Chapter 1417: Not Too Bad
“Why are you here?” Charms got his arms under Balshan and started moving, hobbling toward the nearest upright section of the train. “Where’s Dusk?”
“With the others — heading toward the Misty Forest.” She forced a smile, the kind that cost more than it looked like it should. “As for me — if I hadn’t come, you’d all be dead. So. Are you going to blame me for that?”
“I wasn’t going to—”
“You think I’m not suited for the battlefield.” Her voice was faint but the disdain in it was perfectly intact. “Don’t forget I’m a combat Witch. When you were still playing in the dirt, I was already fighting for my life.”
You’re injured to this degree and you still won’t let it go. You are genuinely not adorable.
But hearing that Dusk had made it clear — had left safely with Hank’s group — he felt something in him loosen.
Good man, Hank.
Behind them, the wet heaving sound resumed.
Charms looked back. The bloodstained worm was swelling again, its skin distending with fresh purpose, the cycle beginning over.
“For the love of—”
He got Balshan to the side of the train carriage and settled her against the metal. She exhaled. He began pulling magazines from his bag, sorting them in front of him in the order he’d use them, the same way his father had taught him before any engagement where the supply was finite and the problem wasn’t going to stop.
“There’s time to run,” Balshan said. “Your companions have all gone. You can still make it if you leave now — Hey!”
Her expression changed as he sat down next to the magazines.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He checked the rifle. “I can’t outrun the beasts while carrying you.”
“Then leave me and go. Run alone.”
“Is that what you would have done?” He looked at her. “In the First Army, what King Roland taught us was that we fight for ordinary people. I can’t leave an ordinary citizen behind to stall for time while I escape alone.”
Something shifted in her expression — not softness, exactly, but the particular stillness of a person receiving something unexpected.
She had never, he realized, anticipated being called ordinary.
He settled his back against the carriage. “Besides — the longer I hold them here, the safer Dusk will be. So save your complaints.”
The militiamen who’d stayed were not people he could blame for anything. They’d never been soldiers — their assignment was to deter petty theft from the train station, and the fact that they’d lasted this long against demonic beasts was, by any reasonable standard, exceptional service. They formed a loose perimeter around the position without anyone deciding they would, sharing ammunition count by glance, and when Charms began shooting, they found a rhythm together that he hadn’t planned for and didn’t need to instruct. The understanding ran between them like current.
He had felt something like it once before, beside his father in the Blackriver, in the campaigns along the Fertile Plains. The strange warmth of trusting people who were trusting you back.
At some point he stopped tracking how long it had been. His vision was blurring at the edges from blood loss — the bites in his leg and shoulder were seeping steadily, and he’d only had time for a rough wrap. Balshan was not better. She was substantially more injured than he was by most visible measures. But she wasn’t slowing. One hand wrapped in cloth, waved as a lure; the other hand bare and lethal — a single touch for the wolf-types and smaller beasts enough to start the decay, enough to buy them a few more seconds per contact.
He watched her between shots and noticed the quality of her focus. Not the face of someone in pain, or not only that. The expression on a person who has found, after a long absence, the work they were shaped to do.
She had lost something fundamental when the battlefield closed to her. It was visible, now, in how she moved when the battlefield opened again.
When the new hybrid tore its way out of the worm’s mouth, they both knew what it meant.
“Pity about those tickets.” Balshan had worked her way back to his side — slowly, but under her own effort. There was a ghost of something in her expression that might, in different circumstances, have been warmth. “Although — if you die here, at least I can rest easy knowing Dusk won’t be taken advantage of by you.”
You are truly not adorable. Not even slightly.
“Right, and I’m sure you’re equally regretful,” Charms retorted, “to be spending your final moments by my side—”
“No.” She interrupted him. “Actually, I think—”
The steam whistle drowned everything.
It came in one long, violent blast — and then the concussions started, artillery fire rippling in a line around the worm as rock and earth erupted and the horde of demonic beasts broke in confusion. Charms found something in himself he hadn’t known was left and shoved himself upright, turning toward the sound.
A column of armored vehicles had appeared on the plain — black-hulled, battery-mounted, firing without pause.
The Blackrivers. The same machines that had taken the field in the Northern Expedition.
“Do you see that?” He grabbed Balshan’s arm. “Reinforcements — the Blackrivers are here, they’re here—”
She didn’t answer.
He turned. Her eyes were closed. She was folding sideways.
“Hey.” He caught her. “Hey — wake up. HEY, WAKE UP!”
He shook her. She did not respond.
They met again two days later.
“This is her room. Would you like me to announce you?” Chief Butler Camilla of the Sleeping Spell stood outside the door with the calm of someone who had seen more fraught visitors than she could count.
“No — thank you. I can manage.” Charms bowed. The Witch Union’s residence was closed to outsiders unless specifically invited; he had shown up not expecting permission and received it so easily that it had taken him a moment to believe it.
“Please be mindful of the time,” Camilla said, and left him to it.
He let out a long breath.
