The scent of herbs and the smell of blood-soaked bandages pricked my nose. The unmistakably familiar scent of a hospital. It was a place I had visited often, making it all the more familiar. I closed my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling. My memories were hazy. Just after I had stabbed the creature following the black wave, my vision went dark.
Had she noticed my subtle reaction? I woke up in a daze next to Rie, who had been by my side all night, and she smiled faintly. The sleeve of her empty left arm fluttered. Despite having lost her left arm, she was alive.
“Captain, have you awoken?”
“How many days have passed?”
“About two weeks or so. But isn’t it too late for you to wake up?”
“The subjugation…”
Rie smiled awkwardly. After hesitating as if to think about the best response, she finally spoke. Her reaction was as if she could hardly believe it herself.
“…We won. Actually, I only heard this, so I don’t know the details, but I was told you pierced the heavens? Anyway, it ended very shortly after that.”
Rie also revealed that she had woken up only a week after the battle ended. It was through her somewhat reluctant reaction that I finally felt assured. We had defeated the first demon beast, Erebeon. The compulsion that had been tightening around my mind seemed to loosen a little. I was relieved that we had liberated the Northern Front, yet frustrated that the Southern and Eastern fronts and the Red Star remained.
If it were a relief, it would be that the remaining threats in the continent no longer seemed like despair but irritation. Eight years ago, I was powerless and was forced to the Northern Front, but now the biggest difference was that I had strength. I exhaled lightly with a somewhat liberated heart.
“Really, you did well, Rie.”
“I didn’t do much. All of this is your achievement, Captain.”
I wanted to deny those words. I already knew that the reason I had survived until now was not because I was so capable. I owed my life to those in the frontlines, and I was alive thanks to the lives of others.
I still remember the faces of those who saved me, those who allowed me to live. I recall Cream, who had guided me when I was a mess. I still face the comrades who fought alongside me but fell before me. Would I still be alive without them?
“No.”
I know it isn’t so.
“…Captain?”
“If it weren’t for you all, it would have been impossible. Thank you.”
I murmured as I looked at my immobile limbs. My voice was almost close to sobbing without me even realizing it.
“…Really.”
I couldn’t cry when Cream died. When a friend I trained with, a comrade who stood back to back with me on the battlefield, a superior who took the lead in saving lives, all fell, I could not cry. Only now do I understand the reason I couldn’t cry.
“Thank you so much.”
I had been putting off my tears. To repay their deaths with the victory of now.
***
Two months later, I was able to recover enough to move. I wasn’t fully recovered, so I had to use walking aids. The wave resonance that had instantly killed Erebeon had brought such serious burdens to my body. I gently spoke to Princess Freya Nordelheim.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
The princess was gazing intently at the grave of her father, Baldir Nordelheim. He, who had been the Supreme Commander, lost his life to a greater demon beast before Erebeon was subjugated. The princess turned to me and smiled lightly. In her hand were white flowers.
“Thank you for fulfilling my father’s long-standing wish. Without you, the Northern Front would have never been liberated in my father’s era.”
The princess showed me utmost courtesy, fitting for the heir of the Nordelheim family.
“I express my profound gratitude to you as the next head of the Nordelheim Duke family.”
“If it weren’t for you, Princess Freya, and the Supreme Commander, it would have been impossible to win on the battlefield.”
Freya smiled faintly.
“I am always thankful to Ian. How should I repay this grace…? Please tell me your wish. As the next head of Nordelheim, I will fulfill your desire.”
Her demeanor was that of a dignified head of the family, not just a lively girl. People always change. They do not remain stagnant for even a moment and continue to progress and evolve. Such changes embody the essence of being human, containing the potential for further advancement.
“My wish is—”
Therefore, what I wish for is no longer just my own preservation.
“For you to no longer bear the weight of the dead soldiers. For the Nordelheim family, which has lived as a shield for the empire for 400 years, to be liberated from all duties and obligations. That is my only wish for you.”
I received much help from Freya. I hope she doesn’t make such a sad expression.
“I will bear the weight of the dead.”
I firmly held Freya’s hand.
“Princess, it’s not your responsibility.”
Freya burst into tears. I quietly accepted her sorrow, just as she had once treated my scars.
***
For the first time, peace arrived at the Northern Front, where battles had continued incessantly due to the invasion of monsters and demon beasts. With the subjugation of the first demon beast, the monster and demon beasts had vanished. Another three months passed. As the living began to recover, an unprecedented peace after 400 years and a festival to commemorate the dead were held.
The paper lanterns hanging low on the castle walls colored the night sky. The castle, once stained with the smell of blood, was once again filled with the voices of people after a long time. In front of the monument erected in the plaza’s center, soldiers and citizens bowed their heads in turn. On the marble tablet covered with black cloth, the names of those who never returned that day were densely engraved. The number was so great it was uncountable, and not a single name lacked meaning.
The incense and harmony spread gently on the breeze. The priest paused for a moment, deep in thought, and everyone followed and bowed their heads. Some wept quietly, while others stood silently with their hands clasped. A single lantern floated up into the sky on the wind.
Someone kindled a flame, and soon dozens, hundreds of lanterns soared out of the plaza into the darkness. It appeared as if the souls of the deceased were ascending to the heavens. At that moment, no words or music were needed in the plaza. Irene and I quietly watched the scene. In the tranquil silence, she slowly opened her mouth.
“…This is perhaps my first truly quiet night.”
There were no sounds of steel clashing, no cries of dying soldiers resonating from the front lines. Irene sipped from her cup. Her cheeks were flushed.
“Thank you for keeping your promise. It’s a bit regrettable that we couldn’t finish it together.”
“What do you mean? We have finished this together. In the end, if it weren’t for those who bought us time, we would have never been able to kill that creature.”
After a while, the bell finally rang, and the feast began. Franz Eldin, limping on stage with a cane, lifted his cup high into the sky.
“For everyone. For this night without monsters.”
People raised their cups and toasted with laughter. They sang and laughed while burying their sorrows. All those emotions were genuine.
A night without demon beasts had finally arrived after 400 years.
The night sky, free from the shadows of monsters, was filled with stars for the first time in a long while.
The sound of clinking glasses, the notes of instruments, and the dances continuing beneath the lanterns. Sorrow hadn’t completely vanished, but the small peace that bloomed above it was solid enough not to collapse, enveloping the night. For now, I decided to set aside thoughts of the Southern Kingdom Alliance, the Eastern Hermetic, and the Central Red Star. Irene, who had been toasting with me on the terrace, whispered.
“Hey, Ian.”
Irene had always repeated her regrets. Would it have been okay if it had turned out this way? If I had done such and such back then, could people have lived? Even though she knew it was impossible to turn back time and fully realized that humans would never be granted perfection. She would fall into the endless cycle of remorse and self-loathing.
But now, for the first time, Irene did not regret her choice. Even if she were granted opportunities to repeat her life countless times, she would still make the same choices.
Irene thought that way.
“Meeting you was the greatest fortune of my life.”
When Irene leaned forward to me, it happened in an instant. She shyly smiled.
“Thank you.”
What kind of expression am I making now? One thing is for sure, my face felt as if it were bursting with redness.
