Ch.104Chapter 104. The Final Task

-Clang, clang.

The sound of metal friction that began to be heard at some point.

I felt my dazed mind being drawn to the source of the noise, which sounded like a hammer striking an anvil.

And at the end of it, I encountered a craftsman hammering away in a room filled with intense heat.

-Clang, clang!

For some reason, the craftsman repeating this action looked familiar.

Even though his hair had turned white like ashes, and his eyes looking down at the spear showed no vitality.

‘When you are completed.’

Yet the emotion I felt in that voice approached me in a strangely different way.

I certainly believed it was that person I knew.

But what I saw there was something I couldn’t imagine that person showing.

‘If the day comes when you stand before me again like that time… will you then understand what this feeling I have is?’

Is it because this is a dream?

Or is it an unknown side of myself being reflected in the form of this dream?

****

-Woong.

My consciousness opened to a subtle vibration sound that followed.

Drawn by it, I rose from the bed and immediately looked toward the spear leaning beside it.

Egowepun Pailoi.

The weapon housing the soul of a child who closed her heart after that day’s friction.

“…Pailoi.”

I wondered if perhaps this child had moved, but even as I approached, there was no vibration like before.

It remained silent, as if telling me that the previous sensation had been an illusion.

Was it too much to hope that this child would acknowledge me with just my training so far?

“…No, it’s too early to be disappointed.”

Haven’t I been training intensively here for the past month?

After achieving explosive growth during that time, it would be absurd to lose heart now.

If there’s somewhere to climb, I just need to keep climbing.

“Yes. Soon now.”

After reaffirming my determination as I did every morning, I stroked Pailoi’s spear and prepared to head to the training ground.

I put on my armor and quickly ate breakfast with preserved food…

“Oh, Hyoseong.”

As I was about to leave my quarters, a familiar face passing by greeted me.

Merilyn Sutherland.

Like Irie, a woman I would like to be with in the future, if permitted.

“Good morning. Are you going to train?”

“Yes, are you going to perform today as well, Merilyn?”

She too was fulfilling her role as a minstrel, contributing in her own way to this garrison area.

Her performances had the power to heighten people’s emotions and breathe vitality into their activities.

The only regret was that lately I’d been so focused on training that I had no time to listen to her performances.

“Well, I’m making a gift for you today, so I don’t think I’ll have time.”

As she smiled meaningfully before me, I felt my interest growing.

“A gift for me?”

“Hehe, you can look forward to it.”

Saying that, she hummed a tune and left.

Though I was curious about what she wouldn’t reveal, I ultimately turned my attention away from her and continued preparing to head to the training ground.

Yes, if we’re going to meet later, there’s no need to feel impatient now.

“Everything will be fine.”

It might have been my imagination, but I got a response from Pailoi, and I’m expecting encouragement from Merilyn.

I didn’t hear any ominous future from Irie when I met her before going to bed last night.

So firmly believing that today would go well, I headed to the training ground without hesitation.

And then…

****

-Crunch, crunch.

A chilling sound reached me as I arrived at the cave designated as the training ground.

With the faint light of dragon veins illuminating the place, it wasn’t difficult to see what was happening inside.

“Grrrr, kaaah…!”

The Undead.

Beings thought to have been completely eradicated until recently, but just yesterday it was revealed that undead from the Lord of Corpses’ territory were targeting this place.

Because of this, there was a possibility that undead might appear again in the excavation site.

No matter how well-managed by imperial forces, one couldn’t rule out the possibility of them infiltrating and attacking people.

“What on earth are you…”

Yes, perhaps someone waiting for me here.

“What the hell have you done, you bastards!!!”

After my thread of reason snapped, I swung my spear at the undead with all my might.

The magical wave generated by my heightened emotions transferred from my armor to the spear, and as it extended forward, it tore the corpses apart.

It was after I had completely turned the undead here into minced meat that I approached Jean.

“Sir, sir!”

But by then, his body was already in a terrible state.

A frail body that couldn’t overcome the passage of time despite his strength.

The undead that attacked such a body without hesitation had mercilessly torn apart everything both on the surface and inside, repeatedly putting it into their mouths.

Despite having experienced such a thing vividly, there was no movement from his body.

