A Moment of Quiet Vigilance
While Namgung Hyeon was briefly away, taking Ester with him, Iris stood quietly beside Lily and watched her every move.
Lily was tending to a soldier who was groaning in pain, his face twisted in agony. “Do not be afraid. Simply endure until the very end, and you shall claim victory at last.”
It wasn’t a declaration of sanctuary, nor was it healing magic. She simply whispered to him in a gentle tone. Yet the soldier’s breathing steadied, and his expression softened with visible relief.
Declaring a sanctuary placed a considerable burden on Lily herself. Turning an entire area into an unconditional safe zone was no easy feat. On top of that, she had even used her Absolute Sanctuary in the previous battle. Right after that, she had come here, declared another sanctuary, and healed the wounded. No matter how much she was revered as the Holy Hero or the Saint by the church, working at this intensity would be enough to make anyone collapse from exhaustion.
Even so, Lily stubbornly remained on her feet, healing the injured and offering them comfort. As expected… she really does deserve to be called the Saint.
Even before the regression, Lily Hyacinth had been exactly like this. A Hero who was also like a saint, someone who inspired a different kind of courage in the other Heroes. Iris had occasionally looked up to that side of her. She had wondered whether she herself could show such grace in such dire circumstances.
But even someone like her had eventually faded away in the end. Her noble heart and dignified bearing had shone brilliantly until the very last moment, yet it still hadn’t been enough. Little by little, things had unraveled until everything spiraled completely out of control. Fear and terror that neither blades, magic, nor faith could overcome. Once those forces swallowed the world, its collapse came in the blink of an eye.
The enemy had understood that weakness with perfect clarity. They knew exactly how to destroy the world without even needing to fight. They knew precisely how to exhaust the Heroes who were determined to hold out.
Things were very different now, and there were reasons to believe in a better outcome. Still, whenever Iris thought back to that time, she couldn’t help but worry.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you look at someone with those eyes.”
At the sudden voice, Iris turned her head. Cheon Yeon-hwa sat quietly in the same spot, wearing the hood that Namgung Hyeon had given her. Even though her gaze was fixed straight ahead rather than on Iris, she spoke as if she could see everything clearly.
“I will not ask what you are worrying about. Nor will I pry. However, do not let it show on your face.”
“Grandmaster.”
“Did Hyeon, your master, not tell you? You, and all of you, were born with the destiny to save this world. Then act accordingly. There is already more than enough chaos as it is.”
At those words, Iris made a conscious effort to push down the anxiety that had been creeping over her. Just as her Grandmaster Cheon Yeon-hwa said, now was not the time to be like this. She was someone who understood the gravity of the coming events better than anyone. She was the sole survivor of that hellish future she feared even dreaming about. And more than that, she was the regressor doing everything in her power to prevent it from happening again.
In that case, it was far better to think about what needed to be done next rather than worry. Even just thinking and racking her brain like this, the time left to her felt painfully insufficient.
While Lily continued offering comfort and healing to the survivors, Iris decided to look after those who had fallen in this tragic yet glorious battle. The battlefield had not yet been fully cleared. In fact, the work had barely even begun. The bodies of the dead still lay scattered across the ground, making the already bleak atmosphere even heavier.
Soldiers moved about with slumped shoulders, listlessly gathering the corpses. Iris took a light breath to steady herself and walked among them. From then on, she worked faster than anyone else while showing the utmost respect as she helped clear the battlefield.
I will never forget your desperation, your nobility. So that this never happens again…
Whenever she saw a soldier who had broken down from the horror, she approached and comforted them. If they felt guilty toward the dead for having survived, she told them the best way to repay that debt was to live with even greater purpose. That collapsing in despair like this was the greatest insult they could offer the fallen. Iris was simply repeating the exact words her master had once said to others.
It was not a pleasant task. Death, in any form, was a miserable thing. But if the living could continue on because of those deaths, then making use of even that was simply what it meant to live in this world. Iris understood that all too well.
“Are you… a Hero, miss?”
“…Yes. Though I’m nowhere near as impressive as the senior Heroes over there.”
“We saw you fighting right beside us. Thanks to you, many of our friends are still alive.”
“I’m glad to hear that. If I managed to protect even one person… then I’m truly relieved.”
Some soldiers who had witnessed Iris fighting like a madwoman at the front line approached her. They began helping with her work, albeit a bit hesitantly. The area in front of the royal palace, which had been a complete mess, was cleaned up faster than expected.
At first everyone had simply sat in silence, but soon they began to feel grateful for being alive. They felt relief that the royal palace had been kept safe thanks to their efforts. And finally, they burned with rage toward the fanatics who had dared to commit such atrocities.
Once the situation had more or less settled, Iris quietly stepped back.
“In the end, it seems everything went exactly as the wicked ones wanted. It’s quite worrying.”
A short while later, Lily approached Iris with a somewhat weary expression. After playing a major role in the battle against the Fragment of the Demon God and then facing so many people with serious and minor injuries, she was perhaps the most physically and mentally exhausted Hero of all. Iris couldn’t help but worry whether any cracks had formed in her resolve.
