episode_0103

“First of all… I understand what you are trying to say. I’ll have to talk about that with my father.”

Asha, who had been confused for a while, muttering about things like the golden king, eventually regained her senses and took a cautious stance and took a step back.

It wasn’t particularly disappointing. Because it was a natural reaction.

Since this is something that needs to be tried on a fairly large scale to produce certain results, it would be difficult to make a hasty decision on your own.

Still, it was a satisfactory result for me. Thanks to my persuasion, I received confirmation that Damian’s greatsword would be replaced free of charge.

Please bring back the broken pieces of the great sword later.

What happens after that will be decided by Asha’s blood relatives.

I only provided ideas, and the decisions and responsibilities are up to them.

—-

I was relaxing in my room after sending Damian and Milia away.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Who is it?

Was there anyone coming to my room at this hour?

I put my cigarette against the ashtray, moved away from the window, and headed towards the door.

If you look at it, it looks like a woman… but it probably isn’t Friede.

If it had been Friede, he would have pounded on the door.

Oh, then you must be Lacey.

Sure enough, when I opened the door, a dazzling white welcome me.

“Lacey Stadolph?”

“Yes. I came here after the purification ritual for the items I promised was over. Is it okay for a moment?”

Lacey gently held out the case she was holding.

“Okay, come in.”

Nigel had been sent to the training room, so I was the only one in the room.

Since she doesn’t need an escort right away, I want her to be able to be a little more free during normal times.

I persuaded him that he needed to become stronger than he is now to fulfill his duties as a guard, and he agreed.

After leading Lacey to the table, I handed her the snacks I had prepared to eat later and a glass of water.

“I’m sorry, but it must be difficult to serve tea. It’s because he came to me when I was alone.”

“This alone is fine. Thank you.”

Lacey calmly picked up a cookie and took a bite.

Pursing her little mouth gracefully.

“So, you said the frosty purification ritual was over?”

“Yes. I’ll show you.”

Lacey placed the case on the table and opened the lid.

Gauntlet, who was reunited after a long time, still felt cold.

“Nothing has changed significantly?”

“Of course. All I have done is to suppress the curse of madness. At least now, you won’t be driven into madness just by wearing it. The cold is still the same, so your body may be a little damaged. You can adjust that part appropriately and use it.”

It means that equipment that was completely unusable has finally become something usable.

A long-term battle may be risky, but it was a satisfactory enough result.

“That’s enough, are there any other precautions?”

“Um…”

Lacey lowered her head for a moment, then looked at me again.

With an expressionless expression that makes it impossible to tell what he is thinking.

“He killed someone. This time.”

…Is it Viscount Bernstein’s case?

“Uh…you did that, right? But, I didn’t do that on purpose-”

A mistake that occurred because I was drunk…

“…No, it must be my fault.”

I tried to make an excuse but stopped.

I remembered that the guy who drank and shot civilians made the same excuse.

I disposed of it with my own hands.

I, who did that, have the same excuse as that guy. It was once again disgusting.

I have to admit what I have to admit.

“This is not a rebuke. I just want to tell you one thing.”

Lacey adjusted her posture neatly, brought her face closer to mine, and made eye contact.

“Beware of murder. Karma accumulated by killing countless people. That vicious power may make you stronger than anyone else, but it will never give you a bright future. In the end, I will even destroy my master.

…It has always been like that in the words of those who pursued killing.”

Advice filled with prophecy-like certainty.

What was said quietly in a low voice stuck in my mind.

With some embarrassment.

“Uh…”

That’s a good thing to say, but isn’t it what you should say…?

A woman who could be at the forefront of the policy of annihilating a different race.

“If you think about it, isn’t killing all the prisoners murder?”

“It can’t be so. I don’t think you have a systematic understanding of the concept of karma.”

Lacey shook her head firmly.

I guess I never learned it in detail…?

“I could use this opportunity to tell you. Although the identification of the origin or implementation principle of karma is still an area under discussion… the analysis of karma itself is actively progressing.”

Lacey took a sip of water to quench her thirst and calmly continued her explanation.

“The religious order largely categorizes the attributes of karma into four categories. Good karma, great karma, bad karma, and murderous karma.”

Good karma.

Karma that is slowly built up through good deeds that help others out of pure good will.

“It is a profession that is mainly built by priests. A karma that is dedicated to God without being manifested externally like warriors. The miraculous power that priests exert is the price.”

feat.

The most common form of karma. The blessing of accumulating strength from the footsteps one has made.

Subjugating powerful enemies, eliminating enemies, saving people, and overcoming one’s limits through training are all considered feats.

“Condemnation, subjugation, protection, transcendence. This is the root of karma.”

Lacey smiled slightly.

Bad karma.

It is a karma that attaches itself to those who harbor malicious intent and cause harm to people.

Assault, deception, robbery, cowardice. All kinds of evil deeds except murder.

“It is the business of the shallow and mean. The only difference from killing is that there is no killing. In the end, you have to pay the price.”

And… killing.

A heinous karma that accumulates only by killing innocent people.

It is the most ferocious of all karma, and the most powerful of all, but in the end, it even bites its own master.

“Evil people will inevitably fall, and everything will eventually go in the right direction. These are Elfinel’s teachings. I would be happy if you kept it in mind.”

