Chapter 26
Karl swung his sword frantically.
It hadn’t taken long to cut down all thirty enemy cavalrymen, but the problem was his physical condition. He was covered in wounds, including a fairly deep one.
With heavy blood loss, his vision blurred and dizziness swept over him. When he looked toward Simon’s direction, he saw roughly forty warriors collapsed on the ground. The enemy cavalry still seemed to be well-coordinated.
"Not easy…"
He hadn't even caught sight of the so-called target sword, and yet everything was already falling apart in every conceivable way.
It seemed that death within this trial equated to death in reality. That must have been why some who challenged the trial never returned.
"First, I need to do what I can."
Shaking off the dizziness, Karl pushed himself upright. He pressed his hands onto the bleeding wounds across his body to forcibly stem the bleeding, then tightly wrapped his sword hand with a cloth.
His horse had long since collapsed, so Karl grabbed another standing nearby and mounted it, charging in the direction where Simon was.
They were still fighting desperately. The enemy, too, looked visibly shaken by the unexpectedly fierce resistance.
Though they kept shifting formations to shake up the desert warriors, the warriors—bleeding and battered—were steadily cutting down the cavalry, one by one.
Dududududu.
In the midst of the fierce battle, the sound of galloping hooves rang out. For some reason, the sound echoed unusually loud in Simon's ears.
When he sharply lifted his head, he saw two heads soaring into the air behind the enemy lines.
"Ah…!"
At that moment, not only the desert warriors but also the enemy cavalry were left speechless.
A knight, soaked head to toe in blood, was swinging his sword with a blank expression.
And each time he swung, without fail, another head flew up into the sky.
"A demon…!"
The squad leader, who had been directing the knights to pressure Simon, quickly snapped out of it as the situation took a sudden turn.
"Retreat for now!"
Thirty knights, including the commander, had died to that one man. If they stayed, even the remaining desert warriors could die pointlessly.
With swift judgment, the commander turned his remaining cavalry around and began to flee in the opposite direction.
"You… are you alright?"
"What do you think?"
Simon, seeing Karl speak in return even while drenched in blood, gave him a look as if Karl was hopeless.
"I'm a little tired. Mind if we rest a few more days before continuing?"
"Of course we shou—Karl, hey, Karl!"
Karl, who had been standing tall just moments ago, collapsed on the spot.
***
"So, he cut down the descendants of the demon?"
"Not just cut down, Mama Suna. He was truly our savior."
Simon looked down at the unconscious Karl with a complicated expression.
"Simon, what do you think? Does this one seem different from all the others we've seen?"
"My experience is limited. What would I know?"
Mama Suna smiled.
"You’ve already felt it too, haven’t you?"
“…”
Simon didn’t answer. He simply kept his gaze on Karl.
"When he wakes up, bring him to me."
As Simon nodded silently, Mama Suna walked away.
***
It was a dream.
Beneath the sand-blown winds of the East Continent, Karl lay buried, camouflaged in the dunes.
"You’re doing this again? I keep telling you, there’s no need to go this far."
Flinch.
At the sound of the voice behind him, Karl’s body tensed.
"Are you feeling sick? Why are you suddenly shaking?"
Karl didn’t turn around. The tightly sealed lock on his memories was beginning to come undone.
‘This is a dream… This is…’
Karl, usually unshaken by emotion, now felt his emotions surge, his heart pounding wildly.
"Seriously, what’s going on?"
Just then, a warm hand rested on his shoulder.
"Rachel… Squad Leader."
Golden-blonde hair, as radiant as desert sand, fluttered in the wind.
There stood a well-built woman. With a gray turban and cape-like mantle around her shoulders, her hair and cloak shimmered each time the wind blew.
"What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?"
Karl suddenly realized that his body had reverted to that of a fourteen-year-old boy.
‘Without a doubt, this is a dream…’
He looked around.
Squad Leader Rachel. Clint. Keely.
Familiar faces. The first people he had ever formed genuine bonds with after arriving in this world.
They were the ones Karl had locked away in memory. The ones who had scattered like sand.
Thinking of their familiar faces, Karl clenched a handful of drifting sand—and his eyes suddenly snapped open.
***
"Are you alright? You were sweating quite a bit…"
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the inside of a tent and Simon’s sunburnt face.
“You’re alright.”
“Can you move?”
“Well, I can walk.”
“Then come with me. Mama Suna is asking for you.”
I frowned slightly. Being able to move didn’t mean I wasn’t in pain. Still, I stood up with my usual expressionless face and followed Simon slowly.
“Thank you… for protecting our children.”
The first thing I saw upon entering the tent was an elderly woman bowing deeply in gratitude.
“Consider it payment for the food and shelter you gave me.”
