chapter_0086

85 – Remember the Hero’s Death

85 – Remember the Hero’s Death

Around the time Lucy was becoming honest with her feelings, Daniel Steiner was enjoying a leisurely time at a cocktail bar guided by his client, Leff.

“I thought you’d really gone crazy back then!”

Leff, sitting at the bar table, said, unable to hide his excitement.

“Seeing you go all-in with no pair, I suddenly thought, ‘Is this crazy bastard playing with my money?’ But that was just my worry. Who knew that in the blink of an eye, a trash hand would turn into a royal straight flush!”

“Hahaha!” Leff burst into laughter, tears welling up in his eyes.

“The best part was that the scammer was so scared that he couldn’t even argue. What a moron. It felt so refreshing. Like ten years of indigestion just went away, you know?”

Leff took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the tears from laughing.

“Haa. Really, living in this shithole, there’s never anything fun. Thanks to you, I’ve laughed for the first time in a while. At first, I thought you were some crazy guy, but I think I made the right choice in hiring you.”

Daniel Steiner, who had been listening to the story from next to Leff, gave a faint smile.

“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

Leff, looking at Daniel Steiner meaningfully, narrowed his eyes.

“…But it’s strange. There’s no way I wouldn’t know a player as skilled as you. You don’t seem like a native of Tentarbahem. Am I right?”

“Your guess is correct. I’m a foreigner.”

“I knew it. Here, anyone with skin as fair as yours is either a noble or a foreigner. The nobles are usually assholes, but you don’t seem to have that, so I figured you were a foreigner.”

Daniel Steiner thought he would be asked where he came from and was preparing a fake hometown and excuses, but Leff didn’t seem particularly interested in that.

“Then can you tell me a little about your past?”

What Leff was curious about wasn’t Daniel Steiner’s identity, but his past.

“I love hearing about the pasts of foreigners. Listening to all sorts of stories makes me feel like I’m traveling. So, why did you come to this shithole?”

The truth was that he had been dispatched as an ambassador of Bellanos and was on a ship for official use when it was torpedoed, but there was no way he could say that.

However, if he remained silent, he would be suspected, so Daniel Steiner decided to tell the fundamental reason why he came here.

“I can’t go into detail, but if I were to give a simple reason, it would be that I ran away because I was afraid of the women in my homeland.”

“Women?”

Did he cheat like a Casanova and get caught? As Leff’s eyes sparkled with interest, Daniel Steiner said with self-deprecation.

“There were three women. A woman who wanted to kill me, a woman who wanted to use me, and a woman who seemed a little crazy and blindly believed in me. It was suffocating, and I couldn’t live like that.”

“Three women?” Leff, surprised, widened his eyes.

“…You were a real bad guy, weren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Daniel Steiner blinked blankly and asked.

“A bad guy? Did you even listen to what I said? They were trying to kill or use me.”

“Aren’t you an idiot? What woman in the world would try to kill or use a man she’s not interested in? Basically, they’re expressing their affection in that way because they’re interested in you.”

“No…”

He was about to explain the situation in detail because he thought there was some misunderstanding, but he stopped.

He didn’t have the confidence to persuade a tomboyish young lady who seemed to have learned about romance from romance novels.

As Daniel Steiner clicked his tongue, the bartender approached and handed him a cocktail.

“Sorry for the wait. Here’s your Bloody Mary.”

The cocktail in the slender glass was a vibrant red.

The color was very intense, probably because it was a tomato-based cocktail.

Daniel Steiner, gazing at the cocktail he had received, naturally thought of Lucy.

His adjutant, who had eyes even redder and more beautiful than this cocktail.

‘By now, she must have heard the news that the ship was sunk…’

What kind of reaction would Lucy have when she heard that news?

‘She’d probably be happy, right?’

She wouldn’t be sad that the target of the assassination was dead.

Unless she felt guilty.

‘And…’

If the Allied Nations were the ones who sank the ship, then Lucy would have known about it in advance.

‘There’s no way they would have proceeded without telling Lucy. In that case…’

Was even the promise to eat stollen together on Christmas all an act?

Thinking that, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Leff, who was watching Daniel Steiner from the side, felt his heart pounding.

The faint smile he wore as he looked at the cocktail made him look like someone longing for an old lover.

‘What kind of story does he have?’

For Leff, whose only joy was listening to the stories of foreigners, Daniel Steiner’s current appearance was enough to pique his interest.

“Hey, Libelard, was it?”

Called by his alias, Daniel Steiner naturally nodded.

“That’s right.”

“Good. I’m interested in you, so why don’t you come to my mansion? I’d like to treat you to a meal. And I’d like to hear more of your story.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll pass.”

It was an immediate answer.

“It’s my principle not to build personal relationships with clients. So, ideally, after we leave this place, we should go back to being strangers…”

“Didn’t you say you needed money?”

At the word “money,” Daniel Steiner’s mouth closed.

Certainly, he wouldn’t have enough money to launder his identity and open a bakery with the money he had received so far.

Leff, noticing that Daniel Steiner’s financial situation was weak, gave a playful smile.

“If you accept my invitation, I can give you much more money than you’ve received now. And it’s not like I’m asking you to come right now. I’ll formally invite you in a few days, so come then. It’s a deal with no losses and only gains, isn’t it? Are you still going to refuse?”

“Of course…”

Daniel Steiner paused for a moment and looked at Leff.

“I’ll accept your invitation.”

It was too much money to refuse.

*

The next morning.

Southern Empire, The Great Church of Holy Flame.

“Did you hear? The diplomatic mission ship was sunk.”

“Do you think it was the Allied Nations? Even if we’re at war, attacking civilians…”

The believers gathered in the main chapel were buzzing about the recent ship sinking incident.

