214 What Is War?
At this moment, it was only early in the morning. A wet and cold wind blew from the distant peak surrounded by fog, causing a rustling dead leaf to fly up and brush past Kang De’s cheek. His calm eyes did not blink.
It was as if today was just an ordinary day.
It was as if he was only going to the city to visit his good friend.
Leona looked at Kang De. She could feel the heat of the flames churning in his chest. His calmly rising and falling chest was like two huge bellows, agitating the flames to continuously expand and fiercely burn the red stubborn iron. The majestic beating heart was like a hammer refining this iron block, striking out countless sparks.
She knew that this stubborn iron was slowly being forged into a sword. The forger had decided to make the hammer strike faster and fiercer, making the flames burn more fiercely. This was the reason why Kang De was going.
This man was determined to remember what was about to happen or had already happened in Valentine in an almost masochistic manner. He would melt everything into the sword he was forging until the sharpness was revealed.
He hid the frustration and shock in his heart in a reserved and stubborn manner. His warm but restrained emotions would become a part of his future life and shape a more spiritual soul. A noble anger gathered in his ordinary body, but it was deep, sad, and helpless.
A person was helpless in the face of the atrocities of an army and the suffering of a city. Witnessing and remembering was only within his ability. At the very least, he could cut open his chest, feel this pain, and remember the blood flowing.
For a moment, Leona was both relieved and sad.
She knew that the negative intention to avoid the world that Kang De had revealed yesterday had been annihilated by the wind. Nick’s decisive sacrifice had unintentionally realized a greater meaning. He would no longer leave easily.
However, the price was that the Cathayan who had crossed the Empire and come to Goethe had already taken the initiative to step into this war. He stood here on Goethe’s land with his car behind him, just like in the Empire. However, the star of war had already descended and landed. It had branded traces of iron and fire on this confident and enthusiastic body that had been filled with enthusiasm a few days ago. This might be the price of growing up.
She could not refuse or say any objections.
“Wait here and chase after that messenger to ask if there’s a place to hide around. There will definitely be. If you’re discovered by the elf army, reveal your identity and say that you were robbed by the Goethe army…”
Kang De instructed calmly and called the butler to listen to prevent Leona from being distracted.
He instructed Hong San and the green-skinned to wait here.
Hong San said, “Master, I…”
Kang De rejected without hesitation, “You can’t go. I’ll go with it. Even if the most dangerous situation happens, there’s a way to escape. Not with you.”
He was so insistent that Hong San could not object. Kang De looked at the green-skinned people and planned to order these orcs to stay with the strictest attitude, but he was thinking too much.
Heaven Slash and the others looked distracted. There was no desire for war on their faces. Instead, they frowned and looked very troubled. They did not object to Kang De’s orders at all.
He looked at everyone one last time before turning to get into the car. The Hummer Hong San started.
Suddenly, Leona rushed over and knocked on the window. She shouted at Kang De, “Hey!”
In the car, as Kang De checked the firearms, he said coldly, “Let’s go.”
The Autobot did not move. Instead, it lowered the window.
Before Kang De could speak, Leona jumped up and stepped on the pedal of the Hummer. She stretched out her hands, grabbed Kang De’s collar, and looked him in the eye. “You have to come back alive!”
Kang De looked at the starry eyes close at hand and nodded slowly, “…Yes, don’t worry.”
“I heard it last night.”
“Yes?”
Leona said loudly, “I said I heard what you told Nick! You’ve never slept with Tina, kissed her, or even established a relationship! The so-called marriage is all just her one-sided declaration, right?!”
The girl’s voice was very loud and she spoke with a strong aura. Kang De subconsciously nodded, “…Yes.”
“Then it’s decided!”
With a smack, Leona’s mouth arched over.
However, she was inexperienced and her aim was too poor with her eyes closed. She only kissed his face, but Leona did not realize this at all, as if she had given Kang De a stamp. She was satisfied and blushed. She shouted loudly to hide her emotions, “This means I’m not snatching her man!”
