episode_0042

Thump.

Helena grabbed the Duke’s arm once more.

The Duke, who could perhaps overlook it once but not this time, turned his head and roared.

“Helena!…”

No, he tried to roar, but couldn’t bring himself to.

“Your Grace…”

Drip. Drip.

Because the young, junior knightess was kneeling in the muddy water, begging him desperately.

“Please, please I beg of you… You know… You know how I feel about Senior… what Senior means to me…”

“…….”

She clasped her hands together, bowed her head, and pleaded piteously.

“We’ve been together for ten years… He was Your Grace’s favorite disciple too… I… I can’t live without Senior… So, please…”

I’ll do anything.

Please save Senior…

“…….”

Swat.

He swatted her hand away once more.

No matter what he tried to say, it wouldn’t come out of his throat.

That clueless fool wouldn’t know, but he knew how much that girl loved him.

He knew how she had come to give her heart so completely to him, and how deeply he was rooted in her heart.

So, anything he said to that girl, who was screaming with such desperate cries, would only poison her. To avoid giving her even a shred of hope, he mercilessly shook off her hand and walked away as if fleeing.

Just then, Helena, still screaming, yelled at him in a fit of rage.

“Was this why you created the sword?!”

Her tearing voice was filled with misdirected resentment.

“You created swords to protect the family, the city, and its citizens. Why don’t you use them to protect the knights who wield them for Your Grace?!”

“…….”

“Is that Your Grace’s conviction? The conviction that allows you to ruthlessly abandon even your beloved disciple just to uphold it—was that Your Grace’s conviction?!!!!!!”

“…Think as you wish.”

Yes.

He decided not to regret it.

Just as she had lived her entire life within a small world enclosed by a fence, embracing a single light.

He, on the other hand, had embraced this conviction to protect this small world, less than a dot in the vast world.

So, he decided not to regret, telling himself that she, and Helena, would soon understand.

But for some reason, Helena’s words that day haunted him like a ghost, lingering in his mind.

Was his conviction created for that purpose?

Was his conviction one that allowed him to ruthlessly abandon even his beloved disciple?

‘……’

He had witnessed the deaths of countless comrades.

Yet, for some reason, those words, which negated his entire life, pierced him like a dagger, and her face wouldn’t leave his mind.

He had long ago mastered ways to avoid grieving or suffering over the deaths of his comrades.

But specifically her death and Helena’s words that day increasingly sowed doubt in his heart as time went on.

Yes.

It was a conviction too heavy for an individual to bear.

He had once toppled this incredibly heavy burden along with her death, and now trying to lift it again…

His old, worn-out body and mind were already exhausted, lacking the strength, skill, or wisdom to lift the heavy burden once more.

He had spent his entire life focused on how to carry it, never considering how to lift a burden that had already toppled.

So he began by denying it.

That his choice was correct.

That he hadn’t failed to uphold his conviction, but had, in the end, upheld it.

But as time passed, the doubt in his heart only grew.

Even in situations where he needed to focus solely on battle, those words from that time tormented his mind.

His aura weakened.

His swordsmanship faltered.

On important battlefields, on dangerous battlefields.

As a Sword Master, he was a man who had to bear the responsibility for countless lives.

Crasssssh────!!!!!!

Yet, at the crucial moment, his sword failed to protect anything.

Clatter. Thud.

Fragments scattered.

The fragments of his comrades, who had been knight order members, scattered along with the blind Fire King’s slash.

Even though he could have blocked it, his weakened and confidence-lacking sword prevented him from doing so.

‘Ah.’

Only then, after witnessing all his comrades participating in the battle die, did he realize.

‘I truly failed to protect them.’

The price for failing to uphold his conviction for the first time was too cruel.

“Why are you silent, Your Grace?”

Awaking from his long reverie, an unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind.

Regaining his composure, he raised his head to see a white-haired, unfamiliar man.

“Agape.”

Yes, Agape.

Seeing this face, the nightmarish memories of that time began to resurface.

The guilt he had carried from that moment began to creep up again.

“…Yes, they died. Agape.”

In a voice filled with futility.

“They died because of me, Agape.”

Hergil Oleg said.

“The conviction of a knight is truly too difficult for me.”

Was it right to protect Agape?

No.

It was right to protect the city.

If he turned a blind eye to one person’s death, he could keep the entire city safe.

But if he couldn’t overlook one person’s death and opposed them, he didn’t know what would have become of the city.

Yes, that was the rational judgment.

But no matter what he chose, it was an action against his conviction, making it the worst choice for a knight.

“I wanted to protect the family, its members, and the family itself. The city, the citizens, all of it.”

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Agape?”

Within this conviction, as a knight, to protect everything, you and the knights who belonged to the category of ‘family’ were included.

