Chapter 160 – 160 – A Warrior’s Honor
“Black hair braided and fixed in a braided bun style, the undereyes are a little black as if there is water in them… Is there really nothing that comes to mind?”
“···Do you have the chin? I’ve never seen a woman like that in my life.”
“I have a suspicion that my benefactor may have picked something up wrong…”
“Damn it, Florica! Florica! A warrior who was a paladin belonging to the Mithraic cult!”
The Protestant people had serious faces. He seemed to understand that I wasn’t joking.
In fact, I almost want to ask if everyone is joking. No matter how many times I explained Florica’s various characteristics, everyone remained silent. The sense of discomfort is so intense that a sense of crisis is felt.
It really seems like no one, except me, has come to remember that a person named Florica ever existed in this world.
No matter how hard she tried, with no results, Erina muttered softly.
“Holy shit. ‘Yagarum’…?”
I looked back at Erina with a glimmer of hope. Her lament is good news. At least it means you know what’s going on.
However, a pale face is bad news. Erina already had a resigned expression. A shiver runs down her spine.
“···Let’s move quickly.”
“Why?”
“I have something to point out.”
“If you have it, tell me quickly! What is Yagarum again?”
“···It is a very, very scary being. It is one of the most evil creatures in the entire Demon World, and it is a big man that you would not want to fight even in your dreams. Everyone, please listen and do not misunderstand. It may be better not to go to help.”
“You start by telling me not to misunderstand without even telling you what’s going on properly-“
“You, the person who has been left behind, would rather be abandoned.”
He says he never wants to say that. Erina, whose complexion was pale blue, said as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders as if to comfort me.
“And it would already be too late.”
————-
It’s already late.
Will die And there is no sign of salvation coming. No one will come to you until the moment you lose consciousness.
Florica, who was left alone in the dark, felt relieved by that fact. She would rather have her group get caught up in it.
To die completely forgotten by the whole world. Isn’t she so horrible that she almost sounds like a joke?
There is probably no one in the world who deserves to face such an end, but if someone must experience it, the fewer the number, the better.
And the less regrets she has left in her life, the better off she will be.
‘···Yeah, it worked out better.’
Tan has a lover to help and a friend to save. Garam Taiga and Youngrak have a family and a hometown. Erinac, the bright-smiling porter, and the agents of the Protestant religion must each have a place of peace in their hearts among other people.
Florica had none of that. By the time she was lying in her crib, everything had been taken from her by Gunther.
When she remembered she had less to lose, she became less afraid. The lonely warrior was relieved by his poverty.
So Florica was able to smile, even if it was lonely. Even as the vines wrapped around her pressed harshly against her skin.
The one who had detained Florica did not seem to like her leisureliness. The demon tightened her vines around Florica’s eyes and ears. Her sharp-nailed grip wrapped around Florica’s chin and lifted it roughly.
From the mouth that approaches you, you can smell both the sweet smell of honey and the disgusting smell of sulfur.
[Can you feel it, Florica Waldenhardt? Is there an approaching end more fearful than death?]
It feels as vivid as the words say. An unknown evil force is digging into her soul and slowly freezing her to death.
And she was able to feel things she had never felt before or even imagined she would feel.
A feeling of being forgotten. It feels cold, bitter, and pitch black.
The Party Alliance receptionist has just lost all memories related to Florica. The existence of a female paladin is erased from the minds of laypeople who attend worship together every Sunday.
What about the paladins who went to the temple together? You are probably in a state of great embarrassment by now. ‘Who was our commander?’ ‘A holy war has been declared, but the Holy Father has never appointed who will be our leader? ‘Am I remembering correctly?’
And in the document issued directly by the Pope, you will discover an unidentified person named ‘Florica Waldenhardt’. Since she has the same last name as the bishop who was declared an enemy by the Pope, she must be scratching her head wondering if she is possessed by the devil.
So somewhere in the world, Florica is being forgotten. Every time the connection with the other was forcibly severed, Florica’s spine shivered as she vividly felt it.
