I, holding a long sword in my hand, only know one move

Because he has not experienced what these people have experienced, he believes that he is not qualified to make comments and can only choose to listen.

"Rick, my brother was entrusted when he was only thirteen years old and became the leader of the settlement that surpassed his predecessors. It has been five years now."

"And the number of deaths in these five years is... forty-seven." Cheng Rang echoed in a low voice.

"Without you, there would be forty-eight people. So, thank you very much!" Ke Long bowed to himself sincerely.

"No, this is nothing..."

Compared to that eighteen-year-old boy, his actions of just saving one person's life were really nothing.

"This will be of great help to Rick and us!" Ke Long shook his head desperately.

"We all think that number is incredibly small, but Rick doesn't understand! Even if he does, the responsibility of ordering others to die weighs heavily on him."

"You mean... these forty-seven people all died under Rick's orders?"

Cheng Rang didn't expect this.

Kelon nodded.

Forty-seven dead—all on the expedition.

If a settlement increases to 2,000 people, it is usually "given up" just to solve the food problem, and the number of deaths every year will be multiples of that number.

Not to mention that if the village was discovered by other races, hundreds or thousands of humans would die easily.

It lasted for five years, but only forty-seven people died. This is undoubtedly the credit of Rick.

"So everyone believed in Rick."

"So everyone placed their lives on his shoulders. After receiving the order, they died generously without hesitation."

"And Rick also clearly remembers the names of each of them... and even more importantly, he even remembers exactly where they died and what they died for."

Cheng Rang was speechless.

If it were you, could you do it?

He couldn't help but ask himself this question, if he had such a powerful force to protect and manage a settlement of two thousand people, and survive in this desperate world for five years, could he keep the number of deaths at forty? Seven people...or even fifty people?

If you can’t do it, you can’t do it yourself.

It didn't even take long to think before Cheng Rang had the answer.

Recalling Rick's dim eyes again, Cheng Rang denied her previous hasty judgment of him.

He is not someone who is unwilling to move forward towards hope, but a hero who shoulders the will of more people, living... and even dead people, struggling tenaciously in this quagmire of despair. He himself—— That is the hope of those people.

In the despair of seeing no hope, he leads the people who believe in him in the hope of continuing to survive.

Cheng Rang couldn't even imagine how much pressure he was under after the mist called reason in his eyes.

"This guy...doesn't he have no limits?"

Ke Long stopped suddenly, squeezed back the tears in his eyes, and choked: "How is it possible..."

"Rick has reached his limit. In a world like this, it is impossible for him to continue to be the flame of hope that maintains the sanity of two thousand people!"

"You haven't seen what Rick looks like when he comes back to the room after every time he orders someone to die...so you wouldn't know."

"If this continues, brother...Rick will collapse...and what can we do?"

After arriving in his room, Cheng Rang lay on the hard stone bed and looked up at the dark brown rock wall. Ke Long's words echoed in his mind, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

Rick, who was about to return to the room to continue working, was called down by a petite girl.

It's Nonna.

"Rick... I'm sorry... I said such outrageous things to you before."

There was a guilty expression on her delicate face, and her voice gradually became choked with sobs.

"Nonna... Nonna knows, it's all Rick for everyone... So... ugh..."

There was a wave of confusion in Rick's calm eyes. He gently raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, half-kneeling in front of Nonna, and rubbed her head with his hand.

"It doesn't matter, what Nonna said...is not wrong at all."

The only one who keeps making mistakes is me.

"Rick...."

Nonna's little hands were clasped in front of her chest. She watched Rick's weak back walking towards the cave step by step, her eyes gradually becoming firmer.

"Thank you, Rick!"

The childish voice echoed in the cave passage, and gradually disappeared with the patter of footsteps until silence returned.

"The person you want to thank...should be Cheng, Nonna."

Of course, Rick heard Nonna's call. He opened the wooden door of his room and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

At least it's a little easier, then again...

"Even I have to thank that guy..."

Chapter 9 Are you still a virgin?

"Oh——! So awesome, Cheng!"

As soon as Rick walked out of the room, he heard Kron's fuss.

"It's nothing. I'm just relatively strong, so I can help."

"This is really a big help! Cheng, you are so humble~" Ke Long patted Cheng Rang's shoulder hard, almost smiling.

"Hey, Rick, have you finally come out of your little castle?" Cheng Rang slapped his dusty hands twice and looked at Rick walking out of the passage.

