Did Karon change because of what I said? In the original story, he worked himself to death and never regained his memories. Was this the butterfly effect?
Wow, the thought that my mere existence had altered the original plot made it feel like I was truly inside a transmigration novel! How wonderful.
“Transmigration novel... romance sounds nice....”
“Salvia, what are you doing?”
“Ah.”
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see Aquila’s face right in front of me. No matter how many times I saw him, he was the perfect embodiment of a romance novel’s male lead.
“Salvia, I think...”
“Yeah?”
Aquila had a serious expression.
Of course, he always had that sharp, menacing look with his default blank face, but after spending years together, reading his emotions was a piece of cake.
And right now, I could see it clearly—his eyes held undeniable tension.
“I don’t know if Karon remembering his past is necessarily a good thing.”
“Huh? Why?”
My eyes widened.
If Karon had regained his memories and become so composed as a result, then sure, I’d feel a bit sad that I wouldn’t get to see his usual childish antics anymore, but wasn’t this ultimately a good thing for him?
“Well, yeah, if he suddenly matures and doesn’t need us anymore, that’d be sad. So that’s why you don’t like it? Raising kids is really hard...”
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“That’s why we need to practice ra— No, wait, that’s not what I meant.”
Aquila, who had unconsciously agreed with me, suddenly froze.
“We don’t know what kind of memories Karon recovered.”
“...Huh?”
A strange sense of foreboding crept up my spine.
That hammer.
Yeah, that hammer.
Didn’t Sanchez say it? That the way Karon swung it looked exactly like how mercenaries took down people they didn’t like.
“...Karon, you didn’t go around bashing people with that thing, did you?”
Of course, if he did, that was entirely the Adolph Empire’s fault, and my dear junior would bear no responsibility whatsoever. But still... that would be a problem.
“Yeah...? What exactly was Karon doing before he enlisted?”
Please, please don’t let my sweet, innocent junior go down a dark and twisted path. Damn it, I really don’t want that.
“Salvia, think about how Karon has acted all this time. What was he forgetting?”
I had been watching Karon for nearly three and a half years.
What kind of person had he been?
“If we set fire to the mountain entrance and blame it on the monsters, wouldn’t that convince the Crown Prince to transfer to another unit...?”
His memory had been so thoroughly wiped that he didn’t even realize arson was bad or that killing an entire ecosystem was a problem.
“If you’re having trouble sleeping, there’s always the pollen from the Markerbelly flowers on the hill—just mix it with water...”
“That’s a narcotic, you lunatic!”
When I mentioned I couldn’t sleep, he immediately suggested drugs.
“Salvia! If you don’t like Jaiden, I can go beat him up for you!”
“Don’t! Please, just stay still... Aquila, say something to him!”
Whenever I found Jaiden irritating, Karon somehow picked up on it and immediately offered to take care of him for me. He didn’t seem to grasp the concept that violence had consequences.
Basically, Karon had completely lost his memories and was running on pure instinct.
“Salvia, let’s say...”
Aquila lowered his voice.
“What if it wasn’t memory loss? What if he was always like that?”
“...What?”
“What if, to Karon, all those unethical things were perfectly normal, and it was only because he forgot himself that he didn’t realize how naturally anti-social he was?”
A shiver ran down my spine.
No matter how I looked at it...
“That actually makes a lot of sense...”
Shit.
It felt like I had just unshackled a monster that had been tightly restrained all this time.
***
From that moment on, my worries began.
'What should I do? Should I stop him from regaining his memories?'
Every time I casually spoke to Karon, he would always greet me with his usual cheerful voice.
But the lively attitude was only temporary. When he was by himself, Karon had definitely become much calmer than before.
When I asked him if he had regained his memories, he said it wasn’t complete, just a little bit of it. It didn’t seem like a lie.
I didn’t ask him for details on what he remembered...
‘Karon has regained part of his memory.’
It might be just a matter of time before he gets it all back.
‘In this case, I guess...’
Right. I shouldn’t just sit here and worry about it. After all, there’s a reason we have senior soldiers in the military. I’ll rely on them.
“Ishina! Ishina! Ishina!”
“Salvia... I told you, you only need to call once for me to hear you.”