Just saying it’s terrible is not enough. She felt truly fortunate that she had not married early.
Because the tragedy of her child not knowing her mother’s face will not be repeated.
[I mean, do you feel the cold helplessness of deep water?]
Florica did not answer. She did not want to give the satisfaction of her opponent who had cowardly ambushed her.
And I was already familiar with her frustration and sadness. She seemed friendly. Quietly biting her lip, crushed under her helpless weight, is what her Florica has done for most of her days.
When did I start to get used to her resignation? Was it when she complained that she could no longer swing her sword when she was trampled by Gunter and broke her shin? She ran away from that scary training ground and hid in the saints’ barn, when the saints assured her that she would be okay now that they had brought Bishop Gunter with them.
Maybe it was from the moment he took Florica out of her cradle with his giant hands…
Florica had her heart set on everything. Even though she was defeated and captured, she won’t get everything she wants. If she wanted Florica’s pleading and fear, he was never going to give it.
And a premonition struck me like a revelation. If her heart is not broken, he will not be able to swallow Florica’s soul easily.
If so, I will endure it fiercely. Like a praying mantis that falls into the mouth of a carnivorous plant and holds on to the edge.
[Tsk, for a bitch who was the Demon King’s toy, her mental strength is quite strong. There will be no progress if you just scare me. So···.]
“Can you explain in detail?”
A warm hand cupped ten-year-old Florica’s cheek. Florica lifted her tear-soaked face.
Her room was warm. Gentle sunlight came through all of her windows, filling the small space. The shadows are almost as faint as watercolor painting.
The style of the ceiling and decoration is very familiar to the eyes of those who were born into the faith. From what I could tell, this place looked like Mithra’s cathedral.
And in her world, a priest with a benevolent expression was looking down at her.
“What?”
“It’s safe here. No one can hurt you.”
So far she had hoped and hoped for those words, but no one had said them. Florica felt as if the delicate flesh inside her heart was being pulled out.
The priest seemed to have seen her face somewhere and smiled warmly. A warmth enveloped Florica, as if she could tell anything.
“There’s no need to hide anything, so tell me. What happened to you and what’s bothering you that makes you look so sad…”
[···And what is tying up your heart now.]
High-ranking demon Yagarum the Rip-Off Despair asked, imitating the noble tone of a religious person. And he laughed and laughed at Florica, who was sobbing after being deceived by an illusion.
Florica, deceived by the illusion beyond her blinded eyes, soon returned to her child’s mind and began to complain as loud as she could. Her demon lord’s fragment, Gunther Waldenhardt, accused her in detail of what he had done to her.
‘When she collapsed and vomited due to suffocation due to the harsh training, she was grabbed by the back, lifted up, and beaten.’ ‘One day, without explanation, I was abandoned in a dark mountain where wolves roamed around, bitten, rolled down a cliff, and had to return in tatters.’ ‘The slightest anticipation of the relationship between her father and her daughter was met only with the threat of cutting off her fingers so that she could not even hold her warrior’s sword.’ It was like this, it was like that, it was painful…
Even though the person who listens to what he is saying is the devil’s henchman, he talks well. Yagarum suppressed a fit of laughter and contorted his face.
As a mind-manipulating demon, he has a unique ability called ‘consciousness of oblivion’. The power granted directly to his henchmen by the Demon King rips the souls of captured victims from the world.
Not only is he erased from the memories and memories of others, but he even forgets himself in the end. They may be found in documents, but no eulogies or tombstones are made. Once everyone forgets the name of someone, they only become an object of fear. The only thing that remembers them is the devil who devoured their souls.
And the speed of the work becomes faster as the prey’s despair deepens. By digging inside and breathing a little air into the harsh and terrible memories, the victim’s amygdala, swollen with fear, becomes Yagarum’s ally.
By devoting all the imagination and computational power that is latent in the brain, one cooperates in separating oneself from the world.
