"Necromancers aren’t exactly a specialty here, but they are notorious in this region. There are three wanted necromancers in the northern part of the empire."
And, of course, we just so happened to be in the northern region right now.
"So... are you saying there’s a necromancer in this village?"
"No, if a necromancer went around announcing ‘Hey, I live here,’ they’d have been arrested ages ago. I don’t know if there’s one here specifically, but in this northern region, those three necromancers are well-known."
"Ah...."
So instead of a Grand Duke ruling over the North, this world had three major necromancers.
Yeah, no romance here. Just villain organizations held together with duct tape.
Somehow, replacing Grand Duke of the North with Three Major Necromancers made this world feel way cheaper.
"I don’t know much about this village’s actual specialty, though," Ishina added.
"That’s fine. Thanks for answering...."
With a sigh, I gave up and moved on to the next house.
If I wanted information that could trigger Karon’s memories, I’d have to find it somewhere else.
"Hey, you rookies. Go fetch more water."
"Yes, ma’am...."
Patty, Matty, and Jason disappeared again, leaving Karon and me alone with our shovels and misery.
Because there were so few Lance Corporals, Ishina had put me in charge of managing this team.
At least my job is slightly easier than theirs...
But work is still work, and I didn’t want to do it.
As I mechanically continued shoveling, Karon suddenly froze again.
"What now, Karon—ah."
Right.
This had to be another memory thing.
I watched him carefully.
Karon thought it was just a coincidence, but this was a novel.
And in a novel, coincidences don’t exist.
Memory loss—the ultimate plot device, used in dramas, books, and stage plays alike.
And, of course, when lost memories resurface, all the past hints have to come together.
If Karon’s behavior so far was any clue, this village was definitely part of his forgotten past.
"Ah, this."
Karon stepped forward and picked up a toolbox.
It was completely waterlogged, but the tools inside were still usable.
And from inside, he pulled out a hammer.
It wasn’t just any hammer.
It was massive. A weapon, not a tool.
"Karon, why?"
"...I think I remember something...."
His grip tightened around the handle, the veins on his hand standing out.
Then, as if remembering my presence, he hesitated and asked:
"Salvia, may I... try using this?"
"Where? To smash my head in?"
"A-absolutely not! I meant just on the ground!"
"It was a joke. Go ahead."
Since the villagers weren’t home, he could do whatever he wanted.
Even so, Karon kept glancing at me for approval. It was only after I nodded several times that he finally raised the hammer.
And then—he swung it down onto a nail sticking out of a wooden plank.
BAM!
With one strike, the nail sank in completely.
...Wait.
Was it supposed to go in with just one hit?
I had never used a hammer before, but even I knew that hammering was supposed to go bang, bang, bang multiple times, right?
While I stood there dazed, Karon stared down at his own hands.
The atmosphere around him felt strange, so I didn’t say anything.
Don’t tell me his past has some kind of hidden, dark secret? Like some ridiculously edgy backstory?
No, let’s think about the original novel.
Karon in the original story was, well...
A total puppy.
Not in a bad way—he was literally like a trained dog.
The original novel tried to frame it as a younger brother type of relationship, but let’s be real—whenever something happened to the heroine, Karon’s eyes went wide, he rushed to her side, and he followed her around obsessively.
If she got hurt, he bared his teeth at the culprit.
No dark backstory ever came up.
Alright, let’s compare Karon’s attitude toward Dalin with the other male leads.
(AKA the same bastard who said, "Death doesn’t matter.")And Karon?
"...I don’t understand how anyone gets used to losing people. I just... I just can’t."
"Hmm...."
"Karon, what about your old senior... the one you used to follow before?"
"Oh, Salvia?"
"Yes...."
"I’m fine! And I’ll be fine in the future!"
Karon had handled Salvia’s death so well that it was almost annoying.
...Excuse me? You just moved on?
The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.
No, no. It’s over now. Calm down, Salvia.
Anyway, instead of being devastated over Salvia’s death, Karon had focused on protecting Dalin.
That’s how much he liked her.
So much so that—
"Now that I think about it, Karon, you’re getting promoted soon, aren’t you?"
