I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game-Chapter 9

The sun was high in the sky. The brightened landscape made the carnage even more evident. The smell of blood still permeated the air, thick and overwhelming.

The soldiers who had taken a short rest began to wake one by one, and among them was the orc, Rex, who had lost an arm.

Rex had cauterized the wound with fire to stop the bleeding. In such a battlefield, there was no chance of finding proper antiseptic supplies, so it was the only option.

Of the soldiers who had survived the previous battle, only five remained.

The Swordmaster had kept watch throughout the night, ensuring the soldiers could rest, even briefly. No one dared challenge him, the walking power of the continent, in his presence.

Rex and the soldiers collected fragments of the shattered cart and assembled a rough wagon. They began to place the bodies of their fallen comrades on it.

Rex gritted his teeth as he pulled arrows from the red-haired Herion’s body. He quietly tore off pieces of his own clothes to cover the melted, poisoned face of Balder.

Out of about thirty soldiers, only five had survived, and their conditions were far from good.

An orc who had lost his arm, a soldier who had his leg amputated due to poisoning, and others covered in burns...

"Everyone’s heavily injured. It’ll be impossible for any of us to fight as soldiers again. I’ll make sure to tell the higher-ups. After all, we’re the ones who found a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} clue about the Great Lord."

The Swordmaster looked at the faces of the soldiers, their expressions twisted in grief as they gazed at the bodies stacked neatly on the cart. He gently patted their shoulders.

"...What are you talking about?"

Rex, his teeth clenched so tightly that they cracked, opened his mouth.

"The lives of these men are all on our backs. If we retire now, what happens to them? I won’t retire until that Great Lord is dead."

Blood dripped from Rex’s lips as his eyes glistened with emotion, staring at the bodies of Balder and Herion. He looked as though he could cry at any moment.

On this giant orc’s shoulders, the spirits of over twenty comrades rested. His eyes burned with rage, and his limbs trembled with frustration at his own inadequacies.

Rex felt the burning shame of his weakness.

He couldn’t protect his comrades who trusted and followed him.

It wasn’t him who protected the white-haired boy; it was the Swordmaster, who had appeared at the right moment on the battlefield.

What he had done was barely survive an intense fight with a giant mutated beast, and even then, it had been a hard-fought victory, one that had cost him an arm.

‘I am weak.’

Never had he felt it so acutely.

‘...I really am terribly weak.’

The reality hit him hard, and in that moment, his anger began to shift into disappointment in his own inadequacy.

The Swordmaster nodded as he observed Rex's tormented expression.

"When you realize you’re weak, it’s also the moment when you can become stronger."

The Swordmaster slowly pulled a short dagger from his cloak and placed it gently over the bodies of the fallen comrades.

"It’s a dagger blessed by the Saint. It will guide the souls of the departed to Astella."

It was a ceremonial dagger, shaped like a cross.

Its blade was blunt, more for decoration than practical use, lacking the killing power expected of a weapon.

"May Astella watch over you."

As I surveyed the scene, I lowered my head in reverence, following the others who were paying respects to the ceremonial dagger placed on the white cloth.

In the chaos of the battlefield, I couldn’t say I fully understood what they were doing.

But there was one thing I knew for certain.

Ever since I had begun facing off against the Great Lord, not a single poisoned arrow or attack from other mutated beasts had come toward me.

It was likely because they had thrown their lives into fighting the mutated beasts to protect me.

Had the mutated beasts joined the fight between me and the Great Lord, I would’ve certainly been dead by now, just like them.

"..."

They could have abandoned me.

The moment they realized the Great Lord was targeting me, they could have made a quick decision to flee, and probably most of the soldiers would have survived.

They had no obligation to protect me.

To them, I was just a nameless, wandering mage they happened to pick up because our destination was the same.

Yet, they fought bravely, wielding their swords and charging at the mutated beasts.

