Episode 125. End of Promise
“Hyosung~ It’s time to leave!”
“Okay, I’ll just say hello and leave!”
About 15 days had passed since the battle at the Dragon’s Tomb ended.
After that, I was tasked with guarding this place until the new troops dispatched from the empire arrived, and after completing that task, I finally got ready to board the carriage procession on its way home.
Fortunately, after the fight ended, no other problems arose.
Not only did two of the top executives of the undead army disappear, but since it was the scene where none other than a real dragon appeared and ran rampant, monsters and vicious creatures would not even dare to approach.
Yes, this is how this incident ended.
Even though he couldn’t completely obtain the dragon’s bones, he managed to handle the disaster that threatened humanity with his own hands.
“Then is it goodbye for the time being?”
The one who saw me off as I was about to leave with such a relaxed mind was a holy knight with a shovel on his shoulder as his symbol.
And then a girl with light pink hair came out next to him.
“Even if Ja-seong is like that… Garam, did you decide to stay here too?”
“Yes, well… Unlike my brother, I came here after receiving a recommendation from a noble person who supported me. “I was told that if there was something I could contribute to, I should do as much as I could and come back.”
Of course, Garam was paired with me, but unlike me, he was sponsored by a nobleman.
As he was someone who did not stop supporting him and supported him even though he was labeled as a do-gooder, Garam will have no choice but to follow his instructions as the top priority.
“I heard that you are planning to build a collection site to pick up the bone dust scattered here, but my abilities are quite effective in creating a defense line, right?”
“That’s right, if this little guy and I join forces, there’s nothing we can’t make?”
“I told you not to call me kid!”
“Yani, this guy! “Hyosung is my oppa, but why do I keep calling him uncle!?”
Jaseong and Garam start bickering again.
But apart from bickering with each other, the relationship didn’t seem that bad.
Seeing as how they were excellent at putting things together even during the war, it looks like they got along well while I was away… Well, I guess it’s okay.
It’s good for Garam to have someone other than me, and Ja-seong also takes good care of younger kids.
“By the way, Hyosung is leaving and that friend doesn’t even see him off.”
Just when I was feeling so relieved, I suddenly turned my gaze to the side.
There, standing in the center of a construction site where a mining site was being prepared for opening, there was a man looking up at the sun rising in the sky.
A paper bag worn on his head over his naked body.
The man who caught the attention of anyone passing by was Lim Taeyang, a warrior whom I once helped.
“… ….”
And he paid no heed to the gazes of those around him, just kept his mouth shut and looked up at the sky just after dawn.
Soon, the moment the sunlight crossed the mountain and completely revealed itself, he spread his arms on the spot and began to receive the sunlight into his body.
Just like when I followed him as a porter.
“… “That person does that every day.”
“Ahahahaha, well…. “You need to understand.”
You can’t tell what she’s thinking because she’s always quiet, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely indifferent to the world.
The fact that he also had a sense of justice and duty as a warrior was something that could be felt just by silently opening the way in previous fights.
“Then I’ll go quickly.”
So, as I turned my back and said that I should leave without worrying about it, the person who was seeing me off spoke in a light tone.
“Goodbye. “Next time I see you, don’t pretend that you didn’t see it because you succeeded.”
“… Yes? “Success?”
“Whatever, man. Aren’t you the person who contributed the most in this battle? “The guy who hit the last hit gets the most, and when I return to the empire, I’m sure they’ll give me a lot of things.”
“You’re not trying to forget us just because you’re successful, are you?”
Oh, yes. Even after that, I forgot about it because I was busy guarding the garrison or scouting.
All the soldiers on the scene at the time can testify that it was I who definitely killed the enemy knight.
Although I may not have achieved this on my own, looking at it objectively, no one can deny that I was the factor in winning this war.
So, you should consider receiving a medal on behalf of the group…….
“… hahahaha, yes. Well, I’ll buy you a meal next time we meet.”
Still, I still didn’t feel it, so I didn’t show it and quietly prepared to go home.
I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I will confidently accept it as it is also the path I will take.
“Hyosung, here! Here!”
After being sent off like that, I headed to the place I would return to, next to the people who were protecting me ahead of me.