“Listen! I’ve taken a fancy to you! I want to raise you as a gigolo! It doesn’t matter even if you’re an unromantic b*stard who swings his axe wildly! When you return, I’ll woo you!”
“D*mn! You’ve profited greatly! I’m very rich! I’ll throw you onto my bed with money!”
“Why are you looking at me? Haven’t you seen a rich woman looking for a man? Then you’ve seen it now! Get lost and do your business now. When you return, I’ll show you the style of the Vidal family!”
“…”
“…”
The two of them looked at each other. There was silence around them. Although it was in this atmosphere, Miss Vidal’s explosive speech still shocked everyone’s hearts.
A moment later, Leona jumped down from the pedal and kicked the car door. “What are you looking at?! Get lost!”
The Hummer rumbled away until it disappeared. Leona slowly squatted down and buried her head in her arms.
She whispered, “…It hurts.”
Hong San had already caught up to the messenger who left. After asking, he returned and told the old butler the matter and problem of hiding, including how to hide their auras, how to prevent the tracking of the Elven War Hound, and so on.
Then Leona heard the sound of cloth tearing.
She looked up and saw Hong San tear off two pieces of cloth from his body and take some blood from the people of the Vidal Chamber of Commerce. As he smeared an incomprehensible pattern on the cloth, he walked in the direction Kang De had left with a spear behind him.
Seeing her look over, he nodded and bowed.
His expression was calm and composed, unlike his usual evasion and respect.
Leona said coldly, “He won’t let you go back.”
Hong San smiled and said, “I only listen to Master.”
His smile and expression were not only calm and unperturbed, but simply distant and cold, so much so that Leona could not say a second word of dissuasion.
This was because this man who usually considered himself a servant and often bowed and greeted others with a smile was now standing with his back as straight as a spear. He was just short of writing on his face, “I’m courting death. It’s none of your business.”
She could only watch Hong San leave in silence until he was finally done applying it. From afar, she saw his already extremely small back bend down and tie the two pieces of cloth to his leg.
After a long time, the old butler walked forward.
He said softly, “Miss, although I don’t agree… do you want to go back?”
“Go back… my ass.”
Leona gritted her teeth and said, “Are you going back to be a burden?”
Although from the beginning to the end, the girl had a straight face and did not smile or cry. She was strong and stubborn, but at this moment, tears finally flowed from her eyes. Humans were not made of iron and stone. The reason why humans were spiritual high-level creatures was because they had extremely strong empathy.
The despair, tragedy, and determination that Nick displayed in his heart were deeply touched even as a citizen of the Empire. How could Kang De not be moved when he turned around alone and remembered the back of Valentine?
However, she could not go back and be with Kang De. She was rational and would make the right choice at any time. She would definitely not rush back in a fit of anger and drag him down.
However, sometimes thinking that she had made the right choice often meant pain and helplessness.
Just as Nick had decided, how could he not know that the magnificent feat of dying with the enemy meant that all the civilians in the city would fall into an abyss of pain and despair? He was in a painful dilemma and prayed, but in the end, he still made a decision, because this was war. War did not consider who was innocent. War would only be cruelly demanded of all lives.
However…
“I don’t want to be like this forever. Or rather, I don’t want to be like this next time. I can only wait.”
Leona slowly turned around and looked at everyone. Her gaze finally landed on the orcs.
These green-skinned people who ate, drank, and pooped heartlessly all day and took pleasure in fighting and bragging seemed to be forever happy or angry, but now, the smiles and anger disappeared from their faces.
They were deep in thought.
Orc, contemplation. These two words seemed to never be connected.
However, it still happened.
Leona walked forward.
Heaven Slash returned to his senses and looked down at the little shrimp in front of him.
The girl looked up and asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking…” The green-skinned creature muttered, “I’m thinking about what that little shrimp said…”
Leona said indifferently, “What do you think?”
“I… I… I don’t know… I can’t say…” The green-skinned person in front of him revealed unprecedented confusion. He scratched his ears and cheeks with a puzzled and stunned expression, “I’m only…”
He could not organize precise words to describe it, because its mood was also chaotic at this moment. In the end, the green-skinned creature only expressed his most intuitive mood.
