Henryk sat on the grass, still watching the cave entrance, which was sealed by a thick layer of ice. The wind blew gently, and leaves flew past him. His eyes were wide, tears streaming down his face. A rueful smile graced his face.
He exhaled as he looked up at the blue sky above him.
In that moment, he wasn't thinking about Brin, Ethan, or even Felicia. Only one thing mattered now...
"I did it!" He smiled with satisfaction. "We did it, Someryn!"
*Fall!*
"Huh? Someryn?" When Henryk turned around, he saw Someryn lying on the ground... with an icy spear in his back. "Shit! Someryn!"
The spell of happiness from freedom vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The young man quickly ran to the white-haired man, who had turned paler than usual. He lifted his upper body, pushing him into a sitting position, constantly supporting him. He looked at his back. Blood was pouring profusely from the spot where the spear had penetrated.
"Tell me honestly... It doesn't look good, does it?" the white-haired man asked in a low voice with a faint smile.
"Don't say anything, you stupid idiot," Henryk scolded, quickly deciding what to do. "Wait a minute, man... I'll take that spike out of you and stop the bleeding with my shirt. Later... later I..."
When Henryk was about to take off his shirt, Someryn lightly grabbed his wrist.
"Let it go, Hen... I'm already dead."
"Don't talk nonsense!" Henryk shouted, gritting his teeth. "Look, we're outside! We're free! There are so many things you can do now!"
"Hen..." The white-haired man's face darkened as the young man began to speak quickly.
"Life is a gift, man! As long as there's life, there's hope! You'll survive... You have to survive, or I'll be all alone in this hell."
"... Heh... Life is unfair," the man said in a serious tone. "Bad people win by getting rich off the work of others... Good and kind people suffer, blaming themselves for being too weak to be bad and win... You, Hen... You're not... Never mind. You won't listen to me anyway. Can I ask you one last thing, my friend?"
Henryk nodded.
"Hen... Please try to help the remaining slaves who were taken to the city of Wojtyn." His words were barely audible, but Henryk listened intently nonetheless. "No one deserves to be a slave..."
"..." Henryk said nothing.
[Why should I help those people? They never did anything for me.]
"Listen to me, Hen!" Someryn began coughing up blood, but he continued tirelessly. "I still believe you can save them. Just like you saved me..."
"What are you talking about?! I didn't save you!"
"You saved me. Thanks to you, I can die in the warm sunshine as a free man, not as a slave in the cold darkness." Someryn grabbed Henryk's arm, squeezing it tightly. "Please promise... If possible, you will help those slaves..."
For a brief moment, Henryk wondered. He knew nothing of this world. All he had was a stone baseball bat. How could he possibly save more than a dozen people when he couldn't help himself?
After all, he was just an ordinary teenager who had been transported to this world a month ago. He knew nothing about this world. He didn't even know which direction the city of Wojtyn was. No god who could grant him invincible power was on his side. If he was to seriously survive here, he had to fend for himself.
"I promise you, Someryn." Gritting his teeth, the words rose in his throat. "I promise you that if it's within my power, I will help them."
"...."
"Someryn?..." The young man brushed his white hair aside to look into his buns.
Unfortunately, there was no light of life left in those eyes.
Henryk began to cry quietly. It looked almost as pitiful and sad as Peter Parker's despair in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" when he cried over Gwen Stacy's body after failing to save her.
Despair gripped Henryk. Although he hadn't known Someryn long, he didn't think of him the way he thought of most people. He wanted to get to know him better.
"I'm sorry we didn't get to know each other better, Old Man," he said, placing the white-haired man's body on the grass. "I promise. I'll try."
Although he didn't want to admit it, he knew he wasn't truly free. Just because he had escaped this cave meant nothing. It was only an illusion that his torment would end when he emerged from the mana nest. He was still bound by this hellish world.
He had to find something to eat now, at all costs. If he had had enough strength, he would have run in any direction at lightning speed like the Flash and found something to eat and drink. But unfortunately, he didn't have the strength to run. So he collapsed in the cold and fainted next to Someryn's dead body.
.......
On a wooden carriage, a man with brown hair and a medium-length ponytail, gazing up at the sky, urged the horses on with his reins to gallop faster.
In the distance, he saw a mana nest and two bodies there. One was dead, the other breathing.
When the man stopped in front of the bodies, he sighed.
"Honestly, this is a bit unexpected."
With those words, he got out of the carriage and turned the brown-haired young man onto his back.
"I wonder how much I'll get for him in Wojtyn. Hmmm... Maybe a silver plaque. Damn, that's not worth it. Wait... I have a better idea."