The Revealed Truth (2)
The memory began at the very first meeting between Dagran and Layna.
It started with Layna sustaining injuries while trying to save Dagran from danger, sparking the bond between them. Everyone in the audience could feel the tender emotions and subtle shifts in their relationship as the memory flowed. This was because the spells ‘Illusion’ and ‘Supersensory’ connected them directly to the emotions embedded within the memory.
The memory continued, replaying the time when Dagran and Layna began living together. Dagran worked tirelessly day and night to help Layna feel emotions, while she remained consistently skeptical. At first glance, his efforts seemed utterly meaningless. After all, how could anyone fix someone born unable to feel emotions?
But Dagran never gave up. To the woman who believed she could never possess emotions, he created a device that allowed her to see emotions with her own eyes, proving that she did indeed have them. When she dismissed them as “meaningless things that would eventually scatter and disappear,” he crafted the holy sword Conductor of Emotions, which could transform those emotions into energy and release them.
And when Layna swung the sword imbued with her own emotions, she finally realized the intensity of what she felt. She had simply been unable to express it. The proof that such powerful feelings existed within her was now undeniable.
Thus, Layna came to understand even the emotion of love. The fierce desire to protect the dwarf who had saved her for the rest of her life. The strange feeling that when he hurt, she hurt too, and when he was happy, she felt happiness as well. She finally acknowledged it as love and began a relationship with Dagran.
“Ah…”
The dwarves who witnessed this entire process began wiping away tears. The love story between the dwarf they cherished most and the human female knight stirred deep nostalgia within them.
A golden haze radiated from Layna’s body. Everyone was completely immersed in her memories. Her love for Dagran was sincere. The dwarves began to feel deep affection for Layna. The next leader of the dwarves—the one they treasured and respected most—had been truly loved by this beautiful human woman. Dagran, who received her heartfelt love, must have been happy.
But the moment that day arrived, every face in the audience froze with icy dread. The day that had shattered their perfect love into chaos. The memory of that fateful day was finally being replayed.
—Flash!
But at that instant, the screen suddenly stopped. The memory playback had halted. As the deeply immersed dwarves began murmuring in confusion, Ed stepped onto the stage and began to explain.
“Yes, I understand you’re startled by the sudden pause. However, this is to show you the ‘truth’ in greater detail.”
Ed gestured toward one section of the audience. There sat Kroto and his companions, their eyes unfocused and bodies rigidly frozen. They had fallen victim to Elena’s spell. At that moment, their entire bodies were paralyzed while their memories were being extracted—the memories containing the truth of that day.
As everyone’s gaze turned toward Kroto’s group, Ed spoke again.
“To reveal the complete truth, we will edit Layna’s memories and theirs in chronological order and show them to you. Head Professor.”
When Ed called out to her, Elena nodded. She extracted specific memories from Kroto’s group, sealed them into a magic orb, and handed it to Ed. He connected the orb to the memory playback device, and Kroto’s memories began to play.
The memory opened on the large-scale monster invasion. The fierce and horrific scene played out vividly.
The border guards refused to retreat. Under Dagran’s command, they bravely held their positions and blocked the monsters.
But when the strongest demonic beast from the Shadow Forest—Ekayan, fused with evil spirits—appeared, the tide of battle turned rapidly against them. Anyone struck by its acidic fluid would have parasites burrow into their brains and turn them into zombies. The symptoms spread like wildfire, turning the battlefield into pure pandemonium.
In the end, Dagran had no choice but to order a retreat to the third line. However, he declared that he could not allow Ekayan—which would cause massive civilian casualties—into the kingdom. He announced his resolute will to self-destruct with the beast right there. All the dwarves joined him, their resolve burning fiercely.
“Ah…!”
“Dagran!”
“As expected… that is who you are…”
The dwarves who witnessed Dagran’s courageous figure began to shed tears. This was the true Dagran they remembered.
But Kroto was different. This despicable human knight, who had already abandoned his duty and fled once before, was once again plotting his escape.
Dagran, with a solemn expression, ordered them to fight until the last. He commanded them to die like warriors if they were warriors, and like knights if they were knights.
That became their undoing. Pretending to follow Dagran’s orders, the three of them secretly plotted behind his back.
Seizing a moment when the battle grew fierce, Kroto’s trio sabotaged the ‘explosion spell’ that was central to the suicide operation. They killed the dwarf in charge of activating the spell, then attempted to escape through the only exit. On top of that, they mercilessly sealed the exit so no one could pursue or accuse them.
“Those vile bastards!”
“How… how could they do something so horrible!”
“We must tear them apart right now!”
The dwarves erupted in fury. They rose to their feet with weapons in hand, shouting that Kroto’s group—who had ruined Dagran’s noble sacrifice—must be ripped to shreds.
—Flash!
At that moment, the narrator of the footage changed. It switched to Layna’s perspective.
Layna had received Dagran’s letter stating he would meet his end there and was rushing to save him. However, being four months pregnant, her condition was terrible. In the end, nausea overwhelmed her and she vomited onto the ground. There was no way her body could save him now.
Realizing she had no choice but to respect her husband’s wishes, Layna began to sob bitterly. The dwarves in the audience shed tears as they felt the raw anguish of her emotions.
