Volume 4: Chapter 301 – And Then, Death (3/3)

『Elder sister──』

Zenobia’s shadow manifested behind Reshia.

“Leave,” Altesia said. “That man is no longer around, while I will be taking this world. You and that child can finally be free.”

Altesia never turned to Zenobia. Her eyes remained fixed on the man on the verge of death as she bid Zenobia goodbye.

『……Yes. Farewell. Elder sister.』

There might have been some conflict, but Zenobia’s ungodly body wasn’t even allowed to inquire about it. As Zenobia vanished, Reshia laid on the ground.

“Now then, my beloved child. It’s your turn. Is there anything you desire?”

“…Nothing, not from Goddess of the UnderworldDeetna, not from Goddess of CourageAltesia.

“So you realized? That we’ve been fused for a long time now?”

But the man didn’t answer the goddess’ question. He had not even been left that much time.

“…I’ll say it one last time, I have nothing to ask of you gods.”

He would cut open a path to his own wish.

It was that sort of man who made it this far.

It was as though his way of life was an answer in and of itself.

“You’re…”

The goddess was about to ask something but decided to stop.

“My ugly son who is lovelier than anyone else.”

The way she gently smiled at him was just like that of a mother enveloping her own child with her infinite love.

“Thank you.”

Light covered Altesia.

The world has started to change. The overlapping of the two worlds, the underworld and the present world, would give bloom to the flower of miracle, gradually transforming the world into that without gods. Magic and monsters alike were gradually disappearing.

The opened underworld gradually collapsed and vanished into the rift between clouds. Altesia’s figure too gradually became faint.

When she first met that ugly child, he stretched out his small body as much as he could then said.

The path I walk is that of conquest and domination.

She remembered that.

Conquest and domination. Indeed, perhaps even that man could conquer and dominate the heart of gods.

Altesia thought that pleasant as she saw him off.

He did it.

He was summoned from another world and turned into a monster, yet despite all that, he succeeded, but his soul was without a doubt──

The man thrust his great sword into the ground.

He couldn’t even stand without that.

Already, there was no one who could stop the collapse of his body. Cracks appeared on one of his arms, and as though it couldn’t endure its own weight, it fell to the ground. The man’s arm cracked like pottery, and when the wind blew, vanished into the clouds of dust.

The sound of battle returned.

◇◇◇

After Ativ vanished, the hero’s army regained their sanity. In fact, they were aware from the moment the underworld vanished.

Before them was the army of Alrodena fighting desperately like man-eating fiends.

With their sanity back, the humans could only scream at all the flowing blood and run away. It was almost as if whatever will they had to fight earlier was but a lie.

Felduk had turned around, but under Gi Gu Verbena’s leadership, there was no way they would miss this opportunity. No matter how much better their weapons and armor were, enemies that were trying to flee were not an enemy for them conquerors.

The hero’s army scattered in all direction and was chased after by Alrodena’s army.

Like that the army with nearly 200,000 soldiers scattered like baby spiders and lost nearly half of their men, but still, Alrodena’s entire army gave chase.

“Onwards, my men! The king, our king, has… won!　He has slain the──”

Gi Gu Verbena fainted from losing too much blood, so it was up to the three siblings to bring order to the army and continue the pursuit. They sent the wounded to the rear, then brought the uninjured ones to the front with them to give chase.

This victory had to be perfect. Not just for the king but also for the sake of their great brother (Gi Gu Verbena), who has been fighting at the front lines this whole time.

Gi Ga Rax left the pursuit to the other generals and rode alone for the king.

Pale did so as well.

For adherents like them, there was nothing more ominous than what they were feeling now.

By the time they arrived, only 100 imperial guards were left around the Goblin King. They bowed their head without saying a word and waited upon the king.

“Your Majesty…”

When they saw the Goblin King standing at the center, Pale heaved a sigh of relief, but she still couldn’t get rid of the ominous feeling, so she ran up to him.

Gi Ga Rax followed suit.

The Goblin King wasn’t budging.

At the end of his gaze was Reshia, whom he favored deeply. He seemed to be watching over her just like one would over one’s beloved child.

Pale nearly screamed when she saw that he’d lost his left arm, but she stifled it.

“Pale.”

The voice that called out to her was definitely the king’s, but it sent a shiver down her back.

Not a hint of vigor could be felt from his voice.

Without her knowing, she’d started to shake her head. The bells were ringing so loudly it seemed she was in a nightmare, but when she realized what they were pointing out to, her face paled, and she desperately rejected that reality.

“I’ll leave the management of the nation to you. I’m sure you’ll do a much better job than me.”

“Your Majesty, you’re──”

“Take care of Reshia for me.”

“…Your Majesty, I──”

But she couldn’t say the rest. Before she knew it, she had collapsed to the ground.

Why? That question just kept repeating in her head.