"Yep! I’ll be a Commissioned Officer soon!"
"Then... that means you’re leaving this unit?"
"Uh... I don’t want to."
"...Excuse me? Oh, do you mean you want to stay as an officer in this unit? I heard Winter is planning to do that too."
"Yeah, I want to stay here."
"Hehe, well, you’ll still get discharged someday, right?"
"I don’t want to get discharged."
"...What?"
"You don’t want to get discharged? You want to stay here forever?"
Is this guy out of his mind?
Karon was saying he wanted to stay in this unit.
Because Dalin was here.
For the first time, I truly understood why the novel was called Four Obsessed Madmen Cling to Me.
At least now I could confirm that Karon was completely insane in the original story.
I mean, refusing to get discharged for love?
That was madness.
The worst part? The original readers thought this was romantic.
"Omg, 😭💖 he doesn’t even wanna leave because of the heroine!! So devoted!!"
No.
That wasn’t devotion.
That was a mental breakdown.
Was he just not in a good mental state back then?
I suddenly felt genuinely worried about Karon’s sanity.
Cautiously, I called his name.
"Karon... do you really not want to be discharged?"
"Huh? No, I’m not crazy!"
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"...Thank God."
He visibly panicked at the suggestion, clutching his hammer like I had just accused him of a war crime.
At least in this timeline, he was still mentally stable.
Anyway.
The original Karon was never dark or brooding.
He didn’t have a tragic past either.
His memory loss wasn’t a setup for a big plot twist like "surprise! He was a tortured soul all along!"
It was just a convenient explanation for why he was so close to Salvia and why he was so pure-hearted.
His past never even mattered in the original story.
So why the hell is he acting like he remembers something now?
I frowned, glancing between Karon and his hammer.
That was when Sanchez suddenly poked his head through the gate.
"Whoa—don’t just pop out like that!"
"Patty and Matty fell into the river, so I came to help."
"...I see."
Those idiots.
How the fuck do you fall into the river twice while fetching water?
I waved Sanchez inside and turned back to Karon.
"Try hitting something a few more times. Maybe you’ll remember something."
Karon had faint memories of being with family, right?
What if he had grown up in a carpenter’s household?
Maybe hammering would help bring those memories back.
"What should I hit?"
"Hmm...."
I looked around but didn’t see any more loose nails.
Instead, I pointed at a broken wooden plank sticking out from a wall.
"Let’s just rip that out. The house will look cleaner without it. If anyone asks, we’ll say it was part of the repairs."
Following my instructions, Karon tore the plank off and dropped it on the ground.
Then, he swung the hammer again.
BANG!
The plank shattered.
...Okay.
If that was all, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
But.
The ground underneath it broke, too.
"...Well. That’s... strong."
Even the stones beneath the wood had cracked apart.
Now I had a new problem.
How the fuck am I supposed to explain this to the homeowner?
I always knew Karon was strong—the original novel mentioned that.
But I had never thought about just how strong.
Right now, he fought using an aura-infused sword, and while he was good, he had never been considered exceptional in our unit.
But with this kind of raw strength...
Wasn’t he just using the wrong weapon?
"Wow. Impressive."
That was when I heard Sanchez’s voice—and suddenly remembered he was still here.
I shot him a look, silently demanding an explanation.
Sanchez stared at Karon for a moment before speaking.
"You handle a hammer extremely well."
"...Me?"
Karon sounded uncertain.
"I just smashed it with brute force."
"No. The way you swung just now was the most efficient way to generate impact. It’s clear that you’ve used a hammer for a long time."
"...I have?"
Karon looked completely lost.
I noticed him glance toward me, silently asking for help.
Whenever he didn’t understand something, he always looked to me.
Right. Sanchez doesn’t know about Karon’s memory loss.
That’s why he assumed Karon had trained with a hammer before.
To clear up the situation, I patted Karon’s shoulder and asked Sanchez:
"So, what do you think he used a hammer for before enlisting?"
Sanchez answered without hesitation—as if the answer was completely obvious.
"To smash people he didn’t like, of course."
"...Excuse me?"