How long had it been since Walm entered a state that was too vague to call as conscious?
For sure, it had been quite a long time since his brain’s ability to understand the language completely had been lost, nevertheless, the emotional screams echoed in his brain.
“Fix his position. Don’t let him slip off the bed!!”
“What’s going on? It’s supposed to be compatible, right?”
“Blood keeps oozing! There’s no end!”
“Ah, the eyelids are closing!”
“No! This is bad. His consciousness is not coming back!”
“Damn it! His heart and breathing have stopped!”
“Move! I’ve some idea―― “
“Oi, what’s with the cover?!”
“Push his heart as hard as you can with both hands! It’s okay even if his ribs break. Fast!!”
“Come back!! Walm-dono! COME BACK!!!”
“No way, it’s hopeless. Why, why?!”
“Even though I’ve connected the nerves without problem, why, WHY?!!!”
“The temporary wall has fallen!!”
“The castle gate has been destroyed! Soon, the monsters will come!”
“Move the corpses out of the bed!… Where? Just stack them there!”
“Who cares! It’s not the time to care about the dead!!”
“Refugees are being eaten! There aren’t enough soldiers!”
“Hold the affected area!! As long as you can!”
“It’s the remnants of the Ogre Lord’s group!!”
“I’ll stall them. Amy, stand. Nothing can be done to Al anymore. I know it’s painful, but save the villagers!! Fight!! You must Fight!!”
“Aaaahh, my, my intestines, are, coming out!”
“Urrrggh, ugh, argh…”
“We’ve not enough people to carry the injured!”
“Carry them? To where?! There’s no escape anymore!”
“It’s over. No, I want to stay alive! I don’t want to be eaten!”
“Help, me, help…!”
It was so noisy.
Even if Walm wanted to move from such a place, his body felt heavy and his brain felt hot as if it was melting.
With no ability to move, Walm had no choice but to listen to the hustle and bustle of the surroundings, just like hearing a broken radio.
“Walm-san, get up…”
Only one voice reached his brain. But, even processing the voice was already a heavy burden to his brain, guessing the owner of the voice was almost impossible for him now. Walm tried to abandon it.
Since he came to a different world, he had worked hard, perhaps more than enough. Crawling around the battlefield with bloody vomit everywhere, moving his body that should be put to rest, forcing himself many times, swinging his weapon down again and again, killing around, another killing, and more killing. Kill, kill, and kill… he was exhausted. He wanted to rest so badly.
Walm’s consciousness was fading away, and slowly becoming muddy and muddier, but water droplets fell on his hands. It felt different from blood. He perceived someone holding his hand as he consciously sought the identity.
“Walm…-san…”
A girl who continued seeking mercy from the world, comrades who kept fighting without stop, and citizens who had lost their escape were all seeking help, seeking salvation.
『”What do you wish for with those muddy eyes?”』
Worn out by the ruthless reality, the “ethics” inside him had become muddy. Even though he might be not that productive and could only crush, burn, and kill others, for now, Walm only wished for the ability to save the person in front of him.
The eyes felt hot as if about to melt. Still, Walm tried to move and continued to exert force. The muddy consciousness cleared up rapidly. The first thing that jumped in the sight of Walm, who slowly opened his heavy eyelids, was a crying girl.
“Stop, that, terrible face.”
Walm couldn’t think of good words since he still had a terrible headache. The girl’s face, Ayane’s face, was swollen, probably because she kept crying.
“Walm-san!? Since when have you regained consciousness?”
You are reading story Nigoru Hitomi de Nani wo Negau at novel35.com
Ayane said so while sniffling.
“Yeah, thanks to, you.”
Even though it was a bloody world, the world felt vivid. The muddy eye that had been fighting together with him for a while was no longer there, and instead, it had been replaced by something else. As he ran his gaze around, he saw something nearby. It was the head of the Ogre Lord with no eyeballs.
Walm realized what had happened. The monster that had scooped his eyes out, was now got its eyes scooped out after its death.
