Ch.58Chapter 58. Live for Me, and…..

For a being that lives through eternity, it was but a fleeting moment.

It was only at the end of the battle, when something resembling composure finally settled in, that she realized her grown adopted daughter hated the mother who had fled, unable to bear her own emotions.

“With such power, you could have simply run away.”

Nevertheless, the battle was unbearably fierce until the very end.

“This is a race you don’t need to protect. These are foolish, arrogant creatures who believe themselves to be the rulers of this world just because some tired fools have disappeared from it—and these are the ones you tried to protect!”

At the end, the one called the Wizard Hero was dying, and she herself had burned through her physical form, depleting most of her innate power.

Of course, her remaining strength would be more than enough to destroy humanity.

Even if she couldn’t kill them all, once she destroyed their precious civilization, they would be consumed by despair and never rise again.

“Do you think they will be grateful to you for protecting them?”

She resented her daughter who stood in her way.

The being who caused her confusion and ultimately blocked her path with a sword began to look just as detestable as those she was trying to protect.

“They’ve given you nothing but the title of ‘Hero,’ those selfish creatures who only wait eagerly for you to kill me… Do you truly believe they’re worth protecting at such cost?”

She begged her to stand down even now.

With desperate emotion in her voice for the first time in her life, the Wizard Hero answered:

“I believe they are. Even I, raised by a being like you, realized that I am like them.”

Though her body seemed about to collapse at any moment, there was still strength in the eyes that met her own.

She felt no hesitation in asserting her conviction.

“I learned that they have personalities, beliefs, and lives. They fight because they have different ways of thinking, but I also learned that humans are a race capable of understanding such differences.”

“All of that is meaningless to me.”

“But I thought you were no different from them.”

What stopped her advance wasn’t the sword burning with final resistance, but this appeal directed at her.

“…What do you mean?”

“I felt love from you. The same as from the people who took me in and raised me after…”

Having lived her life in emptiness, words attempting to understand the awkwardness of her final whim came from the mouth of the human she had raised.

“When you ran away then, it was only because you were clumsy and inexperienced, wasn’t it? No matter how many ten thousand years you’ve lived, it would have been your first time raising a child.”

The hatred toward the mother who abandoned her was only at first.

What remained in the place where the final flames of that life rose was understanding and forgiveness toward her.

“I, a human, believe I understand you.”

The declining dragon merely listened to those words.

“So I think… that you too, a dragon… will one day come to understand the humans you’ve trampled… That’s what I believe.”

Even though she was already at the limit of her lifespan, with only days left before burning her final flame.

Suppressing that impulse, she found herself absorbed in the words of the only human who could stand in her way.

“Give them a chance… a chance to prove that these beings you’ve considered worthless until now deserve to exist in this world.”

Perhaps these words could help her understand the reason for the confusion she felt.

The confusion that made her annoyed by human attacks she could have simply ignored or avoided, and that ultimately led her to continue her advance, mercilessly crushing their resistance…

“…What if I give them a chance and they prove to be the same? What then?”

Perhaps before this life ended, she could understand the nature of these emotions she herself couldn’t comprehend.

“If you, trying to stop me in that condition, come to accept that humans aren’t worth protecting… would you quietly agree if I continued what I’m doing now?”

She hoped for an answer to that question, but no matter how much time passed, no answer came.

Because with that final request, the human who had burned everything had breathed her last.

No matter how much she had been influenced by her and wielded a dragon’s power, this end was predetermined by her inherent limitations.

“You would have…”

That child who had desperately tried to stop her for reasons she still didn’t understand.

“You would certainly have answered yes.”

She was certain the girl would have answered affirmatively to this question.

Thus, the dragon who had ultimately killed her adopted daughter guessed at her feelings, and through this hypothetical agreement, chose to continue her life through a contract.

Even though she didn’t have to, she decided to do so.

As always, defining it as nothing more than a “whim.”

***

She regrets that choice made on a whim up to this moment.

Since then, to resist disasters more cruel and massive than herself, they attached the title of “Hero” to those summoned from outside worlds and worshipped them as saviors.

The more she saw them defiling that existence and dignity, the greater her disillusionment with human beings grew…

But how could she prove this directly to the child who had become the subject of the contract?