The honorable soldiers had thrown their lives away without hesitation, for a mage whose name they didn’t even know.

They knew their courage would likely lead them to death, yet they didn’t falter.

...The weight of complicated emotions pressed heavily on my shoulders.

People die, get injured... change.

This was reality.

The smell from the cart full of corpses seemed to constantly remind me of that truth.

"Boy, we should move soon."

The Swordmaster waited for me to finish my quiet reverence before speaking in a soft voice.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I’ve got a lot to handle, so I’ll be going ahead. I won’t be able to accompany you to the capital. I’m sorry."

"You must be busy, but thank you for guarding us, even if just for a short while."

"Thank him. It was thanks to him stalling that we were able to save at least five."

The Swordmaster finished speaking, grabbed my clothes, and effortlessly lifted me as if I were a doll. My legs and arms dangled uselessly in the air.

"...Thank you, Wizard. I have one last request."

Rex, with red eyes, looked at me and carefully spoke.

"Please, survive for as long as you can, and don’t let our deaths be in vain. Live long, and unfold your talent to its fullest."

The red hands gripping the cart handle trembled. His back seemed to carry complex emotions that could not be summed up in one word.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

"Please, become a great mage, one who can proudly say to our fallen comrades that we gave our lives to protect a mage who could change the world."

"..."

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

I couldn’t bring myself to meet Rex’s red eyes.

I couldn’t confess that I wasn’t the talented mage he thought I was.

"...We’ll begin to move soon."

Rex didn’t wait for my response. After bowing once more to the Swordmaster, he slowly began pulling the cart filled with the dead comrades, heading toward the capital.

The cart, rattling and creaking, quietly and sadly made its way out of the forest that was now nothing but ash and blood.

I just stood there, staring blankly as they disappeared into the distance.

"..."

I had never looked at a human corpse so closely before.

I saw them when I was first born into this world, but it didn’t resonate with me back then.

But now, with the stench of death filling the air, the grief stirred in my chest for people I didn’t even know.

Was it frustration? Anger?

I didn’t know exactly what the emotion was. I was confused.

"...Boy?"

I had entered my favorite game and used magic according to a strange build I had crafted.

When the bloom triggered, it was nothing but joy. It felt like an almost absurdly vivid VR experience.

After the bloom's duration ended, waking up in the barracks was a little shocking.

It was because I felt the pain of a broken arm.

But at that point, I still hadn’t recognized it as reality.

Maybe it was because everything around me seemed perfectly identical to the game’s models, that I subconsciously thought everything happening now was an illusion.

Perhaps I was secretly hoping that if my character died, I would just wake up in my cramped little room, continuing my usual day, as if nothing had happened.

But that naive, unthought-out expectation disappeared completely when I saw the bodies of the soldiers I had spent the day with.

The soldiers who threw their lives away to protect me, their determination still seemed to linger in their eyes. Their hands gripped their shields and swords, their necks still showing the veins of battle.

They had fought to protect me and faced the mutated beasts in the forest; it was real.

And the fact that they lost their lives in that fierce battle was also real.

‘This is reality.’

A reality where people die in an instant.

A dirty, miserable reality where people fight with swords and spears to protect each other, facing monsters.

"...What’s your name?"

Had I not accepted this reality, I would have introduced myself with the ridiculous nickname ‘One Blow.’

Because I thought this world was a 'game.'

But now, it’s different.

This is a damn reality, and the white-haired boy standing here is not a character, but me.

"My surname is Gyeong, and my name is Bin."

Gyeong Bin. I told the Swordmaster my real name. I wasn’t sure what significance it held, but I said it anyway.

"Gyeong Bin. Calling you by your full name makes it feel like addressing a noble."

I had to live in this world. A harsh, dangerous reality.

"Just call me Bin, please."

I had to fully immerse myself in this world.

Because in such a brutal and harsh world, I couldn’t survive with a casual, half-hearted mindset.