The medics’ lecture from two days ago was still running somewhere in the back of his head, available for replay at inconvenient moments: She’s still breathing, you idiot — if you keep shaking her like that she really will die. Someone who’s held on through a whole fight and then finally let themselves go will pass out the moment the danger’s over. Did they teach you nothing? Emergency aid. Basic emergency aid. Are they not teaching the rail soldiers emergency aid? Why are you so upset about this — is she very important to you?
He knocked.
“Coming.”
Dusk opened the door.
“I knew it was you.” The smile arrived before she finished the sentence. “When Miss Camilla said someone was calling, I guessed right away. Thank you — for saving Balshan.”
“I think you have the sequence backwards. It was she who saved me.”
The familiar voice came from inside the room. Charms stepped through the doorway.
Balshan was sitting up against the headboard, halved by the window light — sunlight on the right side of her face, shadow on the left, her short brown hair a little disordered. She was wrapped in bandages from collarbones to ankle, head included, which should have looked dire. She looked more alert than he did, which was annoying.
“Nothing strange about it.” She read his expression before he could arrange it into something neutral. “A Witch’s body is stronger than a regular human’s in every respect. Naturally my recovery is faster than yours.” A beat. “So don’t imagine that you’ll have any time alone with Dusk.”
Every well-meaning thought he’d arrived with evaporated.
“In that case, I’ll be going.” He turned.
“You’re leaving already?” Dusk looked startled.
“I have to. Standing is bad for recovery — and as she’s just helpfully pointed out, my body is inferior in every measurable way.” He met Balshan’s eyes with deliberate challenge. “I need to heal fast so I can take Dusk out for that play before you’re back on your feet.”
“A date?” Dusk turned to look at him directly. “With me?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
Wait. That quickly?
“In your dreams!” Balshan snorted from the bed. “I’ll be up before you are.”
“We’ll see.”
“We will see.”
They glared at each other — the same standoff as always, neither willing to be the one who blinked first. Dusk stood between them and laughed — not at them, quite, but at the fact of them both still being present to argue. Which was, Charms thought, probably the correct response.
He was pulling the door closed behind him when it occurred to him.
“Hey. Before the Blackrivers arrived — what were you going to say?”
“Nothing.” Flat, immediate. “I wasn’t conscious by then. You must have misheard.”
“Right.”
He closed the door.
Inside, a small silence, and then Dusk’s voice: “What was he talking about?”
“He’s rambling.” The sound of Balshan shifting against the headboard, settling back toward the window. “Ignore it.”
The sunlight lay across half her face.
— Not too bad, all things considered.
Chapter 1417 - Not Too Bad
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Why are you here?” Charms carried Balshan up and hobbled towards the train. “Where’s Dusk?”
“She’s with the rest… moving towards the Misty Forest.” Balshan forced a smile. “As for me… if I didn’t come to help, I’m afraid that all of you would have died here. So… are you still going to blame me?”
“Um, I just—”
“You think I’m not suited to appear on the battlefield?” Her speech was weak but filled with disdain. “Don’t forget, I’m a combat witch, cough… when you were still playing with mud, I was already fighting for my life.”
You’re already hurt to this extent but you still won’t forgo the chance of reprimanding me. You’re truly not adorable at all.
But having heard that Dusk had left safely, Charms suddenly felt more at ease.
I guess Hank did a good job.
Just then, squirming sounds came out from behind them again.
Charms turned back, only to see the bloodstained worm swelling up once again.
“What the hell, is there no end to this…”
He moved over to the carriage and placed Balshan down.
“Right, take the time while you still have to run.” Balshan heaved for breath. “Your cowardly companions have all fled. You still have the chance to make
it if you leave me here— Hey!” Her expression suddenly changed. “What are you doing?”
Charms sat down and drew ammunition out of his bag and started reloading his weapon. “Isn’t it obvious, I can’t run away from the demonic beasts while carrying you.”
“Then leave me here and go, run by yourself!”
“Is that what you did in the past? In the First Army, King Roland taught us that we will always be fighting for the ordinary people. I am unable to leave you, an ordinary citizen, behind so that you can stall for time while I escape alone.”
Balshan was startled. She had never expected to find a day where she would be treated as an ordinary person.
Charms arranged all the magazines in front of him and leaned against his rifle. “Besides… the longer I stall the enemies, the safer Dusk will be. So you better not grumble.”
He never blamed the militiamen. They were never part of the true military and their responsibilities were mainly to prevent thieves and burglars at the train station. Ordering such people to fight against demonic beasts could only be considered unfair, and Charms felt that it was already a successful operation for them to have survived for so long.
“You…” Balshan seemed like she wanted to say a few words, but eventually kept them to herself.
“They’re coming.” Charms took aim at the newly produced demonic beasts and pulled the trigger—
The gunshots sounded much thinner on the plains as compared to before. The thin thread of smoke came out from the muzzle that had pointed straight at the largest threat, while the other smaller demonic beasts were left to the men around him to handle. Neither of them exchanged any communications, yet the unusual tacit understanding between them was formed. The trust he laid
within them and theirs in him made him feel as though he was fighting a war alongside the First Army.
