Chapter: 228
After narrowly escaping the city with the children’s help, I kept moving without stopping, driven by the single thought of fleeing to safety.
Only when the sunlight finally seeped through the dark, murky clouds and illuminated the ground beneath me did I realize how far I had walked without rest.
Was it a day? Perhaps several days had passed in the meantime.
Looking back, I could see the barrier of the frontline looming far away through the hazy air.
It seemed I had walked quite a distance in my absent-minded daze.
With that thought in mind, I took a few more steps before halting and plopping down on the ground.
Having come this far, I wondered if I was finally safe.
“Safe… is it?”
Immediately, I realized how ridiculous that thought was and forced a wry laugh.
What did safety mean in a place filled with magic?
In gaming terms, this was a danger zone where monsters would spring out at any moment.
The safe area was that city over there.
Unfortunately, that was no longer a safe area for me.
Suddenly, I recalled a fantasy novel I had read before.
In the game portrayed in that novel, if players committed acts like killing other players in forbidden areas, their usernames would turn red, indicating they had become evil players.
Once that happened, they became public enemies to all other users, getting attacked by everyone they encountered, making it impossible to set foot in town.
Thinking back, my current situation felt quite similar.
If this were a game world, I might appear as a player who had completely lost their concept.
My hair and eyes were already lacking, and now my username would be stained red too.
In truth, I had never cursed at anyone while playing games.
But if you asked me if I felt wronged because of that, I couldn’t honestly say yes.
I couldn’t deny that I had done wrong.
“…I wonder if Yoon Si-woo is okay.”
Muttering to myself, I recalled what Jessie had said.
He was in a state of unconsciousness, uncertain if he could wake up…
The image of Yoon Si-woo, battered and broken while trying to save me, kept swirling in my mind.
I felt that if something happened to him, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself; it was only natural for those who depended on him mentally to hate me.
The understanding that I deserved their hatred became a denial of myself.
I didn’t intend for it, but ultimately, the reason Yoon Si-woo ended up like that was because of me, and that guilt gnawed at my heart.
Just a little… no, it was much more than a little.
My heart ached, and I hung my head low, muttering as if to vomit out the pain.
“…It’s tough.”
It’s tough.
Being hated by people, I could somehow endure.
Unlike my foolish childhood, I now knew that even if I extended kindness to the world, the world wouldn’t necessarily return it.
I realized that sometimes, rather than returning favors, people could hate me.
So, being hated by others was something that could happen.
Sadly, it was something I could endure.
Until now, I could at least affirm myself, regardless of how others viewed me.
But not now.
I had hurt my precious friend.
I was the one who had taken Yoon Si-woo, the only hope of this world, from it.
I felt so hated, so detestable.
The thought that it might have been better if I weren’t here dragged me deeper into the pit of despair.
Honestly, I felt like I might mentally collapse.
“…Still, I have to endure.”
Even so, I murmured to myself and somehow composed my thoughts.
The reason I could do that was simple.
“Go, see you next time.”
The sparks my friends had shot up for me remained in my heart, supporting me as I was on the verge of breaking.
I lifted my head to look at the city ahead.
I knew that most people in that city hated me.
But still, I became aware that someone must be affirming my existence.
At least my friends had said they would believe in me.
For them, I couldn’t give up on myself.
Yes, who knows?
Perhaps, as Dwight said, one day I would see my friends again.
So let’s think positively, only positive thoughts.
As if to cheer myself on, I clenched my fist tightly and pushed off the ground to rise.
As I stood up and slowly surveyed the surroundings, I realized I was facing a very serious problem.
“…But what should I do now?”
Until just now, my mind had been occupied with random thoughts that I hadn’t realized this was a major issue.
I had hurriedly escaped the city without thinking about how to survive outside.
Suddenly having to survive in the wild?
“Damn, I should have at least watched some survival program featuring that bear guy,” I thought for a moment.
However, I quickly realized that ordinary survival knowledge didn’t apply to me, which allowed me to calm down.
First and foremost, out of the three essential elements for survival—food, clothing, and shelter—the most critical was food.
They say you can last three days without water and three weeks without food.
A person needs at least that to survive, but I didn’t think I had to worry about it.
After all, while I could take in food as nourishment, my body hardly required food as long as I had enough magic.
Now that I had completely turned into a witch, I could probably live without eating anything at all.
Magic was abundant surrounding me.
With the food problem resolved, the next issue was clothing…
I glanced down at my body.
Yep, nothing.
I had no clothes.
The clothes I had been wearing were all burned to ashes when Evangeline took over my body.
Well, it wasn’t like I was completely naked.
Right now, the lower part of my body was completely covered in black soot.
To express it, it felt as if I were wearing a matte black latex material.
Perhaps due to my abilities, there was a feeling of something like skin layered over my skin, and unless I consciously tried to get rid of it, it probably wouldn’t come off.
Despite the somewhat embarrassing state of my body’s outline being revealed, I should be grateful that my skin wasn’t showing.
There was no way to find clothes, so at least I wasn’t wandering around naked and being a pervert.
In any case, the clothing problem was resolved with this.
So now the remaining issue was shelter.
A place to stay.
I forced a laugh and looked around.
In front of me, in the direction of the city, a vast plain stretched out.
Behind me lay a forest densely packed with blackened trees.
Of course, both areas were filled with magic.
Even building a house would be strange if at any moment a demonic beast popped out.
Considering I only had access to burnt trees as building materials, constructing a proper house was nearly impossible.
Honestly, if the house I made ended up getting destroyed by a demonic beast, I would prefer to just light a fire on the ground and camp it out.
Let’s live as a homeless person.
Given that I wouldn’t need to sleep, it might be okay not to have a place to stay after all… maybe.
Anyway, the concerns about necessities had been generally resolved with this.
Wow! Since I don’t need to eat, wear clothes, or sleep, my worries are all cleared up!
Since I can’t satisfy the basic necessities of life, I have to give up on living like a human, but still.
After cracking a wry smile, I fell back into deep thought.
Having figured out how to survive, it was time to think about what I should do while waiting.
While wondering what I should do, the answer came to mind immediately without further thought.
I decided to hunt demonic beasts.
That’s about all I could do outside the city to help the people.
So from today onward, I’d become a monster hunter.
Even if I killed them, their bodies would turn into magic, so I wouldn’t be able to use their remains to craft equipment, but still.
However, it was only after I resolved to hunt demonic beasts that I noticed something.
“…There are no demonic beasts.”
Looking around, there were no signs of demonic beasts at all.
An unusually eerie silence.
Thinking back, I hadn’t encountered a single demonic beast on my way here.
In fact, until now, I hadn’t wanted to run into demonic beasts to avoid fighting.
But still, not encountering a single one was quite unusual—
“—Huh?!”
At that moment, I realized something was approaching from a distance.
With a gigantic form, a familiar presence rapidly drew nearer.
I knew the owner of that presence.
This energy was…
“Long time no see!”
The girl with violet hair who suddenly appeared in front of me,
“Eve.”
She smiled at me.
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