"Whoa…she's really as merciful as the rumors say she is."
I watched Silvia Winters leave with her demonic legion. Shortly after Herman convinced me to rejoin the party, we were recalled to the capital, along with several other Hero parties, to join a massive mustering of knight regiments to retake Border Town.
Herman's party was the first to reach the scene and engage Silvia, and after a massive fight, the knights were pushed back. The Witch of Winter didn't pursue the fleeing human soldiers and even ordered her orcs and kobolds to hold their positions. Despite being demons, they were a tightly disciplined unit and I was impressed at how none of them disobeyed her. Even the elves and dark mages held back from firing long-ranged spells from the backline. Silvia Winters, as one of the Divine Generals, clearly received the respect and complete obedience of her subordinates.
In the end, that mercy proved to be her undoing. The reinforcements arrived and soon Silvia's legion was driven out of Border Town. Herman and the others had attacked her, but I was pushed to a supporting role to shield the knights from the elves and dark mages, their spells dispersing harmlessly against the snow shields that I had conjured. Not only that, after having heard of my exploits against the gryphons and wyverns in Mai Village, the commander requested that I helped against the Frost Giants that had accompanied the legion of the Witch of Winter. Having witnessed the ruthless slaughter conducted by Leo Regulus and his regiment, I had expected the demons to be aggressive and cruel.
Not Silvia's regiment. They were almost too passive, falling back when Silvia realized that the casualties she would sustain would be untenable. She cared more for her subordinates' lives than glory and holding the Border Town, and they retreated impeccably under fire. Even the normally aggressive Frost Giants obeyed her orders, using their massive bodies to shield their smaller comrades as they retreated.
The knight regiments and Heroes were too exhausted to chase after the withdrawing demons, and left them unmolested. Indeed, none of the knights were too enthusiastic about pursuit.
"I was here during the first battle," one of the knights explained to me while I cleaned and bandaged his wounds. "The Witch of Winter showed us mercy. Allowed us to retreat with our lives intact, and didn't fire upon us while we were fleeing. Unlike other demons, she was compassionate."
"So there are different type of demons, huh?" Initially, I was skeptical, but having experienced Silvia's mercy for myself, I was no longer dismissing the idea. Speaking of which, there were many types of humans too. I remembered how disgusted I was with my companions' behavior sometimes. Sometimes I wondered if they were villains trying to pass themselves off as heroes. Particularly Bradley, Miranda and Yvonne…
"Yeah. I couldn't believe it myself." The knight nodded somberly. "I thought all demons were evil, and then she spared our lives."
"Yeah." I remembered how she ordered her forces to stand down and not pursue us after she repelled our first assault. Herman had been too impatient, trying to engage a superior force composed of many times our numbers. It was a miracle we hadn't died in that fight. "Same. I would have thought the same, especially since I came from Mai Village."
"Ah, sorry. Shame what happened with Mai Village." The knight nodded sympathetically. "But they said an ice mage avenged the village by wiping out the contingent of demons sent to invade it."
That was me, but I wasn't one to boast, so I merely smiled and nodded. As I stood up to help the next soldier, a sudden thought occurred to me.
Wait, why the fuck would the Demonic Emperor go out of his way to send a sizable force of demons to invade Mai Village? Sure, it wasn't as strong as Silvia Winters' legion, and I was able to eliminate it by myself, but there was no reason to conquer and massacre Mai Village. It had no real strategic value or location…
Oh, right. Terror tactics. The demonic legions had been systematically attacking outlying, exposed agricultural villages like mine, so as to starve the populace. It was a low-cost, low-risk strategy – Leo Regulus and his contingent certainly wouldn't be missed even though they had been wiped out. But they succeeded in taking out a portion of the Havan Kingdom's ability to feed itself. Not only that, the carnage served to deal a blow to morale and fill the rest of the kingdom with fear.
It was also a strategy to persuade the royal family to surrender, much like the firebombings of major Japanese cities during World War II…
Wait, what? What was that? Japan? World War II?
I winced and clutched my head, wondering where I heard those terms before. I wasn't given much time to dwell on them, for Harold came by with his party. His priest, Pierce, grinned and waved to me.
"Working hard as usual, huh?"
"Yeah. You too, thanks for the hard work."
The bald priest nodded and resumed his healing spells. He glanced around, as if looking for somebody, and then shook his head in disapproval.
"You're alone? Where's Irene?"
"With Herman and the others. They are resting after the battle."
Pierce frowned and sighed, but didn't say anything. Instead, Harold stepped forward and inclined his head slightly.
"Thanks for helping us," he said. "If it weren't for you, we would have been crushed by the Frost Giants."
"No, not at all. It's only natural that we help each other, especially in a time like this." I glanced at the ruins of Border Town, noting the engineers and laborers moving in to rebuild defenses and moving away debris. "The Divine Generals are pretty strong. The only way to defeat them is to work together."
"Especially the Heroes," Harold agreed with a nod. He grimaced. "We got lucky with the Witch of Winter. She's known to be merciful and compassionate. If we had encountered a Divine General like Flynn or Sheldon, we would have suffered much more casualties."
