◈ 550. [STAGE 31] Two Deaths
Something like a haze came out of the body of the dead scarecrow corps commander.
Before long, the fog seeped into the bodies of the heroes and soldiers who had been deprived of their strength. The guy died and vomited his strength.
Those who regained their strength showed various reactions. There were times when I was delighted, times when I swept my chest as if I was relieved, and times when I collapsed onto the floor in awe.
Above all, this was proof that the battle was over.
“… .”
Mikhail clenched his fists with a blank face and then opened them. I stood behind Mikhail and patted him on the shoulder.
When it was confirmed that the enemy commander was down, everyone cheered. I applauded and ordered them.
“Come on, let’s have a party after the defense battle later! Clean up, clean up first!”
Everyone busily started cleaning up.
The battle wasn’t very long, but there were quite a few injured due to the strength of the scarecrow corps commander’s original body.
Fortunately, the priests of the Knights Templar came to visit him, so he started healing while walking around.
In particular, the heroes who rescued Mikhail in the beginning and saved time by dealing with the scarecrow corps commander were seriously injured.
Rosetta directly cast healing magic on those heroes. As expected, the title of saint was not a decoration, but the healing effect was amazing.
While healing the heroes in turn, Rosetta finally stopped in front of Zenith.
Janice’s whole body was exhausted, and her face was in a state of great scars.
Hannibal was taking care of Zenith, who was panting and unable to heal herself because her divine power had run out.
“Ugh… !”
As Rosetta approached, Hannibal covered Janice’s face and gave her a wary look, but Janice gently pushed Hannibal aside.
“are you okay.”
“… yes.”
As Hannibal stepped aside, Janice staggered to her feet.
“sister.”
“You are still foolish. Janice.”
Seeing her seriously injured brother, Rosetta clicked her tongue softly and said,
“Irion.”
He held out his hand with divine power. Janice let out a laugh.
“Are you going to heal a guy like me?”
“Priests should not discriminate against patients. Isn’t that the first doctrine you learn?”
And just before Rosetta’s hand touched Zenith.
“sister.”
Janice spat out.
“I made a choice.”
“… .”
“I don’t want to give up my life as a priest.”
Not only the party ‘uncles’ who stood around Zenith, but also the other priests who healed the patients around Rosetta. Everyone shrugged at once.
“… after.”
Rosetta let out a small sigh and stared at Zenith.
“Do you understand that I gave you a choice?”
“yes.”
“Rather than die as a priest or be excommunicated, live here… Do you understand that I opened a way for you to live?”
“yes.”
“You mean you’re going to die anyway?”
“Well, of course I don’t want to die. but… .”
Janice took one look at Hannibal standing next to her and then spoke in a confident tone.
“I don’t think my past life was wrong enough to be excommunicated.”
“… .”
“I have always regretted my choices over the past 14 years. I apologized for seeming to have harmed the church, and I had no face to see all the brothers of the Knights Templar, and I felt sorry for my sister.”
Janice reached out and placed a hand on Hannibal’s tangled hair.
Janice gently stroked Hannibal’s head as he flinched and closed his eyes.
“But seeing this kid grow up and stand in front of me changed my mind.”
“… .”
“I did the right thing, sister. So there is no reason to run away.”
Rosetta lowered her head and ran her hand over her forehead.
“You don’t even have to die, do you?”
“If my choice is not buried in darkness, someone else will… I will save another child like this.”
“After pretending to be a saint, are you going to pretend to be a martyr now?”
Rosetta, who had clicked her tongue several times, turned her head to look at Hannibal.
“Is this your son?”
“no.”
Janice responded immediately.
The answer to protect Hannibal, saying that he is not ‘that child’ of the Mist Kingdom, so don’t lay your hands on this child.
“But I thought of him like a son all his life. Just like I thought of you as my sister.”
“… .”
“Please treat me like your nephew from now on.”
And after he dies, he says to protect this child.
After reading all of Zenith’s implications, Rosetta quietly lowered her eyes and stretched out her hand to the side.
Chew-!
Suddenly, the iron whip in her hand stretched out to the side.
“this… !”
“no!”
“You think you’re just watching!”
The heroes and soldiers who had fought alongside Zenith rushed forward. But Janice shook her head and bit them.
“it’s okay.”
“but… !”
“are you okay.”
Janice smiled calmly.
“This is the path I have chosen.”
Janice’s intentions were firm, and in the end, everyone flinched and retreated.
only one. Except for Hannibal.
“Hannibal.”
“… .”
“Get out of the way.”
“no, I do not want.”
Janice insisted, but Hannibal did not budge.
“no, I do not want… .”
“Hannibal.”
“I barely met… I haven’t done anything yet… … .”
Hannibal, who had always acted as if he had matured, opened his eyes full of tears and whimpered for the first time like a child of his age.
“I don’t want to part like this… .”
“Hannibal.”
Janice carefully stretched out her arms and awkwardly hugged Hannibal. And he patted his back with a clumsy hand.
“thanks. For living like this.”
“… .”
“You are proof that my life is not wrong. So, live strong in the future.”
Rosetta stood and watched from a distance as the rich man prepared for the breakup.
“… It happens again.”
Rosetta muttered in a hoarse voice.
“I’m a priest who was meant to save people, but again… I must kill someone.”
“Captain, you don’t have to do this.”
“We all know why Janice did what she did. so… .”
