Chapter 156: The Lich (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: The Lich (6)
As the lich's skull split vertically, the undead collapsed in unison, like toys with their batteries removed.
Thud.
The unicorn descended from the sky, landing lightly as it trod upon the corpses.
Cloud and Frillite dismounted.
"Is it over?" Frillite muttered, looking at the lich's bones, which had fallen from the sky and shattered into pieces.
Cloud picked up a fragment of the shattered skull. After examining it for a moment, he placed it in his palm, clenched his fist, and crushed it to dust.
At that, the other fragments of the lich's bones also crumbled into dust.
Frillite stared with vacant eyes as the dust scattered in the wind.
"Somehow, it feels hollow."
"That's just how fights are."
"Is that so? It's over..."
Frillite drove her glowing golden sword into the ground. Then, she began to walk around, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
Cloud was about to ask what she was doing, but he fell silent when he saw her pulling the bodies of the Platinum Knights from among the corpses.
Instead of saying anything, he began to walk around, searching for the bodies of knights in platinum armor.
"You don't have to help. This is a responsibility I must bear."
"Don't say something so cold. We're friends who'd risk our lives for each other. You think I can't help with something like this?"
Cloud ignored Frillite's protests and continued to search for the bodies of the Platinum Knights.
In response, she gave a bitter smile and continued what she was doing.
After what must have been hours, the two of them managed to find twenty bodies amidst the thousands of corpses.
"This is harder than I thought," Cloud said, slumping to the ground.
Searching for specific bodies among thousands of corpses was grueling labor, even for him with his superhuman stamina.
Frillite knew this as well. She sat down beside him and expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to find them quickly."
"It was nothing. More importantly, what's your plan now?"
"I don't know. To be honest, I'm not sure. Normally, we hold a grand funeral for knights who die in the line of duty... but we've never had so many die at once."
Knights were elite personnel.
Trained in combat since childhood, they were akin to living weapons.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that wars were decided by the quality of their knights.
And the Platinum Knights were, without a doubt, the best of the best.
Twenty of those Platinum Knights were dead.
There had been times when one or two fell in battle, but they had never suffered such heavy losses.
Because of this, Frillite felt a heavy sense of responsibility and guilt.
"...Don't look like that. It's not your fault."
Frillite shook her head.
"Do you know what the worst kind of commander is? An incompetent one. The saying goes that even a commander with a foul temper who covets money and women is better than an incompetent one, as long as they're capable."
Her gaze shifted to the body of the Platinum Knight laid out on the far right.
"Lexus. He was going to marry his long-time sweetheart after this was all over. He made me promise to come to his wedding."
Her eyes moved to the body next to his.
"Alton. The third of seven siblings. He was always boasting about how he'd make it big and provide for the brothers and sisters who supported him."
Her stories about the fallen Platinum Knights continued. It could have been tedious, but Cloud listened intently until she was finished.
Only when she had finished speaking about all the fallen knights did he offer a small smile.
"You know your subordinates so well."
"They were my comrades-in-arms for a long time. This much is only natural."
"No, it's not. How many commanders in this world actually care about their subordinates? You're a good commander."
"What good is that? In the end, I'm still incompetent."
Frillite swept her bangs back with her right hand. The gesture highlighted the self-loathing on her face. The corners of her eyes trembled, and she bit her lip so hard it seemed she was desperately holding something back.
Cloud guided her head to rest on his shoulder.
"Cloud?"
"It's just the two of us here. If it's too heavy, you can set it down for a while."
"What do you mean..."
He gently stroked her hair. Perhaps it was his warm touch that allowed her tension to finally break, even for a moment. Tears began to well in Frillite's eyes.
"Hk..."
She hardened her expression, trying to force the tears back, but it was impossible to stop them once they had started to fall.
The more she tried, the more her emotions surged.
"I'm not your subordinate or your commander. I'm your friend. It's okay to show me your tears."
Those words were the final blow.
Like a dam breaking, the emotions that had been staining her heart black—guilt, self-loathing, sorrow—burst forth along with her tears.
"It's all... it's all my fault. They died because I was incompetent."
"Every one of them had their own lives, their own families. And they all died. Because of nothing other than my incompetence."
"Why am I so useless? I've worked my entire life, so why am I still so lacking?"
"I've ruined everything. I've destroyed their lives and the lives of their families."
"Cloud, I know this sounds pathetic, but I'm so scared. It's my duty to visit their families and deliver the news myself, but I'm terrified to go see them."
"I'm so afraid of facing their hatred and anger."
Frillite de Ferdiac.
She was, without a doubt, a strong woman.
She had lived her life shouldering a burden of responsibility several times greater than that of others, and she possessed the strength to face an army of the undead alone.
But despite all that, she was still human.
A person with feelings.
A person who felt guilt for her mistakes and was hurt by the censure and hateful words of others.
Frillite was not the woman of iron people thought she was.
She was simply a woman with a slightly stronger heart, one who tried her best not to show her wounds to the world.
"Frillite. Do you think you didn't do your best in this fight?"
"...I did my best."
"Did a single one of the Platinum Knights blame you?"
"...No."
"You did your best, and no one blamed you. Isn't that enough?"
"But—"
Cloud pressed his index finger to Frillite's lips, silencing her.
"Yes, their families will feel differently. They might blame you regardless of whether you did your best, regardless of whether it was your fault. They'll need someone to blame, because it might lessen their pain, even just a little."
Cloud met Frillite's red eyes.
"Let's go together."
"..?"
"When you go to tell your subordinates' families, let's go together. If they curse at you, they'll curse at me too. If they throw stones, we'll get hit together. It'll hurt a little less if we share the blows, right?"
"Cloud... I appreciate the thought, but this is..."
"I know. That it's your responsibility. That's what you always say. And you know what I always say in return, right?"
Cloud grinned.
"We're friends, aren't we?"
The dark night passed, and the sun rose over the wide horizon.
Cloud's smile, illuminated by the crimson sunlight.
It held a captivating charm.
Frillite stared at him, dumbfounded.
Just as Cloud tilted his head, about to ask why she wasn't answering, Frillite spoke.
"Cloud, please marry me."
*
The first thing the lich saw when he regained consciousness was a spotless, pure white room.
"Where is this?"
Where am I? Why am I here?
He traced back his memories, searching for the reason he was here.
'I was defeated by the hero.'
To be precise, he only pretended to be defeated.
He was an immortal mage who had lived for a thousand years. He had long since surpassed the level of being bound to a physical body.
Even if his body was destroyed by a sword imbued with holy power, he could be resurrected as long as his Life Force Vessel, which contained his life force, was safe.
This meant that he could fight the hero endlessly if he so chose.
But he chose not to.
From the beginning, he had no desire to play the clown as one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
He had only tried to enjoy this task since he'd been forced to take it on anyway.
'After that, I was planning to return to my Life Force Vessel...'
The hero, Cloud, had approached, grabbed a fragment of his skull, and said, "Where do you think you're going?"
With that, his consciousness had faded, and when he came to, he was here.
'What is this...'
Realizing he was sitting in a chair, the lich tried to stand, but his body wouldn't budge, as if it were glued down.
Wondering what was going on, he examined the chair and was slightly surprised.
'The chair has wheels?'
Not only did it have wheels, but it also had handles whose purpose he couldn't fathom, and all of it was made from a material the lich did not recognize.
While he was bewildered, the door in front of him opened, and a silver-haired beauty in a black suit appeared.
She bowed politely and said.
"Welcome to Leah's House, esteemed customer."