Ch.51I’ll Wait Only for You

“Do you agree with it too? Executing Irefi… her…”

In response to my question, Zikharun dismissed it as if it wasn’t even worth answering.

“Isn’t it obvious? There’s no reason not to kill her. You should know perfectly well that I’m an enemy of Irefi Justitia.”

“Ugh…”

Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Zikharun twisted his expression strangely. He looked at me as if he’d discovered some incomprehensible, unknown creature.

“I suspect, but is the Marquess actually hesitating?”

“Yes. Honestly, you’re right.”

“I cannot understand. I won’t say this world is merely a game. I won’t deny that ‘that thing’ is also a living being with personhood. But I wish you would distinguish what deserves your hesitation.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Be rational, Marquess. That is something beyond the constraints of humanity. It’s a symbol of annihilation that covers ashes with blood. Rather, I’d like to ask what you’re trying to say.”

Zikharun struck at my vulnerable spot with an utterly businesslike tone. I tried to twist my lips to offer some clear rebuttal, but quickly failed. My words were blocked, and I felt my throat burning.

After waiting for my response, Zikharun broke the silence and spoke matter-of-factly.

“Have you developed feelings for that pretty face? Have you built memories together during your time together? Get a grip, Marquess. From the moment it went mad, it became nothing but a seed of malice.”

“… Nothing has happened yet.”

No, actually it had. The pickpocket’s life had lost its light and fallen into the abyss. I don’t know if theft deserves the punishment of death. Even if it did, does Irefi have the right to be the judge?

Considering the historical context… maybe it’s not so strange?

As I desperately tried to construct a wall of rationalization, Zikharun brought down a massive sledgehammer as if I didn’t stand a chance.

He revealed a cruel truth I couldn’t have known.

“If you’re talking about anomalies, they’ve already occurred. I must have told you. I observed the precursors of the Destroyer’s awakening. Do you think I would have known about your imprisonment otherwise? Not at all.”

“What else is there?”

“The commotion at Feita’s was established by a single item. You know what it is, don’t you?”

“The disposable portal.”

“Correct. That was our only means to counter the Destroyer. In fact, we succeeded in using the portal to send it to a foreign battlefield.”

“What… did you say…?”

Stagger-

For a moment, my legs gave out. An ominous sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me from Zikharun’s story. Even as he continued speaking, my vision was endlessly searching the past.

Then I recalled a memory from not too long ago.

She had said that this was a pastry shop opened by a chef who had made a name for himself in a foreign country.

The structure was similar to a modern café, and the food suited my taste, making it an impressive establishment.

At that time, a conversation between some women brushed past my ears.

[Have you heard that rumor? About the Arlan Kingdom and the nomadic tribes joining forces.]

[They say all the soldiers who were at war died.]

[They say that while the battle was raging, a knight fell from the sky and killed everyone, regardless of which side they were on. Of course, it’s just a rumor for now.]

[There’s also talk that she laughed terribly after the massacre.]

In that café where such conversations could be heard, there was a woman focused on her dessert. Irefi Justitia. She was the strongest female knight in the world.

The timing overlaps too perfectly. It inevitably overlaps with the story Zikharun has just shared.

He frowns and speaks, trampling my vague hopes.

“It was the battlefield of the Arlan Kingdom and the nomadic tribes. And before a day had passed, their war was over. It ended with the massacre by a single white knight.”

“…”

“Moreover, the survivors on our side became broken after witnessing the white knight’s atrocities. It’s time to accept it. That is a ticking bomb wearing Irefi Justitia’s skin. There’s no room for sympathy.”

“Irefi…”

I trace her actions across the dark sky. She was a knight who held an unyielding resolve in her heart. A woman who took up the sword to cleanse the sins of her predecessors. That Irefi had already committed a crime.

Have you already crossed a river of no return? Have you gone to a place beyond my sight?

My fingertips trembled.

