Chapter: 591
As a reward for saving the Fairy Forest, I obtained the Authority of Embrace and kept thinking about the word “embrace.”
It wasn’t because I was a serious and good person.
I just thought that if I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t reach the Authority of Embrace.
What can I do, right?!
The perverted apostle just zipped it up and said I had to figure it out myself!
And Grandpa just kept mumbling that he already knew everything!
The additional commentary responded silently, saying it was beyond his ability to answer!
Even the tutorial function, which I found after a long time, was labeled as “tutorial impossible skills”!
What am I supposed to do when these guys can’t give me a proper answer!? Shouldn’t I find something out even if it’s by trial and error!?
Frustrated, I even flipped through the dictionary, and here was the definition of embrace:
To generously accept something else. To respect and try to understand opinions that are completely opposite to your own.
Reading the dictionary’s definition over and over, I suddenly recalled a video I saw before stepping into this world.
In that video, a clergy member, rather than scolding a person who was causing chaos and insulting not just himself but also the church and its deities, hugged that individual.
He defended the person by saying he was just a poor, wounded lamb.
The video was spread widely, but beneath the description of “true clergy,” there were more mocking comments than praise.
Saying things like it was manipulation, being a loser, or that he would pay dearly later.
From my perspective, having been deeply moved by that video, I simply couldn’t accept what people thought, but the clergy himself just smiled at all the sarcasm.
Aiming to show that if others accepted it that way, then that’s correct.
Realizing what embrace meant from those past memories, an overwhelming feeling washed over me before any joy—because that kind of goodness was beyond someone like me.
It’s not that people who practice embrace are respected for no reason.
Even if you say to embrace others, there’s a limit to it. I can embrace the mischievous fairies, but I can’t just hug the evil god’s disgusting preferences!
Thinking that embracing even that would mean stupidity, not goodness!
Arriving at this castle and during my ascent here, I couldn’t believe in embrace, but now I’ve realized something!
I should say how cool that would be, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Even now, I still don’t know exactly what embrace means.
Swinging weapons, fighting opponents, and strategizing in dungeons—those don’t compare.
There’s no clear answer here.
At least, that’s how I feel.
So, I decided to do things my way.
I’m mad!
Isn’t it ridiculous to have a problem that doesn’t yield answers no matter how much I think and worry!?
Do you think I’m some sort of philosopher?!
Philosopher mesugaki! What kind of lines should I be throwing!?
You know you’re sloppy, right?
You’re sloppy. Therefore, you’re sloppy?
Enough! Just stop! While changing my shield technique today, I felt it! I’m at my best when I’m just being me!
Being me means being mesugaki, which makes me mad, but anyway, I’m going to follow my heart!
If you have a problem, take it up with that sloppy lord Jushin who handed over the authority to me!
Whoosh As I grabbed the hilt of the sword, the burning spirit contained within it was transmitted.
The pride that a knight from the age of myth had. The strong will hidden beneath a light exterior. The confidence that never faltered before any powerful enemy. It felt like it was flowing into me.
The spirit contained within this sword is undoubtedly the truth. Because it was a knight with this level of heart that could live in the age of myth.
But is this the only feeling the knight had?
Releasing a long breath, I faced the history that the sword holds.
One of the powers I gained by overcoming Ganshu’s trials.
In a place renowned for its obsession with history, there can be no record missing.
Thus, I can see it.
The weakness that knight Garad did not want to show to others. The guilt felt when taking another’s life. The sorrow felt when stepping over the corpses of those he couldn’t protect. The fear that surged when facing a mighty foe.
One by one. One by one. I stepped into the history contained in the sword, not caring whether Garad desired it or not.
I understand that such actions can hardly be called good, but who cares?
I’ve decided to do things my way.
Even with a diary that seems to be a mockery in front of me, there’s no way a mesugaki like me would respect the privacy of others!
Of course, I’ll open it and prepare to laugh as I dig into their dark history one by one!
This is my embrace!
I will accept whatever others might think of it!
And what I don’t think is right, I will stomp on!
I’ve decided this!
Me! With the Authority of Embrace! As an Apostle of God and my grandfather’s disciple!
So, you, who died a long time ago, can just hand over everything to me!
Your will!
Your sorrow!
Your lingering regrets!
Everything!
I’ll solve it all in place of that shoddy knight who left excuses for the next generation!
Let go of it!
As if following my will, the red light engraved in the sword rose up through the hilt and seeped into my hand.
At the end, the sword revealed a pure white light that looked like a shield.
Mmm, indeed, this suits Garad’s sword better than that ominous red blade.
As I nodded in satisfaction at the white I created, an ominous sound reached my ears.
