141 – Epilogue (1)
#Eternity.
“… ….”
The palace was filled with commotion.
“Come here quickly! “There are still traces of magic here!”
A corner of the hallway where the outer wall collapsed, revealing the inside.
A man wearing a simple white priest’s uniform shouted at her colleagues.
“What? Really? Really?”
The magic of a high-ranking devil that shook the capital.
When the priest said that he had found evidence of an incident that had now disappeared without a trace, the people who had been resting and chatting ran to him.
“Strange? Surely there was nothing left when we found it?”
“That’s right, that’s right. When we found it, there was definitely nothing there. “Didn’t I see it wrong?”
“Yekki! These people. Have you been deceived? Instead, look at this picture here.”
“It’s just a blank picture?”
“It’s just an empty picture.”
“Uh huh, don’t the noblemen who are as much as priests of the religious sect notice this? Isn’t this an entrance and not just a picture? “It looks like we found an entrance to a place similar to the one where we were trapped before.”
“No. “It just seems like an empty picture.”
“I didn’t really feel any demonic energy──,”
“Uh-huh! “These people, though!”
Proud(?) Priests of the Telmere Church who were released as soon as Arnhill’s power ran out.
They stood in a circle in the middle of the collapsed hallway and began a heated debate, saying things like am I right or are you right?
“Didn’t you make a mistake again?”
“I’ll bet a gold coin, all my money, that it’s a false bridge.”
“…… “What on earth do you normally do for a living? All you have is one gold coin?”
“Then how much is your entire wealth to say such things?”
“Why does the story suddenly take a different turn? “Weren’t you talking about demonic magic?”
“Weren’t you talking about whether it is right or not to receive salary while detained?”
“What kind of nonsense is that? “So you wanted to get paid for doing nothing?”
“Is this picture the real entrance?”
“Then why don’t you open that entrance yourself!”
“How can I use magic when I’m not the devil?”
Priests who suddenly get paid to investigate traces of magic and tell trivial stories about things like Manet.
“… ….”
Hmm. In a way, I left behind those who were truly consistent.
I am in the process of getting out of the collapsed hallway and taking a few steps.
──Krrr.
“Look at these! Is it real? “Is it real?”
In the middle of the palace’s backyard, there is a large, white fountain.
The appearance of a black dragon, wrapping its elongated body around the entire fountain and lashing out roughly, caught my eye.
“Well, that is. Is it evil? “Is it the devil?”
“The demonic energy I feel is unusual. For that reason, isn’t it okay even under the sun? “By any chance, is that the high-ranking devil?”
“If it is truly a high-ranking devil…” “Shouldn’t we eradicate it instead of just watching it like this?”
“I don’t care if it’s evil or not. Rather than that, isn’t the problem the question of how that lowly guy got on top of the dragon? “Maybe I went up there by mistake and can’t come down.”
“Someone falls off! Who’s stupid! “On the subject of babies who have never been used!”
Enin Kaitel, the church’s special Heretic Inquisitor, boasts an extremely bizarre hairstyle.
For some reason, she was riding on the back of a large dragon and raising her nose to the fullest.
“Hmph! Do you know about the duties of a special Heretic Inquisitor? This dragon? Don’t be surprised, that high-ranking evil that Julius and I caught together───,”
I went one step further and tried to show off by twitching the corners of my mouth with my hands on my hips.
─Julius!!!! How dare you make me like this! One day, I will definitely chew off your head and eat it! With my f*cking sister!
“───Kk! “Use your tongue, use your tongue!”
I ended up chewing my tongue at the roar of the dragon, which reacted violently to the name ‘Julius’.
It was truly pathetic to see him struggling desperately to keep from falling off the dragon’s back even while he was in tears.
“There are so many different things.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but… Can’t we just go back to the countryside? I’m embarrassed.”
“I was punished because I lied without even putting saliva in my mouth.”
Maybe that’s why, even though the dragon, presumed to be a high-ranking devil, appeared, most of the Heretic Questioners surrounding Enin just clicked their tongues as they looked at Enin’s pitiful appearance.
Even if he somehow succeeded in riding a dragon, Enin is still just Enin.
─Ennin, should I at least hold your hand? If a grown woman were to be rude outside, it would be the end of the world.
─Si, it’s noisy! Who was scared!
─…… No one said they were scared.
“Is it all over now?”
That noisy scene.
A small muttering to himself came out of the man’s mouth as he silently looked at the palace, which had shaken off the gloom and started to regain its vitality.
A man wearing a neat brown suit rather than the priestly uniform he usually wears.
He had tired eyes that did not match his youthful appearance. His name was Erman, Saint Erman Lionelta.
