173. A message of gratitude from the continent
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After some happenings, Doyun soon returned to the capital of Muspelheim.
The capital of Muspelheim is on the front line. The place where the battle with the demon king took place, right beyond the wall was the capital.
When I entered the capital, I saw a crowd. The rumor of Enoch’s return had reached the capital in such a short time, and people were swarming from the entrance.
“Hero, please come!”
An escort procession made up of knights stretched out in front and behind the horse he rode, paving the way.
It felt excessive to have knights who were not soldiers in the ceremonial escort, but none of the knights were dissatisfied. Because they were the ones who voluntarily drove out the soldiers who were supposed to be here. Even the competition was fierce.
In the end, the knights who won the honorable position of escorting the warriors walked on the floor with strength.
Dokgo Moo-yeong was also in Muspelheim’s royal castle, so he met Do-yoon and bowed his head.
He was now able to be polite to Do-yoon without paying attention to others.
“I heard you had an issue to deal with. Did you finish your business safely?”
“Well…”
Doyoon silently nodded. The old elf’s prophecy was not something to be talked about here and there.
Dokgo Moo-yeong took the horse’s reins and walked beside him.
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Just a few months ago, he was the second-in-command of the coalition, and he accompanied him by pulling the reins of someone else’s horse. However, it was not at all unnatural, and there were no eyes looking at it strangely. It was a very natural thing to think of a person riding on a horse.
another angle, another angle.
Iron gruck, iron gruck!
The sound of horses’ hooves and the rattling of ironclads echoed in moderation.
Doyoon looked around quietly in the middle of the slow procession.
I could see the walls that were slowly being reconstructed. People were living their lives vigorously, forgetting the fear of the black sky six months ago.
It wasn’t just the Marquis who was tiring him on the way to the capital. The lords and guild leaders of the roads he passed through clung to him.
However, after hearing the news, the King of Lions issued an unholy order to ‘don’t bother Enoch’ once, so it became much more comfortable.
‘I’m sorry.’
If it was 100 years ago, the subject of the fire command would have been Enoch himself, not the Lion King. However, Doyoon could not bear to be harsh with them this time.
It was different from 100 years ago, when he approached with the expectation of profit from his relationship with Enoch. Do-yoon felt that they were approaching them genuinely, ‘wanting to see the warrior’.
‘If the times had been peaceful, I would have slowly reciprocated…’
Naturally, Doyoon was also grateful for their kindness. But, as always, he didn’t have much time.
Champagne is never too late no matter how old you get. It was Enoch’s theory.
Even 100 years ago, he did not drink a toast even after winning a war, subjugating a corps commander, and defending the country. The complete salvation of the world always came first.
Still, in the past six months, Doyoon took a short break to tour the continent once. With Sophie’s help, it was a schedule that could be digested quickly.
Although there was a snobbish calculation to boost the morale of the coalition ahead of the massive northward march that was about to begin.
However, as he traveled around the continent and met people, he was gradually feeling something.
[Enoch has returned.]
This miraculous news spread across the continent. At first, people were dubious, but the big thing was to reverse summon the demon king in the return war.
There were too many eyewitnesses to be a coalition fabrication or incitement.
The capital of Muspelheim, which was separated from the battlefield by only one wall.
The sky turned black, the ground and air bruised, and the shock of war shook the earth. Everyone trembled with anxiety.
However, soon the sacred light illuminated the world, and the demon army withdrew.
The people of Muspelheim and surrounding cities, who witnessed the miracle, all testified to Enoch’s second coming.
Those in Muspelheim who have maintained their lives since 100 years ago. Even the very few people who had directly witnessed Enoch’s light 100 years ago supported him.
As years pass by, most of them are high-ranking officials who have firmly established themselves in coalitions and various organizations.
Among them were those who had a one-sided relationship with Enoch. Even though it was not a formal meeting, they just passed by, and even though it was a meeting 100 years ago, they remembered Enoch clearly.
When they faced Do-yoon again, they recognized him at a glance in front of everyone and knelt down and sobbed. This vivid scene was visualized and spread across the continent.
This scene was repeated as Doyun toured the continent. As time passed, the continent accepted his return.
And Doyoon met and felt many people who welcomed him.
“…”
Their cheers were very unfamiliar and surprising to Do-yoon, who had been through all sorts of experiences for 200 years.
“Yongta-nim, Yongta-nim!”
As he was lost in thought, he heard a voice calling him from the side of the procession.
Doyoon turned his head.
A little girl in a somewhat scruffy outfit. She was looking up at Doyoon, her eyes twinkling.
When our eyes met, the child stomped his feet in surprise.