In the previous timeline, not a single Hero had ever betrayed them or wavered. Every one of them had fought with all their might against the Enemy’s Will until the moment of their death. Even knowing that despair, not hope, and death, not life, awaited them at the end, none of them had given up easily. They had resisted until the very last breath.
Still, because the word “what if” existed in this world, Iris could not afford to let her guard down. Swallowing her hesitation, she carefully asked Lily.
“Are you alright?”
“…May I ask what you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. People who go through terrible things suffer, of course, but those who have to watch it all happen beside them suffer terribly as well. Ah, those are my master’s words.”
In truth, they were things Iris herself had experienced before the regression. Until just recently, these people had been ready to lay down their lives for the Heroes. Yet even they had suddenly changed, falling for the temptations of the Demon God worshippers and betraying everyone. Or they were found the next day hanging by their own necks. The thought that no matter what they did, no matter how hard they tried, nothing would ever change. The conflict, doubt, pessimism, regret, and despair that arose from that realization. Those emotions were strong enough to corrode even the most seasoned veterans of the battlefield.
“Your master must have been very worried about you to say such things.”
“…He said that mental exhaustion is far harder to bear than physical fatigue.”
“That’s true. I understand. After all, humans are beings who naturally empathize with the emotions around them. Whether it’s joy or sorrow, it doesn’t matter. We even feel that way toward complete strangers. That must be what makes us human. It is the proof that we are neither beasts nor monsters. The ability to empathize, to laugh together, and to grieve together.”
“…”
“I can grieve with you. I can even cry with you. But I will not fall apart with you.”
It seemed Lily had seen right through what Iris was worried about. Her eyes were steady and reassuring, as if telling her not to worry. Iris nodded in response.
The reason Iris was looking after Lily like this was because she remembered all too clearly how devastating her absence had been. Before the regression, the Fragments of the Demon God had targeted Lily first. The Heroes had used every means at their disposal to protect her. Namgung Hyeon had even suffered severe injuries. Yet in the end the defensive line had been breached, and Lily Hyacinth had fallen.
After that, the Heroes had tasted true hell. With their only healer gone, the difficulty of every battle had skyrocketed. Large-scale engagements became impossible, and guerrilla tactics were their only option. But hit-and-run attacks could not turn the tide. What they needed to hold onto hope was a heroic victory, and that had become impossible. In the end they were gradually pushed back until they were picked off one by one.
By escaping the Mirror Kingdom and refusing to surrender the royal palace in this battle, we’ve already overcome one major hurdle. Now all that’s left is to protect Lady Lily while preparing for what comes next.
Fortunately, Namgung Hyeon, Cheon Yeon-hwa, Garam, Jenia, and Lily had succeeded in destroying the Fragment of the Demon God that had been heading for the royal palace. That meant the enemy’s future actions would be heavily restricted. They had clearly bought themselves a considerable amount of time.
They needed to grow stronger. Faster. Much faster than before. Strong enough to be useful in the battles to come. Strong enough to fight not just mid-grade monsters like today, but Demonic Humans as well. Strong enough to once again clash head-on with the Enemy’s Will that threatened the world.
“…Ah, it looks like Master has returned.”
Almost as soon as Lily finished speaking, Namgung Hyeon appeared beside Iris. Worried that the Heroes might mistake a suspicious person for an intruder, he had deliberately let his presence leak from a distance. Thanks to that, neither Lily nor Iris were particularly startled.
“You’re back, Master!”
“Yeah. …The battlefield was cleaned up faster than I expected. I thought it would take until evening.”
“I stepped in and convinced everyone to work diligently. They all followed along nicely.”
“…Lily. Was that your doing?”
“It wasn’t me, Master.”
“What’s with that reaction? Did you really think I couldn’t come up with something like that on my own and just did whatever my senior told me to!? I’m a proper Hero who deserves proper respect now, you know.”
At Iris’s rather bold declaration, Namgung Hyeon let out a small chuckle. After all, she wasn’t just anyone; she was a regressor. She would probably handle things well on her own. It was just that she had shown so many clumsy, helpless moments until now that he had unconsciously grown suspicious. Come to think of it, if even that had been an act, it was actually a little frightening.
“Come on out already. How long are you planning to stay hidden like that?”
“Master?”
“You need to greet the youngest, don’t you? Hurry up and show her the proper attitude of a senior disciple.”
At that exact moment, something suddenly popped up from behind Iris, where there had clearly been nothing before. Two red eyes sparkled, and then a very cautious—no, more like timid—voice spoke in an incredibly small whisper.
“U-um… h-hello. Y-youngest. N-nice to meet you.”
“Huuuueeeeeeeeek!!!”
She knew. Of course she knew. This Hero was practically at the pinnacle when it came to stealth. Iris had thought she would only need to pretend to be moderately surprised when she appeared.
“Whoa! Hic! Haaah!”
But Ester’s entrance had been far too sudden and far too stealthy for that.