275. The result is only loss (1)
The monster plant caught the heroes off guard and pierced the chests of those who had targeted Deon with its stem.
While the startled heroes were on guard, Deon glanced at Ben and Dan, then calmly removed his hand from his knee and stood up. The heroes who quickly approached Lindel as if they had pushed him out of sight after the conversation a little while ago, took him back, but they only glanced at him and did not take any action.
“Why are you so late?”
The red eyes that had been watching the monster plant running wild as if it was burning its last flame for a moment turned towards Ben and Dan.
It’s definitely a dry look and tone, but it seems like there’s a vague sense of resentment for some reason, so Dan narrows his eyes and Ben immediately lowers his head. A loud voice rang out just as it did when he appeared.
“sorry!”
“Because you have Ben’s necklace, you wouldn’t have known my location. Why?”
Only then did Dan open his mouth.
“Rweche’s troops were more persistent than I thought.”
“…Not the Empire or Esperanes, but Rweche?”
“It might have taken longer if the commander over there hadn’t been contacted in between.”
“If it’s communication… that’s probably it.”
“yes.”
News that Rweche was attacked.
Looks like Ed did his job right. Deon nodded slightly.
“He seemed quite embarrassed.”
“Well… I guess I didn’t expect you to make a move right away.”
“It was definitely a quick response.”
Even though it may not be perfect punishment, it certainly seems to have succeeded in getting them screwed. Dan slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
[What on earth is this…!]
The guy’s face comes to mind, a mixture of confusion, betrayal, and anger. I don’t know, but it seems like it was clearly reported that the Demon King’s army attacked using the border of the Taehon Kingdom. Aside from his confused feelings, as if he was not a commander for no reason, he showed the judgment to immediately gather his troops and return.
Dan, who was reflecting on the situation at that time for a moment, suddenly felt the wind passing by and raised his eyes. Ben, who seemed to have been waiting for Deon’s mood to calm down, rushed out in an instant and began examining Deon’s physical condition.
A voice dripping with worry was heard.
“Deon, are you okay?! The signal is…!”
“are you okay.”
“It looks like there are no injuries, but… his complexion is not good. I need to check… the intruder…”
Ben’s eyes were focused on a certain place.
Lindel, who felt the eyes on me from behind the heroes, gritted his teeth.
‘No wonder the demons are coming now.’
The basis of this plan is to refrain from clashes between heroes and demons.
‘…That’s just one thing.’
This side has gathered heroes to hunt down the hero.
They have already lost a large number in the process of clashing with the warrior, and the remaining number is decreasing as they deal with plant-type monsters, but it is not to the point where they cannot do anything with the addition of one demon.
‘Other than this time, there is no chance.’
Too many troops were lost. If we go back to failure like this, resignation will sprout in the hearts of mankind. Everyone is probably too tired to make any promises for the next time.
He placed his hand on the dagger stuck in his shoulder. A cold smile appeared on his lips.
I know very well that this is the last mercy and warning, but we are in a position from which we cannot back down.
“Everyone ignores me and attacks….”
Quack!!
Two spears flew in succession and stuck in front of my feet. Lindel reflexively closed his mouth and then frowned.
‘Oh, right.’
There were more hidden helpers.
The gaze follows the place where the spear flew, wanders around, and is fixed on a certain place with the help of the heroes. The heroes said that he had his hood pressed down, but I don’t know that, but I knew that something that looked like a dot was the person who threw the spear, so I couldn’t help but sigh.
‘…It was thrown with this much force from that distance.’
This is impossible unless you are another demon or a hero.
It’s hard to deal with just the warriors, but there’s even long-distance support from plant-type monsters. As I was contemplating whether to retreat or push forward in a situation that was going against me, the hero standing next to me spoke up.
“We must retreat.”
“….”
“The troops, which were already insufficient, are being further reduced by monsters. And more than anything, if things continue like this, it will become difficult to fight while protecting Lindel.”
“….”
“His Imperial Highness said that Lindel should never be lost.”
Sure… it’s better to walk away.
That’s because that monster focuses on ‘protection’. If it had focused on attacking, it would have lost more people than it does now. If a distant helper had taken an active role, the situation would have turned out more unfavorably.
For fear of wasting time and making the enemies more aggressive, Lindel suppressed his unwillingness and forced his mouth to open.
“…Let’s get out of here.”
“All right.”
***
The heroes retreat.
Deon didn’t care who threw the spear, whether the enemies retreated or not, and simply approached the monster without hesitation. Ben looked at me with concern, but didn’t care.
‘Again…’
It’s like this again. Why am I always like this?
The red eyes shake as if they will break. I realized that I was agitated, so I closed my eyes and opened them, but the shaking of my pupils was still there.
“…I shouldn’t have brought you.”
I stretched out my hand towards the guy who seemed to have run out of strength. The stem touched my fingertips.
If I had just died at the hands of an enemy or if this situation had come to me in a time when I knew nothing, I would not have been as shaken as I am now.
Another life was sacrificed for me like this. The proposition was so breathtaking that Deon could not move easily, and all he could see was a monstrous plant that did not even have a name.
“You’re just making my nightmares worse.”
It was a situation I didn’t want to go through after Cruel.
Now, if I strangle myself with my hands, who will stop me?
It gradually turns yellow and soon becomes smaller. The moment Deon, who sensed the end of the tree as it was turning brown, took a step back, a stem appeared.
Talk.
“Suck.”
The familiar crying sound was its last.
A small light bursts out, and the strange plant disappears everywhere, leaving a small sapling in its place. Deon wiped his cheek where the stem had touched, then bent his knees and quietly looked at the sapling, which was no longer moving or making a sound.
