The Loner Who Conquers the Other World

Day 55 – Late at Night, Destroyed Village.

Gather all the magic power I can muster, wrestling it under control as soon as it begins rampaging I pour in as much of it as possible.

I mean, they want me to rebuild it at the same spot? Then the only thing I can do is to make it so it would never be destroyed again.

It’s not like I think that this will earn me atonement. However, if the village made by me was destroyed it would not only be unforgivable but then there really will be no saving?

Well, in any case, there is nothing else that I can do… The people that lived here are dead already, this much is the most I can do for those that will return here. I can’t save them, I can’t protect them, there is nothing I can do. Aside from this.

「Aren’t you sleepy? You didn’t have to come with me. I’m not going to do anything dangerous, only construct a village, so it’s going to be boring to watch, you know?」

(Shake, Shake) (Jiggle. Jiggle.)

The two are accompanying me. The Evil Forest was already cut down so it’s safe, and even if it wasn’t, the only things that can be encountered at the edge of the forest are gobs, kobs, and idiots, so it would’ve been fine? Well, I do feel that encountering the Idiots in the middle of the night at such a place is not fine, but it is, in all aspects, apart from their brains. They are beyond treatment.

Enclosing the area with a rampart, I make watchtowers and connect them together. If they had this they would’ve had enough time, they could’ve survived if they had this back then. But it’s too late for everything now, so at the very least I’ll build it strong and sturdy.

There is most likely no point to that anymore, and it’s a meaningless action that can’t bring even self-satisfaction, but even so, I want to at the very least make the fortifications strong and sturdy, capable of protecting them. As stupid as it may be now.

Create the gates, lay the road, concentrate the dwellings, and make space for the barn and workshops. It might be an annoyance to have the village become bigger after they lost more than half of the people, but if they are going to live here again, they’d probably want the place to become richer and bigger? After all, they are going to rebuild it, the ones who lost everything here? After losing families, houses, property? Usually, it wouldn’t be strange to lose the will to live as well, they are amazing.

「I installed a mill plant, so they should do fine. The walls should be able to stop even an orc king. I also buried many magic stones for counter attacking into the walls… And monster warding stones too… This time… This time, for sure…」

I have a little mana remaining, but am I not forgetting something? Am I not overlooking something? Is this really good? Is this truly all good…? Will this village be able to live safely and happily like this? Is there nothing I can do anymore…? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Before going back I head to the monument that I made at the edge of the village. It might just be penance, but this is probably needed by the villagers. With me making it it’s probably not much of a memorial monument, but this memorial is probably needed for the people of this village.

I carve the names on the monument. All of them, names of all villagers that died. I took the register of names at the lord’s mansion and carved all of them, just engraving them, name after name.

「Forgive me… Forgive me… Forgive me… Forgive me… Forgive me… Forgive me………」

Before I became aware of it, the sun had already begun rising. Even so, I kept carving the names.

I carve 79 names. Etch 79 names into the stone.

79 people have died, so the only thing I can do for them now is to carve their names.

The sky has completely brightened up by now, but this is something that I have to do with my own hands.

That’s why I keep carving the names, one by one.

I can’t write the memorial message, I don’t have that right.

That’s why I carve the names, one letter after another, etching them into the stone.

And… (Bonk!)

I was hit from behind! No, I knew she was there, but why would she hit me?! I finished the job! Or rather, handing me the order in the middle of the night and then coming to check in the morning, isn’t that way too fast? I actually worked through the night without any time for sleep… Good grief.

「Why are you crying?! Why are YOU crying?!! Why are you apologizing?!! Didn’t you kill the monsters?! It’s because you stopped the monsters there that the people who survived were able to hide inside the city! And you even got them their revenge by killing every single monster! Why are you crying and apologizing?!!」

The general store’s shopkeeper is one hasty lady. She already brought the villagers, who placed that order to rebuild the village. What made her think that it would be done so soon? Normally, there is no way it would be finished by the morning of the next day, you know? Damn, just what is going on inside her head?

「I kne~w that you’d finish it by now. That’s why I gave you the request yesterday evening when they finished all of the preparations. You were going to run away as soon as you finished, weren’t you? You were planning to escape, Didn’t you?! From the villagers, from the people that survived! Everyone was trying to thank you so many times, but you kept running away over and over and over, the work, the housing, the huge sums of money sent by His Lordship, it all was your doing, is it not?! And yet you keep on running away again and again.」

I can’t accept that gratitude. How can I? All I’ve done is kill some monsters, and didn’t actually save anybody? Can’t you see a grave for 79 people here? They are dead, gone, I was the only one who knew of the signs of what was to come, and yet I didn’t notice… I was too busy fighting to the death with classmates.

So I can’t have them thanking me. If they wanted to curse me that’s one thing, but gratitude is certainly unacceptable.

「Who the hell are you taking the people of the frontier for?! Who would hate or begrudge you? There is no such scum here! The frontier is indeed poor and worn, lacking even basic defenses, full of people who can’t protect themselves for the lack of strength or tools. Unlike you, far from battling the Evil Forest itself, they can’t beat even one monster on their own. A poor and weak region full of poor and feeble people that await its ruin. But there is not a single person that you can look down on like that! Not in the frontier! And not among 79 resting there!」

What is she talking about? I don’t get what she is trying to say at all. Meanwhile, the villagers keep staring at me in silence.

「The 79 there are heroes. From your point of view, they might be weak victims of monsters, but all of them are heroes of this village! They remained here to allow others to escape, having nothing but their farming tools they staked their lives to buy time, knowing that mere moments are the best they can hope for! The elderly, saying that they will only slow others down, remained with kitchen knives in their hands, saying that they will drag at least one of the monsters to the grave with them! They are heroes! Don’t you dare look down on them!! They are grateful to you for saving the others, but none of them wants apologies from you! Everyone in the frontier lives prepared for death. There is no one here who hates or blames you!!!」

Even so, it’s not like they died because they wanted to die? Even if all of that is true, they definitely wanted to live. And those heroes are dead now.

「That’s why you have an obligation to stand proud and accept their gratitude! If you, the one who saved everyone, aren’t going to be thanked, then what did the people that lie there die for?! They entrusted this to you, abandoning their own lives, they must’ve been hoping that someone will save the others. If you are not going to accept any gratitude, then what about the people that died for this!? You, the one who granted their last wish for which they threw their lives away, can’t be apologizing! So stand tall and get thanked! It’s your duty and responsibility as the one who saved them! So you absolutely cannot apologize! You haven’t done anything worth apologizing for, and no one is blaming you. Everyone is thankful to you from the very bottom of their heart, got it?」

「「「「Thank you very much!」」」」

I have nothing to respond with. There is no way I can stand proudly, but now I also can’t apologize. This is apparently a duty and a responsibility.

And although I have no right to write the memorial text, I still carve into the stone.『The Tomb of Valiant Warriors. With deep respect and gratitude from the living』

(Jiggle Jiggle.)

Yeah, right? The village was turned over to the clients, so we might as well go home? Everyone must be waiting.

I used up my magic power, and I’m also hungry… I wonder what I should make today?