Chapter 85: Light in the Abyss

In the dimly lit cave, the young man walked around setting up torches.

He would place the torch a few feet away, and when the light went out, he would replace it with a new one. No one told him to do it, he just didn’t like being in the dark.

He pulls out the torches he has on his side and puts them on. A rugged and eerie rocky surface was revealed. Still, it was much better than the darkness.

“It’s not going to change the fact that we’re in the dark, Eil.”

A large man called out.

“That’s fine, Mr. Doros. I feel miserable when I sit still in the dark.”

The young man called Eil countered, but Doros only laughed in a self-deprecating manner.

“Oh wretched, that’s fine. It’s absolutely true. Well, it’s not like I wanted it to be this way.”

They were soldiers who had been liberated at the end of the war. They were given a small change in the name of bounty and returned to their hometowns, but even there they could not fit in and ended up gathering back together. They were such people.

They were gathered by order of the country and fought to protect the country.

Bathed in the blood of their enemies, bathed in the organs of their allies, they fought desperately.

It wasn’t just once or twice that he slashed his mad comrades from behind. The reason why I didn’t go mad was because I was already mad.

One day, suddenly, a nobleman whose name I don’t even know said with a smile.

“The war is over”

I didn’t understand. Isn’t the enemy still existing several kilometers away?

They said the talks are over. I don’t know for sure, but they seem to have acquired the land. We seem to be used up.

I was kicked out with dozens of silver coins in my hand. My parents back home welcomed me warmly, but after a few days, with a smile on their faces, they said:

‘When are you leaving? 』

It seems that the field is supposed to be inherited by the younger brother and his wife. A childhood friend who had promised to marry Eil got married to another man a month after Eil was drafted into the army. There was no place for him back home.

I was told by my father that I had the face of a murderer.

I wasn’t aware of it, but maybe it was. Even if it was so, I fought to protect the country, to protect everyone.

Why do I have to have eyes that look like an abnormal person?

I wanted to protect everyone. When I told him that, he looked terribly annoyed. He said he didn’t ask for it.

……Why did we end the war?

It was hell there. But I had a place to stay. I had comrades-in-arms with murderous faces. The enemy had the same face. Even though he was filled with murderous intent and hatred, he was never treated as a foreign object.

I don’t like war. That’s where I should be.

My feet were naturally heading towards the border. There is no reason for us to be at war anymore. But maybe. I continued walking like a sleepwalker, holding on to thoughts that were more like delusions than hopes.

On the way there, he was attacked by bandits, but he escaped after slaying only three of them. He was so worried that he might be punished for fleeing before the enemy.

Around the border there were people who, like me, had not found a new life. I had a captain, and I had Doros, a senior I could rely on. We could start a war at any moment, but there was no battlefield.

They say it with their mouths. They say they have been abandoned and betrayed by their country.

Kilcord, their former captain, answered the voices of the lost children.

He planned to gather the soldiers who had nowhere to go and negotiate directly with the king to improve the treatment of the returning soldiers. I finally found a place to stay. While he thought so, he also knew it wouldn’t work.

That’s fine. The only difference is where you should die.

Hearing that the third princess was visiting Count Zander’s territory, they carried out a kidnapping mission. There were ten armed knights, but they were no match for the battle-hardened Kilcord troops.

…we are still on the battlefield.

It’s not that the knights were weak, it was the difference in consciousness that made the difference. The Kilcord team had no hesitation in slaying their enemies.

Thus the princess was kidnapped and imprisoned in a clumsy but sturdy cage made out of wood.

Everything is going amazingly well. Perhaps we can draw the king out and get him to give us what we want. Maybe we can survive.

The hope for life lit up my heart, but at the same time I began to fear death. I went around lighting torches in this way, hoping to extinguish such fears.

…… We are not insects crawling around in the dark. We are soldiers fighting to defend our honor.

Seeing Eil moving around so busily, Doros just chuckled and said nothing more.

……Aren’t you afraid Mr. Doros? Do you have any regrets?

I wanted to ask him that, but decided not to. I thought it was bad manners for a soldier to go deep into the heart of a person.

