It’s late, but I’ll post it.
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Each and every word Damon spoke became a dagger, driving itself into Benitez’s heart.
“Though I have lost my strength, I still possess the pride of a warrior. So do not make me
any more wretched than this. Give me a clean death. If you have even the slightest conscience
for what you have made me, then kill me here and now.”
Having finished speaking, Damon began to sob sorrowfully. Hot tears continued to wet his face.
Benitez could not speak for a long while. Though Damon was a foreigner, the plight of a man who had fallen from the status of an absolute being to a mere
guard struck him deep in the heart. Only after quite some time did he let out a long sigh. The look in Benitez’s eyes as he gazed at Damon had softened somewhat.
“Hoo.”
Benitez slowly walked over to Damon, his face reddening.
“First of all, as one of the party that brought you here, I am sorry. However,
once an order was given, there was nothing I could do.”
Damon did not move an inch. With bloodshot eyes, he merely glared at Benitez.
After meeting that gaze for a moment, Benitez nodded as if he had no choice.
“I will try to find a way. So for now, return to your post as you are.”
“……”
“Under no circumstances can I personally teach you magic. In other words,
even if I wanted to, it could not be done. But do not worry. I will somehow
find a way…”
“R-really?”
Benitez nodded without a word. He even smiled in order to reassure Damon.
After staring into Benitez’s eyes for a moment, Damon shook the arms held by the royal guards.
“Let go. I will walk on my own.”
When the hesitant royal guards released his arms, Damon straightened his disheveled clothes.
Then, as though he had never shown such an unsightly display, he made a neat cupped-fist salute toward Benitez.
“I have been most discourteous. Then I shall await good news.”
Leaving behind Benitez, who was somewhat taken aback by the unfamiliar form of greeting, Damon turned around.
Benitez watched Damon’s back as he strode away, a bitter expression on his face.
After returning to his post, Damon devoted himself to guard duty on the castle wall for a while. Aside from the watchtower duty that came around once a day,
he focused solely on asking the other soldiers for help and learning the language fluently.
‘In order to learn the discipline called magic, I must at least learn the language in depth.’
But word from Benitez did not come easily. Even so, Damon did not grow impatient in the slightest.
He had already become accustomed to enduring and waiting…
On the day one month had passed since he had met Benitez, word finally came. Macmillan, the senior soldier,
came to find Damon carrying something. A somewhat bitter expression—yet, upon another look, one that seemed to say it was fortunate all the same—floated on his face.
“An order has come down from the court.”
“……”
“It is an official document assigning you to the palace guard. This is truly something to congratulate you for.”
At Macmillan’s words, the guards who had been on duty with him could not hide their astonishment.
A position in the palace guard was by no means an easy post to obtain. Unless one was the child of a powerful noble house or a wealthy family,
it was nearly impossible to be assigned as a royal guard. Of course, it was not as though there were no royal guards from commoner backgrounds,
but in such cases, there were strict conditions attached: either their swordsmanship had to be exceptionally outstanding, or their physique had to be excellent.
However, in their view, Damon was by no means someone who met those conditions. No,
even putting aside his small and hideous appearance, they had never once heard a rumor of a foreign mercenary
becoming a royal guard. That was how much the palace guards were an elite unit that received special treatment.
But the soldiers’ commotion did not last long. Instead, they congratulated Damon from the bottom of their hearts
for being assigned to such a good position.
“Congratulations, Damon.”
“Even after you go, don’t forget us.”
Having served together for more than six months, the guards regarded Damon as a close comrade.
A faint smile appeared on Damon’s expressionless face. Even his exceedingly dried-up heart
had been touched by the guards’ simple sincerity.
“I-I won’t forget. Any of you…”
The guards held a modest party for Damon, who was leaving. Each of them generously brought out food,
and Passat ran all the way home in one breath, brought back the moonshine he had hidden away deeply,
and opened it. Soon, the 57th Guard Unit’s own modest farewell ceremony was held. Once the exceedingly strong
moonshine had gone around once, drunken color rose on all the soldiers’ faces without exception.
Macmillan, the senior soldier, patted Damon on the shoulder.
“Once you leave, we probably won’t be seeing each other again. Judging by the state of the war, we’ll likely be assigned to the front soon.
Wherever you go, make sure you don’t forget us…”
“I-I won’t.”
At the unexpected hospitality, Damon felt somewhat dazed. In truth, through Schreckheimer’s explanations,
he had harbored a certain degree of contempt for the rulers of this place. That thought was now melting away like snow
because of their attitude.
In other words, his prejudice toward the people of Truvania as a whole was changing. Though he had not stayed here long,
from dealing with the guards, he had found that the people of Truvania were comparatively simple and honest in nature.
Though Damon had a grotesque appearance, once they grew close to him,
they showed him an indescribable warmth.
“Farewell, Damon. I hope we meet again.”
“I-I hope so too.”
With his face flushed red from drink, Damon nodded again and again. Thinking back, he did not think he had ever been
this drunk even in the Central Plains. When he had possessed martial arts, that is, in the Central Plains,
there had been no occasion for him to get drunk at all.
