I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 9

– Hey, bro!

A single line of message appeared in the empty chat window.

– Bro, you’re amazing! How did you clear this?

I was speechless.

It was the first message I’d received from a viewer since starting the broadcast, and I didn’t know how to respond.

While I was frozen in confusion, another line of his message appeared in my view.

– I’ll add you to my favorites. You’ll broadcast again next time, right?

And then…

…And then, what did I answer?

***

“Hah!”

I opened my eyes.

As I tried to force my sweat-soaked upper body up, a burning pain shot through my arms and shoulders. Ugh!

“Ah, it hurts…”

I suppressed a scream and looked down, seeing my condition.

My entire upper body was wrapped in bandages. Both hands were completely sealed like mummies, and I couldn’t even wiggle a finger.

“What is this…”

“It’s best if you rest a little more, Your Highness.”

As I was examining my immobile body, a soft female voice spoke.

“Damien healed you with healing magic, but the burns are deep, so it will take much longer to fully recover.”

Surprised, I looked towards the voice.

Sitting on the bed next to me, buried in a pile of documents, was a red-haired mage, writing away.

I mumbled her name blankly.

“Lily?”

“You’ve been asleep for three days, Your Highness.”

Lily put down her quill and smiled.

“After going through all the trouble of defeating the black spider army, I thought you weren’t going to wake up.”

“I… survived.”

“It’s all thanks to Your Highness’s command.”

Lily shrugged and shook the papers in her hand.

“Would you like to hear the report? Or would you like to rest a little more?”

My whole body ached, and I wanted to rest, but it was more urgent to hear the report. I requested a briefing on the current situation.

“The spider queen was killed by the final bombardment, and the black spider army has stopped moving.”

Lily stated the results concisely.

“We have won, Your Highness.”

“…”

“All the survivors were injured, but fortunately, Damien, the healing priest, was there… After giving first aid to the injured and making preparations, support troops arrived the next day.”

Lily pointed out the window. I could see soldiers moving busily.

“The support troops have recovered the bodies of our allies and cleared away the stopped spiders. The cleanup is almost complete.”

“…I see.”

Only then did it start to sink in.

I had survived.

I had barely made it through this damned tutorial stage.

“Your Highness suffered severe burns on your hands, arms, shoulders, and neck.”

Lily calmly told me about my injuries.

“You will need to visit the temple when you return to Crossroads. But even if you recover completely, you will have scars.”

“Scars are a small price to pay compared to my life.”

I meant it. If I could survive, burns and scars were welcome badges of honor.

I let out a sigh of relief and then looked at Lily. Lily also had bandages wrapped around her upper body.

“Lily, what about your injuries…?”

“When my mana ran out at the end, one of the spiders scratched my back. The queen died right after, so I wasn’t attacked anymore.”

Lily smiled bitterly and touched her leg.

“I think I damaged a nerve in my waist then, and I can’t move my lower body.”

“…”

“You don’t need to worry about it, Your Highness.”

Lily said calmly to me, who was at a loss for words.

“I’m just grateful to have survived.”

“…”

Lily changed the subject in front of me, who was stammering, not knowing what to say.

“The survivors are four artillerymen, Lucas, Damien, myself, and Your Highness. That’s everyone.”

“…”

Eight people.

There were hundreds of people before the final battle. Only eight people.

“Ugh…”

I gritted my teeth and pressed my bandaged hand to my forehead.

Wasn’t there another way?

Wasn’t there a clever move I hadn’t thought of?

Wasn’t there a way to save even one more person…?

“Your Highness. You are not a god.”

Lily spoke carefully to me, who was in pain.

“There was no way to save everyone in that situation. You did your best.”

“…But I was the one who brought the troops here in the first place.”

It was Ash who did it, not me. But it wasn’t like I could make excuses that it wasn’t my doing.

Since I had entered Ash’s body, it was something I had to take responsibility for.

“Your Highness. No one knew that a black spider army would appear here. No one knew that the monsters would move on such a large scale after more than a decade. That’s why no one stopped Your Highness’s departure.”

Lily comforted me, watching my reaction.

“Your Highness’s tactics may have been reckless, but they were not unreasonable. During the final battle, you showed your ingenuity and executed a bold plan, and you even achieved victory.”

“…”

“So… don’t blame yourself too much.”

I bit my lower lip.

It was then. Lucas opened the door to the sickroom and his eyes widened when he saw me.

“Your Highness!”

Lucas rushed to my bedside.

With his huge build, it felt like a large golden retriever was bounding over.

“Lucas.”

“I’m so glad you’re awake, Your Highness…”

Lucas, who was standing next to me, even had tears in his eyes.

“Is there anything that’s bothering you? I’ll go get Damien right away.”

“No, I’m fine. I can handle it.”

I chuckled and pointed to the bandages wrapped around Lucas’s body.

“You were pretty badly injured too, weren’t you? Is it okay for you to be walking around like this?”

“You know, I’m naturally strong.”

Well, that’s true. He was an SSR-grade knight [Super Super Rare, a high-ranking character].

I was relieved to see him safe. Lucas smiled awkwardly and took out a bundle of documents from his chest.

“I’ve completed the list of the fallen. There are many who couldn’t even recover their bodies… but we’ve recovered all the bodies we could.”

“Where are the bodies gathered?”

“In the northern field of the forward base.”

“I’ll go see them.”

