◈ 251. [Side Story] Jupiter Jr. (3)
Temple in the city of Crossroads.
Junior stood hesitantly in front of Reina’s hospital room, wearing a cone hat.
I had just come to see Reina after hearing that she had just regained consciousness.
But for some reason, I didn’t have the courage to go in.
At that moment, the door to the hospital room was thrown open, and Marherita, the head priest, came out with a hee-hee.
“Aww! That’s Okay! What a thank you! Please stay calm and leave as soon as you feel better!”
“No, what’s so scary about buying me a meal because I’m grateful for taking care of you? Don’t do that, Holy Lady, Holy Lady! Oh really… … .”
Looking at the back of Marherita who ran away through the hallway, Reina licked her lips bitterly.
Then he turned his head and smiled at Junior.
“What is it, little wizard? Did you come to visit me in the hospital?”
“that… That’s it. You look fine?”
“Thanks to the anesthesia. There’s a hole in your stomach, but you’ll be fine? They say it healed somewhat with magic, but they say it’s absolutely stable.”
Talking incredibly lively for someone who had just woken up, Reina turned back into the hospital room.
Reina stumbled and hit the bed with her hand.
“Don’t be so shy there, come in! Tell me what happened while I passed out.”
Since he had come with that in mind, Junior was about to step into the hospital room.
but.
tall.
My feet stopped on the threshold of the hospital room.
“… ?”
I could feel Reina’s suspicious gaze. However, Junior kept his mouth shut and lowered his head.
– She’s a magical bombing survivor from Camilla Kingdom, so why are you covering her?
The question Camus threw at the time of the attack did not leave my mind.
The sound of lightning and the storm that fell 15 years ago was good in my ears. Junior couldn’t get any closer to Raina.
“… okay. Is it like that?”
Seeing Junior’s condition like that, Raina, who noticed the situation without difficulty, smiled bitterly.
“Maybe this is the right distance for us. Jupiter’s daughter. It’s like a miracle that we’ve grown closer.”
“… .”
“There is a goal that cannot be filled no matter how hard you try. In the meantime, I have been turning my eyes away and ignoring that goal, but now it seems to be the limit.”
Junior clenched both fists. It was the right hand that was intact and the left hand that had been burned by the magic bombardment.
“I want to ask you something… . Do you regret what happened that day?”
“… What exactly are you talking about? I did a lot of things.”
“To destroy my country and burn my village.”
With his head down, Junior’s face was hidden by the brim of his cone-shaped hat. Junior asked in a suppressed voice.
“Are you regretting it?”
Rayna responded immediately.
“no.”
“… !”
“I have never regretted a single thing I did as a soldier.”
Reina’s voice was cold and functional.
“If I regret it, what will happen to the subordinates who carried out my orders under me?”
“… .”
“I am the commander of the magic corps. There are men who have killed people, burned villages, and trampled the country under my orders, and died in the process. If I feel comfortable regretting and repenting, then what will be the sacrifices of my men?”
“… .”
“I am a soldier, Junior. If it’s an order from my superiors, I’ll do worse than what I did to your village. And until this breath dies, I won’t regret it, and I shouldn’t regret it either.”
Junior, who bit his molars tightly, stuttered and asked.
“Then if you are ordered to kill me. Are you going to do it?”
“… There is no order like that.”
“What if it comes down?”
“… .”
Reina let out a long sigh and said,
“Yes.”
answered.
“If that’s an order, then so be it.”
“… !”
Reina coldly spat out at Junior, whose complexion was turning pale.
“I am different from your mother. If it were Jupiter, he would chew on that order, disobey and rebel, then run away with you in his arms. actually did But I can’t.”
During the decades they served together, Reina had a crush on Jupiter. I wanted to live like Jupiter.
Because he’s a human who can’t live like that.
“I am speaking honestly. Junior, I cannot live like your mother.”
“Then why!”
Junior’s voice intensified.
“why… have you been good to me? I don’t regret what happened that day, and I don’t want to apologize!”
“… .”
“Why are you trying to get close to me and treating my body for what? why?”
Reina, who had been silent, lowered her eyes.
“I was tired. To break and destroy something. I wondered if I could make a difference if I protected and saved something like your mother did.”
Both Junior and Reina recalled Jupiter’s face at the same time.
The white-haired thunderbolt that laughed cheerfully… … .
Reina’s head slowly turned downward.
“But yes… now i get it that it can’t be That I, who can neither regret nor apologize, will never become like Jupiter.”
“… .”
“That the distance between us couldn’t be any closer.”
Junior still couldn’t come in, standing at the entrance of the hospital room, and Raina, who was sitting on the bed, looked at such Junior with a bitter gaze.
Junior muttered in a watery voice.
“I wanted to forgive you.”
Reina laughed in a thin voice haha.
“… I wanted to be your new mom if possible. Or something similar.”
Junior looked like he was going to cry. Reina slowly turned her head.
“But I guess it couldn’t have happened.”
***
Cross Road Downtown. prison.
“… .”
Junior stood blankly in front of Camus’ prison room.
Visitation permission. I got it from Ash. But really, having a one-on-one conversation with Camus was daunting.
Above all, I didn’t know what to talk about.
Empire. Camilla Kingdom. plural. Forgiveness… .
There were many topics that came to mind, but they were not woven into sentences.
Junior didn’t know what to say to Camus for the first time.
