Ch.154Turning Point (5)

# Turning Point (5)

Lacrima opened her eyes in pain.

“……”

The first thing she saw was the familiar shape of a tent. Her circus tent.

She had tried desperately to stop Second, but failed.

She had crawled desperately to grab his ankle, but that too had failed.

“Haha.”

Had she felt some inner satisfaction with her own actions?

In reality, it was pathetic that she hadn’t moved a single step and had apparently fainted on the spot.

She hadn’t actually grabbed Second’s ankle, yet she felt pride in having crawled on the ground trying to grab it.

And even that was just a false illusion she had dreamed.

Isn’t that ridiculous?

“If it was going to be like this, I should have just died…”

Lacrima couldn’t hide her tears. Unable to put on her mask, she began to sob.

And then.

“Should I help you with that?”

Clang!

A holy sword stabbed into the ground, grazing the neck of the woman lying there.

“Well, I kept you alive because I need information and couldn’t just leave you, but if that’s what you really want, I don’t mind obliging.”

It was Esmeralda, who had been watching Lacrima’s struggles from the beginning.

Esmeralda understands. She understands better than anyone what Lacrima’s struggles mean right now.

It must be painful. She must want to give up everything because it’s too difficult.

She herself had been broken and risen again repeatedly. So she knows that pain well.

And because of that, she also knows how to deal with that pain.

What Lacrima needs right now isn’t comfort.

“Do you really want to die? Do you truly want to end everything here?”

What she needs is awareness.

To rise above despair, one must first clearly understand what one wanted to do.

“…No.”

And as she expected, Lacrima shook her head.

She probably did want to die, in truth.

But she couldn’t readily accept death because there was a reason she shouldn’t die, a reason she had desperately struggled for.

“I won’t die.”

Lacrima immediately sprang to her feet and glared at Esmeralda.

“Because there was someone who wanted me to live, even in this miserable state. So I’ll live, even if it’s miserable.”

“Well, that’s a decent excuse.”

Esmeralda faced Lacrima without avoiding her glaring eyes.

From the beginning, there were only two people in this tent: her and Lacrima.

She had already overwhelmed Lacrima before, but that was because it was a one-on-one situation.

Given Lacrima’s ability characteristics, the more people facing her, the more difficult it would likely become.

While she and Tina might be fine, others would find it hard to see through Lacrima’s illusions.

That’s why she stayed behind, to ensure she could subdue Lacrima decisively if anything happened.

“Will you tell me? Third Legion Commander. Who made you like this. What do you want to do?”

“……”

Lacrima stared at Esmeralda while moving her hands.

Suddenly, dangerous weapons like daggers and stilettos appeared in her hands.

With naked hostility in her eyes as she glared at Esmeralda, Lacrima eventually sighed deeply and said:

“Don’t call me Third. Call me Lacrima. That’s my name now.”

Those words also meant she had accepted that she was no longer part of the Demon Lord’s army.

‘Wait, Robeno. I won’t give up just because of something like this. No matter how much you try to run away.’

However, her determination…

‘I’ll use every means possible to be with you.’

Had something of a dangerous feeling to it.

***

While Esmeralda was interrogating Lacrima, the rest of the party was taking their respective breaks.

Since the hero’s party hadn’t been able to get proper rest for several days, Lacrima’s tent in the middle of the forest was a great help.

It wasn’t just a tent that could block outside intrusions.

“This feels… uncomfortable.”

Garnet felt goosebumps.

A tent in the middle of the forest.

A circus set up in a place where no one visits, with traces of only one person’s life—Lacrima’s.

But there wasn’t just one room.

The living supplies prepared in each room somehow felt eerie.

For guests who might come someday? No, she knows.

“Does she miss her own kind?”

Trickster. A tearful clown banished from among them.

Despite being a demon who lacked even family bonds, Lacrima missed those who had banished her.

Yes, she was lonely. That’s why she was labeled as strange.

She was despised, bullied, and driven away.

Yet she still missed them. That emotion overflowed in the tent that was too large for Lacrima to live in alone.

“Hmm.”

Garnet lay on the soft bed in the room and thought.

It’s such a comfortable place. A place perfectly prepared for visitors who might come.

And the more comfortable it was, the more Lacrima’s situation stood out.

“Really…”

Despite having such a comfortable place, Lacrima sleeps in the middle of the stage.

She curls up and sleeps in the middle of the hard, worn-out stage.

The girl who was used to being bullied by others still pushes herself into discomfort and waits for them.

Like a child abused by parents who still loves them anyway.

“I feel so sorry for her that I don’t even want revenge anymore.”

Affection-deprived, a clown with tears.

That’s why she craves love.

If that’s the case, then the clown who could and would do anything for love, only to be abandoned in the end, is now…

What could she be thinking?