“Because I abandoned you, I left a deep wound on my conviction.”

Having perfectly upheld his conviction his entire life, the single scar that appeared settled too deeply.

“But if I had wanted to save you, I would have had to gamble the city.”

That too would have been an action against the conviction of protecting the city.

Therefore, he had no choice.

“That’s why, when I stood by and watched your death then… I should have admitted my mistake.”

He should have admitted his mistake, quickly realized his aura had weakened, and prepared other measures.

“But I was buried under the heavy burden of having to uphold it perfectly, and I lived in denial of the fact that I had failed to uphold my conviction.”

This is the result.

“As a result of repeated denial and evasion, I caused Helena, who followed you so devotedly, and your friends Anastasia, Nikita, Indure, and Helm, to all die.”

The conviction he had perfectly upheld now bore countless flaws.

“Therefore, I—”

I will find my own way.

“Agape.”

Huuuuuum────────

“Although my conviction is broken.”

A vast amount of aura gathered on his sword.

“I will not run away, no matter the cost.”

He would piece together his broken, shattered conviction once more.

Craaaaaash────────!!!!!!

Rumble──

The Ducal Castle crumbled.

From the Great Hall to the spires soaring high into the sky.

The Duke’s office, the drill ground, and…

Even the Starry Graveyard, meant to honor the knights.

Thud. Thud.

“Where…where is this place?”

The ground collapsed, revealing a hidden space beneath the crumbled Ducal Castle.

Inside, countless graves were lined up.

“It’s the Starry Graveyard.”

Not the ‘fake’ one on the surface that merely honored names.

“The real Starry Graveyard, where the true knight order members’ coffins lie.”

With those words, names etched on the stone sarcophagi became visible one by one through the dust.

‘Anastasia.’

Nikita.

‘Indure.’

Helm.

And…

‘Helena.’

Individuals who had dedicated themselves to the Duke, for his conviction.

‘I thought they were buried in an honorable place.’

At the very least, he thought they were buried in a normal graveyard.

But realizing they weren’t buried anywhere, merely left in coffins containing their corpses, abandoned in the Ducal Castle’s basement—

“Your Grace.”

From his core, a long-forgotten rage began to surge.

“What in the world are you doing?”

“Forgive me, Agape.”

There might have been better ways.

But for me, who lived my entire life buried in conviction, this was the best method.

“I want to revive those who died because of my conviction, those who died by my mistake, once more.”

Shing─

“Forgive me.”

Slice─

Drip. Drip.

As he cut deeply into his palm, blood began to drip from Hergil’s hand.

Drip. Drip.

And as the blood began to drip onto the stone floor.

Whoosh──

With an ominous whooshing sound, the entire underground chamber began to resonate.

Swishhh─

The dust that had obscured their view completely cleared.

Beyond the fragments that had fallen from above, a massive mural on the underground chamber’s wall became visible.

Simultaneously, the dust covering the ground beneath the Duke’s feet vanished instantly.

Hummm─

Only then did a magic circle, glowing with absorbed blood, come into view.

It was a mural and a magic circle he had never seen before.

But the ominous aura emanating from the Duke’s surroundings was undoubtedly one Agape had felt before in his time as a knight. Forgetting even the rage that had surged within him moments ago, Agape looked at him and asked.

“What in the world have you done?”

“I wanted to save those who died because of me.”

He knew it was the wrong thing to do, and he also knew it would forever tarnish his honor.

“Still, I wanted to bring back those I failed to protect.”

So he asked the Prophet.

He thought that if anyone could, they, who possessed countless secrets and advanced knowledge of unknown origins across the continent, would surely have a way to revive them.

That’s why he gathered their graves in one place and created this unholy magic circle.

“The Devil King’s Emblems.”

The First Calamity, the Devil King.

The calamity that led the Ray Empire to ruin, yet it was said that upon his death, the Devil King’s soul was scattered across the continent.

For nearly ten years, he had collected these Devil King’s Emblems and stored them deep within the floor of this underground chamber.

“What do you intend to do with these?”

“I intend to revive them.”

Just as the Prophet upholds absolute promises through a ‘Promise’ contract.

Devils too, when a contract is made through a magic circle, grant a reward to the magic circle’s caster commensurate with the price.

“By slaying countless death legions, I have already collected their cores, and all preparations are complete.”

“Do you think that will work?”

“It won’t work.”

No matter how powerful the Devil King may be, he is not omnipotent.

There was no way he could fully revive the dead, and even if he did, there was no way they would be revived in their original forms.

But he would do it anyway.

Even if they revived in a different form, he would take responsibility and restore them to their original appearance.

Because he had already found a way to do so.

Whoosh.

From beneath the blood-infused magic circle, a dark crimson power began to surge upwards.