‘It would take more than a week to forcefully rip this bitch out of the world and swallow her up. There is no more effective way than convincing yourself why something should not exist.’
In addition, the meat will be savored with deep despair. Yagarum rested his chin on the clasp of his hand and savored his appetite.
‘It’s also fun.’
“The reason he pushed me so harshly was because he wanted an ‘ideal hero’ to appear. I still don’t know what that is because it was never explained properly.”
[Like that.]
“Maybe it wasn’t a level that could be achieved by explaining it. Or maybe he thought that only by not listening to explanations and being reborn to that level on his own could he truly be recognized as an ideal warrior.”
[It must have been very difficult since it was a test that did not even explain the conditions for passing.]
“It was true. Gunter’s training was like a nightmare, as he wanted to mold me into what he wanted. But what was truly painful was not the harsh process, but the ending. I ended up becoming a dog abandoned by my trainer.”
[It’s pitiful. His entire childhood was taken away by such a terrible and merciless person, but all that awaits him at the end of his adversity is cold ridicule.]
Florica, caught in a hallucination, did not hear Yagarum’s sneer.
[‘You’re a failure as expected’, ‘Get out of my sight.’ You really were a bad guardian to say something like that. What was the meaning of your painful years?]
“…But even though I hated Gunther, I did not lose the faith I learned from him. I believed that the Lord of the Sun, who shines on all people equally, would not turn his back on me like the parish priest. I was sure to see the path of warm light. “I’m sure he has great intentions in mind for me.”
[But that was also a vain belief, right?]
“On the contrary, Gunther, who we thought was a delusional patient, was seeing through the truth. The Sun God blessed Gunther directly in front of us and showed us. The slayer was reborn with the power of God and wielded the Holy Spear of God.”
[As if the Pope was mocking you for appointing him as an apostle of the temple, right in front of your eyes. It is absolutely cruel.]
“I was in a position where I could not even rely on my faith, so I eventually declared my apostasy. Rather than thinking of myself as a tool that had lost its purpose twice and was thrown away, it was easier to think of myself as having turned away of my own free will. “
[But you know very well. No matter how hard you try to deny it, the truth doesn’t change. You were abandoned.]
The bishop in the fantasy stroked Florica’s head pitifully. Florica flinched greatly.
[Actually, no one needs you.]
“I am···.”
The mantis’ scythe gradually slips. This is because I could not find a reason to endure the burning pain in my body.
“No one needs me.”
[It was the same in Bitserk and the Dragon’s Nest. In the Duchy of Linden and in the far East, you worked hard but could not save anyone. In the world, there were only those who saved themselves and those who you failed to save.]
“I… Failed.”
[Even though I was born with the aptitude for being a great warrior.]
“I was born with the aptitude to be a warrior.”
[Wasn’t there a separate prayer just for those who are good heroes? ‘As we suffer, the suffering of the world will be alleviated, and as you bear responsibility, the responsibility of all people will be alleviated.’]
‘So, we who were born as the greatest warriors of the gods and protect our compatriots, let us be gentler, stronger, and as hard as iron than anyone else. May we be the hope, joy, and light of our brothers and sisters.’
Florica remembered that. The name of the prayer is ‘Honor of the Warrior’.
This is a prayer used in the last chapter of Mithra’s Bible of the Sun. It is recited by those with the aptitude for being a warrior to strengthen their resolve when being appointed as a paladin.
[But what can I say about this? Your life hasn’t turned out as you said in your prayers. The pain of the world has never been lessened as much as Florica Waldenhardt suffered. You could not bear any responsibility for all the people! Gunter was right. Are you a warrior? I have been a witness, a companion, and a failure, but I have never been a hero in any story!]
Florica, out of breath, stumbled. The priest in the fantasy was shouting as if performing an exorcism. It seemed like he was trying to banish Florica, a wandering ghost.
[Oh, wouldn’t it be righteous to kick you out of this world? Powerless power is evil. A hero who has lost his use is not worthy of being thrown away! You nuisance bitch!]