Ishina, with her exhausted face, suddenly appeared.
I knew she had a knack for reading people’s hearts and was an excellent behind-the-scenes strategist. She might be able to help with this problem.
However, after hearing my explanation, Ishina didn’t seem too concerned.
“So, what do you think will happen if Karon regains his memories?”
“Huh?”
“For example, if Karon was originally a mercenary like Sanchez, known for his cruelty, do you think he might suddenly change and start hurting people?”
“Oh, no, that’s not it. He still listens well...”
Even now, when I called out to Karon, he responded just like he used to.
“Well, that’s good. So what’s there to worry about?”
“...I guess so?”
“Besides, it’s better to just ask him directly. If you ask, Karon will definitely give you an answer.”
“Ah, I see.”
Her words made me feel a bit clearer. Ishina, the icon of trust and reliability.
“Salvia, you tend to worry about unnecessary things...”
Ah, it’s so helpful when Ishina is on my side. She really knows how to solve my problems.
Just like when she saved me from almost dying recently, I’m really glad to have her on my side.
“Really, thank you, Ishina!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever...”
***
Ishina suggested I ask Karon directly, but I didn’t have time for that.
The reason being, after that, my schedule quickly filled up, and soon we had to go on another external mission.
There were numerous villages affected by flooding, and we had to provide support to a different village this time. It was located next to the village we had been to last time.
‘I'll ask Karon about his memories later during the work.’
I walked down the mountain with a lighter step than last time.
Through the experience of my previous external duty, I had realized that it was actually a great job where I could work at a relaxed pace. I’d have enough time to talk to Karon about his memories.
Plus, unlike border patrol duties, there was no risk of dying halfway through!
Being able to escape, even briefly, from this apocalyptic world was the best part about external duties.
And that was when I ran into an unexpected person during the mission.
“Hey, Salvia, long time no see! Ishina, you too!”
“Altair?”
It was Altair, who had apparently been promoted to a commanding officer and moved to a different unit, now standing in front of me.
When I looked surprised, Winter explained why Altair was here.
“It’s common to meet soldiers from other units during external duties.”
Altair, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, still looked as cool and minty as ever, with his blue hair and eyes standing out. He flashed his signature confident smile, baring his teeth slightly.
He seemed to be doing well in his new unit, as he appeared relaxed as ever.
“Altair’s unit is here for a different task, but they’ll be working with us.”
“For another task...?”
I tilted my head, and Winter, who knew everything, elaborated.
“They came to cooperate with the search for a dark sorcerer. However, it seems like they don’t expect much progress because there are few clues.”
“Dark sorcerer search, you say? Do we deal with things like that during external duties?”
“There are all kinds of tasks during external duties.”
When Altair made eye contact with Ishina and me, he greeted us casually, then saw Patty, Matty, and the guy sandwiched between them, Jason, and burst into laughter.
‘Now that they’re not in charge of these brats anymore, they think it’s funny...’
We were still suffering every day because of Patty and Matty, and it was really frustrating...
It seemed that the officers let the commanding officers talk freely during external duties, probably because they were just waiting for their discharge.
Altair started chatting with Winter in a cheerful voice.
“It’s not like we can never meet even after becoming commanding officers.”
“Yeah, if we’re lucky, we meet quite often. And once you’re a commanding officer, you can write letters freely too.”
Ishina explained, though it wasn’t particularly helpful. Because...
“Anyway, I don’t have anyone to write letters to...”
“You can always send one to someone in another unit.”
“Ah, I see.”
Only then did I realize that Aquila had been looking at me with a very intense gaze. I promised myself that if we ever got assigned to different units, I’d write him a letter.
“Ugh... I feel uneasy, really uneasy.”
“Are you going to write a letter to Ishina too?”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
I nodded in front of Ishina, who was unusually firm. Hmm, maybe she’s more sentimental than I thought?
As I looked at her face, the conversation we had earlier came back to me.
At the same time, I figured out the identity of the dark sorcerer Altair’s unit was searching for!
‘The Three Great Dark Sorcerers!’
Those notorious figures who controlled the northern part of the empire!
Since there was a bounty out on them, it was clear that Altair’s unit was here to capture one of them.