Chapter 156
Chapter 156
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: The Second Encounter (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Amy realized Freeman was more tactical than she had expected.
He was a master of Schema and possessed Compound Eyes, and his three percent anti-magic neutralized even her sniping.
It was a method that allowed him to fight his own battle at close, medium, and long range.
“So that’s where you were hiding?”
Freeman took flight, holding a gun loaded with mana-infused bullets. His process of closing the distance by kicking off trees was less a fluid motion and more a series of disjointed leaps.
The battle that followed was a cat-and-mouse chase.
Amy continued to try and snipe him, but hitting Freeman was a distant hope. No matter how much she backed it up with Red Eyes, a three-percent margin of error was bound to occur.
She could probably hold her own if she let him get to mid-range, but that was no different from stepping into Freeman’s own backyard.
‘This is the only way.’
Amy didn’t give up and stuck to sniping. But for Freeman, who didn’t even need to dodge, it was getting boring enough to make him yawn.
It didn’t matter what method she devised. A snipe would never hit, and if she got close, he could just evade with his Compound Eyes.
“I’ve heard a mage’s mental energy has its limits…”
In the early stages of a fight, a mage who didn’t need to reload had the advantage. But as long as they couldn’t cast spells indefinitely, the tide would inevitably turn in the gunner’s favor over time.
When the speed of her Flame Strikes began to slow, Freeman started to move in to catch his prey.
Amy no longer had the mental energy left to cast spells. Her mind felt bleached white. Omniscience would no longer adhere to omnipotence.
“Hah. Hah.”
But Amy squeezed out one last shred of her mental strength. And finally, she cast her last Flame Strike.
Freeman watched the surging magic with a calm expression. As a gunner and ballistics expert, he had already realized the point of impact was slightly off.
Freeman raised his two guns and placed his index fingers on the triggers. His opponent would soon be unable to even maintain her Fly magic. It was safe to think of her as just an ordinary girl now.
*Boom!*
At that moment, a powerful impact struck Freeman’s temple. For the first time, an emotion showed on his face.
Doubt and wonder.
The Flame Strike had definitely been off target by a whole ten meters. So how could the impact have possibly reached him?
That was his last thought. Struck in a vital spot, Freeman fell to the ground with a thud. Flames began to flicker across the face of his sprawled-out body.
‘Marsha…’
Amy, who had been clinging precariously to a tree to make her way down, finally lost her strength and fell on her rear.
The fatigue was immense. Her mind was more exhausted than if an ordinary person had worked for four straight days without sleep.
But since her gamble of an adventure had succeeded, she didn’t feel too bad.
“Hah! Hah! I did it. I won.”
In Amy’s final attack, the range of her Sniper Mode was actually less than a hundred meters.
If Freeman hadn't approached, the Flame Strike would have dissipated before even reaching its target.
But Freeman had charged in, and that was his fatal mistake. Giving up a full two hundred meters of distance, Amy had used her remaining mental energy to attempt an omnidirectional breakaway spell.
She had created a zone that locked onto only the Flame Strike, redirecting its trajectory to slam into Freeman.
Against such a method, his three-percent anti-magic was useless for dodging the attack.
If before she had been throwing stones, this was like hitting him with one held directly in her hand.
“Well, at least I won. If I’d died, I would have been too embarrassed to even go to heaven.”
Her friends were likely still in the thick of their battles, so she had no time to recover. Amy, her body hunched over, took a pained step toward the cliff.
* * *
Freeman’s face was on fire. But he didn’t even let out a groan.
From the moment he regained consciousness from the pain of the burn, only one thought occupied his mind.
‘I have to get to Marsha.’
Amy’s flames continuously seared his skin, but Freeman’s body was regenerating cells at a comparable speed.
On the line between pain and peace, neither living nor dead, Freeman recalled his childhood days with Marsha.
“Huh? It’s Freeman. Freeman the coward.”
“Droopy-browed Freeman! Hurry up and cry! I said cry!”
Freeman was always the target of teasing. Because he was a coward.
Of course, no one is born a coward. He believed his severely drooping, sad-looking eyebrows were the root of all his problems.
“S-Stop it. That hurts.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to cry. If you cry, Marsha will come. Pretty Marsha.”
“Don’t you bother Marsha!”
“You idiot, Marsha’s the leader of the pack, who’s gonna bother her? Besides, Marsha’s fun! Anyway, just hurry up and cry. Hmph, hmph.”
“Waaaaah! Marsha!”
Freeman couldn’t hold back his tears and ran away.
The other kids were hell-bent on making him cry. Poking his face with sticks was common, and sometimes, they even threw stones.
“Hey! Tell Marsha to come here! We’re gonna play war together.”
The children made Freeman cry so they could play with Marsha. Even so, Freeman always ran to Marsha’s house.
It was the only place he could go, an outcast like him.
Every time he came, he was struck by how desolate the house was. Her father, a mercenary, didn’t even bother with furniture. He was often out all night for work, and when he returned, he would always beat Marsha at least once.
When he opened Marsha’s door, he saw her sitting in a corner of the empty room.
There was no bed, no desk, not even a common blanket. Only a half-eaten piece of bread and a glass of milk occupied the space.
“Marsha, *hic*, the kids hit me.”
She always kept her hair cut short. But her face was pretty. Marsha greeted Freeman with a gentle smile.
“Geez, don’t you ever get tired of letting them push you around? Why do you even hang out with kids like that?”
“I don’t hang out with them. They find me no matter what and bully me.”
“Alright. I’ll go talk to them. Where are they?”
Freeman said, wiping his runny nose.
