"So, this is how it ends, huh?"

He let out a bitter laugh.

But he wasn't surprised or upset.

He knew he was going to die like this.

"Ugh."

He let out a long breath of steam.

It rose into the sky.

"Hey, there's a live one over there."

Seeing his breath, a few enemy soldiers walked over.

"Just leave me alone. I've got a hole in my stomach anyway."

He wanted to say that, but he just kept quiet.

Suddenly, he remembered a spring day 20 years ago.

"Was it when I was 18 that I ran away from my village, dreaming of becoming the greatest general?"

He'd been on the battlefield for 20 years since then.

All he had now was a few coins and the title of a simple soldier in the First Army.

"What a joke. General, my ass."

His past life flashed before his eyes.

"What if I had joined the surprise attack? Or, what if I had stayed in the Bait Village and recruited soldiers? Or, what if I had joined the monster hunt in the Winter Valley?"

Countless paths diverged.

He always went head first without hesitation.

The results weren't great.

That's why he's dying with a hole in his stomach.

Soldiers with evil faces were closing in.

"Damn it."

Curses rose up in his throat. One of the masked men lifted his sword.

*snap*

The blade pierced his chest.

"Fuck…"

A weak voice escaped his lips.

Roan, a spearman in the First Army of the Lines Kingdom, died like that.