The great mage who transcends by returning, episode 276
“…You have no face.”
An immortal monster called Draculion that we succeeded in subjugating after making countless sacrifices before returning.
At the end of it was an old man.
Staring at us with red bloodshot eyes, he lowered his head several times.
“My fault. I shouldn’t have shown my feelings so much. me me… …Ask the sins.”
Blood flowed from his bitten lips, but he blamed himself so much that he didn’t even notice.
…There were good reasons for that.
Had it gone as planned, it would have effectively cornered Draculion and neutralized him.
But because of his sudden action, everything was messed up.
It was a ploy to lure him into a ‘trap’ he had prepared in advance.
A trump magic circle that was somehow created by gathering scarce resources.
It was impossible to do it twice, so everyone tried to carry out the plan carefully.
yes even if… ….
Even in a situation where a terrible ‘sacrifice’ is the premise.
The problem was that Sir Richard’s sudden action blew that opportunity away.
“…It was something Sir Richard was not supposed to do. We just couldn’t use the ‘optimal number’ we had prepared.”
“I’m sorry….”
“All that remains is a war of attrition based on the premise of enormous sacrifice. Our expedition might be able to finish it, but… ….”
“I really have no face…I can’t imagine the sight… ….”
The appearance of gibberish that is not like that.
The circumstances when Sir Richard lost his temper are clear.
There were hostages.
Draculion showed a mother and daughter in front of all of us.
– Please save me!
– Please, my daughter… …!
It was a pitiful sight.
But these sights were everywhere.
It’s not that life isn’t precious… …A story that we all went through so much that we can make a decision without hesitation.
So everyone was silent.
She swallowed tears of blood and waited for the most ‘opportune time’.
Since he was a hostage in the first place, there was no law telling Draculion not to write some number on the mother and daughter.
Rather, it was Siegfried’s sudden action that worried him.
He’s done such nonsense countless times.
But I never thought that Sir Richard would act unexpectedly.
…It was really unexpected.
“For what reason did you do that? Sir, such a sight… …You’ve seen a lot.”
“…sorry.”
He didn’t say why he lost his temper until the end.
I just kept blaming myself.
Why is the commander of the Holy Knights under Heaven?
Could the great master have been pessimistic and despairing of himself in this way?
Why did he make the worst judgment at such an important moment?
I didn’t understand it at the time.
…yes at that time.
* * *
‘… …Was it like that?’
A sigh came out of my mouth.
If that was the reason, yes it could be. After all, he died twice.
As a husband and as a father.
The sight of ‘Draculion’ holding ‘mother and daughter’ as hostages would not have been something he could endure on his own.
no rather… ….
‘Being patient is strange.’
So, before returning, Sir Richard made a big mistake.
But now it’s different.
Unlike before returning, I annihilated Draculion right away.
In other words, the enemy no longer exists.
If it ended with that, it would be the best result, but when did the human mind become so arbitrary?
Draculion has a son.
Even a son who has the same ‘immortality’ as him.
“…Sir Richard would never tolerate the likes of us. Especially me… …I mean.”
“Did Sir Richard ask for your life?”
“no. To put it bluntly… …I was denying all the demon hunters who were summoned to this land by the order of the hero. but….”
Chepesch tilted his head.
“It seemed a bit confusing. Rather than acting on a clear conviction, should I say that I was swept away by something?”
“…Hmm.”
Then Siegfried said.
“I judged that the captain’s thoughts were wrong.”
“So you had a fight with him?”
“Yes of course…Um, it would be a lie if I said I didn’t collide forcefully at all.”
“…force?”
I looked at Siegfried at the sudden, unexpected words.
“Wait you…Did you come all the way here after sword fighting with Sir Richard?”
“Yes, the Holy Knights aren’t easy in the first place, so you have to do that to get kicked out.”
“….”
“Haha, if I was blinded by the captain anyway, would I be able to eat more if I stayed in the Knights?”
this guy… …A lot has changed.
Beyond the symbol of stubbornness, a guy who was literally inflexible like a golem has changed so much… ….
“So you came out after really fighting with a sword?”
“Oh, of course, it wasn’t that they went wild like that in Kyokuguk, but on the way there….”
“Well done anyway.”
If I had just hesitated next to the leader this time, I would have just punched him in the face… ….
what didn’t you do That’s it.
“haha.”
At my words, Siegfried smiled brightly and scratched his head.
“It is really unexpected. I never thought I would hear such a thing from Mikhail… ….”
“I do when I praise.”
The reason why it was thick until then was that this guy was no different from before returning.
Otherwise, there’s no reason to treat him with a sharp attitude.
whatever
“The important thing is that Sir Richard hasn’t given up yet… ….”
“So far, I haven’t seen anything too drastic. Of course, I think that is only a matter of time.”
“One problem is that the ‘identity’ of Lord Chepes is not known to the public.”
“…Yes it is.”
Chepesch definitely contributed a lot to the process of defeating Draculion.
He did not indulge in evil, and at the same time, he never sympathized with his father.
A person worthy of respect.
However, apart from that, the fact that he is the son of Draculion in the eyes of those who don’t know anything can never be seen as a positive factor.
“Sir Chepes, sir, isn’t he the ‘talent’ I specially recruited from the outside and governing the territory?”
“…That’s right.”
“And it was in that situation that Sir Richard found out the identity of Sir Cepes.”
At my words, Chepesch nodded with a heavy expression.
I turned my head.
“Either Sir Siegfried Richard revealed this to the church….”
“It wasn’t.”
Siegfried shook his head.
“Because you seem to want to finish this job on your own, Captain. I also used the expression ‘personal matter’.”
“In other words, Sir Richard himself wants to put an end to this incident personally.”
I thought for a moment about what I remembered about Sir Richard.
