Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Echoes of the Past
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In my past, I saw people die until my eyes stung.
It was my tenth birthday. On a day that should have been happier than anyone else's, I lost everything I loved.
The nauseatingly thick scent of blood, the voices of people screaming to be saved, the ash and acrid smoke that stung my eyes as they approached….
All of it mixed together, a hellscape that looked like blackened campus paint had been smeared across it, spreading over the village where I was born and raised.
The ordinary happiness I had taken for granted was utterly shattered by the hands of the Demon King's army and the Four Heavenly Kings, led by Durahan, who invaded my hometown, Mavilos.
Regret always came too late.
What if I had known about the monsters swarming around the village in advance and issued an evacuation order?
Or what if I had built a defensive barrier around the entire village and called for help from others?
Such thoughts swirled in my head.
Accusations kept rising, refusing to stop.
Because if they didn't, I felt like I would go mad.
- These apples were just harvested today. They're full of honey, sweet and delicious. Try one!
The fruit vendor who had always been kind to me had a large hole punched through where his heart should have been, and I saw his face contort in agony.
The man who was kind to everyone soon went limp, becoming a corpse that showed no further movement.
- Astal, show me magic again today! That trick where the water droplets turn into stars was so cool!
The little girl who had been laughing and playing with me just yesterday had her arms and legs severed. I saw her writhing like an overturned bug.
The girl who loved my magic let out a scream mixed with a cry and ended her short life.
- Bro! Teach me magic sometime too! I don't want to be a farmer like Mom and Dad, I want to be a mage!
The little boy who had looked at me with sparkling eyes, asking me to teach him magic, was doused in oil and set ablaze.
The boy who dreamed of becoming a mage in the future died in the flames, leaving behind the smell of burning flesh and horrific screams.
Only after the people I knew had withered away like wild grass and died miserably did the childhood me finally accept the bleak reality.
Before that, I thought I was a prodigious genius.
Because I possessed special eyes that could see magical power, unlike others.
Because I had mastered intermediate magic before any adult.
I was certain everything would be okay.
I thought it would be fine even if demons or monsters invaded, even if it was the Demon King's army.
…Looking back now, it's laughable nonsense.
People die so easily.
And a life already lost cannot be brought back.
I, being far too young, hadn't realized that fact.
I used healing magic until blood flowed from my mouth and nose, but no dead person came back to life.
Even after pouring out mana until I collapsed from exhaustion, I couldn't inflict a single wound on the enemy.
A demon who took my magic chuckled and, right before my eyes, sliced off all the flesh from a child's thigh down to the toes, saying…
…that this was true magic.
The child, unable to bear the pain of having his softest flesh shaved off, screamed and fainted.
Looking at that scene, I felt disgusted with myself. A revolting sensation, as if ants were crawling all over my body.
Why couldn't I save anyone?
Why couldn't I do anything?
No matter how much I breathed, my breathing wouldn't settle. I didn't want to believe the scene before my eyes was real.
No matter how much magic I used, I couldn't repel the Demon King's army.
No matter how much magic I used, I couldn't save the people.
It felt like fighting against a cold glass wall.
A dismal reality where even pounding until my hands bled wouldn't break it, and scratching with my nails wouldn't leave a scratch.
Only in that moment could I realize.
…I was not a genius.
I was just a lucky, excited brat.
I had simply been averting my eyes from that fact.
The Demon King's army wasn't killing me on purpose.
As if enjoying a spectacle, they laughed loudly as they tossed the children I played with high into the air.
And then, watching the children crash to the ground and turn into a gruel of blood and flesh.
I screamed.
Please stop, just kill me instead.
I shouted and cried until my voice was hoarse. I banged my forehead on the ground and begged the demons and monsters on my hands and knees.
"Brother! Come look at this brat! Uahahahaha!!"
"Everything happening here today is your fault, kid."
But all that returned was the merciless slaughter and cold sneer of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's army, the Death Knight Durahan.
Because a child's self-taught intermediate magic couldn't wound a high-ranking demon or monster.
My sense for magic, my combat instincts, everything was lacking. Magical power, mana capacity, the speed of activating magic circles…. Nothing was up to par.
That day, the study of magic approached my young self with cruel intensity.
Soon, the magical power flowing within my body was completely depleted.
A sensation as if all my muscles were twisting, objects began to appear double.
Blood began to flow from my eyes, nose, and mouth due to the backlash from overworking my mana core without considering the consequences.
'Am I going to die like this?'
The moment the word 'death' permeated my entire body,
That time when I thought I could never escape this hell where everything was burning.
"Astal, you must survive."
There was a man who put my fading consciousness on a horse, and a woman who cast magic so the horse could gallop out of the village.
"Astal, I'm sorry we couldn't properly celebrate your tenth birthday."
Those familiar faces were my parents.
Though they had never held a weapon, their pitiful struggle as they swung farm tools with trembling hands toward the demons was a desperate act to protect their beloved son.
"Even if you end up alone, never forget that we will always be by your side."
To me, it was