“Eleonora, Lavina.”
I force my lips to move, trying to squeeze out words.
But it’s only calling your names, nothing more. Just a simple phrase like “Please survive,” struggles to come out.
“…No.”
I now understand there’s no way to beat Luminous anymore.
It’s not someone I can face with just mental fortitude, after experiencing having my head severed once.
It might be better to divert those who have a slim chance of survival rather than throwing myself into a battle that’s guaranteed to end in a hopeless death.
But even though I know this in my head, that achingly rational conclusion just won’t come out of my mouth.
Am I afraid of death? Do I not want to die alone?
Maybe that was true once. There were times I thought I could do anything to preserve my single life.
But funny enough, the obsession with life, which was my greatest driving force in both my previous and this life, has become significantly worn down.
The emotion I felt the moment my neck was severed by Luminous wasn’t fear of death.
It was relief from the heavy responsibility, and a welcome to the final rest that came to my exhausted body and mind. Embarrassingly, those were the emotions I felt.
I always knew it, but it appears I am not fit to be a king.
What started from repaying a grace snowballed into an obligation that has now grown far too large and burdensome for me to bear, and the sense of responsibility has driven my mind to ruins.
I did not want to acknowledge this. I should not acknowledge it.
I mustn’t deny the path I’ve walked until now or the bonds I’ve built.
So, I pretended not to know. I whipped myself, insisting I had to fulfill my duties and bear my responsibilities to the end.
I thought I shouldn’t run away with the life saved by the sacrifices of the Martinis, and I forced myself to persuade the Dragonkin.
But.
Now facing yet another practical death sentence, what governs me isn’t the longing for life or the sense of duty anymore.
“I still don’t want to give up.”
I couldn’t trust others, cursed my own fate.
I hated the sickly version of myself from my past life, despairing that the life I thought was a miracle turned out to be as a vampire rather than a human.
I cursed the humans who betrayed me, wanting to be one of them. I firmly believed the world was filled with evil, pushing away anyone who approached me like a hedgehog.
Yet, despite that, there were those who came to me.
There was a Dragonkin girl who willingly threw herself into a tough and dangerous life to be with me, abandoning a safer future.
There was a human girl, who considered me family despite not sharing blood and threw away her prospects in human society for me.
There was a peculiar elf who looked up at me with gleaming eyes, asking to be allowed to study dark magic under the progenitor of vampires, the one feared by the entire world.
There was a duchy’s ruler who bet on my future for her people, who, when danger approached, was swept away by a fleeting bond that could have been merely contractual.
There was a blunt and arrogant maid who initially showed her discontent towards me but eventually began to respect me.
There was even a vampire I first met as an enemy, who fought beside me after our first battle, eventually becoming dutifully loyal.
Many approached me.
And now the thought that comes to me is not a sense of obligation to repay my grace, but a more primal, simple desire.
“I don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t want to give up like this.”
Martini, Stella, and Jeil are still alive.
I, Plona, Eleonora, Lavina, and countless other vampires, beastmen, elves, and dwarves following me are still alive.
Even knowing by logic and intuition that there’s no chance of victory, I don’t want to give up. I don’t want to abandon the happy ending I could share with those I love.
I hope everyone is included in the future I envision.
I wish for a perfect future without anyone left out.
I’ve faced the wall of reality my whole life and know the harshness of reality better than anyone, yet I didn’t want to acknowledge it this time. Acknowledging it feels like it would confirm the death of the Martinis.
“…But that can’t be right.”
I can’t put those who could survive at risk because of my selfishness. Just as I resolved to speak up,
“Aria, shall we run away together?”
At Lavina’s sudden suggestion, I lifted my head sharply.
I’m not sure when they left, but only the three of us remained in the barracks.
“By the way, if it’s just you two, you might not become targets for Luminous. So, I won’t suggest to you two to escape.”
“…H-h-how?”