“Is the captain really trying to negotiate with the king?”

“That’s serious, seriously, seriously.”

Doros replied, as if he enjoyed it. Eil looks at him strangely, which he also seems to enjoy.

“The captain forbids us to touch Princess Sama. He doesn’t seem to have the slightest idea that I’m going to plant the seeds of a lowly geisha in her smug face.”

“Haa…”

Eil raised his eyebrows at the vulgarity of the remark, but Doros did not care about that and continued talking.

“Incidentally, he even released the maids without doing anything. In short, he wants to keep himself clean.”

“Wouldn’t it be uncool if we were to talk about honor with the king and we told him that we had humiliated someone related to him?”

“That’s what it is. We don’t want to blackmail the king, we just want to take back what was taken from us. It’s completely different whether I say I’m a warrior or a rapist. I know they won’t understand when we kidnapped the princess, but the important thing is whether or not you can accept it yourself.”

“Yes, I know…… a little bit, albeit with some disappointment.”

At Eil’s joke, Doros opened his mouth wide and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, that’s also human nature. The essence of men’s aesthetics is to be thin and tolerant.”

Doros suddenly tightened his expression and continued his words.

“… ……I’m sure at the moment you die, you’ll think, ‘Thank God I didn’t do anything pathetic. I’m glad I didn’t do anything pathetic.”

After saying that, Doros left while waving his hand.

There were some remnants that I would have liked to talk to him a little longer, but it would be tactless to chase after him. Eil next headed for where the simple prison was located.

“I will replace the torch.”

The figure of a dark-haired girl emerges in the orangey-brown light. Though young, her face was graceful.

Her dress was a little dusty, but that didn’t detract from her beauty. Rather, her beauty stood out in the mess.

We have involved such a lovely girl in our own desperation. Guilt welled up in me, and my heart ached.

The third princess, Listille, was expressionless. Only her big, round eyes moved to stare at Eil.

“Mr. Eil, you said.”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

I was surprised that the princess remembered my name, even though I was just a soldier.

“Are you troubled?”

“Eh……?”

Listille continued to speak indifferently. Her dark, lustrous eyes seemed to be able to see right into my heart, and I began to fear.

“It is often said that the ends justify the means, but sometimes the means negate the ends.”

“What do you mean……?”

Eil’s throat was parched and sore. He could have just ignored it and walked away quickly, but his legs wouldn’t move as if they were nailed to the floor.

“No matter what noble and elegant ideals you hold up, if you use violent means, they will be rejected. They are bad people, so what they are saying is wrong, and we don’t need to listen to them.”

“Shut up, you’re one of the people who abandoned us!”

I ended up yelling at her.

I was aware that I was doing something that could not possibly go well, and I felt guilty that I had involved a pretty girl. I could only respond to Listille’s words with an emotional outburst.

It’s a pity, I didn’t mean to say this.

Listille lowered his eyes sadly and fell silent.

…disappointed?

Eil wanted to apologize, but no words came out.

“What are you doing there?”

When I turned around to look at the low, authoritative voice, I saw a tall, thin man with a narrow, sharp eye.

It’s the captain’s Kilcord.

“Um, to exchange the torches…”

“Really”

Kilcord stared at Listille with a glare, as if he had somehow guessed what was going on..

“Please don’t impress my young man with strange things.”

Listille didn’t say anything, only returning an emotionless gaze.

“Captain, did you get a reply from the royal family or the count’s family?”

“Not yet. It’s about time there was some movement, but…”

Kilcord stroked his pointed chin with his fingertips. It was a habit of his when he was thinking.

“Or maybe those servants ran away.”

Unable to protect the princess, only the servants escape and live. If caught, they would naturally be subject to execution. If so, it is quite possible that they escaped to the Allies or the Empire.

“In that case, what will happen to the princess…?”

Eil took one look at Listille, who didn’t move like a doll, and asked..

“Don’t ask if you know”

Kilcord said coldly and went back to patrol again.

“… I’m sorry.”

Eil uttered an apology to whom or what he did not know.

I don’t know what will happen next, but if a royal messenger is coming, I want it to be soon.