***

As Garnet, the hero party’s most powerful ally, fell asleep, the sun set and the other companions began to fall asleep as well.

But there was someone who still couldn’t sleep, and one of them was…

“……”

Lug, who was finally able to rest and thus began to think more.

After Extra’s death, they had walked a path that was nothing short of a forced march.

He chose the fastest route to fulfill Esmeralda’s request, but he hadn’t considered that there would be such a dangerous forest and had become hasty.

Thanks to that, they were able to advance quickly without rest for several days, but…

“Was that right?”

Things that couldn’t surface due to the busy schedule were now disturbing Lug’s mind.

Lug thought. What he did then was certainly right.

The position of the Celestial Foot. It brings about miracles but teaches the direction if one can accomplish it on their own.

It teaches so that people can stand up on their own.

That was certainly not wrong.

Wasn’t that what he had been doing as a Celestial God until now?

He tried not to cause direct miracles as much as possible.

Because the divine power he held didn’t belong in this place. The more he used it, the closer he got to those he wanted to distance himself from.

That’s what he thought. Unlike those beyond who feel nothing for others’ pain, he tried to care for all beings and give teachings.

“Lieutenant Colonel.”

Extra died.

It’s not wrong to say that it would have happened even if Lug had left him alone, but it’s also not wrong to say that he accelerated the situation.

Because Extra had a chance to defeat the enemy with his own hands.

He taught him that possibility.

But what if he had intervened directly? What if he had saved Extra and defeated Force?

“Am I being selfish? Or is this also because I’m human?”

But Lug respected Extra’s will. Even knowing he would die, he just watched the end.

That bothered him belatedly.

What does it mean to be human? Should one turn a blind eye to a friend’s death to fulfill his revenge?

Or should one forcibly stop him from running to the edge of a cliff?

“Lieutenant Colonel. I haven’t made a decision yet.”

Lug was constantly making choices.

He was placing various things on the scale in his heart and comparing their weight.

Whether to stand on the side of humans or demons.

From such simple issues to complex ones like whether to honor noble sacrifices or save them even at the cost of abandoning such nobility.

That’s because he knew.

Because he had once suffered greatly due to his hasty judgment.

Because of that mistake, the situation had come this far, and many people were fighting, believing in their own justice.

People who shouldn’t have died, died.

Those who deserved to die survived.

Someone discovered a new realm in the face of death, and someone else was deprived of their longevity because of that power.

It became so complicated that it could no longer be unraveled.

“Everyone thinks differently and values different things.”

There is no clear justice.

What might be a good deed to someone could be an evil deed to another.

Even the one he trusted was like that.

“Was it a mistake that I trusted you?”

The Pope betrayed him.

He, who had manifested after hearing the Pope’s desperate prayer, fell into a trap, lost his power, and the world fell into chaos.

“You were composed even in the face of death. You believed without doubt that you weren’t wrong. What difference is there between the death you accepted and the death the Lieutenant Colonel accepted?”

The Pope wanted to save the world.

The problem was that it took the extreme form of the annihilation of one race and realm.

But in a way, that judgment was also right.

The demon race, gradually approaching extinction.

The land of death called the demon realm, which was gradually expanding its territory beyond what could be resolved with the holy relics of the Celestial God Order.

Right now, the Pope’s choice might be called extreme.

But in 100 years? Would that choice still be extreme in 1000 years?

If the human realm becomes tainted by the demon realm and everyone dies due to the narrowed territory.

If that’s unavoidable.

“What’s the difference between you and me?”

The Pope’s judgment, though extreme, was certainly also the right path.

Then, between himself, who stood between humans and demons and tilted the scale, and the Pope, who made a decision by tilting the scale between the world and one race.

What difference is there?

Then he…

Knock. Knock.

A sound interrupted Lug’s contemplation. A visitor had come.

“Lug. Are you still awake?”

“Yes…”

“Fufu, are you still awake even though you must be tired?”

“I have some things to think about.”

“May I come in?”

“Yes, it’s open.”

Click.

With Lug’s permission, Eirene Saintess opened the door and entered the room.

Lug, who was sitting on the bed, inhaled sharply and stiffened for a moment at the sight of Eirene.

“Haha… Umm… I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Disturbing? Not at all. However…”

Eirene’s attire was short and thin. So thin that one could see through it.

Yes, she had come to the room wearing only a piece of flimsy lingerie.

“If you come with such a defenseless appearance, I might think you’re trying to seduce me.”

“Has there ever been a time when I wasn’t?”

Eirene scratched her cheek and averted her eyes as she muttered.

Her face had long since turned bright red, and her tightly clenched hands were trembling, showing how much embarrassment she had overcome to arrive here.

“I came to seduce you.”