Mama Suna gave a sly smile.
“Ha! You sure charged us a high price.”
“Anyway, why are they targeting your tribe?”
“You already know the answer—greed.”
I nodded at her words.
“Why did you ask to see me?”
Mama Suna silently raised her hand, and a glow resembling a compass began to shimmer above it. That light flowed straight into my head.
“You are the tenth outsider to visit this place. The first outsider hid the Star Sword here, and the others arrived in search of it.”
There was an unfamiliar power in Mama Suna’s voice. I quietly listened.
“The one who hid the sword said this: If you seek to possess it, you will lose it. If you seek to retrieve it, you will miss it. Only by walking the path meant for you will you reach it.”
It was a cryptic message. Mama Suna was clearly a key figure in this trial. Her words must have been clues to the story.
“You’ll understand it soon enough.”
I nodded and exited Mama Suna’s tent. As I turned back one last time, she bowed deeply toward me.
Whip.
Something came flying toward me just as I stepped out of the tent.
“Looked like you were about to head out, so take this.”
Simon was sharp. He had guessed that I planned to leave tomorrow.
What he handed me was a bag made from some kind of animal hide—what the people here used. Inside were a water canteen and dried provisions, enough to last at least a full week.
“A generous gift.”
Then, Simon bowed his head deeply.
“If it hadn’t been for you, we would’ve all been killed or captured. Our location is compromised now, so we’ll have to relocate the village. We… may never meet again.”
In response to his words, I nodded silently in farewell. And so, the next day, I left the village with my body still not fully healed.
Ever since entering the trial, my body had been recovering faster than before. Strangely enough, the wounds were already somewhat healed.
I figured I’d be completely recovered in two more days.The light Mama Suna passed to me—the one I accepted into my mind—was now guiding my path.
The horse given to me by the desert tribe pressed forward steadfastly through the harsh climate, and several days passed swiftly.
Even in this land surrounded by nothing but sand, the cycle of day and night continued. I sat, staring at the crackling fire.
Through those flickering flames, memories I had forgotten—stirred by a recent dream—rose again like fragments of the past.
***
“Brat! Keep your damn head straight! Stay close! How many times do I have to tell you? One slip and you're dead!”
Rachel’s sharp voice brought me back to the battlefield. I pressed tight under the massive shield.
“Squad Leader! They’re right on top of us!”
While arrows rained down, Eastern Continent bastards had pushed in close, charging toward our squad.
Rachel’s unit served as a kind of recon team. They snuck in ahead of the main force to observe enemy movements—and when needed, destroy.
Like a modern-day special forces team, death was a constant threat for us.
“Drop the shield!”
As the enemy foot soldiers approached, the arrow barrage stopped.
Rachel and the others pulled out their weapons to face the incoming enemies.
“Brat! Stay right behind me!”
Rachel, who led a squad of about twenty scouts, was especially protective of me, the youngest in the group. She often said I reminded her of a younger sibling she left behind at home.
“Hey…! Brat, where are you going—!”
Slice.
With a chilling sound, one of my comrades collapsed.
***
Crackle, crackle.
The sound of the campfire brought me back to reality. I stared into the flames, recalling the man who died there. That had been Baker, hadn’t it?
He’d said his grandfather, who passed down their family name, had been a baker—and he’d saved money to go home and open his own bakery.
Since entering this desert, buried memories had started bubbling up like popcorn, surfacing randomly in my mind.
As if someone had intended for it.
Inhale. Exhale.
Focusing on the flow of energy, I tried to clear the tangled thoughts from my mind.
[The star appears only once every ten years. Two days from now, the Star Sword will show itself. There was one man who waited eight years to find it. But he could not make it his.]
According to Mama Suna, finding the sword and possessing it were two completely different things.
Lying in the desert, I stared blankly in the direction pointed out by the compass of light.
More brilliant than any star in the desert sky, it illuminated the path I was meant to walk.
“Beautiful.”
With that brief thought, I closed my eyes. The single-person tent was quite cozy—I’d been sleeping deeply every night.
Dududududududu.
‘Hoofbeats…?’
Just as I was about to fall into a deep sleep, I heard the sound of hooves outside. Judging by the number, it sounded like over a hundred riders were moving.
Silently, I got up and climbed to the top of a sand dune.
There, I saw a cavalry unit of a hundred charging swiftly across the horizon.
“That direction…”
It was the same direction I’d come from. Follow that path, and it would lead straight to Mama Suna’s village.
My eyes flicked toward the compass of light.
Two days from here to where the Star Sword would appear. A day and a half to get back to the village.
If I turned back now, it would mean not seeing the Star Sword for another ten years.
‘No need to think about it.’
I packed up my tent and began pursuing the cavalry.