Prologue 2: The Lost Bonds of the World
Translator's Note: This is the start of Part 2. Updates will start again next week.
The symptoms of Mana Intoxication have begun to manifest among the members of the Special Task Force.
Dizziness, nausea, respiratory failure, disrupted mana circulation... These various symptoms are draining their stamina. The fact that we’re even standing here now is the result of pushing ourselves beyond our limits.
However, we’ve always left ourselves some margin for error. For now, the symptoms aren’t severe enough to hinder our movements. But because of this, I’m being forced to make a decision. You could say I’m being asked to question the purpose of this exploration.
I possess the internal mana capacity of a count. The dense ambient mana in this area hasn’t yet caused me to experience Mana Intoxication. If I push myself, I could press forward further. But if the soldiers follow me, their safety cannot be guaranteed.
I am not a hero. I am not a champion. I am not a renowned holy knight, a high-ranking priest, nor a mage blessed with abundant talent and internal mana. I cannot afford to act selfishly. I am not one of those special individuals who are allowed to act recklessly. I have people I must protect.
Unlike the countless heroes depicted in the entertainment novels of my previous life, I am not granted the freedom to act as I please. It would be no exaggeration to say that I am bound by duty, responsibility, and noble pride. Ironically, this is exactly the situation the so-called God described to me after I completed my previous life.
“You’ll be born into a completely different world where freedom of action is completely suppressed in everything.”
If I had mistaken myself for the protagonist of one of those novels I read in my past life and misunderstood it as my awakening, I would have been driven to despair by this reality where freedom of action is completely suppressed in everything. My heart would have been consumed by darkness.
I might have even been driven to madness. Feeling shackled, I would have looked down on those around me while basking in my own self-importance. I would have acted with a near-delusional belief that I was special, only to eventually be rejected by this world.
But I have never thought of myself as special. I see myself as just another man from the frontier, nothing more.
In the frontier regions, individuals with unusually high internal mana are rare but not extraordinary. I am but an ordinary man, one among the countless masses—I am certain of that. A quick glance around me reveals many who are more capable than I am. Therefore, I could never be special. Except for one thing…
The one thing that is certain is that I am the third son of a knightly family in the northern frontier.
No one expects heroic deeds from someone with my mediocre abilities. Born into a knightly family in the northern frontier, my duty as the commander of the knightly family’s Guerilla Unit is to protect my subordinates as much as possible while achieving the greatest results.
――― Needless loss of soldiers would betray the pride of a frontier knightly house.
Thus, there is only one decision to make here.
“This exploration ends here. Our equipment is insufficient. I want a report on the new mask design.”
As I gaze at the Middle Forest spread out below, I ask myself who I am and what I must do. The answer still eludes me. There is too much to consider.
But... one thing I do understand is that the answer lies somewhere within the scene before my eyes.
By the time the sun reaches its zenith, we shift our focus to retreating from our intended destination. A slightly open high ground—a rocky outcrop jutting over the cliff’s edge. The air is clear. The ambient mana is dense. Below us stretches the endless Demonic Forest.
Since I haven’t shown symptoms of Mana Intoxication yet, I took up the rear as the commander, positioning myself at the very end of the Special Task Force. Then, I cast one last glance toward the deepest part of the “Middle Layer Forest.”
Within my field of vision...
...is a massive, multi-layered structure towering in the depths of the Middle Layer.
...It has come into view.
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