What Do You Wish For With Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War - Chapter 64

Walm entered into a vague and ambiguous realm, and how much time had passed was unclear. Although the brain’s function to comprehend language had been lost for a long time, screams and lamentations with exposed emotions resonated in the brain.

“Hold his body in place. He’s slipping off the bed!!”

“What’s happening? Wasn’t it a suitable match?”

“Blood is oozing. No end to the cutting.”

“Uh, only the eyes moved under the eyelids.”

“It’s not working. His consciousness… won’t return.”

“Damn it, his heart and breathing have stopped.”

“Step back. I will—”

“Hey, what are you doing, covering him!?”

“Press his heart strongly with both hands, even if it breaks ribs. Quickly!!”

“Come back! Walm-dono, please come back!”

“Oh, enough of this!! why is this happening?!”

“Ah, even though the nerves were connected, why did this happen, why!!”

“The castle gate has been breached. The monsters are here.”

“The makeshift walls won’t hold.”

“Move the corpses away from the beds. Where? Pile them up around here.”

“We don’t have time to worry about the dead!!”

“The refugees are being eaten. We lack escorts.”

“Press down on the affected area strongly!!”

“It’s the remnants of the Ogre Lord!! The flow of monsters has become directed!”

“I’ll buy time. Amy, establish a defense. I know it’s tough without Al, but save the villagers!! Fight!”

“Ah, it’s overflowing, my insides.”

“Phew, ugh, aaahhh.”

“We can’t carry out the wounded anymore.”

“Carry them out? Where to!? There’s no escape anymore.”

“It’s all over. I don’t want to be eaten.”

“Help, save me.”

Noisy… body feels sluggish, brain melting with heat. Unable to move a muscle, Walm could only listen to the surrounding commotion as if tuning into a nearly broken radio.

“Walm-san, wake up.”

Among the chaos, only one voice clearly reached his brain. Too weary to even think about whose voice it was, Walm considered abandoning his thoughts altogether.

He had done his best in this otherworld. Crawling through battlefields covered in vomit, moving a body that shouldn’t move, swinging a sword, killing, killing, killing. Even if he were to run out of strength, there was no help for it.

As Walm’s fading consciousness tried to explore the droplets in his hand, different from blood, he gradually became aware that someone was holding onto his hand.

“Walm-san!”

The girl who had been tossed around by the world, the comrade who had fought alongside, the citizens who had lost their escape route – all sought salvation.

‘What do those murky eyes wish for?‘

Ethical considerations had worn thin in the face of merciless reality. Even if he was a being devoid of productivity, capable only of crushing, burning, and killing, Walm now only wished to save the person in front of him.

His eyes felt hot, as if they were on the verge of melting into a gooey mess. Still, Walm clenched his teeth and continued to exert force. The foggy consciousness rapidly cleared. As Walm slowly opened his heavy eyelids, he was greeted by the sight of a crying girl.

“You look terrible.”

The headache was severe, and he couldn’t manage a clever word. The girl, Ayane, had been crying, evident from the swelling around her eyes.

“Walm-san? Has your consciousness returned?”

Sniffling, Ayane spoke.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

Despite the world being covered in blood, it felt vivid. The eyes that had been clouded together were now lost, replaced by something clearer. Glancing around, Walm saw the severed head of the Ogre Lord, its eyeballs gouged out, quietly sitting beside the treatment table.

Walm understood what had transpired. The monster that had gouged out eyes had its eyes gouged out after death.

Walm touched his eye through the eyelid. His new body seemed to reject it, radiating heat. The piercing pain, as if rusted nails were driven in, and the hallucinated heat of melting wouldn’t subside. Still, the eye not only performed its function, but the world seemed to move more slowly than before.

It wasn’t a delay in brain processing, nor was it an aftereffect. Walm concluded that it was a characteristic of the eye.

“I’m so glad you survived. But to be compatible with the Ogre Lord’s eyes…”

Maia expressed her disbelief with her hand on her mouth.

“The eyes feel like their about to melt.”

“It hasn’t fully stabilized yet. I need to keep applying healing magic, but my magical power…”

The girl, who had exhausted her magical power, could collapse at any moment. Ayane’s devotion to everyone was immeasurable to Walm, who was only capable of killing.

Walm, groaning in pain, turned around at a familiar voice.

“Walm-dono!!”

Since losing the command post, Walm hadn’t been able to visit the infirmary, leaving Moritz in charge of the escort. Moritz rushed under Walm as if to embrace him.

“Moritz, your safe? And what’s the situation?”

Bracing himself, Moritz spilled out the current state inside the castle.

“Half of the castle has fallen. Under the command of Commander Justus, we managed to secure some gate towers and sections of the walls, but it’s only a matter of time before the monsters approach here.”

The situation couldn’t be worse, as if it had reached its peak. Despite winning a fierce battle, they couldn’t stop the monsters due to a mutual defeat. Walm didn’t have the intention to boast that if it weren’t for the mutual defeat, everything could have been prevented. However, the battle situation had improved somewhat.

“Understood.”

Not only his gouged-out eye but also his legs twisted by wind attribute magic had been healed.

Walm lifted up his discarded clothes, dressed himself, and put on his equipment. The group was frozen in astonishment, but Ayane shouted.

“Why, why do you still want to fight!? If you push yourself, you might really die this time!”

“Ah, I might die. …Even so, I can’t just sit back and watch. That’s why you healed my eyes, right?”

Walm had been pretending not to see things all this time because of orders, but with the loss of the central command in the besieged old castle, there was no longer any need for excuses.

He had no intention of lying down and dying with the castle as his pillow. As long as his body could move, he intended to keep fighting.

“I didn’t mean that!! Why, why don’t you understand? How can you so easily pretend to sacrifice yourself for others, for the country?”

Walm struggled to respond and ended up closing his mouth.

“Is it because it’s your second life?”

The girl hit the essence, and Walm widened his eyes. He must have looked quite foolish.

“…I wonder. I just don’t have the intention to willingly die.”

“Promise me. Promise me that you will definitely come back alive. I didn’t heal you with the intention of letting you die. I just wanted you to live.”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Walm nodded, donned all his equipment, and looked down at the demon mask. The mask rattled as if mocking him. Despite its owner, Walm, suffering a fatal wound, the demon mask remained nonchalant.

“What a boorish mask.”

While complaining, Walm donned the familiar mask. Despite his complaints, the mask, which he had grown accustomed to, swayed subtly as if it cared, adhering to his face.

Someone considerate had picked up Walm’s entire set of equipment and brought it to the infirmary.

“I’ll leave the defense of the entire infirmary area to you. I’ll go hit the enemies.”

The soldiers responded with spirited cheers. These warriors had endured baptism by blood, repeatedly faced death, and yet, despite being battered and bruised, they were willing to expose themselves to the battlefield.

Walm returned to the frontline where the final resistance continued. It was as if he couldn’t suppress the burning impulse in his eyes.