Among them, Marylin was sitting in the empty seat of her carriage, and she started patting the side and smiling brightly.
“hehehe, I reserved a seat here in advance! Come on, this way!”
“… “You don’t get tired again.”
Airi glares at her as if she doesn’t like seeing her like that.
But as always, Mary Lynn just continued her provocation with her signature mischievous smile.
“I will definitely not give in this time~ Whoever comes first is the owner!”
“Yes, that’s right. Anyway, unlike when I came here this time, there are a lot of seats, so I can sit somewhere else. Now, Hyosung, let’s leave Marylin alone and we can go sit over there.”
“Aha~ Mr. Airi. Are you running away because you think you will lose to me?”
“How dare you run away. “What do you mean by that now?”
As usual, the two people start bickering again.
However, the sight was not as perplexing as it was at first.
Because I know that this kind of friction is caused because they regard me as a precious person.
“I understand you two, but please calm down. This time, the seats are quite spacious, so there are plenty of places to sit together….”
“Are you okay for a moment?”
Still, I tried to stop it for a while for fear of overheating.
As she suddenly turned her head towards her, she became aware of a woman with a familiar face wearing one of her cloaks approaching.
No, the only thing that is familiar is her appearance.
Unlike before, when the sun was shining, the atmosphere has become softer, and there is almost no sign of strength in the body.
Nevertheless, unlike her usual routine, her face showed quite a bit of a sense of relief.
“Unfortunately, there are only one-way carriages available, so I’m having trouble finding a suitable seat. “If it’s okay, I’d like to borrow the seat next to you…”
As such a woman spoke, I took the time to look at the two people who recognized her with me.
Tachia Philoi.
I was worried about how the two people who would know the identity of the woman who introduced themselves like that would react upon seeing her weakened appearance.
“…… Mr. Marylin. Come this way.”
Amid such tension, the first to react was none other than Airi.
After gathering her thoughts, she tugged on the hem of her dress and urged her to leave, and Marylin even erased her signature smile and began to look at her.
“Airi, you know that woman’s identity. But now, if you approach Mr. Hyosung….”
“Don’t worry. “There won’t be any problems.”
Iri speaks quietly to Marylin’s urgency.
Although she said those words calmly, there was a faint hint of pity in her gaze toward Tachia.
“On the contrary, it is an issue that should not be dragged on any longer.”
“… ….”
Marilyn silently looking at each other.
At the end, after organizing her thoughts, she tried to get out of the way, following Airi, who had quietly held her.
Despite the noise from before, the inside of the carriage was left with just me and Tacia.
I climbed into her carriage first and then stretched out my hand to guide her.
“Mr. Tacia. Come this way……”
As I said the name of the woman I knew.
“Tassian.”
But the answer I received taught me that my relationship with her could not go back to how it was before.
“Call me that now. “It’s a name I don’t need to use anymore.”
Tasian Paloi… ….
Her real name I knew before hearing it from her.
“… “Yes, Mr. Tasian.”
No, the name is not the only thing I know.
Who she is and what she has done.
Because all of that was conveyed by the memories of ‘that child’ who became one with me.
****
Tachia Philoi.
Currently, my mind was in a state where the memories of the woman with that name and her personality were mixed together.
In order to gain power in a short period of time, you need to follow her path.
But even if I succeeded in taking control of her personality with my abilities, it could not mean that her personality had completely disappeared.
When she sleeps, she sometimes thinks of the nightmares of the battlefield she walked through, and in the process, her heartache and her feelings toward the person who caused it are also felt.
“Please accept this.”
When the carriage stopped for a moment, the person in charge came towards us, just as we were wondering how to accept such feelings.
The man who approached us with a jar had previously served as an adjutant to Commander Marcus, who led the corps.
And what he gave us was something we had never thought of…
“This is a jar containing the remains of a red knight.”
“…Yes?”
The moment my breath became heavy and I looked at him with rigid eyes.
But his gaze was already fixed on Tasian, who had been handed the jar.
“You said you were Tacia Philoi, the craftsman who participated in this expedition, right?”
Yes, it was known that way externally.