The sound of something splitting. The thud of debris falling.
…
The castle is collapsing!? Why?!
[Isn’t it obvious? You took what was holding the castle up. It’s only natural to collapse.]
“If you knew that, why didn’t you tell me beforehand?!”
[I’m sorry. I’m a bit out of it myself.]
“Huh!? What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”
Ah, this isn’t the time for talking. I need to escape first…!
Whoosh?! As I tried to step forward, my footing wobbled, and the ground rushed toward me.
Is this dizziness?
Of course, it is.
Suppressing my unstable condition amid rough battles, plus the use of powers.
My body was already tired. My limit must be infinitely lower than before.
Just before my forehead hit the ground, rough yet careful hands pulled me into an embrace.
“What the heck! I’m glad I came without saying anything! What kind of noise do you think I’ll hear if I tell them I brought down Garad’s castle?”
“If you have time to talk like that, then run! I’ll loosen the smoke to slow down the building’s collapse!”
“Thank you, Lady Lina! Let’s hurry and escape before this commotion escalates!”
As I was comforted by the unwavering comfort that pierced through the wind, I unknowingly closed my eyes.
*
In Lucy’s mental world, a place she calls the training grounds. Today, there was an unexpected guest in the place where only Ruel usually stays.
“Getting old, you really are like a cranky grandpa.”
Ruel, the holy knight, is a figure who has been respected since the age of myth. Anyone who knows his name wouldn’t dare to speak blasphemy against him. Except for a few exceptions, of course.
“Not a face I ever want to look up to in a million years.”
“Look who’s talking! You wouldn’t dare approach a woman looking like that, you’d be running scared!”
“Hah! Ruel! You’ve never properly met a woman in your life!”
“I’ve said it before; I’ve upheld the laws of the clergy! If I wanted romance or marriage, I could’ve had it anytime!”
“So what? You couldn’t end up with anyone in the end, right? You spineless bachelor.”
“From someone who died alone after being rejected by a woman, I don’t need to hear it!”
The two, hurling insults like a couple of streetwise uncles, burst into laughter simultaneously.
A lightness you wouldn’t find in someone who usually swears loyalty to the divine—this was the tone Ruel only showed in front of his close friend.
“So, Garad. How did you end up here?”
The knight Garad, an exception allowed to speak freely, answered while grooming his hair, which had turned pale and hair-raising like a monster rather than a human.
“I didn’t come here of my own accord. I was dragged here.”
“Dragged here?”
“Yeah. That girl over there, that little girl making faint noises, grabbed me by the neck and forced me to sit here.”
The girl’s actions were clearly outrageous.
Knight Garad wasn’t satisfied with just leaving behind a legacy for future generations.
He demanded all the lingering attachments you left behind on this earth.
He insisted that he could carry it all.
The girl shouted as she took everything Garad didn’t want to leave behind and put it all inside herself.
“Who is that kid? I can’t even say it out loud, but I’m a hero. The things engraved in my heart are far from fitting in such a tiny body.”
“Right. No one understands better than me. Your intentions cannot be light. But you know, size of appearance doesn’t correlate to the size of one’s heart.”
“I’ll ask again. Who is that child?”
“That’s the first apostle chosen by the great Lord Jushin, a warrior who has faced numerous evils and heroically accomplished what even we couldn’t do, and a kid who cherishes my disciple and friend dearly.”
Ruel, speaking lavishly about Lucy as he usually does, hesitated for a moment before looking at Garad with a playful smile he has never shown in his lifetime.
“A knight recognized by you.”
“…Me?”
“Yep, you.”
“What nonsense is this? I’ve never even seen that child.”
“Of course, you haven’t.”
“Hey, Ruel. Enough with the jokes.”
“But the skeleton made by Erginius from your memory recognized that child. That’s why the child could wield your shield.”
Erginius. So that was why he took my shield.
Ah, damn it. Even after all those years together, can’t we think about anything the same way?
Then, I can’t be special alone in the next generation. This damn wizard!
“Is that little girl the current hero?”
“Probably the last hero.”
“Hah. Yeah, I see.”
A child who possesses both my shield and my techniques.
“A child who embraced the lingering regrets. It’s only proper to give what you can.”
If it could be of help, that would be great.
“Also soothing your loneliness, incidentally.”
“…I’m sorry, Garad, but I’m not into that sort of thing.”
“What? I’m not into that either! You know that! I…!”
Hahaha! Ah! Finally, I can mess with you!
As Ruel clapped and laughed cheerfully, Garad was thrown off by what he had to say and ended up laughing too.
Was it that child who made that stiff human this way?
I like it. I like them. They must be a good person.
I want to have a conversation soon.
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