“Can’t you just not go? If that man comes home while you’re out, you’ll get hit.”
“I’ll get hit either way. I’ll tell them if they bully you, I won’t play with them anymore.”
“No! I know you don’t want to play with those jerks, but you force yourself to because of me. I hate seeing you smile at them.”
“My, my, thank you. Then you should try getting a little stronger. You’re the one getting help, but you talk big.”
Marsha poked Freeman’s forehead. Annoyed, Freeman ran to the door, spread his arms, and shouted.
“I still don’t want you to! Don’t go!”
“What’s with you today? You should try shouting like that at the other kids. Wait, do you like me? Is that why you’re jealous of me playing with them?”
Freeman’s face turned bright red. He was so tense he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, and he felt like he was going to be sick.
Finding his reaction funny, Marsha waved her hand and said.
“Hey, it was a joke, a joke. For someone with so much nerve, you’re so timid…”
“Fine! I like you! So what? You girl!”
Marsha stared blankly at Freeman.
“Am I not allowed to like you? Did I ask you to like me back? It’s my business who I like, so what right do you have to tell me what to do? Is a coward like me not even allowed to like someone?”
As Freeman, who was poor at expressing his emotions, shouted with uncharacteristic excitement, Marsha held out her hands to calm him down before things got too serious.
“O-Okay, I get it. I’m sorry. Of course, it’s your freedom to like someone.”
“D-Damn it! Seriously! You’re treating me like an idiot, too!”
Freeman grew even angrier at Marsha’s tone, which was like she was placating a child. Marsha chuckled, then grabbed Freeman’s wrist and led him to sit in her designated spot.
“I wasn’t treating you like an idiot. So just calm down a little.”
Marsha threw on a tattered cloak and prepared to leave.
Freeman, embarrassed by his outburst, fell silent for a moment before slowly raising his gaze.
“Are you really going to play with them?”
“No, I’ll just give them a stern warning and come right back. Let’s play together later.”
Freeman’s expression brightened instantly at Marsha’s words.
“Really? You have to come back quick!”
“I will. If you’re hungry, eat the bread and milk. I already ate.”
As Marsha left the house, silence fell once more. Freeman’s expression turned glum again as he blended into the scenery of the poor room.
‘Damn, I was going to tell her while giving her this.’
Freeman pulled a small hand mirror from his pocket. It was something he had bought with the spare change he’d earned doing errands for three whole months.
Marsha owned nothing but the single set of clothes on her back. Her adoptive father took everything else from her.
“Still, she’s a girl, she should have a mirror. That man is so strange. I don’t get why he acts that way when he has such a pretty daughter.”
Freeman smiled at the thought of how happy Marsha would be. But his reflection in the mirror was anything but a smiling face.
Severely drooping, sad-looking eyebrows.
Because of these eyebrows, he’d earned the nickname “crybaby” since he was young, and after living that way for ten years, he had truly become one.
“Are they that weird? They look fine to me.”
The years passed, and Marsha and Freeman turned seventeen.
Freeman was still the neighborhood coward, but he worked diligently and had a decent reputation.
But the only person he was truly close with was Marsha.
The reason he saved what little money he had left after living expenses was to buy presents for Marsha.
Of course, no matter what he bought her, it seemed her father took it all away, but Marsha was always genuinely happy when he gave her a gift.
To Freeman, no amount of money was too much to spend if it meant he could see Marsha smile.
At some point, she seemed to have lost her smile. He had a vague idea why. The person called her adoptive father had been tormenting Marsha more severely lately.
Of course, most of the children grew up in similar home environments.
Freeman himself was called useless every day by his alcoholic father.
Then one day, Freeman finally learned the truth. The abuse inflicted on Marsha was of a completely different nature from that of a parent to a child.
“Marsha, Marsha?”
That he went looking for Marsha that night was perhaps fate. He had met her during the day, and her face had been far more gloomy than usual, which had been weighing on his mind.
No matter how many times he knocked, Marsha didn't come out, and his anxiety grew.
Freeman had no choice but to climb through the window. Since there was nothing to steal anyway, the windows were usually left open in the summer.
“Huh, Marsha? You were in your room? Then why didn’t you answer…”
Freeman froze when he saw the scene inside the room, illuminated by the moonlight. He could see Marsha, on her knees, completely dazed.
There was a knife in her hand, and the blood dripping from its blade trickled across the floor toward a corpse.
“M-Marsha…”
Freeman snapped to his senses and ran to her. He didn’t know where he found the courage, but he felt that if Marsha was out of her mind, he had to do something.
“Get up. What in the world happened?”
After shaking her by the shoulders several times, Marsha finally came to.
She stared blankly up at Freeman, and shocking words came from her lips.
“My father… he tried to assault me.”
Freeman was at a loss for words.
He was quiet and had shady eyes, so Freeman had thought he was a creep, but wasn't he her parent?
The realization that his worst fears had come true filled him with a wave of disgust.
“Let’s run away. That man was a mercenary, right? If his comrades find out, they’ll come for revenge.”
Freeman was right. The intelligent Marsha came to her senses as soon as she heard his words. They had to get out of the house as quickly as possible.
Marsha suddenly let out a hollow laugh. She realized that because she had never owned anything, there was not a single item she needed to pack to leave this place.
Freeman grabbed Marsha’s wrist and pulled her out of the house. The two of them ran without stopping until they reached the edge of the village.
“Hah! Hah! We’re okay now. I think we can relax for now.”
“Yeah. They probably won’t chase us outside the village.”
Marsha panted, calming her heart. Though she feared her adoptive father’s comrades, she was confident she could run to the ends of the earth if she had to.