Walm touched his eyes through the eyelids. It was burning as if it wanted to reject the new body. He couldn’t get rid of the piercing pain as if he was struck by a rusty nail and the heat as if it wanted to melt away. Still, it fulfilled its purpose, even though the world looked lagging behind.
The gears in the brain had been started a while ago and were now in a better condition. Without long thought, Walm determined that it was a characteristic of the eye, his new eyes.
“I’m glad, that you’re awake, really. But for the Ogre Lord’s eyes to be compatible with you, it’s just…”
Maia put her hand on her mouth as she still couldn’t believe her sight.
“My eyes feel like they’re about to melt.”
“It hasn’t been stable yet. I have to continue to cast recovery magic, but my mana…”
A girl who had exhausted her mana and might faint at any moment, Ayane, her dedication to everyone in need was immeasurable for Walm, who had been only going around killing others.
Walm groaned in pain, but turned back to a familiar voice.
“Walm-dono!!”
Since the loss of HQ, Walm had been unable to be at the treatment center and left the escort team to another man.
That man, rushed under Walm, as if a child jumping to hug their parent.
“Moritz, you’re safe… So, what’s the situation?”
After sorting out his thoughts, Moritz spat out the current situation in the castle in words.
“Half of the castle has fallen, and under the command of the Brigade Commander, some gate towers and walls are still holding on, but it’s only a matter of time before the monsters reach here.”
The situation was as bad as it could be. Although Walm won the life or death battle, he couldn’t stop the monsters completely just by that. Perhaps this situation could have been prevented if he didn’t collapse. But at the very least, he was somewhat happy that the situation was a little better than he had expected.
“I understand.”
Not only the crushed eyes but also the leg that got twisted when forcibly using wind magic was healed.
Walm picked up the clothes, put them on, and put on the equipment. The people there were stunned, but Ayane immediately shouted.
“Why are you still trying to fight?!!! If you force yourself in such condition, you’ll die for sure this time.”
“Yeah, I may die for real…. still, I can’t just sit down. You healed my eyes, for this reason, right?”
Walm had been turning a blind eye to any reason he had in his mind because he always followed the order, but as the headquarters, which was full of higher-ranking soldiers, had been lost, he thought that there was no need to make an excuse anymore.
Staying alone until the end, he didn’t what such a thing to happen, to share a pitiful fate with the castle, that was why he decided to keep fighting as long as he could move.
“That’s not why I healed you!! Why don’t you understand? Why… Why can you give your own life so easily? Is it for the people? For the country? WHY?!”
Walm, who couldn’t think about a reply, shut his mouth.
“Is it because, this is your second life?”
Walm opened his eyes as if he had been pierced by the girl. Perhaps, his expression looked so dumb right now.
“…I, don’t know. Just that, I don’t plan to give my life away for free.”
“Please, stay alive. Please come back alive. I didn’t heal you, for you to die. I healed you because, I wanted you to stay alive.”
“Yeah, I promise.”
When Walm nodded, he wore all the equipment and looked down at the mask. It was shaking as if to make fun of what he just said. Although the owner, Walm, was fatally injured, the mask didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
“What a rude mask”
While complaining, Walm wore the familiar mask. Perhaps it was actually concerned about its owner, now after it stuck to his face, it swayed modestly.
Luckily, someone smart picked up Walm’s equipment and brought it to the treatment center too.
“I shall leave the defense of the treatment center area to you. And I, shall go back to strike the enemy.”
The soldiers returned a good cry. The fierce men had been baptized with bloody vomit and sneaked through the life or death situation many times. Their bodies had been wounded many times. No soldiers were a battle virgin. Such soldiers were ready to defend the treatment center, to expose themselves to the battlefield once again.
Being sent by the soldiers’ battle cry, Walm returned to the front line where the last stand was still ongoing with an uncontrollable impulse from his burning eyes.
TN : Once again, I feel like the one who spoke 『“What do you wish for with those muddy eyes?”』 was Takakura Raizou. He spoke to himself, to be precise, to himself as Walm. The “muddy eyes” in here, I guess, must be in a literal and poetic meaning.
Well, this is just my analysis for now, as I haven’t even finished reading Arc 2…