I Became the Martial God's Youngest Disciple

Episode 307

I could hear the sound of a campfire burning. I could sense its perfect warmth, the fluffy softness of a mattress, and... the regular sound of pages turning?

Is someone reading a book? This question soon led to me waking up.

My mind, which had been wandering dazedly in a dream, gradually returned to my body. I realized that I was lying on a bed, there was a fireplace next to me, and someone was sitting on a chair and flipping through a book.

The moment I turned to look, I made eye contact with a lizard. To be precise, it was a person with the face of a lizard. I couldn't mistake them for Araxad because their scales were red.

Moreover, I felt that this person gave off a different impression from a lizardman. It made me wonder if after spending so much time with Corrupted, I had developed an eye for distinguishing between different races.

A pair of red eyes stared at me and the person slowly spoke. "Lanfero. He woke up."

"Hm?"

I wondered what was going on, but the words weren't directed at me. What's more, this person's voice was unexpectedly high and clear. In other words, it was the voice of a woman.

The reptilian woman got up from her seat, closed the book, and left the room. Strangely, her movements overflowed with elegance. On the outside, she seemed far more aristocratic than Lanfero, despite his noble appearance.

Then Lanfero entered as if taking her place. He asked, "Did you sleep well? You sure sleep a lot. What a sleepyhead."

"Good morning," I replied.

"Yes. Good evening."

I followed Lanfero's gaze out the window and saw that it was dark outside. I remembered what happened and slowly asked, "What is going on?"

"Let's see. How should I explain? First of all, you have been sleeping for three days."

I felt that it was a familiar development. Every time I was involved with those damn demons, I always ended up unconscious for days before waking up.

In any case, after hearing Lanfero's words, I finally realized how dry my throat was and that my stomach had shrunk so much it felt attached to my spine. It was only natural, since I had gone three days without eating.

"Do you want a glass of water?" Lanfero asked.

"Thank you," I responded. I took the water from Lanfero and drank it in one gulp. My thirst wasn't satisfied, but something filled my stomach, so my hunger started to fade as well.

Lanfero went outside, brought in a kettle, and poured a lot of water for me. It was only after I drank two more cups of cold water that I felt fully awake.

"By the way, who was that person just now?" I asked.

"Our clan member, Lukuluku. Have you heard of her?" Lanfero replied.

"I've heard the name."

"We have been pretty busy the past few days. Lukuluku has been taking care of you while you are unconscious. Please thank her when you meet later."

"Ah, yes."

Lukuluku was a name that Ramon had mentioned to me. Just from the name, I had expected a cute lesser race like the slime. Yet in reality, she was more like the biting cold wind of the north. Ramon had said that she didn't like others talking about her. Seeing her in person, I understood the meaning of these words.

I wasn't sure whether to describe her as cold, or just cool. Still, she'd taken care of me for three days without saying a word. It meant she was a considerate person. Then as soon as our eyes met, she left immediately. She didn't seem to be the shy type, but she was hard to read in many ways.

"By the way, she isn't a lizardman," Lanfero continued.

"Then?"

"She is a dragon."

I was completely surprised by those words. I asked, "A dragon? You mean like the dragons I know?"

"That's right. The same dragons as Taon Gludd, the headquarters chief of the Hero Society. Of course, she is a half-blood, unlike the headquarters chief," Lanfero explained.

"Half-blood?"

"In short, she is a half-dragon. She became like that due to certain circumstances."

"Circumstances?"

"It is a kind of curse."

"Huh."

"Well, let's stop talking about other people. It would be rude to dig further."

"Okay."

"By the way, you are the first person who didn't make a fuss after seeing her face. I don't know for sure, but I bet Lukuluku took quite a liking to you."

"Shut up, Lanfero. Come and eat something," a cold voice suddenly said from outside, making Lanfero shrug.

"Are you eavesdropping? How rude," Lanfero remarked.

"Who was the one who started talking about me first? If you are going to talk about manners, why not close the door?"

"Well, yes. Ah, go and eat first. I still have some things to discuss with Luan."

Then, the sound of clattering dishes filled the air while Lanfero closed the door. The noise from the living room faded away and silence settled over the room. There was only a flickering candle lighting the room.

Lanfero slowly said, "The matter with the Dark Church is more or less finished."

"Ah."

"Originally, the area would have been corrupted just by summoning the legion commander. Fortunately, it didn't reach that level. Why do you think that is?"

I narrowed my eyes slightly. The answer didn't seem too difficult, but I couldn't think of anything since my head wasn't fully clear yet.

Lanfero continued, "It is simple. The place where the four months took place was inside Ymir's body. At least thousands of years have passed since his death, but Ymir's corpse still hasn't decayed. Thanks to that, the miasma didn't completely leak out. Call it an unexpected stroke of luck. However, apart from that, we couldn't stop the miasma that escaped from the stone doors. Thus, some areas in the north will be in danger for the time being."

"Is the evacuation over?"

