The Umbrella and the Farewell
The moment I heard the sharp whistle of multiple arrows flying straight toward me, a horrific vision of my body turning into a pincushion flashed through my mind. I spat out a curse, threw my arms up to shield my face, and squeezed my eyes shut.
But something felt off almost immediately. A strange sensation made me open my eyes, and I found a massive shadow looming over me. The owner of that shadow was Harry.
He had become my umbrella.
“H-Harry!”
“You okay? No injuries? Hehe.”
Blood poured steadily from the corner of his mouth. Countless arrows were lodged in his back. The gruesome sight stabbed into my eyes like a spike driven straight into my chest. My mind snapped into sharp focus.
“I’ll block them with this! Stay hidden here!”
I moved frantically. I stacked the remaining liquor crates from the cargo bed behind us to create a makeshift shield. I helped Harry sit down and crouched beside him.
“Thank you. Hyun-woo.”
“Just rest. We’ll figure something out.”
When I tried to stand, he grabbed my arm.
“Later.”
“Yes?”
“If you ever run into my sister while traveling… tell her I missed her a lot. And that I’m sorry I couldn’t save her back then.”
“What are you saying! You should tell her that yourself when you meet her!”
“Hehe… I don’t know. About that.”
Harry gave a tired smile and pulled an ivory comb from his pants pocket. He pressed it firmly into my hand.
“It’s the comb my sister used. The loan sharks took everything else. This was the only thing I managed to keep. If you meet her later, give it back for me. I’m counting on you, Hyun-woo.”
“Harry…”
We thought we had dodged the arrow storm, but now fresh soldiers came pouring in from the front, forming two lines that completely blocked the alley entrance. Spearmen in front, archers behind.
“Harry!” Phelton shouted from where he gripped the reins.
Harry’s exhausted face hardened with resolve. He shot to his feet before anyone could stop him and leaped toward the front of the wagon in a single bound.
“Fire!”
In one explosive jump, Harry covered the distance and began hurling the soldiers clustered at the alley mouth or beating them senseless, ignoring the spears and arrows raining down on him. His body became a pincushion in seconds. Blood gushed endlessly from the holes riddling his massive frame, yet he fought on like an immortal warrior.
“Aaaargh! It’s a monster!”
“This bastard’s a damn monster!”
“Save us!”
Thanks to Harry’s ferocious rampage, we managed to break free of the alley. But cruelly, Phelton didn’t wait for him. He left Harry wrestling with the soldiers and drove the wagon hard down the riverside road.
“Harry’s still back there! Harry’s left behind!”
My voice was thick with accusation, but neither Phelton nor Marcus answered. Watching Harry grow smaller and smaller as he stood alone, my heart ached unbearably.
Is this really okay? Can we just abandon him like this? We’re on the same team.
Guilt crashed over me like a tidal wave.
Once we had put some distance between us, Harry seemed to accept that his duty was done. He smiled at our cold departure and raised a hand in farewell. An arrow streaked in like lightning and buried itself in the side of his head. The giant’s shoulders slumped, and he toppled backward.
“Haaaaarryyyyy!”
I couldn’t hold back the surge of emotion and broke into violent sobs.
But the grief lasted only a moment. Suddenly, a female knight on a white horse burst out from a side alley. The crisis wasn’t over yet.
The instant I saw her, strength flooded back into my legs. And the rage that had been building from Harry’s death exploded all at once.
“Halt!”
The knight galloped alongside the wagon, then suddenly leaped from her horse and landed in the cargo bed. She grabbed the railing, climbed up in one smooth motion, and immediately drew her sword on me.
I stood with my back to the driver’s seat. We faced each other atop the speeding wagon. Her eyes as she stared at me were ice-cold—like she was looking at a demon, or perhaps a filthy insect. But wrapped in grief and fury, I refused to yield an inch.
Wait… this woman. Ah, I remember her. She was the one I saw through the golden orb a few days ago. Is her job something like a police officer who catches criminals in this world? That explains it.
I had sensed she would become a dangerous figure later, yet I hadn’t prepared. If I had been more thorough, Harry might not have died. Waves of bitter regret and self-reproach tormented me.
“That courtesan said you were a beautiful otherworldly being as lovely as an elf. She was right.”
Her first words were strangely off-topic. Then she got to the point.
“Stop the wagon. If you do, I’ll spare your lives.”
I answered in a low, almost detached voice.
“Who would believe a promise like that?”
It felt like my mouth was moving on its own. I even curled my lips into a wicked smile. Seeing Harry die must have broken something in my head. Have I gone mad?
“Then there’s no helping it.”
The knight gripped her sword with both hands, clearly deciding further talk was pointless, and prepared to strike me down.
Suddenly, her inner thoughts flowed into me.
Once her decision was made, the knight charged like a gale.
“Haaap!”
She closed the distance and leaped low. Since I already knew her intention, there was no way I would lose. No—I refused to lose.
It was as if I had already seen the answer on the test sheet. Without needing to think, my body moved on instinct. Everything depended on reflexes, and in that area, I had absolute confidence. My dynamic vision was just as sharp. After all, I had been in the university baseball club and was their famous fourth batter. People often praised me for having foresight that could rival a pro.