He felt as though the resistance had gone on for a long time, yet at the same time as short as an instant. Due to his blood loss, his vision gradually blurred and his motor skills slowed. Despite being even more heavily injured, Balshan did not fall. She wrapped cloth around a hand as bait and used the other hand as a lethal weapon. For the wolf and other small demonic beasts, a single touch was enough to severely injure them, if not lead to their deaths.
Charms was surprised when he found no trace of despair on her face. Her expression was not one of a severely injured person. She remained high in focus and her firm movements and bloodstained brows made Charms think about how different she was. It also made him realize that this was what a Combat Witch looked like.
She had once lost everything, but in that moment, she had once again regained her true self.
When the new monster bore its way out of the worm, the two knew that it was the end for them.
“A pity about those tickets…” Balshan moved back to his side with a smile that effused some mockery. “But for you to die here… at the very least I can be at ease knowing that Dusk will not be cheated by you…”
You… you’re really not adorable at all.
Charms snorted. “Right, I bet you’re even more regretful, to have to be by my side at your last few moments—”
“No…” She interrupted him. “Actually, I think—”
“Woooooo——”
An intense steam whistle masked her words as regiments of flames exploded around the large worm while the rocks and dust prevented the demonic beasts from temporarily moving.
Charms suddenly jolted with energy. He propped his body up and looked towards the direction of the whistle.
A row of black armored vehicles transporting batteries of artillery had appeared, and they were firing endlessly.
They were none other than the Blackrivers which played and outstanding role in the Fertile Plains in the Northern Expedition!
He shook Balshan excitedly. “Do you see that! They are Blackrivers—our reinforcements have arrived!”
But the latter did not react.
“Hey…” Charms turned his head, only to see that her eyes were closed as she slid down to the ground.
“Hey, wake up. HEY, WAKE UP!” Despite him shaking her, Balshan did not open her eyes.
…
It was two days later when they met again.
“This is her room, do you need me to bring you in?” Chief Butler Camilla from the Sleeping Spell asked.
“No, thank you so much. I can do so myself.” Charms immediately bowed to the other party. It was his first visit to the Witches’ residence. It was a location that no one was permitted to enter except for those that had received invitations from the residents. He had only tried his luck, but did not expect them to agree to it so readily.
“Please take note of the time.” Camilla nodded and left.
Charms let out a long sigh of relief.
Upon thinking about the situation two days ago, he felt extremely embarrassed. Up until now, the medical personnel’s tirade still lingered in
his ears.
“She’s still breathing, if you continue to shake her, she might really die! Seriously, you’re obviously someone who has been through battle, yet you’re unaware that someone will be prone to fainting after they relax having persisted all the way to the end. Are the rail track soldiers not taught emergency aid? You only know how to make a big fuss out of this. Why? Is she an extremely important person to you?”
Charms shook his head and threw the thoughts to the back of his mind.
In fact, there was not an actual need for him to visit her so anxiously after knowing that she was still alive. After all, it was difficult to make out who was truly visiting who. Charms was completely wrapped up in bandages that even slight motions resulted in pain for him and he appeared pathetic. Despite that, he felt that if he did not see her personally, his heart would never settle down.
Upon thinking about that, he extended his hand and knocked on the door.
“Coming.”
The door swung open and Dusk appeared in his vision.
“It’s really you.” She revealed a happy smile. “When Miss Camilla mentioned that we were having a visitor, I already guessed it was you. Thank you for saving Balshan!”
“Hey, I think you have it all wrong. Clearly it was me who saved him.” The familiar voice came out from within the room.
Charms walked into the room and met Balshan seated against the bed frame. Sunlight from the window illuminated half of her face and her short brown hair—Surprisingly, despite being severely injured, she looked more spirited than him.
Of course, she was equally wrapped up in bandages; even her head was no exception.
“There’s nothing strange about it.” As though sensing his doubts, Balshan shrugged. “A Witch’s body is stronger in every aspect than an ordinary human, so my recovery is naturally faster than yours. So…” She paused for a moment. “Don’t you think that you will have the opportunity to be alone with Dusk.”
The well wishes in him instantly vanished into thin air. Charms rolled his eyes but knew that she was not someone that required his concern.
“Since that’s the case, I’ll be going.”
“Hey, you’re leaving just like that?” Dusk was bewildered.
“Of course, standing isn’t good for my recovery, especially since my body is weaker in all aspects compared to her.” Charms looked at Balshan in provocation. “I have to recover fast so that I can quickly date you in front of her… for a play.”
“A date? With me?” Dusk smiled. “Okay.”
Wait a minute, she agreed so quickly?
“In your dreams!” Balshan snorted. “I will definitely recover faster than you!”
“Let’s just see.”
“We shall see then!”
The two glared at each other like every beginning to their quarrels. Dusk stood by the side and laughed, seemingly happy about their survival.
When Charms walked out the door, he suddenly recalled her words that were overwhelmed by the steam whistle. “Hey, what did you say before you fainted?”
“Nothing.” Balshan replied casually, “I wasn’t conscious by the time the train arrived. I think you might have made a mistake.”
“Alright.” Charms rubbed his temples and closed the door.
“What was he talking about?” Dusk asked.
“He was merely spouting nonsense.” Balshan smiled and turned her face back to the sunlight.
—That’s not too bad as well