“It’s not that bad.”
Even though he could see the end of a long, long finale with his own eyes, Erman’s impressions were dry.
A brief sentiment flowed from Erman’s mouth after confirming that his daughter was no longer in the palace.
“Has the worst been avoided?”
…… In the end, it seems the child chose to remain a devil.
In place of the broken sky of the main god, ‘Cesil’s sky’ is blocking the surging void.
Erman could not help but smile bitterly after seeing through the true face of “Ancilla,” Cecil’s familiar who was deceiving everyone by pretending to be the sun on one side of the high sky.
In the end, he failed.
The predestination that Cecil would become a devil could not be changed in the end.
Even now, when the limitations have been acknowledged and the future that Cecil hopes for has been embraced.
Ermann was still immersed in regret and remorse.
“Uh-huh, is this someone?”
In the midst of blaming his own insufficiency and weakness and mulling over his failure.
“Aren’t you a saint of the Telmere Church whose face is harder to see than His Majesty the King?”
No, now… Am I a saint?
From behind me, I heard a very familiar voice.
Glance. Looking behind her, an elderly man with slightly disheveled white hair that was neatly swept away caught her eye.
Special Priest Brukin.
He is the adoptive father of the damn wolf cub who defiled his precious daughter.
“Relax your expression. “What is that look on your face when you see a friend you haven’t seen in a long time?”
And once, when he was serving as an inquisitor for the Nama heresy, he was a comrade who had his back.
Ermann’s mouth slowly opened as he met the gaze of the special priest who was smiling slyly, not befitting his elderly age.
“Is he still in the capital? “It doesn’t seem like there’s anything special for you to do.”
“Hmm? I’m not here because I have any special work to do. Actually, right? What’s wrong with saying things like this at this age… “I’m running away from home.”
Running away from home? Erman’s eyebrows slightly furrowed at the special priest’s words, which were beyond strange to bizarre.
“At a bar in Kente Village… Her name is Woman of the Wheat Field. Well, I sent you a credit invoice. What? She had no money and had to deal with her debt. So──,”
“… ….”
“Stop, she handed over all of her 5000 silver credit to Priest Emily and ran away. “Thanks to this, she couldn’t even properly see the face of the wife of the famous inquisitor Julius Tapnel.”
“…… “You are still the same.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought of Emily who had to bear the cost of 5000 silver.
“How is Emily doing?”
She took a moment to think about the face of the girl who always had a sullen expression on her face, and the face of the young priestess who was poking her newborn baby’s cheek for no reason.
Ermann asked Brukin how Emily was doing.
Fortunately, Erman now had some time to worry about someone other than his daughter.
“She used to get along well. “Now you can’t live because of me.”
Brookin chuckled, thinking of Emily, who must be having a hard time with her huge sum of 5000 silver.
“Looks like you’re having fun.”
“Ha! Emily Priest might be having fun. But from my perspective, seeing the church together is a terrible experience.”
When she said something cliché like ‘I’m glad you seem to be having fun,’ the special priest immediately made her snort and shake his head.
“Every day, I look at the mirror and ask, ‘Do I have any wrinkles? ‘Do you look old?’ She muttered, and it almost made me throw a tantrum.”
My hair is getting thinner day by day.
It seems that, unlike himself, this elderly man does not worry about her hair throughout her life and has a lot of complaints about her older brother, Emily.
“You know what? “In my lifetime, I have seen a woman who made a pact with the devil because she wanted to become young again, but Priest Emily was the first woman who deliberately smoked cigarettes because she wanted to grow old.”
“…… The power given by God always brings loss to humans.”
In response to Emily’s strange wish to ‘grow old’, which was different from other women, Erman bitterly opened her mouth.
“He always gives something and takes something away.”
‘A middle-aged woman with a dangerous vibe.’
Emily will never be able to achieve her wish, which she has always wanted since she was a child.
“I’ve never wanted anything like that.”
Yes, things from God are always like this.
Even though she didn’t want it, she does something and takes something away as she pleases.
“…… Never.”
Is it because the author, God, is also an imperfect being?
Or is it because he is a perfect being, omniscient and omnipotent?
“That’s right, that’s right. I always pour holy water every night and pray for my hair to return, but all I get back is the cold night wind. “I just hope that my hair that the wind took away has gone to a good place.”
“… ….”
Although he was lost in useless thoughts for a moment, Brookin was still making silly jokes.
Bingbing. Seeing his friend’s unwillingness to get to the point, Erman narrowed his eyes and sighed.
“…… Ha. Please stop talking nonsense. So? “Why are you bothering me so much?”
