What Do You Wish For With Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War - Chapter 63

Even during the organized defense efforts, the beds in the infirmary were consistently occupied. After the Flame Emperor Dragon destroyed the walls and main keep with its breath, Ayane closed her eyes in fatigue, realizing that the busyness before was like a game.

Triage, the process of selecting who to save, was underway. It was an ironic outcome, but to avoid widespread necrosis, priority was given to soldiers who could return to the front lines. The citizens, children, and women who suffered unbearable pain were left behind.

The sensation of lives that could have been saved under normal circumstances overflowing from her hands wore down Ayane’s mind and body. The magic she had already squeezed out was running low, and dizziness and nausea intermittently overwhelmed her.

“Please, I beg you. Save this child, please!!”

“I understand your feelings, but return to the line.”

The parents, likely the father and mother, tried to bring their suffering child to Ayane, but they were sent back to the waiting line by the Highserk soldiers.

It was indeed a severe injury. The back had been torn and mutilated by the wolf, and the arm was crushed. Yet, with proper first aid, it could still be saved. There were other lives that should take priority. That’s when Ayane suddenly realized.

There is no difference between the Highserk soldiers that she hates, and herself. Lives that could be saved were left unaided.

A large adventurer rushed into the infirmary, carrying a man on his back.

“Move!! Clear the way!!”

“What’s going on?”

Slightly delayed, Highserk soldiers pushed through the crowd. Moritz, who took care of Ayane and kept watch, asked the soldiers about the situation.

“The knight, the battalion commander!!”

While the name wasn’t shouted, there was only one person in the besieged old castle who could be referred to as a knight. Moritz, his expression changing, moved around to the back of the adventurer with a large shield and groaned.

“Put him on a bed. Easy now.”

Moritz’s heavy words made Ayane feel her heartbeats quicken.

“Ahh, that’s… Walm-san”

The man lying down was someone Ayane recognized, but his current state was drastically different from the last time they met.

Staring directly at Walm’s face on the treatment table, Ayane struggled to suppress the rising nausea.

During their first encounter, he was shot with hostility, sometimes smiled at her, and his eyes conveyed a range of emotions to Ayane. Now, his eyes were gouged out, leaving dark, deep sockets. The cavities were so deep that it was hesitating even to probe them, filled with a mixture of unknown liquid, possibly brain and blood. It wouldn’t have been strange if he had died instantly.

“This is… too much.”

Even Maia, an experienced healing mage, couldn’t conceal her dismay.

“Maia, can you heal him?”

“Ugh…”

Moritz inquired with a suppressed voice, but Maia remained silent. Silence, in this case, was the answer. The soldiers waiting in the background shouted.

“We need Commander Walm! Without him, the castle will fall!”

“The commander was concerned about the soldiers and civilians caught in the melee, so he fought one-on-one with Ogre Lord.”

“The enemy command has fallen apart, but they are hungry and targeting humans. The castle gate is almost breached. Without the  Commander, we can’t hold on any longer.”

A soldier disdainfully threw the decapitated head of the Ogre Lord, which had clashed with Walm, as if resenting it. The head rolled on the ground. Despite having its throat cut, the Ogre Lord didn’t have the face of agony.

Wearing a creepy smile, he twisted his mouth in an ugly manner. There might be exceptions, but it still felt like monsters and humans were fundamentally incompatible.

In the chaotic infirmary, amidst the surrounding clamor, a whisper was uttered.

“Is Walm conscious!?”

Ayane regretted bringing her ear closer to her mouth. It might have been better not to hear, to remain ignorant of the heartless reality. But she heard it.

“Ah, the train time. I’m late to work, but it, won’t, disappear. Ah, the shadow…coming. Stop-”

For the inhabitants of this world, these words didn’t make sense as the meaning of dying words. However, for Ayane, a transfer, it was different. He had used the word “high school student,” which she hadn’t taught, and mentioned the name of a “clock” that shouldn’t exist in this world. The source of the discomfort in their previous conversation was now becoming clear.

The words from the same hometown, likely used in everyday life, pierce Ayane. She wonders how someone who was just an ordinary civilian, untouched by the turmoil, could be so wounded and on the brink of death, fighting like this.

“Help… it hurts…”

“The bleeding won’t stop. Oh, someone, please make it stop!”

“It hurts. It hurts so much.”

“My arm… it’s gone. My arm is gone!!”

Even now, voices pleading for salvation resonate from behind Ayane. In terms of the likelihood of survival, current circumstances made Walm’s chances extremely low. They should have been low.

“Huh? Oh, I have to fight… for the castle, people, the country. I can’t see… Cold, it’s dark.”

Trembling hands wander through the empty air as if searching for something. Fingers wander without grasping anything. Ayane firmly holds both hands.

“Walm-san, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

“Oh…”

As Ayane holds his hand, the delirium seems to subside, and he weakly responds by squeezing back.

Ayane self-deprecates, calling herself a selfish and terrible person. She discards the words she used as priorities and excuses, realizing that the chances of survival or returning to normal for Walm are low. She simply wants to help this person in need.

The way they met was the worst. Nevertheless, the current relationship is comfortable for Ayane. Whether it’s the mere-exposure effect or the influence of the nostalgia from the same hometown, Ayane herself doesn’t know.

“I will close the wounds. Definitely.”

Ayane expresses her determination in words.

“Ayane-sama, even if you close the wounds, the eyes…”

Maia said sadly. The eyeball that should have been in the sunken eye socket was lost. Even Ayane, who can heal injuries, couldn’t completely regenerate the complex eyeball.

“If you had eyes, could you heal him!?”

“…Use mine, use one of my eyes!!”

“I can navigate the underworld if I have one eye too!!”

Soldiers who fought under Walm’s command for a short time but formed a bond one after another volunteer.

Maia tries to soothe and advise those who have been captivated by such madness called rationality.

“If there’s too much difference in magical power, even if you transplant the eye, it will just rot away. If it’s not an eye that can withstand Walm’s magical power, whether it fits or not…”

There are likely very few individuals within the Highserk Empire’s army who possess magical power comparable to Walm. In the heavily depleted castle, there are no soldiers with such eyes.

Faced with the strict conditions, those surrounding the treatment table lower their gaze. In this situation, Moritz directs his gaze towards the rolling head.

“What about the eyes of the demonic Ogre Lord?”

“Moritz, are you out of your mind!?”

“He’s the one who gouged out the commander’s eye. It’s impossible.”

Soldiers confront Moritz, hurling insults at him. Amidst this, only Maia and Ayane consider the proposal.

“Maia-san, is there any precedent for this?”

“As a forbidden practice, there are legends about transplanting the eyes of demons. However, in the Kingdom of Craist, there are no officially documented successful cases.”

“Transplanting such evil eyes of a demon into the commander…”

Ayane faces the Highserk soldier who uttered words of rejection.

“Anyway, these are the only suitable eyes, right? Do you have any other means to save Walm-san?”

She thinks it’s selfish. Nevertheless, Ayane wanted to save Walm. Soldiers falter at the fierceness of the girl who lifted the head of the Ogre Lord.

“I will heal him, Walm-san.”

Ayane, who shouldn’t possess an intimidating presence beyond the shoulders of well-trained Highserk soldiers, exudes it. There was no longer any opposing opinion.