Frien, sitting in the front row of the chapel, was listening to the believers’ voices with one ear and letting them out the other.

No, to be exact, she was not in a mental state to pay attention to the believers’ voices.

‘Why?’

Why did Daniel Steiner have to die out of all the people?

‘Why?’

Why didn’t God protect Daniel Steiner?

‘Why?’

Why did God even take away the opportunity for me to be martyred in place of Daniel Steiner?

Frien’s eyes, constantly questioning herself, were empty.

Also, her usually glossy light brown hair was dry and disheveled.

It was the result of constantly abusing herself, not eating or sleeping, after hearing the news that the ship Daniel Steiner was on had been sunk.

‘Why?’

As Frien was asking herself the question again, Bellaf, Frien’s father and pastor in charge, went up to the church’s podium.

He tapped the microphone a few times and looked around at the large crowd gathered in the Great Church.

“Ahem. Brothers and sisters. I thank you on behalf of God for gracing us with your presence to find peace of mind in these difficult and trying times. I would also like to thank my daughter, who graduated early from the military academy and brought honor to our Great Church of Holy Flame.”

Her father’s kind voice echoed throughout the Great Church, but Frien paid no attention.

Her mind was filled only with thoughts about Daniel Steiner’s death.

“Hoping for a decisive victory for the Empire, we will begin the service in earnest, but before that, there will be a speech from my daughter. Frien?”

Frien did not raise her head.

Bellaf, who was embarrassed by this, cleared his throat and spoke again.

“Frien Remiliat!”

Frien, startled by the scolding, raised her head and looked at her father.

Bellaf looked down at Frien with a displeased look and gestured for her to come up.

Only then did Frien remember why she was here.

Graduates of the military academy receive a short vacation before being assigned to their units.

Frien, an early graduate, was no exception, so she took a vacation and returned to her hometown.

Bellaf, seeing Frien, requested that she give a speech before the service.

It was to raise the prestige of the family and enhance the dignity of the church.

“Yes…”

Frien, led by her father’s ambition, got up from her seat and began to walk.

As she walked up the stairs to the podium, Bellaf vacated his spot.

Standing in front of the podium, Frien found the speech placed on the podium desk.

It was a speech written by Bellaf, not Frien.

Frien chuckled as she saw the contents of the speech, which was placed as if she was supposed to read it as is.

This was because the speech contained countless phrases such as “I was born with black magic and lived a life no different from a demon.”

At the end of the sentences, there was a lengthy explanation that she had repented and been saved through the teachings of the church.

‘Don’t make me laugh.’

Frien was saved not by the teachings of the church, but by Daniel Steiner.

The foundation of Frien’s faith was not the teachings of the church, but Daniel Steiner himself.

Frien, biting her lip tightly in anger, picked up the speech and threw it to the side.

As the speech fluttered and fell to the floor, Bellaf, as well as the believers, were surprised.

Frien, taking in those believers, slowly opened her mouth.

“…I have felt many irrationalities in my life.”

Her voice, amplified through the microphone, reached the back of the Great Church.

“I have been subjected to all sorts of criticism and abuse simply because I was born with black magic. Even the clergy, who are known to be the most merciful, thought of me as lowly.”

“What…!”

Bellaf, flustered, tried to chase Frien away, but Frien glared fiercely at her father, who was approaching her.

Bellaf, overwhelmed by her imposing aura, hesitated, and Frien raised her head and looked straight ahead.

“But Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner was different! He did not distance himself from me because my magic was black! Rather, he embraced me and told me that my ability was a blessing!”

Frien’s voice gradually began to gain strength.

“Not only that! Do you, the believers, remember Acts 10:34? That God’s grace is given equally to all peoples and races! In that respect, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner conveyed God’s teachings beyond borders by abolishing racial discrimination in Nordia!”

Frien raised her hand and grabbed the podium.

“Also, in the Northern War, where many sacrifices could have occurred, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner ended the war with the kingdom early through negotiations. Think of the lives of the many people who were saved as a result!”

Frien closed her eyes and sobbed sadly.

“Ah. He was a saint. He was a saint to me and to everyone. The children of Satan took the life of such an innocent person. Who could that be?”

Some of the believers who were listening to the story shouted.

─ The Allied Nations!

Frien slowly opened her eyes when she heard that.

“Yes. If not the Allied Nations, there is no demon that would attack our saint! Then what should we do? Should we just stand by and watch the demons’ atrocities?”

Frien shook her head.

“No! Those who condone demons are no different from demons themselves! We must spread the word about the demons’ atrocities and make sure that Daniel Steiner’s death, the death of a hero, is not in vain! That must be God’s will!”

Nods and murmurs of agreement were coming from all over.

“God does not give us trials that we cannot handle. Then…!”

Frien, putting strength into the hand holding the podium, raised her voice.

“It is time to act as Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner said! I dare to speak to you, the believers, on behalf of God. The meaning of the saint’s death is one! That is…!”

A fierce anger began to fill Frien’s empty eyes.

“Holy War!”

The resonance of the word “Holy War” made the believers stand up one by one.

Even though anger towards the Allied Nations was already rising, Frien’s words served as a fuse for action.

“Brothers and sisters! Children of God! We will never forget the death of Daniel Steiner! So rise up! We will surely rise up and fight as one!”

Frien’s appearance, passionately speaking in front of the huge cross, looked even holy to the believers.

Thanks to this, cheers were heard from all over, and applause was added.

Some of the more radical among them shouted.

─ Holy War!

─ Bring down God’s hammer on the demons of the Allied Nations!

In a space where faith and anger were mixed together, Frien piously prayed with her hands together.

‘Although Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner has left this world…’

I will surely carry on his will.

Author’s Note

As I was writing, the story kept getting longer, so I was late…!

But I have prepared a big bowl of rice, so please forgive me…!