He didn’t even know what kind of answer he wanted to hear… … I couldn’t tell.
“hey.”
At that moment, a hoarse voice came from inside the prison cell.
“How long are you going to just stand still?”
“Wow!”
Frightened Junior looked ahead and saw Camus standing close to the window bars.
His face was swollen from being beaten so badly, but his cold, gloomy eyes still gleamed.
“You keep doing that, so I’m worried too. Do you have something to see me?”
“I’m sorry… do. I just… … .”
Recognizing the hesitant junior, Camus’ voice softened.
“That wizard back then. He said he was from Camilla Kingdom… … .”
“… .”
Watching Junior carefully biting his lips, Camus slowly sat down on the floor next to the bars.
“Looks like you have something to say. I’ll listen, so tell me.”
“yes?”
“As you said at the time, we are from the same town.”
Camus shrugged.
“You have a worried face, but speak comfortably.”
Junior, who was absent-minded for a moment, soon started talking incoherently.
The magic bombardment he suffered when he was seven years old. lost family. Jupiter who took care of himself. 15 years of life.
What happened after joining the front here. Death of Jupiter. Meeting with Lena. The story of getting closer to Reina… … .
And that everything became unknown after Camus stabbed Reina.
Whether you are a member of the Empire or the Kingdom of Camilla, whether you should forgive Reina or take revenge… … that I was unaware.
Camus, who had been quietly listening to Junior’s overflowing story, asked slowly.
“How old are you now?”
“Twenty two… are you.”
“You’re stupid. If my second son were alive, he would be about your age.”
Camus laughed.
“I am fifty and three. There is a time difference of over 30 years between you and me.”
“30 years… .”
“I was thirty-eight when I lost my country and my wife and children. Until then, everything I had worked all my life for was reduced to ashes. My hatred is as deep as the weight of the thirty-eight years I lost.”
Camus’ eyes softened for a moment.
Are you thinking of your lost family? Junior didn’t know.
“For the next 15 years, I fought and failed to find my country, so in effect my life was taken away by the Empire.”
Camus chinned Junior.
“But you are different. You lived 7 years as a member of the Kingdom of Camilla and 15 years as a member of the Empire.”
“… .”
“The time I have already lived as an imperial citizen is twice as long. We live in different times and have different depths of hatred. It is not strange that you feel closer to the Empire than to Camilla’s Kingdom.”
Junior clenched his fists tightly. Camus continued.
“I have no intention of criticizing you for integrating into the Empire. Don’t feel guilty for living as an imperial citizen yourself.”
“… .”
“Likewise, even though 15 years have passed since the country collapsed, I still haven’t forgotten my revenge… Please don’t criticize me too much for wielding a sword to pay blood for blood. Because there is a gap in the human heart that cannot be filled.”
Camus was talking about the same thing as Rayna.
Junior murmured softly.
A gap that cannot be filled… … .
“We just survived. Inevitably, each in their own way.”
“… .”
inevitably survived.
The expression was so painful and accurate that Junior felt sick to his stomach.
“What should I do in the future… ?”
Camus pondered, then opened his mouth.
“To forgive, forgive. Revenge to get revenge. If you can’t choose between the two, that doesn’t matter either. keep thinking about it Until one day you find the answer you want.”
“… .”
“Just don’t forget. everything you’ve been through.”
Camus’s scarred hand gripped the iron bars. he growled in a low voice.
“That there were men like me.”
“… .”
“Don’t forget Camilla Kingdom. That is the burden that we, the survivors, have to bear.”
Camus untied his grip on the bars, rose to his feet, and trudged back into the prison.
“I will be executed soon. I think you’d better not hang out too much with bad criminals.”
Junior watched from a distance as he disappeared into the darkness.
***
Ash was waiting for me when I came out of the prison.
“Junior.”
“Your Highness the Prince.”
Ash smiled at Junior, who looked awkward, and gestured toward his mansion.
“There is a defense warfare strategy meeting tonight.”
“ah… .”
“It’s a call-up. Jupiter Junior. Please return to the main party.”
Junior clenched his staff tightly and nodded happily.
“yes.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I have almost recovered from my injuries. You don’t have to worry.”
Ash glanced inside the prison cell and smiled bitterly.
“Doesn’t it seem like the troubles in your heart haven’t been completely resolved?”
“… yes.”
Junior shook his head, slapped himself on the cheek with his fingertips, and looked straight at Ash.
“But monsters don’t come to listen to my troubles. I will put my worries aside for a while and return to the front.”
Ash, who looked at Junior with surprised eyes, tried to say something, but eventually shut his mouth.
Then he gestured towards the carriage waiting next to him.
“You know I prepare delicious meals for every defense meeting, right? let’s go. Originally, when the mood is low, go to meat.”
I didn’t quite understand what the pun was about, but I could feel Ash’s heart for giving for himself.
Junior thought as he climbed into the carriage.
You don’t know what kind of life you will lead in the future.
Whether he will forgive Reina or forget Camus, nothing is known in the future.
However, he is a wizard hired by the monster front here.
In order to continue these worries, you must first defeat the monsters in front of you.
“majesty.”
“huh?”
“After blowing away the monsters quickly and coolly… .”
Junior laughed bashfully at Ash.
“Let’s talk about our worries all night long.”
“… .”
“I want to hear about your concerns.”
Ash nodded happily.
“Yeah. As much as you like.”
