103 – Chapter 103. The Responsibility of Irresponsibility (1)
“Did you not hear anything from your brother?”
“Because you cut off my brother’s head before I could even hear…!”
“Is this also my karma? Fine. I’ll tell you the truth about that day.”
Rex, his body wrapped in bandages, falls on his knees in front of Transylvania with an aggrieved voice.
Transylvania starts the story with an involuntary melancholic expression.
To Transylvania, all past events are just a fleeting moment’s memory.
Every humanoid was just a blood bag to him.
But when he utters Dakia’s name, Transylvania’s eyes fill with tears.
As if reminiscing about fond memories.
A face unfitting the ruthless blood sucker, known as an infamous murderer.
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“Dakia’s bravery was enchanting. Even facing imminent death, a mere mortal did not hesitate and boldly moved forward. Moments like those made me long to feel the peacefulness of death awakened by enlightenment. However, it was your brother who ruined all of this.”
“…”
“It seemed that your brother’s extermination group was warned about my frequent hideouts. Instead of locating me, they began attacking my places. The countless villages became ruins, and Dakia died amid the bloodshed. Even though he was on the edge of enlightenment, the old man still wasn’t able to match up with the strength of an elf knight. I did exterminate his group, but your brother, the captain, escaped and returned to Elvengard. Quite audaciously. So, I pursued and killed him. This is all there is to this. I have no regrets. I killed a person who deserved to die. If I could do all over again, I would still kill him. If you still want to take revenge on me, there’s nothing else I could do.”
“…”
Rex shakes his head with a disheartened expression.
He denied it.
He already knew it wasn’t a lie.
His mind understood, but his heart was still in a state of denial.
“Cunning demon! Do you think we will fall for such a blatant lie! What is the purpose of such an obvious lie that will be seen through immediately? High Priestess, please speak. That jerk is lying, isn’t he? Isn’t he?”
“……”
In response to Rex’s outcry, Mia responded with silence.
Because the matter and the truth of the incident were highly classified.
She couldn’t respond carelessly.
“Don’t tell me that everything that jerk said is true?”
“……”
She can’t answer.
Although as a high priestess, she can’t explain the events of that day.
But she could secretly shake or nod her head to indicate right or wrong.
“Ah……!”
Mia slowly nodded her head.
There wasn’t a single mistake in what Transylvania had said.
Upon this, Rex burst into deafening silence.
And slowly collapsed to the ground.
“My brother, my brother… committed such a heinous crime…? My brother’s death was the result of a just revenge? Then what have I been fighting for all this time…?”
The pointed blade of anger lost its way.
Rex, who had been training continuously to realize justice from the side of the weak.
However, he found out that the person he was fighting for was an incredibly cruel villain.
Rex had lost his sense of direction in his anger.
Continuing a revenge for the simple reason of being brothers, his brother’s crimes were too great.
Overwhelmed by anger, Rex was excessively conscientious.
“The former High Priestess, did she stop personal revenge from spreading into a large battle? Is she not a traitor to the nation?”
Those deserving of resentment were not only Transylvania.
The former high priestess, who he considered an enemy. The witch of Pattenburg.
Never doubting the firm belief that she was a traitor who had joined hands with a murderer.
After knowing the truth, he saw it in an entirely different light.
She had stood against a killer who held an elf’s neck in their grasp.
She was a hero who had stepped forward to stop him.
A hero who had saved young Rex from recklessly charging at the killer with a sword.
When Rex realized this truth, he shivered.
“Ah!”
He was an idiot.
He could not bear seeing how stupid he had been in the past.
He almost killed an innocent person over a small misunderstanding.
All was regrettable and Rex, for a long time, cried out in frustration.
Eventually, Rex lifted his head and looked at the human face.
There was a duty he had to fulfill.
“I pledge. I acknowledge my mistake and accept that the witch is innocent. I swear in front of the world tree that I will stop bearing grudges and will never harm the witch.”
“I confirm it.”
Rex bowed his head as he sobbed and swore.