“…Sir.”

Accepting reality happened very quickly.

After all, I had seen countless people die.

But the reason I felt such a shock at this moment, as if I’d been hit hard on the back of the head, was because among all those who had died, there were only a handful of people I had given my heart to.

In a world where death could come at any time, those with whom you cooperated and formed bonds were more precious than gold.

“Why.”

I saw such a person’s breath cut short in a single morning.

Just seeing that, I felt a pain like flesh being torn apart enveloping my insides.

“Why on earth did this…”

If only I had been more attentive to the situation.

If I had noticed what he failed to notice beforehand, I might have been able to prevent such an accident, and I felt guilty about that.

-Rustle.

The sound of paper being brushed came as I felt that regret rising.

I realized that a piece of paper, swaying in the faint wind blowing through the cave, had fallen from a rock and flowed to me.

A note that anyone would see was intentionally left behind.

Judging from the circumstances, I believed it could only be from Jean, and with trembling hands, I reached for the letter.

[Do not feel guilty. It is not your fault.]

The opening words precisely targeted the feelings I was experiencing at this moment.

The calmly continuing lines also informed me that he had anticipated a situation like this.

[Rather, it’s remarkable that I’ve lived this long. When one shoulders a power that one cannot handle, it’s only natural that the more one uses that power, the shorter one’s lifespan becomes.]

“…Sir.”

A power that one cannot handle.

Is he referring to those powers he demonstrated while training me?

Is he saying that those powers, which I thought he handled more skillfully than I who am still in training, damaged his body in the process of demonstrating them to me?

[However, I still have regrets about leaving like this. Although you also have your own desires, the beginning of my training you stemmed from my selfishness.]

Even as I felt doubt, I tried to engrave the words written in the letter into my mind.

As much as I hadn’t prepared to lose my guide, I couldn’t help but cling to the last traces he left behind.

[Yes, that beginning was merely revenge. Not for any great cause or anything else… it was just revenge for losing someone I admired.]

Of course, most of it was incomprehensible to me.

Having focused only on training for the past month, I hadn’t carefully asked about his circumstances.

Why he wanted to make me a hero despite whatever talent I might have had that I didn’t know about, what feelings he had while training me, and what feelings he had toward Tachia whom I would face later.

[Why I stopped seeking revenge and chose to watch over the object of my vengeance… even as I write this letter, I’m not sure if that was the right choice.]

But one thing was clear.

The man who trained me occasionally showed glimpses of doubt about the time he had spent, and the more I felt that, the more enthusiasm he put into training me.

[This is probably to be expected. Even the weakest insect might kill a human if it bites a vital point, but an insect that merely watches cannot change a human.]

Having realized his own limitations, and now too old despite having grasped the power to change something.

I could tell he had placed even more expectations on me to follow in his footsteps.

[But you might be different. To her, I’m just an annoying insect merely watching, but you are loved enough to melt into her life.]

-Rustle.

My hand holding the letter tightened.

Yet I continued reading.

[Whatever form that love takes, it’s clear that she regards you as more special than any other human.]

I want to realize what I must shoulder after his death.

And what awaits me ahead.

[And the same goes for you. You too have special feelings for her, haven’t you felt conflict every moment while training with me?]

I need strength.

To accept the fate that makes me kill someone who has given their heart to me.

Or to defy such a fate.

[So do not be afraid, and prepare your heart. Continue to focus on building your strength so that when the decisive moment comes, you can choose according to your will among the options provided.]

[Even if the world says your choice is wrong, if you have the strength to overturn such judgments, no one will be able to raise objections against you.]

The letter ended with an encouragement to take up such a calling.

Although it contained concern for me until the end, I still felt the future becoming bleak.

“Sir, I…”

Even knowing what I should do, hasn’t the one who would guide me disappeared?

Whether I can truly do well without him…

As such anxiety continued to stir in my heart, I realized that there was also writing on the back page of the letter in my hand.

And…

-Grr, ugh.

Right after reading all of its contents, a groan came from behind me.

As I turned my gaze toward the source of the sound with heightened alertness, I felt my breath catch.

[And finally, one more thing, I have one request to make of you, despite my impudence.]

It’s just one undead.

