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Chapter 271 Volume IV - Chapter 118: Wise Words of a Not-So-Wise Man

After the General\'s image disappeared, a deep silence filled the room, broken only by the voice echoing in my mind.

\'Aiden... are you sure you want to do this?\'

I looked at the tiny figure of Sith floating in front of me, then sighed.

\'I\'m not, Sith, I\'m not. Sending someone to their death for my cause is not something I would do if I had no choice. But... this war has gone on too long, and if we don\'t end it soon, there will be many more casualties. So... I have to do it.\'

Sith looked at me worriedly and I smiled slightly.

\'Let\'s do what we have to do for now, we will regret it later. We have already started down this path.\'

I leaned over the table, opened a holographic window in front of me, and turned it into a blank page where I could draw.

\'Let me draw this rune first. I\'ll probably spend all night on it, so the sooner I start the better.\'

Sith floated over and sat on my shoulder.

\'Fine, just don\'t push yourself too hard.\'

I smiled again, for the last time, and then I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind, put all my focus on this drawing, and started to remember, to draw that complex rune I had seen in the game.

Yes, this rune was not my own creation at the beginning. It was a complicated rune that appeared later in the game, in later quests. I couldn\'t remember exactly how it was, but... I was sure what meanings I had to connect and in what ways.

All I had to do was to draw the rune so that it would work, and as I said, even if I had to spend all night trying to perfect it, it would be totally worth it.

*******

In the middle of the battlefield, I took aim at an enemy I had my eye on.

I didn\'t waste much time. When the pilot, controlling a robot almost three meters in size, hesitated only for a fleeting moment, I pulled the trigger.

As soon as the bullet of pure energy from my rifle reached the robot\'s cockpit window, it popped like a balloon. The three-meter-tall robot exploded into the air.

I instantly placed my rifle in my ring, drew my sword, looked behind me, certain that my position had been revealed, and what I found was not a dwarf charging at me, but a bullet that had almost pierced my helmet.

Three layers of Mana Barriers appeared at once, and the wind blowing in my opposite direction forced the bullet, which had a physical form, to slow down. The first layer broke quickly, the second layer followed, but the bullet could not penetrate the third one.

I looked for the dwarf who had shot at me, and I found him. He was not far from me, in the sparse bushes. He had found a good place for himself, but the fact that he was standing where the bullet had come from made him easy to find, especially when he was being searched for.

I flew at him, which wasn\'t hard to do with the wind magic. When he realized I was closing in on him, he tried to run away, but he was slow. The next second, his head separated from his body and fell to the ground.

While the battle was going on in all its violence and brutality... there were other things happening in the background.

In spite of the number of our soldiers, which certainly seemed to have decreased, though not by much, compared to yesterday, the enemy had increased in numbers and today they were dominant. They were slowly closing in on us, growing more and more convinced that they would win this battle.

While they were thinking this, the allies were digging one by one on the spot where we would fight tomorrow. Their work required so much caution and concentration that sometimes there was a problem and they had to contact me.

Still, we were in a good position, the enemy had not yet realized what was happening. They thought they had won the war and we wanted them to keep thinking that way.

"Aiden an\' Rulhan, they\'re gettin\' crowded here. If they keep goin\', there\'ll be trouble. Can ye come help?"

Rulhan and I answered Gurdas\' call for help at the same time.

"We are coming."

The fighting continued in the same way today. Having not slept all night, I continued to hold myself together and fight as many as I could.

*******

When night time came, instead of turning back and resting as usual, this time we were on alert a little behind the battlefield.

Just as we had planned, we were being pushed back, the Southern soldiers had been slightly overpowering us since midday, and as soon as they realized this, they began to attack more fiercely.

Worried that we might actually lose the war if we turned too much of a blind eye, the authorities had decided that most of the men would not sleep tonight.

Everyone had been given potions and pills to keep them from being overly affected by the lack of sleep, but it could still be exhausting after a while.

Especially for me, for whom this was the second night without sleep.

Still, I didn\'t let myself go, I tried to make the most of the last five minutes outside the battlefield, more alert than ever.

Tomorrow was the last day of this battlefield, after all... At least that\'s what I was planning and hoping for.

I let out a deep sigh, then turned my eyes back to the sky.

No stars were visible, it was a dark sky because it was filled with smoke rising from the battlefields. On top of that there were a lot of clouds and as a result... the sky was black. Not even the moon was visible, I couldn\'t even tell where it was.

"Ye really like lookin\' at the sky at night, huh?"

I lowered my eyes from the dark sky and turned in the direction of the voice.

A slight smile appeared on my face, I shifted to the side.

"I like watching the stars, but... it doesn\'t look like they\'ll be visible today."

Gurdas sat down on the spot that opened up when I moved to the side. Without saying anything, he turned his eyes to where I had just been looking.

"Ye look up every evenin\', sometimes I wonder why ye really love the stars so much..."

"I mean... they\'re beautiful, I guess there\'s not much I can explain."

I narrowed my eyes, sighed a little, and continued.

"It\'s just... sometimes I realize how small and insignificant I really am, and when I look at the stars, that feeling only increases. Thinking that there are things like them, even if they are far away, makes me feel even smaller than I am."

I paused for a moment, then continued.

"But at the same time it helps me see how big and magnificent they are. They are beautiful, they are impressive, and when most of them are visible in the dark sky... they are just eye-catching."

"You feel small and insignificant, huh..."

Gurdas lowered his eyes, widened his smile, and turned to me.

"Indeed, we are. When I imagine all the things that happen in the world, all the things that happen in the background... we are like an ant."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at him puzzled.

"I thought you were going to say something about don\'t underestimate yourself or something, that you were going to give me a wise lesson."

Gurdas widened his smile, then laughed.

"Of course, I don\'t want ya to underestimate yerself. But that doesn\'t mean there\'s no truth in what ya say. Besides... I ain\'t a wise man."

Gurdas opened his mouth to speak again, but just then a holographic screen appeared in front of us, interrupting his speech.

It said that all troops should be ready for defense, adding that Southern troops would be arriving here soon.

Gurdas got up from his seat when he saw the notification.

"Carry on just like yer doin\'. Eventually, ye\'ll come to see that even if the world at large be as ye say, at least ye hold an important spot in yer own story. That\'s what I think, at least."

I sighed deeply and stood up as he did.

"Well... so be it."

I stretched, tossing my head left and right, my body slightly numb, but it didn\'t matter.

"I\'d rather focus on the battle for now, but thank you for your \'wise\' words."

Gurdas smiled again. I ignored him and looked at the soldiers where I stood.

Every one of them was on their feet, readying their weapons. Some of them had worry on their faces, some had fear on their faces, some had just... a flat expression.

It was a sight I was used to seeing, everyone was like this before every battle. This evening, however, these soldiers and their expressions were more prominent in my eyes.

Tomorrow, because of my decision, most of the soldiers here will probably die... Because we will be fighting so close to our base, the North will mass all its soldiers here, and the South\'s attack also will be more precise and fierce than ever.

There will be a lot more casualties than usual, many people will die. All because of my desire to end this war early.

Maybe that\'s why these soldiers seem more... real to me now. Because I\'m the one to end their story... Maybe because I feel a little guilty, just like with Frederick.

Who knows...?

But... the important thing is to win. I shouldn\'t get caught up in these things.