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 different

the complete version of the

Lash had followed him!

had always wished to be as powerful as

been

been

have followed Shang into

told them?' Shang thought as his breathing

'Was it necessary?'

the right

have only been a small possibility that he

'Only a little bit!'

have just

old friends in exchange for just the slightest

beating rapidly

didn't want

never wanted

didn't want to

'But I had to!'

was to protect my

'I had to!'

looked with a widely-opened

'Did I?'

'Was it really necessary?'

simply

Kingdom that waged

endangered the people

Shang thought as he gritted his

the Skythunder Kingdom as a whole. Who the fuck cares if he was a danger to the Kingdom?! Even more, he was on the northern frontlines, not the southern ones!

excuses for

'This was your choice!'

was what you have decided

is all

you could travel through time and get the opportunity to choose differently,

Silence.

train of thought

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

the ground, uncertain what he was

thought

'Would I choose differently?'

chance,

get an answer for a

of just doing nothing, Shang's nervousness

answer yet, but he knew what the

clenched his fists

helplessness, and

his hands

would make

my goal are too

them

a deep hole open up

but

more important!' Shang repeated