No different from the ones I’ve killed so far, just a moving corpse that can no longer be called alive.

Even if it has self-awareness, I know that it’s merely recalling past memories.

[This letter is to resolve the last lingering attachment of an old man who is about to leave this world… yet if there remains any attachment after writing this, I hope you will resolve it.]

I understand this intellectually.

But why?

“Ah, aah.”

From my mouth facing that dead man.

Why does a sigh filled with deeper despair than ever before flow out?

****

It was a life lived solely for revenge against his idol.

Accepting unauthorized power into his body, he desperately honed the blade for revenge.

But why was the object of his vengeance crying that day?

Why did she create a weapon from what she called a soul extracted from her daughter’s corpse, and why did she show an emotion called sadness while looking down at such a being?

‘Can a calamity even feel sadness in the first place? Is she truly a being that can be called a calamity?’

He couldn’t imagine it, and couldn’t understand it even seeing it with his own eyes.

Since he even doubted whether she was truly the object of his revenge, he wanted to watch over her.

He was even prepared to draw his sword if she showed any signs of going berserk, but such a time never came, and more than half a century passed.

And throughout that process, he always tried to understand.

Why did she, on that day, continue her life by making a contract she didn’t have to make?

Why would a supreme being who had lived for an unimaginably long time by human standards want to watch over humans despite feeling the pain of prolonging her life?

‘Tachia always cooked for me.’

Yes, he wouldn’t know.

The answer that exists in the kindness bestowed upon him, which he wouldn’t know even if he invested his entire life.

Although he merely denied it, the answer was determined from the moment he saw her shedding tears that first day.

‘Even if she lived for ten thousand years, perhaps for the last 100 years, she had a heart like a human.’

It’s just that she herself wasn’t aware of it, and she continued to deny it because if she realized it, she would have to accept what she had done.

By the time he realized this, he felt the vengeful feelings he had toward her fading away.

He realized that a punishment he could never handle was stirring within her as she lived through the same time as him.

Yes, further revenge has no meaning. Indignation about emotions has long since crumbled and disappeared with the passage of time.

So he should be able to accept the end of his life without regrets.

He certainly thought so, but…

‘But, is this really okay?’

At the moment when he reached the end of that life.

As he finished his retrospection and prepared for eternal rest, he felt a worry that he himself hadn’t realized blooming in his heart.

‘Is it really okay to end like this?’

Did he train him to entrust his revenge?

No, revenge is meaningless now.

Conversely, because it has no meaning, he felt all his efforts for revenge becoming futile.

At the core of his declaration to make a young man a hero was not a great cause but such a skepticism about life.

‘This is not enough.’

He wants to watch that journey a little more.

‘If allowed, just a little… more…’

If he can’t watch, he at least wants to help build a little more strength for him to navigate what lies ahead.

-Thud thud thud.

Such lingering attachment, at this moment, combined with the ominous power that seeped in as his flesh was being eaten, leading to some kind of phenomenon.

Using the body that was rapidly decaying due to the contaminated power as a base.

Using it as a ‘tool’ to resolve the unfulfilled attachments of that life.

“Si…r……”

“Hold the spear, young man.”

The dead man who has risen with such an opportunity speaks.

With eyes that have lost their vitality now flashing, and squeezing his dried throat, he tries to be faithful to his lingering attachment.

“Now, I will begin… the final training.”

“Training…?”

“The rule is… simple. Using everything… you’ve learned so far, try to… defeat the dead man before you.”

Until the very last moment.

And even beyond the last moment, if permitted, by becoming a trial that blocks his way.

“I believe you won’t back down now that you’ve come this far. If you are a hero, you wouldn’t leave such a monster loose in the world.”

If the world continues even after his death.

Believing that this too gives meaning to his life, he seeks to deeply engrave that will in the one who will follow him.

“So hold your spear.”

The soul that existed in that body would have left the world with such belief.

“Hold your spear, hero.”

Knowing that such belief is the reason he has risen.

The empty shell that lost its soul did not hesitate to continue its calling.

“If you are truly a hero, shouldn’t you easily defeat a ghoul like this and move on?”

Even after his life reached its end.

He knew better than anyone that the story of those who inherit continues.