Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 699 The Storm is Coming (Part )

「72:00:00」

The faint sound of the swaying campfire echoed in the evening breeze. Inside the carriage, Antoine woke up from his dream, looked at the children who were still sleeping beside him, and then turned his gaze to the swaying campfire and the slightly dim sky outside the window.

I slept for about half an hour...

Waves of dull pain came from Antoine's chest. He touched the clothes on his chest, feeling the touch of crystallized flesh and blood, and knew that he would probably not be able to sleep tonight.

"Teacher Antoine...?"

Suddenly, a timid voice came from the door. Antoine turned his head and found a thin figure squatting at the back of the other carriage, looking at him through the gap in the door.

"Nova? What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

When Antoine saw the child in front of him, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. He stood up, quietly pushed open the door, and came to the other party's carriage. He saw the child named Nova squatting at the door with a lost look on his face.

In response to Antoine's question, Nova, who looked about ten years old, buried his head in his arms, shook his head, and said in a faint voice:

"I just... don't want to be with them."

As Nova spoke, he secretly glanced at the thin figures sleeping behind the crack in the door.

Antoine was stunned when he heard this, and then he realized what the other party meant by "they".

"Why...did someone bully you?"

Nova shook his head.

"Did they do something to upset you?"

Nova shook his head again, but after a while, as if he remembered something, he nodded slightly and responded softly.

"Ah."

"So, Nova, can you tell Mr. Antoine what exactly they did to upset you?"

Antoine looked at the child's reaction, bent down, and touched his head. Nova pursed his lips after hearing this. After a moment of silence, he whispered in a low voice:

"I hate them... especially Beibei and the others."

"They only know how to act like a spoiled child in front of Teacher Antoine and ask those boring questions. They don't even know that Teacher Antoine's body has, has..."

As Nova spoke, his voice gradually choked up, as if he had thought of something.

Antoine looked at the only child who was almost ten years old among the seventeen children in front of him, and listened to the other party's slightly choked words. He couldn't help but be stunned, then smiled softly, stroked the other party's head, and said in an old and hoarse voice:

"So that's how it is. Nova is a sensible child?"

Antoine said, looking up at the sky outside the carriage, and muttered:

"Teacher Antoine is very happy that Nova thinks this way, because it means that Nova has grown up and knows how to consider others."

"But you can't hate your brothers and sisters just because of this, Nova?"

"You think Beibei and the others are too childish and you don't like being with them. Teacher Antoine can understand that, but... Nova, you have to know that every child has gone through this. Teacher Antoine is like this, and so are the children he taught in the past. Nova was like this in the past, too, wasn't he?"

Antoine stroked Nova's head and smiled. Upon hearing this, the depressed expression on his face moved slightly, pursed his lips, and retorted in a low voice as if he was unconvinced:
"I won't be like them..."

"But, Teacher Antoine remembers that when Nova was five years old, he cried more often than Beibei, right?"

"That...that's because I...I was...still ignorant at that time."

Hearing the old teacher talking about his embarrassing experience when he was five years old, the almost ten-year-old child quickly raised his head and explained anxiously incoherently. Finally, he lowered his head as if embarrassed and whispered an explanation, which made Antoine couldn't help but smile. He gently stroked the other's head twice and said:

"So, Beibei and the others are actually the same as Nova was back then. They are still too young and don't know a lot of things. Therefore, they need the grown-up Nova to protect them and give them a chance to grow up, right?"

"But...but...they don't know that Mr. Antoine's body has..."

"What does it matter?"

An old but slightly cheerful voice came from the carriage. Antoine stroked the head of the child beside him, his eyes full of satisfaction, and said with a smile:

"In your opinion, Nova, Beibei and the others' words are a sign of ignorance, but for Teacher Antoine, seeing you grow up day by day is the greatest luck and salvation. If I really want to say something, it should be me, the teacher, who should thank you, Nova, and Beibei and the others."

