EP.85 24-2. You can't reach it even if you reach for the moon.
After the story was over, Kainel and Ariel returned with food a little later. Both hands were full of food.
Wyvern foreleg roast and Salamander skewers. They were definitely fantasy-like foods. The glossy sheen made it look quite delicious, but
“..Huh? Is Mardol asleep?”
“I think so. Shh.”
I brought my finger to my helmet and gestured for silence.
Perhaps because the waiting line was long, quite a long time had passed, and the glass knight was sleeping on my shoulder.
Her soft breathing was regular and stable.
That’s a relief. I was worried because she looked so tired. Perhaps because I was drunk from the alcohol, my head started to feel a little dizzy.
“Ariel.”
“Why, Helmet Guy?”
“Please take good care of Mardol. I think I need to get some fresh air.”
Now my shoulder was starting to ache, and I thought it would be enough to let her sleep this much as a comrade. I was about to leave my seat.
“Uu.. Lichtuu..”
Mardol was mumbling in her sleep and grabbing my ankle as if telling me not to go. Yes, this person was always like this.
“..Licht.”
“Why, Kainel?”
“Are Mardol and you, dating?”
The tactless mutt asked a question while looking at us with strange eyes. But in this case, there was a way to counterattack.
“We’re just friends. Then are you two dating?”
“...”
It was to return the question to the hero couple right away. How about it, you can’t answer either. This can happen if you’re close friends.
“So please don’t misunderstand. I clearly have someone I like….”
“..Licht?”
“Ah, you’re awake.”
This always happens when I try to plant a flag. I could hear a buzzing voice from my shoulder, wondering when she had woken up.
Still, it was okay today. It wasn’t just one or two times that she worried about fire, so let’s just let this slide.
“I’m really going to get some fresh air. My head is dizzy.”
“Licht is a womanizer….”
“I’m not.”
“Huhu. Be careful on your way. Licht.”
She gave me a candy in my hand and sent me off. Perhaps it was right to have a drink together. If it wasn’t for my suggestion, Mardol wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the festival.
‘She looks like she’s having a lot of fun.’
Before I knew it, she was excitedly chatting with Ariel and talking about something fun. I thought I heard my name in the middle, but let’s just ignore it.
Comrades can do that to grasp each other’s strengths. It’s common for each other’s names to be in conversations when resting after a battle.
‘It’s sweet.’
I felt the texture of the candy in my mouth. I was crunching and eating what Mardol had given me.
I felt my mind clearing. I turned around and moved away from the group, heading towards the main road. While doing so.
“Boy.”
“..Why?”
“Would it be okay to ask for directions?”
An elderly person who looked old spoke to me.
***
The place that person was looking for was a cocktail bar.
“Thank you. Boy.”
“..It’s nothing. I just did what I had to do.”
The clothes that looked antique to anyone showed that he was no ordinary old man. Just as I was about to leave that place after successfully finishing giving directions.
“Would you like to have a drink? Boy.”
“..I’ll refuse.”
The old man made a suggestion to me. The old man handed me a small glass, handing it to me.
“Don’t do that, my name is Malta.”
“I have a group with me. They’ll worry if I’m any later than this.”
It seemed suspicious, so I refused. Going to a place I’ve never been to and drinking a drink given by someone I’m meeting for the first time is crazy.
“..You have someone you’re looking for, right? I can find that person for you. I’m an astrologer.”
What? At that moment, I immediately ran and sat down. I was uneasy because it seemed like he would tell me about our Saintess, but I decided to agree.
Events also happen like this. There was no reason for me to refuse.
“Haha, you’ve sat down. Before that, let me ask you one thing.”
“..What is it?”
“Do you believe that life has importance?”
Malta was asking a philosophical question. The transparent water in the glass was trembling as if vibrating. Why did this seem familiar?
‘I feel like I’m going to remember something….’
I turned my head and rummaged through my memory, but I felt something strange. It felt like groping the wall in a dark room to find the light switch.
“It’s a common problem. To save 5 good people, do you have to kill 1 good person? If the choice is up to you.”
“...”
Was it the trolley dilemma? I had heard somewhere about a case where a train with broken brakes was running on two tracks, and you had to pull the lever to change the train’s track.
“I believe that life has no importance. Boy. Isn’t it common sense that five lives are more precious than one?”
“So you’re saying you’ll kill one person?”
“If that’s the only way, I should do that.”
Malta smiled kindly, but it was as if something was inside that brazen face. The moment the method of sacrificing the driver came to mind.
“..That’s sophistry. Isn’t it contradictory from the start?”
“Hoh, why do you think so?”
I felt angry for a moment. He was a twisted person. Even though we were talking about such a serious topic, Malta in front of me didn’t lose his composure.
“Your words themselves are judging the importance of life. Malta.”
