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

trained him in many different fighting

given him the complete version of the barbarian's body

Lash had followed him!

wished to be

had been Lash's

been Lash's

have followed Shang

told them?'

'Was it necessary?'

it the right

have only been a small possibility that he would leak

'Only a little bit!'

have just let

friends in exchange for

heard his heart beating

want

wanted to kill

want to

'But I had to!'

to protect my

'I had to!'

with a widely-opened eye

'Did I?'

'Was it really necessary?'

simply think it

part of a Kingdom that waged war with the

would have endangered the

as he gritted his teeth. 'You're trying to

a danger to the Kingdom?! Even more, he was on

excuses

'This was your choice!'

was what you have decided in a

is all on

and get the opportunity

Silence.

thought, Shang's coherent train of

thinking about something, but he

at the ground, uncertain

thought after a

'Would I choose differently?'

another chance, would I

get an answer for a long

doing nothing, Shang's nervousness and guilt only began

his answer yet, but he knew what the answer would

fists

and

his

make the

my goal are

risk them under any

that thought, Shang felt a deep hole open up inside

but for his goal, he had

is more important!' Shang