I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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Time had passed, and the sun began to rise slowly. This meant that the night was over, and the curse that the vampire had placed on Jeongjae’s arm had greatly weakened. Jenis suggested returning to the castle to continue the healing process, but Jeongjae flatly refused.

“But it’s just mana healing, right? It doesn’t really make a difference whether we do it inside the castle or outside. More than that… More than that, I just don’t want to take my eyes off this scene.”

While Jeongjae recuperated by sitting on a box in the street, the soldiers slowly began to move, laying to rest the bodies of the three soldiers who had fallen in this battle.

One had a shattered head, and the other two were crushed by an invisible force. With no intact corpses around, even if someone didn’t know them, seeing these corpses could easily induce trauma.

Moreover, among them were family members of the deceased soldiers, and even if they weren’t family, in a small village of just three thousand people, they would have all been acquainted closely.

Jeongjae found it hard to help collect the bodies and clear the debris due to his fatigue, but he didn’t want to turn away from seeing the bodies of the soldiers who fought for his territory being treated.

“Then do as you please. I’ll start mana extraction.”

“It’s going to hurt a lot during the process of extracting that dark mana, so be careful.”

“Lord Baron, you be careful too. When removing the mana, you have to dispel the pain magic and then tightly grip the wound area.”

“Wait a minute.”

Upon hearing Jenis’s words, cold sweat broke out on Jeongjae’s face. Jenis tilted her head with an innocent expression.

“Why do you say that?”

“Is it absolutely necessary to dispel the pain magic? I know it’s difficult to extract the dark mana if the magic circles overlap, but, um… if you take your time and work carefully, couldn’t it be possible?”

“You know you need to open the mana circuit first, right? If you try to extract while maintaining the pain magic, the diffusion of the mana will outpace the healing. Luckily, the holy power of the cross is returning, and I think we can finish this up quickly, so just hang in there a bit.”

“Just a moment! Let’s think critically. There might be a better way. Really!”

The attention of the soldiers shifted toward the Baron as Jeongjae writhed in agony at the pain that was about to come. Jeongjae suddenly felt a rush of shame and regretted not proceeding with the healing inside the castle.

“No! Just hold on. You’re a war hero, right? Why get worked up over something like this?”

Jenis brought her hand to Jeongjae’s arm with a serious expression. Jeongjae closed his eyes tightly and shouted.

“Don’t talk so easily about someone else’s broken bones!”

“Come on, it’ll be over soon. Look at the people around you. Aren’t you ashamed?”

In the end, Jeongjae succumbed to her words and decided to obediently follow Jenis’s treatment. Even in this somber atmosphere, the soldiers watched the bickering between Jeongjae and Jenis as if it were an interesting spectacle.

If it could somehow uplift the downcast mood of the soldiers, it wouldn’t be a problem, but it was still…

“Uggghhhhhh!”

“Owwwwwwww!”

Right then, as Jeongjae screamed at the pain in his arm, Jenis also let out a startled shout while throwing out the dark mana.

“My arm, my arm, wait! It hurts!”

“Just wait! I can’t touch it yet, ow ow ow ow!”

Jeongjae panicked as he felt a sudden pain in his arm and tried to swallow his tears. Meanwhile, Jenis, unable to release the dark energy from her hands, flailed her arms, unable to alleviate Jeongjae’s suffering in time.

With no other choice, Jeongjae lifted his healthy right hand to create a pain magic circle before plunging it deep into his left arm.

Feeling the pain subside, Jeongjae finally let out a sigh of relief.

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack from the pain.”

Jeongjae muttered in a voice that sounded a decade older. Walter had smiled through treatment even when he accidentally got stepped on by an ogre, and Margaret had hobbled her way to the transport tent after being severely cut in the stomach by a shadow knight.

The two had endured such pain without proper pain magic, yet they maintained their composure. Jeongjae began to doubt whether he was still lacking in professionalism.

But on the other hand, what could he do? It really did hurt. If fighting well despite pain was the heroic quality, then Jeongjae would have a 100% intention to quit that and live as an ordinary wizard or baron for the rest of his life.

“I’m sorry. I’m still not skilled enough with healing magic.”

“No, you did well. Extracting it all at once without dragging it out is a good job. Now we just need to put the bones back together…”

Jeongjae had screamed so loudly that it felt like his voice was almost hoarse. Several soldiers who had been looking over with worried expressions let out relieved smiles once they knew Jeongjae had safely removed the curse on his arm.

Jeongjae bowed his head toward the soldiers.

“I apologize for causing a scene at such an inopportune time. It seems I ruined the atmosphere, everyone.”

“No, it’s alright, Lord Baron.”

Herk, the village chief respected among the townsfolk, stepped forward to speak.

“On the contrary, it is such a sight that shows how much you fight for us with your very life. Everyone is moved by your determination to stand here even amidst pain.”

“Honestly, I’d be more thankful if you didn’t feel moved.”

Jeongjae pulled himself toward where the bodies lay.

One decapitated corpse and two bodies that were almost piles of meat. Even though Jeongjae thought he had seen corpses to his fill over three years, this scene was still harrowing.

He believed he’d suffered enough from his past losses. But had he ever experienced the loss of ‘his people’ whom he vowed to protect?

In fact, if he were to break it down, all the soldiers were either ‘Walter’s people’ or ‘Rose’s people’, and if not, they were ‘Margaret’s elves’. Being in such a peculiar position as a wizard, Jeongjae had never been given official responsibility for military operations or command authority. The only experience where he had temporarily taken command was when there had been more than two or three wizards in a frontline.

