645. [Side Story] If the world was ending
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
With the side of her hair cut off, Hecate smiled calmly.
“I will die in a moment. Then I’ll go back to my old head and come back to life, so then again…”
“What kind of scary sound did you make?!”
Junior desperately held on to Hecate, who was limping and trying to go outside.
Hecate kept trying to escape, saying, ‘It’s okay because I know a lot about how to die painlessly’, and Junior held on to the crotch of his trousers, saying, ‘I’ll try to deal with it somehow, so don’t die!’
While the two women were struggling like that, Dusk Bringer sighed and blocked Hecate’s way.
“First of all, Hecate. I must first tell you why Gwain came here.”
At that time, Junior, who was holding Hecate by the crotch of his pants as if he was prostrate on the floor, shouted with a face that was unfair to the world.
“The situation got to this point because the Grand Duke suddenly opened the door! First of all, apologize!”
“Isn’t that what I meant to do! Anyway, listen to why I came!”
Big! After catching his breath, Dusk Bringer faced Hecate with a serious face.
“Hecate. Your ‘curse’ is coming to an end.”
At those words, Hecate’s red eyes, which had been loose, focused.
Hecate slowly faced Dusk-Bringer, and Dusk-Bringer nodded.
“Since you came to the front here, you have already died twice.”
Once I was caught up in an accident at a construction site.
Once while rescuing Ash during the Winged Juan raid.
Hecate died and was brought back to life by a curse.
“I am the one who created the curse on your body. So you can tell.”
Dusk Bringer raised a small hand and showed one of his index fingers.
“Once again. If you touch death one more time, the curse on you will dissipate and you will… end.”
If you die one more time, your third death will be met here on the front lines.
At this time, Dusk Bringer calmly declared that Hecate would end.
Junior, who was looking at Hecate and Dusk Bringer with his eyes wide open, stuttered.
“What do you mean it’s over?”
“…will come back to life one last time. The problem comes after that.”
Dusk Bringer sighed with his arms crossed.
“It’s usually ‘stopped’. Both the soul and the body are embalmed, unable to move or rot… just stop alive.”
“Hey.”
Junior, who swallowed his screams, asked urgently.
“Ooh, how lucky are you? Are there any better cases?”
“This is a lucky case.”
“Is this good?! Are there worse cases?”
“okay. In case of bad luck…”
Hecate’s fists clenched tightly at the next words.
“It becomes a demon.”
“yes? What if it’s a demon…?”
“Losing reason, losing memory and pride… I will try to slaughter everything around me.”
Dusk Bringer calmly declared.
“To put it simply, you become a monster.”
“…!”
“So, when the Glory Knights come to a standstill, they pass on the curse to their successors… and prepare to meet their end.”
“If it is the last ramen….”
“If it is suspended, it is placed alive in the joint grave, and if it becomes a monster, the successor directly cuts off its head.”
A sneer formed on Dusk Bringer’s lips.
“It is a curse that grants you immortality while active. It would be natural to pay this price.”
“That…! How could you do something like this…!”
“Don’t blame me too much, young wizard. For that, both this child and I have already come too far.”
Dusk Bringer clicked his tongue as he looked at Hecate’s cropped side hair.
“So, Hecate. Don’t try to throw away the one remaining life just for the hair.”
“…”
“Above all… it’s not like there isn’t a third way.”
Both Hecate and Junior widened their eyes. The bitter smile on Dusk Bringer’s lips grew thicker.
“To you Glory Knights, the last generation whose succession to the curse has become impossible… As the inventor of the curse, I have come to make a suggestion.”
Dusk Bringer’s amber eyes glowed with an eerie darkness.
“If you don’t like the ending of being buried alive or beheaded as a monster… how about that? Will you listen to my offer?”
***
After the ‘proposal’, Dusk Bringer left the room.
“I’m sorry about the side hair… Kuhm.”
Leaving only that sound for the last time.
“…”
Hecate thought over the ‘suggestion’ left by Dusk Bringer and sat down on the chair in front of the mirror again.
Junior, who was standing awkwardly behind Hecate, who was lost in thought, eventually said Whoo! He took a deep breath and raised the hairdressing scissors again.
“Hecate.”
“yes?”
“This is what happened… the head. How about going on an adventure?”
Hecate looked curiously at Junior in the mirror. Junior spoke gibberish.
“Anyway, Lucas, that snow-eyed knight, doesn’t even care how hard this one dresses up.”
“…yes, that’s right.”
“Then why don’t we just do the opposite… go really hard?!”
“Harder?”
“It’s just being very bold and trying something new that hasn’t been done before!”
We also talked about hairstyles.
He also talked about the curse of Hecate.
end of the precipice anyway. In that case, how about boldly looking for another way…
‘At least, rather than being buried alive or being decapitated by colleagues… it’s better.’
Afterwards, Junior added without realizing it.
“The world is coming to an end anyway!”
“…”
“And that it might perish soon? Yes, of course we are struggling to stop it, but anyway, the end of the century! At a time like this or when else would you venture out on such a daring adventure? isn’t it?”
Hecate, who had been listening blankly, eventually smiled.
“…Iknow, right.”
“huh?”
“The world is coming to an end anyway, so why hesitate about doing things you haven’t done before?”
Hecate closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
“Let’s try an adventure.”
“…!”
“Please take care of me, Junior. Just… Please do it in a very bold style so that Lucas can’t help but open his eyes.”
Junior smiled brightly and corrected the scissors.
“Leave it to me!”
Hecate asked cautiously, feeling the scissors touch her head.
“But how can you be so bold…”
Snip!
