A World Without a Hero (3)

    A World Without a Hero (3)

    “…”

    The Saint silently stared at me.

    “Corfe Lilac.”

    Toward her who did not answer, I asked again.

    “I asked if you are asking me to participate in starting a war.”

    “How dare…!”

    One of the two large men who had fallen down staggered to his feet.

    I threw an empty teacup at him.

    -Crash!

    The teacup shattered as it hit the bridge of his nose, and the large man fell backward with unfocused eyes.

    “Didn’t you say something about managing your subordinates?”

    “…Please calm your excitement and listen, Princess Evangeline.”

    The Saint said quietly, lifting her teacup.

    After taking a sip of tea while avoiding my gaze, the Saint opened her mouth.

    “War is necessary.”

    “Ha.”

    I let out a hollow laugh. This level of brazenness was almost beyond anger.

    “How many years do you think remain until the Demon King’s Army attempts another invasion? 10 years? 20 years?”

    The Saint continued with a resolute attitude.

    “No, I believe it won’t even be 5 years. The Demon King’s Army’s forces are so large and powerful that they could be said to be limitless, and we cannot bind their feet for very long just by losing a few corps commanders.”

    “…I see.”

    “It’s not ‘I see’!”

    The Saint raised her voice. It was as if she was genuinely indignant, as if asking why I couldn’t understand her feelings.

    “If you had participated in that war, you would know! The terribly gloomy war situation, the fear of fighting against the endless armies of darkness! If we don’t strike first before they stir again, before they complete their preparations for reinvasion…”

    “Fear, you say.”

    The Saint closed her mouth at my voice.

    A voice so cold that even I was startled by it flowed from my mouth.

    “Have you ever seen the corpse of a person who was hit by a shell and exploded to death?”

    “…Pardon?”

    “Have you ever seen a corpse killed by a sword? Have you ever seen someone killed by an arrow?”

    The Saint trembled with the teacup in her hand, her expression confused. I rambled on as if I were insane.

    “Have you ever seen a corpse with its tongue sticking out? Have you ever seen a corpse with its skull broken and brain matter flowing out? Have you ever seen a corpse mashed by a troll’s foot? Have you ever seen a corpse with its belly skin torn by a monster’s claws, dying with its entrails spilling out? Have you ever seen a corpse drained of all vitality after being bitten by an undead? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its skin flayed? Have you ever seen a corpse with skin shriveled from being burned? Have you ever seen a corpse clutching a pendant with a family photo? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its eyeballs gouged out? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its nails torn off from scratching the dirt? Have you ever seen a corpse with its chest crushed and broken ribs piercing through the flesh? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its eyes open? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its mouth open? Have you ever seen a corpse that died with its tongue sticking out? Have you ever seen a corpse with its arm blown off? Have you ever seen a corpse with its leg blown off? Have you ever seen a corpse with its head blown off? Have you ever seen four limbs scattered in all directions, separated from a body that was blown away entirely, making it impossible to properly confirm if they belonged to the same person?”

    Only after listing all the words that came to mind did I inhale the breath I had been holding.

    “I thought I could save them, I thought I had to save them, so I ran desperately… have you ever seen a person’s breath stop right before your eyes, just before your hand could reach them?”

    The Saint did not answer. I asked, regulating my breath.

    “How dare you discuss the fear of war when you’ve never even directly seen a human corpse?”

    “…”

    The Saint silently stared at me.

    How much time had passed? Perhaps not much had passed, or perhaps several hours had passed.

    “…I understand well what the Princess is trying to say.”

    The Saint spoke in a calm voice.

    “However, when they are fully prepared and attack us, a tragedy even greater than what you fear may occur.”

    But what the Saint wanted was not dialogue with me.

    “To prevent further tragedy, we must unite as one. Just defending will not accomplish anything.”

    She firmly believed that her thoughts were right, more than anyone else.

    Therefore, she attempted not dialogue but persuasion with me.

    Pathetically.

    “My proposal to the Princess was by no means to insult you…”

    “Have you ever been to the Death Swamp?”

    I asked quietly.

    “…Pardon?”

    The Saint asked blankly.

    By this point, it was beyond anger. I spoke in a tone so calm that even I was surprised.

    “I asked if you have ever been to the Death Swamp.”

    “…I haven’t been there… but I know what it is.”

    The Saint answered cautiously.

    “A long and deep swamp separating the East Continent and the West Continent. In the West Continent, located west of that swamp, the base of monsters, magical beasts, and the Demon King’s Army…”

    “No. People commonly know it as a swamp, but it’s not a swamp.”

    I slowly shook my head. My fingertips, with nothing to grasp, twitched aimlessly on the table.

    I shouldn’t have thrown the teacup. I continued, slightly nodding toward the large man who had been knocked out after taking a direct hit to the forehead with the teacup.

