Chapter 242 – Chapter 242. A Story That Has Already Ended
Warriors and demons.
Those who inevitably exist in this world.
The demon king only aims to destroy the world, and the hero trains himself by overcoming trials to stand against such a demon king.
The battle that took place at the end would surely be fierce.
It is all the more so because it determines the existence of the world.
Even if you have to…
“Yes, bastard…”
Something, this.
What the hell happened?
“Really, are you a hero?”
After the battle that seemed like an eternity was over.
At the end of it, Mikhail, who was lethargic on the floor, began to scan the surroundings with blurry eyes.
Now, without even the power to regenerate, fragments of the torn body spread across the plains without a trace.
Standing in the center of it, a hero facing himself with only his head and lungs barely attached.
He just pours a one-sided onslaught toward himself, and at the end of it, he looks down at himself with empty eyes that don’t show a sign of exhaustion…
At the end of a one-sided onslaught that couldn’t even be called a battle, a monster-like existence that wanted to win the moment of victory.
“This, this…”
Yes, the opponent is something other than a hero.
Otherwise, wouldn’t it be possible for the present results to unfold?
What on earth has turned this little woman into such a terrifying being?
“… You are a warrior.”
She narrowed the distance towards Mikhail, only whispering quietly while holding up her bloodstained sword.
“Yes, warrior. Now I…”
A voice full of remorse, unlike the cruel and merciless appearance he had shown before.
Yes, it was only now that she revealed the side she had been hiding all along.
She didn’t get to this place after experiencing the same or worse tragedies than her own.
“Now, I mean…”
“Coincidentally, the future me will not be able to be called a hero.”
As if aiming to be liberated from such a tragedy.
Unlike herself, she seems to have brought her heart, which was about to be crushed to no avail, chasing only her hopes.
“Nothing.”
The moment she seized the opportunity to restore her worn-out heart, her hands began to tremble as she couldn’t hide the excitement that was rising from the sense of liberation.
“Even though she’s a hero, she couldn’t protect anything with these hands.”
Her open eyes are gradually closing, and she bites her lips, a woman who dies her sorrow alone.
Even while seeing her, her broken body regenerated and spurred on, but Mikhail eventually suppressed it with her reason and tried to delay her recovery period.
Isn’t it a battle already lost? No matter how much his instinct as a demon lord compels him to defeat the one in front of him, there will be no need to be faithful to that instinct anywhere as fighting beyond this is meaningless.
I just quietly meditate on the realization that resides inside me.
She never had a chance to go back, but this woman… She realizes that unlike herself, she has a chance left to defend what she wants to keep.
“… Hey, Demon King.”
Yeah, didn’t he get eaten by the demon lord’s power in the end and deviate from his initial intention?
As her blood drained and she looked back on her own life with her calm mind, she aimed her sword in front of her own nose and began whispering quietly.
“If I kill you, then the demon lord will no longer appear in this generation, right?”
Very desperately.
After this fight, as if she wants to put an end to the life she has passed through.
“At least for the time being, this world will no longer need a hero, right?”
At the heartbreaking whispers of the warrior who yearned for salvation for himself, the demon king kept his mouth firmly shut and silently lowered his head.
From start to finish.
I feel sorry for the warrior who ran all the way here just to comfort himself, and with a heart that respects that will.
‘… Is it. I am.’
Realized.
Why did the current fight seem so one-sided?
‘I forgot the basics…’
It’s just the end, and we should be content with passing it on to future generations.
No matter how brave he is, his heart is only a mere human, but how can he keep his heart of saving the world upright when he can’t even save himself?
‘If I… A little more, if only I had the courage…’
Eventually, the regret that floods in at the moment when the sentence against oneself falls.
Mikhail, who suppressed his instincts as a demon king by making his presence stand out, prepared to accept the blade of the person in front of him.
‘If only I had had a little more courage and spoke my words…’
100 years later, even after becoming the Demon King, he never forgot.
Her first love, who thought she would be the only one left in this world that has been crumbled by the flow of time.
‘Mel, Lee…’
Before I even finished repeating the name in my mind.
Before long, the fallen blade of condemnation mercilessly declared an end to the existence that called for mortality.
And…
***
“… It’s over.”
Party with me
Then, a group of orcs and witches crossed the plain together, and waited for tens of minutes for the situation to end at the bottom of the hill at the end.
Melia, who was feeling the flow of the battle through her innate senses, spat out the words that signaled the end of the fight while waiting for the fight to end without directly confirming that even that would be swept away by the aftermath.
“It’s over… Really?”
“… Who won?”
A group that felt the progress of the battle in the aftermath like a vibration, even from a distance.
While all of them felt uneasy about the result that they could not see with their eyes, Melia spoke to them with a lighter face.
“Seeing that there are no more acts of destruction, Celica must have won. I’m sure it will.”
Yes, a demon king is an existence that once starts moving, does not stop until everything in this world is destroyed.
The fact that the destruction itself has stopped means that the Demon King has stopped its movement.
“You really defeated it, Celica.”
