Chapter 221
Chapter 221
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Memories of Galliante (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kergo Autonomous Zone.
The room where Shirone's party had stayed was impeccably tidy.
A black sphere formed in the quiet room. The sphere looked like a two-dimensional hole, from which five people were ejected.
Amy, having rolled across the floor, crawled toward the portal and called out for Shirone. She couldn't accept the fact that he wasn't returning.
Tess and Arin grabbed her as she tried to enter the portal.
Amy resented them for stopping her. They should never have left Shirone behind.
“Let go! Get out of my way! I’m going to save Shirone!”
“Amy! You can’t go back! We have to wait for now!”
“Wait for what? You’re the ones who left Shirone to die!”
“No! Pheope…!”
Arin stopped mid-sentence and stared at the portal. From the other side of the space, Shirone came flying toward them, spinning.
Tears welled in Amy’s eyes.
She opened her arms to catch Shirone and was sent tumbling to the floor by the spiraling force. She was so overjoyed she couldn't even feel the pain.
Arin watched the Metagate's portal disappear, thinking of the one fairy left behind in Heaven.
‘Thank you, Pheope.’
The portal had opened in the room provided by the Kergo chieftain.
Heaven was far away, but since they had traveled through Goffin's Gate, there was no issue of time relativity. Calculating the difference in the solar calendar, it seemed about three days had passed.
“Rian! Rian…”
Tess’s tears fell onto Rian’s face. He had returned alive, but she felt no joy. The boy who always boasted he would become the world’s greatest swordsman had lost his arm.
Only the bones of Rian’s right arm remained. She tried to pull the greatsword from his grasp, but his fingers wouldn’t open.
Tess was dumbfounded. How could he be holding the sword when there were no muscles, when even the ligaments were severed and dangling?
At that moment, the door burst open and a Kergo entered.
After staring blankly at the women hugging their partners with wary eyes, he ran to the exit and shouted.
“They’re back! They have returned!”
Arin read the hostility in the Kergo’s expression. Amy, sensing this was no time for tears, asked.
“Arin, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. But I think we should leave quickly. That was definitely not a friendly look.”
Amy’s group left the room, carrying the injured. The structure of the burrow was complex, but no one had forgotten the way out.
The problem was that it was a one-way street.
Footsteps flooded in from the other side of the cave, and dozens of warriors blocked the exit.
“Where do you think you’re running, you traitors!”
Arin interpreted the language through mental resonance.
“The sin of insulting the Kergo cannot be repaid even with death! We will flay you for three days and three nights and leave you to dry to death under the sun!”
Even through the translation, the words were chilling.
Amy couldn't understand the situation. They hadn't fulfilled Kadum's request, but it hadn't been a contract to begin with.
She saw a familiar old man standing among the warriors. His face was deeply wrinkled, and sagging lumps of not-yet-atrophied muscle hung from his frame.
“You… it can’t be?”
“You damn bastards!”
It was the voice of the Kergo chieftain, Kadum.
Was it possible to age so much in just a few days? Perhaps decades had passed while they were in Heaven.
“How dare the likes of you try to destroy the Kergo! Give me back my lifespan!”
“We don’t know anything about that! What happened to you?”
“Nonsense! If you didn’t pull some trick, why would my lifespan have shortened? I could have lived for another sixty years!”
Arin suddenly realized.
‘Canis…’
Even if all the men had had the chance to adjust the Book of Life, Canis was the only one who would have made such a choice.
She supported his decision. Compared to what Kadum had done to his people, this was getting off easy.
But even Canis probably didn't know the situation would turn out like this.
As the warriors approached, exuding a powerful aura, Amy instinctively entered the Spirit Zone.
She looked for Mahatu, but he was nowhere to be seen.
If the Anti-Angel Faction had been purged, this place was an enemy den. There was no one to help them.
“Capture them alive! I will grant those bastards a gruesome death!”
The Kergo warriors approached, weapons at the ready. Their individual strength was formidable, but the collective fighting spirit of the group was suffocating.
‘What should I do? Block the path with a Fire Wall? But that’s dangerous in a cave.’
Just as five giants were about to charge with their spears raised, a commotion erupted from the direction of the exit.
A terrified Kadum looked back and shouted.
“What is it! What’s happening!”
It seemed his spirit had broken along with his aging body.
Before long, the warriors guarding the rear were sent flying toward Amy's group.
“Are you all right?”
Amy’s face went blank.
Mahatu, whom she thought had been captured, was standing there. More surprising were the people he had brought with him.
Jis, whom they had parted ways with after the translation, stood under the protection of the Parrot Mercenary Corps, with Captain Marsha and Vice-Captain Freeman also present.
“Jis? What are you doing here?”
“No time! Get over here, quickly!”
Before Jis could finish, the Kergo warriors charged.
From their perspective, they had to capture Shirone's party at all costs.
A civil war had already broken out in the Kergo Autonomous Zone.
The residents had joined the Anti-Angel Faction, and if things ended this way, the Angel Faction’s downfall was inevitable.
“Freeman! Go get the kids!”
Marsha kicked Freeman on the backside.
Freeman, who hadn't taken the Reverse Technique Tree, moved with incredible speed.
The warriors’ spears and swords couldn't even graze him. It was a Gunner’s Schema that sacrificed regeneration for speed.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
Every time Freeman, now in the heart of the enemy lines, fired his guns in all directions, warriors were slammed into the cave walls. Soon, only Freeman remained standing amidst the thick smoke of magic bullets.
Amy wondered if this was really the same man she had fought against. By changing his Schema, his fighting style had completely transformed.
“Let’s go. We can’t hold out for long.”
“Ah, yes!”
