I Became the Simp Character I Roasted Online-Chapter 45: The Tracks That Shouldn’t Exist

"It doesn’t."

A gentle, graceful voice caused all three of them to turn around at once.

Sylvia’s voice came from behind them. When Revan turned, she was already walking over from the head of the column, a folded piece of parchment in her hand. Cassian was two steps behind her.

She crouched beside the cluster of remains without hesitation and unfolded the parchment flat against the frozen ground.

"Based on our bearing and distance from the wreckage, we should be somewhere around this area."

Revan leaned over, intrigued

He scanned the area around her fingertip. Checked the scale markings. Traced the entire southeastern corridor from the wreck site to the edge of the map.

There was nothing. Just elevation lines and geological markers. The entire stretch of wasteland they’d been walking through was completely blank, as if nobody had ever built anything here.

Revan furrowed his brows. He blinked three times, wondering if it was just a hallucination.

’What the hell’

Then he saw the train tracks stretching straight from end to end.

It would make sense if these tracks were confined to this area alone, but they weren’t. No matter how much he thought about it, it was simply impossible for people not to know about a railway existing here. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He looked at Sylvia. She was watching him with that flat, unreadable expression she wore when she already knew the answer to a question and was waiting for everyone else to arrive at the same place.

Before Revan could open his mouth, Dain had already beaten him to it.

"Let me see that."

Dain wore the exact same expression as Revan. He stood in silence, staring for quite a while as he ran through every possible answer in his mind.

Nobody spoke. The wind carried fine dust across the parchment, and Sylvia folded it back without a word. For a while, the only sounds were the creak of the damaged cart and the low moan of air moving across flat, dead ground.

"So... were they all killed by those things?" A guard’s voice broke the silence.

The same one Revan had just glared into silence thirty seconds ago. Apparently the message hadn’t stuck.

He was looking at the bone field with wide, uneasy eyes. "The monsters from earlier?"

Sylvia shook her head.

"No."

The guard blinked. "Then what—"

"Think about it," Sylvia said. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t need to. "Three hundred soldiers. Handpicked by the Crown. Full combat loadout. The best the Royal Garrison had to offer."

She glanced at the three dead creatures scattered across the battlefield. .

"We just killed three of those things. With broken ribs, one functioning arm, and half our people unconscious." She looked back at the guard. "A full company would have finished them in minutes."

Revan completely agreed. Even though these creatures possessed some level of intelligence, they were nothing more than that. In fact, he could guarantee that if he were in peak condition, he could defeat them without taking a single scratch.

Cassian, who had been silent since Sylvia unfolded the map, finally spoke.

"We’re quite lucky. It’s highly likely these creatures are unfinished products, we can safely assume there are more of them roaming the vast plains. Most likely, another creature slaughtered them all, and there’s a strong chance that native monsters from the Dead Zone were involved too."

He paused. His eyes drifted toward the flatbed behind the cart, where the cargo monster lay dormant under heavy chains. Then back to Sylvia.

"Speaking of which, my Lady — these creatures share a rather striking resemblance to the cargo your family has been transporting under military escort. Same crystal system. One could almost call them relatives."

He smiled.

What exactly do you mean?" Sylvia answered, her voice cold.

"Oh, no, no — please don’t misunderstand." Cassian raised both hands.

"I would never suggest that the esteemed House Vespera had anything to do with manufacturing biological weapons in a classified Dead Zone facility. That would be terribly rude of me."

He lowered his hands.

"I’m simply observing that these creatures. Bear a remarkable family resemblance to the asset chained to our cart. The asset your house is transporting. Quite the coincidence, wouldn’t you say?"

"Watch your mouth, Lord Voss." Silvia clenched her fists. If the Dead Zone wasn’t suppressing her, she might have already cast a gravity spell right here—one capable of leaving a massive crater.

"If you’re not careful, you might find every head in your family hanging from the iron posts outside the capital gates."

Revan swallowed hard. Even though he knew she couldn’t actually do it right now, he still carried a deep-seated trauma from serving her since childhood.

Cassian didn’t step back. If anything, his posture relaxed further — the deliberate ease of a man who knew exactly how close to the edge he was standing and found the view entertaining.

"I meant no offense, my Lady. Truly. If my observations happen to touch on uncomfortable truths, well — that’s hardly my fault, is it?"

Sylvia’s eyes narrowed to slits.

The temperature between them — already freezing — somehow dropped further. Revan could practically see the killing intent radiating off Sylvia’s small frame. Suppression field or not, the woman standing three meters from Cassian had been raised in a house that solved problems by making people disappear, and right now she looked like she was mentally selecting a burial site.

Revan’s eyes darted sideways.

Dain was already looking at him.

For one brief moment, the two of them shared a glance that had nothing to do with anything they’d been talking about.

It was the look of two men who both desperately wanted to be somewhere else right now.

’You do something,’ Revan’s eyes said.

