You Can't Leave Your Habits
Belianus and Christina approached the spot where Rune was.
His complexion wasn't great, but he carried himself with considerable gravity.
After gazing at Rune for a moment, Belianus bowed his head.
“I can only express my gratitude for warning me in advance about something that could become a major problem.”
Rune acknowledged the greeting and, after a brief pause, asked,
“I'm curious how you'll respond to it. Can you tell me?”
Belianus's face clouded with concern.
“Given the special circumstances, we're planning to issue a formal proclamation insisting everyone eat their meals. The living must survive, after all. However……”
“However?”
At Rune's prompting, Belianus wore a worried expression.
“The timing is too tight, and this is a matter of the heart—I'm not sure everyone will follow through properly.”
The wrinkled middle-aged elf continued in a tone laced with a sigh.
“The elves are in a worse state than you might think right now. Normally, I'd trust they'd comply, but at this moment……”
Belianus pressed his brow with his hand, his face etched with frustration.
As if trying to break the stifling mood, Perdikion suggested an alternative.
“Isn't someone's life on the line here? They're barely holding funerals until recovery—postponing wouldn't even be an issue.”
Belianus nodded in agreement.
“We'll have to try everything we can. But…… truthfully, the real big problem is something else.”
Belianus looked up at the World Tree and let out a heavy sigh.
“The elves who were deeply brainwashed by those accursed demons are in dire straits.”
The usually composed Belianus grimaced, spitting out a curse.
And then, unexpectedly, a name slipped from his lips.
“Do you perhaps remember Merin and Campbell from the castle?”
They were the elf soldiers who had helped the cook couple.
“Yeah, I remember.”
As Rune replied, Belianus shifted his gaze.
“Then you know well. When you first saw them, they were in the midst of being brainwashed to enjoy killing and devouring flesh.”
Heungmi and Perdikion, who were with them, recalled that moment and hardened their expressions.
Confirming the group's faces, Belianus continued.
“Sadly, some fell even deeper into that brainwashing. They……”
As if unable to speak such horrors to their childlike forms, Belianus shook his head.
“……committed unspeakable acts against fellow elves.”
Rune and Perdikion shared the same thought at once, their eyes darkening.
They harmed their own kind.
Reading their thoughts in their gazes, Belianus gave a bitter smile.
“They're tormented by guilt and refusing food entirely.”
Those barely clinging to life.
Or perhaps, overwhelmed by shame, they'd attempted suicide—it was easy to imagine.
“They say they have no attachment to life…… that their unforgivable sins warrant self-flagellation.”
Belianus concluded in a somber tone, emphasizing the dire situation on all fronts.
Suddenly, Rune thought Belianus, already slender, looked even more gaunt these past few days.
He must have been through a lot.
Elves who needed nourishing food were unable to eat due to mental issues.
This wasn't something effort alone could fix.
Whatever method Belianus chose, it would be a compromise at best—or the lesser evil.
Nothing ideal.
“You needn't worry about it. I didn't mean to burden you with all this.”
As silence fell, Belianus assumed the hatchlings were troubled.
“Just extending your hands this far to our elf affairs is more than enough cause for gratitude.”
Heungmi gently placed both hands on her chest and asked,
“Uncle Belianus, still…… is there really nothing we can do to help?”
Facing her pure, worried gaze, Belianus shook his head softly.
“How kindhearted you are. It's not a good situation, but we'll manage. Truthfully, no good solutions have come to mind……”
Worry lines creased the eyes of the sorrowful middle-aged elf.
“From a dragon clan's perspective, I know getting further involved in elf matters would be excessive. Don't take it to heart.”
Rune fell into thought for a moment.
Come to think of it, quite a few elves were buried beneath the World Tree.
In the aftermath of the demonic energy and plague.
Many elves had ventured out to enjoy daily life again, but a significant number were only just starting to breathe freely and eat.
And Rune had just thought of a good solution.
I can't just let it slide.
Elves whose bodies and minds were shattered beyond repair.
Faces plunged into panic, unable to bear the guilt of consuming their kin's flesh.
After pondering deeply, Rune shook his head inwardly.
I've thought of the best way—turning a blind eye wouldn't befit a divine beast.
They say good habits die hard, and it was true.
Rune called out to Belianus.
“I've got an idea.”
The middle-aged elf with the dark expression looked up.
“Does the Heir of Darkness have some clever plan?”
Rune explained.
“The core of it is this: mourn the dead while giving them a reason to live.”
A faint color returned to Belianus's questioning face.
“Is such a thing possible?”
As the explanation continued, Belianus pondered deeply.
