Infinite Mage - Remake

Amy: “Shirone.”

Freeman’s words about Marsha lingered uncomfortably in her mind.

More than her strength, it felt like Marsha herself was a trap.

‘Just wait a little longer.’

Without time to fully recover, Amy limped toward the cliff.

“Ugh.”

How much time had passed?

Freeman, who had regained consciousness from a headache, turned his body over.

His vision was blurred from the concussion, but his mind was focused on one thought.

‘Marsha.’

He tried to lift his body, but before he could even halfway sit up, he fell back to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Moving was impossible for now, so Freeman relaxed and waited for his condition to improve.

“……”

In his still-blurred vision, the image of Marsha from his childhood appeared.

Kid 1: “Huh? It’s Freeman. Coward Freeman.”

Kid 2: “Really? Hey, Freeman with the droopy eyebrows! Come here. Today, I’m in charge of you.”

Freeman, who was always timid and couldn’t even look people in the eye, was a constant target of ridicule.

Of course, no one is born a coward. He believed that his severely drooping eyebrows were the root cause of his miserable life.

Freeman: “S-stop it. It hurts.”

Kid 1: “That’s why I’m telling you to cry. If I make you cry, Marsha will come. Pretty Marsha.”

Even as he curled up, Freeman shouted.

Freeman: “Don’t bully Marsha!”

Kid 2: “Idiot, Marsha is the boss of this neighborhood. Who would bully her? Besides, Marsha is fun. Just cry already. Come on, cry.”

Freeman: “Waaah! Marsha!”

As Freeman couldn’t hold back his tears and ran away, the kids laughed and shouted.

Kid 1: “Tell Marsha to come here! We’re going to play war!”

Marsha was the popular kid in the neighborhood, but unlike the others, she rarely came out.

Only Freeman knew the reason, and he was the only one who could call her out.

Wiping his tears, Freeman arrived at Marsha’s house and entered through the unlocked front door.

Freeman: “Marsha.”

As always, the house felt lonely.

Her father, a mercenary, hadn’t even bothered to furnish the house, and he often came home drunk at night, beating Marsha.

Freeman: “Marsha, I’m here.”

Marsha was sitting at the end of the room.

The only things in the empty room were leftover bread and milk, but the short-haired girl never lost her smile.

In front of her, Freeman’s heart raced again.

Marsha: “What’s wrong with your face this time?”

Freeman: “Marsha, the kids keep hitting me.”

She knew the reason.

Marsha: “That’s why I told you not to hang out with them. Why do you keep going down that road when you always get hurt?”

Freeman: “No! They keep finding me!”

Marsha stood up.

Marsha: “Alright. I’ll scold them. Where are they?”

Freeman shook his head.

Freeman: “Can’t you just not go? Your dad might come back. He’ll be really mad if you’re not here.”

Marsha: “It’s the same even if he comes at night. Let’s go. I’ll tell them I won’t play with them anymore if they keep bothering you.”

Freeman: “No! You don’t like playing with them either, but you do it because of me. I hate seeing you force yourself to smile for them.”

Marsha pushed Freeman’s forehead and said.

Marsha: “Oh, thank you. Then why don’t you get stronger? You’re the one getting help, yet you’re talking big.”

Freeman: “Anyway, no! Don’t go.”

Marsha: “Why are you like this today? Why don’t you talk back to the other kids like that? Or what, do you like me or something?”

Freeman’s face turned red up to his ears.

Amused by his reaction, Marsha waved her hand.

Marsha: “Hey, it’s a joke, a joke. Anyway, your courage is as small as a bean……”

Freeman: “Yes! I like you! What are you going to do about it?”

Marsha: “Huh?”

Marsha’s eyes widened, and Freeman poured out his words in a trembling voice.

Freeman: “What’s wrong with liking you? Did I ever ask you to like me back? Liking you is my own feeling, so why are you telling me what to do?”

He knew he was bad at expressing emotions, but sometimes that made it even scarier.

Marsha held out both hands to calm him down.

