I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 123

“Cough, cough!”

Huddled under the covers, Junior coughed, each spasm bringing a fresh trickle of blood from her parched throat.

“Haa, hoo…”

Junior stared blankly at the blood-soaked handkerchief in her hand.

After using magic intensely, she always suffered these aftereffects.

‘And this time… it seems even worse because I got hit so hard…’

Junior’s magic had been effortlessly dispelled by the Vampire Lord’s spell reversal. Though she didn’t show it, the process itself was quite a blow.

‘But I learned a lot because of it.’

The Vampire Lord’s dispel contained a simple yet profound principle of magic.

‘If I study it, I can make it my own.’

A new realization was close at hand. Junior felt her magic approaching the next level.

However.

‘Even if it becomes mine, how much longer will I be able to use it?’

Death, not so far away, was also approaching.

Junior clenched the blood-soaked, soggy handkerchief in her hand.

– Don’t even think about learning magic.

The voice of that person who said that… seemed to echo in her ears.

If she hadn’t learned magic, how much longer could she have lived?

Ten years? Maybe twenty?

‘No use thinking about that…’

Junior shook her head when suddenly.

Knock knock.

A knock came from the inn door, followed by a familiar voice.

“Junior? Are you in there?”

It was the voice of Ash, the commander of this front and the lord.

Startled, Junior quickly got out of bed and went to the door.

“Ah, Your Highness… you’re here? Cough, cough!”

As she opened the door, blood gushed from her throat. Junior covered her mouth and coughed violently.

“Haa, haa. This damn coughing fit really comes out at any time, hehe…”

When Junior finally stopped coughing and looked up.

Standing before her was Ash with a flustered face, and… Jupiter.

Looking at her granddaughter spitting blood with a heart-wrenching expression. In her hands, she held something carefully wrapped, as if to give it to her granddaughter.

Facing such Jupiter, Junior muttered with a sullen look.

“…Grandma.”

The grandmother and granddaughter stared at each other in silence for a long time.

– Even if you don’t learn that, your grandma can feed you for the rest of your life.

Suddenly, a scene from a long time ago flashed through Junior’s mind.

***

Ten years ago.

Eastern Front of the Everblack Empire. A rural village by the sea.

“Grandma!”

A small hand shook her body.

“Wake up, Grandma! It’s morning!”

“Uhm?!”

Jupiter, who had dozed off in her chair, suddenly opened her eyes.

Turning her head, she saw a small girl with a stern expression.

The bright morning sunlight fell on her face.

“Wake up! It’s almost time. You have to eat and go to work!”

The girl, with her burn scar on her left cheek covered by her hair. Jupiter’s granddaughter, Junior.

Junior tilted her head, facing her grandmother who was staring blankly at her.

“What’s wrong? Did you have another bad dream?”

“…No, it’s nothing. Just…”

Jupiter then yawned widely and slumped back into her chair.

“Give me a break… I had to work late last night because of an emergency call. Haaahm.”

“Then are you not going to work?”

“No, it’s not that…”

The job of the village guard captain. Even with a meager salary, Jupiter’s job was the only means of livelihood for this family.

She wanted to skip work for a week, but she couldn’t.

“Then hurry up and get ready for work! I’ve made breakfast on the table. Don’t be late and skip meals again.”

Jupiter stared at her granddaughter, who was nagging away, and opened her mouth wide.

“Grandma’s tired, can’t you feed me, Junior?”

“Again? You’re always acting like a baby, Grandma.”

“I’ll be a good grandma who works hard, okay? Please feed me.”

Junior put her small hands on her hips and sighed deeply.

“Sigh, I guess I have no choice.”

A moment later, Junior brought a bowl and spooned oatmeal into Jupiter’s mouth.

“Here, ah~.”

“Ah~.”

Junior carefully asked Jupiter, who was munching.

“How is it? Is it good?”

“No. It’s not good. Our granddaughter is a terrible cook.”

“Aish, you’re doing it again! Then you make the food, Grandma!”

“Grandma doesn’t know how to do that…”

She had lived on the battlefield her whole life. Meals were solved with the military rations that her subordinates brought her.

Jupiter had no life skills at all. She couldn’t cook, clean, or do laundry, nothing.

“What do you even know how to do, Grandma!”

“Only magic, I guess…”

She was completely unqualified as a grandmother.

