Chapter 2 - The Outcome had Changed

Chapter 2 - The Outcome had Changed

For now, I should act as before.

There was something I needed to receive from him.

"Mago?"

"Ah... it's nothing. You said you had something to give me."

Until then, I needed to speak submissively, just like before.

I stood up and bowed deeply.

"My lord, how was your time studying abroad?"

"Not much to speak of. Spending all that time just studying felt like a waste."

Though told to study, he clearly had other priorities.

"The northwest?"

"Yeah. It's a place where snow falls every day. Mago, have you ever seen snow?"

I shook my head.

"Not just the falling snow, but the pristine layer covering the ground—it's incredible. Imagine a world entirely blanketed in white."

I couldn't quite picture it, but it must have been magnificent.

"And the feeling of being the first to step on that untouched snow!"

"That must have been... wonderful."

"Snow is amazing, but Mago."

He began boasting endlessly.

Having never been allowed outside the estate, hearing about such beauty only filled me with mixed feelings.

"The truly breathtaking thing is the aurora. It makes you want to bottle up the view and keep it forever."

He described its beauty with unsettling words.

He spread his arms wide.

"Imagine a starry night sky, and across it, colorful curtains unfold."

I thought of a white curtain flying through the air.

Floating as if it had wings, eventually soaring over a stone wall.

"No, no. Saying it unfolds might be an awkward expression. It's something words can't fully capture."

"I wouldn't know."

"Right. You wouldn't. You've lived as a slave all your life."

He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a wooden plaque.

"It's the mark of a free person."

Previously, I had been stunned, but this time, I felt rather indifferent.

It was a destiny I already knew.

"It's yours, Mago."

A fate that would lead to misfortune, I also knew.

"While studying abroad, I didn't just waste time. I learned a lot of things, and my perspective changed a bit."

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Treating people like objects—it feels wrong now. Did you know that slavery still exists only in our empire? I couldn't stand being a frog in a well."

And so, he handed me my freedom.

"In the northern lands, do they teach such things? Things that can change a person's way of thinking so much?"

"Well, yeah."

"Snow falls there every day. There's the aurora too."

"And starting today, you can go there too."

After giving me the plaque, he folded my fingers around it.

He gripped my hand firmly.

As if telling me to solidify my resolve.

"Do you want to see it now? The north?"

I nodded.

"It's been my dream for a long time."

"Good. But you'll need money to travel. How about working at the estate for a while? Properly, this time."

"Properly..."

"I'll pay you the same as the other servants. Save up, and then you can go on your journey. You're free now, so it's up to you, but I'd prefer if you stayed here for a bit."

The plaque he gave me and his words changed my fate.

At that time, I felt half joy, half insignificance.

All it took was a piece of wood.

Just a few words.

How pitiful that such trivial things dictated my life.

But now, I didn't feel pitiful at all.

Because this time, I was the one who would change his fate.

"It might not have been the best of memories, but you've stayed here all this time. Over the years, haven't we become like family? You could treat me like a friend now..."

"Kinjo, your family."

"Huh? Dropping honorifics already... well, I don't mind."

"Where are your family now?"

"Oh, um... my mother and siblings?"

Kinjo seemed caught off guard but tried to adjust.

"They're waiting in the cemetery. I'm about to head there with my relatives to carry the coffin."

"You need to go now."

"Yeah, I said I'm going."

"Right now."

"Not this moment. We'll go once everyone's ready. Why the urgency?"

If he didn't go now, he'd need more coffins soon.

"Never mind."

"Mago...?"

Ignoring him, I ran toward the stables where the commotion had been.

A servant stood in my way.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to ride a horse out."

"What are you talking about? You're not allowed to leave the premises. Are you trying to become a runaway slave?"

I immediately held up the mark of freedom Kinjo had given me.

"Move."

"W-what...?"

Before the servant could respond, I pushed past him.

I untied the ropes securing a horse to the stable post.

"You don't even know how to handle a horse...!"

Deliberately, I pulled the reins and stroked the brown horse.

The struggling animal soon calmed.

I'd handled far wilder warhorses before; a pony was no challenge.

Holding the reins, I began to walk.

The servant's stunned expression passed me by.

Kinjo, too, stared at me in bewilderment.

"Let's go."

"What? Do you realize how strange you're acting right now?"

"I don't know. I don't care either."

"Mago, I can tell you're excited, but—"

He smiled faintly as he spoke.

That smile reminded me.

Of the flaming arrow that had struck his eye.

The scream from that moment echoed in my mind like a haunting memory.

An arrow would fly soon.

I tensed my entire body, ready to react immediately.

"But you need to calm down a little—"

At that moment, a flaming arrow flew straight toward Kinjo's eye.

I reached out with my prepared left hand and caught the arrow.

Barely, but I managed to grasp it.

The burning arrowhead never came close to Kinjo's eye—or anywhere else.

For the first time.

The outcome I knew had changed.

"Im...possible..."

Kinjo's words trailed off.

The sound of arrows tearing through the air filled the sky.

I turned to follow the sound.

A hail of arrows flew over the stone wall.

"Kinjo!"

I threw myself to the ground, pinning him flat.

Moments later, dozens of flaming arrows pierced through the mansion.