—Flash!
But then the screen switched again. This time it showed Kroto’s trio sprinting at full speed toward the underground passage. Upon reaching the entrance, they killed the dwarf sentry guarding it, operated the gate controller to open the door, and then smashed the controller with their swords so no one else could use it. Once inside, they operated the internal controls and sealed the gate shut. So that no one could ever accuse them of their crimes.
The dwarves watched the vivid recording of their filthy atrocities, fists trembling with rage. Some were so overcome with fury that they hyperventilated and collapsed on the spot. After all, that underground passage was meant for powerless civilian dwarves—the very escape route the border guards had wanted to protect with their lives, for the sake of their families.
—Flash!
Just as the dwarves’ anger was about to explode, the screen switched once more. It was Layna’s point of view again.
Layna was furious as she looked at the shattered gate controller and the sentry’s fatal wounds. She immediately realized who had committed this atrocity.
But there was no time to punish them. A horde of monsters that had broken through the defensive line was charging toward the survivors. Among the monsters were the surviving dwarf border guards. And Dagran was among them.
The two had a dramatic reunion. If Kroto’s group had opened the underground passage even now, they all could have survived.
But they refused to open the gate to protect themselves. Because of that, innocent civilian dwarves were torn apart by monsters, and most were turned into zombie dwarves by Ekayan’s acidic fluid.
And then—
Dagran, who had been protecting Layna, was also struck by Ekayan’s acidic fluid.
Right before turning into a zombie, Dagran stabbed his own throat with a dagger. Layna wept as she tried desperately to heal him, but in the end she respected his final wish not to attack the woman he loved after becoming a zombie, and let him go.
“Tear them apart… those vile sons of bitches…”
“Aah… aaaaaah…”
“Dagran… Dagran…”
The dwarves finally learned the true circumstances of Dagran’s death. He was not a coward who had despaired at his wife’s madness and taken his own life. He was a brave warrior and an honorable man who had wanted to protect his wife until the very end.
Layna screamed in agony. An immeasurable, ferocious hatred and resentment poured out of her body. She had not gone mad from being attacked by monsters—she had become a vengeful spirit, driven mad by rage over her husband’s and her neighbors’ deaths.
Having lost her child to a miscarriage and completely losing her mind, she began fighting the monsters using her endless hatred as fuel. She cut down thousands of monsters alone, and eventually even slew Ekayan—a beast even Sword Masters struggled against—to avenge her husband.
But the price was enormous. She had become a complete lunatic, losing all reason. Originally, she should have immediately destroyed the underground passage and punished Kroto’s group, but she was consumed by rage and lost her sanity.
In the end, her fury turned toward the fleeing monsters. It also turned toward the zombie dwarves scattering in all directions after Ekayan’s death.
“L-Layna…”
The dwarves watching finally understood. Layna had not massacred innocent kin—she had merely granted rest to her people who had been turned into hideous monsters. As proof, despite possessing enough power to slay Ekayan alone, when the relief forces stopped her, she attacked no one. She simply wailed madly, unable to release her endless hatred, until her life force ran out and she perished.
‘Dagran…’
As her life force finally depleted and the madness lifted, in her dying moments she called out the name of the husband she loved. Every emotion and memory she felt was transmitted to everyone present, letting them feel bone-deep just how searing her grudge truly was.
‘I’m sorry… for not being able to… avenge you.’
That was her final monologue. She was sorry for failing to avenge him. That burning hatred and thousand-year-long lingering attachment had corrupted the holy sword into a demonic blade.
And with that, the video came to an end.
“……”
A heavy silence fell. Every dwarf had hot tears brimming in their eyes, fists clenched so tightly their hands shook. An overwhelming fury that made their flesh tremble. All of that rage was directed at Kroto’s group. They would tear every last piece of their flesh apart and make them die in the most excruciating pain imaginable.
“Please wait a moment.”
Just as everyone began moving forward to punish Kroto’s trio, Ed stepped onto the platform and spoke. He glanced briefly at Isabella behind the stage before continuing.
“The rightful authority to take their lives does not belong to you.”
Ed opened the glass case as he spoke. He drew the holy sword that had been carefully preserved inside, then knelt on one knee and presented it with both hands.
Tap. Tap.
A woman emerged from behind the stage and began walking toward the platform. The moment the dwarves saw her, their faces filled with shock and they froze like stone. The heavy footsteps, the flowing golden hair. It was Layna, preserving the nobility and beauty she had possessed in life, ascending to the stage.
When Layna stood before the holy sword, Ed lifted the blade he held with both hands and spoke.
“Reina Andriel. The time has come to reclaim your tarnished honor and the truth hidden behind lies. I offer you this holy sword to deliver justice to your ancient enemies.”
Layna, dressed in knight’s formal attire, stood before the holy sword. She grasped the hilt of the Conductor of Emotions that Ed offered. Then she raised it and pointed it toward Kroto’s group.
—Whoosh!
A brilliant golden haze began pouring from her body. The warm color that had appeared when she sought to protect her beloved husband overflowed throughout her entire being.
And that appearance was exactly as all the dwarves had once praised her—the noble female knight who had slain the ancient nightmare of the snowfields, Bayater.