“…master.”
“why.”
“That…”
“…Okay, take care of this.”
Dan, who hesitated because he didn’t know what to say, immediately nodded.
“I need a place to move the seedlings. Do you have a flower pot or something?”
“If it’s a flower pot, the one he used here… ah.”
It’s broken.
My slightly dazed eyes look at the piece of flower pot that the monster plant broke. Dan didn’t like the look in his eyes, so he turned his head.
“Then what can replace it…”
“If it’s a flower pot, here it is.”
“Oh, that’s good…?”
“I think it would be difficult to borrow it.”
“….”
Wait… There’s a crazy person carrying a flower pot in this battlefield other than the Master?
No, before that… the voice itself belongs to someone who shouldn’t be here. Dan’s eyes turned to where the voice came from. Deon also seemed to sense something strange and raised his head to look at the owner of the voice.
Even the members of the Knights of Lofty were only looking at the uninvited guest at the appearance of someone who did not fit into the battlefield. A woman holding an empty flower pot greeted me calmly, as if she was not burdened by the attention focused on me.
“It’s been a while, sir.”
“…powwow.”
Deon frowned.
This is someone I met only once and worked with him during the sweep of Salvation Church. His name was ‘Ran’.
The remarks that seemed to see through everything and the note he left for me were quite impressive, so I clearly remembered them.
“Why did you come here?”
“I came to pick up some saplings.”
“…This?”
“yes.”
“why?”
“Because it’s what the world left behind.”
After all, he was not an ordinary shaman.
An explanation is needed. Deon got up from his seat and stood crookedly with his arms crossed.
“If we leave it here while the war continues, it will most likely die. It would be better to move it before that happens.”
“Where are you going to move it? Is there a safe place in the human world…”
“Esperanes.”
“…I don’t think that’s something you should say in front of me.”
This is tantamount to saying that Esperanes will not be caught up in the whirlwind of war. This means that the Demon King’s army will not attack Esperanes, or that even if they attack, they will not be able to penetrate inside.
It was not an appropriate thing to say in front of Deon, who was clearly a member of the Demon King’s army.
“Then are you going to attack Esperanes?”
“That’s right. Now that I think about it, Esperanes is also among the human forces that came this time, so it seems a bit much to just leave it at that.”
“You’re good at saying things you don’t mean.”
“….”
Deon frowned silently.
“So you’re taking the saplings?”
“yes.”
“What if I say no?”
“….”
Shaman Lan quietly looked back at Deon.
With silence in the background, glances exchange briefly in the air. She opened her mouth slowly.
“Do you have any regrets left?”
“….”
“This is no longer the plant you used to know.”
“…know.”
I don’t know what kind of drug he took, but the price was high.
…Now that I think about it, what did I do to be able to do this?
The answer came from the shaman.
“I didn’t know that your plant contained the seeds of the world.”
“I’ve come to the right place on a topic I said I didn’t know about… Wait a minute, it’s the seed of the world?”
The seed that the Fairy King abandoned to Hien, saying it was contaminated?
“The birth of something that will have a huge impact on the world is bound to be a fortune. And… I guess you didn’t know.”
“So… that guy held the seeds left behind by the world… and absorbed them and used them at the right moment…?”
“Rather than absorbing it… it would be more appropriate to say that he gained temporary power in exchange for purifying the seed’s contamination by sacrificing himself.”
It reminds me of that guy’s bulging flower pot.
And Hien also said that he gave her some nutritional supplements.
…You two decided and planned it. The red eyes sank gloomily. I wasn’t angry because I was tired of getting more emotional about something.
“If you take the sapling to the demon world, it will only be contaminated with demonic energy again. I’m sure you don’t intend to ruin what your plant sacrificed and purified again.”
“…I have to say it right away. That guy didn’t sacrifice himself to purify the seed, he sacrificed himself for me.”
That’s why it’s even more devastating.
“…Anyway, I have no intention of contaminating what was purified again.” ”
….”
“Take it. Go.”
“Thank you for your concession.”
Deon stepped to the side, and Ran passed him and sat down in front of the sapling.
Crazy dogs were snooping around as if asking what to do now, and Ben was hanging around nearby as if he wanted to check on his condition, but Deon was all. Ignoring it, I stood still and watched the shaman digging the ground in a circle with the sapling at the center. The
first person to break the silence that had settled down with the awkward atmosphere was the shaman who was quietly digging.
“The world was outraged by the nobleman’s actions.”
“.. .Really?”
The corner of Deon’s mouth went up crookedly.
“So I guess he gained some kind of protection?”
That’s the luck that shows unbelievable power when it comes to life.
“That’s not true. The world definitely needs the noble people of today. What is at issue is the karma and the world’s anger that the noble has accumulated through his actions so far.” ”
…It feels very abstract and pseudo-like.”
“To put it simply… the noble in the next life will suffer to an unprecedented degree. I mean, I will receive it.”
“Ah… what else can I say?”
It’s hard to live in the present, so where can we have time to think about the next life, let alone the future?
The next life is such an unrealistic thing to say. Deon made a gloomy expression.
“Now . Even if you just quit…”
“Hmm… you
see.” Ran, who had moved the seedlings into a flower pot, raised her head. Her red gaze made direct eye contact. Her
curved eyes, as if imitating laughter, were saying.
“Now. Don’t you think it’s too late to come and say something like that?” It’s
too late.
“…”
“…Well…I have more questions than that.”
Deon looked at the devastation in the shaman’s eyes and lightly shouldered his shoulders. He shrugged and changed the subject.
“…Go on.”
“Is the advice to watch your eyes still valid?”
