Ch.103Chapter 103. You, why…….

‘What happened to humanity after she disappeared.’

Marcus always thought.

When the world was burned by the dragon’s wrath, it was a sin not to have the courage to stand against such a being.

If a hero had appeared to oppose such a being, they should have cultivated enough strength to protect their back, not just stand by and watch.

‘When we stood by and placed all our hope in her alone, what became of us who remained after losing her?’

If there had been forces that could fight alongside her, or better yet, if they had the strength to protect themselves from all subsequent calamities, perhaps honor and glory would have followed her sacrifice.

In the end, wasn’t it because humanity entrusted everything to her and did nothing themselves that they were pushed to the brink of extinction by disaster?

‘Humanity must cultivate strength’

Having realized this, Marcus abandoned his homeland destroyed by plague and entered the Empire, building his strength from the bottom up.

‘Rather than depending solely on the idol of a hero, the entire collective must unite to cultivate strength.’

Enduring the oppression of corrupt privileged classes while advancing through promotions, he poured everything into strengthening the military for his calling.

Not just relying on the symbol of a hero, but establishing even heroes as part of the military force to confront all future dangers…

The position of Legion Commander was the fruit of Marcus’s lifelong investment in attempting to succeed her.

‘But what about this man?’

That’s why Marcus couldn’t help but resent the man before him.

Despite hundreds in the Empire alone who were as strong as she was and had as much potential as she did.

He was still trapped in past attachments, choosing to create her successor to face calamities that even she couldn’t handle.

‘Face reality, Jean Cleo. Chasing only her shadow any longer endangers not just hope, but humanity’s very survival.’

His anger grew even now, as the achievements at the end of all this were so inadequate.

“Cough!”

Yet the resentful lament was never directed at the hateful comrade before him.

The blood trickling from his mouth at this moment.

It was teaching him that there was little time left for the man he thought would spend his remaining life consumed by attachment.

“Marcus. I…”

Even at this final stage, he remained composed.

With dignity, he tried to convey his intentions.

“As it happens, I couldn’t become a great man pursuing the same cause as you.”

It didn’t matter much now.

He had expected this outcome long ago.

The path he was taking couldn’t be achieved without giving up being human in order to protect humanity.

“I didn’t choose this path for the world’s sake. As you judged, I’m a selfish man… and at the beginning, I was just a ruffian consumed by vengeance, wanting to rampage.”

“What do you…”

“Tashian Pailoi. She is still alive.”

The moment that name was mentioned, Marcus’s face rapidly stiffened.

Tashian Pailoi. A being forgotten with the flow of time, along with the hero.

Though now there are countless calamities incomparable to that dragon, Marcus was someone who had directly witnessed the land scorched by that dragon.

“And soon, she will become a threat to humanity. Before long… a situation will unfold where she has no choice but to threaten humanity.”

Because the fear of that was deeply engraved in his bones.

His instinct was urging him to heed these words at this moment.

“…Jean Cleo.”

“The battle that led you to your current path—her battle—is not yet over. If her fight isn’t finished, shouldn’t one of us who was inspired by her… continue that fight?”

They were indebted to her, and they determined their paths during the brief peace she protected.

Everything achieved since then was based on that past, so how could they disregard that past by focusing only on the current situation?

“Even if she were to appear in this era again, as you say, she would ultimately be just one hero’s worth of fighting power… But if lingering attachment to her blocks the way forward, someone needs to finish her mission in her stead.”

Yes, if someone had to do it, it should be him who had dreamed of avenging her.

After conveying this intention, Jean walked past him, leading his aged body.

“…So you carry on with your mission. I will put an end to her mission that you couldn’t inherit.”

That was all he had to say.

After leaving these final words for his old comrade, Jean quietly tried to leave the quarters, dragging his battered body.

Keeping his blood-filled mouth closed, enduring even his labored breathing.

“…What do you mean, putting an end to it now?”

Marcus, unable to stop his departing old comrade, clenched his fist while grinding his teeth.

He was held back by the hesitation that if he showed sympathy and stopped him here, it might create a crack in his own path.

“What you desire can only be achieved if you live to see the results.”

Just such regret.

He could only ruminate on his regret at the reality that it was no longer possible even to watch the path his old comrade would take.

***

The garrison area gradually darkened as night fell.

As the sun set and bedtime approached, those who had finished their minimal guard duty prepared to end their day.

The torches lit to brighten the surroundings were going out one by one, leaving only a dim light to illuminate the path ahead.

But there was no further to go now, so this faint light was enough to reach the dead end.

‘You’re doing well.’

Jean, moving forward with a lightened heart, managed his physical pain by thinking of the young man who had followed his instructions and grown admirably.

The collapse he had suppressed throughout the training phase was accelerating, but he realized through today’s battle that it was a meaningful sacrifice.

‘Still lacking, but just a little further and it will be enough. Even without me, I’ve found someone who can guide him…’

At the end, he arrived at a construction site where the barrier wall had not yet been built.