Marsha: “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Liking someone is your own choice. I won’t say anything.”

Freeman: “Ugh! Seriously! Even you’re treating me like a fool!”

Freeman didn’t know why he was angry. Or maybe he did but chose to ignore it.

Marsha sat Freeman down on the floor.

Marsha: “I’m not treating you like a fool, so don’t get so worked up. You’re overreacting because you keep bottling up your feelings.”

‘But I’m serious.’

It was still disappointing, but he thought it was better to leave it at that.

As Marsha wrapped herself in a tattered cloak and prepared to leave, Freeman asked.

Freeman: “Are you really going to play with them?”

Marsha: “No, I’ll just give them a piece of my mind and come back. Wait for me. Let’s play together.”

Freeman’s face brightened.

Freeman: “Really? Come back quickly.”

Marsha: “Sure. If you’re hungry, you can eat my bread.”

As Marsha left, the house fell into silence.

Left alone, Freeman understood how Marsha felt.

‘There’s really nothing here.’

He took out a hand mirror from his pocket.

His plan to give it to her as a gift and confess his feelings had failed, but the thought of Marsha liking it made him smile.

Freeman: “Your dad is so weird. He has such a pretty daughter, but he doesn’t buy her anything. He just hits her.”

Looking into the mirror, he saw a boy with severely drooping eyebrows.

Freeman: “Sigh.”

Because of these eyebrows, he got the nickname “Crybaby,” and after living like that for ten years, he had truly become a crybaby.

Freeman: “Is it really that bad? It doesn’t look so bad to me.”

As time passed, Freeman turned seventeen.

Thanks to his hard work, he had a good reputation in the village, but his only friend was still Marsha.

As he grew older, his feelings for her deepened. The reason he worked day and night was because he believed he had to take responsibility for her someday.

Of course, Marsha seemed to think differently, but she was always happy whenever he gave her gifts.

At some point, she stopped smiling.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, but as Marsha grew older, her stepfather’s abuse seemed to worsen.

At the time, he didn’t think much of it. Most households were similar, and Freeman himself lived with a drunken father who called him useless every day.

As an adult, Freeman realized.

The reason he didn’t notice until the incident happened wasn’t because he was insensitive, but because Marsha was clever.

Freeman: “Marsha, are you home?”

That evening, deciding to risk being an unwelcome guest, Freeman went to find Marsha. It was fate.

He had noticed that her face was more flushed than usual when he saw her earlier that day.

Freeman: “It’s me, Freeman. Is something wrong?”

No matter how much he knocked, there was no answer. Freeman’s unease turned into certainty.

‘This is…….’

The smell of blood wafted through the open window.

Freeman: “You idiot! No!”

Jumping through the window, he ran into the living room.

He saw Marsha’s silhouette sitting with her back to him.

Relieved that she was safe, he sighed, but his face soon turned pale.

Upon closer inspection, Marsha seemed to have lost her mind, holding a knife in her hand.

Blood dripped from the blade, pooling on the floor.

Her stepfather lay dead a step away.

Checking the corpse’s pulse, Freeman bit his lip and stepped back.

‘He’s dead.’

Strangely, he felt nothing. He just prioritized what needed to be done next.

For the first time, he thought he might be a rather cold person.

Freeman: “Marsha, what happened?”

“……”

She was still out of it.

Shaking her shoulders, her focus finally returned, and she looked up at Freeman.

Marsha: “Dad tried to assault me.”

Freeman: “What?”

At first, he couldn’t believe it.

Even though he was her stepfather, they had lived together as family for years.

Freeman: “What are you talking about? Why would he suddenly……”

Freeman stopped.

Freeman: “Ah.”

Maybe it wasn’t sudden? Finally, he understood the life Marsha had been living all this time.

‘So…….’

Enduring those precarious days, how much confusion and pain had Marsha gone through?

There must have been other ways, but Freeman didn’t think about it anymore.

Marsha had saved herself from hell, and he was grateful to the heavens that she was safe.

