Chapter Season 2 723

Translator: Alpha0210

The first failure of Lukas’s life had a profound effect on his mind.

Something he had been forcibly holding together all this time collapsed, and as though in a chain reaction, everything that made him who he was seemed to crumble along with it. The shattered pieces leaked away through a gaping hole somewhere in his heart.

Lukas felt an indescribable sense of loss, yet he could not even tell exactly what he had lost. Much less what remained.

A weary lassitude enveloped his entire body, making even the simple act of moving difficult.

He had no idea how things had been dealt with afterward. At the time, Lukas’s entire body had burned as though he were suffering from a fever. He had not lost consciousness, so he vaguely caught snippets of conversation, and it seemed Iris, after returning, exchanged a few words with Lucid.

“…….”

And when he came to again, Lukas was lying alone in a darkened room.

Sting-.

Pain prickled in his throat. His throat felt beyond dry, utterly parched. Like earth cracked apart by drought, it cried out desperately for moisture.

There was a canteen on the table, left there by someone he did not know.

Lukas instinctively reached out and grabbed it, but just as he was about to open the cap, he froze.

“…….”

His own throat, desperately craving moisture, reminded him of the gullet of that revolting monster. The fetid breath, the stench of rot, Schweizer’s corpse decaying there, mired in stomach acid.

And, and…….

Clang!

The canteen fell. Its contents streamed out and dirtied the floor, but Lukas could not even bring himself to clean it up.

“Urgh…….”

The water had only dampened the floor a little, but the stain slowly widened until it spread everywhere. A revolting stench suddenly filled the air, and an unpleasant clamminess wrapped around his entire body.

Nausea.

In an entirely different place, that horrible nausea comes over him once again.

“Hrrk…….”

He tried once more to empty his stomach, but nothing came out except dry heaves. Of course it did. There was nothing in his stomach. A moment later, drops of blood began falling from his cracked, raw throat.

The blood soon began to mingle with the water scattered across the floor.

“…Heh, heh.”

For some reason, the sight struck him as absurd. Lukas could not stop a low laugh from escaping.

“Ha, hahahaha…….”

***

I never did amount to much in the end.

The fact that I failed is obvious. I can’t even deny it.

“It’s not your fault, Lukas.”

That’s why your attempt to comfort me feels laughable.

Lukas slowly raised his head. Iris was standing there. Her exhausted, worn face was looking his way.

“…Lukas.”

“…….”

“Lukas, no one in that situation could have made the right decision─.”

The woman who knew nothing tried to comfort me with garbage like that.

Lukas was so sick of even looking at her face that he closed his eyes. If he kept staring at her, he felt something so vicious might come out of his mouth that even she would be shocked.

“Please leave.”

The demand was brief, but Iris did not readily leave the room.

Was she searching for something to say? After a short silence, her voice came again.

“…I’m sure Schweizer, too.”

“Get out.”

She flinched. Even with his eyes closed, Lukas could feel Iris’s body tremble faintly.

After all, he had probably never once spoken to a friend in that kind of voice before.

Ah. Right. Are you disappointed in me now? So what am I supposed to do about it?

Expect whatever you want from me, then get disappointed all on your own. Lukas was sick to death of that sort of thing.

Lukas slowly covered his face and said it once more.

“…Please leave.”

The voice that seeped between his fingers was so faint it sounded ready to break at any moment, but it still reached Iris’s ears.

“…The food. I’ll leave it here.”

With that brief murmur, Iris’s presence disappeared completely.

Left alone in the room, Lukas now had self-loathing to contend with as well.

I want to let go of everything. I want to give up on everything.

But can I really do that? Is that what Schweizer would want? What was he trying to say at the end? What would he want?

If I had known it would end like this, I should have been the one to die.

Back then, I should have─.

“You shouldn’t have saved me, Schweizer…….”

The words slipped quietly from his lips, and Lukas was sick of himself by now for knowing they were what he truly meant.

…And to the friend who died in my place, that’s all I can say.

Lukas slowly lowered the hands covering his face. Then he staggered to his feet─ passed by the food that was steadily growing cold and opened the window.

The Night Market still sprawled beneath the window.

As if in a trance, Lukas went out into the nighttime streets.

***

Because he wanted nothing to do with anyone, he instead buried himself in the bustling crowd. He wandered silently through the streets like a ghost. Unwashed and unfed, Lukas looked almost indistinguishable from one.

The passersby enjoying the festival wanted nothing to do with Lukas and subtly moved out of his way.

“So the festival ends today, huh─.”

“It’s a shame, but it was fun, right?”

“Yeah. Where should we go now?”

“Who knows…….”

A pair who looked like lovers passed by, chattering away.

Only then did Lukas realize that today was the final day of the festival. Not that it particularly mattered.

…Still without so much as opening his mouth, he continued wandering the streets.

With neither a goal nor a destination, he simply kept his legs moving until, before long, exhaustion forced him onto a bench. He wondered if he had ever been in such terrible condition before. By now, the only thing he could feel in his stomach was a wrenching pain. Hunger had wrecked the state of his entire body. Astonishingly, Lukas could not even tell how much mana he currently had. It was the first time this had happened since he had formally begun his training in Magical Studies.