As promised, he swore an unbreakable oath in front of the world tree until the day the forest guardian dies.
It was an oath he should have made, even without the promise.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh…”
The sobbing wouldn’t stop.
He had spent 50 years trapped in meaningless anger.
He had burned 800 years of his lifetime.
Now, only about 100 years of life remained.
What was he going to do in such a fleeting time left?
Rex felt like he wanted to die immediately.
“Lady… please allow me to execute myself. I tarnished the honor of Elvengard. I stained the name of a high warrior. Dismiss me and order me to execute myself.”
“Lift your head.”
“Yes…”
Rex slowly lifted his head.
In pain as if his body was tearing apart, he faced the maiden of the world tree.
She looked down at Rex with pitying eyes before parting her lips.
“I order you, High Warrior Rex, to recover from your injuries as soon as possible, stand up, and take charge of training as an instructor.”
“Eh…?”
“Even though I may not be proficient in the art of swordsmanship, I am well aware that Rex, the Senior Warrior, has momentarily stepped into a transcendental territory. Currently, the lineage of realizing Merida’s Five Elements in Elven Guard is severed due to the absence of any successors. Considering that you’ve experienced the Five Elements’ power in the past, I believe you will understand it faster than anyone. I hope Rex, the Senior Warrior, will first gain an understanding of the Five Elements and aim to amplify our power through teaching others. For now, you should focus on recovering your strength.”
“Wha…what are you talking about? I don’t even have a hundred years of life left.”
“Short-lived species tend to achieve much more within a shorter lifespan. Plus, a crucial decisive battle is likely to occur sometime within the next five years. We need you. I mean, we can’t banish someone on account of a minor mistake, especially if they can get us close to mastering the Five Elements.”
A monstrous spider that appeared at the root of the World Tree.
And the massive perfect barrier that surfaced in Basel.
Also, a series of unusual prophecies occurring one after another…
These all pointed to one thing.
The world was on the brink of falling into chaos.
Eugene was surely struggling to prevent that future.
To help him succeed.
Elven Guard, at the very least, shouldn’t harbor the nuisance of being trampled underfoot by the enemy’s minions.
To ensure this, it was necessary to enhance Elven Guard’s military forces, which so far had survived in a state of inertia.
In terms of both quantity and quality.
“I will obey your command, Maiden. I apologize for my shortsightedness. I will dedicate the rest of my life, however short, to serving Elven Guard.”
Rex made this solemn vow, bowing his head.
In front of him, Mia-
quietly showed a teasing smile to Eugene.
In response, Eugene burst into a bitter-smile.
‘Precisely speaking, it isn’t ‘within five years’ but ‘within two years’… Quite an accurate deduction.’
This had been anticipated.
The start of the enemy invasion.
The fact that I’m frantically trying to fend off the invasion.
And, that the decisive battle to prevent the invasion is in the near future.
Mia was aware of all of that and was actively preparing for it.
If you look at it in one way, she was helping Eugene,
In a greater sense, she was striving for humanity’s victory.
This was a first for her.
At a time when the existence of an underworld was not revealed fully to the public,
A point at which even the final boss was yet to emerge.
Mia, an esteemed priestess representing Elvengard, had been foreseeing a decisive battle in the future, intending to lend strength to Eugene.
As if professing her resolve to use all the resources of Elvengard.
“Could we have a private exchange, My Priestess?”
“Please come this way, Sir Michael Jackson.”
Leaving their companions for a while,
Mia and Eugene ascended the stairs towards a small room.
A space inaccessible and unperturbed by any outsider.
It was the eye of the world tree.
The only permitted human to enter, Eugene, carefully set foot and felt the warmth of the world tree.
“I was surprised. I knew you were deft with a sword, but I never thought I’d see such a state with my own eyes. A truly rare spectacle.”
“That was touch and go. I just awakened.”
“Oh, that explains… I was shaking while watching. Worried that you might get defeated and suffer great harm…”
Having seated Eugene,
Mia tenderly looked after his minor wounds, alternately applying medicinal herbs and potions, expressing her concerns.