Freeman: “Let’s go. It’s dangerous here.”

When Marsha didn’t move, Freeman pulled her.

Freeman: “We don’t have time. If his comrades find out he’s dead, they’ll seek revenge. We have to leave.”

Realizing it wasn’t the end but the start of something else, Marsha snapped out of it and moved.

Then, she let out a bitter laugh.

Having never owned anything in her life, she realized there was nothing to pack.

Leaving the house, the two ran at full speed without stopping until they reached the village entrance.

Freeman panted as he spoke.

Freeman: “We’re safe for now. Once we’re out of the village, it’ll be harder for people to track us.”

Marsha: “Yeah.”

Her stepfather’s comrades might be different, but Marsha was confident she could run to the ends of the earth.

Marsha:

Freeman: “Hehe, it’s nothing. Let’s get out of here. Wherever we go, I’ll protect you.”

Marsha’s eyes filled with sadness.

It had been enough as a joke, but now their lives were at stake.

Marsha: “Freeman, I’m sorry. I’m leaving alone. I won’t take you with me.”

It was like a bolt from the blue.

Freeman: “What? What are you talking about? Do you know how dangerous the outside world is? After what happened today, you still don’t get it?”

Marsha: “It’s fine. I think I can handle anything now.”

Freeman: “No! I can’t let you go alone!”

Marsha thought one last time, but her mind didn’t change.

Marsha: “I don’t love you.”

Freeman: “Wh-what are you talking about? Why are you bringing this up now?”

Freeman desperately ignored the truth because he wanted to leave with her.

Marsha: “You’re a good friend. From childhood until now. But I’ll never see you as a man. Following me will only bring you a miserable life. I might even marry another man someday.”

It was a cruel thing to say to Freeman.

What was most cruel was that her words were true.

Freeman: “I don’t care. No matter who you meet, I’ll protect you. I’m tired of living with a drunk father who calls me useless. This is my choice.”

Marsha: “Idiot! Why can’t you understand? I don’t like you! We can’t be together!”

Freeman: “So what? If you don’t like me, then don’t! I’ll just keep liking you! It doesn’t matter if you marry someone else! You said it yourself before! You have no right to interfere with my feelings!”

At this point, Marsha was also frustrated.

Marsha: “Oh, really? Good for you. Go ahead and spend your whole life staring at me and die an old bachelor. Want me to tell you the truth? You’re a burden to me. How long do I have to take care of a coward who can’t even kill an ant? It’s just making my life harder!”

Freeman: “I’m not a coward! I’ll protect you!”

Marsha: “Then how are you going to protect me? What can you even do?”

Freeman gritted his teeth. Then he picked up a stone from the ground and started scraping off his eyebrows.

A shocked Marsha grabbed his wrist.

Marsha: “What are you doing?”

Freeman: “Let go!”

Shaking off Marsha’s hand, Freeman scraped his skin even more roughly.

As blood began to stream down his face, Marsha’s expression turned blank.

Freeman: “Ugh!”

When Freeman, now completely without eyebrows, threw the stone, his expression had changed.

Freeman: “How about now? Don’t I look scary? I was a coward because of my eyebrows. No one will mess with me now. So I won’t be a burden to you.”

Marsha: “Are you…… crazy?”

Freeman’s face, now without eyebrows, was definitely different, but what had changed more was the look in his eyes.

Freeman: “I’ll get stronger. I’ll do whatever it takes to get stronger. So just let me stay by your side, okay? I won’t ever ask you to like me back, just let me go with you, okay?”

Marsha: “You really…… sigh, you idiot.”

Marsha shook her head.

She thought she needed to be cold, but even that feeling was swept away by a sigh.

 “Marsha.”

Freeman’s eyes snapped open. His vision, which had been blurred from the concussion, was gradually becoming clear again.

‘How much time has passed?’

It might already be too late, but he forced his exhausted body to stand up.

Freeman: “I’ll protect her.”

Freeman’s legs began to move.

Toward where Marsha was.