The Soldier Shouted Save

Chapter 9

Their eyes.

As a means of judgment, there wasn’t much to go on.

After all, someone’s gaze could look completely different depending on their expression or mood.

Yet, despite these thoughts in my head, the two men standing at the village entrance seemed off.

They held long spears, giving the impression they were guards.

But they weren’t scanning the surroundings.

They were simply staring at one place.

‘What are they looking at?’

Their focus wasn’t on me.

Without stopping, I turned my head to glance behind me.

—Whip.

I followed the direction of their gaze, but there was nothing.

Just bushes and trees.

When I turned back to face them, their expressions had changed.

They were now smiling brightly, waving at me as if I was a long-awaited guest.

“Are you perhaps the hero who has come to visit Dane Village?”

‘Hero?’

The presence of a hero, someone who protected villages from monsters, demons, and the undead, was welcomed in every village.

But asking an unknown traveler if they were a hero right off the bat was strange.

“Hah… Hah… No, I’m not.”

Even though I had walked slowly, I was still out of breath.

I steadied my breathing and denied the man’s assumption.

Upon seeing my skin blistered from the burns, the men were visibly alarmed.

“Are—are you okay? Hey! Someone, go get the village chief!”

One of the men turned toward the village and shouted.

“You’ll be fine. Our village chief knows healing magic.”

“Is the village chief a priest?”

“No, he’s not. He was a mage in his younger days. Said he learned it back then.”

If that were true, this village chief must be quite skilled.

Priests use the power of the goddess to heal.

Simply through prayer, wounds heal and stamina is restored.

But healing magic performed by mages was on a different level.

To heal the inside of a body, they would have to use mana to cut open the affected area and directly inject mana to heal it.

That’s why most mages don’t bother learning healing magic.

It has a low success rate, and it requires too much mana, making it unsuitable for mages.

“He sounds quite eccentric.”

“He may be, but he’s vital to a village like ours. Ah, here he comes now!”

An elderly man, likely in his 80s, approached.

He had a white beard and hair, his back bent, and he walked slowly with the help of a staff.

“Chief! His condition seems pretty severe!”

The chief glanced briefly at the village man before turning his attention to me.

“Your arm.”

The chief gestured with his staff, signaling me to extend my arm.

When I did, the chief’s hand began to glow with a faint violet light.

“Hm.”

The violet light moved over my arm like a living thing, crawling across the surface of my skin.

The glow slowly dimmed as it worked.

“A fine job. The outer layer of your skin is dead, but the inside has already healed. Was there a priest nearby?”

The chief was mistaken.

It wasn’t a priest.

It had been the result of the level-up message that healed me, only for me to be burned again afterward.

I had someone to find.

I looked steadily at the chief and answered with a half-truth.

“I didn’t see the person who healed me. Has a priest visited your village recently?”

“Ah, yes. A woman who seemed to be a priest was here just recently. She gathered a few supplies and left soon after. You didn’t run into her on your way here?”

“No, I didn’t encounter any people.”

It seemed we had just missed each other.

‘If the chief says she did a fine job healing, she must be a high-ranking priest.’

She must have been heading back after completing her tasks.

‘Should I go back to where I came from?’

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, my body felt heavy.

It was as if my brain was warning me that I couldn’t walk any farther.

“Hm… I sensed it earlier, but you have quite a strong body.”

I could feel the chief inspecting my body closely.

He nodded to himself and spoke again.

“I’ll heal the rest of your wounds.”

“Thank you.”

I expressed my genuine gratitude.

The pain was becoming unbearable, making it difficult to even stand.

“If the priest returns, I’ll let you know right away. For now, rest in our village for the night.”

The chief tapped his staff on the ground behind him, signaling for me to follow.

As we walked through the village, I noticed how deserted it was.

I couldn’t tell if there were simply a few people or if most were shut away in their homes. The place was eerily quiet.

I did spot a few villagers, but like the men at the entrance, they all had that strange vacant look in their eyes, staring at nothing.

“Hm, our village is a bit… special.”

Perhaps noticing my wary expression as I observed the village, the chief spoke up.

“Most of the villagers have left, so it’s only natural the place feels empty.”

Were those strange eyes the result of loneliness?

Cautiously, I spoke.

“Why didn’t you leave with them?”

At this, the chief gave a bitter smile.

“If only it were that simple. They can’t leave. They’ve lived their whole lives in this village, and they can’t bring themselves to leave it behind. But now… now it seems it’s time to go.”

Indeed, the village was dying.

There were no inns, no shops, and the houses were so dilapidated they looked like they could collapse at any moment.

—Tap.

The chief stopped walking.

Naturally, I stopped as well.

In front of us was a small, shabby house with a run-down exterior.

“Would you mind staying here for tonight?”

“All right.”

When I opened the door, the smell of mold hit me.

The room was so small that it was almost entirely filled by a single bed.

Given the circumstances, I couldn’t complain about the state of the house.

At least there was a bed.