"Yes. There are so many bodies that it will take a long time to recover them. To make matters worse, there is still miasma lurking inside Ymir's body. That means we can't rush."

"Ah." There was a person who came to my mind when hearing about the corpses.

Lanfero nodded when he saw my expression, saying, "Ramon's body was recovered by Mir."

"I see."

"What did he say at the end? I think he would've nagged me even at the end."

"He left a letter before leaving." I reached into my clothes, took out a letter, and handed it to Lanfero.

Lanfero took the letter, read it slowly and let out a low laugh. "He was worried about others until the end. What a foolish guy. He should have worried about himself."

I said nothing.

"By the way, is this the first time someone died in your place?" Lanfero asked suddenly.

I was caught off guard by Lanfero's direct question and nodded. "Probably?"

"Then before coming to Corrupted, you probably never imagined that a little goblin would save your life. In the future, however, things you can't imagine will happen all the time. Heroes are like that. You will go through many terrible situations where you will face unreasonable things."

What is this man trying to tell me?

I asked that question with my eyes, and Lanfero continued talking. "Don't get too caught up by it. Ramon will be satisfied as long as you don't forget him. You don't have to feel regret or feel guilty. If anyone else from the clan were there instead of Ramon, they would've acted the same way regardless of your strength."

"Why?"

"They are seniors. One day, you will also become a senior. It is passed down like that."

I quietly met Lanfero's gaze before asking half-impulsively, "What if it could be undone?"

"What?"

"What if I could go back in time and bring back Senior Ramon, Senior Feed, or everyone else who died?"

"I don't like what-ifs."

Honestly, neither did I. I probably wouldn't be tormented by such thoughts if I didn't have this kind of blessing.

Lanfero wondered, "It is a strange question. Or can you actually turn back time?"

I said nothing.

Lanfero chuckled. "Kukuk. Is this too much? I'm just joking."

At that moment, the window frame creaked in the wind. Lanfero looked out the window with a smile on his face. The shadows cast on his pale face made him look darker than usual today.

"You are right. Anyone would have such thoughts. The desire to turn back time comes from regret. Who lives in this world without any regrets? Hmm. Let me see..." Lanfero crossed his arms and unexpectedly thought about it seriously.

This side of him was somewhat surprising. I remembered the sight he'd shown me at the last moment: Lanfero Nosferatu had faced the group of demons and revealed himself as a predator. Now, from that same man, I felt the gentle wisdom and kindness of an elder.

"About that hypothetical of yours, could you go back as many times as you wanted?" he asked.

"No. Just once," I answered.

"Really? Then there is no right answer."

"What do you mean?"

"How about this? For example, what if you went back in time and succeeded in saving Ramon, but Araxad died instead?"

I listened quietly.

"Maybe both Ramon and Araxad would die, I would die, or things would get twisted and we wouldn't be able to stop the church's plans."

I replied, "Who knows? At the very least, you wouldn't repeat the same mistakes when going back to the past. The benefits of gaining information can't be ignored either. Wouldn't the results be better than before?"

"This matter was too complicated and the church's preparations were meticulous. Just look at the end result. If I had arrived even one step late, you would've been killed by the demons."

That was true.

"If there were multiple opportunities, you could afford to repeatedly fail and find a way. But in my opinion, the fact that this operation ended with only this level of damage is a miracle. I don't know about a thousand or ten thousand attempts, but this is the best possible outcome you could get after a hundred repeated attempts."

"Ah." I finally understood Lanfero's words.

The current result was only possible due to several lucky factors coinciding. Such luck was beyond the realm of calculation. Even if I repeated the events, there was no guarantee that the same result would be obtained.

"Of course, what you say makes sense. There is a possibility that it would have turned out for the better. So what do I think? Well..." Lanfero looked at me. "It would be fine whether you went back or not. Of course, as the clan leader, Ramon's death is regrettable. However, it is a choice he made himself. We should respect it."

I fell silent. Lanfero remained indifferent even in the face of a colleague's death. I could guess the reason: He had lived for so many years and thus became used to parting. I figured I wasn't that mature yet.

Lanfero said, "You are saying strange things that don't fit you. Have you read a novel like that?"

"Huh?"

"A novel where the protagonist goes back in time and wins. It is popular in the capital these days."

"No," I answered. I didn't even know such a thing was popular.

"In any case, let's talk about the rest later. You should eat for now."

I nodded but stayed in bed, watching Lanfero's back as he left the room first.

In truth, there was one more thing I wanted to ask. What if we could really go back to the past and it wasn't just a what-if?

I wondered if he would still give me the same answer and advice. Most people couldn't go back in time or change the past. Thus, I thought that Lanfero's seemingly reasonable thoughts could be some kind of rationalization or compromise that was trained over a long period of time.

Lanfero might've seen my doubts as an immature hero's escape from reality, but in fact, that wasn't the case. What I'd spoken about was a possibility that could actually happen.

I sighed. It wasn't like me to overthink this much.

Let's start with a meal.

For now, I decided to fill my stomach first as Lanfero said. Then I would think about the rest.