“I… Am a nuisance, not worthy of being thrown away…”
[A porter who can carry a lot of trash on his back, a writer who can’t sleep because he remembers the scraps of good sentences, and a mental arithmetician who automatically thinks of arithmetic. The world is full of all kinds of trash-like aptitudes. Even though you were born with the best aptitude that those guys naturally look up to, you were never able to use that luck for anything. If this was going to be the case, shouldn’t you have given in? If you hadn’t been born, the remaining position might have gone to someone with more talent, right?]
A porter?
Florica’s thoughts stopped for a moment. I couldn’t quite figure out why.
However, because the priest in the fantasy widened her eyes and glared at her as if scolding her, young Florica had no choice but to lower her head and return to the main topic.
“That’s right. It would be better if I had never been born.”
‘If it hadn’t been done, there wouldn’t have been one.’
A somewhat familiar voice entered the cathedral scene.
‘If only I hadn’t run away in the first place, if I had just lay quietly in that prison in the first place…’
[Don’t listen.]
‘I’m not going to lie down hugging the blanket and saying things like that. Because that’s bullshit.’
[I told you not to listen!]
The priest slapped young Florica on the face. Florica rolled around on her floor, feeling dazed.
Who was it that said such evil words? Who was she to shamelessly deny with all her might her own powerlessness?
I remembered. She is a porter. This is a man called Tannhäuser-Bantay, whom she loved, admired, and decided to follow.
At the hospital attached to the temple of St. Jankarov, which worships Armed, the goddess of herbs, her body, which had been involved in a large train accident, was laid out on a bed and said so.
Her venomous voice was so brilliant that Florica fell asleep. Her appearance seemed so bright that I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
The reason was difficult to pinpoint. He seemed to harbor something that her Florica did not have.
Even though it looked a little weak, I didn’t even notice it because it was weaker than Florica. An immature guy who wasted his time caring for the pain of their first bed together, which was not even a thousandth of the pain that Gunter gave him, as if he had done a great disservice.
A guy with long eyelashes, strong shoulders, and a friendly tone. And yet, he is very good at talking back to the supposedly powerful people of the continent, and is an outrageous…
‘···Will you forget me too in a little while?’
Florica suddenly thought that she was a little afraid of being forgotten. The priest’s shout was faintly heard for a moment.
There is a porter. He is the type of person who gets kicked down and gets back up again. Florica finally seemed to know why she wanted to follow him.
It was jealousy, but it was also admiration. Perhaps he would tell Florica the things on the other side of frustration.
Maybe it’s not time for him to let go yet. Before he gives up and throws his body down the cliff, he may still have something he can do…
[I’ve thought that way countless times. So what was the result?]
An enraged Yagarum lifted Florica high with a bundle of tendrils. And he accelerated Florica’s brain.
The brain, which had recited words of frustration that would last for years to come, in just a few seconds, eventually collapsed, unable to withstand the chain reaction of the hormones it had produced.
He couldn’t do anything. He left no meaning behind. Therefore.
[You are nothing now!]
“···I am nothing now.”
[A miserable and pathetic thing!]
“It’s miserable… And pathetic.”
[But who was that miserable and pathetic thing?]
Yagarum asked nervously. Only if every mortal of her royalties forgets her can her soul be consumed. Aside from special beings such as the Demon King’s Majesty or the gods, she will no longer have anyone who can preserve her memories.
However, for some reason, only one person among the common people had not yet forgotten the existence of Florica Waldenhardt.
Even Florica herself was holding on to what she had let go with all her might.
“I am who I am-“
“Florica.”
Yagarum looked up as the ceiling of the lair shattered and a shadow fell over his head.
And I rubbed my eyes hard. Because the approaching reality was somewhat unrealistic, it seemed like it would be an economical choice rather than avoiding it.
Yagarum was wrong. What I saw was correct. The object falling towards Yagarum is the ‘Axe of the Grim Reaper’, an Etherian bike with 10 cylinders and 8000cc output.