The moment she realized that Celica’s boast about defeating the demon king alone was not wrong.
But no one in the room let out cheers.
It is natural. Originally, Orcs belonged to the Demon King’s army. For the demon king’s army, which clings to the demon king with a clear purpose, the death of the demon king means the destruction of the army.
The law that the demon king with great power played the same role as the order of those who were stricken with greed. It was a fact that everyone could expect that soon the demon king’s rule would turn into a bloody battle of demons.
Witches who want to live quietly in seclusion in such a land of war will also be fatal to their activities.
The end of the fight without proper preparation is sure to cause greater confusion than the Cold War structure between the Demon King’s Army and the Human Union.
“… So, what will happen now?”
And the same is true for the warrior party who can’t be genuinely happy.
From their point of view, who have been selected and trained to defeat the demon king, the ending like this will feel futile.
“If this is the end of everything…”
What should they do from now on?
No, because she didn’t know how Celica, who had awakened the power to defeat the demon lord, would act before that.
“… Mama, are you okay?”
It wasn’t long before that uneasiness came out of Verdia’s mouth, and Heira, who was standing next to her, began to express her concerns about her Melia.
Even though she clearly senses the end of the fight, she doesn’t keep the same upbeat vibe as her surroundings.
“Are you okay. Just… I’m just a little surprised.”
But the feeling was closer to bitterness than confusion.
Even though she felt relieved that something had come to an end, her shoulders drooped as if she had no regrets left. And a hunched face.
“… Mama.”
“Yeah, I was really surprised. I never thought Mikhail would become the Demon King.”
Still, a smile was drawn on her lips.
A bright smile with a unique maternal love.
It’s like she’s trying to calm down the feelings she feels.
“I am… Because I thought I was already dead while I was in the great grove. Still, seeing the news I heard, I thought I would have closed my eyes comfortably while being welcomed by people and promoted as a hero.”
However, no matter how hard he tried to show it, he probably couldn’t suppress all the rising emotions.
The moment when water flows from the tears that gradually turn red, and from the tear glands that are squeezed by the heat.
“Why did this happen?”
Even the brightness she had been acting on all this time, and the regret that leaked out began to resound quietly in the silent crowd.
“… Melia.”
“I still can’t forget it. The face Mikhail looked at me at that time.”
To the tragedy she suffered while on her journey as a member of the party.
The moment I think of the moment when my body was dirty unintentionally by that momentary mistake.
“When she saw that face, she didn’t know what to do… So she had no choice but to stay in the woods. He is the one who loved me, but I didn’t want to show him that I had an unwanted child in front of the person who loved me.”
“Mama, if you don’t want to talk, stop talking…”
As if seeing Melia more painfully, Heira hurriedly approached.
However, as if Melia was dependent on Heira, she began to bury her own face in her arms as she folded her body.
“I just want to forget everything… So she stayed in the woods and thought nothing of it until one day she met people who tried to bring me back to the world. As if she was trying to give me a chance as a failure, she asked me to join the adventure to save the world once again.”
“… Mama.”
“But 100 years have passed. Already.”
Time beyond a lifetime for humans.
Even the hero who defeated the demon lord could not go against that flow.
For elves, it was only a part of their life, so it could be used to soothe their sorrow, but the gap in lifespan between races would have made their standards for looking at the world different.
“I realized. That the person I need to assist for atonement is no longer the person who wooed me. No matter how long you live, it is impossible to turn back time that has already passed.”
At least meet properly.
If I had shared even a single word properly, the result might have been different.
Not having the courage to take even such an opportunity herself, she would have had no choice but to give up everything and accept what remained of the present.
Due to frustration, fear, and the difference in life span, even the time for atonement was delayed…
“I understand.”
Her sadness.
The girl who was held in her arms was willing to accept it quietly.
“Because I, too, let the person who raised me leave like that. I can understand Mama.”
Heira, who wants to embrace even the woman in front of me, who has spent a longer time than he, in her arms.
Did she even comfort her broken heart?
“… Hey.”
No, that consolation would not reach her heart.
Even if you try to reach her, push down from her side.
“I am much more immature and ignorant than you. So I still regret it a lot. What if you accepted him sooner, what if you had the courage to meet him after that happened.”
Because it was too late for her to restore her relationship, she would think that she did not even have the right to heal her wounds by controlling her heart.
“But you don’t have to try to comfort me. It’s already past, and I know I don’t even deserve it.”
“… Mama.”
“It is already over. Our story.”
A warrior who, for unknown reasons, entered the path of the Demon King.
The journey is sure to be dotted with tragedy, and she must have become one of the perpetrators who instigated him.
Even if it was an unwanted result, it can’t be undone because it’s already in the past.
“So, I hope that doesn’t happen to you guys. Unlike us, I will pray that your future will be full of blessings.”
So, at least on the journey that will follow, I hope that such a tragedy will not exist.
Melia escaped from Heira’s arms at the end of such a desperate heart, and she greeted us with a distance.
“Go. To Celica.”
As the one left behind.
To those who have opened up a new future, unsparingly expressing their encouragement toward the future.