Wizard Hero Tachia was already dead, and her name had been completely forgotten by the public due to the collapsing world and the passage of time.

Not even a successor remained, pushed aside by mass-produced heroes summoned from other worlds, so it could be said that no one remained in this world who could answer in her place.

Having realized this only after decades had passed, she attempted to extract what could be called a soul from the corpse and refine it into a weapon.

So that the weapon born from this would awaken consciousness and gradually grow to have the same tendencies and values as that child.

So that with this awakened consciousness, she could directly seek out the human potential that had given her hope.

-Crash, bang!

But before that time could come, the tool created for this purpose was running wild, beyond her control.

The weapon itself was rampaging without even a user.

Unable to disperse or control its power, it was simply intoxicated by instinct, trying to diminish its own existence.

If left alone, that weapon would self-destruct.

“…Stop.”

But how could she stop it?

The vessel containing the power had already been pushed to a dangerous level, and if she used force to stop it now, the vessel might collapse.

“Please, listen to me. You are…”

It’s annoying, irritating.

She felt that everything that fouled her mood had been mixing up her feelings since she forcibly extended this life.

“You’re just a tool created for a contract.”

What could it be?

This uncomfortable feeling she’d had ever since that one died.

She had even created a replica to understand the standard.

Why did her chest ache so much just from hearing a being like that one wailing?

-Papa…

What was that man to her?

How could that power, which merely imprinted a name, rampage so violently and cause her such trouble?

-Daddy~~!!!

As that sudden behavior finally stopped, and it flew out of the collapsed workshop into an alley.

The moment she saw who had just arrived there.

“…Ah.”

Her dulled heart clearly began to beat faster.

‘Found it.’

None other than the Hero’s replica.

She realized that a being who could give the same answer as that child, a being she had chosen to be with by her own hands, had appeared before her.

“T-Tachia, what’s happening right now…”

“You, make a contract with me.”

She was tired of dragging this out.

Whatever the reason, it’s fine.

If she chose that man instead of a walking corpse that could barely stand, watching would be enough from now on.

“I’ll give you that weapon.”

Moreover, wasn’t he the man who had quickly awakened the long-suppressed consciousness?

If wielded in that man’s hands, its growth would accelerate, and eventually fulfill the conditions she desired.

“You wanted that weapon, right? I’ll give it to you, just take it.”

Without feeling self-loathing for being at the mercy of a forcibly restored body.

Finally, the moment of liberation from this filthy feeling had arrived.

“…Yes, I accept.”

To that hasty proposal, the other party answered after a moment of silence.

Accepting without even hearing the conditions…

There must be a reason for that, but even that didn’t matter to her.

Because humans are such beings.

Not caring about what value this weapon holds, or why it’s being placed in their hands.

Even if receiving this weapon meant humanity’s destruction upon the wielder’s death, humans would not care as long as it wasn’t their own end they faced.

“What do you want from me, Tachia?”

To the question chosen by the byproduct of the one who wanted to protect such beings, the declining dragon answered:

“Nothing like that. Just do what you can with that weapon.”

“That’s all…”

“Yes, that’s all.”

One step forward toward finally fulfilling that condition.

The declining being who realized only one step remained before achieving more than that, poured out her desperate wish to him.

“Please, for my sake.”

Please, for my sake.

“Live with that weapon.”

Struggle and die with it.

“Do your best, as long as you can.”

Struggle with all your might while comforting the heart of that replica.

“That’s enough.”

If that child were alive, she would surely reach the same conclusion as that weapon.

And if she realized there was no hope in that desperate struggle and final moment, I too could rampage without suppressing these emotions anymore.

“Just do that for me, take the weapon.”

While hiding these inner thoughts.

The being who had extended her life due to what she defined as a whim poured out her desperation toward the hope that had finally arrived.

For whatever reason, whatever the goal.

She hoped he would struggle desperately to prove human worth, and die at the end of it.

“…Yes.”

And this man would certainly not understand such feelings.

Despite that certainty.

“I accept. As you wish.”

Yet the face before her clearly revealed the emotions felt while facing her in this moment.

Without knowing that humanity’s survival hung in the balance because of him.

Simply showing goodwill toward her, feeling triumph in this moment.