episode_0008

[The Navigator created the definition of a prophet.]

[The sons and daughters resembled their father.]

[As if sculpted from justice itself, they were remarkably cold and harsh for humans.]

[Remarkably so, to a pitiable degree.]

『Feanor, A Fragment from 《The Story》』

“What is this?”

Roland made a bewildered expression at the object suddenly thrust before him.

Seeing his expression, Kara smiled her characteristic bright smile and said.

“A lunchbox.”

“What about Agapé?”

“She packed it a while ago and gave it to you.”

Is that so.

Indeed, they’re so crazy about each other, it’s not like she’d prioritize me.

Click.

I opened the lunchbox lid.

When I opened the wooden lunchbox, inside were dark, stale bread and dried jerky, preserved for a long time by magic.

Of course, though it was said to be magically preserved, the food was discolored to the point where no one outside would eat it.

Yet, even this was an immense luxury in Fallen.

“Aren’t you overdoing it these days?”

“Agapé is?”

“To prepare this much for three people every day, she must be struggling quite a bit.”

With the city closed off, food supplies are practically dwindling.

In such a situation, Agapé was the only one in this city who could procure this level of food, and for three people, every day.

It also meant she was overworking herself to that extent.

Kara didn’t fully realize that fact.

To be precise, she knew Agapé struggled to get food, but she didn’t know how severely she suffered and overworked herself.

Because Agapé had hidden it.

‘She comes back without a hint of hardship, as if it’s nothing, so how could anyone know?’

Premonition.

If I didn’t have that power, I probably wouldn’t have known either.

For our sake, how much that person pushes herself.

“……”

“Roland?”

“Huh, yes?”

“What are you thinking so deeply about? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no. I was just zoning out a bit.”

“What’s up. Anyway-”

“Kara.”

“Hm?”

“Are you satisfied with your current life?”

At Roland’s sudden question, Kara made a bewildered expression.

But after a moment, Kara answered instantly without hesitation.

“Of course!”

A reply more sincere than ever, requiring no hesitation or thought.

Even without magic, simply through her expression and words, her heartfelt happiness was palpable.

Happiness.

The most important emotion that even the strongest person cannot overcome its absence.

At the same time, the emotion I’ve pursued my entire life.

Happiness.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hm?”

“Your expression looks off, is something really wrong?”

“Me?”

As I unconsciously touched my face with my hand, Kara asked me in return.

“Then Roland.”

“Yes?”

“Are you happy?”

“……”

Happy?

“……”

Kara, looking at me with wide, clear eyes.

As I saw her face, other faces flashed across her still young features.

Similar to hers, yet slightly different.

But ultimately, her face, weeping tears in the end.

Happiness, huh.

Could I ever feel pure happiness?

To feel something like that, I’m too much of a coward.

“Why ask something so obvious? I’m happiest right now.”

Sincerity was contained within.

“Really? From how long you hesitated, it doesn’t seem like it.”

“No, I am. Even if it doesn’t look like it, I’m fully and faithfully content with this life right now.”

At the same time, a lie was also contained within.

That night.

“You’re saying Roland’s acting strange?”

“Yeah. He’s been zoning out a lot lately, and he seems a bit weird.”

“Hmm.”

I’m not sure if he’s become strange.

Roland was always a bit off to begin with.

Perhaps it’s the unique mental world of geniuses. He often says incomprehensible things and exhibits eccentric behavior, so Kara, who hadn’t seen the true extent of Roland’s oddness, might think that.

But the fact that he was zoning out more often was definitely a problem.

Because that smart guy only zoned out when something big happened.

‘Now that I think about it.’

Lately, he’s also been making serious expressions even when resting.

That guy who treats everything in the world as a joke and knows nothing of seriousness.

‘I just thought he changed as he got older.’

Hearing Kara’s words, I decided I needed to have a serious talk with Roland.

Before that-

“What’s that in your hand?”

“Huh? This?”

A book clutched in Kara’s arms caught my eye.

A book as thick as my forearm, looking incredibly thick and heavy.

‘The Dragon of What Sounds? What on earth is that book?’

The words on the front were blurred, so I couldn’t tell what it said.

“Is it a novel?”

“Yeah! Roland recommended it, saying it was interesting.”

“Roland did?”

I didn’t know that guy, who always looked for and read boring dissertations, had an interest in novels.

“How is it after reading it?”

“It was interesting. But it was a little sad.”

“Sad?”

What kind of story would make Kara say that?

When I asked about the content out of curiosity, perhaps because the narrative was as long as the book was thick, Kara hummed as she organized her thoughts.

And after a few minutes, Kara, having seemingly organized the book’s content in her mind, began to explain.

“Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, there lived a princess nicknamed the ‘Virgin Princess’.”

The Virgin Princess.

Her beauty was so renowned it was said to be heard even in the heavens, and countless people sought to marry her.

“But the princess’s heart was already taken by another man.”

A knight.

A knight who wished to become a hero and pursued justice more than anyone.

That knight, who held a solemn oath never to break a vow once made, was an irreplaceable spouse to the princess.

The king blessed the two of them.