He pointed to the main palace in the distance, where the sound of a song could be heard.
“Do you want to take revenge on me for abetting my younger brother’s death?”
King, Mains von Lyriam.
The main palace was literally turned upside down when the body of the king, who had been murdered by Arnhill in the princess’s body, was discovered.
And now the man in front of me was the king’s brother, who had turned into something like a rotten mummy.
It wouldn’t be surprising if he came for revenge.
So… ….
“If you want to kill, kill. “I have already achieved my goal.”
Although it was a lesser evil, it succeeded in granting Cecil what she wanted. He returned his daughter to the seat next to Julius that she had longed for.
There is no more leisure left in life.
So, it wouldn’t be a bad choice to end my life here.
“That son of a b*tch deserved to die. Even if you killed me yourself instead of the devil who arbitrarily took my sister’s body. “I wouldn’t have said anything.”
But unfortunately, Ermann in his younger days lived his life too well.
Brookin, the dead king’s only brother, could only spit and mutter, ‘It’s a shame I couldn’t kill that rotten bastard with my own hands.’
“A dog blinded by power, I don’t care if I die or not. Rather, what I want to say is… Ha, indeed…. Well, that’s not what I want to say.”
“Then something.”
“…… Ha. Elania. “I mean Elania.”
It seems like it’s difficult to talk about.
A woman’s name popped out of Brookin’s mouth as he continued to scratch his head.
An unfortunate princess who died at the hands of her own brother, the current King of Mines.
Erman’s eyebrows twitched slightly at the name of Jeongin, who stole Eerman’s heart when he was young.
“A devil who took over the capital at will. The devil who made a contract with you. The name is…….”
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“You mean Arnhill?”
“Yes, that devil. Raynel said it would be sealed soon. “Sore.”
“…… “Has something major gone wrong with the seal?”
If so, it is a big deal.
As long as Arnhil’s wish is for ordinary love, she will constantly and persistently try to take Cecil’s body from her.
“No, you said the sealing itself would be very smooth. Lionelta will also join, so there shouldn’t be any problem. But the problem is, the devil… “They say he’s in Elania’s body and has no intention of coming out.”
“…… “It looks like they chose me again as the last rope.”
It is obvious why he does not give up on the fragile body of the maiden until the very end.
He will revive Erman’s love, but in return, he will ask you to take him and run away.
It is a truly shallow trick until the very end.
“First of all, I summoned the Holy Sword. Raynell asked me to ask about your intentions.”
“…… What?”
“Method of sealing. ‘There is no need to use old, outdated methods. ‘A method using complete mimicry is also possible.'”
Perfect mimicry.
A clever tactic of those who long to fill the endless void within themselves.
The survival method of high-ranking demons is infinitely close to reviving the dead.
“… ….”
I see.
Just like Julius got Cecil back.
Me too. Can I get the woman I loved back?
Erase Arnhill, my most terrible enemy, and regain my old love.
Definitely. That wouldn’t be bad either.
“… ….”
But that’s it.
It’s not the best, it’s just the next best thing.
There is no need to choose it.
“I know very well. “You and Julius too.”
With a confused smile, Brookin slowly opened his mouth.
It seems that this old priest, not worthy of his age, wants to provide salvation to his close friend.
Even though he didn’t say a word like it was necessary.
This is truly a man who looks just like God.
“… ….”
“You know what? You may not like it, but you and Julius are very similar. Just like Julius lost his wife and everything. Didn’t you too lose Elania and everything about her? So──,”
“Don’t try to use the devil. “It’s an old verse from the Bible.”
Anyway, the backstory is obvious. There’s no need to listen any more.
Ermann cut off Brukin’s words, repeating an old Bible verse about not trying to use the devil.
“…… Anyway, do I erase the devil’s ego or seal the devil’s body? “The result of sealing is the same.”
“… ….”
“No, if you choose the former, the dead person will come back to life, so the benefit is greater.”
“It’s a benefit…… “If you really think so, then do so.”
Definitely. What the special priest said is correct.
No matter which side you choose, if the existence of Arnhill becomes powerless forever.
His ego. Color. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to paint it with the princess’s colors.
Someone other than yourself.
If you achieve your wishes with your own strength.
That would also be a refreshing revenge on the guy who killed my daughter.
But that is just revenge.
It is too cruel to be called salvation.
Not to Arnhill, but to myself.
“…… You seem skeptical about bringing Jeongin back to life. No, you don’t like it?”
Brookin said to Ermann, who turned his back and started walking as if he had nothing more to do.
“That’s right. I don’t want to get my lover back like Julius. Well, if you want your sister back. “I won’t stop you.”
