Chapter 14: A new path

The thick cloud of dust spewed out by the collapsing Demon Lord’s castle did not easily settle, even as night deepened.

It hung heavily over the ruins, like Belzegor’s final lingering resentment, or perhaps an ominous veil foretelling a tragedy just beginning for someone.

The subjugation army’s temporary encampment was hastily set up on a plateau, a safe distance from the ruins of the Demon Lord’s castle.

The cheers of victory had subsided, but an atmosphere mixed with their lingering echo, fatigue, relief, and a subtle tension had settled in.

Soldiers, gathered in small groups around bonfires, recounted tales of valor or quietly sipped their drinks, missing the families they had left behind in their hometowns.

Amidst the clamor, Logan stood alone, gazing towards the ruins shrouded in darkness.

The boisterous noise behind him sounded faint, as if it belonged to another world.

‘……’

Foresight.

Those horrific images forcibly crammed into his mind just before the Demon Lord died.

It was neither a curse nor an illusion.

It was a fragment of a coming reality, undeniable no matter how much he wished to deny it.

The sensation of his heart growing cold like a shard of ice.

The unpleasant feeling of all the blood in his body seeming to flow in reverse.

And… a type of betrayal and anger, welling up from the depths of his heart, that he had never felt before in his life.

He desperately suppressed the raging emotions.

Irene, who had been the reason for his existence for years.

His feelings for her transcended simple affection, bordering on almost religious devotion.

Her single smile made him feel as if he had the whole world, and even her slightest sadness caused him heart-wrenching pain.

For her to betray him like that?

And in such a horrific and cruel way?

‘…It hasn’t happened yet.’

Logan reassured himself.

The future could be changed.

No, it had to be changed.

But how?

He couldn’t tell Irene the truth.

Not only would she not believe him, but even if she did, he didn’t know what choices she would make to prevent that future.

Perhaps… she might even more blatantly reveal her feelings for Lian and cling to him.

He didn’t want to see that, at least.

Then… he had to change first.

He had to distance himself from her.

He had to make her realize that he was no longer someone she could take for granted, someone she could lean on nonchalantly even after hurting him.

But… was that possible?

For the past decade or so, his life had revolved entirely around Irene.

He laughed for her, cried for her, fought for her.

How could he turn his back on all of that now?

His mind felt like it would explode from the tangled mess of thoughts.

Then, he heard familiar footsteps behind him.

He knew who it was without looking back.

“Logan.”

It was Irene.

Her voice, different from usual, was tinged with a sharp, anxious tone.

Logan took a deep breath and slowly turned around.

Irene’s face, when he met her gaze, held bewilderment, disappointment, and a faint anger.

It was probably because of how he had pushed her hand away at the Demon Lord’s castle and then been embraced by Anastasia.

“What are you doing here all alone?”

Irene asked, her tone accusatory.

Her gaze was persistent, as if trying to see through Logan’s innermost thoughts.

“……Just getting some air.”

Logan replied in a dry voice, trying to exclude as much emotion as possible.

Irene seemed to notice the change in his tone, as her brow furrowed slightly.

“Air? Are you kidding me right now? What’s wrong with you? At the Demon Lord’s castle, and just now when you were cozying up with that Crown Princess! You… you’ve become strange!”

Irene’s voice grew louder.

She reacted agitatedly, as if she couldn’t accept Logan’s change, or perhaps didn’t want to.

‘Cozying up…’

Logan couldn’t help but inwardly scoff at Irene’s crude expression.

To describe him briefly leaning on Anastasia in such a way.

Then how should one describe her own actions, losing her mind over Lian at first sight and refusing to leave his side?

But Logan didn’t voice such thoughts.

Instead, he took a step back, creating distance between himself and Irene.

At that subtle distancing, Irene’s gaze grew sharper.

“I’m tired. I want to rest today.”

“Tired? Logan, are you avoiding me right now? What did I do wrong? Don’t tell me… it’s because I was with Lian earlier, is it?”

Irene interpreted Logan’s actions according to her own standards and, on the contrary, began to interrogate him.

As if she were the victim.

Her words seemed to carry the meaning, ‘How dare you think of anything else but me?’

“…….”

Logan didn’t even feel it was worth answering.

He no longer wanted to exchange words with Irene.

This conversation itself felt meaningless.

He turned again, intending to walk towards his tent.

“Wait a minute, Logan!”

Irene hastily grabbed his arm.

The moment her hand touched him, Logan, without knowing it, felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

The very hand that had deceived and betrayed him in the future vision.

Disgust and anger surged up again.

Slap!

Logan once again, this time even more forcefully, pushed her hand away.

It was a rejection incomparably more resolute and cold than before.

“……!”

Irene’s eyes widened in shock, and she froze on the spot.

Twice.

Logan had rejected her touch.

And so coldly at that.

Her mind felt like it was going blank.

“Lo-Logan… What’s gotten into you…?”

Irene’s voice began to tremble faintly.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Logan had always been flustered around her.

If she showed even a hint of sadness, if she just let her eyes glisten with tears, he would panic and not know what to do.

The Logan of the past would have immediately softened at such a sight, rushed to embrace her, apologize, and console her.

But the Logan now was different.

He looked down at Irene with cold, hardened eyes and spoke firmly.

Not even a shred of sympathy could be felt in his voice.

“I’m sorry… but please don’t touch me carelessly, Irene.”

“……What?”

“And… I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to lean on me so much from now on. I’ve helped you enough, haven’t I…? So, I… I want to rest now…”

With those words, Logan, without looking at Irene’s reaction any further, walked towards his tent without hesitation.

No trace of lingering attachment could be felt in his steps.

Left alone, Irene could only stare blankly at his retreating back.

She couldn’t believe the words Logan had just spoken.

Don’t touch him?