I desperately gazed at the sky. The moon hanging in the dark sky. It seemed as if that moon, which dyed Irefi’s white hair, would give me an answer.

Just as I was about to squeeze my eyes shut.

Shing-!

The savage metallic sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard pierced my eardrums. Zikharun’s wavering red eyes were reflected in the sharply honed blade.

He shouted.

“Don’t just stand there, Marquess! Emergency!!!”

“What?”

Slash!

A cutting sound exploded in the quiet night. It was the byproduct of a sword strike that had given me an unforgettable trauma.

Then Zikharun’s sword rang out with a clear impact sound against what seemed like empty air.

“Marquess, explain! Why is that thing here!”

“This can’t be…!”

She was walking unsteadily like an addict soaked in drugs. Her disheveled white hair revealed her presence in place of the moonlight hidden by clouds.

Her expression, shrouded in shadows and unidentifiable, evoked an eerie feeling.

Eventually, the strange figure moved her lips.

“Nepy.”

“Irefi…?”

“Yes, it’s me. It’s Irefi.”

Step, step.

As Irefi’s footsteps crushed the grass, the dark clouds that had been covering the moon’s halo cleared. The pale radiance descending like stairs from the sky enveloped her like a spotlight on a stage.

Irefi was crying. Transparent tears flowed like rainwater from eaves during the rainy season. As if someone had inserted a straw into the clear lake trapped in her blue eyes…

She spoke with a broken voice through her sobs.

“I need you, Nepy.”

“Well, we also have circumstances that prevent us from handing over the Marquess.”

Zikharun stepped forward. It’s quite the comedy that the protagonist who once fought to the death with her is now in the position of protecting me.

‘Since Irefi doesn’t know Zikharun… she might be able to handle this.’

The advantage of information is truly remarkable, easily overturning any difference in capability. Zikharun’s case at the Great Cavern, where he nearly retired pathetically against the old man, was an example of this.

But contrary to expectations, the next name Irefi uttered shocked us.

“Zikharun Misrakh…”

“What…!”

“Irefi, how do you!?”

Boom-!

At that moment, as soon as the words ended, a huge shadow fell from above.

“Marquess Justitia! You must refrain from causing a disturbance!”

The identity of the shadow was Bartlant. Hostility flickered in his eyes, which burned with violent vitality.

Irefi continued to stare at us with her pitifully sobbing figure. The wary gazes of Zikharun and Bartlant seemed to regard her as a straw doll.

“… There are many of you.”

She said.

“I must tell you. I must convey this to you. People gather around Nepy. And the lineup feels almost like fate…”

Step, step.

Irefi’s trembling footsteps slowly closed the distance. In her current state, she looked like she would collapse like a puppet with cut strings if pushed.

“But still. Even so. Nepy. I remembered. I swore that if an endless abyss was my fate, I would curse the abyss itself. But what can I do? Now that the abyss is gone, I’ve foolishly stepped into an endless swamp instead.”

“Indeed… Marquess Justitia is not in her right mind. And what is this sinister energy?”

“Damn, both the location and timing are the worst. What are you doing, Marquess? The target is just standing there! Run away!”

At Zikharun’s urgent request, I snapped to my senses. As I flinched and stepped back, a slender and beautiful woman’s voice caught my ankle.

“Nepy.”

“Irefi…”

“Ignore the ravings of a madwoman! I told you to run!!!”

“Zikharun, no matter what you say, Nepy won’t run away. Especially if he feels this is an important turning point… Right? Nepy.”

Her blue eyes sought my agreement. As if responding to her words, I planted my rear hooves, which had been floating, firmly on the ground.

“Nepy, I just came because I wanted to talk with you. But you won’t believe me. Even if you accept me, Zikharun and Bartlant wouldn’t allow it, right? So…”

Whoosh!

Irefi’s white form disappeared like a ghost.

“—I’ll eliminate them. Please wait a little, Nepy.”

Her fluttering white hair had already cut through the cool night air and approached Zikharun’s vicinity.