“Yo, Yongta!”
Her undergrown front teeth poked out into a wide smile. She was a child at the most beautiful time in her life, when even her outward flaws and crude pronunciation came only as proof of her innocence.
However, such innocence was enough to stimulate Do-yun’s blood-stained trauma.
“…”
Doyoon, who had been looking at her quietly, tried to pass by. Bad memories haunted him.
However, the knights surrounding the horse stopped walking. It was after Dokgo Mu-young had already stopped the procession.
“Hero.”
He smiled softly and invited me to meet him. Doyoon’s brow flinched.
Dokgo Moo-yeong beckoned, and the soldiers who were opening the road opened the gap on their own. As the soldiers blocking my way retreated, the child realized what he meant and gasped with excitement. Through her senses, she felt her small heart beating.
Do-yoon’s view changed as he saw the child running fast, in case the hero’s mind was overturned.
He remembered his 13th life.
[Hero, Warrior!]
Slums in small cities, not in the capital. Her clothes were torn here and there, even more worn than the girl from before, and her front teeth were broken and not undergrown.
It was literally an era of war without a lion king and a castle wall to stand firm, a time when everyone was dying.
But the boy running towards Enoch was still innocent.
A guild member, whom he could no longer see, punched him in the back. Seeing his gesture with a big smile, Enoch smiled and approached the child. Unlike now, he was at a time when his emotions weren’t completely dead.
[Hero!]
Enoch picked up the child. The child laughed out loud.
A time when I didn’t even have a 7th sense. But through the hand between his armpits, he could feel the child’s small heart beating with excitement.
Enoch grinned.
[Is there anything you want to say to me?]
[No, sorry!]
[what? look at this! Then why did you run? Did you want to touch the sword?]
[no!]
The child smiled innocently and said.
[The black man gave Yongta bread when he went!]
Enoch’s expression hardened coldly.
Even without a super sense, he could feel the large fluctuations of mana in the child. He touched something hard through his armpit.
[Run away!!!]
Enoch locked the child in his arms and curled up on the floor.
aagh-!!
A huge explosion occurred.
When his lost consciousness returned, he saw his colleagues waking him up with blurry vision. The woman who whispered to him that she loved her last night was weeping.
It seemed to be shouting something, but I couldn’t hear it. It was full of beeps and tinnitus. The body of a human who was not a divine species was fragile.
Enoch left his motionless body and only rolled his eyes to look down.
His focus wasn’t on his left arm that had been cut off by the explosion, nor on his organs that had exploded.
Blood and flesh all over the front of the body. Pieces of old clothing pressed onto the melted armor. it belonged to a child.
[…]
Hot tears of blood flowed in the fading consciousness.
And the sight returned.
A girl was running towards him.
“…”
Doyoon, who hesitated, finally got off the horse. I flinched as I tried to stretch out my hands. I put my hand away and just got down on one knee and brought it to eye level.
heightened the senses. A beating little heart. The child was bare except for old clothes. There was nothing on the body. It was natural. It was a good confirmation.
“Yo, Yongta!”
He greeted the child with a dry smile.
“Is there anything you want to say to me?”
“yes!”
The child smiled innocently and said.
“I am more than impressed that you saved the world!”
Doyoon flinched.
Rarely, his eyes flickered.
“I am impressed! I am really impressed!”
The child shouted in succession as if the opportunity would never come again.
“…”
He was a person saved by Enoch, born and raised in the world that Enoch saved.
Champagne is never too late no matter how old you get. It was Enoch’s theory.
But the Continental people knew he was wrong.
The world is saved. However, the warrior who was to receive the cup of toast did not return in the end. It was too late to thank him.
The drink for the hero is a bottle of memorial wine that is sprinkled over an empty grave where not even the body has been recovered. There were only the tears of his colleagues, the women who loved him, and the people of the continent pouring down like a shower.
Doyoon stiffly turned his head and looked at Dokgo Mooyeong. Dokgo Moo-young smiled happily with a wrinkled face and nodded.
He, too, was one of those who failed to thank Enoch. So it was recommended to meet with the child.
Looking around, he saw citizens and knights looking at him. Everyone had the same expression as Dokgo Mu-yeong.
Around the time when the child, who was gasping for excitement and pouring out thanks, stopped talking in exhaustion.
Doyoon, who was silently looking at her, reached out and put her hand on her armpit. lifted her up The only things he could touch were the fabric and soft skin.
“Crackle!”
the child smiled Doyoon also smiled.
“Kyareuk, kyareuk!”
“Thank you.”
Doyoon accepted the child’s gratitude.
It was champagne to share with the world after 100 years.