Volume 1 Chapter 8: Part 1: You Need To Die

"Ugghh." Onyx groans as he wakes up from his slumber. Where am I? Confused about where he was, Onyx looks around and notices that he is in his room.

Wasn't I fighting with a chimera? How can I be back in the royal capital?

Onyx is too confused as to how he got back here. But another thought came to his mind,

Where's Irene?! If he was brought back to the capital, where is she?! Onyx's mind starts to go into overdrive, worried about her. But his worries are not needed.

"Nnnhnnnh," Onyx looks down to see a lump beside his side. He takes off the blanket to see Irene hugging onto his thighs. The expression on Irene's face was light. Like she was dreaming of something good.

It's nothing compared to the dark face Onyx's making.

"Onyx, where do you think you're touching?" Irene mumbles out.

"...?" Onyx's expression turns blank. Huh? What are you talking about?

"Ehehe, you can only do that when we're married."

"..." Onyx's expression turns stale, just speechless. What are you dreaming about right now? And don't think of me like that!

The expression on Irene's face is something nobody else should see. Her face looks like a perv.

And that isn't the end as she continues to murmur some other things, not noticing Onyx's twitching face. He's trying so hard to not bonk her on the head right now.

The only thing stopping him from doing it is remembering what happened.

Remembering how she was smacked so hard by the beast, Onyx felt guilty. The bandages around her body show the damage. He brushes her head. Somehow, maybe out of instinct, Irene's grin turns wider from his pat.

He smiles gently. Dummy.

"So you're finally awake." Onyx turns stiff when he hears a voice calling out. He turns around to see Vargar by the door.

"Teacher." Seeing Onyx's about to get up, Vargar waves his hand, "You don't need to get up and greet me. Your injuries will open up if you do."

Onyx doesn't move hearing that. He asks, "Teacher, what happened?" Everything is foggy after he got knocked out.

Vargar sits down in the chair and gives him a weird gaze, "How much do you remember?"

"Just the part of Irene and me fighting with the chimera. And that's about it. So how did we come back here in a day?" Onyx is still shocked they return to the capital so quickly.

"..." Vargar gives him another look as he explains, "Onyx, you were out cold for two weeks."

What? Onyx blinks a couple of times before repeating, "I was out for two weeks?"

"Yeah. You've been sleeping long after the trainees brought you back." Vargar nods as he explains. After Onyx and Irene fainted, the knights who led the trainees to safety returned to save them.

He saw everyone on the ground and quickly brought some trainees to carry them out.

"I see. So that's what happened." Hearing that, Onyx sighs in relief. But that sigh of relief just makes Vargar's expression constrict.

"Onyx, didn't I warn you before to run away?" His voice was cold as he said this to Onyx.

"...I know." Plus, Joseph was telling him to do the same thing as well. Those lines had gone through Onyx's mind as he fought with the monster.

"Then why didn't you run away?! You, of all people, should understand the dangers of fighting it!" If the other knights and trainees want to fight with it and die, then it's their fault for doing it.

But not for Onyx. He battled with them before. What's more, he fought with the infants added to it. So he should understand how dangerous an adult one was.

"...No."

"Huh?"

"I won't run away. If I escaped from there, other people would have died." Even as Onyx ran towards the battle, his thoughts were about what was wrong with him. What kind of fool would run into a losing battle? Of course, he understands how strong it was.

But he knew he couldn't run away. How many people would die if he ran away from the fight?

Onyx doesn't need to think about it as he knew the number would have been in droves.

How can he let that happen? What's more, what would happen to Irene if he escaped?

"I won't let Irene die." Just looking at himself, Onyx knew the answer. They won by the slimmest of margins. But that small margin was enough.

Irene would've been killed if he didn't jump in like a madman.

Hearing what he said, Vargar stays silent. But then he asks him, "Even if it means your death?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in Onyx's voice as he declared. He's the hero. Risking his life was something he should be doing for the innocents.

"... You idiot!" Before those thoughts can continue, what Onyx got is a fist to his head!

"Ahhh!" Onyx didn't expect he would get a punch! He rubs his head and looks up at Vargar, "What was that for?"

"Do you really think sacrificing your life will save everybody? That isn't a heroic move; that is a suicidal charge. Is saving people now worth the millions of lives you can save later?"

"..." Onyx can't say anything to that. What Vargar said is true.

Seeing him silent, Vargar sighs, "Onyx, you are the hero. But what good is a hero who dies?"

"..."

He continues, "You're still a child. You shouldn't be risking your life on something like this. Let the adults handle this." The more Vargar talked about this, the more Onyx felt what he did was pretty stupid.

"But good job." Onyx looks up at Vargar, surprised that he would praise him for what he did.

"Even though that was a foolish move, you still beat it. Rest up now. I'll be working you to the bone afterward."

"Understood, teacher!"

Vargar gives a light smile and walks out of the room. And when he did, Onyx made the brightest smile ever. He's happy that his teacher praised him.

But then he looks down at the person, who's still sleeping on his thighs.

"Alright, teacher left. Stop acting now."

"..."

So we're playing this, huh? Onyx sighs and then grabs Irene by the nose. The next second,

"Hey, why did you do that?!" Irene jumps up from his lap and pouts at Onyx, "I was having such a great dream too."