But soon, he nodded in agreement.
“I see. If we can overcome this hurdle in life that way, we'll handle what follows ourselves.”
Christina, who had been listening, smiled faintly and offered her support.
“I'll have to talk with Rand. Leave the blessings of light and harmony to me, dear.”
Perdikion looked somewhat displeased.
“What a softie.”
“Is that so?”
Seeing Rune's evasive reply, Perdikion grumbled.
“You're the only one who'd use the Heir of the Fire Elder like this as a brother.”
Despite his words, Perdikion didn't refuse in the end.
“You're the best brother ever. I always appreciate it.”
Rune quickly praised him and expressed his thanks.
“Rune-nim! Heungmi will help hard too!”
Heungmi beamed with enthusiasm, her eyes sparkling.
“Of course. I can't do without you and Dullahan.”
“Heehee, great!”
At Rune's urging, Heungmi grinned wide and flashed a V-sign with her fingers.
Watching them, Belianus felt his eyes grow moist.
Getting sentimental in my old age.
He murmured inwardly and sank into a strange sentiment.
Belianus, seasoned by years and countless hardships at the vanguard.
Yet lately, he'd endured bleak days amid disappointment in his trusted king and the elves' mental collapse.
He'd felt the weight of the elves' relying gazes growing heavy.
Though he'd never shirked that burden with his iron will, somehow he wanted to lean on these much younger hatchlings.
Remarkable. They're heirs of great Darkness and Fire, yet still not fully grown……
Suddenly, Belianus recalled his youth.
During the fierce war with the demons, he'd encountered the dragon clan.
That one was female.
She had stopped by the World Tree to mourn the buried elves.
—Isn't it odd for another race to insist on commemorating them?
When he'd asked, the cool-featured woman with long hair shook her head.
—There's no reason to divide by race when praying for rest. Death is fair to all.
Recalling the long-forgotten memory, Belianus looked at Rune again.
Was it his imagination?
The female dragon oddly overlapped with Rune above.
“Belianus?”
Rune called to him, sensing the inexplicable distant look.
Snapping from the reverie, Belianus chuckled dryly.
By now, all eyes were on him.
Now that he noticed, not just Rune—the others shared similar eyes too.
Belianus smiled faintly.
“Funerals were once everyone's shared grief. However.”
His gaze lingered on each one.
“Perhaps…… now, with your help, we can give them new life.”
“Just upholding elder heir dignity. Nothing grand.”
Perdikion retorted, and Christina let out a soft laugh.
“To hear you say that…… you've grown so much, Pel.”
“Of course. I'll be an Adult soon— this much is natural, isn't it?”
Rune nodded at Perdikion.
True, compared to when we first met, he's grown a ton.
Heungmi tilted her head at the group and patted her own head.
“Has Heungmi grown a lot too?”
Rune shrugged at the question.
“Yeah, pretty much. You've got two tails already.”
“Aha! Right, Heungmi's tails!”
Innocently spinning around, Heungmi wagged her tails playfully.
Watching them, Belianus felt a peculiar sensation.
Truly wondrous.
He'd always believed elf matters should be resolved among elves alone.
But seeing Rune offer aid without racial divides, he yearned to emulate that.
Once this is over, I want to change our insular elf culture a bit. Before this life's end.
Thoughts of reshaping elf lives began to bud in his mind.
The next day, the elves gathered beneath the World Tree.
Even those who refused to leave their homes came to bid farewell to their final king.
Or to offer prayers for deceased family and friends.
Bzzz.
The amplification magic tool hummed briefly through the space.
Belianus ascended the platform.
He addressed the elves, steeped in gloom and despair.
“First, my thanks to all elves who gathered here despite these trying times.”
His voice resonated solemnly yet comfortingly.
Finishing the greeting, Belianus began the funeral with a eulogy.
“We gather here to encourage and console one another amid the sorrow and pain from the deaths of cherished brothers and sisters, guardians and friends.”
His smooth, resonant voice soothed the elves' collective tragedy for a time.
Before long, they relaxed their postures, breathed evenly, or began to weep.
Rune and Perdikion perched on the World Tree's lowest branch, observing them.
“Brother, ready?”
“Yeah.”
Perdikion, wearing a red rabbit mask, replied.
In his hand was Rune's Dark-stained Scent Box.
Perdikion glanced at Baekya on his shoulder.
“Alright, time to open it.”
Rune, in a black rabbit mask, nodded.
Click.
As the lid opened, Baekya flapped its wings and settled on the box's edge.
“Chirp.”
Baekya began chirping softly, dripping tears into the box Perdikion held.