148 – name-11

They will no longer be able to collect corpses. Because I became such a body.

Those who were still breathing were literally breathing with one of their limbs severed.

“aaa!!!”

“Tell me. Why did you do this?”

Seeing people screaming wasn’t a very nice sight.

Regardless of right or wrong, it is disgusting. I feel rejected.

But if you don’t know for sure now, you never know when something similar will happen again.

“Save me, save me. Save me…”

“I can’t let them go, but if there’s a really cooperative one, I could take one or two of them to jail. So, tell me everything.”

My body had its limits. These are wizards, and even if they’re screaming in pain right now, if left unattended for a few hours, they might find a way to escape.

If I had brought enough soldiers, I would have had time to interrogate slowly, but my body is one. It was too dangerous to let them live unless I could carry them in my arms.

“Faction! I tried to create a force! The new lord didn’t come in right away, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to carry out the subjugation operation…”

“The corpse, why?”

Of course, it doesn’t change that a corpse of that size can be a great resource for a wizard.

But, to the point of killing people for it. To be precise, it is not a valuable resource enough to risk the subjugation that will occur due to that dead person.

Even if the wizard doesn’t directly manufacture the corpse, the corpse remains somewhere. Even sorcerers, no matter how evil their intentions, can find corpses more easily and safely by simply walking around the conflict zone while gaining strength.

“Go, the price has gone up!”

“What?”

“Recently in the dark, there are people who buy corpses at high prices… I’m trying to get a piece…”

Being a wizard doesn’t mean that money is infinite. This is especially true for wizards who have not been formally recognized.

I heard roughly what I needed to hear. There were other wizards as well, but judging from his clothes and age, this guy seemed to be the chief.

After dealing with all the other staggering assailants, he roughly carried the confessed wizard on his back.

“Ugh…”

Seeing as if the wound was opening, he let out a painful scream. I forcibly ignored the fishy smell of blood on my body and went out of the cave.

/////

“Are you back?”

Seeing the wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, Eleanor couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. Her teacher, Reinhardt, greeted her with a much older appearance than the last time he saw her.

“long time no see.”

“Your sword has become sharp.”

Even without seeing her wield the sword, Reinhardt couldn’t help but acknowledge her.

Even after she lost her power as a hero, she continued to fight.

“Is he well?”

Eleanor could sense the slight change in the way Reinhardt looked at him.

After she was recognized as a hero, his eyes were filled with respect, approval, envy and respect.

But now, Eleanor was nothing more than a trickster.

“that…”

Nonetheless, she was still his disciple.

There was a vagueness in his eyes that could neither be hated nor acknowledged.

“What happened to the Knights?”

“It’s not fine. Even those who believed in you and fought until the end are powerless in front of time.”

Fighting the Orc Lord was not an easy decision even for the Platinum Knights, who pledged allegiance to the Empire.

Those who followed Eleanor until the end were confused when they heard that she was leaving with the hero.

Those who valued bravery, trust, and honor thought she had made the right decision. The more naive knights, who simply wanted to fight alongside her, considered it a betrayal.

They antagonized and fought with each other. The shape of the Platinum Knights barely remained, but most of the members were looking for a new way to live.

“Even though the sword has increased, the momentum is shaking.”

Eleanor could not hide the agitation in her heart.

In the end, there was nothing she could protect. Her sacrifices were not enough to say that she had done her best with Enerel, and there were no people left in the capital to say that she had done her duty as a knight of the Empire.

“You’ll have to prepare. The end of His Majesty the Emperor is not far away.”

“then…”

Eleanor staggered in shock, as if she had been hit hard in the head.

Reinhardt was the emperor’s foremost public servant, and he didn’t want it, but his power was at a level that could not be ignored.

To the extent that if he hadn’t brought this up, he wouldn’t mind saying something that would have led him to be arrested for treason.

“He was a friend. So, I believed him. I believed him when you said he was a hero. Without a doubt…”

Eleanor felt like her heart was breaking, but she was too concerned about what Reinhardt had said before to pay attention to that.

“Isn’t that a problem? If His Majesty is in critical condition, that’s ridiculous…”

Eleanor’s heart was not ready.

To her, the emperor was an empire, and an empire was an emperor. The emperor was her only father, her family, and the object of her allegiance.

I couldn’t even figure out how to look at an empire without him, a world without him.

“You should prepare too.”

“I… I can’t, I can’t be!”

Many still remember what she had done. It was only because the emperor somehow ‘apparently’ sincerely apologized, and she left to atone for her own sins, so she was able to keep her feet on the empire.

There were no other children of the emperor, but there were sparse living heirs in the imperial family.

None of them had political influence or achievements, but they were the ones who could secure legitimacy if the nobles started helping them.

“It’s just in case.”

Upon hearing those words, Eleanor was finally able to regain her composure.

that’s the emperor There was no way the fate of the empire would be entrusted to someone like Eleanor, whose inadequacies were revealed.

“Who is it?”

However, I couldn’t help but wonder who that person might be.

Whoever it was, it was bound to be lacking compared to the current emperor. Whoever you bring will not be noticed by her. just like she herself did.

In order not to go against the Emperor’s wishes, she needed to know who the successor he had chosen was.

“…He’s someone who can receive the protection of the imperial family.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Conversely, it also means that you just need to meet that. I don’t know. There have been many things, but even so, I believe in you.”

As Eleanor pondered the meaning of those words, she suddenly remembered what he had said in a private meeting with the emperor.

“Is that him…”

Eleanor bit her lip. Either way, there was no truth she could handle.

/////

Walking with a soon-to-be corpse on your side was a very unpleasant and boring experience.

Thinking that I had to go all the way to where Laurel was, I felt a little helpless.

“Well?”

However, at the entrance of the cave, there was a welcome person, no horse.

“Mr. Unicorn?”

“Shouldn’t you have told me in advance. If it was to purify the evil, I would have helped as much as I could.”

“ah…”

“Get on my back.”

I couldn’t understand all of her thoughts, but I couldn’t refuse help right now.

“Didn’t you like what they did?”

“Isn’t it reasonable for a corpse to rot? Wouldn’t it be better if it was eaten by wild beasts or burned and sent to heaven? Wouldn’t it be nice to leave it in this world unnaturally like that?”

“Wait, do you mind killing me?”

“I don’t know. Humans kill and kill each other for no apparent reason.”

I couldn’t resist her words. From the unicorn’s point of view, humans might be such creatures.

“The creatures who do the killing are usually those belonging to the demonic spirit, but humans are a bit dangerous. Even those who are not affected by the demonic energy to the smallest degree, kill their own people as if nothing is wrong with each other.”

“Hmm…”

“If you consider that evil, I should have killed every human being in sight. That’s too hard, inefficient, and exhausting.”

Amidst the clatter of horses’ hooves, the screams of bloodied men could be heard intermittently.

“Human beings are inherently such creatures, so why would you call them evil?”

The unicorn smiled softly.

/////

beautiful.

Nerwen was watching from afar as Enerel ran away.

It was so far away that even her eyes couldn’t see his face clearly. If I don’t keep this distance, I’ll be caught by his senses.

He was living as if nothing was wrong, as if he was not sick. He talked to his new sister, helped the needy, played a hero and punished the wicked.

As if to prove the fact that others do not need it.

“…under.”

It was stifling.

Nerwen needs him, but he doesn’t need Nerwen.

“…”

You have to make a decision. Nerwen felt that she didn’t have much time left.

The smell, her body wasn’t the problem. Not being able to do anything for him was even more painful.

And there was only one person who could tell her what she could do, even questionable suggestions.

Nerwen got up and ran towards the capital. I couldn’t stop like this.