◈ 705. [Side Story] The Impossible Dream
It’s already afternoon.
The sun was clear today in late fall weather that was as cold as winter. People gathered like a cloud stood under the platform and looked up at me, happily basking in the sunlight.
There were kings, soldiers, heroes, and citizens. I looked closely at their faces.
“The monster we faced this time, the Black Dragon…”
Although I had not prepared a special speech, the words came out naturally.
“Originally, this was an opponent that could not be defeated.”
If you look at it calmly, honestly and objectively.
“Originally, the world should have been destroyed by now.”
The Night Bringer was an enemy that could annihilate us and end the world.
“But now we are alive and enjoying the sunshine. “I parted the night, defeated the evil dragon, and am alive and breathing here.”
I looked around the audience.
“Why do you think?”
Everyone is silently looking up at me, waiting for my next words.
I smiled and continued speaking.
“Because all the warriors buried here and all the warriors who returned from the battlefield alive… did not think that they could not win.”
I said it once more, emphatically.
“Because I foolishly believed that I could win… that I could protect this world.”
This is not an attempt to promote a theory of spirit or character. Because it wasn’t an opponent that could be defeated with just that in the first place.
So, in short, this is basic. The most difficult basic to keep.
A heart that never gives up.
A strong will that will not give up the courage to fight even in any hopeless situation.
“If only one of everyone in this battle had given up the fight and laid down their weapons earlier.”
I looked around at the tombs filled with the western plains.
“If one attack to wound the evil dragon, one defense to somehow block the breath, and one courage to jump into limbs to protect our allies were not enough.”
After clenching my fists and catching my breath.
After looking at the audience again, I continued speaking.
“We would have been defeated. “By now, the whole world would have quietly met its end, covered in snow and darkness.”
My voice gained strength.
“One enemy attack that we managed to block is one very small wound that we inflicted on the enemy.”
People gritted their teeth, clenched their fists, and closed their eyes.
“The sacrifices of all those who perished and the tenacity of all of us who survived… all came together to protect the world.”
One more time with confidence.
“Everything we did had meaning.”
When I paused for a moment, silence filled the grave site.
It might be an illusion, but I felt like the dead sleeping here were also listening to my words.
I lowered my eyes and slowly quoted some of the words of a philosopher on Earth.
“The world is deep. The world’s sorrow is deep. But the joy is deeper than the pain.”
I smiled as I raised my eyes again and made eye contact with people.
“The night is deep and the darkness is deeper. “A person’s desire for sunlight is deeper than that.”
Under the clear sunlight we finally regained.
I nodded slowly.
“Remember what kind of heart you fought in this battle. “Remember the courage you had in fighting against an unbeatable enemy without giving up.”
Painting the sunlight and fighting under the darkness without the sunlight.
If each person’s heart continues to remain in the future.
“If you have that courage, you will be able to fight the future war… and the life afterward. “We will be able to overcome anything.”
No matter what adversity comes your way, you will be able to live in the direction you want.
Next, I slowly turned back and bowed my head respectfully toward all the graves to the west.
“To all of you who have faced and overcome yet another great challenge, and to all of our comrades buried here. Thank you.”
Turning around and looking at the audience.
He said it with sincerity.
“Thank you truly.”
Holding my breath in front of the faces of people each with complex emotions, I slowly prepared a tribute to be written at this funeral.
In fact, I had already decided what to recite.
Don Quijote.
The most famous knight on Earth.
The story of a great man who was treated as a clown for his ridiculous actions, but eventually became a legend for his beliefs.
I recited the lyrics of the song based on that story.
I think that everyone who is buried under the tombs here and everyone who stands before me and listens to my speeches are like those people of La Mancha.
Dreaming a dream that cannot be achieved,
facing an enemy that
cannot be defeated, enduring unbearable joys and sorrows,
moving to a place that everyone is
reluctant to do, correcting wrongdoings,
loving purely and chastely even if it is far away,
challenging even when we fall down from exhaustion
, reaching for an unreachable star. Stretching out,
no matter how far it is, no matter
how long there is no promise, following that star is my journey.
I will fight for justice without doubt or hesitation and go
even to hell for a noble cause. If I
truly follow this path of glory,
even if I fall and die, my heart will be peaceful and tranquil. For a better world, even if I’m torn and scarred,
if I
have just a ounce of courage, I’ll fight.
Towards that unreachable star
***
After the funeral, I had a few more plans to attend, but they were canceled in a hurry.
That was because, as the imperial prince, I had bigger things to take care of.
“Your Majesty the Crown Prince! “His Majesty the Emperor has regained consciousness!”
Upon hearing the soldier’s report, I immediately rushed to the temple.
High-ranking priests from the church, including Chief Priest Rosetta, came rushing out from inside the temple. I asked urgently.
“How is your Majesty?”
“Your condition is stable.”
Rosetta nodded and made way inside.
“Please go in.”
“thank you.”
I carefully passed the priests and stood in front of the innermost hospital room.
“This is Abamama Soja.”
After knocking slightly and asking, the emperor’s answer came immediately.
“Come in.”
When I opened the door and walked in, I tried to lighten the mood by saying something, but I had to keep my mouth shut right away.
The emperor lying on the bed was in a miserable state.
His left arm and left leg were missing, and his right eye was also wrapped in bandages.
It is said that he directly controlled the flight of La Mancha during Operation ‘Night Closing’ and drove the ship to take on attacks of darkness while other heroes were unable to fight.