Amy’s group followed the Parrot Mercenary Corps and fled.
Kadum’s warriors gave chase, but not in threatening numbers.
The dictator who had ruled the Kergo for hundreds of years had lost all his power along with his physical youth.
“No! Don’t go! I don’t want to die like this! Please, give me back my lifespan!”
Kadum’s scream echoed through the cave.
@
While escaping Mount Toa, Shirone's group heard the full story from Mahatu.
When Kadum’s body aged, the priests declared martial law and imprisoned the Anti-Angel Faction.
The one who rescued them was Jis.
Having arrived in the autonomous zone to pay off Falcoa’s debt, he had sensed the uneasy atmosphere and begun to investigate.
He then discovered that Mahatu was imprisoned and led the Parrot Mercenary Corps here.
“Thank you, Jis. We wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for you.”
Jis’s face turned red at Amy’s praise.
“It’s nothing. Nothing compared to how you helped me. Anyway, are you okay? Why are only the guys in this state?”
Amy checked on Shirone’s condition. He still showed no signs of waking up.
“Things just turned out that way. Can we find a doctor on the island? Or should we go to the Magic Guild?”
Marsha looked over the injured. Even if Shirone and Canis were merely unconscious, Rian’s condition was critical.
All the flesh on his right arm had been stripped away. With a wound this severe, he should have died from blood loss, but for some reason, he wasn't bleeding.
“What happened to Rian? No, more importantly, how was he treated? Is it really okay to leave him like this?”
Tess said, her voice choked with sobs.
“I don’t know. He ate a giant’s arm, so maybe it’s because of that. As long as he’s alive, I’ll find a way to fix him.”
“A giant? Ate an arm? What on earth are you talking about?”
Tess just shook her head.
When they reached the entrance of Mount Toa, the Parrot Mercenary Corps’ carriage was waiting.
Mahatu bowed his head, conveying his profound apology.
“The chieftain’s immorality has endangered the messengers of God. Please, forgive us.”
The Anti-Angel Faction was a faction created to oppose those who used God’s name for their own selfish desires.
From Heaven’s perspective, they were heretics with a mindset that could trigger the final war, but Amy couldn't bring herself to blame Mahatu.
“I guess one of our companions, a real rascal, wasn’t too fond of Kadum. We’re the ones who should be sorry. It’s a relief things worked out, but we nearly caused a lot of sacrifices.”
“It was bound to happen eventually. If Kadum had remained strong, overthrowing the system would have required far more sacrifices. Thank you.”
Amy waited for Mahatu to say something else.
But he asked nothing of the people who had returned from Heaven. He had chosen independence.
Amy boarded the carriage. Just as the happiness of his people was Mahatu’s priority, her friends’ safety was hers.
Mahatu didn't move until Amy's party disappeared over the horizon.
@
“Hurry! Hurry!”
The one doctor and four healing mages Marsha had found by scouring Galliante Island entered Jis’s house.
The doctor was horrified when he saw Rian’s condition.
He prayed that the boy hadn't endured such torture while conscious.
“Th-this is…”
Tess clung to him, sobbing.
“Doctor! Please fix him! You can fix him, right?”
The doctor remained silent, as if mute. What on earth was he supposed to do?
Fixing something meant returning what was broken to its original state. He couldn't create something new that had completely vanished.
“There’s nothing to be done. I’m no great doctor, but it would be the same for anyone else. If we don’t amputate, he could die.”
“Amputate? This boy is a swordsman! He’s supposed to become the world’s strongest swordsman!”
“We have to cut it off below the shoulder. If you don’t want him to become the world’s strongest corpse.”
Tess sank to her knees, her strength gone. The doctor was right.
No one would remain sane after waking up to see an arm of nothing but bone. It wasn't bleeding now, but there was no telling when it might start again.
“Kuh! This… is no joke.”
The healing mages, working in pairs, were casting recovery magic on Shirone and Canis.
They were casting ‘Healing’ to boost vital functions and ‘Purify’ to clear the mind, but it felt like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
“What on earth happened? Who are these kids? In all my life, I’ve never seen anyone who wouldn’t wake up after being treated for this long.”
Amy said.
“They’re students at a magic academy, so it’ll be tougher than with ordinary people.”
“Urgh! If we go on for more than ten minutes, we’ll need an hour’s rest. We’ve already passed our limit!”
“Please, just hold on for another ten minutes! I’ll pay you whatever you want.”
“At my age, money is no object. How about a date instead? You look just like my first love.”
Amy’s eyes widened, then she quickly nodded.
“Huh? Okay! I’ll do it, so please just try a little harder.”
“…Don’t make an old man’s wit feel so crass. Anyway, they must be precious to you. We’ll do what we can.”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
As Amy repeatedly expressed her gratitude, the mage casting Purify clicked his tongue and chided his colleague.
“Hey, you shouldn’t make such a cruel joke.”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“No, it’s just that I clearly remember your first love was the ugliest of the ugly.”
The two old men cackled. As unofficial 9th-grade mages, they had never seen the spotlight in their lives, but for the first time in a long while, they felt their blood pumping.
“Shall we go full power for a change?”
As they amplified the recovery magic, Shirone’s body began to glow brightly.
Spurred by a sense of competition, the mages working on Canis also strengthened their magic so as not to be outdone.
The doctor, having finished preparing for surgery, gave instructions to Tess.
“Alright, lay him down here. There will be a lot of blood, so have plenty of towels ready.”
Tess, sobbing uncontrollably, moved Rian’s body to the center of the bed. Then, the doctor took out a grisly-looking long saw from his bag.
He was unconscious, so there was no need for anesthesia.
Even if he were awake, it wasn't the kind of pain that could be endured with local anesthesia anyway.