’ME?’ Dain’s eyes said back. ’You’re HER servant.’

’Exactly. Which means if I step in, she kills me FIRST.’

’I outrank you. I’m ordering you to handle this.’

’You outrank a servant. Congratulations. That’s like outranking a chair.’

They didn’t know when they had reached this point, acting like friends who had known each other for years.

Revan didn’t even realize that the way he addressed him had changed as well

The silent exchange lasted about two seconds. Neither of them moved.

Cassian opened his mouth to add something else — probably something that would get him killed.

Dain coughed.

A fake, dramatic cough from a guy who was out of subtle hints and just had to interrupt by force.

Dain stepping bodily between Sylvia and Cassian with the graceless urgency of a man separating two fighting dogs.

"Forgive me, my Lord. My Lady. If I’m overstepping, I accept the consequences. But perhaps we could afford to think a little more coolly before we say things we can’t take back.

He let that settle for a beat.

"We still have six hours of march ahead of us. Possibly eight." He glanced upward. "And if I’m not mistaken, those clouds are going to make it worse."

Revan followed his gaze. The sky — which had been its usual flat, featureless gray since they’d entered the Dead Zone — had changed. Heavier formations were rolling in from the northwest, dark and low, pressing down on the horizon like a lid being slowly closed. The thin light that had been passing for daylight was already dimming at the edges.

Dain looked at Sylvia. Then at Cassian. Then back at Sylvia.

Sylvia held Cassian’s gaze over Dain’s shoulder for a few seconds."

Then she unclenched her fists. Slowly. Finger by finger. Like releasing something she’d been gripping too hard.

"Fine," she said.

Sylvia. turned and walked back toward the cargo cart.

"We depart in twenty minutes," she said without looking back. "I’m hungry."

The oversized mercenary coat billowed behind her as a gust of cold wind swept across the bone field.

Cassian watched her go. The tension in the air dissolved the moment she turned her back, and the smile that crept onto his face was entirely different from the one he’d been wearing seconds ago. Looser. Almost genuine.

"You know," he said to no one in particular, "that woman is incredibly dull when you try to get a rise out of her."

He adjusted his coat, gave Dain a polite nod that meant absolutely nothing, and strolled after Sylvia with his hands clasped behind his back.

’He’s not wrong,’ Revan thought . He’d never admit it out loud — agreeing with Cassian about anything felt like a personal failing — but the man had a point. Sylvia. blood pressure is already high as it is, and it spikes even higher when she’s on her period.

’Dull’ was one word for it. ’Terrifying’ was another.

He let out a long breath. His shoulders dropped. His grip on Volkar’s sword loosened. He let his head fall back against the dead creature’s shell behind him, staring up at the sky.

Gray and heavy. Clouds pressing in from the northwest. For a few seconds he just sat there, looking at nothing.

’Food,’ he thought. ’She said she’s hungry. Food. When was the last time I ate?’

He tried to remember and couldn’t.

’I should eat. I know I should eat. But right now the thought of chewing anything makes my stomach want to crawl out of my body and leave.’

He closed his eyes.

’God, what I wouldn’t give for a bowl of that awful cafeteria stew right now. The one with the mystery meat and the carrots that were always overcooked. Tasted like dishwater. I used to complain about it every single day.’

A ghost of a smile crossed his face.

’I’d kill for a bowl of it right now.’

A shadow fell across his face. The thin gray light behind his eyelids went dark.

He opened his eyes.

Dain was standing in front of him, blocking what little light the sky still offered. The old Marshal looked down at Revan with the expression of a man who had just discovered something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of his boot.

"Are you planning to lie around here all day?"

"I was considering it."

"Get up. Eat something. You look like a corpse, and I already have enough of those to deal with." Dain nudged Revan’s boot with his own. Not gently. "The march from here gets worse. A lot worse. I need everyone who can still move to be fueled and patched up before we leave."

He paused. Looked at Revan’s chest — at the way he was breathing in short, shallow pulls, his arm pressed tight against his left side.

"And if Mirael is awake, get her to look at those ribs. Don’t wait. Don’t be stubborn about it. Go to her the moment her eyes are open."

"And if she’s not awake?"

"Then wake her up. She’ll forgive you. She’s a doctor — they’re used to being annoyed."

Dain turned and walked away. His broadsword dragged a thin line through the dirt behind him.

A few minutes later, Revan slowly made his way over to where the rest of the group had gathered near the cart.

Someone had already distributed heated rations. He took a portion. Ate without tasting.

The air grew colder while they sat there, and overhead the clouds thickened until the gray light dimmed toward something that looked more like dusk than midday.

And somewhere beyond their awareness — so gradually that none of them noticed until it was far too late — fog began creeping in from every direction at once, swallowing the bone field, the rail, the horizon, until the world around them had shrunk to almost nothing. The Dead Zone wasn’t just suppressing their mana. It was dulling their instincts too.