Through its inhabitants.

And through the mourners.

Burning them all.

Screams and cries of despair erupted.

A man on horseback shouted from outside the gates.

Dressed in navy uniforms—it was the Imperial Army.

"Monsters are invading! Evacuate immediately!"

Monsters.

"Quickly! The north has already fallen!"

The north.

"Hurry! Move now!"

Before I could retort with a snide "Why don't you save yourself first?" he, too, fell—shot dead by an arrow.

I quickly hoisted Kinjo onto the saddle.

Then climbed up myself and bolted out through the back gate.

"Mago! Mago! My mother and siblings—"

"We're going!"

I urged the horse to run as fast as it could.

His remaining family had suffered a gruesome fate before, but maybe this time would be different if we left immediately.

Grimly, I clenched my teeth and whipped the reins.

Before long, we arrived at the graveyard.

"Mother..."

But the meaning of "graveyard" is inescapable.

There were no living souls left there.

Though Kinjo's fate of losing his sight had changed, some things remained the same.

From the moment his family had reached the graveyard first, it was already too late.

"Kids…"

Kinjo murmured, rifling through the heap of corpses.

With every movement, his body became further drenched in blood.

"Kinjo, we have to leave now. We've come the opposite way of the evacuation route. If we don't go now, we'll die too."

"No, no, it can't be."

"Kinjo."

"How could I be the only one left alive…"

"We have to go."

I grabbed his arm.

He tried to shake me off, but I held on tighter.

"Mago!"

I forcibly threw him onto the saddle.

"I can't go! Let me stay here and—"

Ignoring him, I lashed the reins.

"You'd rather we both die here? Don't be ridiculous. With the eyes you still have today, you'll save thousands of lives."

Kinjo's gaze fixated on the graveyard.

His fingers stretched backward, but we moved forward.

There was no other choice.

As time passed, I turned my head to look back.

The places we had passed through burned like bonfires.

Goblins and orcs filled the scene.

Hundreds of the green-skinned horde, followed by thousands, tens of thousands more.

Farther still, two wolves approached.

One red, one black.

Their bodies were immense—mountain-sized.

Moving fortresses.

From within their massive forms, black specks emerged.

Distant as they were, I recognized them as winged monsters.

The two wolves emitted steam from their backs, flames flickering at their jaws as they advanced.

Seeing this for the second time, it felt even more vivid.

And the futility I'd experienced before only deepened.

"Finally free after a lifetime as a slave."

I gripped the reins so tightly I almost crushed them.

"And today, I was supposed to reunite with my family in my homeland..."

Kinjo's murmuring came from behind me.

His trembling hands clutched at my coat.

Both his hands radiated anger.

In my right hand was a symbol of freedom.

Kinjo's plaque of a free person.

"We were going to travel... It felt like dreams were finally becoming reality."

The northern aurora seemed close enough to touch.

"The wild days of my past became fond memories. I wanted to show my family the steady life I've built."

A happy home seemed within reach.

"I wanted to see the white snow, the Milky Way, and the aurora."

"I was going to take my mother and siblings north. To the beauty that changed me."

Despite facing this situation for the second time, my feelings mirrored those of the past.

Only now, they were even deeper.

"Everything, because of me."

"Everything..."

Our regrets intertwined at that moment.

We spat curses and exhaled fury.

"I'll kill them all."

***

Half a day had passed.

The horse, exhausted from relentless running, began to slow down.

We merged into the evacuation route heading south, toward the capital.

"Look, over there."

One of the refugees pointed to the right.

Soldiers clad in black armor, riding black horses, came into view.

The black uniforms, like their steeds, symbolized something unique—something elite.

In the Imperial Army, black signified specialty and superiority.

The Special Operations Unit of the Empire.

In short, the "Special Ops."

"It's the Special Ops!"

"Black Knights!"

Due to their appearance, they had earned the nickname "Black Knights."

"Damn tax thieves! Why are they only showing up now...?"

"The Special Ops are here...!"

"Damn it, took them long enough. My house is already burned to the ground."

The civilians' reactions to the Special Ops soldiers were starkly divided.

It was either hope—or despair.

"Mago, those must be the Special Ops. Though they're already too late."

"They're actually early."

"Early?"

"Elite units like this usually move after the enemy's momentum is broken, to drive the final nail in the coffin. But the fact that the Special Ops are here now means that the other forces haven't even mobilized yet. And without the Special Ops, there's no chance of victory."

"Huh? How do you know all that?"

"Just… came to know."

"Hmm... Mago."

Kinjo alternated his gaze between me and the Special Ops soldiers before asking,

"You're strong and fast, right? You must be good at fighting, too. Have you fought before?"

Too many times to count.

"Yes."

"Do you think you could fight monsters?"

"Right now? I could."

After about three seconds of deliberation, he spoke softly but decisively.

It was the resolve of someone consumed by vengeance.

"Then come with me to join the Imperial Army. Let's become soldiers."

I could choose not to join the army this time—becoming a mercenary or even working solo.

But I couldn't turn my back on those I had already failed to save.

Now I had a chance to pull them back from the brink of death, to act without regret.

"All right."

It was the only choice I could make.