Feeling the cold winter wind blowing from the other side with my whole body.
Ermann nodded slowly.
“It’s okay, man. I have already buried that child deep in my heart. Unless you want to. “I don’t have any intention of digging into that.”
Brookin laughed as if he was laughing at Erman’s indifferent words and made a couple of small gestures.
Anyway, he was a faithful priest of the Telmere Church.
Recommending the resurrection of the dead was nothing more than consideration for my friend.
“If that’s the case. “Teach me just one thing, just one thing.”
The sky was high and the pine needles were green.
It’s already quite a distance away.
Brookin’s voice was still clear, as if it was ringing right behind me.
“Then, for the sake of old times, I will turn a blind eye and not arrest you this time.”
“At some point, you said you wouldn’t be punished for your crimes. “He talks like a devil and says this and that.”
Julius I was wondering who he resembles with a loud voice. Was that guy the culprit?
In order to escape from here safely, I think I need to add a few more words to this annoying conversation.
“Earlier, you used your personal divine power several times to get Jeongin back.”
The young Erman, who had the power to turn back time, wanted to get Jeong-in back.
“You broke several taboos that even your beloved wife, Julius, did not break.”
“It was just a ploy from my youth.”
Even breaking the religious order’s rules that strictly prohibit the resurrection of the dead. He even tried to make a contract with the devil.
“But why are you giving up now? The wish I had longed for so long. “It rolled right in front of me by itself, didn’t it?”
If Erman looked at himself now when he was young. What can they say?
He would probably grab his collar and shake it like crazy, with his eyes wide open like a madman.
‘Why… Why aren’t you saving Elania? Why!’
“There was a time like that.”
Yes, there were times like that.
“…… Do you know that, Brookin? “There are countless desires in the world.”
Pine trees are still green even as winter approaches.
Carefully touching the pine needles that will remain green forever until the moment my life ends.
Ermann smiled slightly.
“The lust to embrace a beautiful woman. A materialistic desire to spend a lot of gold coins. The appetite to eat all kinds of delicacies. “Everyone lives with different desires.”
“Hey Yeongtaeng, here we go again. “Do you have a disease that will kill you if you don’t make it difficult to speak?”
Brookin, who hates abstract things, grunted softly.
“Ten people, ten colors. Everyone is different. Even the desire deep inside.”
“… ….”
“But just one thing. Even among countless colors, there is something that never loses its shine. “That’s right.”
“Speak louder! “I’m so deaf that I can’t hear much anymore!”
“It’s a longing for eternity.”
Suddenly. As she removed a single, magnificently grown pine needle from a branch, Erman lowered her voice even lower.
It’s like……
Like whispering to yourself.
“Nothing in this world can last forever.”
Looking at the lifeless pine needles, Erman whispered.
“The love I have for Jeong-in is worth giving up my heart for. The covenant that said that love would last forever. “In front of time, everything becomes a lie.”
The self when you were young and the self you are now are different.
The old covenant that said I would love only you forever has long since degenerated into a trivial lie.
“Because it cannot last forever. People long for eternity. Even though I knew it was a promise I couldn’t keep, I tried to look away. I keep reminding myself that I am just as special. “I’m talking about an eternity that I can’t protect.”
“But sometimes there are those who make promises they cannot keep. Very occasionally. Someone special appears. “They do true eternity, something ordinary people would never be able to do.”
Erman’s heart toward his lover may have cooled, but Julius’s heart toward his wife never cooled.
“Those who have seen the impossible bloom of eternity fall into two categories. Those who are jealous of the eternity they do not have and try to break it.”
Erman’s love, which seemed like it would last forever, collapsed so easily in the face of time.
But his daughter.
Even if I forgot myself and was trapped in eternity.
The love did not cool down.
I did not lose love.
Rather than losing love, it burned even brighter.
“That eternity. “The one who wants to protect.”
“… ….”
“I’m just a criminal, Brookin. “I couldn’t truly keep my words like Julius, and I couldn’t run forever toward love like my cute daughter.”
“…… Erman.”
“The most I could do was to bridge eternity between the two. “Even that was almost ruined by the old man’s stubbornness.”
“… ….”
“Yes, I am a sinner. You have committed a sin that cannot be washed away. However, I don’t want her to find out that what I said was a lie. “I don’t want people to know that when I was young, I was just a criminal.”
“That’s…… “Isn’t this already love for that child?”
“No, not really.”
Hearing Brukin’s attempt to give ‘it’ the name love, Ehrman shook his head.
“It’s just the self-satisfaction of a shabby old man. The love that most criminals practice is… It’s an illusion. “You just don’t realize it was an illusion until you live.”