As I staggered to get up, Lily and Lucas, startled, stopped me.

“Your Highness!”

“No, Your Highness! You need to rest a little more…”

“They died under my command.”

Intense pain shot through my body. But I didn’t back down.

“I’m going to see them. Help me, Lucas.”

Lucas, not knowing what to do, turned around, knelt on the floor, and offered me his back.

“Get on, Your Highness. I’ll carry you.”

***

Lucas’s back was broad, and his walking posture was steady, with little swaying. This is comfortable.

“Lucas, do you want to be my personal transport?”

“If you command it, I’ll do it anytime.”

“I’m kidding, man. Don’t take it seriously.”

As I was carried out on Lucas’s back, I saw a boy leaning against the ramparts. It was Damien, the brown-haired, curly-haired healing priest, staring blankly outside. He wasn’t wearing his broken glasses and was holding them in his hand.

“Damien.”

When I called out, Damien slowly turned to look at me.

“Your Highness. You’re awake.”

“How are your eyes?”

I was worried that he might have had problems with his eyesight after shedding tears of blood when he used Clairvoyance [a magical ability to see the future or distant events].

Damien smiled faintly with a haggard face.

“I’m… okay. I started to see a little bit again yesterday. Now I can see almost normally.”

So he was using healing magic while his eyes were not working. This guy also had a hard time this time.

Looking at Damien’s haggard and young face, I felt sorry for him and said,

“Damien. We were able to win this operation thanks to you.”

“…”

“If you want, I will pay you an amount that will allow you to live for the rest of your life, and I will make sure that you don’t have to come to battlefields like this again. You are a mercenary in the first place, so you are free to do whatever you want.”

“Your Highness.”

But Damien shook his head slightly.

“You told me then, I am Your Highness’s trigger.”

“…”

“I… want to know.”

Damien looked at the ramparts again.

“The origin of those monsters. Who, why, and how did they create those monsters? Why did half of us have to die?”

“…”

“So please let me follow you, Your Highness…”

I smiled bitterly and gestured.

“Okay, then follow me right now. We’ll need a priest to mourn the dead.”

Damien awkwardly followed us towards the northern field.

***

Forward base. Northern field.

An uncountable number of bodies were laid out in rows, neatly arranged.

Those whose bodies could be recovered were laid down, but there were many who didn’t even leave behind a corpse.

For those people, a fire was lit.

The sacred fire brought from the temple of Crossroads flickered with blue sparks in the middle of the empty field.

I stared silently at the flames. As if swayed by resentment, the flames danced.

“…”

I know.

There was no better way. There was no better clever move. There is nothing more foolish than dwelling on the past and wondering about ‘what ifs’.

I chose the strategy, executed it, and this is the result.

Then I have to bear it.

I have to carry it on my shoulders and move forward.

“As soon as the abbreviated funeral is over, collect all the bodies and transport them to Crossroads.”

“Huh?”

Lucas’s eyes widened at my words.

“Not leaving them here?”

In Crossroads, thousands to tens of thousands of casualties occur every year.

Funerals were more expensive than lives. Cheap lives flowed into this monster front and evaporated as the price of maintaining the front.

If they made a cemetery, it would quickly exceed its capacity and burst. So, bodies were usually scattered in the mountains and fields.

A world where death was more common than wildflowers.

I was going to change this world.

“There is an empty lot on the west side of Crossroads. Build a cemetery there. Bury them all and mourn them.”

I ordered a cemetery to be built in the western lot where I had built a memorial facility in the game.

“And every year, the last day of February… will be designated as a day to commemorate their sacrifices.”

This was not just to commemorate those who were sacrificed in this battle.

It was also for all the characters I had killed without any guilt while resetting this game hundreds of times. It was my atonement.

Lucas, who was about to say something, swallowed his words and bowed his head slightly.

“I will follow Your Highness’s command.”

After a while, an abbreviated funeral was held.

A priest from the temple who had come with the support troops sprinkled holy water over the bodies, blessing the afterlife of the dead.

Since the number of bodies was unusually large, the funeral took a considerable amount of time, even though it was abbreviated.

I watched the entire process without backing down.

“Lucas.”

It was night when the abbreviated funeral ended. The full moon cast a cold light.

“I will never fail again.”

Death emanated coldness. A coldness that could not be warmed even by the sacred fire filled the field.

I trembled and gritted my teeth, leaning on Lucas’s back.

“I will never… fail again.”

“…”

Lucas remained silent, listening to my words.

“Let’s go back.”

One battle was over, but the real war was just beginning.

I engraved the sight of the soldiers I had killed into my eyes and said with determination,

“To Crossroads.”

***

[STAGE 0 – CLEAR!]

[STAGE MVP – Damien(N)]

[Leveled Up Characters]

– Ash(EX) Lv.5 (↑4) (Job selection is available!)

– Lucas(SSR) Lv.27 (↑2)

– Lily(R) Lv.17 (↑2)

– Damien(N) Lv.15 (↑5)

[Deceased and Injured Characters]

– Ken(N) : Deceased

– Lily(R) : Severely Injured

[Acquired Items]

– Black Spider Army Magic Stones : 388

– Black Spider Queen Magic Core(SSR) : 1

[Stage clear rewards have been distributed. Please check your inventory.]

– EX Grade Reward Box : 1

>> Get Ready For The Next STAGE

>> [STAGE 1 : City Above the Graves]