Don’t lean on him?

How could he say such things to her?

“What… What did I even do… for you to act like this?”

Hot tears streamed down Irene’s face.

Enough?

Not at all… She still needed him.

She herself knew best that she couldn’t do anything without him.

Sorrow, anger, and an unidentifiable anxiety mixed together and began to consume her mind.

Logan had changed.

He wasn’t the Logan she knew, the one who had always looked only at her.

‘No… This is wrong… It must be… because of that Crown Princess!’

Instead of accepting Logan’s change, Irene directed all her resentment towards Anastasia.

Logan had become strange ever since that woman appeared.

That woman must have done something to Logan.

How dare she try to take what was hers.

‘How dare she… my Logan…! I won’t forgive her!’

Irene’s eyes began to glint coldly.

She roughly wiped away her flowing tears and glared hatefully in the direction of Anastasia’s tent.

---

Meanwhile, Logan, having returned to his tent, threw himself onto the old cot.

As the tension in his body eased, extreme fatigue washed over him.

Treating Irene coldly was much harder than he had thought.

The inertia of emotions built up over years was surprisingly tenacious, and a corner of his heart still stirred with lingering affection and pity for her.

But he shook his head.

He couldn’t be bound by the past anymore.

His blind devotion to her was now over.

Whether it was for his own sake, or perhaps for hers.

Logan closed his tired eyes.

In the darkness, he tried to discern the path he should take from now on.

How to sort out his relationship with Irene, and how he should live his life moving forward.

The answer didn’t come easily.

What was clear…

Was only the fact that his pure love was now racing towards its final station.

And at its end…

Perhaps, instead of regret and lingering affection, a new beginning might be waiting.

A faint premonition.

At the center of that premonition, the image of one person who had worried about him and embraced him warmly faintly came to mind.

‘…Anya…’

Logan unknowingly murmured her name softly.

He wasn’t a fool.

He had a vague sense of what feelings she had for him, and how much she had strived for his sake all this time.

Moreover, even the fact that she was being careful not to burden him.

‘…Perhaps… No, I’m no different from Irene at all…’

If he hadn’t seen the future vision today, what kind of future would Anastasia be living?

He hoped that she, at least, wouldn’t foolishly look only at one person until the end, like him.

‘Surely… that can’t be. To a worthless guy like me…’

She was fundamentally different from him, an unremarkable adventurer born in a remote village.

Wasn’t she the Crown Princess of the Empire?

So he thought it couldn’t be, but…

Just in case…

What if…

A very big what if…

If she too, like him, received nothing in return…

Wouldn’t that be the most absurd thing?

‘It’s not… too late yet…’

No, it might already be too late.

She too, like him, must have been lonely and in pain for a long time.

But couldn’t he try to turn things around now?

Could someone as insignificant as him shamelessly approach her…

That point bothered him a little…

But if she wanted it…

Logan’s will to respond to her feelings, albeit very late, began to sprout.

---

The Hero’s party and the subjugation army, having triumphed over the Demon Lord and his cohorts, finished a short night of celebration and set off on their return journey to the Empire.

The rattling sound of carriages and the clatter of hooves settled over the long procession of the subjugation army.

“Hmm~ Hmm~!”

Around the middle of the procession, Baldur, seemingly in a good mood, hummed a tune and leisurely pulled the reins of his pony.

Seeing this, Elara, riding a white horse alongside him, frowned and asked.

“Is this dwarf still not sober? Why is he in such high spirits? It’s quite irritating.”

“Hahaha!! What’s irritating isn’t me, but the fact that the boy is in the same carriage as Her Highness the Crown Princess!”

Baldur chuckled, teasing Elara.

At his words, Elara yelped in fright, but her face was strangely red, as if he had hit a nerve.

“Wh-what are you saying! You dwarf!”

At her reaction, Baldur clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Tsk tsk… You pointy-ear, if you’ve lived long, you should have some conscience. Don’t even your own kind exercise caution with a few hundred years age gap?”

“N-no!!!”

“Kuhahaha!! Alright, alright… Still, you’re lucky compared to some.”

“I said no… Ahem..! Anyway, what do you mean, I’m lucky?”

“Don’t you see over there.”

Baldur gestured with his eyes towards the front of the procession, where the Hero party’s carriage was.

“Ah…”

Elara nodded as if she understood and closed her mouth.

Although she couldn’t see the expressions inside the carriage in detail, the chilly aura surrounding it, and the glimpse of the Hero party’s mage’s stern profile through the window, were enough to make a good guess.

That her gaze was persistently fixed on the carriage carrying Logan and Anastasia.

Baldur and Elara, who had secretly glanced at the Hero party’s carriage, simultaneously shook their heads.

Elara clicked her tongue as if it was pathetic and muttered.

“Tsk… Short-lived races are truly incomprehensible. Have they forgotten everything they did to Logan?”

“Kekeke… You know, don’t you? Humans are the most sublime, but also the most vile.”

At her words, Baldur stroked his beard as if in agreement.

The human race was truly difficult to understand.

Sometimes they showed the sublime act of risking their lives to save a comrade, and at other times, they displayed such vile and selfish behavior.

“That may be so… but still, it’s so shameless it’s beyond words. Especially…”

“Yes, yes. Much more shameless than you. Unlike you, she received all of the boy’s heart and body, yet still… kekeke!”

“I said no! Hey dwarf! Do you want to be subjugated next after the Demon Lord!?”

“Kuhahaha!!!”

As Elara bellowed, Baldur continued to tease her, thinking to himself.

‘Boy… It seems you’ve thought things through, albeit belatedly… but it probably won’t be easy…’

Although the great threat of the Demon Lord had been eliminated, it seemed his future would not be peaceful.

Of course, it was fortunate that he had changed his mind now.