Lavina hit the nail on the head, as if she could read my mind, causing me to ask without thinking, realizing I made a slip of the tongue and closing my mouth.
This was practically a confession. But Lavina smiled like she was looking at a cute child trying to tell an obvious lie.
“It’s obvious what you’re thinking right now, Aria.”
Eleonora nodded beside her.
“Honestly, did you think we wouldn’t know? Aria, though you seem sharp at times, you can be surprisingly straightforward in moments like this.”
This time, Eleonora shook her head. She anticipated what I would say but nonetheless didn’t intend to slander me.
“No, Eleonora? If you jump in like that, then I’m the only trash… ugh, no. Anyway, what I want to say is that Aria tends to bear too much on her own.”
“…But there’s no need to go die when we can survive.”
The line separating courage from recklessness is sometimes rather ambiguous, yet I know that confronting Luminous now would be reckless. But how could I ask you guys to die with me?
“You’re saying that again. Let me make it clear this time.”
Lavina raised her eyebrows and pointed her finger at me.
“I have finally found a place I belong. And now, if you tell me to throw it all away and live alone, do you think I can just say, ‘Oh, I see. I guess there’s no choice’ and forget about it?”
Eleonora nodded her head up and down much faster than before.
It was unexpected. I thought Lavina wasn’t the type to say such things outright.
“You don’t want to give up, right? If you do, it feels like you’d be killing the three of us.”
Again, she struck to the heart. I quietly nodded.
“Then let’s do it. But we do it together. It doesn’t matter if it’s a fight we can’t win. Whether we run away or face it, when the time comes, we’ll die together. Got it?”
I was shaken of my senses by Lavina’s strong attitude, which was quite unlike her usual playful demeanor.
I see now.
Just as I cherish them, they cherish me.
They think enough of me to say they’d rather die together than survive alone.
I was glad. I knew I shouldn’t be happy right now, but I was.
Yeah. If it’s going to be a final struggle, let’s make it glorious.
Even if Luminous is an opponent so powerful that even if the strongest beings on earth gather, victory is impossible, let’s at least go out in style—
“…Wait a minute.”
What did I just say? Even if all the strongest beings on earth gather, it’s impossible…
“Oh.”
There’s still hope. There’s still a path to a happy ending, ridiculously flimsy and absurd as it may seem, but instead of waiting for death to come, I found a way to end it gloriously.
“Lavina, Eleonora. You said you would stick with me to the end, right?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I’ll be with you until the last moment. So for this time, let’s act a bit shamelessly.”
“I’m planning to go up there.”
With a vigorous push, I threw open the barrack doors and pointed to the other side.
A sheer cliff. And beyond that, reaching out once more, a divine realm not permitted to beings of the earth.
“…Huh?”
Even Lavina, who had been pushing me, was momentarily left speechless.
It was a story far beyond the realm of common sense. But now, I was more sincere than ever.
“If no one on the earth can defeat Luminous, then we shall look for someone not of this earth.”
I thought no one existed on this continent who could defeat Luminous.
But that thought was half true and half false. There was. There, at the peak of that divine realm, where it isn’t of the earth, there existed a being who truly fits the title of the greatest in the world.
“The first life, Yustelein.”
The progenitor of dragons. The last of the ancient races, confirmed still to be alive among the first beings who witnessed the birth of the world.
After all, I have nothing left to lose. Of course, Yustelein seems to merely overlook the world from up there and fundamentally doesn’t interfere with the earth…
“They say that while there can be occurrences that never happen in this world, there are no occurrences that only happen once.”
When the first progenitor, Ophelia, dared to step into the divine realm, Yustelein took her life for the challenge she posed.
The killing of the most powerful being on earth. Regardless of the reason, in the end, Yustelein indeed had a significant impact on the power dynamics of the continent.
Seeking help or inciting wrath, attempting something with a precedent is likely a better option than accepting a certain loss to Luminous.
“I’ll come back. I swear.”
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