This path, which was still free of guards, led to the “final training ground” he had prepared.

“So you’re leaving.”

As he was about to enter this training ground, a familiar voice came from behind.

But he didn’t bother to turn around.

He had guessed that only a prophet who could sense his future departure could find this place without anyone noticing.

“…Can you listen to my story before you go?”

Perhaps because he didn’t have much time left?

He had hoped for a companion to resolve his lingering attachments at this moment, but the prophet’s voice from behind was utterly calm.

“You don’t need to tell me. I already know all about your past.”

“…Haha, I see. So you know everything.”

Come to think of it, the note given at their first meeting contained much information.

From his past to what he could do, even what would happen in the future.

“The time you would spend telling me your story would be better invested in making your final moments more meaningful.”

Yes, soon a situation would unfold where she would have no choice but to rampage.

If the world continued after his death, he needed to prepare for that time before this life ended.

“Bystander who couldn’t become an avenger. I will remember you.”

“…Thank you for seeing off this old man at the end.”

Everything was to commemorate the hero who led him on this path, and to pass that path on to those left behind.

-Trudge, trudge.

As he climbed the ridge alone with only that thought in mind, loneliness began to fill his heart.

It was something he had grown accustomed to by now.

As usual, he tried to soothe that loneliness by recalling memories of her.

****

The Kingdom of Britannia.

Though it was a country that insisted on peace even in times of war, it still needed to strengthen its military to defend against foreign invasions.

Jean Cleo was merely a low-ranking soldier conscripted from such a nation.

His connection with the hero began when he was selected as a servant to attend to her and joined her journey.

It was nothing more than carrying luggage and providing support, but he worked with a sense of honor and mission, considering even that to be honorable.

By supporting her this way, she could focus on her work, which would lead to saving the world.

‘You just need to accept a being of high rank into your body. Then the world will naturally bless me.’

As they traveled together, he would occasionally hear about the secret to her strength.

The ability to handle the unique power of spirits was because she had received rank from someone.

She repeatedly emphasized to those who admired her that she was fundamentally no different from other humans.

‘So please don’t consider me particularly special. Anyone could do what I do if they accepted the power of someone of high rank like me. Of course, I can’t guarantee what would happen if you used power without permission…’

He learned that she had inherited rank from a dragon near the end of everything.

She had wielded her sword with hatred rather than for a greater cause, calling the dragon “mother,” and lost her life at the end of that desperate struggle.

The being who had roamed battlefields since girlhood out of hatred for the mother who abandoned her, and who was eventually appointed as a hero.

In the end, she was killed directly by the mother she finally reunited with.

‘Is that… a dragon.’

A level of filial impiety unimaginable to humans.

That it was directed at someone he respected and followed…

Moreover, as it targeted the one considered humanity’s only hope, he felt his hatred growing.

‘Are dragons such vile beings?’

After the battle ended, the dragon disappeared, but he felt his hatred growing uncontrollably.

That dragon should never exist in this world.

For the sake of the world, and even more, to fulfill her unfulfilled wish.

‘I need… power.’

Recalling her words someday, he took into his body whatever remnants were left at the battle site.

He stuffed into his mouth fragments of sand and armor pieces, blood and flesh from the dragon’s shed scales, and even minimal byproducts from her corpse that the dragon had taken away. If possible, he repeatedly stuffed all of these things into various parts of his body.

And he spent time cultivating the power that rose from that.

He felt his body breaking down because it was power without permission from someone with rank, but even that didn’t matter to him.

‘Tashian Pailoi, she must be killed.’

The dragon that trampled countless people and their homes.

Living solely for that purpose, he wandered the world searching for traces of the dragon that had disappeared.

He meticulously investigated where the dragon had flown after that day, accounts of the dragon transforming into human form, and people who knew the description, all while dragging his broken body forward.

The place he finally arrived at was the Empire, which had become known as the last hope in an increasingly chaotic world.

He boldly entered a back alley in the workshop district there, feeling that all the clues he had collected pointed to this place.

-Clang, clang.

The sound of hammering that echoed at his destination remained vivid in his memory even now.

A woman silently forging a spear with emotional hammer strikes in a place so hot it was barely approachable.

Her body cracked and shed ash with each swing of the hammer, but those fragments repeatedly transformed back into flesh and skin.

The sight of blood dripping from this process was something anyone would find alien.

‘Tashian Pailoi.’

The moment he saw her, he realized that the being he had been searching for existed there.

Yes, I’ve finally found you.

If that was certain, he should have rushed in right there to fulfill the mission she couldn’t complete.

Even if he lost his life in the process, he would be satisfied just to strike at her sore spot.

‘You, why…’

He had taken unauthorized power into his body and come all this way just for this purpose.

Yet that day, he gave up rushing at her and just watched as the woman stopped hammering and collapsed.

In the middle of forging the spear, she had broken down, unable to withstand the emotions rising from within…

‘You, why are you crying?’

A sight he never expected to see from a monster who had committed such filial impiety.

He realized she had been there even before he arrived.