In the dimly lit cave, the young man walked around setting up torches.

He would place the torch a few feet away, and when the light went out, he would replace it with a new one. No one told him to do it, he just didn’t like being in the dark.

He pulls out the torches he has on his side and puts them on. A rugged and eerie rocky surface was revealed. Still, it was much better than the darkness.

“It’s not going to change the fact that we’re in the dark, Eil.”

A large man called out.

“That’s fine, Mr. Doros. I feel miserable when I sit still in the dark.”

The young man called Eil countered, but Doros only laughed in a self-deprecating manner.

“Oh wretched, that’s fine. It’s absolutely true. Well, it’s not like I wanted it to be this way.”

They were soldiers who had been liberated at the end of the war. They were given a small change in the name of bounty and returned to their hometowns, but even there they could not fit in and ended up gathering back together. They were such people.

They were gathered by order of the country and fought to protect the country.

Bathed in the blood of their enemies, bathed in the organs of their allies, they fought desperately.

It wasn’t just once or twice that he slashed his mad comrades from behind. The reason why I didn’t go mad was because I was already mad.

One day, suddenly, a nobleman whose name I don’t even know said with a smile.

“The war is over”

I didn’t understand. Isn’t the enemy still existing several kilometers away?

They said the talks are over. I don’t know for sure, but they seem to have acquired the land. We seem to be used up.

I was kicked out with dozens of silver coins in my hand. My parents back home welcomed me warmly, but after a few days, with a smile on their faces, they said:

‘When are you leaving? 』

It seems that the field is supposed to be inherited by the younger brother and his wife. A childhood friend who had promised to marry Eil got married to another man a month after Eil was drafted into the army. There was no place for him back home.

I was told by my father that I had the face of a murderer.

I wasn’t aware of it, but maybe it was. Even if it was so, I fought to protect the country, to protect everyone.

Why do I have to have eyes that look like an abnormal person?

I wanted to protect everyone. When I told him that, he looked terribly annoyed. He said he didn’t ask for it.

……Why did we end the war?

It was hell there. But I had a place to stay. I had comrades-in-arms with murderous faces. The enemy had the same face. Even though he was filled with murderous intent and hatred, he was never treated as a foreign object.

I don’t like war. That’s where I should be.

My feet were naturally heading towards the border. There is no reason for us to be at war anymore. But maybe. I continued walking like a sleepwalker, holding on to thoughts that were more like delusions than hopes.

On the way there, he was attacked by bandits, but he escaped after slaying only three of them. He was so worried that he might be punished for fleeing before the enemy.

Around the border there were people who, like me, had not found a new life. I had a captain, and I had Doros, a senior I could rely on. We could start a war at any moment, but there was no battlefield.

They say it with their mouths. They say they have been abandoned and betrayed by their country.

Kilcord, their former captain, answered the voices of the lost children.

He planned to gather the soldiers who had nowhere to go and negotiate directly with the king to improve the treatment of the returning soldiers. I finally found a place to stay. While he thought so, he also knew it wouldn’t work.

That’s fine. The only difference is where you should die.

Hearing that the third princess was visiting Count Zander’s territory, they carried out a kidnapping mission. There were ten armed knights, but they were no match for the battle-hardened Kilcord troops.

…we are still on the battlefield.

It’s not that the knights were weak, it was the difference in consciousness that made the difference. The Kilcord team had no hesitation in slaying their enemies.

Thus the princess was kidnapped and imprisoned in a clumsy but sturdy cage made out of wood.

Everything is going amazingly well. Perhaps we can draw the king out and get him to give us what we want. Maybe we can survive.

The hope for life lit up my heart, but at the same time I began to fear death. I went around lighting torches in this way, hoping to extinguish such fears.

…… We are not insects crawling around in the dark. We are soldiers fighting to defend our honor.

Seeing Eil moving around so busily, Doros just chuckled and said nothing more.

……Aren’t you afraid Mr. Doros? Do you have any regrets?

I wanted to ask him that, but decided not to. I thought it was bad manners for a soldier to go deep into the heart of a person.

