After leaving the campsite, I pushed myself hard for about five hours, moving straight through the forest to put as much distance as possible between me and the squad.
Dawn had already broken. By now, they’ve probably realized I deserted. I never came back to report after last night’s patrol.
If I had simply failed to return, they might have considered the possibility that I’d been injured during patrol and couldn’t move or that I’d been killed by a monster and treated me as missing…
But stealing all that stuff from Ivan… even realizing it now, that might have been a mistake.
It’s one thing if I had just disappeared, but with Ivan’s equipment and supplies also gone, it’s obvious I robbed him and then fled.
I was too desperate yesterday to think that far ahead…
Off the top of my head: abandoning my mission, theft, desertion… I’ll definitely be hunted down and put on a wanted list.
Still, without supplies my chances of survival would have dropped dramatically, so I didn’t really have a choice… but my thinking was short-sighted. Maybe it would’ve been better to avoid being wanted, even if that meant giving up the supplies.
I have no intention of returning to the Kingdom of Ganadia, so being wanted is something I can live with. But if that leads the Gradov territorial army to organize a search party, that’s a problem.
If they deploy the reconnaissance unit that was scouting this expedition who were specialists in movement and detection within the forest…it’ll be a real headache.
I couldn’t help but regret that it didn’t just end with me being listed as missing.
No point dwelling on what’s already done. I’m still the second son of a margrave family, after all. Even if I’d been listed as missing, there’s a good chance they would’ve formed a search party anyway.
Better to accept that and move on. The real issue now is when that search party will be organized… that probably depends on how my brother acts.
If Igor realizes my escape and immediately returns to Gradov territory to report it, a search party could be organized as early as tomorrow.
But I think Igor will prioritize subjugating monsters over making a report. It’s not the subjugation itself that matters to him, but the achievements he can claim as acting head of the family… earning merit.
If he turns back to Gradov now, not only would he have to abandon the subjugation, but all that would stand out is his failure to stop a deserter.
Even if he submits his report and then requests permission to set out again, even our father who dotes on his son wouldn’t approve of that.
In the worst case, if my brother prioritizes reporting my escape, I could be chased by a search party as soon as tomorrow. Even if he acts as I expect, I’ll still be on the run in a few days…
I did briefly consider the possibility that an enraged Igor might lead the squad himself to hunt me down today, but… that’s unlikely.
Realistically, there’s no way he could both track down a fleeing scout in the forest and complete the original objective of monster subjugation within the planned three-day expedition.
It’s practically impossible, so I doubt he’d try.
Either way, the only difference is when the pursuit begins. Being hunted is almost certain.
For now, I just need to keep moving as long as my stamina holds out—
“Demitri!!”
Almost at the same moment I heard that furious shout, the lush green forest to my right was swallowed, along with the ground itself, by a pillar of pale blue flames.
He caught up to me?!
Thinking I was safe until now, I had relaxed my control over my magic slightly, but I immediately focused all my attention on suppressing it, minimizing any leakage from my body.
I need to get away from here, now—
“Hiding now is pointless!!”
Before I could even gather my thoughts, a sinister surge of magical power swelled instantly from the direction of the voice, making the air tremble.
Instinctively, I leapt in the opposite direction of the forest that had just been consumed by the pillar of flames, tumbling down a slope.
The very next moment, a blast of scorching wind surged from where I had been, slamming into my entire body.
I rolled all the way to the bottom of the slope and immediately looked back up. There was nothing left. Only a forest reduced to ash and a scorched, blackened earth.
With the vegetation burned away, bare soil and exposed rock were revealed, ash drifting across them. It was an unnatural sight, nothing like a forest.
From the steadily intensifying pressure of magic, I could tell that Igor was closing in on me.
“Demitri, I’m not angry. Come out.”
His voice, louder and clearer than before, drove a spike of despair into me.
“Please… don’t make me any more saddened than I already am.”
Almost reflexively, I activated body enhancement and broke into a full sprint.
I had never before tried to maintain tight control over my magic to prevent it from leaking while simultaneously using high-output body enhancement.
The fact that I could pull it off while sprinting through a forest rather than on flat ground was nothing short of a miracle, but I had no idea how long I could keep it up.
If I failed to control my magic and Igor sensed me, it was over. If I ran out of magic from pushing body enhancement too far, it was over. If he caught up to me, it was over.
Even so, if there’s even a chance I can escape my brother, I have to bet on it…!
I ran desperately through the forest, searching for any way to break out of this situation.
How did he find me?!
I had forced myself to keep moving through the forest all night, so I should have put a fair amount of distance between myself and the campsite.
When I tightened my control over my magic, he said “It’s too late to hide now”… could it be that he tracked me by sensing my magic!?
It seemed impossible, and yet… here I was, already found.
Even though I had let my guard down, the fact that Igor had sensed the magic I’d been suppressing to avoid detection by monsters and tracked me all the way here from the campsite sent a chill down my spine.
Then why did his first spell miss? If he could sense me…was he unable to pinpoint my exact location?
After pushing my body to its limits without a moment of sleep, repeatedly activating body enhancement, feeling my magic steadily drain and a wave of exhaustion wash over me, straining my nerves to maintain precise control over my magic, and running along the uneven forest terrain where a single misstep could send me sprawling…..everything piled up, and I couldn’t think straight.
…The second spell… did he fire it at the spot where my magic suddenly disappeared when I focused on controlling it?
It had only been a few minutes since I started running, yet I was already nearing my limit. I couldn’t afford to run out of magic in this situation.
I have to believe that as long as he hasn’t actually seen me, he won’t be able to find me right away…!
Even though I knew it would be meaningless if he unleashed that spell again, I leaned my back against a huge tree that stood apart from the others, released my body enhancement, and took a moment to catch my breath, if only to calm myself.
…I don’t want to think about it, but what if he deliberately missed to corner me…? No, I would’ve been hit by the second shot if I hadn’t dodged. He was aiming to kill.
I couldn’t hear Igor’s voice, nor could I feel the oppressive weight of his magic.
In the sudden silence, it felt as though the tension snapped; the strength drained from my legs, and I slumped down with my back still pressed against the great tree.
There’s no point in thinking any further…
I had struggled desperately up until now, but my weakening body began to drag my thoughts down with it.
Come to think of it, not just this escape, but everything I had tried so far had backfired.
Even if I manage to escape my brother, there’s no way I could survive this great forest.
My will to live began to fade rapidly.
A sense of resignation took over, urging me to throw everything away.
Before I knew it, my thoughts had drifted back to that day, the day I was branded as useless during the appraisal ceremony, and I found myself clinging to the god I had cursed.
Diagana, goddess of life who governs reincarnation… I’m not asking for much. At least let me have a slightly better life in the next one… If that’s the case, I’ll accept that I was just unlucky in this life and give up—
As I trailed off in my thoughts, something about my own words caught strangely in my mind, and my thinking came to a halt.
– Accept that I was unlucky in this life and give up…?
It felt oddly familiar, as if someone had said those exact words to me before.
“Just accept that you were unlucky and give up. It’s unfortunate, but do your best in your next life.”
The moment a voice I had never heard before replayed in my head, a violent headache struck me.
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