Then the smell of something delicious curled into his nose. The moment he smelled food, his stomach began churning violently.

A day? Two days? A week? Even Lukas himself had no idea how long he had gone without eating. He had shut himself away in his room, with no distinction between day and night.

And yet Lukas ignored his body’s alarms and remained motionless, as though carved from wood and stone.

…There were people he had saved.

Every person he could see before him was a life Lukas had saved.

No one could deny that fact.

They knew nothing, of course, and there was no way they could know what desperate battle had unfolded beneath the ground they walked upon, yet even so, this many people had survived.

Maybe that alone was enough, for now.

Schweizer was dead, and Lukas might even have been the one who killed him.

But he had never wanted things to turn out that way.

At least his intention to protect the people of this city had been a good one.

…So couldn’t he tell himself that Schweizer’s death had not been in vain?

Thud.

Lukas broke off mid-thought and suddenly pitched face-first into the street. He had not abruptly lost consciousness. Someone had struck him in the back of the head.

“Huh? What the hell?”

“Hey. Couldn’t you have hit him a little lighter?”

“What? No, boss. I really did just tap him…….”

Loutish voices reached his ears.

When Lukas looked back, three burly men were standing there.

“Wow. Look at this bastard. He looks like some goddamn beggar.”

“Still, his clothes might be a little worn, but the fabric itself looks expensive.”

“That so? I can’t tell just by looking.”

“Hehe. You know I’ve never been wrong about this stuff, boss.”

“…….”

Lukas could not quite understand what was happening. Was this another side effect of starving himself for so long? As he merely stared blankly at them, the largest of the men approached and squatted in front of Lukas.

As though trying to bring himself eye-to-eye with Lukas, who was sprawled on the ground.

Smack.

Then he slapped Lukas across the face and spoke.

“Snap out of it, pal. What, did your whole world come crashing down? Why the hell are you sitting there with that dumb look on your face?”

“…Are you talking to me?”

The man snickered.

“Yeah. I’m talking to you, you scrawny bastard.”

“…….”

“Looks like this idiot still doesn’t get what’s happening. Lose your whole fortune gambling or something?”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to strip him, boss.”

“Yeah. Lucky for us his clothes are worth something.”

The man grinned as he spoke.

“You get the idea now, right? Today’s the last day of the Night Market, but wouldn’t you know it, our pockets just happened to run dry. Then we spotted you sitting here like an idiot…….”

“…….”

They all burst out laughing at once as they looked down at Lukas.

Even then, Lukas still could not fully get his mind under control.

Only one thought came to him.

These things.

Did my friend die just to save things like these?

With vacant eyes, he looked around. Everyone whose gaze met his flinched, then hurriedly looked away as though they had seen something they should not have. Then they went on their way as if they had already forgotten seeing Lukas.

Every one of them.

I know.

They aren’t bad people.

But.

Only now did Lukas realize that even an ordinary, everyday sight could drive a person mad.

Smack!

Once again Lukas’s head snapped to the side.

This time he had been struck across the opposite cheek, and harder than before.

“Snap out of it already.”

“Doesn’t look like we can talk to him. Should we just rob him and be done with it?”

“Mm. Probably better. Kid.”

“Yeah, boss.”

The man approached with a nasty grin.

Clench.

His fist tightened.

It was not as though Lukas had never killed anyone. Lukas was not a good man. He could not be one.

He believed that even the kindest person could become evil depending on what happened to them, and he knew that such people could fall so far that reform became impossible.

That was why Lukas had imposed one iron rule upon himself: only kill those who were beyond reform. Setting that standard himself was an arrogant act, but in a sense, he had no choice. If he could not abide by even that rule, Lukas would become nothing more than a murderer.

But now, for the first time, he felt as though he might break the iron rule he had created for himself.

Simple harassment. A trivial scuffle.

That alone made him want to kill them.

His killing intent surged beyond control.

Killing them would not be difficult.

Hiding the fact that he had killed them would not be difficult either.

Would anyone grieve if these three died here? Would men who had anyone close enough to mourn them really behave this way?

The more he thought about it, the less reason he could find for them to remain alive.

Lukas─.

Wham!

“Ghk.”

At that moment, the man they called boss suddenly staggered and collapsed.

Then he stopped moving altogether.

“B-Boss!? Guh!”

“Ghk.”

The companions beside him dropped one after another as well.

Lukas himself was slightly taken aback when someone stepped into view from behind them.

“Good grief. Why are there so many pests around here?”

The blue-haired woman spoke as she waved her hand back and forth as though shooing away gnats. She was dressed like a mercenary, with a chain wrapped several times around one arm.

A freshness like greenery beaded with dew.

That was Lukas’s first impression of her.

“Hello!”

“…….”

“Uh… have you been starving?”

“…….”

“Looks like you haven’t eaten anything for days, right? I can always tell. I’m especially sensitive to things like that. Heh.”

For some reason, the woman beamed as though the fact delighted her, then held out something she happened to be carrying in one hand.

“If you want, would you like some of this?”

…It was a skewer of meat and vegetables.

*****

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