Sword God in a World of Magic

At this moment, Shang was sitting near the wall with his left to the bright outside of the Ancestral Mountain and with his right to the darkness-filled depths of the Ancestral Mountain.

'Was it the right choice?' he asked himself in his mind.

Right now, Shang was feeling deep regret and guilt.

Lash had been with him for months, and he had been Shang's second in command.

Lash had done whatever Shang had wanted, and he had supported Shang every time.

'I had to protect my identity!' Shang thought.

'But...'

'But what were the chances of the Grandmountain Kingdom connecting me to the Abominations?'

'I'm already planning on being very careful with the Abominations. What are actually the chances that someone would even think about a warrior being connected to the appearance of Abominations?'

'And even if they connected it, would Lash have even told them?'

'I told Lash a lot about how the actual world works, and he knows that the Mages are essentially only enslaving the barbarians. He definitely wasn't happy with the Mages.'

'The Mages probably wouldn't even have looked at him or asked him. After all, why would some random barbarian have information on a masked warrior that suddenly appeared in their Kingdom?'

'Lash would have needed to proactively go to the Mages and tell them of my identity, and even if they knew my identity, they probably wouldn't connect me to the Abominations.'

'Lastly, even if everything came to pass, maybe they wouldn't actually contact the Skythunder Kingdom. After all, they apparently have a Law that forbids it from negotiating with the enemy.'

'Was it the right choice?'

'Couldn't I have just let him live?'

'He was about to reach the Champion Stage soon. After that, the Mages would have treated him very differently. The Ascension to the Champion Stage is obviously insanely expensive, and they wouldn't want to just throw such a barbarian away.'

'They would have probably offered him to live in peace and father plenty of children so that they would get more powerful barbarians. Additionally, he would have probably gotten access to plenty of beasts until he reached the Peak Champion Stage. At that point, they might try to find a way to get him to the True Path Stage.'

'Sure, he would have maybe died during that Ascension, but that would have been decades from now, and he would have lived a happy life until then.'

'He had been under the Mages for so long, and he was so close to actually living a decent life.'

Silence.

'But now, he's dead, and I killed him.'

'He didn't look at me with enmity, anger, betrayal, or similar emotions.'

Shang remembered the eyes with which Lash had looked at him.

They were shocked and surprised in a positive way.

In his mind, he was obviously happy that an old friend was still alive.

His thoughts were filled with Lash's shocked expression.

Shock and betrayal.

That was what Shang saw in these eyes.

Lash had never believed that Shang would kill him. After all, Shang was his old friend, right?

had taught him everything

in many

complete version of the

Lash had followed him!

had always wished to

been Lash's

had been Lash's

have followed

have actually told them?'

'Was it necessary?'

the

have only been a small possibility that he would leak my

'Only a little bit!'

just let

happy and long life for one of my old friends in exchange for

his heart beating rapidly

didn't want to kill

never wanted to

didn't want to

'But I had to!'

was to protect

'I had to!'

with a widely-opened eye at

'Did I?'

'Was it really necessary?'

I simply think it

was part of a Kingdom

would have endangered the people of the

up, Shang!' Shang thought as he gritted his teeth. 'You're trying to find excuses for your

cares if he was a danger to the

excuses for

'This was your choice!'

you have decided in a

all

time and get the

Silence.

train of

he was thinking about something, but he wasn't sure what

was just looking at the ground, uncertain what

I?' Shang thought after

'Would I choose differently?'

another chance, would I

get an answer

of just doing nothing, Shang's nervousness and guilt

his answer yet, but he knew what the

clenched his fists with

helplessness, and guilt

Shang put his hands to

make

and my goal

them under any

a deep

it, but for his

more important!' Shang repeated