    “A bottomless abyss filled with the energy of death. An ordinary person loses their mind and goes crazy just by stepping close to it.”

    “…What?”

    “Do you think the Kingdom hasn’t had the same thought you had?”

    I said with a hollow laugh.

    During the Human-Demon War, the Kingdom devised an operation.

    It was an operation to organize a separate detachment to greatly bypass the Demon King’s Army’s invasion route and strike a supply base near the Death Swamp.

    It was an operation with a success probability that couldn’t be called high even in empty words, but nevertheless, because success would greatly hinder the momentum of the Demon King’s Army’s invasion, the Kingdom’s army forced the operation.

    And the operation failed in a way that couldn’t even be imagined.

    The energy of death that pervades near the Death Swamp.

    ‘Something’ similar to magical power that spreads unusually widely in the Western Continent when dividing the continent east and west with the Death Swamp as the baseline.

    The monsters and demonic races, the indigenous people of the Western Continent, were fine because they were organisms that had evolved to adapt to that energy, and the undead, the main force of the Demon King’s Army, had nothing to do with it because they weren’t living organisms to begin with.

    Humans were a different story.

    Ordinary people who were exposed to the energy of death even once lose their minds and go crazy.

    Hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, memory loss. Those who reached a serious level didn’t just show simple mania, but also went berserk, causing physical damage such as cerebral hemorrhage or vascular rupture.

    Those who had learned special breathing techniques and could control the magical power in their bodies could somewhat resist or endure the energy of death, but humans who couldn’t all went crazy without exception.

    In the end, without being able to carry out even a single proper attack, the separate detachment returned having lost a third of its forces.

    The Kingdom had to take as its only consolation the fact that they hadn’t lost a single high-level personnel like knights, who were difficult to train.

    “The claim to preemptively strike the Demon King’s Army that is reorganizing must have been made with a method to safely cross the ‘Death Swamp’ in mind.”

    “…”

    “Would you care to tell me? The methods to ensure that a large force capable of facing the Demon King’s Army stationed in the Western Continent base can safely cross the Death Swamp, and the methods to secure all the supply routes to continuously and stably supply them.”

    The Saint could not answer.

    “You wouldn’t know. The noble Saint has never even been to the battlefield herself. Am I wrong?”

    The Saint silently looked at me. Behind her, the large man who hadn’t lost consciousness shouted.

    “It may be presumptuous to say, but Princess Evangeline! The Saint is God’s representative! Unlike others, she cannot arbitrarily go to war and waste her life…”

    “Nonsense.”

    I dismissed his words with a cold remark.

    “Are you saying that the lives of others who go to war are in vain, while the Saint’s life is not? Keep your bullshit to a reasonable level.”

    “What blasphemy…!”

    “Do you think arrows will avoid the Saint just because she’s a Saint? On the battlefield, the value of one human is exactly the worth of one human life, no more, no less. Don’t try to gloss over with nonsense about God’s representative or incarnation.”

    “…Princess Evangeline.”

    At my words, the Saint quietly opened her mouth.

    “Are you trying to deny the doctrine of the Holy Nation, the foundation of our country?”

    “If you want to take it that way, let’s call it even.”

    I replied declaratively as I stood up.

    “You tried to mess with my family, and I said what I wanted to say to you. You know how to do math, right? Plus minus zero.”

    “…Do you think this is a problem that can be glossed over like children playing with hands?”

    “Then what, are you thinking of making it public?”

    Toward the Saint who was glaring at me with blood-red eyes, I twisted the corner of my mouth and retorted.

    In fact, it was no different from childish arguing about who was wrong first, you or me.

    However, as Delphina said, the Holy Nation has a history of causing conflicts in relations with other countries, making its diplomatic position relatively narrow. Here, the possibility of them attacking me desperately was extremely low.

    And, even if not for that, I wasn’t in the mood to watch my words anyway.

    “I think you should rather be grateful that I’m letting this slide. Am I wrong? Corfe Lilac.”

    “…”

    The Saint, who had been silently glaring at me, eventually closed her eyes and let out a silent sigh.

    “It seems like the dialogue, or whatever, has been broken for a long time, and I’m going to get up now.”

    “…Princess Evangeline.”

    Behind my back as I turned around, the Saint said quietly.

    “I will not give up until the end.”

    “…Ha.”

    As I sighed and grabbed the doorknob, the Saint’s voice flowed into my ear.

    “Humanity needs you.”

    “It’s not humanity, but you who needs me.”

    -Thud.

    Behind me, the door closed.

    -Step, step, step.

    I walked quickly down the empty corridor.

    The building reflected in my view was all white.

    It was so damn annoying that I felt like I was going to vomit.

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