Other priests approached Rosetta and whispered. Everyone Rosetta had brought seemed friendly to Janice.
But Rosetta shook her head.
“In the end, the record in the world is not that Janice saved that child. Because of his friendship with the princess of the Mist Kingdom, who was dispatched as a diplomat, the two countries were completely separated diplomatically, and all propagation activities to the west were blocked.”
“… .”
“This is a matter of principle. You know that I saw a lot of excommunication. If Janice refuses to give up her priesthood… … I have no choice but to die here.”
The other priests all shut up. Rosetta squeezed the whip with her weak hand.
“Kuhm!”
Walking next to Rosetta,
I quietly whispered.
“There are other ways, Rosetta.”
“… ?”
I smiled at Rosetta, who looked back in shock.
“You said it then. The world has many facets. So it’s not just two roads… … how is it. Would you like to go another way?”
“It’s another way. For our church, and for Zenith, the only choice is to die as a priest or live as an excommunicate.”
“Leave it to me.”
It’s time for this body, a clever genius, to step out.
I strode toward Zenith and slowly drew out the longsword strapped to my waist.
Then, passing by the other heroes and soldiers who were looking at me curiously, I stood right in front of Janice and
yanked!
He lightly swung his longsword from top to bottom.
Everyone was frightened, but only Zenith didn’t budge.
hook-!
The longsword that narrowly missed Zenith’s neck was lodged in the ground.
Well, since it was a ceremonial longsword in the first place, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. anyway.
“Plain Priest Zenith.”
Calling Janice’s name, I took out the papers from my pocket.
list of dead.
There were many wounded in this battle, but no casualties yet. At the top of that blank piece of paper, I wrote Janice’s name.
“He joined the Monster Frontline Crossroads as a temporary priest, fought 11 defensive battles, and was finally attacked by the scarecrow monster.
“… .”
Janice looks up at me with a blank face.
After completing the list of dead people, I turned around and faced Rosetta, then spoke in a stern voice.
“I, Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, as the lord of Crossroads and the head of the World Defense Front, make an official request to Rosetta, head of the Goddess Church.”
Rosetta answered with a slight bow.
“… Headmaster Rosetta is listening. Please tell me.”
“Even though rank priest Zenith made a big mistake in the past and put pressure on the church, the fact that he lived faithfully throughout his life and saved many people, and that he devoted himself to the end here at the Crossroads to save patients and defeat monsters. In view of the fact that the reputation of the Goddess Church was raised by doing so.”
I grinned.
“I request that he be prosecuted, pardoned for his past crimes, sentenced to death, and restored to his position.”
“… .”
Rosetta looked at me with an expression of astonishment.
My proposal to make the alive and well-dead Janice a ‘dead person’ must have been absurd.
But I also joined in your shallow maneuvers.
I wish you would join me in my shallow tricks.
And soon after.
“… The rank priest, Zenith, was excommunicated 14 years ago and did the right thing.”
Rosetta opened her mouth.
“Considering his dedication to the Order throughout his life, his caring for the less fortunate, and, above all, taking the lead in defeating monsters enough to earn the lord’s recognition in the Crossroads.”
Rosetta slowly took the whip and tied it around her waist.
“I posthumously posthumously posthumously acknowledge his achievements. I acknowledge that I was sentenced to death and died a martyr as a member of the Knights Templar.”
Then, Rosetta slowly approached Janice and gently caressed Janice’s cheek.
Rosetta’s hand glowed white with the holy power of healing. The scars carved by the scarecrow corps commander on Zenith’s face healed and left a huge scar.
as if it were a different person. big scar.
“Janice. You are now dead here.”
“… .”
“My mischievous little brother. You have already paid the full price for a crime you did not commit in the last 14 years.”
Rosetta held her breath for a moment and smiled fondly.
“Now I forgive you all your sins.”
“… .”
“I wish you a peaceful and happy life in the next world.”
Like blessing a lion for the afterlife at a funeral.
Rosetta whispered to Janice.
“I hope that in the next life that will follow, as well as in this life, you continue to walk the path you believe is right, hesitating and agonizing again.”
“… .”
“And at the end of the road, I hope you can be proud of yourself that you had a satisfying life.”
Slowly, Rosetta’s hand fell from Janice’s face.
“This sister will beg and beg again.”
Rosetta turned around and walked away from Janice. Janice was staring blankly at her sister’s back.
Rosetta, who came towards me, made eye contact with me and said ‘Ha… … .’ I turned my head with a sigh.
“It was a petty trick, Your Highness.”
“know.”
I grinned.
“But did you solve it?”
Priest Zenith, who was guilty of being excommunicated from the Goddess Church, died here on the battlefield.
And because he died honorably, he was posthumously given a pardon for his past sins as a priest.
The surviving ‘man who was Zenith’ will live again with a new name and identity.
Wherever and somehow, saving and reviving someone else as he has lived so far.
Even if he had a different name and status, if he was that man, he would be able to live like that in the future. I firmly believe
“… .”
Rosetta, who tasted my strategy for the first time, still looked absurd, but eventually nodded slowly.
“… How many times has there been an ending where no one dies even though I touched it?”
Rosetta, who looked down at her hand and clenched it tightly, faced me again.
“So, Your Highness. Yes. I will admit it.”
A refreshing smile that had never been shown before hung
on the mouth of the woman who was the head of the Red Priests .
“I really like Your Highness’s trick.”