While Jupiter was thinking, Junior kept feeding her oatmeal, grumbling.

Jupiter ate it all up.

After the meal.

“Then I’ll be off.”

Jupiter said, roughly throwing an imperial coat over her shabby shirt.

Looking inside the house, the rest of her grandchildren were still asleep.

Only the eldest, Junior, had woken up early to make breakfast for the family.

“Oh my, my granddaughter is so admirable.”

“Ugh, get away! You silly grandma!”

Junior quickly pulled away after Jupiter hugged her tightly, then held out her hand.

Jupiter blinked her only eye, not knowing what was going on.

“Why? What is that gesture?”

“Give me money, Grandma! Money! We’re out of living expenses!”

“What? Already? I just gave you some the other day.”

“How many people do you think live in this house? Do you think we can live on that small amount of money?”

Jupiter clicked her tongue at Junior’s sharp words.

The number of survivor children she had taken in that day was eleven.

Even after deducting the money used to treat the aftereffects of being hit by magic, the money was disappearing rapidly just to feed and clothe them.

The money she had saved was long gone, and she was barely making ends meet with her guard captain’s salary.

Jupiter frowned, calculating her balance.

“It’s still a long way until payday.”

“Anyway, we’re out of living expenses! Earn it, steal it, do whatever it takes!”

Junior, who had seen her grandmother off to the door, glared at her.

“Go earn money!”

***

Outside the village. The guard post.

“I’m here, you guys.”

As Jupiter came to work, the soldiers who were sprawled out in the guard post with tired faces all stood up and saluted.

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty! You’ve arrived.”

“Yeah, loyalty… You guys. How many times do I have to tell you to do it casually? There’s no one watching. Rest!”

The soldiers immediately relaxed and slumped back into their chairs. Jupiter, who also sat comfortably in her seat, gestured with her chin.

“So, nothing special happened?”

“Yes, Captain. Nothing happened except for that guy we caught yesterday.”

The soldier gestured with his chin towards the inside of the guard post.

Inside, there was a crudely made jail cell, and a young man was locked inside.

He was a smuggler who had been arrested last night.

He had been caught by the guards while trying to bring in smuggled goods from a neighboring country at the village port.

“If you’re going to do it, do it in a bigger town. What kind of smuggling are you going to do in this small village…”

As Jupiter grumbled, the smuggler pressed himself against the bars of the jail cell and shouted.

“No, guards. Think about it! If you just turn a blind eye, I’ll give you 40%, no! 50% of the money I make from this. Okay?”

“…”

“The salary of a guard in this backwater is obvious. Think of it as a small side job? Huh? How great is that. I’m happy to do my job honestly, you’re happy to get free money, and my customers are happy to get their goods. Everyone’s happy!”

Jupiter, who had been listening quietly, slowly got up and went to the front of the jail cell.

The smuggler continued to talk excitedly.

“Especially the guard captain! I don’t know why a mage like you is here, but think about it! It’s just a small smuggling operation now, but if a mage helps, we can do much bigger business-”

Zap!

Lightning struck.

The lightning that came out when Jupiter flicked her finger heated the jail cell bars. The terrified smuggler fell backward.

“Hiiiik!”

“Watch your mouth, you criminal bastard.”

Bang!

Jupiter put her boot on the bars and growled fiercely.

“I’m Jupiter. I was once the captain of the 2nd Magic Corps of the Empire, Jupiter of the Lightning Fire. Even if I don’t have money, I’d rather starve to death than get involved in smuggling.”

“Hi, hiiii…”

“Aish, what bad luck.”

Jupiter spat on the floor and turned her body away.

“Keep a close watch on that bastard. The investigator from the capital will be here tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to go patrol the village.”

“Have a good patrol.”

“Have a good patrol!”

Jupiter left the guard post, seeing off by her subordinates.

Normally, she would have her subordinates do the patrol and she would just sit and doze off, but today she didn’t feel like it.

The village by the coast was much more chaotic than before.

The eyes of the fishermen on the fishing boats going to and from the port were fierce. Was it because of the corpses that had washed ashore recently?

‘The public order is getting worse.’

Just five years ago, it was a peaceful rural village.

The Empire’s wars of conquest had created countless war refugees, and the public order, which had been shaken from the border, was affecting even the interior of the Empire.

