101 . War
Helga asked again in disbelief.
“… Is it the end?”
Olivia doesn’t know how long she endured before she spoke her words. Hearing Helga’s bewildered voice, Olivia smiled brightly and tapped her on Helga’s shoulder.
“Yes, you’ll consider yourself fortunate to be the first to come to us, abandoning the humans.”
Her time with them wasn’t too bad for Helga, who had long abandoned her duty to her humans in the first place. Placing humans at her feet and slaughtering those who begged for her life was fun in its own way. She seems to have lived on alcohol, but her essence was a slayer after all, one of those who deviated from the category of human beings.
Helga answered with a slight lift of the corner of her mouth.
“I look forward to that.”
As soon as she finished her words, a huge arm burst out of the broken sky, crushing the village in front of her, and looked around her with orange eyes resembling pumpkins. He blinked once, as if paying her respects to Olivia, who was waving her hand at him, then disappeared again. Helga felt an indescribable horror in her words at the sight of an unknown creature that smashed a village with a single gesture of her hand.
Helga asked Olivia a question in her trembling voice.
“Um, what the hell is that?”
Hearing her question, Olivia put her finger on her chin and let out a short hum.
“It’s better not to know.”
Olivia announced the start of her full-fledged invasion with a powerful presence that made her golems’ activities so far feel like a joke. It was the moment of the end written down in old prophetic books that people consumed as a joke.
●
On the way back to her hometown after leaving the castle, Stella spoke briefly.
“It’s started.”
I asked again, tilting my head at Stella’s words, which I couldn’t understand.
“What?”
Then Elia answered in a soothing voice by her side, crossing her arms and pressing her breasts to mine.
“Cleaning up the trash, of course.”
“Trash?”
In the past, I couldn’t even guess what they were talking about, but now I could immediately tell what the garbage they were talking about meant.
“Are you talking about humans?”
“Yes, the people who bullied my father don’t have to be in this world anymore, right?”
To some extent, I agreed. Do we really need humans in this world? It might have been right to incinerate beings like diseases that eat away at the world.
“Where are you going to start?”
“Dad can just sit and watch. Because Olivia has already started working on it.”
“Still, I can’t just leave all the hard work to you guys.”
At my worried voice, Elia rubbed her head like a cat and spoke in a charming voice.
“Are you worried about us? Daddy still has a cute side.”
I haven’t seen Elia’s aegyo because I’ve been busy with work lately, but after most of the things that bothered me disappeared, the kids returned to their old personalities. Elia, full of her charms, didn’t know how to separate from me, and she subtly groped for my body. I knew very well that the action came from the desire of an action, but now was not the time. If you deal with one child, you will have to deal with the other two in succession. It was fortunate that Olivia was working in another country now.
I answered while gently caressing Elia’s head.
“Of course I am worried. How would I feel if you got hurt?”
“It’s okay. Because humans can’t even touch us with their fingertips. But if you’re so worried about it, you should treat her with a lot of love when she comes home after finishing her work.”
“Yes, I promise.”
Stella, who was listening to our conversation from the side, poked me in the side and tossed it around in a playful tone.
“Is Elijah mean?”
“Oh no, not like that.”
As I scratched my head awkwardly, Stella gave a big laugh, adding that it was a joke.
I can’t even remember the last time I laughed while having such a trivial conversation with my children. It wasn’t that I didn’t know that my mind was concentrated on the edge of a cliff. It’s been a long time since I’ve been helping the revenge that I’ve been hoping for all along, and the feelings I feel for the children who keep caring about me have already surpassed gratitude.
If it’s what they’re asking for, I’ll definitely give it to you, even if I’m dedicating myself to it.
As I was thinking that, Ella, who was holding my hand and listening to our conversation, asked cautiously.
“Brother, what are you talking about?”
I paused and met Ella’s eyes, who were looking at me with a worried look on her face. Ella, the only weakness left to me who thought I had nothing left.
My convictions and her hands are already stained with blood and vengeance, but what if she doesn’t want to avenge her? If it was Ella’s will, I would gladly give up my beliefs. But what about my children? If two beliefs collide, one side will inevitably see blood.
But as if there was no need to worry, Ella gave me strength and held my hand tightly, smiling as if it were okay.
“… Bro i’m fine Have you been struggling a lot? You can do whatever you want.”
You can do whatever you want, don’t you know what that means? I didn’t have to share my burden with Ella. She wanted to grow up in a good environment as much as she did, but humans have already crossed her line. If Ella is willing to bear my burdens with me, I will give her the best of her best effort in her unburdened line.
“… Okay.”
After holding Ella’s hand tightly and nodding her head in response, I turned around with a completely different expression.
“Are you okay too?”
Cassandra, who had returned unharmed, put Leon’s corpse in a sack and was trailing behind us.