He said in a low voice, “I’m only a little envious. I’m only a little envious…”
These simple-minded and naive orcs lived optimistically in a bitterly cold place, but this did not mean that they knew nothing about the current situation of their race. Many orcs left the tribe and went south. Some wanted to see a larger world, and some were looking for something. Heaven Slash and the others had come to find the Great Tyrant, but when they heard the words in Nick’s will just now, they were shocked and indescribable. empathy was the ability of high-level creatures.
Leona said softly, “I know what you’re envious of. Do you want to know?”
The Hummer swept past the rolling hills and rushed through the sparse woodland. It roared and ran. Stars of shattered soil splashed onto the glass. The hanging device hanging from the inner rearview mirror kept swaying. Kang De closed the magazine and put the gun aside. He held a terrifying weapon that was only meant to kill, but he had not known what war was until today.
The Autobot’s low and confused words sounded from the speaker.
“Father, I don’t understand.”
As a mechanical life that had just been born, it did not understand why living beings could be both brave and weak. It did not understand why living beings could not surrender even if they knew they had to die. It did not understand why someone was willing to sacrifice everything for the country, world, and the next generation that was no longer related to it.
Kang De said softly, “This is war.”
“Father, what’s war?”
“What is it?”
Kang De opened the window.
The breeze from Calonia blew on his face. This was the country where Cleveland, Captain Oswald, and the people of the Penguin had fought to the death. It was the hometown that Nick Valentine loved affectionately. The fertile output of the land, the festival filled with memories, the heroes of the ancestors who had fought for this land… All of this formed the concept of the country and connected every independent person, allowing people of different backgrounds, strengths, and statuses to fight, suffer, and even sacrifice together.
Kang De touched the letters that he had carefully put away.
“War is a letter that I look forward to receiving but am afraid to receive. It’s a heartfelt reverence for protection and sacrifice, a bone-deep hatred for invasion and destruction, an unforgettable cherishment of peace and beauty, a promise that can’t be fulfilled, and a person that I can’t save even if I try my best.”
“It’s a life that should be safe, happy, or promising.”
He could not help but think of the night he had just arrived in Goethe. He had seen the slaughtered and burned village and chased after it under the starlight. In the end, he punished all the murderers and comforted the innocent lives of the dead.
At that time, he sighed with pity at the cruelty of the war, causing the invading soldiers to unknowingly turn into evil ghosts and torture the innocent commoners. He pitied the suffering of the war, sighed with emotion at the cruelty of not distinguishing friend from foe, and solemnly said that he wanted to end this war.
At that time, he was so naive, arrogant, and righteous.
“I want to end this war.”
In the refreshing morning wind, Kang De said these words again.
Just like that night, there was only one audience.
“Yes.”
The Autobot’s voice was as calm and powerful as usual.
At this moment, Valentine woke up from the morning light on tenterhooks. The elf camp outside the city was still eyeing it covetously. The impetuous and turbulent hearts were looking forward to the end of the war and did not care whose sacrifice it was. A small number of people were prepared. After weighing the pros and cons, Therlandron had misjudged the courage of humans and was also disturbed by factors like loss, injury, and responsibility. An elite army followed the secret map provided by Nick Valentine and advanced into the city. The troops outside the city also launched a huge siege battle.
Be it friend or foe, the living beings fighting for this city were already prepared.
The highest commanders of both sides had already foreseen Valentine’s outcome.
What they did not know was that two Cathayans were rushing towards this bloody city separately. They did not care about one of them, but the other was remembered by Therlandron and Nick at the same time. Its importance even surpassed the ownership of Valentine City.
At this moment, Kang De was rushing to the battlefield. The reverse wind blew the smell of blood and fire. The crimson scroll that inherited the supreme divine power of the Dragon of Time and Space shone with warm light on his chest, but Akatum still could not bestow the power to stop evil. Perhaps the gods had long stopped watching this land.
However, the reason why Kang De returned here and the courage of the Goethe people to not be afraid of death had nothing to do with the gods.
The battle of Valentine had come to an end.
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