After finishing her long story, Lacey must have felt a little thirsty, so she brought the glass of water back to her mouth.

The nape of his neck, as white as a piece of marble, twitched several times.

“There are some parts I don’t understand. If defeating an enemy is a feat, and killing an innocent person is a murder, then what kind of karma is accumulated when killing innocent prisoners?”

“It must be a feat. In the first place, there are no innocent prisoners. Karma is the power that people have gained from the beginning to resist other races. All different races cannot escape the original sin of their ancestors. No matter how long time passes.”

Is this statement based on her beliefs, or is it the doctrine of the Elfinel Church?

Or is the force called karma actually structured like that?

You won’t know this unless you check it for yourself.

“Then, may you rest in peace until we meet again next time.”

After finishing the conversation, Lacey stood up.

I put the frosting on the desk and returned to the ashtray by the window.

…The cigarette I was leaning against had already burned to the brim a long time ago.

Three days later, Friede came with a request.

======[Fernet]======

A dark room filled with the smell of alcohol.

Fernet, who was reading a letter illuminated by Salamandra’s light, furrowed his brows and took a gulp of strong drink in his left hand.

Searing heat flooded her esophagus and stomach.

Fernet threw away the bottle of alcohol he had emptied in an instant and mustered up the last of his patience to read the sentences written in the letter.

A letter sent secretly from Alfheim, the land where she was born.

Old fairy language was written on the magically imbued paper.

——–

Pernesia mercellius epiroxus.

I heard that the human empire is currently in an uneasy atmosphere due to the issue of succession rights.

Investigate and report detailed developments and intervene if this may escalate the conflict.

If all goes well, I will give you limited permission to return to the World Tree.

——–

‘Seeing it, interfering with it… senile old men. Do they still see me as one of their subordinates?’

Fernet, who had crumpled the letter, threw the trashed piece of paper to Salamandra and took out a new bottle of alcohol.

The body of the Salamandra that burned and ate the magically imbued paper grew slightly larger. The light emitted was also somewhat brighter than before.

Frowning at the suddenly brighter light, Fernet held the bottle upside down and hit the Salamandra with it.

With a single scream, the shattered fireball scattered into pieces.

The room was plunged into darkness again.

‘You are allowing me to return to the World Tree’s embrace? Funny bastards.’

Fernet gritted his teeth.

Even when I was drunk, it was difficult to hold back my disgust.

It was those old men who forcibly exiled her, who had devoted herself to the fairies in the first place.

Ugly filth that has not survived for more than eight hundred years and whose brains are rotting.

On the surface, she came here for the sake of friendship with the empire, but in reality, it was the result of a dirty power struggle.

Conflict between the old generation elders who have grown old and the new generation that has grown rapidly through majoring.

In the end, this was the result of defeat by the power of the elders.

Most of the core members of the new faction disappeared or became servants of the elders… effectively slaves.

Fernet himself found it difficult to deal with it that way, so he expelled him from Alfheim and threw him into the empire.

—-

For the first five years, Fernet had little expectations.

The belief that other fairies would rebel and protest against the cruel arbitrary actions of the elders.

How many battles have they gone through for Alfheim?

Being torn apart by the barrage of anti-humans.

Would the fairies, who praised themselves as true guardians back then, now abandon us as if they were just devotees?

With faith in his people, Fernet waited for five years.

It took quite a bit of patience to endure the next five years.

okay. The Senate will be in full swing, so even if you want to protest, you will need sufficient time and preparation.

I can wait for this long.

Every day was a day where I tried to comfort myself with those thoughts and suppress the anxiety, nervousness, and disappointment that suddenly came to me.

It must have been around this time that she started drinking alcohol.

And again, 5 years.

Now, all that remained was disgust.

All of her comrades died.

After 15 years of slavery, they either lost their sense of self and became puppets, or committed suicide in their final act of resistance.

The fairies did not help her or her companions at all.

No, you probably completely forgot. Because it’s not their business.

The world has found peace, and the need for warriors has been greatly reduced.

If it were reasonable, it was a reasonable action.

So Fernet decided to think rationally.

It was impossible for her to deal with Alfheim and the fairy elders on her own.

So wait for the opportunity to come.

The Empire will one day go to war with the fairies again.

Whether it is started by an empire that rejects non-human races, or by Alfheim, blinded by its former glory.

I spend time quietly waiting for that day.

Be calm, so as not to arouse any suspicion.

Every day, I fall asleep drunk and recall in my dreams the memories of running through the battlefield with my old friends.

‘It is the embrace of the World Tree…’

Fernet laughed. As expected, it was an idea typical of hard-headed old people.

Did she really think something like that would still have meaning to her?

The World Tree is the god of fairies.

A god who exists with roots firmly spread out in the material world, not in a higher dimension.

Although her power to intervene in the world has become weaker than before, she is still a great mother who protects the fairies.

‘It’s the God who abandoned us.’

The distorted smile was full of malice.

she knew

The World Tree is God.

However, the root is ultimately just a huge tree.

okay.

The tree is.

How to get burned by fire.

The fairy dreaming of killing God laughed endlessly as she took another sip of strong drink.

==================