A day passed after I met with Sera. Next, she decided to meet Ariel and Clana.
Unlike Sera who had been holed up in one place, the two were surprisingly together. The reason was that they had already finished their preparations to leave.
Ariel, who had entered seclusion like Sera, was acknowledged by the Sword Saint.
Clana had also said her goodbyes to the people at the church. The abbess, who was like a parent to Clana, even cried and told her not to go, but what’s decided can’t be helped.
In fact, Clana thought that as someone born a Saint, it was her fate to join the Hero Party and devote herself to humanity. In that sense, she may have been similar to Ariel.
“Ah, Iria, you’re here?”
Clana greeted me as I joined them. In a way, we were the two who had the most awkward relationship, but not so much now. I had apologized to her for what happened before, and Clana had forgiven me.
In hindsight, it was thanks to Iria that Clana was able to quickly adapt to the world outside the church, so it didn’t take long for their relationship to heal.
Anyway, they met again. Peculiarly, the place was a ridge behind the Academy. A place where the scenery of the empire could be seen at a glance, and where Sertia often visited when she was alive.
Iria asked the two, “What were you two doing?”
Honestly, it seemed like a place that didn’t quite suit the two of them.
The steep terrain was not suitable for sword training, and there wasn’t much to see for a walk either. Not a single blade of grass grew in the vicinity, let alone flowers, making it a place devoid of any sense of life.
Yet there they were, standing side by side.
At my question, Ariel thought for a moment, then spoke while looking down the cliff.
“I was looking at the scenery of the Empire. There’s nothing here, but the Empire is down below.”
Iria stood next to Ariel and looked down.
She could see all the landscapes of the Empire – the Academy where students were busily moving about, the central park of the empire, the back alleys behind the central fountain.
“Was this the empire Sertia wanted to protect?”
Indeed, it seemed like a place she would have loved. Of course, now there was a monster here who had almost destroyed that Empire.
As I stepped closer to the edge, Ariel put his hand in front of me.
“Be careful not to go any closer.”
“In case I fall?”
“That too, but this time you’re wrong.”
Ariel pointed to a single flower blooming at the edge of the cliff.
“This is a grave. A place to commemorate someone who dedicated their entire life to the Empire and protected it.”
“……”
I didn’t need to ask who that person was. I couldn’t not know. After all, I was the one who killed her.
“…Grave.”
‘So she was buried here in the end.’
I stepped back from Sertia’s grave. I felt I had no right to step on her grave. Even I, who had killed her, acknowledged that she was an amazing person.
However, that didn’t mean I felt guilty.
It wasn’t because I was a monster incapable of feeling emotions, but because Sertia was destined to die anyway.
A faint memory of the original story’s development brushed through my mind.
“……”
In the original story, Sertia met the most miserable end. The curse eventually spread throughout her body, making her unable to even kill herself, and Albert, who had to kill her, hesitated for a moment.
Sertia became a new catastrophe. Just like the previous generation’s Saint who was her friend and comrade.
She became the greatest wall blocking Ariel, who had bloomed his power, and they barely succeeded in subjugating her by mobilizing the entire imperial forces.
‘Wasn’t this better than that future?’
Rather than being recorded as the worst disaster in imperial history, at least being remembered as a hero who devoted herself and sacrificed for the Empire.
So, at least in this incident, I didn’t feel guilty.
In the end, it was something someone had to do.
I felt like I had to stab her heart with a sword that day for some reason.
A lonely wind blew on the cliff. My silver hair fluttered in the wind.
A heavy silence fell after Ariel spoke.
At that point, Clana closed her eyes and offered a prayer.
To bless this barren place where nothing remained. To revive a place that someone loved but was now almost dead.
“Oh light.”
In fact, this was the reason Clana came here from the beginning. The Saint, who could perform miracles of God, came here at Ariel’s request.
Of course, it wasn’t just because of Ariel’s request.
As Sertia’s attending physician, Clana also felt some responsibility.
Golden divine power emanating from Clana’s body slowly began to envelop the space.
Life took root in the dead land.
“……”
New sprouts bloomed.
The previous generation served as the base for the new generation to grow.
The memorial service for the former hero ended there.
***
Another day passed, and on the last day, I decided to talk with Ariel.
Ariel, perhaps still not calmed down, went up the mountain alone today. In the place where the Sword Saint had left, he was swinging his sword alone.
Come to think of it, this was also the place where I first met him.
I appeared quietly from the dark grass, like the monster of the back alleys.
“……”
When Ariel noticed Iria’s presence, he stopped swinging his sword.
A cleanly cut sword mark stretched along the path of his swung sword.
Had he already reached a level comparable to the Sword Saint with pure swordsmanship?
Ariel sat down on a nearby hill with his sword put away, and I came and sat next to him.
The air at dawn on the day before departure was not very warm.
The air that had become cool at some point cooled the sweat on the forehead, and the flowers that had bloomed in the summer were withering.
I sometimes distinguished the passage of time at the Academy by the temperature.
The sense of time felt by a monster was quite different from that of humans, so even though it was a place I had stayed for only a few months, it felt endlessly long.
Just a few months.
However, for a monster, it was time for the temperature of the wind brushing against the skin to change.
Looking back on the terribly heavy and cruel flow of time.
Counting the number of humans she had killed, measuring the sips of blood she had swallowed, bearing the weight of the sins she had committed.
Then was this a journey to settle those sins as well?
The truth about “Iria” was held by the Demon King’s army. Perhaps the root of the sins I had committed so far was there.
Wasn’t it?
The sins I had committed stemmed solely from the instincts she was born with as a creature, and it was the Demon King’s army that created Iria to have those instincts.
Then they were also at fault.
I had no intention of begging for forgiveness for the evil deeds I had committed.
In the end, it was I who had done it, and it were my hands that were stained with the smell of blood from killing humans.
But if I at least had the will to right those wrongs.
‘Wouldn’t it be right to receive judgment for the sins after executing all the accomplices?’
It was an inaccurate thought.
It wasn’t something I could consult with anyone about, and it was a conclusion I had reached after agonizing and deep thought alone.
But I decided to do so. At this point, there was no means for me to die alone, and in the end, as long as I was alive, I had to kill someone.
No words were exchanged between me and Ariel for a long time. Neither of us were particularly talkative, more used to listening than speaking directly.
But I did have something to ask.
“Are you ready to leave, Ariel?”
It was already dark, and the stars were shining overhead.
Ariel’s blue eyes turned to Iria.
“Ready to leave?”
“Clana said she had long accepted the fate of having to go to the battlefield, and Sera also said she had finished preparing to leave without any lingering attachments.”
“……”
“And I’m ready too.”
The only one who didn’t answer was Ariel.
Ariel.
The leader of the new Hero Party and the hero of this generation who had to wield the holy sword regardless of his own will.
The man bearing the heavy responsibility of leading the upcoming all-out war against the Demon King’s army to victory.
“We are ready, but are you ready to head to the battlefield, Ariel? This is a question from a party member to the leader.”
Ariel didn’t answer for quite a long time. He kept his mouth shut for a while, and I waited for his answer.
Waiting was something I was good at.
I faced the cold wind, looked up at the starry night sky, and waited for an answer.
How much time passed like that? Ariel stood up from his spot. Then he gently patted my head, who was shorter than him.
“I’ve been ready for a long time. I’m just doing what I have to do. Something only I can do.”
“……”
“Then, see you tomorrow morning. We’ll leave early in the morning.”
The hero left the mountain behind with those words.
It was a ridge where silence had descended.