“Gi Ga Rax. My most loyal subject.”

“Your Majesty!”

With trembling voice and legs, Gi Ga knelt.

“Go forth! Take the army and ride onwards. To the ends of the world to fulfill our ambition! Raise our flag!”

“As your will dictates, so shall I abide!!

Gi Ga shook, then never again turned back.

His black tiger had been with him for many years now and must have sensed how he was feeling, for it quickly brought him to rendezvous with the army and chased after the enemy.

“Gi Ga-dono, what did His Majesty say?”

When his subordinates asked that, Gi Ga yelled back.

“Go!　We will ride!　Ride and never look back!!”

Yes, they could not turn back.

For if they did──

“Go! We will raise our flags until the ends of this world!　The flag of our king!　The flag of our great kingdom!”

Gi Ga desperately encouraged himself with a hoarse voice.

There were still enemies left, and they had to fulfill the orders of the king.

“…Isn’t this too much? Your Majesty, you’ve work so hard, and yet, you’re not being rewarded at all.”

Pale sobbed amidst tears. She was just like a crying child. By the end, she was clinging to the man’s body and crying.

“Is the world so unfair?　Your Majesty, we, no, the goblins can’t support the kingdom without you! You’ve fought this hard just to get the person you love back, right?　So──”

As Pale clung to him and cried, the man used his remaining hand to pat her gently on the head.

“Pale. I am a traveler. I was summoned by a god and brought here from a distant world.”

The words the man gently wove was a lie.

In his story, he was not a man who was tricked by a god and whose soul was used to exhaustion, but a man who was given a role in this world and has finally fulfilled it.

“That’s why, Pale. I have to go home. This traveler has already finished his role.”

“No. Your Majesty. Your role isn’t something like that… You don’t have to believe the gods. You don’t have to go home to your old world. Just stay beside us forever…”

“Everyone eventually dies. No one is an exception to that. That’s just the natural order of things. Our sorrow isn’t meant to crush us but to push us forward. Pale. My prime minister, Pale. Together, we founded a nation.”

The man’s voice was endlessly gentle, and when Pale look up at him through all the tears covering her eyes, she saw that his appearance was no longer that of a monster. Already, he possessed the figure of a man befitting his soul.

“I’m going ahead. So you watch where you’re headed, and walk forward as you desire.”

The man gently patted her on the head.

“Now, see me off. It’s inauspicious to see someone off with tears, right?”

Pale forced herself to smile, and the man gently smiled back.

Then a wind passed by, forcing her eyes to close, and suddenly, the man she had been clinging to was gone.

“…Your Majesty.”

Gi Ga Rax had gone.

There were still about 100,000 enemies fleeing. He would strike them down and dye the plains of Arensia in their blood.

But…

Yes, but…

Gi Ga Rax, who was covered in the blood of his foes, finally looked back with his sight blurry.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Our king!!!”

Gi Ga Rax raised his voice, and so did the other goblins.

『His Majesty! Our King! Our Great King!!』

No words could describe the sorrow of that cry of victory.

Has there ever been a cry of victory as sad as this? The person who united the entire goblin army and now held the most power in the continent looked at that scene and cried.

In that place was the Goblin King’s great sword still thrust into the ground.

Their king had died.

But there was no stopping their cry of victory. They raised their weapons up high and cried out in victory as though offering a requiem for their king.

『His Majesty, Our King, Our Great King!　The Great Goblin King!』

──They called upon the name of their king.

The king’s death caused one miracle to occur.

The brave warriors looked up to the heavens with their weapons raised up high, then their sights blurred and an incomprehensible heat filled their chest, and one by one, they knelt and covered their face.

They were crying.

To the monsters that shed no tears, this was something that should have normally been impossible. Before long, their voices filled Arensia Plains, and they started mourning the king.

The fact that they could shed tears and mourn death was proof that they weren’t monsters but demihumans.

But that was no consolation to them. There was no one among them who wouldn’t cry upon getting word of the king’s death.

For the sake of a single king, they gave up their identity as monsters, but the king was already gone.

No matter what words they said, no matter what price they paid, their great king would never return.

The Goblin King.

The only proof that he existed was the great sword thrust into Arensia’s Hill.

But that too was just a tombstone that would decay with the passing of time.

On the fifth year of the king’s calendar during the late autumn fall.

The final battle that took place in Arensia Plains ended with Alrodena and Altigand’s master dying in battle. Despite that Altigand occupied all of Altigand in less than ten days.

The flag of the black sun was thus raised throughout the continent.

──Silence fell upon the battlefield piled with corpses, devastated by the might of heaven.

This marked the ending of an age.

As winds blew from the north and the morning sun rose from the eastern sky.

The dark age of myths came to an end, and the sun known as history heralded the beginning of a new age.

Tl Note: There’s still one more chapter left.