"It is your existence that has given me the motivation to hold on until today. Although I may not have the chance to see further into the distance, this is something that everyone on this land will inevitably experience. Compared to those uncles and aunts who fell in the pyroxene beasts and other accidents, it is a very lucky way for me to leave like this."

"But...but...I..."

"Wow... I... I don't want Teacher Antoine to die..."

In the carriage, Nova choked up and buried his little head in Antoine's arms. His eyes became red and swollen. Antoine just lowered his eyes, quietly closed the door, gently stroked his head and back, and whispered:

"Well... the teacher knows it, but accepting this fact is also a kind of growth, Nova."

"If you really feel uncomfortable, just cry loudly now, but you have to agree that you must become strong after the teacher leaves. After all, Nova will be the one taking care of the brothers and sisters at that time."

As Antoine spoke, Nova, who was in his arms, felt a lump in his throat and could no longer suppress his sensitive and fragile emotions as a child, sobbing and crying. The flames fell from outside the carriage, falling on the kind-looking old teacher and the crying child, blending with the sound of the evening breeze, telling this insignificant episode together.

……

「63:34:05」

[Training completed, this training result: 93 points, evaluation: excellent]

A pleasant electronic sound rang out from Lakhan's mind. In the training room filled with the smell of engine oil and metal, Lakhan, who had just finished another round of training, took off his helmet, touched the sweat on his forehead, picked up the energy drink beside him and took a big gulp. Then he let out a long sigh and looked at the virtual screen in front of him and the score displayed on it. There was a hint of distantness in his tired eyes.

This was the second day after he was appointed as the chief mecha pilot.

To be honest, although it was only less than two days, for Lakan, the experience of these two days was as dreamy as spending two centuries.

First, Lord Black Sword, who had led the entire tower out of the crisis at the most critical moment, suddenly found him in person. Then, all kinds of care and attention were given to him by the high-level officials who should have been out of reach of a small figure like him. Even his pyroxene disease was cured by the surgery performed personally by the Lord called the Performer. Until now, Lakan has a strong sense of unreality.

Especially when the other party told him in great solemnity that he would become the chief mecha pilot, and would lead a series of ace pilots who had been selected through layers of screening to play a crucial role in the war that would break out in a few days, and also told him that there was no need to be too surprised, because the bigwigs who were now assisting the entire tower were actually basically selected by Lord Black Sword from the hundreds of millions of people in the tower in just a few days, and they all performed their respective duties very well. Lakan almost suspected that he was in some kind of dream.

After all, a pyroxene disease patient from the lower class was suddenly given an important position and successfully rose to a high position in just a few days, becoming a hero who saved the tower and was in danger of fire and water... He had only heard such stories in the stories and novels circulating in the Central City area. He even thought that those stories were too outrageous and could never happen in reality.

But the fact is that this kind of thing actually happened in front of him, and he himself was even a participant in it, and all signs indicate that this was a real fact, not an illusory dream.

"Huh... there's still some time before the break, let's practice one more time..."

After quickly recovering his physical strength with the help of special recovery products, Lakan, who was lying in the simulation cockpit, came to his senses, looked at the virtual screen in front of him, took a long breath, refocused his attention on the screen in front of him, put on his helmet, and started a new training with a firm look.

Perhaps it was because the life before him was so perfect that it even exceeded all his past fantasies, or perhaps it was because the words spoken by Lord Black Sword made him feel for the first time in his life that he was so needed and respected by others. In any case, for him, he did not want to waste what was happening right now.

Even if all this is just a dream in the end, compared to the muddled life in the past, he would rather burn everything he has in this dream.

……

「55:24:35」

"According to Lord Black Sword's answer, we will face a new war in just over two tower days. This time, the evil demons that seized the Gusa Federation and the Huiyuan Sect will use all their strength. Our responsibility is to arrange the war plan for the entire tower in these two days and cooperate with Lord Black Sword to develop a plan that is sufficient to support the enemy's offensive. Does anyone have any questions?"

In the conference room, Tafina was sitting on the vice-seat next to the main seat. She looked at the long table in front of her with more than a dozen people sitting there, and spoke to these top talents selected from various fortresses in the tower.

