Chapter 34 – District 1 (T2) (7)
8. Zone 1 (2 tracks) (7)
– Honestly. Just keep that in mind.
‘My sister has a stubborn side too.’
After leading Shay to Hendrick’s tent, Kaya briefly gave her some information about Hendrick before entering her own tent. Although Kaya didn’t force it…
‘How could I refuse seeing that expression?’
I was still confused and afraid. The nightmare was also a nightmare, but she couldn’t forget Hendrick’s eyes as he stared at her for a moment. But she decided to trust Kaya’s words. She owes her grace to Hendrick and decides to believe her words that her life has been completely changed thanks to Hendrick.
“Kheum, big!”
Rustle-
As she coughed deliberately with footsteps, a chuckle came from inside. Not much time had passed, so it was not strange that he hadn’t gone to sleep yet.
– … Shay?
“Yes, chief.”
– Anything to say? Or whatever?
“That… May I go inside? I have something to tell you.”
Shay hated the silence. It’s like this right now, and she’s always been like that since the past. Silence was often a harbinger of bad things. That’s why she either avoided the silence or broke it herself. But she couldn’t do that now. She didn’t want to throw away Kaya’s favor, and she agreed that she should talk to Hendrick.
– Come in.
Fortunately, the silence was quickly broken, and Shay let out a sigh of relief and went inside Hendrick’s tent.
**
Her body was clamoring for sleep right away, but when she laid her body on the floor, her eyes did not close. Her eyes were more sore than when she had been terrorizing longer all night, but her body was more tired than when she marched in full gear in the army, but she couldn’t sleep.
Fuck you.
When she closed her eyes, the nightmare repeated itself.
The scene where the door was unlocked with a key that was more terrifying than ever, the scene where you were beaten like crazy without knowing why, the scene where you cried and cried and begged for forgiveness that would not be eaten, the scene when you looked back while trying to escape and got goosebumps…
The nightmare experienced in 1-3 was fragmented and reproduced repeatedly with Junggu Heating. She didn’t want to close her eyes because of that, and that made her eyes even more stiff.
Fuck-foot
She heard Shay’s voice when she was seriously contemplating whether to drink at least holy water. She felt the same way before, and it was a bit like being alone in her current state, but she thought it would be better if she talked to her about something, so she finally let her in.
“The tent is narrow, so you won’t be able to get as far apart as before.”
“Are you okay.”
I don’t think it was her lying down to talk. I sat her down and greeted her. But the height of her tent was very low. With her back and her neck stretched out, her head touched her tent unless you sat right in the middle of her.
‘I’m afraid I’m going to search, but I’m talking in such an uncomfortable position?’
Oh I don’t know
I lay down again. Then he tapped the side.
“A space is a space, so let’s talk comfortably.”
“Uh, uh…”
“You are tired.”
She glanced over and saw that Shay was wearing casual clothes. It was nonsense that she was wearing her heavy armor even in her one-of-a-kind resting place, so she took it for granted. However, she was reluctant to touch her, so she remembered her image. From her point of view, just the two of us in ‘casual clothes’ in a small space could have been a great burden.
‘Then it’s strange that he said he would come into the tent.’
I wanted to sigh, but I held it in. I thought it would be a very important story if it was enough to come into my tent even though it would be repulsive. Instead of saying extra words, I moved my body into the corner as much as possible to make room. This tent seems to be slightly wider than the Type A tent, so at this distance there is no way your skin will touch.
Shay might have interpreted my unspoken actions, but hesitantly lay down in an upright position. It was a very stiff posture, enough to make me laugh if I made a mistake. By the way, her body was also stuck in the opposite corner.
… Seeing that, I felt like my body was also getting stiff. I mean, it wasn’t comfortable at all.
“What do you mean?”
“That, chief.”
“I am listening.”
“There are things I want to say, and there are things I want to ask. First of all, I’ll tell you what I want to say. Captain.”
“Uh.”
“I’m sorry for shaking off the captain’s hand in the room where the box was. It was not intentional.”
“That’s what I’m sorry for.”
“No! No! It’s not a problem that can be passed on like that!”
“Shay?”
“Ah… Sorry.”
The conversation between Shay and I felt as out of sync as the distance between us at the extremes of the narrow tent. I had no regrets that she had shaken off my hand. It wasn’t formal at all when she told her she was sorry. If you have trauma, you are right to be extremely careful.
In fact, for me too, the memories that had been submerged because of the nightmare came to the surface, but for quite a long time, even a light handshake or touch, let alone skinship, almost made me shudder. Social phobia was the basic base.
What bothered me and pissed me off was that I had unwittingly touched her trauma and that the atmosphere in her corps was ruined because of it, but she hadn’t really done anything wrong.
But it seems Shay had a different idea.
“Could you shed some light on this a little later?”
“Suddenly?”
“Just… Huh. Since the captain has been honest about everything, I thought it would be good for me to share a little bit.”
“No, there is no need to be overbearing. What you’re saying is that you’re looking at me…”
Sarak-
Instead of Shay’s answer, a rustling sound was heard.
… What.
Why do you hear the noise when you put on or take off your clothes?
Confused.
You don’t have to wear clothes all of a sudden. If so, the answer is…
You mean Shay is in my tent right now, taking her clothes off!
“Shay. You now.”
“Done… It’s all done. Please clarify now.”
“Shay.”
“Come on… Before my resolution disappears now.”