Clang!

Irefi’s ceremonial sword, swung upward from a low stance, clashed with Zikharun’s sword, sending sparks flying.

The two swords created metallic sounds as they maintained a balance of power.

The balance of power shifted in an instant. Irefi deliberately withdrew her strength and smoothly deflected Zikharun’s blade.

However, this was exactly as Zikharun had intended. He deliberately feigned an opening while preparing a thorough counterattack using the spirit’s characteristics.

Just as she was about to mercilessly strike down Zikharun, whose side was completely exposed, Irefi murmured.

“Spirit’s blood. I’ve had enough of dealing with it.”

Whoosh!

Irefi’s words were like a prophecy. Indeed, Zikharun had quickly concentrated red energy at a single point, preparing a counter using reflective damage.

“You…?”

Zikharun’s eyes widened in shock. Irefi fixed the blunt tip of her sword on the area where the spirit’s blood was concentrated and pushed it away like lightning.

Crash, clatter!

Zikharun flew away, creating a path like a drainage ditch in the imperial garden. Since she had merely pushed rather than stabbed, it was fair to say that Irefi had suffered no damage.

Having subdued Zikharun in an instant exchange, she unconsciously glanced to the side.

“Haaaaaah!”

At the end of her gaze was a large man swinging his fist with fierce battle aura.

Bartlant Chester. His fist, charging with a storm-like momentum, was like a majestic boulder. Even a ceremonial sword forged by a master would be like a bare winter branch before his fist infused with battle aura.

“You and I have fought countless times. It was a bad relationship.”

“What are you saying… Kuk.”

Whoosh, whoosh!

Each time Bartlant’s fist cut through the air, air bullets derived from his pressure left clear scars on the once-flat ground.

Irefi avoided them leisurely, as if even he was ridiculous, while expressing incomprehensible sentiments.

“Perhaps I know you best now. I’ve seen enough of swords, fists, and conqueror’s swords. Look.”

Irefi speaks casually from the center of the large man.

“While dodging, I’m already close to your heart?”

Click!

The end of the sword handle held in reverse. Bartlant’s chest was wide open in a straight line with the pommel.

Irefi had somehow returned her ceremonial sword to its scabbard and then drawn it again, striking his solar plexus with the end of the handle.

Crunch!

It was a chilling impact sound of bones being crushed. After a moment, red energy escaped from Bartlant’s mouth, followed by a splash of blood.

“This can’t be…”

I couldn’t believe the tragedy unfolding before my eyes. Zikharun and Bartlant. These two had already subdued Irefi once in the original story.

Yet Irefi disregarded this and even denied the original story.

Three minutes. No, perhaps even less. That was the time it took for her to subdue them.

“Nepy. It’s finally quiet now.”

“… I have more than one or two questions, but they all come down to one.”

I ask desperately.

“Why? Irefi. Why did you do it?”

“Nepy asks strange questions.”

“…”

I remained silent. As someone who knew all the truth about her, I wanted her to reveal the facts herself. That was my last trust in Irefi.

Irefi raised her head and looked into my eyes for a long time. It was a long silence, long enough that I could see my reflection in her teary eyes.

Finally, at the end of the silence, she reached out her hand. Looking down diagonally at her hand caressing my right cheek, I saw her lips, layered like cherry blossoms.

Those lips opened softly.

“You knew everything, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Whatever you heard is true, Nepy.”

“…”

“And whatever you heard, I am a more terrible person than that. You don’t know, do you? The karma I’ve created, my hideous, demonic side… You can’t know.”

“No, Irefi. It’s not too late…!”

“Will you listen? Nepy. To my story, to my request.”

She withdrew her gentle hand that had been caressing my cheek. Then, from behind her, a dark energy rippled mockingly. Just as I was about to raise my eyes, Irefi opened her mouth.

“The terrible Destroyer Irefi. By the time I emerged from my delusion, I was already being called that.”