"Since our goal is a protracted war, I have discussed this with Ryan and Lord Anwen and have an idea. I wonder if you think it is feasible..."

As the words fell, a short-haired young man with glasses who was sitting with Ryan, Anwen and others pondered for a moment, raised his hand and spoke, thus opening the discussion.

Time passed by bit by bit. After several hours, with a long sigh full of fatigue and liberation, Tafina, who had presided over the entire meeting, leaned back in her seat as if she had collapsed, looking exhausted.

"Hoo...Hoo...I can't take it anymore. Ryan, Anwen...Have you found someone more suitable than me to be the deputy commander? Or how about you, Oya, take over?"

The gray-haired girl looked at the ceiling in front of her with a tired face and muttered with lifeless eyes.

As a great warlock, she thought that her biggest task in this war was to train the new recruits, lead the team to fight, kill the enemies and so on. Unexpectedly, the black-haired young man suddenly said that she was the most suitable person to be the commander of the tower calculated by AI, and threw all kinds of things that should be decided by the actual leader of the tower to her. The end result was that she couldn't even close her eyes for a week.

"Pfft, I don't want that! I'm satisfied just watching the pyroxene resources of the entire fortress increase every day. As for the position of tower commander, I'd rather let Sister Tafina take it!"

The girl called Oya chuckled and teased Tafina, who looked like she was about to burn out. Although her life as the Minister of Resources was not easy, compared to the gray-haired girl who had to review all the major and minor events in the tower with the AI ​​every day, her life was already quite leisurely.

"By the way, Sister Tafina, what is Lord Black Sword doing now? I haven't seen him once before."

Oya said curiously, her eyes twinkling like a cat at night, looking like a little fangirl. As Tafina listened to her coquettish question, a hint of helplessness appeared on her already tired face.

Although there were many voices condemning the Black Sword in the entire fortress at the beginning, after a week of baptism, with the leap in life experience brought by a large number of intelligent machines, the voices in the tower have long since changed from suspicion about the origins of the black-haired young man to overwhelming praise, and there are even many people who regard him as a symbol of the new generation of crown warlocks and worship and pursue him.

After all, for the lower-middle class and even most of the warlocks of civilian origin, the changes that the black-haired young man brought to the tower during his tenure can be said to be tangible and visible. Now, except for some warlocks of the old aristocracy and those who are really lazy and hopeless, the people in the hundreds of fortresses in the entire tower can be said to have been "brainwashed" by the generous treatment brought by the black-haired young man, especially when people discovered that the black-haired young man even brought a cheaper and more efficient way to fight and cure pyroxene disease.

Of course, this fanatical pursuit definitely has the illusion of excessive prosperity in it, and even has a faint taste of carnival after breaking free from the constraints. But for many people, the black-haired young man is a real salvation. Tafina has already experienced this firsthand, and this is also what makes her most helpless about the girl in front of her who is the Minister of Resources.

The other party's admiration for the black-haired young man even reached the point that she couldn't help but retreat. Although she knew that this was related to the other party's personal experience, to be honest, when she saw with her own eyes the level of reputation the black-haired young man had in the fortress, she still couldn't help but be amazed.

"However, considering the miraculous behavior of that sir, this is probably the most reasonable scenario, right...?"

Tafina looked at the scene before her, recalling everything she had experienced in the past ten short days. For a moment, she felt that Oya's admiration for the black-haired young man was reasonable.

After all, let alone the other party who was indirectly saved by the influence of the other party in despair, even if it was herself, after being saved by the other party, it would be difficult not to have a god-like admiration for the black-haired young man.

And because of this...

"Huh... I've rested enough. It's time to get back to work."

In the conference room, the gray-haired girl let out a long sigh, sat up straight, looked at the screen in front of her, and her eyes became serious and firm again.

If she initially chose to follow the black-haired young man just for her friend, now she wanted to follow him from the bottom of her heart and wanted to continue the changes brought by him permanently, rather than perish in the war.

For her, this war already had reasons to be won.

……

(End of this chapter)