NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: (1)
“Ugh… Where am I?”
As he regained consciousness, Kaiyan furrowed his brow and looked around.
“The barracks? Ah, I remember being carried by Uncle Jeff.”
He had definitely been incredibly tired. He had fallen asleep right away without minding his surroundings.
“They’re all still sleeping.”
To avoid disturbing the sleeping uncles, Kaiyan quietly got up from his bed and walked to the entrance of the barracks.
As he cleared away the tent that blocked the entrance of the barracks and stepped outside, a serene star shone brightly in the sky instead of the sun.
“It’s already dawn… No, perhaps it’s not that early. Phew… I must have slept for at least ten hours. How long has it been since I slept like this?”
The Barracks were incredibly quiet during the late hours, almost unnaturally still. If he made even a slight noise, it could be heard from far away.
It was all thanks to the monsters that the Allied forces could have such moments of rest at night.
“Heh, can I say it’s thanks to them that I’m here? But it’s still a good thing to be able to rest at night.”
If it had been a war between humans instead of monsters, what would it have been like?
“They would have posted guards everywhere in case of nighttime attacks.”
“Ah, well.”
The azure star, Pwarlin, hung in the night sky. If the sun made one’s heartburn, Pwarlin made it calm and serene.
While absentmindedly gazing at the night sky, Kaiyan suddenly recalled the battle from the previous day.
“Orc Lord.”
The sudden appearance of the named monster, Orc Lord.
Because of that creature, the formation of the Central Army was on the verge of collapse, and Kaiyan risked his life to defeat it.
Of course, he had always risked his life to hunt monsters, but this time, death had truly loomed near.
If his judgment had been just a little slower, it would have been him who died, not the Orc Lord.
“The most dangerous moment was… when I flew in the sky.”
It was an impulsive idea that came to him in an instant, but even now, he thought it was a crazy thing to do.
If the memories of his family hadn’t come to mind at that moment, he might have succumbed to fear, closed his eyes, and crashed into the ground.
“Father, mother… and my sister.”
The memories of his family, which he had buried deep in his heart due to the unbearable pain, resurfaced and stirred his emotions because of yesterday’s events.
“If I had such power back then…”
The surge of emotions naturally led him to think of whether he could have protected his family if he had possessed such power back then—a pointless thought.
“Or maybe I would have died back then…”
Knowing that he couldn’t turn back time, his heart ached unbearably, knowing that his family would never return.
Losing one’s family was an incredibly cruel thing for a young person like him to endure.
**** ****
9th day of Player Awakening.
It was an ordinary morning, but Kaiyan felt somewhat strange. It was a complex and subtle feeling.
On his way to his two uncles and the 7th Special Forces before the start of the war, other soldiers from different units recognized him and approached him.
“You’re the soldier who killed the Orc Lord, right? You were amazing yesterday!”
“I heard that thanks to you, the Central Army was able to survive! Thank you so much!”
“Kaiyan! You’re a hero!”
Kaiyan felt slightly bewildered by the soldiers’ praises and expressions of gratitude.
“I did kill the Orc Lord, but… how do these soldiers know about it?”
The assault on the Orc Legion was an operation composed only of Uncle Jeff and the knights.
It made sense that the soldiers from the 7th Special Forces knew to some extent, but these soldiers belonged to different units. It felt strange that they knew about it.
“Hehe, the rumors have spread already.”
“That’s right.”
Uncle Max and Uncle Jeff looked at Kaiyan, who was perplexed, and smiled proudly.
“I don’t understand why, but… could it be that you spread the rumors?”
Kaiyan asked Uncle Jeff with desperate hope that it wasn’t them.
This could become a slightly serious problem.
While he killed the Orc Lord, the credit was supposed to go to Tarien, according to the arrangement. But if rumors spread that he killed the Orc Lord within the Allied forces, what would happen?
“That greedy guy wouldn’t just sit still…!”
Of course, even if that happened, the fact that a soldier from a unit killed it would still give some credit to Tarien’s accomplishment. But the problem was that it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy that greedy person.
“Don’t worry, we didn’t spread the rumors.”
Uncle Jeff, understanding what Kaiyan was worrying about, looked at him with a serious expression and reassured him with a smile.
“Really? Then who…?”
“Don’t be surprised. It was spread directly to the soldiers by the command center. They said there’s an excellent soldier like you in the Allied forces.”
“Oh, I see… Wait, what? By the command center?”
Kaiyan’s first reaction was not confusion but astonishment.
The command center was the core and center of the Allied forces. It was hard to understand why such a story came out from there, especially about Kaiyan killing the Orc Lord.
“…Why?”
Without realizing it, his voice trembled slightly.
It took only three seconds for the feeling of astonishment to turn into uneasiness.
It was unavoidable since the command was a very important place where even someone like Tarien, a low-ranking officer, couldn’t enter. That his story came out from there made him feel uneasy.
“Hehe, my boy, killing the Orc Lord was truly an excellent achievement. What kind of problem could arise from that? Instead of punishment, they’ll reward you. So don’t worry.”
Although Uncle Max patted Kaiyan’s head as if telling him not to worry, it wasn’t as easy as he made it sound.
“That’s true. But because the story suddenly rose so high, it feels strange… It’s the command center, after all.”
What Uncle Max said was correct. Killing the Orc Lord was something worthy of praise a hundred times over. Even so, to achieve something great and still feel anxious. It was a dirty class society.
“But still, I’m relieved.”
If the source of the rumors had been the uncles, Kaiyan didn’t know how Tarien would react, but since it was spread by the command center, that arrogant brat wouldn’t be able to act recklessly.