A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War!

Banson also knew that meddling in noble affairs rarely led to a good outcome. Moreover, he had nearly died before coming here due to a guy named Jansen, saved only by Kaiyan. Because of that, as they approached their destination, he couldn’t help but feel a subtle unease.

“Haha, I guess I can’t tell you that. However… what I can tell you is that we will deliver the promised 2,000 gold, and you won’t suffer any harm.”

“In that case… Haha!”

But already enticed by the prospect of a substantial sum of money, he couldn’t afford to give up the quest now, despite his doubts. Furthermore, it had been a 3,000 gold commission, and apart from a few monster attacks, nothing worrisome had happened.

As Banson put aside his suspicions and turned his head, Verium, who had been laughing as he looked at Banson, stopped smiling and whispered softly.

“Hehe! We can finally return. I never thought the Marianne Empire would become this lax.”

**** ****

“Rieka, did we really find the right path?”

[Um… I’m not sure. If we did, there shouldn’t be anything like this here. There was no such marking on the map.]

“A forest should be around here, at least…”

While he had thought they were on the right track until an hour ago when he looked at the massive mountain in front of them, he began to wonder if they had lost their way.

“Suddenly, a mountain. And it’s a rocky one at that.”

[Could we have been scammed? That magician’s expression was weird.]

Looking at the towering rocky mountain in front of them, a sense of dread washed over him. Even if they had lost their way, he would have preferred a regular mountain, as he could have used titles to find their way.

But despite being a rocky mountain, there was not a single tree in sight.

“Hmm… The map definitely didn’t show any rocky mountains… Look here, there’s not a single mountain symbol on the road from the center to the east.”

[So… um! Could it be this one?]

Rieka pointed to a part of the map with a symbol that somewhat resembled a rounded rock. It seemed a bit odd to mark it as a mountain, but if it was indicating a rocky mountain, he could reluctantly accept it and move on.

“Then, if we cross here, we’ll be in Lumbanium Territory. Once we reach the summit…”

He slightly raised his head and looked at the mountain’s peak. It appeared quite high, almost on par with Panielun Fortress when seen from a distance.

“At a glance, you’ll be able to see the territory.”

[Alright, let’s go quickly! I’m curious about what the territory looks like!]

“Agreed.”

At Rieka’s urging, he put away the map and began walking toward the rocky mountain.

Utilizing his overflowing stamina, they ascended the mountain quickly for about ten minutes. Gradually, the ground leveled out, and what had seemed high at first began to look closer.

“Hup! The summit is flatter than I expected.”

[It’s fascinating! A mountain made entirely of pure rock. I’ve never seen a place like this before!]

A few minutes later, they were able to reach the relatively spacious summit, and when they looked around, there was still no sign of any grass.

Typically, even on a rocky mountain, there would be small trees or plants, but here, there were none.

“What’s more, that won’t be important. The Lumbanium territory… it must be over there.”

“I want to go see it first!”

Eager to see what Lumbanium looked like, Rieka emerged from Kaiyan’s pouch and quickly moved towards the opposite peak using her short front legs.

Watching her, Kaiyan couldn’t help but smile and opened a portal to retrieve his horse.

“Blackie, when else would you have climbed to the mountaintop? Let’s take a good look this time.”

Heiyong!

As if the steep slope behind the high mountain peak scared him, Blackie glanced in that direction and then rushed towards Rieka.

“Well, maybe I should go too.”

As Kaiyan strolled along, taking in the surroundings and heading towards the opposite peak, he suddenly heard his name being called by Rieka, who had gone ahead.

“Why are you here already? Haven’t you seen enough?”

“No, it’s not that! The city is on fire!”

“…On fire?”

“Yes! It’s burning fiercely! Enormously!”

Baffled, Kaiyan quickly moved towards the opposite side and looked down.

“…Indeed. Lumbanium is burning, just as Rieka said. Not just a part of the city, but the entire city.”

Even from this high summit, he could feel the faint heat emanating from the raging flames.

“…Could it really happen? Even if it’s a small city, the entire city is on fire. There’s no way a war broke out… it couldn’t possibly have happened.”

For a moment, he wondered if a war with another country had suddenly erupted, but he realized that this area was closer to the central border region. Even if a war had broken out, it would have taken several months for the army to penetrate this far. Besides, when he arrived with Linda in the imperial city, no one had mentioned a war.

“So, what’s the reason…”

“Don’t you think we should go see for ourselves? Seeing the city burning like that, it seems like a lot of people may have died…”

“Yeah, you’re right. I need to see it with my own eyes to understand what’s happening.”

Listening to Rieka’s words brought him back to his senses. Instead of standing here and watching the city burn, it was the right thing to do to hurry down and try to save at least one person.

He quickly placed Blackie back into the dimension and embraced Rieka. With determination, he leaped off the rocky mountain and descended rapidly. As the city drew closer, he could vividly see how dire the situation was.

The city gate seemed to have melted from the intense heat, leaving only charred remnants. People were scrambling out through a small opening in the gate.

“Who… could have done this?”

Seeing the entire city ablaze, Kaiyan couldn’t fathom why anyone would do such a thing. He felt a surge of anger within him, the memory of his own destroyed hometown overlaying with the image of Lumbanium.

“Whoever it is…”

As the memory of his burning hometown and the sight of Lumbanium merged in his mind, an intense anger welled up from within him.

“I won’t let them get away with this.”

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!