The criticism in his tone was implicit. If it had been another Divine General, Herman's party wouldn't have survived his reckless assault. The idiot had been too impulsive.
"What Harold means is that you should join our party instead," Maria said. The older mage smiled in a friendly manner. "We would value your services."
"Yeah, you'll have a higher chance of staying alive if you're with us!" Arnold laughed.
"Are you trying to poach a member from my party?" Herman asked, causing Harold's party to turn around. Pierce chuckled.
"Nah, you're going to need him if you want to survive for a bit longer. We don't want you to get killed so easily."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Maria quickly cut in. She nodded at me. "You're lucky to have Klein in your party. Make sure you listen to his advice."
"We do that," Herman affirmed, completely forgetting that he had overruled my objection to his reckless charge earlier that day. He glanced at me, and for the first time, I detected a hint of hostility. He tried to cover it up with a smile. "You're pretty popular and well known, huh, Klein?"
"Yeah, especially since he bothers to help the normal folk even after the battle ended, unlike some people" Pierce remarked caustically, only for Maria to nudge him.
"…Irene is tired," Herman said quietly and a little too defensively.
"Maybe." Pierce shrugged. "But she's not the only member in your party, right? Why is Klein the only one…?"
"Anyway," Arnold interrupted quickly before Herman could protest vehemently. "Thanks for helping us out against the Witch of Winter today. We really appreciate it."
"I look forward to working with you again," Harold declared, offering his hand.
"No problem and yeah, me too," Herman muttered and took Harold's hand. After the handshake, he turned to me. "Klein, don't overdo it. I know you're exhausted too, and I appreciate you helping the knights, but make sure you take care of yourself and get the rest you need."
"I will," I replied, though I was sure I could detect a hint of blame in his tone. What the hell? What was he blaming me for? For making him look bad in front of the other Heroes?
Herman then turned away and stalked off without another word. Harold's party watched him go. Pierce shook his head.
"And here I thought he came here to help too. He's a Hero. He ought to show more concern for the common soldiers."
"Now, now," Maria told him. "I'm sure the Hero Herman has his troubles too. I understand your anger, but you shouldn't embarrass him like this, especially not in front of his fellow party members."
Pierce merely snorted and returned to helping heal the knights. I followed his example, using more ice magic to clean wounds of those knights that Pierce wasn't treating (he was only one priest, he couldn't be everywhere at once).
Inwardly, I wondered if I had made the wrong choice. If I should have left Herman's party and joined Harold's party instead.
*
"…something's wrong."
After the treatment of the knights, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disorientation. Closing my eyes, I tried to steady myself. A strong sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me.
"Why does it feel like I've been through this before?"
Breathing heavily, I crawled toward my sleeping bag. My mind continued to be assaulted by the heavy disorientation. There were gaps in my memory, and the voice that had been screaming in the dark core of my heart wouldn't stop. If anything, it had grown louder.
There was something about Silvia that struck me. I wasn't sure why, but when I remembered Silvia Winters, I had the sense that something was wrong.
Wait, did I actually see Silvia Winters? I was sure I did, but the memories were fuzzy somehow. It was almost as if the days between the time I left my village with the party and helped treat the soldiers here were a blur, disjointed somehow. As if I had skipped over them. I could remember them vividly in my memories, but it seemed like I hadn't experienced them fully. Like I was in some virtual reality machine that was deliberately plunging me into selective experiences and conveniently skipping over others.
That was right. Even though a few months had passed…no, a few years, it felt like only a matter of days. As if most of the years or months had been skipped through, fast-forwarded into specific events.
"I remember seeing Silvia Winters, yet I didn't actually see her today?"
That made no sense. It made no sense, yet…it was what actually happened. I went back to the thoughts racing through my mind, particularly the thing about a virtual reality machine. Even though I shouldn't recognize the term virtual reality or machine, somehow I understood the concept. I didn't know how. Perhaps in a past life somewhere, in some other world, I had lived in a place where such things existed.
The same world where "Japan" existed and "World War II" existed.
Nonetheless, the concept remained. If I was stuck in a virtual reality machine and being forced to visit specific memories, it entailed that there was someone behind the whole thing. And that someone was responsible for particular omissions of my memories.
"Why? Why wouldn't they let me see her?"
Was there something important about Silvia Winter that might trigger something? Or was she an important clue, deliberately hidden to force me to think?
Wait, this meant that this world wasn't real. These were all my memories. That explained the feeling of déjà vu. I had lived through all these before, compelled to make decisions that I wouldn't have now because I already made them back then. Because these all already happened, and I was simply recalling what happened back then.
"Get me out of here," I wheezed through gritted teeth. "I have enough of your games. Stop violating my memories and get out here! Tell me what you want!"
At first, I felt stupid for shouting loudly in the middle of the night, but if this remained true to my memories, nobody would notice and barge into my tent to check on me. Even so, I couldn't help but feel foolish. What was yelling into empty space was going to achieve?
But then, everything turned pitch black and I found myself falling through an endless void. Even as I tumbled helplessly, I could hear a single voice echoing throughout everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Very well. I recognize that you've broken through your past and realized the artificiality of the world I've imprisoned you in. I shall free you from the cage of your memories."