Chapter: 533
The hero’s party stepped into the fairy forest just as the war with the Evil God was gradually intensifying.
In a situation where it became impossible to maintain the front lines with just human strength, the party sought help from other races, and one of the places they visited was the fairy forest.
“The Age of Myth was a harsher world than you think. The fact that gods and humans coexisted means that human influence on the land was limited, so the world back then was even more vividly colored than now. And yet, even having grown up in such a world, I couldn’t help but admire the hidden beauty of the fairies.”
The homeland of the fairies, who made nature more beautiful while setting foot in every corner, had a miraculous landscape that could even bring light to Erginius, who had been calloused by war.
“Fairies are beings born as children and fade as children. The fairies, who rarely visit their own forest, approached us with goodwill and played various tricks.”
To be honest, those “tricks” were downright dangerous, something that would have killed an ordinary human several times over, given that the fairies had hardly seen humans before.
Fortunately, as it was the hero’s party that found this forest, no one was harmed, but at that time, they didn’t even consider it goodwill.
Instead, they thought the fairies were rejecting them, and if persuasion was necessary, they braved the fairies’ tricks and walked deeper into the forest on their mission.
“Amidst all this, various phenomena happening around them suddenly vanished, and a woman appeared from the sky.”
She introduced herself as the queen of the fairies, apologized for the fairies’ tricks, and healed the various scratches left on the party.
The fairy queen, rightly called the source of all fairies, was an almost divine being, and her powers were astonishing even to the great wizard Erginius, but he didn’t take his eyes off her smile for a moment.
“To fall for a smelly aunt must mean your taste is pretty unique,” someone joked.
“Smelly aunt? That lady’s smile is purer than anyone else’s, and she has a heart as compassionate as Lord Jushin’s!”
Though Lucy’s various provocations could be overlooked, Erginius seemed unable to tolerate the insult to his first and last love, and after a moment of fury, he finally cleared his throat and continued speaking.
“That was the problem. My love was so fervent that I could see nothing else in the fairy forest except her.”
Erginius was not a man who would become blind to love and fail to distinguish between public and private matters.
He recognized his feelings, but that didn’t mean he neglected his duty to oppose the Evil God.
Being aware of how heavy his mission was, he suppressed any personal desires deep within.
However, when he was in the fairy forest, beside the fairy queen, and listening to her bright voice, he forgot all about his responsibilities.
He forgot, especially when looking at her as she laughed at his boring stories.
“When the Evil God’s energy became visible to my distant eyes, it was already too late. The most beautiful forest was deeply tainted by the Evil God’s presence, and the fairies, having lost their purity, sought to stain others black.”
Of course, it wasn’t as if Erginius did nothing because he blamed himself. He was a man who was infinitely distant from the word ‘resignation’.
Thus, he tried to use every means at his disposal to avert the worst possible outcome.
But,
“The situation at that time was so dire it could turn my desperate attempts into mere childlike antics.”
Lord Armadi and Evil God Agra were clashing across the front lines.
On the land where countless disasters plagued, followers of the Evil God and the Divine were each charging for each other’s throats.
And the hero’s party, scattered in various directions, was leading the front lines.
Erginius had to overcome the disasters all by himself with nothing but his own abilities.
“You all probably know, but I failed. I was too inadequate at the time to repel the darkness that was consuming the roots of the land.”
Even a genius who would not be surpassed for hundreds of years is still human. Defeating the Evil God, who had made the forest his domain, was next to impossible.
“When I realized that things were beyond redemption, I began to understand what the lesser evil was amidst all the horrors. If things continued this way, the fairies, our allies, would side with the Evil God, so everything must be burned before that.”
If the tainted forest could not be restored, it must be burned. Who knows what conclusion would come from leaving the seeds of discord behind? It was best to erase it.
Erginius knew this. He understood it well.
But still.
He chose the worst over the lesser evil.
Instead of excluding the fairies, he decided to seal the fairy forest.
“I had no certainty of success. Even if the sealing were to be successful, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t be broken by the Evil God. To put it bluntly, it was madness.”
Fortunately, Erginius succeeded in sealing. He made the forest fall into eternal slumber without killing the fairies, rendering it unusable by either enemy or ally.
“Underneath the queen, who first fell into slumber, I swore. I would definitely return this forest to its former state. At that time, I would awaken her once more.”
At that time, Erginius did not think that this slumber would last for hundreds of years.
Believing that when the war between the Evil God and the Divine ended and everything returned to normal, if the great Armadi performed a miracle for them, even the insidious darkness of the Evil God would have to escape from the light.
“…Wait? But didn’t Lord Erginius and his companions win the war against the Evil God?”
As Joy listened quietly, she raised a question, and Erginius shook his head.
“If our war had ended in victory, this world would have no dungeons.”
“Then.”
“We merely passed our burdens onto the next generation. Hoping that someone in the future could achieve what we could not.”
As he said this and turned his gaze toward Lucy, she scoffed without a word.
It seemed she had already known about this. After all, Ruel wouldn’t hide his sins from the child he cherished.
To others and to himself, he was a supremely picky guy.
“After the war ended with a delicate result, neither victory nor defeat, the only thing I could do was reinforce the sealing. Hoping that someday, someone would bring peace to the fairies.”
And thus, hundreds of years passed, and before Erginius appeared a child carrying the miracle of Lord Jushin.
“What I ask of you is this. Help the sinner of the past to disappear while he can resolve his deeds. If so, I will leave you everything I have built up until now.”
The proposal Erginius made was so attractive that any wizard would gamble everything to accept it.
The greatest asset of the highest genius in history, which only increased in value over hundreds of years!
If the king of the magical empire heard this, he would probably sell his kingdom to grasp it.
“Is that what’s gonna make me suffer? Who’s gonna be greedy over the assets of a sympathy loser skeleton buried underground for hundreds of years? Hahaha. Even if your brain is a flower garden, there’s a limit.”
However, Lucy burst into laughter at Erginius’s proposal.
“Last time, while teaching your friend, I got a rough grasp of the modern sorcerers’ level. The knowledge I possess is filled with things that could still become visions in this era. Just showing them a glimpse of this knowledge would have those fools drooling and sticking to me.”
“Are you saying that socially maladjusted losers would stick to you? Ughh. That’s truly disgusting. Just the thought gives me goosebumps. Thinking of smelly sympathizers having such delusions makes me even more annoyed.”
Caught off guard by Lucy’s unexpected reaction, Erginius’s eyes trembled in confusion. Despite her outward appearance, she was a deep child. He didn’t think she was saying that because she didn’t understand the value of his magic.
Even her friends nearby were horrified.
Then what could it be? Why did she claim that his magic was worthless?
“Hey. Sympathy loser wizard. Your wish can’t be fulfilled without me, right?”
“That’s…”
“No matter how much you try to act like you’re great, in the end, you’re a nobody without this small girl and you can’t do jack shit.”
With disdainful eyes filled with mockery, Lucy stood before Erginius, crossing her arms and lifting her chin.
“You’ve stopped conversing with people for so long that you’ve forgotten how to ask favor, you silly loser. Let me special tell you what you should do.”
“…What should I do?”
“Right. You should crawl beneath my feet and beg to grant your wish because you, who can’t even protect love, purity, or the world, are just a useless loser.”
Erginius was taken aback by Lucy’s complaints, which made no sense for a self-proclaimed genius who had never succeeded.
His eyes widened.
Then he frowned.
Finally, he broke into a hollow laugh, bowing his head deeply.
“Please, I ask of you. Help me to disappear without lingering.”
“Now you finally understand your place. This is why clueless losers are so bothersome.”
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