She, who just moments ago, was the judge of the duel,
Subtly revealed that she had been rooting for one side.
“Is it widely believed across Elvengard that Yulia is a wicked woman who conspired with a murderer…?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“…”
At Mia’s response, Eugene felt a lump in his throat.
He had long known that Yulia was unwelcome in Elvengard.
She had significantly amplified her influence, much like a puppet master, as a unique priestess of the world tree raising her voice for reformation against outmoded doctrines.
It was only natural she would become a thorn in the side of the elder council, monopolizing power at that time.
He knew there must have been many fabrications and disruptions to oust Yulia, but this was the first time he had learned the specific detail that she had been branded as a wicked woman who conspired with a murderer to kill elves and was thus expelled.
No matter how close he became with Yulia, or even though they shared a deep love, she never told him this story.
‘How unfortunate.’
The irony was, even after the elder council predominantly stepped down, and rather young high elves replaced it.
As Yulia had contended, the reform was indeed implemented.
The reform had returned the almost insane faith of the elves back to normalcy.
If it had not been for the reform, during the Elbengard wildfire, the elves, holding fast to the old beliefs, would have had no choice but to choose reincarnation with the World Tree instead of evacuation.
“Do you sympathize with that woman?”
“It seems so.”
Eugene was unable to deny Mia’s words.
Yulia had lived far longer than the short-lived species due to being a long-lived one.
Eugene thought he had understood everything about Yulia, having gone through the regression twelve times, yet, going back just 50 years had uncovered completely new aspects of her.
The reason why she became a hermit.
And why she couldn’t face people.
Things he had taken for face value based on her character, for the first time today, he thought deeply about.
“So… are you planning to reconcile?”
“Reconcile? No, there are no such plans.”
“Is that so? That’s fortunate.”
There was no reason to reconcile.
Eugene was able to affirm this.
There was only one way to reconcile with Yulia.
They both have to bring back the emotions from previous regressions.
To reconcile, they eventually need to synchronize those emotions again.
Yet, that meant an imminent end to Eugene.
The moment when he faces Yulia and allows for affection.
Instantly, the Main Heroine Capture Rate 100% ending would be triggered, and Eugene would be trapped in this game.
It would not have been bad to resign and stand still.
Yet, Eugene was unable to give up.
He didn’t want his life of hard work for over 12 years, both physically and emotionally, to be negated.
He had to find a way to return home.
He could not stand still.
‘Is it right to keep running away like this?’
He asked himself this question all of a sudden.
Wasn’t it hiding from his relationship with Yulia in the end?
Even though the system’s malfunction was not Eugene’s fault, he was certainly responsible for creating this abnormal relationship. Some kind of closure was necessary. To run away without seeing things through to the end was a denial of responsibility.
‘He needed to take responsibility.’
He had to correct all the irresponsibilities he had committed while relying solely on his ability to regress.
It was what being human demanded.
It was reason, something that normal people who couldn’t regress understood.
He had forgotten it for a long period, realizing only belatedly after losing his ability to regress.
“You seem surprisingly relieved.”
“I’ve been able to sort out my thoughts. The feeling of suffocation has been reduced. Thank you.”
“What did I do… You should leave soon. Yulia, who probably heard about the duel, will be coming.”
“You’re well informed.”
“An eye for an eye.”
Eugene, now with a refreshed look on his face, leaves the Eye of the World Tree.
Beside him, Mia continued to look up at his face.
Before, he had seemed an impartial and ruthless person, like a monk cutting off past relationships and heading off on a long journey.
Now, he seemed like a boy struggling to reconnect those severed ties.
He seemed more human and short-lived now.
However, paradoxically, from Eugene now came an alienation like looking into a dimension different from Longevity species.
That feeling of alienity felt from someone essentially different.
If tainted with negative traits, that alienation would soon turn into fear.
But within Mia, the alienation slowly took the form of admiration, born from sublimity.