34 – Death to the Guilty
“This is the result of your choice.”
Macduras walks towards the boy, reminiscing about what just happened.
“Get lost… Get lost! You murderers!”
When a boy of about 10 years old shouted, some of the knights of the Phibron Empire muttered in agreement.
“Damn brat. They don’t even know how much death we had to experience because of them, even though we did nothing wrong.”
Silence settled around them. Macduras looked at them. Some pitied the boy, but some looked at him without any sympathy, perhaps with eyes of revenge.
Macduras did not feel disappointed or think badly of those men’s reactions. Both sides were pitiful in their own ways.
“War is so tragic.”
It was because even the struggle of a boy to protect his mother could be seen as disgusting hypocrisy to someone.
The leaders and knights were the ones who carried out the war. But why did the arrows of resentment turn towards the weak, powerless ones? Simply because they belonged to the same community, their resentment set off a chain reaction.
This chain would never end. Unless one side was completely destroyed. But Macduras wanted to see a different ending. At least, this place was within his reach.
“…”
MacDerris stood in front of the boy, silently observing him. Then, he raised his sword and left the boy’s sword untouched.
MacDerris asked the boy a question.
“Let me ask you one thing. I have killed over hundreds of thousands of knights from the Empire of Kaorelden. Do I appear to be an extremely evil murderer?”
“Of…of course…you…you had to kill them…they were the ones who needed to be killed…”
“In that case, let me put it differently.”
As MacDerris put his hand into his pocket, it was filled with the knight emblems of the Empire of Fibron. He had collected them from the bodies to deliver the news to the families of the fallen warriors.
“All the owners of these emblems are dead. They were brutally killed by the knights of the Empire of Kaorelden.”
MacDerris continued to look into the trembling eyes of the boy and shouted.
“The knights of your Empire of Kaorelden invaded the Empire of Fibron without declaration of war or justification, mercilessly slaughtered civilians, even captured civilians as prisoners and took advantageous positions on the battlefield, and massacred the weak. I couldn’t bear it any longer, so I killed them all. Do I still appear to be an extremely evil murderer?”
The knights of the Empire of Fibron who were present no longer looked at the boy with eyes of resentment. His hand was trembling uncontrollably, and tears were streaming down his face.
“Just as you raised your sword to protect your mother, they also raised their swords only to protect their loved ones. Just as you chose a fight instead of dialogue, they also made that choice. As you know, in this situation, that was the only way.”
The boy kneeled with the broken sword on the ground.
“If our Empire came to pay for its wrongdoings, please just kill me. My mother can’t escape or go anywhere else…please…just kill me and take my mother to a safe place.”
The boy kneeled and pleaded for mercy from the enemies. But MacDerris did not accept it.
“There’s no need to do that.”
MacDerris wiped away the blood trickling down his cheek and started to enter the building. The boy tried to stop him, but it was futile. MacDerris stood in front of the boy’s mother and reached out his hand.
Some of the life force that had been concentrated in the crimson orb transferred to the boy’s mother.
The faint spark of life began to burn more intensely.
Eventually, the boy’s mother coughed and regained consciousness. She opened her eyes, stood up from her seat. Ironically, the first thing she did was to embrace her son, protecting him from all of us.
The boy stared blankly at his mother.
“Uh… Mom… I said I definitely couldn’t walk… It’s clear…”
MacDerris asked again, this time towards the boy who couldn’t even speak properly.
“This is the result of your choice to resist. But don’t be mistaken. The world is not always so romantic.”
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And he lowered his knee and asked the boy again.
“Are you still the insane killer who must be killed? Or have you become the savior who rescued your mother from the incurable disease?”
Faced with the dilemma, the boy couldn’t answer.
MacDerris spoke to the boy.
“Human beings are narrow-minded. I am too, and the knights behind me are no different from you. I killed to protect. If you want to protect, strengthen yourself. If you don’t want to be taken away, don’t beg the enemy, swing your sword. Like today.”
The boy kneeled down and expressed his gratitude, and MacDerris no longer had any interest in him and turned away. And he commanded the knights around him.
“They can’t survive here, so transfer them to the Phebron Empire. When the situation stabilizes, send them back here. If they want, help them live a stable life in the Phebron Empire.”
“Yes, sir.”
As MacDerris walked without saying a word, a man next to him asked.
“The boy’s sword didn’t touch your face, sir. Why is that?”
In response to Tecloman’s question, the blood flowing from MacDerris’ cheek stopped. And the hidden white flesh began to show. MacDerris answered concisely without using any flowery words.
“They are fighting a war without justification, but we are fighting a war with justification. Tecloman, it’s the same reason you saved the saintess. In this hellish war, having a justification is more important than anything.”
MacDerris looked at the expressions of the other knights.
“How do the expressions of the knights look?”
“They seem much more at ease.”
This is not a merciless revenge play, but simply a journey for peace. I merely showed them the possibility using the boy as an example.
“By saving two lives, we could alleviate their guilt. It would also give them a glimmer of hope. We can maintain peace without killing all the people of the Kaorelden Empire.”
Macderras looked at Princess Phlemya. In a way, this play was also for her.
“You must have seen it too. Whether it’s a child or us, there’s no difference. We fought to protect. So no one is a monster. Even if countless people die in this war, do not blame yourself anymore. The downfall of the Kaorelden Empire will ultimately bring salvation to them.”
Phlemya shed tears and held onto Macderras’s waist. She made the promise over and over again. She would not become weak.
Princess Brainy, who had quietly watched this scene, finally realized why Macderras had spent time saving the child and mother.
Brainy spoke to Phlemya.
“You have a good comrade.”
The justification for this war was for the people of the Phebron Empire and the suffering people of the Kaorelden Empire. At the same time, it was for the saintesses who were treated as the emperor’s playthings, despite being chosen by the gods. It was also for all the powerless individuals.
Macderras would go down in history as the worst butcher today. At the same time, he would be called a savior by someone.
“The royal building is starting to come into view!”
Plutain, the commander of the Royal Knights, shouted nervously, and Macderras looked in that direction.
Ironically, numerous people were rushing out of the massive building next to the palace. They had expensive accessories and knights and servants with them. Wine spilled on the floor, and the food was trampled by the fleeing people. Even the beautiful accessories at the entrance were all collapsing.
Macderras’s eyes began to fill with blood. At the same time, the sphere floating in the sky started vibrating like crazy.
“What in the world…”
Princess Brainy’s eyes began to fill with a clear determination as well.
Those who caused this terrible war, those who forced people into death and pointed their swords at each other, those who made families suffer and countless people in pain.
They were enjoying a lively party as if it had nothing to do with this incident, and when the empire was in danger, they fled without a thought of protecting it.
The knights were enraged.
In response to their anger, Macderras whispered.
“Pierce through.”
Thin windows protruded from the scarlet sphere, penetrating the hundreds of people surrounding the royal palace. However, some managed to survive by using others as shields and they began to flee once again.
“Stop them! Useless bastards! Stop them from coming even if it means dying!”
The bureaucrats of the Kaorelden Empire continued to use their authority to send people to their deaths.
Macderas stopped just as he was about to use a mass slaughter spell. He knew that there were those who had been waiting for this moment more than anyone else.
Macderas shouted to the knights behind him.
“Kill them all.”
As if they had been waiting, the knights of the Phibron Empire rushed towards the bureaucrats of the Kaorelden Empire.