The only times he drank were when he held feasts with the warriors of the Guardian Demon King Army. Of course, at those times,
he had been in a position responsible for hundreds of subordinates, so he could not get dead drunk like this.
Before he knew it, the faces of his subordinates, already dead and gone from this world, surfaced faintly in Damon’s mind.
Along with the face of Sa Junhwan, the root cause who had killed them.
‘Sa Junhwan! I can never forgive you.’
The more he thought about it, the more his desire for revenge against him surged up on its own.
“What are you doing? You have to take a drink.”
At Passat’s words urging him to drink, Damon awoke from his thoughts and accepted the cup.
“A-all right.”
It was unfamiliar and strong moonshine, but to him, there could be no more delicious drink than this right now.
In that way, the watchtower guarded by the 57th Guard Unit sank into the atmosphere of a party.
The next morning. Having bid farewell to the comrades he had grown attached to, Damon left the watchtower where he had stayed for six months.
Since he had almost no personal belongings, he walked down from the castle wall empty-handed.
He did not know why Benitez had appointed him as a palace guard, but he would soon find out once he went to the palace,
so he moved without a word. The appointment letter for the royal guard was tucked deep inside his clothes.
After walking for a little over an hour, the palace came clearly into view.
He immediately headed for the rear gate of the palace. When he presented the appointment letter to the royal guards,
this time they said nothing further and guided him to Benitez’s office. When he opened the door and entered,
Benitez was waiting for him with an anxious expression.
“Welcome.”
“Have you been well in the meantime?”
Barely acknowledging Damon’s courteous greeting, Benitez approached the royal guard who had entered with him
and gave him some instructions. Only after the royal guard saluted and left did Benitez look at Damon.
“You are probably very curious as to why I assigned you to a royal guard position.”
“To be honest, yes.”
At his manner of speech, which had become far more fluent than one month before, Benitez tilted his head.
As far as he knew, Damon seemed to be the only one who had learned the language of Truvania this quickly.
But since there was little time, he soon began to explain.
“In truth, there was no other way. I mean, no other opportunity for you to learn magic.”
“……”
“Not long after your visit a month ago, I went to see Duke Sergey.
That was because he oversees all the affairs of the court. And I submitted to him the opinion
that you should be appointed as a royal guard.”
“I do not know for certain, but I imagine he did not think of it very favorably.”
Of course, because of the attitude he had shown Sergey, Damon had a rough idea of the situation.
He was by no means a man who held good feelings toward him. As expected, Benitez wore a bitter smile.
“As you said, the duke found it extremely displeasing. However, once I laid out the reasoning I had prepared,
he had no choice but to accept.”
Benitez smiled slightly and continued speaking.
“I emphasized to the duke the point that you had defeated a troll and an ogre. In other words,
I made it clear that such mid-sized monsters could, in the unlikely event, infiltrate the palace through spatial movement,
and proposed appointing you as a royal guard as a countermeasure. In any case, you are the only soldier
who fought and won against mid-sized monsters alone. Excluding the knights, of course.”
Only then did Damon realize the reason he had been appointed as a royal guard and nodded.
“But why assign me as a royal guard when I said I wished to learn magic…”
“Royal guards are currently stationed in every location within the palace. Naturally, royal guards are also
stationed without exception inside the Faculty of Magic.”
Damon’s expression brightened radiantly. Only then did he understand Benitez’s true intention.
“Then…”
“That is right. There is no other way for you to learn magic. Dispatching you to the faculty security detail
is well within my authority. Therefore, you are to serve there while observing the course of instruction.”
Damon expressed his gratitude with sincere sincerity.
“Thank you very much.”
“I have opened the path for you, so whether you learn or not depends solely on your own qualities.
Then, I am busy, so I will take my leave…”
Benitez, who was about to turn away, looked back as if he had remembered something.
“Ah, follow the royal guard who brought you here earlier. He will issue you armor and a weapon.”
As though he had no further business with him, Benitez dismissed him. Damon bowed his head once more to express his thanks,
then followed the royal guard out of the office. Benitez’s gaze fixed itself on his back as he walked away in a loose stride.
A moment after they left, Benitez let out a long sigh.
“Will he truly be able to learn magic?”
However, Benitez had already concluded that it was something close to impossible.
Magic was, by nature, a discipline in which a solid foundation made it easy to move on to the next stage.
Of course, the students currently being educated in the Faculty of Magic were, for the most part, carefully selected and talented students,
and the majority had been admitted after already mastering the basic course.
Because of that, the education being conducted for them was currently at an advanced level.
As such, learning such an advanced course without any foundation whatsoever in magic was, quite literally, nonsense.
“Hoo! It cannot be helped. I have at least opened the path, so the rest is for him to handle.”
At last, Benitez put aside his thoughts and rose to his feet.
“There is no time.”
Because the matters he had to resolve were piled up like a mountain, his mind was exceedingly pressed.