“Irefi, you!?”

“Killing countless people, a manifestation of malice bringing chaos to the world. That was my life. My world without you, Nepy, without Miren, was like that. I was a demon who couldn’t find a reason to live unless I took revenge for the misfortune of being abandoned by the world.”

What is Irefi saying now? Why, how is she telling me so vividly what I shouldn’t know?

“But then, Nepy appeared. You rescued Miren spectacularly and even saved me as a bonus. But it seems the malice didn’t go anywhere. I quickly committed sins, concealed them, lied, committed more sins… and remembered. My terrible future… no, the world that would have happened.”

Irefi’s blue eyes blurred with tears threatening to spill over. I wanted to wipe away Irefi’s tears, but I couldn’t.

I couldn’t move a finger, as if paralyzed.

I am a stupid fool. Even though I can clearly see Irefi suffering, I’m a wretched person who can’t muster the courage.

“At first, as soon as I remembered, I wanted to kill myself. Because my very existence was disgusting, because the sins I had committed were unbearably nauseating.”

The moment Irefi’s calm tone reversed was instantaneous.

“But I couldn’t!”

Irefi raised her head to the sky. She screamed in a neurotic rage, releasing her resentment and grudge.

“The grudge boiling up from the dark bottom, the past where everything was taken away, those emotions! Just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean they disappear!

Who will compensate for my foolish footprints that couldn’t do anything, couldn’t leave anything behind? Who will punish the unforgivable sins I’ve already committed?

I… I can no longer live as I have until now. I shouldn’t.”

She now lowered her head that had been raised high. She shouted harshly with a completely broken voice, as if vomiting out a disgusting feeling.

“Destruction, destruction, destruction! I, who was abandoned beneath the Empire’s peaceful daily life, am the legitimate avenger of the Empire. Whether it’s the past or a future that hasn’t happened yet, it doesn’t matter. I am, because I am. Because I am the terrible Destroyer Irefi who brings everything to annihilation…”

Gasp, gasp.

Irefi’s breathing was rough during the momentary lull. But Irefi seemed unable to tolerate even a moment of silence.

She forcibly gathered her breath and laughed maniacally, disrupting the garden that had found peace.

“Ugh… urgh… ahah, haha! Now I can know for certain. Neither Zikharun who beheaded me, nor Bartlant who tried to cut me down for decades… can stop me now.”

“Irefi!!!”

“So, Nepy. You stop me. Only you can do it. Only Nepy, who gave me a daily life I truly enjoyed, can stop me.”

“No, Irefi! Please. Listen to me. Still, still…! Mmph.”

My urgent excuses could never see the light of day. Irefi’s soft lips, which suddenly folded space, swallowed them all.

The feelings I desperately wanted to convey were all swept away by her lips that visited like an uninvited guest.

And yet she cried sorrowfully.

The first kiss where Irefi’s true heart reached me was not an experience that could be called sweet. It was nothing more or less than her salty and bitter sadness.

She stepped back and hid her tears.

As we exchanged final greetings, she made her last wish to me.

But why? Ominously, I overlapped past conversations with each phrase Irefi spoke.

Memories that could never be returned to ran rampant in my mind. That excited morning of some day, now like a dream… suddenly came to mind.

From the rusty memory of walking through street stalls holding hands, just the two of us, she speaks.

“Before I destroy everything.”

[Do you know? Nepy,]

“Please kill me.”

[You pretend not to, but you actually give in to everything when pushed.]

“Please end me.”

[Did I do that?]

“Nepy. My savior.”

[Yes!]

[I like that about you, Nepy. Probably from a very long time ago.]

“No, Irefi!!!”

“I’ll be waiting only for you. At my final destination, where everything ended.”

She smiled dazzlingly.

Irefi disappeared, melting into the night wind and wild grass.

I belatedly flail my hands, grasping at an illusion.

Forever recalling the lingering presence of Irefi.