Her appearance that she revealed during the fight that day was when she still had the appearance of a dragon, and now she had changed her appearance into a human, albeit with a little power.
She used her status as a father-in-law when she came here, so it would not have been difficult for her to go into hiding when the situation was settled.
“… I’ve heard the corps commander mention that name a few times. “Maybe a name that refers to someone other than you.”
But the person in front of me must have guessed.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to hand over the remains of her enemy knight to someone who shares the same name as her.
Nevertheless… ….
“And now that he is dead, no one will know who the bearer of that name is.”
Nevertheless, he was about to give up on learning more about the name.
“Digging into the details of the story may actually be a hindrance to the future of humanity.”
No matter how much you know that the person you follow is obsessed with that name, it will be an unnecessary obsession for humanity as long as you know that the person who used that name is a disaster that has already disappeared.
Even though a person with the same name as such a being once threatened humanity, in the end he has even saved humanity once.
“… “Are you okay with that?”
The person in charge gave me a bitter look at my question.
After that, he glanced back at Tasian and quietly turned his back on his seat.
“The funeral for these victims will end with the scattering of their ashes on their way home.”
As the number of deaths is so high, it is not feasible to take away the cremated remains, let alone the bodies.
So, if a suitable river or cliff was found on the way home, the funeral was planned to be completed by scattering bone powder there.
Despite the difficult circumstances, in order to comfort them in their deaths.
“So please accept it. “Because you are the only ones who can comfort her, as we cannot regard her as ‘her victim.'”
And that final funeral, even if it were an enemy of mankind, has the right to enjoy it in a small way.
After quietly conveying his intention to us, he lightly saluted and left his position to join the main unit.
Preparing to honor his comrades and respected people by holding the urns in the procession of carriages moving in front of him.
“… Funeral.”
Tasian looked at me bitterly and said quietly as he handed me the urn.
“Can I ask for this child’s funeral?”
“… ….”
Without a word, she took the urn from her and moved on her feet to find a suitable cliff near her.
The direction was directly opposite to where the soldiers’ funerals were held.
Even if it was not of my own will, it is certain that they will remember it that way.
“Life is fleeting.”
As the ashes were being scattered from the cliff, Tasian, who was watching the scene from the side, spoke in a lonely voice.
“No matter how hard she has lived, no matter what she has done, in the end, when she is burned, she will be nothing more than dust.”
While tightly grasping my cloak with my delicate fingers.
Is it an illusion that the figure looks as if it is trying to cover a body that seems to be falling apart at any moment?
“This might be better. “Compared to a body that clings to an unfulfilled mission and has to gather ashes.”
No, it is not an illusion.
She had already burned all the remaining firewood in her body, and she was in a state no different from smoke made from scattered ashes.
If there were no shackles to collect such smoke, it wouldn’t be strange if it dispersed at any time.
“Mr. Tasian. Jeon… ….”
“There was enough time to realize.”
Realizing what the shackles were, she opened her mouth, but her eyes were still directed down the cliff.
There is no trace left now, but it is still clearly visible.
“I just didn’t want to admit it, so I brought it here. Because the time that has passed does not come back. “If I admit it, I have to accept what I did.”
She eventually withdrew her gaze from such an illusion, and before I knew it, her head turned towards where I was.
Not realizing her own love, she ended up destroying her existence with her own hands.
Nevertheless, if she is alive, she will most likely come to challenge herself, to the one who projected her believed existence.
“Tachia.”
I know.
She sees my daughter in me now.
She believed that if she were alive, she would challenge herself again, and she would overcome even the last embers of her being that she had burned.
“If you are who you are now, you will be able to meet the conditions of the contract.”
Since such faith has borne fruit, it is natural for this to happen.
“…Tassian.”
“Kill me.”
A miserable figure who has even lost his status as a dragon.
Meeting death at the hands of a being that is a reflection of the person you loved would have been the ideal way to pay for your sins.
“Please don’t forgive me for ruining your life.”
Yes, she was in love.
At this moment, I cannot shake off the feelings I have for myself, and I end up pulling out her spear.
“In my foolishness… Please do not forgive me for blaspheming even your death.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Having my heart pierced by the spear of such an immoral child.
She was hoping that her love would finally be complete.