As the knight attempted her mid-air spin, the blue fabric of her skirt swirled like a whirlwind and flared upward. The speed from takeoff to rotation was impressive—roughly one and a half seconds by my estimate.
But I was already above her head.
I had known what she would do the moment she jumped, so I had crouched low and waited. If she aimed for my neck, all I had to do was duck.
“Huh?”
I heard the knight’s startled voice right beside my ear. The man she had seen as nothing more than a weakling had countered her perfectly. Her eyes widened in shock and she lost her rhythm for a split second.
That was enough.
Still crouched, I let out a roar filled with all my pent-up rage and charged at her as she tried to land unsteadily.
“Yaaaaaah!”
I slammed my shoulder hard into her waist and shoved her straight out of the cargo bed.
“Ugh!”
The knight tumbled out of the wagon and rolled across the paved road. I glared fiercely at her shrinking figure.
She stopped rolling, stood up immediately, and stared at me with an expression of utter disbelief. From the look of it, she wouldn’t be pursuing us anytime soon.
After shaking off the golden-haired knight, we threw out every last piece of remaining cargo to lighten the wagon and increase our speed. Reports of the enemy’s movements kept flooding into my ears in real time.
—They went east!
—That area is residential!
Hurry! Civilians could be taken hostage!
I relayed the soldiers’ movements to Phelton constantly, and together we skillfully slipped through their encirclement inside the vast city.
Before long the darkness lifted, and the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon. Just as I was thinking we should abandon the wagon, Phelton suddenly stopped the carriage in the middle of a bridge spanning the river.
“What’s wrong?”
Phelton was drenched in cold sweat, breathing raggedly.
“My eyes… I can’t see anymore…”
“What?”
How could this be? First Harry, now Phelton too?
I jumped down from the cargo bed and checked on him. Shockingly, two arrows were buried in his left side, one above and one below his ribs. He had bled so much on the way here that the driver’s seat was completely soaked in red. I hadn’t realized how badly wounded he was until daylight came. Damn it.
To make matters worse, Marcus sitting beside him had an arrow clean through his thigh. He was bleeding heavily too, eyes half-closed, groaning as he hovered on the edge of death.
“The coin landed heads…” Phelton muttered, head tilted, eyes unfocused. “It was definitely heads…”
“Can you still move?”
He shook his head slowly.
“Looks like I’m done for. You two go on without me.”
“What are you talking about!”
When I spoke through tears, he gave a weak smile.
“There should be cigarettes in my inner pocket. Can you take one out and put it in my mouth?”
I rummaged through his inner pocket, found the cigarettes and matches, pulled one out, lit it, and placed it between his dry lips.
Phelton took a long drag. His body immediately rebelled and he coughed up blood.
“Cough, cough…!”
Even so, he kept the cigarette between his lips and looked up at the sky with an expression that said he felt truly alive.
He let out a faint, smiling sigh and spoke to me.
“I’ve only been here a few days… what a pitiful end.”
What are you saying? This isn’t the time to worry about others, Phelton. You’re the one in critical condition!
“Hey, rookie.”
“Yes?”
“To be honest… I was quietly moved when I saw you release that slave girl.”
Phelton often said he was moved by even my smallest actions. It must just be his personality.
“After living as a bandit for so long, you’re the first guy I’ve seen who could turn down women and still keep his restraint. You looked like some kind of great saint. Heh heh.”
I was puzzled why he was bringing this up in such a dire moment, but I stayed quiet, sensing it was something important.
“It’s funny, but seeing that made me trust you even more. Ah, so this guy is the real deal. Not that I’m telling you to live like a saint forever. I just thought, after seeing you that day, that I could entrust my back to you. You seemed genuinely decent and kind. In a bandit group that loves nothing more than stealing and stabbing people in the back, that was a rare sight. It felt refreshing.”
Phelton smiled faintly, then let out a tired sigh and got to the main point.
“So, if you make it back alive… rip the sheet at the head of my bed. There’s half a map hidden inside. And—”
With a trembling hand, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a gold-plated pocket watch, offering it to me.
“If you open the back of this watch, you’ll find the other half of the map. Combine them and go to the place it shows.”
“What’s there?”
“My entire fortune.”
“Huh…? How can you just give me something so valuable?”
“You won’t waste it on gambling or women, will you? That’s why I’m trusting you with it. And if you ever make a huge fortune with my money, erect a statue of me someday. One where I’m holding a cigarette in one hand and doing a beautiful woman from behind. Heh heh…”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious.
“I can’t just take the treasure you worked so hard to save, Phelton.”
“Don’t feel burdened. What use is money to me now…?”
His voice was faint and low as he said, “What use is money to me now…?” I understood the meaning all too well, and the tears I had been holding back finally burst free.
Crying, I slowly shook my head. As if begging him to live.
“Don’t give up so easily. I’ll get both you and Marcus out of here. We can all survive. Just trust me. I never said anything before, but I have a special ability. We can laugh together again. Okay? Let’s go. Let’s escape the city together!”
I poured out my true feelings to Phelton, but I never heard his reply.
He simply reached forward, groped around until he found my hand, and gently placed the pocket watch in my palm. Then he gave me one last bright smile.
“Rookie. There’s no more time. Go. And when you get back, make sure you tell the boss this: that Phelton and Harry remained proud members of the Elk Bandits until the very end. That we gave everything for our comrades.”