“Ever since I entered the Contaminated Zone, I’ve been a little disoriented. I can’t understand why I risked my life and came this far. I’m starting to think that everything I’ve ever believed in might be a lie, that the place I’ve been living in might actually be a castle made of sand….”
Ah, it seems like his memories have flown away vaguely.
The usually silent guy suddenly spoke at length, so I pricked up my ears and listened, but suddenly a monster jumped out in front of us.
“Grrr….”
It was a wandering corpse. The contaminated ones.
Dark energy flowed down their pale skin, and their pupils were entirely a hazy gray ash color. There was no sign of life in their precarious gestures.
Either they had been cast out for some unforgivable crime, or they had taken the wrong turn, or they arrogantly challenged the dark energy—in any case, it was the same.
They wandered aimlessly over the contaminated land, their hearts stopped by the dark energy.
I muttered from a distance,
“Long time no see.”
“Long time, no see?”
“They don’t come near the castle.”
Since Marron was close to the black lake, the center of the contaminated land, zombies rarely showed up. They usually emerged more frequently as you approached the boundaries of the contaminated zone.
“I see.”
Reikart stood in front of me, blocking the way. It seemed like he still had some remnants of a knight or something in his heart. I don’t think the Winter family was all that righteous in the novels, but even after losing his memory, does he still want to be like that?
Reikart looked back at me, seemingly puzzled, as I remained unfazed by the zombies.
“Are you okay?”
“How long do you think I’ve been living here?”
“Have you ever tried to purify them?”
“No, of course not.”
I hadn’t. I was too scared that they might turn back into humans if I purified them.
Most of the zombies wandering around the contaminated land were known to be heinous criminals, dumped by the Three Kingdoms or religious organizations.
Traitors, plague carriers, heretics, lunatics, and murderers.
Zombies themselves weren’t scary at all, but the thought of them turning back into humans terrified me. What if I accidentally purified them, and they came after me? That would be a significant blow to my plans to live comfortably and leisurely.
“I won’t purify them. Absolutely not.”
“Is that so?”
“I don’t want to turn them back into humans.”
“I was lucky then.”
Reikart laughed bitterly. It was a sharp smile. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely laughing or getting angry.
There was a hint of anger in it, as if he had gotten himself into this mess because of me.
What’s this? Some kind of pressure to purify them?
“Do you want me to… purify?”
“Why bother?”
Reikart drew his sword in a nonchalant manner.
Even when drawing such a large sword, his movements were concise. Even to my untrained eyes, his techniques and posture were extraordinary.
Thank goodness. It seems he hasn’t forgotten his swordsmanship.
I don’t know how relieved I was. If he had forgotten his swordsmanship, which he had honed for so long because of me, it would have made it difficult for him to live alone later on. Then, my mistake would become his burden.
“Grrr….”
The contaminated ones approached Reikart, revealing their hostility.
“I’ll take care of them, so wait.”
“Yeah.”
Go away, amnesia!
“Close your eyes.”
“Huh?”
Why close my eyes? Shouldn’t you keep them wide open when it’s dangerous?
I didn’t have time to ask. He was already running forward. No, what if he gets contaminated faster by being reckless?
Am I his personal purifier or something?! Huh?
“Wow….”
Amazing.
Reikart really fought well. I couldn’t even see how he was swinging his sword with my inferior fuselage vision.
He just lunged forward, leaving only the afterimage of his sword, and the zombies fell one after another.
Reikart didn’t even break a sweat. His chest didn’t even rise and fall.
Truly a physical powerhouse in this world.
It was just like chasing away an annoying bug for him.
I admired him silently.
We decided to take turns keeping watch at night.
He graciously let me rest first, but to me, Reikart looked more tired between the two of us.
This was because he couldn’t escape the influence of the dark energy. I tried to hold his hands while walking a couple of times, but each time he rejected it outright.
So I went to sleep first, and by dawn, Reikart fell asleep.
The crackling sound of the campfire echoed as it burned. I was glad to have a companion who knew how to build a fire. I roasted the tree fruits I’d packed as my lunch and watched Reikart.
He tossed and turned for a while, then fell into a short sleep as if he had fainted.
Upon closer inspection, his pretty blond hair was gradually tainted with the dark energy from the tips. I hadn’t noticed during the day because he wore gloves, but even his fingers were turning gray.
Why didn’t I say anything? Isn’t it frightening?
He was so strange.
He’d come to kill the real Hailey, and now he’d made a fool of himself by helping me, the fake Hailey.
It must have been hard for him to continue walking, but he never showed it, always walking in front of me. Whenever contaminated beings appeared, he stood in front of me and fought.
He gave me all the delicious dried meat and chewed the tasteless roots without a word of complaint.
Does the kid have a gullible disposition?
What should I do?
I’m weak when it comes to kind people.
I set the roasted tree fruits aside and sat down close to Reikart. Then, I gently took his hand, which I couldn’t touch during the day.
It was a rough, warm hand.
Through our touching skin, the dark energy that tormented him seeped into my body.
It had only been a day since we left the castle, yet he had accumulated this much already. This cursed land seemed determined to kill innocent people.
Be cleansed. Be cleansed.
Quickly regain your health.
In the original, Reikart was a symbol of unhappiness. It almost looks like a contrasting figure created to highlight the happiness of the female protagonist.
The Duke of Winter’s family had been conducting cruel experiments to create a stronger successor, and as a result, Reikart who has become both human but not human, has struggled with the loss of his identity, even awakening as a half-man-half-demon.
No one understood him. He was always alone.
The female lead is the only being who doesn’t despise or reject him despite being half-human and half-demon, and he eventually falls in love with her. However, before realizing what love truly meant, he ended his life by suicide.
What a pity.
“I’m fortunate to have found you before it’s too late.”
I’m glad he didn’t turn into a demon or anything, that he still has vague memories, and that I was able to purify him like this.
“So, you should also quickly find your own path in life.”
I’ll take you out of the contaminated area, so go out and live happily. Confess your feelings to the female lead, experience great love, or rise to a high position through swordsmanship and rule the world.
Don’t be the tragic, pitiful sub-male lead responsible for gloomy endings ever again.
I smirked with satisfaction as I sucked out every last drop of dark energy and cleaned his body.
And so two days passed.
The fake Hailey, who only knew about the real Hailey from books, and Reikart Winter, who had lost half of his memories. Fake and loss. We turned out to be quite good travel companions.
When zombies appeared, Reikart defeated them, and when he got contaminated with dark energy, I stepped forward to purify the contamination.
After passing through the mountains and forests until a wide road appeared, we encountered contaminated beings several times a day. Sometimes, mutated animals that turned into monsters instead of humans also appeared.
He was surprised that I walked and ran better than he had thought. I was surprised by his kindness, which was more than I had expected. He showed not only consideration but also delicacy at times.
After he became a half-man, half-horse, his humanity almost disappeared. This is all because the original author planted unnecessary prejudices in me.
No matter how much we walked, it was all forest, and no matter how far we went, it was all road. When I stood on top of Marron Castle, I marveled at how vast it was, but the contaminated area was wider than I thought.