During this process, he was unable to actively protect his body, which is why he suffered such serious injuries to his body.
“Don’t make such a face.”
The emperor couldn’t keep his balance when he tried to get up, so I quickly approached him and grabbed him and made him sit up on the bed.
The emperor, who was looking at his empty left arm and tasting bitterness, opened his mouth.
“If I could see the morning sun again, one of my limbs wouldn’t be such a high price to pay.”
“….”
“Oh, I guess I should add one eye as well.”
It seemed like the emperor threw it out of curiosity, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
As I remained silent, unable to say anything, the emperor clicked his tongue and motioned to me with his right hand.
“A king must talk about the future ahead, not the past that has already been lost. “Please put aside my irreversible injuries and talk about the situation at the front.”
“…yes. “Abama.”
I told the Emperor one by one how the battle with the Black Dragon ended and how the front line had been reorganized over the past week.
The emperor, who had listened to all the reports with his mouth shut, sighed softly.
“okay. Now you have become Dawn Bringer, the successor to the Duke of Dusk Bringer… the heir to the Bringer Principality.”
“That’s right.”
“At the same time, you are the crown prince of the empire and the only son who carries on my blood directly.”
The emperor’s wrinkled mouth curled up.
“The land of the Bringer Principality, which has been separated from the empire’s territory for a long time, will finally return to the empire.”
I blinked quietly.
“Are you planning on annexing the Duchy of Bringer to the Empire?”
“Of course it has to be that way, right? “In the first place, the Principality of Bringer was nothing more than a western fortress of the Everblack Empire.”
The emperor calmly explained the history of hundreds of years ago.
“It was a similar place to Crossroads. A fortress built to withstand attacks from neighboring countries. The founder, Grand Duke Bringer, who became the guardian dragon of the empire, was appointed as the lord of the place… Villages and cities were created surrounding the fortress, eventually taking its current form.”
It is said that Dusk Bringer, the progenitor dragon, had no greed for human territory in the first place, so he received the title of Grand Duke, but did not receive rights to the land.
He was appointed as the administrative head to manage and supervise military facilities and areas in the west, and since then, as was the custom, the descendants of Grand Duke Bringer have ruled the land.
As a result, it was only accepted by the world as a principality ruled by a duke. The emperor explained that legally it was entirely the territory of the empire.
And now that I have inherited the blood of the Archduke, the Emperor has the justification to absorb and annex the Duchy of Bringer into the Empire.
“….”
Seeing me remaining silent, the emperor burst into laughter.
“You don’t seem to want to do that.”
The emperor picked up the cane next to the bed and staggered to his feet.
“I will help you.”
“Okay. “You have to adapt.”
The emperor refused my help and limped alone to stand at the window.
The Emperor, who had been quietly looking down at the brightly lit Crossroads in the afternoon for a while, asked as if by surprise.
“Have you found the answer to my ordeal?”
“….”
A trial given by the emperor.
It was a question of how far we would embrace the darkness of this world.
– Son. You said it before. I will kill monsters and save people. And Jim asked you. What is the definition of the person you want to protect?
– And you answered that question by founding the World Defense Front. All beings who communicate and understand each other are the people you are trying to save.
– Then I will ask you one more question here. Even if the being you are trying to communicate with and understand harbors evil that cannot be washed away, would you still embrace it? Would you embrace and protect someone like that?
I decided to protect people.
And people are beings who want to communicate and understand.
Here the emperor goes one step further and reminds me that those I am trying to protect will never be completely good.
Petty, narrow-minded, petty, and evil – the ‘people’ I’m trying to protect are this close to darkness.
“Now that you have become the Grand Duke of Bringer, you must look back on the shameful and cruel history of the Principality of Bringer.”
The emperor spoke without hesitation to me who was still silent.
“Since you directly inherited the Archduke’s flame, you must have seen it too. The history of the Duchy of Bringer also shows that the life of the Grand Duke was not always beautiful. “The history of flames is also the history of ash and soot.”
“….”
“Also, since you will become the emperor of the Everblack Empire in the future, you will have no choice but to inherit the bloody legacy of the Everblack Empire.”
With his back to the spear, the emperor turned towards me.
Just like before, backlit, the emperor was smiling.
“I assure you. The darkness in this country is deeper and deeper than you can imagine. And you must inherit this darkness.”
“….”
“Now answer me. A new bringer. “The next Everblack who will succeed me.”
Even though I now have no divinity and have lost an arm, a leg, and an eye. The emperor still pressured me with his seething charisma.
“What on earth are you going to do with the darkness of this world? Do you still have the courage and arrogance to embrace all of this?”
“….”
“Or, as I suggested earlier, are you more inclined to cut and cook and select only the good ones to swallow?”
“….”
“Now, answer quickly. Prince! “What is your answer to the trials I gave you!”
As I was listening quietly, I chuckled without realizing it.
In fact, my answer had already been decided.
But there was only one reason for hesitating to answer now. If possible, they wanted to answer after the Emperor had fully recovered.
Of course…
“…Are you sure Abama will be okay?”
The answer I will give from now on will completely turn the Emperor’s mind upside down.
I looked straight at the emperor and smiled. The emperor seemed to be taken aback by my inexplicable force, and his body trembled.
“The answer that this son of a bitch, whom Abama has placed on the throne of crown prince, will give is the crown of emperor that I have chosen…”
I whispered softly with narrowed eyes.
“It may completely destroy this Everblack Empire.”
