‘I’ll do my best as your dad!’

I didn’t want this child, but it was insurance that would take care of me in old age.

When I raised my head, I saw Dialugia’s mouth was still open in shock—she was at a loss for words. Complicated thoughts probably filled her head as she thought about how to handle this situation, but the answer was already there.

“I’ll do my best even though I didn’t want this to happen. This is… really…” I said.

“Ugh…”

“Ah! Let’s head in for now. I’ll follow you after I’ve taken care of some business. Pfft. I’ll see you later. Listen to your mom, my baby,” I teasingly said.

“W-Who! Who’s baby?!” Dialugia exclaimed.

“What do you mean, who? Anyway, we can talk about the details when I come back. Again, please don’t cause a commotion because I don’t want to use unnecessary methods. No parent wants to see their child getting hurt. Hahaha…” I warned while laughing.

“...”

I quickly left while she looked dumbfounded. If the castle defense were almost over, then I wouldn’t need to join them, but as the commander-in-chief of the castle defense, I had to be with the troops when we won the war. Even though I didn’t do much, I still had to show off. I wanted to stay with Dialugia and the child, but the Red Mercenary Guild members were enough to protect them. When I nodded at the members to thank them for taking care of the chores, they nodded back like they wanted to tell me not to worry about anything.

‘Hm…’

When I walked to the top of the wall, I saw the monsters’ corpses at the bottom. Some monsters were still trying to climb the castle walls, drunk with the smell of blood, while the others ran away to the other side of the wall when they realized what was going on. There shouldn’t be another wave. Of course, there wouldn’t be another wave since Dialugia was in custody. The majority of the troops on top of the walls were exhausted, but when they noticed the number of monsters gradually decreasing, they mustered the remainder of their strength.

“Don’t give up!”

“Stay on your toes!”

Boooooooom!

They looked cool killing the monsters while shouting, and when I looked further ahead, I noticed my party moving around the walls as they killed the monsters. Jung Ha-Yan sent her magic all over the place, while Kim Hyun-Sung was decapitating the monsters trying to climb the walls. I started to feel uneasy since I didn’t get that much experience points compared to them. My magic wasn’t that great, but with the pact I had made with a beast I attacked the monsters while giving orders.

“Tanks move to the collapsed western wall and block the path so that the remaining monsters won’t be able to enter!”

I had to show everyone that I was doing something, and the ending was also important.

Crack!

Crack!

“Roooooooooar!”

Swoosh!

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Stop them!”

The large hand I summoned descended, and the monsters screamed afterward. I was physically tired, but I still had some mana left in me. Seeing their commander-in-chief panting while using his magic would make everyone look at me as their role model. I was covered in dirt, and even though I got injured while running away, I didn’t look any different from the troops defending the castle, so my image became even more authentic. I was showing them that their commander-in-chief was taking the initiative on the battlefield. Of course, this wasn’t true, but no one really cared because I looked really dirty, unlike the members of the commanding unit.

As I took my place on top of the castle walls in the front, I thought about using Juliena in front of the others. I did learn how to wield a sword from Kim Hyun-Sung after I had obtained Juliena, but wielding her was still awkward for me. My body would basically be following her movements instead of the opposite. After cutting off the head of a small monster that was trying to climb, I used voice amplification magic and yelled.

“Don’t let your guard down until the end! For the mages who are out of mana, take up a sword or spear and for the priests who are out of holy magic, start throwing rocks at the monsters. This is our hometown!”

Of course, it wasn’t my hometown.

“Victory is at hand!” I added.

This was an undeniable fact. The soldiers beside me grabbed spears and started stabbing the monsters beneath us. I even thought I looked kind of cool about how I was fighting with the soldiers.

‘Nice…’

“Hold out just a bit longer! My comrades!” I yelled.

“Commander.”

I encouraged the soldiers by patting their shoulders or cheering them on.

“The Small Stone Guild’s sacrifice must not be in vain!” I shouted.

I had to mention Song Jung-Wook, who was almost forgotten by now.

Suddenly, a small monster charged toward the soldier beside me, and even though I only thought about it for a moment, I didn’t think it would hurt that bad to get bitten by it. When I pushed the soldier aside, the monster naturally attacked me. When I raised my hand, I felt its sharp teeth digging into my arm, but I felt proud of what I had done.

‘Shit, it really hurts.’

This was my first injury in this defense war.

The moment I let go of Juliena, the sword flew and penetrated the monster biting me, and I saw the soldier I saved in a panic.

“Mr. Lee Ki-Young! We must treat your wounds…” they exclaimed.

“This is nothing. No need to use your holy magic,” I said.

“T-The potion…” the soldier mentioned.

I had one, but I wasn’t dumb enough to use it immediately.

“I’ll be fine. Holy magic and potions should be used on those with serious injuries. I can handle this kind of injury,” I told them.

“M-Mr. Lee Ki-Young…”

“You need to survive so you can reunite with your family,” I said encouragingly.