‘I just want to live quietly until those kids grow up…’

The money was running out, and her work as a guard captain was becoming more and more exhausting.

Jupiter suddenly craved a cigarette.

But she had quit a long time ago because she was living with the children and because her pockets were empty.

‘The great Jupiter is all dead.’

Thinking of herself in her prime, it seemed ridiculous that she couldn’t smoke now because she was worried about the cost of cigarettes.

‘…Cigarettes.’

Jupiter suddenly thought.

‘Come to think of it, there were tobacco leaves among the confiscated smuggled goods…?’

That’s when it happened.

“Huh?”

Rumble…

Dark clouds quickly gathered in the distant sky,

Zap-!

A thin streak of lightning struck.

It wasn’t normal weather. It was clearly an artificially formed lightning bolt.

‘Magic?’

And that lightning was falling towards the outskirts of the village, towards Jupiter’s house.

Kugwagwagwang!

“…Damn it.”

Taat!

Jupiter immediately kicked off the ground and rushed to her house.

When she arrived at the house in an instant, she saw the charred corpses of a man and a woman lying on the porch.

They were holding kitchen knives and clubs in their hands.

And in front of them, Junior was trembling.

“Junior?! Are you okay?!”

“G, g, Grandma…”

Junior stammered, her face pale and tears welling up in her eyes.

“T, these people suddenly opened the door and came in, and they said they would kill us all if we didn’t give them money, and I was so scared, I didn’t even realize…”

Inside the house, the other grandchildren were looking this way with terrified faces.

Could it be that Junior, the eldest, had stepped up to protect her younger siblings and awakened her talent as a mage?

Jupiter hugged her granddaughter tightly.

“It’s okay, Junior. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“Cough, cough!”

“Junior?”

Jupiter, who was trying to calm her granddaughter, felt something was wrong and looked down at Junior.

Junior was spitting blood from her nose and mouth.

“Hey. Are you okay? Hey.”

“Grandma…”

Junior’s eyes glazed over and she fainted. Now, blood was flowing from her eyes and ears as well.

Hugging her granddaughter, Jupiter quickly got up.

“Damn it…!”

***

The village temple.

The priest, who was also the primary physician for Jupiter’s grandchildren, took his hand away from Junior.

Junior, who had received healing magic, looked much better.

“This is a temporary measure. It’s not a complete cure.”

The priest said coldly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Magic is flowing backward from the magical scars left in her heart. It’s even more of a problem because the child has a talent as a mage. She can’t handle her own magic because of the scars.”

“…”

“The child will die. She won’t live long.”

Blood seeped from Jupiter’s tightly clenched lips. The priest glanced at her.

“You knew, didn’t you? That those kids wouldn’t live long.”

“…To save her.”

Jupiter asked quietly.

“To make her live even a little longer?”

“You’ll have to take her to a big temple in the capital. If you show her to the central high priest, she can receive the highest level of miraculous healing magic. It will cost… a lot of money, though.”

Jupiter gritted her teeth and rubbed her forehead.

“Where am I going to get that kind of money…”

“Then, well, she’ll die soon.”

“…”

“Anyway, she doesn’t look like she’ll live long, so feed her something delicious. She’s just skin and bones, what is she.”

He saw the old clothes the child was wearing and her skinny arms and legs.

“…”

Jupiter thought.

She had only taken these children in, but wasn’t she actually killing them little by little?

Unable to provide proper treatment, and making them suffer from poverty…

‘Money…’

Jupiter’s fist clenched as she looked at her granddaughter’s face, who had fallen asleep as if she had fainted.

‘That damn money…!’

***

Late at night, after all the guards had left work.

The smuggler, who had been dozing off in the dark jail cell, woke up with a start at the sound of the guard post door slamming open.

“Wh, wh, wh, what is it?”

Has the investigator dispatched from the capital already arrived? Is this really the end? The smuggler trembled as he thought.

Thud. Thud.

Then, what approached the jail cell was… the guard captain here, Jupiter.

“Hey, trash.”

In one hand, she twirled the jail cell key, and in the other, she rolled and lit a cigarette she had taken from the confiscated smuggled goods.

Sssip- Jupiter inhaled the cigarette smoke and slowly exhaled.

“Tell me in detail about the smuggling you mentioned earlier.”