“..Hmm. An idealist. Then what’s a good way to do it?”
I put my hand on the forehead of my helmet and sighed. That’s obvious. Weighing people’s lives and weighing them? What is this, Egypt?
“You have to save everyone, whether it’s five or one. That’s the right thing to do.”
“You’re saying something like a hero.”
“This is obvious.”
“I’m satisfied. Boy. You and I might get along well.”
A smile was drawn on his lips. At that moment, I felt something unpleasant and instinctively got up from my seat.
“There’s no way that’ll happen.”
“..Boy?”
Information about the Saintess was important, but this wasn’t it. The sweetness of the sugar remaining on the tip of my tongue was awakening my mind.
‘It’s dangerous. This cocktail bar itself is a trap.’
Besides, if there was one problem, it was that my thoughts were getting twisted more and more. Even though I was in a place I had never been to before, I felt comfortable.
This cocktail bar. There’s no alcohol around, and there are no customers. Where did this glass come from? There was a growing sense of fear.
“Aren’t you going to drink alcohol? I can only give you the information you’re looking for if you drink it.”
There wasn’t even a common bartender. My instinct was screaming for me to get out of here quickly. A sense as sharp as a honed blade.
“I don’t want to.”
I looked at the transparent liquid shaking in the glass. I would definitely be ruined if I drank that. He probably put poison in it. I should have noticed that the festival meant that peddlers would also come.
I felt like an ant with only one step left to take towards the ant lion’s pit. Cold sweat was running down my spine.
“Then, since you’ve entertained this old man, I’ll tell you just one thing as promised.”
He opened his mouth to me as I walked up the stairs. I just had to turn the doorknob and I was right outside.
“As it is now, you’ll never be able to meet the person you’re looking for.”
“...”
“How is it? If you come back to your seat and drink alcohol, I’ll tell you how.”
I turned around at the annoying words, and Malta was smirking at me. If it was about our Nameless Saintess, I’d be able to meet her someday.
“Fuck you.”
“..You’re a hot-blooded young man.”
I spat out profanity at that face. A sense of unease grew in my heart, but I walked straight ahead.
“Good, may Akasha’s blessings be upon your path.”
I ignored the mutterings coming from behind. I didn’t want to find the person I loved with the help of a madman who said it was right to sacrifice people’s lives.
***
A cocktail bar with only the old man left alone.
“..What did you do to the helmet. Tarhoon.”
Head was fixing the mask he was wearing and muttering in a low voice. He smiled openly when he saw that his ability didn’t work.
“A hero who even understands the authority of two people. I have to go back to the Demon King’s Castle and recalculate.”
He was a man who seemed tired, turning his head once as if his body was stiff. He started to talk while looking at the liquid in the transparent glass.
“Originally, you had to drink this ‘Lumen’s Dream’ and fall asleep. Even my Omniscience has been twisted.”
He licked his tongue as if it was a waste, looking at the alcohol that the dwarves drank to rest after making masterpieces.
“..He escaped even though I covered this place with ignorance.”
When he snapped his fingers, people appeared around him. A place with only one seat where Lee Soo-hyun sat was empty and the rest were full.
“But you won’t remember today’s meeting, boy.”
He kept talking to himself among the numerous crowds, but no one was suspicious of it.
“Because fate has already started to move according to the natural order.”
To be more precise, it seemed that no one noticed that he existed here.
“Ah, bartender. Give me a martini. Get rid of this Lumen’s Dream.”
“I’ve taken your order. Elder.”
Head was reordering to the bartender passing by his side. He had also offered alcohol to the student from the academy wearing a helmet who was sitting across from him earlier, but he had failed.
“It’s good alcohol, but it’s a shame.”
The Demon Lord of Omniscience took out a book from his pocket and started to take notes. He was drawing lines on the letters he had written before and correcting the wrong parts.
“The current Dennis shouldn’t have mastered three-dimensional magic circles. There won’t be any problems even if I attack the academy as it is.”
He turned his gaze towards the blue-haired man visible in the distance. He made eye contact with the professor at the academy, who seemed to be addicted to alcohol.
“..I don’t know what Tarhoon is thinking. In the first place, Dennis and I are the only ones who were chosen by Akasha and summoned as heroes.”
Dennis was glaring as if something was wrong with a flash of white light, but it seemed he didn’t notice Head sitting far away.
“Then Licht. No…. Lee Soo-hyun.”
The corners of his mouth went up even more. It was because he was convinced that he was a person who would be helpful to his prophecy.
“Originally, heroes who try to save everyone need trials.”
On his notebook, which said Apostle of Gluttony, lines were spread out like a mind map, and the word impossible was written several times,
“I’ll give you the worst trial you can’t overcome.”
The Demon Lord of Omniscience was trying to mobilize all the information he knew towards the Black Knight.