As I recall, he must have already realized that he was going astray.
Ironically, however, people’s emotions are arbitrary.
It may be that even though he is aware of it, he does not stop using his beliefs and principles as a shield.
“Hero, if our existence becomes a hindrance… ….”
“I have said it many times, but I need you. That’s why I gathered them here.”
“….”
“Besides, Sir Richard is not doing this simply because of his straight ‘conviction’.”
Yes, the Sir Richard I remember was not like this.
After the plan collapsed, he constantly blamed himself and struggled to somehow pay for his sins.
If so, it would never be good for Sir Richard to let things go their way.
“What are you going to do?”
Siegfried asked me.
how… ….
To be honest, I didn’t have a big plan for Sir Richard’s sudden action.
Of course, this isn’t a matter of planning.
I sighed lightly and responded to his words.
“…What can I do?”
I don’t know anything else, but it’s not like a rational plan that can solve this conflict.
Emotion…
Yes, you have to tap on your emotions.
“Do you have any Siegfried apples?”
“I don’t have any. Why all of a sudden….”
“Give me Bring some.”
At my words, Siegfried’s expression became quite subtle.
“…What’s in the apple?”
“Emotion.”
I said with a smile.
After all, there is no other fruit that suits the sensibility like an apple.
* * *
He still remembers.
A wife and daughter who died without even closing their eyes after being swept away by the disaster called Draculion… ….
They were trembling in pain all the way.
‘…travel.’
If I had known in advance, I would have prevented it by any means.
What he saw in front of him when he felt strange and visited him… ….
“All you….」
It was the image of a wife and daughter whose bodies were rotting alive.
Richard is not stupid.
Even if he hadn’t noticed the signs, he quickly deduced who the ‘culprit’ was in the situation of his wife and daughter.
Count Draculion.
Until then, he had made a name for himself as a benevolent lord, but… ….
yes he is
He immediately notified the Church and subdued Draculion.
But that does not mean that the lost daughter and wife will return.
He lost the right to be someone’s father and someone’s husband that day.
“….”
He was standing in front of a modest tomb.
Contrary to the appearance that there is nothing special, it is faithfully managed.
Whenever he thought of it, he would offer flowers to his wife and daughter who died here.
Tears don’t come out.
Not only did she become thin a long time ago, but she also knew that she didn’t deserve it.
“…Hehe, I couldn’t even finish off the enemy with my own hands. I couldn’t completely destroy it.”
What would you like to do?
Is what you are doing right now?
no that’s right
It should be right.
Aren’t the things in that land the seeds that can become that ‘Draculion’?
He respects what the hero does, but not this.
How many times had he been there with such a dark expression on his knees like that?
“…Isn’t it about time you left?”
He said that without even looking back.
then that moment.
“This is true.”
Light footsteps are heard along with a relaxed voice.
Slowly Richard got up.
Guess who it was.
I thought there was only one person in this situation who would approach him so suddenly.
“Hero.”
He turned around with those words.
Then, a young man with blond hair and red eyes was looking at him with a light smile.
Hero Mikhail Walpurgis.
“Nice to meet you, Sir Richard.”
He bowed his head and said hello.
* * *
Is this how the ‘real’ Sir Richard felt?
Before returning, Sir Richard rarely spoke of his true feelings… ….
Prior to that, he was a faithful follower of the church and an honorable and brave paladin.
But what about now?
Now he just looked at me with dark sunken eyes.
‘Can this also be said to be the result of my change?’
As I annihilated Draculion, he lost his sense of purpose in an instant.
The existence he had regarded as his lifelong enemy evaporated in an instant.
The emptiness he felt at that moment.
perhaps…hopelessness.
The reason he traveled all over the world must have been to destroy Draculion with his own hands.
However, all of that became meaningless in an instant.
He’ll want to find ‘purpose’ again. A human being is an animal that cannot live without a goal.
“How did you find this place?”
“Sir Siegfried gave me a word. I was quite worried about you.”
“…Useless wandering.”
He let out a small sigh and muttered that, then asked me.
“The reason the hero came….”
“How about coming to see the leader as the commander of the Holy Knights?”
“It doesn’t look that way.”
“That is true. In fact, I didn’t know until recently that Sir Richard was here.”
I said that and placed the apple I brought in front of the grave.
“that….”
Sir Richard’s eyes widened.
I guess so. Because this apple is the fruit both mother and daughter liked.
Before returning, he did not say anything about the end of his wife and daughter, but he did mention that they both liked apples.
As if passing by, very briefly.
“The apples are delicious. It is one of my favorite fruits.”
“….”
He didn’t answer my words.
I just stare at the apple in front of the grave with complicated eyes.
After a while he said
“If you’re not rude, hero, can that knight, Richard, give you a piece of advice?”
“Tell me.”
“The seeds sown by Draculion must be removed.”
he said with conviction.
“Immortality itself is evidence of reverse heaven and is an act of denying God. It means that whether he wanted it or not, Chepeshu Draculion became ‘an existence that shouldn’t exist’.”
“….”
“It is a seed that may turn into a great disaster. I consider it against God to harbor it.”
He diligently explained how ominous Tepesh was and what a menacing and terrifying monster Draculion was.
I listened to it quietly.
And when he finished speaking.
“Sir Richard.”
“…yes.”
I slowly got up and asked him.
“Think of that now. Is it God’s will or honor’s will?”
“that….”
Sir Richard’s expression darkened at my words.
It means that you are not sure of your current meaning.
I saw him before the regression.
Was he happy or satisfied after annihilating Draculion?
It doesn’t matter if revenge is meaningful or not.
wanted it or didn’t want it.
The culprit, Draculion, has disappeared.
he has to admit that
okay.
“Can you tell me, Sir Richard?”
I will make it.