Unable to overcome Shay’s squeezing voice, I took out a magic torch close to a lantern. When she put a little oil in and turned it on, a reddish light spread across the tent, which was difficult even for her eyes to distinguish. Then, what appeared in front of my eyes was the back of Shay, not wearing a single thread. The first thing that caught my eye was her smooth curves and the muscles of her back, which looked solid without being overdone.
However.
‘Eh, what is this… How. What has she been through this woman!’
A long scar across the middle of her back, like the trail of a thick snake. A scar that seemed to have been sutured from a deep tear. Incompletely healed scars from severe burns. A scar that seems to have recovered after being dug into chunks of flesh. In addition, scars whose cause cannot be easily guessed…
Scar. Scar. Scars, scars.
Her back was so full of scars that it was hard to find her bare skin.
“How is it? Is it very ugly?”
“You you…”
“It’s okay to show it to the front. It’s less than the back, though.”
Her mouth snapped. She had no idea what to say to her.
Sadness? Sympathy? Consolation?
No matter how stupid I was, I knew at least that those things were wrong in the current situation.
On her back, there was ‘malice’ that made her shudder. To the extent that I wonder if the things I’ve been through in the past are actually just blood on new feet.
“Because of this, I didn’t want to show my bare skin. Casual clothes and nun clothes that touch the skin right away. I wore armor all the time except for sleeping and washing. Well, right now, I have to rest comfortably when I can, so I’m not in a position to cover up things like that.”
Due to the addition of very little oil, the fire quickly went dark. The scar on Shay’s back was gradually covered by darkness… Her back, already engraved behind her retina, was tattooed into my brain as an even more vivid memory.
“So it means that cutting off the captain’s hand at that time was a fairly old, reflex action. It’s not that I don’t like the captain, or that the captain’s behavior is wrong. I wanted to say that.”
“… I understand.”
“What a relief.”
A rustling sound was heard again. This time it’s about getting dressed. Looking at that scar, I was able to infer her nightmare.
It could not be seen as a sign of a battle. Obviously, persistent torture or experiments… It must be a sign of the same thing.
I began to fear what she was asking as she showed me her own body.
“Captain.”
“Uh.”
“I hate heresy.”
“Okay.”
“Heretics are not people.”
“Okay?”
“And this is the den of heresy, the most vicious and deepest among them.”
With a group that worships the mad thing called fear, it makes sense.
“So, I want to kill him without a word. Information? I do not need it. Possibility of repentance? It’s not even worth considering.”
There was heat in Shay’s voice.
“They are the filth of the world. It is also the filth that voluntarily covered itself with that filth. It is not helpful to the people of the world, but rather brings people into despair and harms them. Insects and seawater have a final role as prey for other animals, but they do not play any role.”
“Yes.”
“Captain. I want the complete destruction of the dungeon.”
Complete destruction.
If expressed in the Long Terror formula, complete clear.
The weight contained in that word was by no means light. It was very heavy. Considering her life and the scars on her back, she felt much heavier.
Her hatred for heresy, which had been burned violently and for a long time and turned to charcoal, still retains its ardent heat.
That’s why Shay, a beautiful crusader who always had a big smile on her face, existed, and she realized that she was the driving force behind the movement.
An unquenchable hatred harbored by an angelic crusader with demonic scars.
“I wonder if the captain can continue to embrace me and move forward. I wanted to ask that.”
Can you handle that all the time until you destroy the dungeon, not just this once?
A beautiful crusader with many scars was saying that.
“Shay.”
“Yes, chief.”
“I’m sorry for asking a reverse question without answering right away, but why did you leave your jewelry with me? We only fought together once.”
“Sincerely, I felt it. This band of warriors, the captain, is really trying to break through the dungeon. It is sincere.”
Sincerity.
It’s a word with so much power.
It was a word with power that could not be ignored, enough to be used as an answer to any question.
“To be honest, I only paid attention to your talent. I was greedy from the first time I saw you. I thought it would be nice to have an excellent tank like you to protect us, so I only thought of it as a greedy talent that I had to succeed in recruiting.”
“Is it?”
“But after the fight, especially after you almost died, I changed my mind. The truth you said I felt that too.”
I want to go all the way with this crusader.
Her emotions as a gamer she felt for her, though her desires and expectations mixed quite a bit.
Good job thanks. Awesome.
I wasn’t saying these were lies.
“Can I still carry you? I will ask again.”
She once again made a formal proposal to her with all her heart.
“Shay, a Crusader of the Justitia Church. Are you ready to follow Hendrick, the humble unbeliever, to the deepest part of the dungeon?”
The lights were completely out, so we couldn’t see each other’s expressions. But it was not necessary. Voices were enough to communicate each other’s will.
After a moment of silence, Shay answered. Her answer was straightforward.
“That’s Okay.”
“Are you ready to follow my instructions, care for your comrades, and be the first to block the enemy’s attack?”
“That’s Okay.”
“Are you ready to believe in you, believe in me, believe in your comrades, go all the way and face the longest fears that will finally appear?”
“That’s Okay.”
A bounty hunter with nothing special possessed by an evil person who grew up after being abused.
A self-hating combat nun whose self-esteem was shattered due to all kinds of verbal abuse amidst racial discrimination.
That this includes a deceptively laughing, destruction-oriented crusader who has suffered indescribable pain and whose hatred of heresy has become his number one emotion is neither surprising nor great.
“Until death separates us, the purpose of the corps of warriors will not change. I swear to the two goddesses I know. Warm kindness and cool generosity. And what was that?”
“… Light and fair justice all around.”
Inside the pitch-black tent, a small light appeared near Shay’s neck.