Rick has locked himself in the house for three full days. Cheng Rang, who has just joined the settlement, has not received any tasks. And since he is freeloading and fishing here every day, he always feels a little guilty when he looks at the busy people around him, so he takes the initiative. Asked Ke Long for help.

"Well, the deciphering of the map is basically completed." Rick nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Although he didn't know what Rick was busy with, Cheng Rang still smiled at him.

"By the way, what are you doing? It's been very noisy outside since the beginning."

"Did I bother you?"

"No, I just care a little."

Cheng Rang raised his hand and patted the newly built wooden structure next to the cave passage and said: "Kelong said that the rock wall here is somewhat cracked, and there may be safety issues, but he can't extract much.

Manpower was needed to reinforce it, so I came over to help. "

Rick stepped forward and carefully looked at the support structure that reinforced the cave, and then said: "You did this all by yourself?"

Ke Long answered excitedly for Cheng Rang: "Of course, it's very powerful! I didn't expect that although Cheng doesn't look that strong, he is surprisingly strong!"

"good."

"Is this just a reaction?!" After seeing Rick's dull reaction, Ke Long even felt a little aggrieved for Cheng Rang.

However, he was stopped by Cheng Rang: "This is just a trivial matter. Even if it were replaced by someone else, it wouldn't take long..."

"Eh? But..."

"Are you going out?" Cheng Rang changed the subject and found that Rick had already put on the cloak he used for going out.

"Well, there's a place we need to investigate."

"You've been busy for three days, why don't you take a break?"

"I don't have that kind of margin left for me. If you are tired from work, you can take a rest."

Following Rick to the stable, Cheng Rang said: "Why do I feel like you don't want to see me...Besides, you didn't arrange any work for me."

Rick took off the reins of a strange-looking animal and looked back at Cheng Rang.

"Then you will go with me this time. Can you ride a horse?"

The journey this time is very long, and it is expected to take five days on horseback. I originally thought that it would be easier to hide if I went alone, but since Cheng Rang has the ability to kill monsters in an instant, it would be better to bring such a person with him to provide insurance. Not a bad choice.

"..." Cheng Rang looked at the long-horned alpaca held by Rick with a complicated expression.

Do they call this thing a horse here?

White horned double speed grass mud horse? !

Cheng Rang has never ridden a serious horse in his life, let alone this thing.

Although he is secretly complaining in his heart, a man cannot say that he is not good enough.

"meeting!"

After simply preparing their luggage, the two people led their horses and set off from the settlement amid Ke Long's reminder to come back early.

...

"Hey! Turn right, big brother, big brother! There are trees in front of you——"

Rick sat firmly on the horse and looked impatiently at the guy not far away who had trouble even basicly controlling the horse.

"It's obvious that you don't know how to do it at all, so why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"A man can't say he can't do it! ... Brother Ma! He's going to hit a tree again! You should turn around!"

"I have no idea what the point of being so brave is. It doesn't help anything except delaying work and wasting time."

Cheng Rang's hands holding the reins tightened and the corners of his mouth twitched: "That's really embarrassing..."

Rick urged the horse to follow Cheng Rang and helped him stop the erratic horse.

"Sit behind me, and you can go on the road if you transfer two horses. Every second of time is precious, and I don't have time for you to waste it like this."

Putting all the luggage on another horse, Cheng Rang finally rode with Rick, with the "idiot who couldn't ride a horse" in the back holding the second horse.

"If you lose us, we will all die on the road." Rick warned.

"Don't worry! Even if both horses are lost, I can still carry you back."

"I hope so."

"Don't look down on me..."

Rick put the goggles on his forehead, pulled up his mask, and urged his horse to set off.

.......

On the way——

"You hugged me too tightly..."

"Safety first, and how long has it been since you took a shower? You smell bad."

"...I pay great attention to hygiene. If I don't clean my body, I can easily get sick."

after an hour.

"I'm just kidding."

"What?"

"What I just said about you not taking a shower."

"I suggest you talk less to save your energy."

"Don't worry, my physical strength is many times greater than yours."

Rick seemed to sigh heavily as if he was helpless to the guy behind him, and then continued to remain silent.

After passing through the jungle, the two came to the wilderness where black ash was falling. Except for the black ash that seemed to never stop, nothing could be seen around them.

Cheng Rang also remained silent.

In such a desolate and hopeless world, there is actually a human settlement of two thousand people living here happily, with no worries about food and water, and even a little salt for seasoning in every meal.

Even if it can only be hidden deep underground, this situation can be called a miracle.

And this miracle of human life was created by the young man in front of him, since he was only thirteen years old...

What a great guy.