And what is about to happen is not an unfortunate accident. The driver of the bike was staring straight at Yagarum with his eyes brightly open.
[Such a crazy bird-]
“Floricaaa-!”
Yagarum’s skull was trampled upon as a symbol of defiance of oppression.
When the illusion of the priest and church that Yagarum had created disappeared, Florica fell to the ground, left in the dark and bewildered. It was because I couldn’t interpret the roar that followed the sound of her calling her.
It had to be my first time hearing it. The sound of tires as wide and thick as cargo truck wheels idling and grinding Yagarum’s face, and the sound of one of the most vicious inventions in the history of Etheria spouting a rant composed of exhaust sounds.
Erina’s cries as she clung to her tan’s back were completely drowned out by the roar. ‘So, in our dreams, we rode this monster to the theme park? ‘I don’t know how we didn’t have an accident!’
Finally, the demon, unable to hold on, fell backwards, spouting blood. The strength of the vines that bound Florica also loosened.
Gritting his teeth, the rider performed another trick. I was confident in controlling the center of gravity, like lifting.
Tan landed safely, catching the ground with both wheels. Then she ran to Florica with Erina, grabbed both sides of the bundle of vines, and lifted them with strength.
Faint dawn light seeped through the broken ceiling and spread throughout Yagarum’s lair. Florica blinked her eyes a few times in confusion.
Only after she wiped away the clouds of dust and tears was Florica able to see who the silhouette blocking the light was.
Florica, who had forgotten Florica, remembered him before herself.
“···Burnt?”
“Sorry, I’m late.”
Originally, it should have been the opposite. It makes sense for a warrior to save others. If you were born with an aptitude for saving the world and pretended to be a rescuer and rode on the back of a porter, both the gods and the world would laugh at you. That is the honor of a warrior in general.
But Thanh knelt down on one knee like a paladin in his vows. And then she bravely held out her hand towards the fallen Florica. As if there was no reason to feel any awkwardness or shame about it.
It was an adult’s hand reaching out to a child who was screaming for help.
How much I was hoping for that deep down.
“I was scared.”
I was scared. The moment Paladin slowly remembered who Florica was, he also remembered that Florica was very scared.
Florica bit her tear-soaked lip and fell into the porter’s arms. Tan muttered his words of comfort and patted Florica on the back. He was so relieved that he didn’t even know what he was talking about.
Erina nodded her head and looked at them, as if she was deeply moved. Still, she watched her back little by little, and eventually couldn’t bear it anymore and kicked her tan’s back.
Tan and Florica, who were pushed out, looked up at Erina with puzzled faces.
“How many times do I have to say ‘Hey’ before you turn around!”
“···I didn’t hear it.”
“Are you going to get lost in the joy of reunion? I mean, keep your ears open. Didn’t I say ‘a very, very scary being’? Didn’t I also say ‘a guy you wouldn’t want to fight with even in your dreams’?”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes, I said it clearly at the beginning. And if you think it can be done by just dropping one bike!”
Something huge stirred. Tan, who flinched, operated the bike and turned on the headlight. As the light bulb radiated intense light, things that could not be seen due to the cloudy dawn light were revealed.
The entire underground space they had trespassed was moving. The wall shattered and turned into vines.
Tan walked hesitantly and turned her bike around to reveal the light behind her. Yagarum, whose lower body was connected to thousands of plant tentacles, lifted its bent head again and was soaring toward the ceiling.
With both his fists clenched as if to control a tantrum.
“I was hoping to tell you guys to beat me up, but I don’t think you would have said anything about jumping out first!”
“Would it be too late if I jumped out now?”
[Okay.]
“In fact, isn’t it the fastest time when you think it’s late?”
[No.]
Tan laughed awkwardly. Yagarum laughed, veins popping out on his forehead.
Hundreds of plant roots came out shaking the earth and pounded on the ground as if trying to crush them.
The two porters screamed and lifted the warrior up onto their bikes.
“Step on it!”