Her eyes were shining brighter than she had ever seen when she was at a party. His expression was similar to that of a child who got a toy he wanted. Cassandra responded with a big nod of her head.
“Of course not. Anyway, no matter what happens to humans, it doesn’t matter to me. Because my research is the most important to me.”
‘Did you know that crazy bitch could make a face like that?’
Cassandra looked at the sack containing Leon’s body as if she were looking at her treasure, muttering about her future plans.
I knew I was out of my mind, but I didn’t know how to use a human corpse like that. But mental state didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was her ability, and now she has been quite helpful. After all the work is over, the children will decide how to finish it.
“Oh, by the way Rihanna?”
I haven’t seen it since I headed to the Demon Castle. Elia answered my question right away.
“Isn’t it guarding the house like a dog?”
“Really?”
In that case, it was fortunate. Frail, incapacitated personnel like Rihanna will not survive the war ahead. One-sided slaughter is expected rather than war, but an unexpected counterattack could come out. It would be a good choice for her too, to prolong her life by hiding herself before such a situation arises.
After a moment of silence, Ella opened her mouth again.
“You don’t have to break up anymore, do you?”
Seeing Ella looking up at me with her uneasy gaze, I lifted her up and rode her wooden horse with more strength than usual. I was taken aback for a moment, but soon I was relieved to see Ella smiling brightly. On the one hand, I couldn’t forgive the people who put such an enormous burden on a child who knew how to smile brightly.
“Of course not. From now on, we will be together for the rest of our lives.”
Rihanna was the first to greet me when I returned home with a sleeping Ella. As if to prove that nothing had happened while I was away, her clothes and face were quite neat.
However, she was holding something in her hand with a very angry expression.
“Why?”
Rihanna gave her a snort of bemusement and raised her voice as she held out the object in her hand to me.
“Why?! Now that word comes out!? What the hell are you doing outside! He said he would come back only to find his brother!”
As Rihanna raised her voice, Elia, who was behind me, sneaked forward. Rihanna hesitated for a moment when she saw that, but this time she carried on with her words as if she couldn’t bend.
“I don’t know anymore! Look at this!”
What she held out to me was a small crystal ball. The blue crystal ball had light inside, and as soon as it came up on my palm, it naturally started sending out a scene.
“What is this?”
“I was resting at home and the villagers gave it to me. It’s something from the outside, and I think we have to see it.”
I kept my mouth shut and fixed my eyes again on the scene Rihanna gave me.
I saw two familiar faces there.
Olivia and Helga. The two of them were destroying villages and countries of humans without any hesitation, and behind them there was a group of humans gathering and giving speeches.
Olivia shoots an arrow into the air, and the various monsters derived from the arrow are literally a disaster. Even while destroying human habitation, they did not stop their speech. Again, more strength was received, and the words were gaining strength.
“How long do I have to suffer like this! Now is the time to stand up and defend our lives! If all continents, all countries, and all cities unite, we will be able to stop it!”
The man standing on the podium and giving a speech was a face I had seen in newspapers from time to time.
Perhaps he was the one whom the now-dead Archbishop had put forward as his successor?
He was misleading people with the vague concept of religion. But for people in despair, nothing was as effective as that. It was to the point where I could feel people falling more and more into his words even through the video. After a needlessly long speech full of hope, such as finding happiness on their own, he finally posted a picture of someone and said as if emphasizing that this person is our main enemy.
And the subject of that photo was me.
This is absurd. Now that I am the enemy of mankind when I have sacrificed myself and made myself a victim? An evil that needs to be dealt with together?
That wasn’t the end.
The man called a woman to the stage.
It was a face I knew well.
Scarred Maria shed tears down her stained face and insulted me by maliciously editing what she had been through. All of these words are unfounded, but since they defined me as evil, those words were already true. There was no need to follow the defense. I became the scum of the world, and I was no more than a beast to be caught and killed.
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Rihanna said in a tone that she was tired of seeing me laughing at the video.
“Crazy. It’s all crazy! Maria, the people, and you too! Why did things get so big?”
She pleaded, almost crying. I said, patting her on the shoulder as if to comfort her.
“Rihanna, you won’t get hurt. If you’re scared, you can stay calm here.”
“Ain….”
“By the way….”
I’m sure the villagers also saw this video. Still, after handing this crystal ball to my colleague, Rihanna, and not saying anything so far….
I shook my head and said in a sigh.
“Really… Because they are just nice people. How nice it would be if everyone was like this.”
After I finished speaking, I broke the crystal ball in my hand and looked at the children as I wiped off the blood on my hand. They already knew what I was going to say. The look on his face filled with expectations should match his words.
“Have you had a hard time putting up with it? You don’t have to do that anymore.”
Hearing the words, Noah was already ready to run out with her eyes shining.
“Kill them all.”