Excellent water…
The side hair, which had already been cut off, fell by another handful.
“…?”
Cold sweat dripped down Hecate’s chin.
“Hey, Junior…? Wait a minute…”
However, Junior’s eyes in the mirror were already in the wizard’s unique state of concentration.
Hecate looked down at her beige hair, which was being chopped off, and screamed silently inwardly.
***
After the conversation with Skairian. dinner.
I took the heroes from the manor house to a restaurant in the center of the city. It was because Evangeline whined about wanting to eat out.
“The world is coming to an end, and I will eat whatever I want! Go out and eat!”
“No, the end of the world is very cheat-key, cheat-key. If you use it for that reason, do I have to listen to it all?”
Of course I listen to everything. shit.
As we sat down in the appropriate cafeteria (Evangeline’s choice), Evangeline flirted and picked up the menu.
“It’s delicious here! They arrange New Terra food in a southern style, but there is no tasteless menu?”
I think you can roughly understand that it makes Seoul cuisine southern style (= spicy).
“Do you have any tasteless food in your mouth?”
Without pretending to hear my criticism, Evangeline called the waiter and started ordering.
The young waiter nodded eagerly and wrote down Evangeline’s endless order.
“So how was it? Lord.”
Lucas, who satisfactorily watched Evangeline’s meat meat order, suddenly asked me.
I forcibly inserted a salad at the end of my order and faced Lucas.
“It’s about a conversation with a skarian, right?”
“yes. I wonder how you got enough of the answers you wanted.”
“Yeah… that was enough.”
Skairian faithfully answered my question.
IPian’s strengths and weaknesses hidden elements.
Characteristics of each of the three heads, Ipian’s rare location, points to be especially careful about, etc…
‘It matches the information in the game. No, rather more detailed.’
Thanks to this, I was able to establish a tactic to deal with Ipian. The skyrians were no doubt cooperative with us.
But… I still couldn’t trust the Skairians.
Of course, it would be foolish to immediately believe in an enemy general who surrendered. But more than that, I felt something creepy about him.
‘What is that?’
Of course, you can use each other as needed. If he is helpful in the Ipian Raid and the Night Bringer Raid, he will only suck the bone marrow.
But what is the truth of this guy?
Really, why… are you cooperating with us?
“People are beings who try to understand each other.”
Lucas suddenly spat out and I suddenly looked at him.
“This is the justice of the people your lord has given you on the front lines here.”
“…”
“Are you going to apply that rule to monsters as well?”
If the Skyrians truly tried to be on our side, would we see him as someone we should protect rather than a monster to kill?
That was Lucas’ question.
“How much darkness… will you, my lord, embrace?”
“…”
I couldn’t answer easily. Lucas was about to ask more with a serious face.
“Ah, everyone is here!”
Junior’s voice came from the street. I groaned and looked that way.
“The Archmage of Water Wind and Thunder has arrived. Great. Let’s eat together…”
I stopped talking.
It was because Hecate, who was approaching from behind Junior at a loss, had completely changed his appearance from before.
“Has that Hecate’s hair… changed?”
Right after coming to the front, he had long, voluminous beige hair.
During the battle with Winged Huan, it was burned and turned into a bobbed hair that reached below the neck.
Now, it was a short cut that seemed to have been drawn in a painting that exposed the ears coolly.
“Is this strange…?”
Hecate didn’t know what to do, perhaps because her hair was shorter than before, and I gave her a thumbs up.
“no no! It suits you perfectly!”
Hecate’s head was burned because it was my fault, so I gave a thumbs up. In reality, it was very cool…
At that time, Junior shrugged his nose, saying ‘I shaved it off’, and raised the bridge of his nose.
“It’s not easy for a woman to look good with a short cut!”
“That is not easy.”
“It was one of my dreams, but it was obvious that I wouldn’t fit in. I wanted to see what someone who would be a good match for did it… Just like Hecate-nim was there. Whooping, I’ve satisfied some of my private desires!”
“Good job, good job.”
But the important thing is not me or Junior’s opinion, but Hecate and Hecate’s object of interest – Lucas’s opinion.
And to my surprise,
“No Hecate!”
Lucas was incredibly flattering.
“You look really cool!”
“huh? Ughhh…”
Hecate was surprised and blushed.
Lucas ran to Hecate and looked at Hecate’s head, then nodded in satisfaction.
“As expected, a knight’s hairstyle should also be functional.”
“…?”
“It’s cool now, but why don’t you shave it even shorter next time? If you want, I’ll cut it myself with a razor blade.”
“…”
We who were listening swallowed dry saliva.
Could it be… Is
this knight saying that Hecate’s hair is shorter than before and that’s why he’s cool…?
“So cool, Hecate! It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”
= You have the shortest hair you’ve ever seen?
With a smile on her face, Hecate started shaking her shoulders and clenched her fists. and spit it out
“Even if the world ends…”
“Huh?”
“Even if the world ends, your eyes will stay the same, you bastard!”
Hecate grabbed Lucas by the collar and started to grapple, and the heroes sitting around ran to stop him. The inside of the cafeteria became a mess at once.
Junior, who was looking over there with an emaciated face, murmured softly.
“…Did I do something wrong?”
“No no.”
I picked up the drink the waiter had just brought out, put one in Junior’s hand, and murmured as I put my own glass in my mouth.
“The world is coming to an end, so it’s just…”
Still.
I want to see this peaceful scene for a day longer.
Thinking to myself, I smiled.
***
A few days later.
The production of equipment made from Winged Huan’s magic core has been completed.
At the same time, preparations for the Ipian raid were completed.