Their friends also blessed them.

Their love seemed eternal, and everyone firmly believed it would be.

But a dragon, having heard rumors of the princess’s beauty, appeared and fell in love with her at first sight.

With the emergence of the wicked dragon, the oath that seemed eternal was shattered.

“The knight went to rescue that princess.”

He went to find the princess, who was confined at the top of the castle where the dragon lived, and eventually managed to find her secretly from the dragon.

But the princess’s heart had already swayed.

“The princess’s heart had already gone elsewhere.”

The dragon’s strength. Its wealth. And the multitude of capable vassals who followed him, who had ruled the kingdom for a long time.

The princess had been captivated by the dragon’s greatness, which possessed and owned far more than anything the knight had.

Kara said with a serious face.

“The princess abandoned the knight. The dragon, enraged upon discovering the knight, tried to kill him, but the princess, with lingering affection, promised the dragon eternal separation in exchange for sparing the knight.”

Scattering her blood on the ground, making an unbreakable vow with the dragon’s magic.

“The knight fell into a sense of loss.”

He lost the righteous heart that had made him shine, and forgot the solemn vows that had made him strong.

“And the knight, who had lost and forgotten everything, began to fill himself with other things, as much as he had lost.”

Coveting everything the dragon had.

He desired the dragon’s power.

He desired the dragon’s authority.

He wished to command as many vassals as the dragon.

Eventually, the knight even abandoned his own existence and refilled himself, becoming the dragon itself, with no trace of his past self remaining.

The knight headed to the dragon’s castle to fill his last sense of loss.

And killed the wicked dragon.

He ripped out and devoured its heart, and took everything it had into his hands.

After eating the wicked dragon’s heart, even the remaining goodness of the hero vanished.

The knight looked at the princess.

But the princess was weeping tears filled with hatred.

“Why?”

“Because too much time had passed, and the princess had truly fallen in love with the wicked dragon. It was no longer the dragon’s power or wealth, but the wicked dragon itself that she loved. So the princess pulled out a sharp dagger and-”

Stuck it into the heart of the dragon who had once been a knight.

Of course, the knight didn’t die.

Unless its heart was destroyed, a dragon was practically invincible.

But his heart died.

And at the same time, the knight realized.

That from the beginning, the wicked dragon was himself.

That the biggest obstacle to the princess’s love was none other than himself.

“The hero, realizing that fact-”

Crack.

Chose suicide, destroying his own heart with his immortal body.

Whoosh.

The story ended as the cold night wind blew.

“Is that really the novel Roland recommended?”

But it was utterly bleak.

The story, which she naturally expected to have a happy ending, ended in tragedy.

With no one happy, everyone miserable.

“…Is there no more to the story?”

Kara shook her head.

“The very last page was blank, as if the author had written something and then erased it.”

“……That’s quite a sad story.”

“Right?”

Thud.

Kara leaned her head on my shoulder and said in a sad voice.

“Why did the princess choose the wicked dragon?”

For what reason did she abandon the knight who loved her so much?

Kara asked herself and answered herself.

“From my perspective, it seems there was a lack of communication between them.”

“Communication?”

“Yes. Regardless of what their hearts felt, if they had resolved it through communication from the beginning, the knight wouldn’t have chosen to die, and the princess wouldn’t have been so harsh, would she? It wasn’t in the story, but perhaps there was some misunderstanding we don’t know about?”

“Did Roland say that?”

“No. It’s just my thought.”

She must have thought a lot after reading the novel.

Meaning she read it very impressively.

‘I don’t know why Roland recommended a book like this-‘

Kara, who disliked reading as much as I did, had read such a thick novel all by herself, so at least it seemed I had done well to recommend it.

Even though she was an adult, she had lost all her memories and hadn’t received proper education, so she was still clumsy at reading.

Thinking that far, I placed my hand on Kara’s head.

“Anyway, I’m glad you seemed to enjoy reading it. How about asking Roland to recommend a novel with a happy ending next time?”

Although finding a novel with that kind of ending in a library reduced to ruins wouldn’t be easy, if asked, Roland would eventually find one.

“Yes. I should.”

At that moment, a bell rang throughout the entire city.

Dong!

Dong! Dong!

The Bell of Infinity.

The ∞-shaped bell in the clock tower at the top of the royal castle was ringing, even though it was already past midnight.

Hum, hum, hum, hum.

As if resonating with something.

Creak.

“Ah, Agapé?”

I turned around at Kara’s voice.

Creeeak!

And Agapé’s pupils constricted as she looked at that sight.

The castle gates were opening.

The castle gates, which had never opened even once in 20 years since the city transformed into a cursed one.

Pushing aside the mountains of corpses piled up in front of them, they were slowly opening.

Along with that, knights in heavy armor entered.

Making their characteristic steel boot-steps, perfectly aligned in rows.

Clank.

All the knights stopped their steps as they set foot inside the city.

And then.

Shing.

They simultaneously drew their swords.

“Ah, Agapé?”

I muttered an obscenity in a small voice.

And immediately grabbing Kara’s hand, I ran towards where Roland was.

A massive massacre had begun in the city.