“Is the captain really trying to negotiate with the king?”

“That’s serious, seriously, seriously.”

Doros replied, as if he enjoyed it. Eil looks at him strangely, which he also seems to enjoy.

“The captain forbids us to touch Princess Sama. He doesn’t seem to have the slightest idea that I’m going to plant the seeds of a lowly geisha in her smug face.”

“Haa…”

Eil raised his eyebrows at the vulgarity of the remark, but Doros did not care about that and continued talking.

“Incidentally, he even released the maids without doing anything. In short, he wants to keep himself clean.”

“Wouldn’t it be uncool if we were to talk about honor with the king and we told him that we had humiliated someone related to him?”

“That’s what it is. We don’t want to blackmail the king, we just want to take back what was taken from us. It’s completely different whether I say I’m a warrior or a rapist. I know they won’t understand when we kidnapped the princess, but the important thing is whether or not you can accept it yourself.”

“Yes, I know…… a little bit, albeit with some disappointment.”

At Eil’s joke, Doros opened his mouth wide and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, that’s also human nature. The essence of men’s aesthetics is to be thin and tolerant.”

Doros suddenly tightened his expression and continued his words.

“… ……I’m sure at the moment you die, you’ll think, ‘Thank God I didn’t do anything pathetic. I’m glad I didn’t do anything pathetic.”

After saying that, Doros left while waving his hand.

There were some remnants that I would have liked to talk to him a little longer, but it would be tactless to chase after him. Eil next headed for where the simple prison was located.

“I will replace the torch.”

The figure of a dark-haired girl emerges in the orangey-brown light. Though young, her face was graceful.

Her dress was a little dusty, but that didn’t detract from her beauty. Rather, her beauty stood out in the mess.

We have involved such a lovely girl in our own desperation. Guilt welled up in me, and my heart ached.

The third princess, Listille, was expressionless. Only her big, round eyes moved to stare at Eil.

“Mr. Eil, you said.”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

I was surprised that the princess remembered my name, even though I was just a soldier.

“Are you troubled?”

“Eh……?”

Listille continued to speak indifferently. Her dark, lustrous eyes seemed to be able to see right into my heart, and I began to fear.

“It is often said that the ends justify the means, but sometimes the means negate the ends.”

“What do you mean……?”

Eil’s throat was parched and sore. He could have just ignored it and walked away quickly, but his legs wouldn’t move as if they were nailed to the floor.

“No matter what noble and elegant ideals you hold up, if you use violent means, they will be rejected. They are bad people, so what they are saying is wrong, and we don’t need to listen to them.”

“Shut up, you’re one of the people who abandoned us!”

I ended up yelling at her.

I was aware that I was doing something that could not possibly go well, and I felt guilty that I had involved a pretty girl. I could only respond to Listille’s words with an emotional outburst.

It’s a pity, I didn’t mean to say this.

Listille lowered his eyes sadly and fell silent.

…disappointed?

Eil wanted to apologize, but no words came out.

“What are you doing there?”

When I turned around to look at the low, authoritative voice, I saw a tall, thin man with a narrow, sharp eye.

It’s the captain’s Kilcord.

“Um, to exchange the torches…”

“Really”

Kilcord stared at Listille with a glare, as if he had somehow guessed what was going on..

“Please don’t impress my young man with strange things.”

Listille didn’t say anything, only returning an emotionless gaze.

“Captain, did you get a reply from the royal family or the count’s family?”

“Not yet. It’s about time there was some movement, but…”

Kilcord stroked his pointed chin with his fingertips. It was a habit of his when he was thinking.

“Or maybe those servants ran away.”

Unable to protect the princess, only the servants escape and live. If caught, they would naturally be subject to execution. If so, it is quite possible that they escaped to the Allies or the Empire.

“In that case, what will happen to the princess…?”

Eil took one look at Listille, who didn’t move like a doll, and asked..

“Don’t ask if you know”

Kilcord said coldly and went back to patrol again.

“… I’m sorry.”

Eil uttered an apology to whom or what he did not know.

I don’t know what will happen next, but if a royal messenger is coming, I want it to be soon.

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