But I’ve lived so long that I realized it was an illusion.
That’s all. Brookin.
*
Trug─
Trug─
Ending with a bittersweet confession.
The man who was once a saint moved away toward the horizon.
“…… Erman.”
That back.
It seemed too unsightly to be the back of her father, who had succeeded in giving his daughter her best gift.
I want to give you something worthwhile to say.
“…… Oh my!”
Brookin, who was desperately squeezing and squeezing his hair, which had long since hardened from alcohol, was right! He slapped his palm.
“Why is there no eternity? “You have one too!”
I struggled to think of something worthwhile to say to a close friend after a long trip.
No, it might be correct to say that I concocted it rather than thought of it.
“…… ?”
Ermann’s head slightly turned to the side as he heard Brukin’s words, as he held his pace again, as if he wasn’t tired of it.
His face, slowly revealed under the warm sunlight, was painted with fatigue, regret, and a little self-destruction.
“… “That story is already over.”
“No! There’s still one left! “The eternity you have.”
Brookin shouted loudly with a smile like a mischievous boy inappropriate for his age.
“…… “Is there such a thing?”
“There it is! “Think about it carefully!”
Hearing Brukin say that he too has ‘eternity’, Ehrmann’s eyebrows narrowed.
I tried to think about him again and again in my head.
After all, eternity. There is no reason to be there.
Because it is too brilliant for something like a normal bone to be possessed…….
“You idiot must have been mistaken. “I am just a criminal.”
Concluding that the special priest’s words were an illusion, Erman shook his head.
“No! “There is a lot of eternity that even ordinary people can have.”
What is that? Before the words could come out of his mouth, Brookin’s mouth opened first.
“Father’s love is also wonderful and eternal.”
“… ….”
“Look. You have it too, right? “A love that never cools down.”
“… ….”
I see.
It was just a short word.
“Has it happened to me too?”
…… Forever.
However, those short words saved a man named Erman.
Trug─
Trug─
“Where are you going? “If you hear such wonderful words, shouldn’t you at least pay money based on common sense?”
Brookin’s eyes grew as big as moons as he internally praised himself, saying that he thought it was really cool.
I thought you would shed tears and say thank you.
Isn’t that rotten old man still calmly walking away into the beyond?
“Money is a long way to go. “There is so much to do, there is no way to slow down.”
How long has it been since the job was finished? Are you busy already?
“Unlike you, who leisurely passes the debt on to a young woman and then runs away from home, I am very busy.”
“What is it?”
Brookin’s brow furrowed at Ermann’s disgraceful words, which instead of expressing gratitude, only spewed out bitter remarks.
“Why are you busy? He’s not even a saint anymore! “Why are you so busy talking about a kite that has lost its string!”
“No. I’m busy. To climb the mountain of Elgarore before winter passes. “I have to hurry on my way from now on.”
Elgarore? Elgarore, the tallest in the world?
“Why do you suddenly and strangely want to go to Elgarore?”
Brookin, who was about to rush over and hit that nasty old man in the back of the head, asked as if it were ridiculous.
Whenever you act like a dying corpse, I wonder what kind of sign you suddenly want to go hiking.
“The summit of Elgarore, the closest to the sky. “They say there is a mysterious ice cap there that will never melt.”
I’m going to need it to make my cute daughter’s wedding ring.
“…… Her. “I am indeed.”
He heads to Elgarore to make his daughter’s wedding ring.
I looked at the saint’s back as he walked away, leaving behind only those words. Brookin laughed as if he was shocked.
“Gold is enough. “Who goes looking for the ultimate treasure to make a wedding ring?”
He looked listless, so I tried to comfort him a little. Far from being low on energy, I seem to be full of energy.
“He is truly crazy. “He’s crazy.”
She shook her head and turned around.
Anyway, this is a guy that would turn a blind eye to any daughter. How on earth did I send my in-laws… ….
I was walking towards the palace with a big smile on my face.
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Food-deuk──.
Brookin’s eyes naturally turned to the sound of wings flapping above his head.
Caw─ Caw─
Follow the long stone wall road leading outside the palace.
A small crow flies, flapping its wings vigorously.
As if following Ehrman.
“Huh. Fortunately, the journey won’t be lonely.”
The special priest, who easily realized that the flying crow was the familiar of a powerful demon, shrugged his shoulders.
Fortunately, it seems that Erman is not hated by his cute daughter.
“Have a nice trip. Erman.”
…… Or not.
“I hope your daughter doesn’t like the wedding cake made from eternal ice more than you do.”
I will pray hard to my God.