“Yes…” the soldier answered in a low voice.

If my endurance stat was a bit higher, I wouldn't be able to fake the blood, so this was enough to complete my image as the commander who fought beside them. I was sure I looked awful while swinging my sword with one arm.

‘This is great.’

It hurt like hell, but it was beautiful. I could still move my arm, but letting it dangle would be more effective for my image. I didn’t ask the others to look at me, and instead, I fought desperately in the area that seemed safe. Even though I wasn’t as skilled as our lovely regressor, I was moving around the battlefield energetically. When some priests offered to treat me, I shook my head.

“This is nothing…”

“Commander…” A priest called out sadly.

Moreover, I even took my potions out and treated the others. It wasn’t much, but touching stories like this would benefit me in the future.

‘There’s a lot of injured people…’

But it seemed like everyone could take care of the monsters, and at some point, the cries of humans became louder than the monsters’ roars. They realized that victory was at hand, and the battle’s victor had already been decided even before I joined the fight. Unlike the soldiers busy killing monsters, I could see the overall situation, and I knew that the monsters were being pushed back.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

The archers who ran out of arrows grabbed a sword and started stabbing the monsters, and the warriors were now using their blunt swords like axes to beat the mid-sized monsters.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

The majority of the soldiers felt certain of our victory. The soldiers at the third wall who were done killing monsters dropped their weapons and started cheering. The people at the fourth and second walls dropped their weapons and hugged each other. I also wanted to celebrate our victory, but I had to head over to the area with monsters to show the people there my pitiful state. They were almost done, but I had to be with them until the very end.

I guess I pushed it too much because I was running out of breath. However, it didn't matter because my party members, who unlike me had pure intentions, started running over toward me. When I sent Juliena off, she sliced through the neck of the monster a soldier was fighting.

‘Nice!’

When the soldier’s eyes landed on me, he saw his benefactor holding his injured arm. I didn’t have to breathe hard to show I was out of breath. I guess I was really exhausted because I was collecting my breath without realizing it, but this was all part of the scene and a part of the touching stories to tell.

‘Another touching story to add to the pile!’

The more beautiful stories I had, the better it was for the evaluation that was going to take place later.

“Th-Thank you,” the soldier said.

“It was nothing…” I replied.

Kim Hyun-Sung was also probably busy running around. Monsters were being killed one by one, and I started hearing people cheering from almost all the walls. The soldiers even managed to take care of the monsters at the west wall.

‘We won…’

The situation had become so one-sided to the point that I was sure we won. Actually, saying one-sided was a bit awkward because there were barely any monsters alive.

‘Very nice...’

Honestly, the aftermath of this war would be more problematic for me. I had a lot of things to take care of: I had to take care of Hee-Ra noona, finish my business with Xiaolin because she helped me, and explain things to Kim Hyun-Sung. I also had to expose Dialugia and our lovely baby. Naturally, the other guilds in Castle Rock wouldn’t be able to claim ownership over her, but that was exactly why I had to think about how I should take care of them.

‘I also need to… figure out my job.’

The postwar efforts would be problematic as well. I had to count the monsters’ corpses, and I had to conduct a meeting regarding the damages, and the benefits the war had provided. People like me would be busier before and after the war than during the war.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“We survived! We survived!”

“Shit! We did it!!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The soldiers started to shout louder and louder, but everyone reacted differently. Some cried at the loss of their comrades, the others cheered, but the majority were celebrating. It was naturally my job to speak up, as I had to declare the end of the war.

“We!”

Of course, everyone focused on me when I started talking, but that was when I felt my head spin.

‘Huh?’

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t.

‘Shit…’

I was afraid that maybe someone had killed Dialugia, but that wasn’t the issue.

‘Did I lose too much blood?’

I didn’t think I lost too much blood, but I suddenly remembered how serious Dialugia’s injuries were earlier. It seemed like some of her injuries had been transferred over to me, and while they were being transferred, I was running around like a dog while bleeding, and I had even exhausted my mana. As such, it was only natural that my body reacted this way.

‘Ah…’

I wanted to declare the end of the war before fainting, but my vision was becoming blurrier and darker. I started to stagger as I tried to keep myself together, but it was too much.

‘Wait… maybe this is better.’

Everyone was watching me, so collapsing from exhaustion might not be so bad.

“Oppaaaaaa!” Jung Ha-Yan cried out.

“Hyung-nim!!!” Park Deok-Gu screamed.

“Mr. Ki-Young!”

When I heard my party members yelling while looking at me, I was able to close my eyes happily.

‘This will make me look good.’

I even had the ridiculous thought that maybe the postwar issues would be resolved by the time I woke up. Many people died, and many soldiers were seriously injured as a result of Castle Rock’s defense war. The wound on the body of the commander-in-chief, who had fainted from exhaustion and became a role model to everyone, was only a bite from a small monster.