This meant that last night’s events were the first time Jeongjae had ever experienced losing subordinates he was supposed to command. Unable to bear the rising shock, Jeongjae fell back to his knees and sat down. He was not performing for show or acting; he genuinely couldn’t contain the emotions surging from his heart.

“I’m sorry. If only I had made a better judgment…”

“My lord.”

Jenis called Jeongjae from behind. Since her voice was unnaturally cold, Jeongjae turned his face to look up at her.

“Jenis?”

“I won’t blame myself.”

Jenis’s voice was devoid of emotion. More than that, it was firm.

“I have plenty of ways to blame myself. If I’d been able to hold on a bit longer, if I’d managed to think of better ideas to stall for time. If I’d prevented the sacrificed ones from approaching that demon. If I’d managed to keep that guy’s attention on me a bit longer.”

“But that’s not your fault—”

“Yes, it is not. I did the best I could at that moment, and while I share responsibility for the outcome, I refuse to belittle myself. In my original personality, I would’ve even been ashamed. Do you know why?”

Somehow, Jeongjae felt like he understood the answer and shut his mouth.

“Because if I show myself blaming, I can see the man who would unnecessarily blame himself too much. A man who would say, ‘No, my responsibility is greater,’ and blame himself while regretting. Let’s do this. I failed too, but it’s not really a fault. You’ve also failed a bit, but it’s not wrong; it was unavoidable. In any case, we prevented the territory from falling. We managed to stop that monster from causing a massacre with all those people, right?”

“Indeed.”

It was Philip, the captain of the guards, who answered instead of Jeongjae, who had been quietly crouching down. This man, who had once nearly committed desertion but stayed behind to fight for his territory, stood there with a resolute expression as if to keep his own word.

“What we wore this armor for was not to live comfortably in this territory. We wanted to fight for our homeland rather than die with no ties in the far northern regions, my lord.”

Philip slammed the ground with his spear and saluted.

“At least George, Beron, and Roy have obtained that glory. Unlike the other soldiers who have been dragged along against their will, I mean, my lord.”

“But Philip…”

“Even if what’s happening now is the Baron’s fault, it doesn’t matter. According to the rumors going around, after someone like you came to this quiet place, our territory became the enemy’s target. Hearing that, I thought like this.”

Philip’s words flowed smoothly as always. It was clear that both Philip and Hurk belonged to a certain educated class in this small territory.

“If our weakhearted lord would keep that in mind. If you heard the rumors, you might feel sorry for us, thinking it could be true.”

“The rumors are likely true. And I am truly…”

“Even if it’s true, even if the Baron brings enemies to this territory!”

Philip rudely interrupted Jeongjae’s words. Jeongjae did not reprimand him for his actions.

“Even if that is the case, it is still another form of glory. Even if it hadn’t been, our youths would have had to fight somewhere against enemies. Even if they had to die while wielding spears, it would have taken over two months for the death notices to reach home. All these soldiers are the same. So if my lord has brought enemies to this land, and using that as an excuse to gather us here in this territory, then if we must die, let us die as proud humans, not just mere chunks of meat being stacked among countless corpses, so that it has greater significance to those around us. We are grateful for that. Isn’t that right?”

At the end, Philip raised his voice as if to stir responses from the soldiers. When Philip raised both hands to the sky, the soldiers caught on to the meaning and shouted in unison.

“Long live the Baron! Long live the Lord! Long live Harriet’s Territory!”

Was it because Philip’s words were so convincing that the soldiers fell for it too? Or did Philip truly articulate the complex feelings of the soldiers in simple terms, giving voice to their positions?

Jeongjae couldn’t be sure what was the truth, but he could not lie to his own emotions. Even as he stood up, he couldn’t hold back the tears that finally burst forth. Just quietly, without noise, he wiped his flowing tears with the hem of his robe.

“Hey, what on earth happened here?”

From behind, near the boundary entrance of the territory, a woman’s voice came through. Beyond the trench created by Jeongjae’s bombardment and Dracula’s destruction, a royal courier appeared with a baffled expression, peering into the trench.

“Violet? The mage who was with Bernard?”

Jeongjae quickly wiped his tears and asked. Violet nodded in an awkward position, answering.

“Yes… um, it’s a food delivery… but um, the cart can’t get through? For some reason there are no guards at the boundary… is it possible I came at a bad time?”

“The timing is rather unfortunate, but considering it’s an unfortunate time, we’re at least thankful you arrived safely.”

Jeongjae said as he jumped with magic over the trench.

“I’ll help move the cart for now. The timing isn’t great, so the atmosphere might not be pleasant, but it would be best if you stay here for a while. There are places outside my protection that are quite dangerous. Jenis, can you come help?”

“I’m on my way, professor.”

“Uh… thank you. Is the bad timing you mentioned…”

Violet looked at the gathered people, hesitating. The distance was far and the crowd surrounding the corpses meant the bodies were hidden, but looking at the traces of devastation from the bombardment, one could at least guess the situation.

“There was a battle just last night. We lost three men on our side. I apologize for making you witness such a horrid sight, but please bear with us.”

“Ah, of course! Th-thank you! For taking care of the supplies prior to our delivery…”

Jeongjae and Jenis combined their telekinetic powers to lift the cart and move it into town, resolving one troublesome issue.

Harriet’s Territory had suffered even greater wounds from this battle than during the coastal defense, but these wounds were not insurmountable.

Meanwhile, Walter Hellhound had marched north with the army, determined to inflict a decisive wound upon the Demon King’s Army.