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?

taught him everything

him in many different fighting

complete version of the

Lash had followed him!

had always wished to be as powerful

had been

been

would have followed

actually told them?' Shang thought as his breathing

'Was it necessary?'

the

been a small possibility that he

'Only a little bit!'

just let him

life for one of my old friends in exchange for just the slightest bit of risk

beating

want

wanted to

didn't want

'But I had to!'

was to protect

'I had to!'

with a widely-opened

'Did I?'

'Was it really necessary?'

simply think

part of a Kingdom that waged war with the

existence would have endangered the people

up, Shang!' Shang thought as he gritted his teeth. 'You're

danger to the Kingdom?! Even more, he was on the northern frontlines, not the southern ones! He's probably never even seen

excuses for your

'This was your choice!'

have

is all

get the

Silence.

thought, Shang's coherent train of thought ended, replaced

about something, but he wasn't

just looking at the ground, uncertain

Shang thought after a

'Would I choose differently?'

another chance, would

get an answer for

doing nothing, Shang's nervousness and guilt only began to

found his answer yet, but he knew what the answer would

fists with

and guilt

Shang put his hands to his

would make the

my goal are too

them

Shang felt a deep hole open up inside

want to do it, but

is more important!' Shang