, and opened his mouth.

“None of your brothers are dead. Quite a few of them are badly injured, but you Lizard Men recover quickly. They will probably all be healed in a few days.

But Kan, what exactly happened? If it was because of those golems, I could understand it, but when we arrived, all of you had collapsed. To think all of you were taken down by only two golems… Did I overestimate you too much?”

After hearing his words, Kan lowered his head and looked at Jeff and Kal, then slid the shortsword in his hand back into its sheath.

“Consider yourself lucky, humans.”

After saying that, he sat down carelessly beside Jeff.

Then he let out a sigh and turned his head toward me.

I quickly closed my eyes and pretended I had not woken up yet.

A moment later, Kan’s voice reached my ears.

“I don't know, either. That one, suddenly, shouted, and, all of us, collapsed. When I, wokeup, the golems, and, the woman, were, taking, these, ones, and, running, away. When I chased them, they dropped this one, and fled.”

“Where?”

At those words, I quietly opened my eyes a little.

Kan lifted the tail trailing behind him and pointed toward a place where the trees and shrubs had all fallen and snapped in one direction.

Then the Huria, who seemed to be a man, looked that way and nodded.

“Mm. I hope they did not get far.”

After saying that, the Huria man took bandages and medicinal herbs and went over to his companions.

He was not wearing anything on his upper body. He was simply bare-chested, and his companions were the same.

No, there were some who wore clothes on their upper bodies like Karina, but there were not many of them.

When the Huria man approached, they exchanged a few words, and then roughly ten Huria turned their bodies toward the direction where the trees had fallen.

I looked at Rene, who was staring at me with blank eyes.

Then I gazed into her eyes and thought carefully.

What did I do?

I clearly remembered shouting at them to stop because I could no longer contain my anger. How strange.

What did I really do? I have no memory of it.

Suddenly, I felt something strange. Just in case, I tried to feel the sensation in my back, but nothing seemed wrong.

Mm, there is nothing particularly strange.

Then I lowered my gaze to my chest and was startled.

There were bandages wrapped around my chest.

Only a small piece of the torn end of my shirt remained at my waist belt.

But the strange thing was that I had not been wounded in the chest.

Even when I searched my memory, I had not suffered any injury to my chest before I lost consciousness.

In that case… no way. No. That cannot be.

I shook my head as I thought that.

At that moment, something like hot water fell onto my face.

When I shifted my gaze, Rene was shedding tears.

I looked up at her face and gave her a bitter smile.

My elf wife, Rene Tarsis, was crying.

I said I would not make you cry.

I promised you that.

If you cry like that, then I broke my promise.

Honey. Please, do not cry. All right?

As I looked up at Rene, I lowered my gaze to the bandages wrapped around my chest.

Her tears made it certain.

It seemed the wall had broken.

Rene must have realized that, and she was shedding tears because she was worried.

She was afraid I might end up saying my name backward.

Damn it. Why am I only remembering the old woman’s words now?

“The tattoo carved into your back is extremely unstable. So do not overdo it. If you use power beyond your limit, your power will break through the wall and come out.

It will not matter for a while, but if that happens, the wall will collapse within several dozen days, and unless you have the drawing carved into you again, you will have to keep wearing that thing.”

Whew! There is nothing I can do.

I will have to go visit the old woman again soon.

No, before that, I need to stop Rene’s tears.

Thinking that, I tried to sit up.

I could not hold her like this, after all.

This was the first time she had cried since we got married, so even I was not sure whether this method would work.

I moved my body to get up first, but I could not.

When I tried to rise, Rene lifted her hands and firmly pushed me back down onto her lap. She seemed a little angry too.

Ugh!

Since it was Rene’s lap, it was soft, but my head still hurt. Even a slight impact made my head ring twice as badly.

Rene put strength into both hands holding my forehead so I could not get up anymore.

I looked up at her with slightly startled eyes. Rene was now frowning as she cried, and then she slowly opened her mouth.

“…You promised you would not make me cry.”