"Don't lie. You were awake when teacher came into the room." We were talking so loud. How are you not awake?

"No, I wasn't." Irene looks away, trying not to make eye contact with Onyx.

Onyx sighs, "That big goofy grin you had when I patted your head gave you away." The moment her smile turned wide, Onyx knew that Irene was awake. He just didn't say anything because he didn't want to.

"!" Now that she's caught, Irene gives him a wry smile, "I was hoping you would say we're connected."

"Why would I say something like that?!"

Irene gives him a sober look, "Didn't you say it when we were fighting the monster? We live together. We die together. Remember that?"

Those words are something Irene will never forget.

And Onyx as well. His face turns red, remembering it as well. He said it in the heat of the moment.

"Anyways, shouldn't you be sleeping in your bed? Why are you here?"

"Ey! Don't you try to change the subject! And I have you know I woke up earlier than you." Irene woke up 10 days before Onyx.

"Then you should get more rest. Look at how many injuries you have."

"Alright. I will." Surprisingly, Irene agreed with what he said. And then, she brings the blanket back up and starts sleeping.

Onyx tilts his head, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm getting more rest, as you said."

"..." I meant in your own bed.

"Go back to your room." But Irene shakes her head, covering herself with the blanket more.

"Then how can I rest properly?"

"Huh? Isn't there a bed in your room?" Unless there isn't, there's no need to sleep here.

But Irene shakes her head, "Being next to you is the best medicine." Irene grabs Onyx's waist and snuggles into him, "This is the only way I can rest properly and get back to 100%."

The expression on her face is just pure bliss. The only person who isn't showing bliss is Onyx. His face is turning redder.

Do you know what you are doing to me?! Onyx felt his heat pressure going up every time Irene tightened her hold onto him.

"No."

"You don't have a say in this." The moment Irene decides on something, there is no talking back. And Onyx knows this as well. He has to suck it up.

...

"How can you send these incompetent people to go and protect the hero?!" Somewhat later that day, Otter was shouting at Vargar and Walter.

"Sir Otter, watch what you say about our knights. And do you really think you can blame us for something like this? How can we know there would be a chimera showing up?" When Walter heard about this from the knight, even he was surprised.

"Those knights were incompetent people. They couldn't even hold a chimera back to give the hero a chance to escape. Do you know what would happen if the hero got seriously injured from this?!" When the expedition group returned, Otter's expression sank when he saw how injured Irene was.

He quickly cast top-quality healing magic onto Irene, hoping that would heal all of her wounds. And it did. Most of her injuries were restored.

But Irene was still unconscious. Even healing magic wouldn't be able to help her recover from mental fatigue.

"I'm beginning to wonder whether or not the Espoir Kingdom has enough manpower to protect the hero." A sneer forms on Otter's face. But that sneer is nothing compared to the one coming from Vargar,

"Watch your tongue, Otter. Need me to remind you that you're the one who kept forcing the idea of wanting them to go to the forest?" This whole situation came about due to Otter's insistent demand for the two to get experience.

Things could have been different if Otter didn't keep insisting.

"The reason I kept insisting is I thought the knights would be enough to watch over them and protect them. But it seems that I have overestimated them."

Vargar's sneer becomes bigger. He was waiting for him to say this,

"It seems that we have overestimated the Holy Land's priests. To think they would run away first and leave the heroes back to fight."

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

The knights had stood their ground and did their best to let the trainees escape with their lives. That showed their courage and efforts. But the priest, on the other hand, ran away from the battle like a bunch of cowards.

If the priests had stood their ground and fought with the knights, it would have been a higher chance for more knights to survive.

Vargar can't stand that. They just abandoned their post, not caring about the young ones' lives.

"You!" Otter's expression turns beet red when he hears that.

"In addition, I heard from others that the grand priest insisted on continuing the journey even after Hero Onyx told them not to go. So who's fault is that?"

Otter's expression turns redder as he glares at Vargar. He can't say anything. The only thing he can do is glare at Vargar.

"Enough!" The only person to stop this tension is Walter as he shouts out,

"The heroes are alive. That's all that matters. Blaming each other is just going to get us nowhere. For now, we'll be more cautious." The other two agree with what he said.

"Then I won't bother the two of you then."There's no need for Otter to stay here after finishing the meeting.

But Walter says one final thing,

"Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. There was a group there before Irene and Onyx's group arrived. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, right?"

"!" When Otter hears that, his expression turns blank. The smiling face coming from Walter placed a lot of pressure on him.

Never has he ever felt something like this from a smiling face.

"I know nothing of this matter. That group could just be a random adventuring group. If you excuse me, I have an important matter to attend to." Otter says this and quickly leaves the room.

Seeing him leave like that, Vargar turns to Walter, "Are you really going to let this go away?"

"Of course not. How can we let this go? We lost a lot of good people." Many good knights lost their lives during that fight.

"Have you sent their families compensation?" Walter couldn't let their families go to waste.

"Mmhmm, I have sent each of their families compensation. We will also cover their funeral." Vargar says with a solemn expression. But he continues, "I wasn't talking about that. Are we really going to let them go after they try something like this?"

This time, they were fully deliberate in what they were doing.

"I know." Walter sighs and droops into his chair.

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