“I’ll heal your wounds tomorrow. For now, get some rest.”

I found his words odd.

“…Why not tonight?”

“If you were a priest, it’d be one thing, but with my healing magic, your stamina plays a role. It’s important that you rest tonight, even if it’s painful.”

The chief handed me a Red Potion.

I knew quite a bit about red potions.

Whenever I was about to face a dangerous battle in my royal palace days, red potions would be supplied.

They didn’t heal wounds, but they restored energy and helped suppress pain.

But potions were extremely expensive.

This particular red potion was worth more than 50 daggers like the one Croa had bought me.

The fact that the village chief had handed me such an expensive potion, so readily and to a complete stranger, made me feel more unsettled than grateful.

“…Are you sure it’s okay for me to take this?”

When I hesitated, not accepting the potion, the chief’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“If it’s money you’re worried about, don’t be. I made this potion myself, so the materials weren’t too expensive. And no, I don’t expect payment from you. So, what will it be? Still refusing it?”

His tone had become harsher, as though my reluctance had offended him.

Feeling awkward, I quietly accepted the potion.

“Hmph, I’ll let you know if the priest returns. And one more thing—don’t go outside during the night.”

Before I could ask why, the chief closed the door and left.

Once the tension lifted, I sat down on the bed.

‘Ugh!’

The pain flared as my skin touched the rough mattress.

Still, fatigue overwhelmed me, and I carefully lay back on the bed.

‘Oh, the backpack…’

I suddenly remembered the backpack on my back—the one I had taken from the bandit who had stolen it from the priest.

Sitting back up, I pulled the bag around and placed it between my legs, checking inside to make sure I hadn’t dropped anything important.

“Map, water bottle, dried food, and… potions…”

I pulled out one of the red potions.

‘Strange.’

The red potion given to me by the chief was slightly different in color from the one in the priest’s bag. The chief’s potion looked darker, more concentrated.

‘Is it because it’s homemade?’

I opened the chief’s potion and drank it in one go.

―Gulp, gulp.

It had a slightly metallic taste.

‘Does it have a different effect too?’

The pain subsided, but instead of feeling energized, I felt sluggish, as if something was weighing me down.

Carefully, I lay back down on the bed.

With the pain fading, exhaustion crept in.

But sleep didn’t come easily.

‘Did Croa and Rian manage to escape safely?’

I reassured myself.

That strange black creature had definitely been destroyed along with the wildfire.

‘It’s fine. Everything turned out okay. Once I heal, I’ll head to Tallin to find Croa.’

With that monster gone, there was no reason my siblings couldn’t have made it to safety.

‘They’re safe…’

I pushed aside my worries about my siblings.

The most important thing now was to heal my body, which was teetering on the edge of collapse.

As that thought settled, my eyes began to close.

—

―Knock. Knock. Knock.

Something was knocking roughly on the door.

I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.

―Knock. Knock. Knock.

The knocking came again.

“…”

I turned my head slightly to look at the window.

Outside, it was still pitch dark.

‘Who could it be at this hour?’

I wanted to sit up, but my body wouldn’t respond.

‘Why can’t I move?’

It felt like all the strength had drained from my body.

―Knock. Knock. Knock.

I tried to make a sound, but even that was beyond my control.

I lay there, helpless, fully aware that something was wrong with my body.

—

Morning.

I could tell because sunlight was streaming through the window.

I hadn’t slept at all.

I couldn’t move my body, and I couldn’t speak.

The sense of helplessness amplified my anxiety.

―Knock. Knock.

This wasn’t the harsh knocking from the night before.

It was a weak, almost hesitant knock.

“Hello? Are you there?”

It was the village chief’s voice.

―Knock. Knock.

The faint knock came again, followed by the creaking sound of the door opening.

“Hm, you’re still here.”

The chief sounded slightly annoyed as he looked at me lying motionless in bed.

Then, noticing something was off, he approached me.

“My, it seems your body is too weak, and the potion’s effects were too strong. I’ll bring something to counteract it.”

‘Was it the potion?’

Knowing the cause brought some relief, even though my condition seemed to be worsening.

‘It’ll get better if I wait…’

I had no choice but to trust the chief and wait, since I couldn’t move anyway.

—

The chief returned with a fragrant incense, claiming it would counter the potion’s effects.

Judging by the light outside the window, it had been about six hours since he’d left.

“…”

But my condition hadn’t improved at all.

In fact, I could barely keep my eyes open now.

The sweet scent from the incense was so overpowering it made my nose sting.

―Creak…

It sounded like the door opening.

But my hearing had become dull, almost muffled.

“You… should… be fine…”

That was the last memory I had of that life.

—

—You have died from ???. [Confirm]

—Reloading from Auto-Save. [Confirm]

—Hint: Be cautious of potions. [Confirm]

I found myself standing once more at the entrance of Dane Village.

“Are you perhaps the hero who has come to visit Dane Village?”

I stared silently at the villagers as they approached me.

But no answers came from looking at them.

‘What… just happened?’

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