Chapter 289: Declaration (2)
Chapter 289: Declaration (2)
Translation: Godtl
When Prometheus departed and the magical energy within Manggot dissipated—
Frondier, who had been sitting and resting, lifted his head.
The same went for Aten, who had been treating Frondier.
"......Mr. Frondier."
"Yeah."
The gazes of the Constelle students naturally turned toward Frondier.
Even those without outstanding mana perception could feel the change in the wind that swept through.
They all waited for Frondier's words.
Though Aster was their leader, this declaration was not his to make.
"We won."
A quiet utterance.
A dry, unembellished tone that hung in the air—
"WAAAAAAAAAH!!"
A simultaneous cheer erupted toward the sky.
Just then, someone emerged from Manggot.
Flying through the air as if gliding, it was Osprey.
"Chancellor!"
Frondier called out to him, and Osprey approached.
Frondier spoke with evident relief.
"You succeeded."
"Yes. There's no longer any need to worry about the gods descending."
Osprey gave Frondier the answer he had longed for. But his expression remained grim.
"......Something happened inside, didn't it?"
Frondier noticed his expression and spoke up. Osprey nodded.
"There's something I need to tell you. But not now—later."
Frondier nodded in return.
Truthfully, if there was anything that could be postponed right now, he wanted to postpone it all. Fatigue and exhaustion had piled up, making him want to do nothing at all.
For now, they had won the war—that was enough. He just wanted to bask in the feeling of victory—
"......No."
Frondier snapped out of it mid-thought.
Gently pushing away Aten's healing hand, he stood up.
"Mr. Frondier?"
"It's not over yet."
Frondier's expression hardened. Seeing this, Aten asked,
"......Don't tell me—the Barrier?"
"Yeah. Even if things are fine here, the Shepherds of Manggot and the monsters from the Outside are still attacking the Barrier."
Frondier scanned his surroundings. Most of the students didn't seem to have sustained critical injuries.
'But my comrades who already fought at the Barrier and then battled here again... I can't force them to go.'
"Chancellor. Could you connect a door to the Barrier? I'll create another workshop."
"You plan to go help the soldiers?"
"Of course."
At that, Osprey stroked his chin, deep in thought.
It wasn't concern for Frondier—rather, he seemed to be hiding something he wanted to say.
"......I see. So you really kept it completely hidden."
"Huh?"
"No, never mind. Either way, I agree with heading back."
As if waiting for Osprey's approval, Frondier stretched out his hand and reconstructed the workshop.
A few students noticed and let out exclamations of awe.
'It's getting hard to hide things now.'
As he formed the workshop, Frondier sighed inwardly.
His power had been exposed to those present here. In his fight against Belphegor, he had poured out everything beyond his usual limits. Even if they were busy fighting the army of corpses, there was no way they could have missed the absurd sword energy Frondier had unleashed.
In a war of this scale, hiding his strength from the entire Empire was impossible. There had never been any room for concealment to begin with.
'Still, we fought in Manggot, where the Empire's gaze doesn't reach, and the witnesses are limited to a handful from Constelle. Well.'
Compared to the entire Empire, this number was minuscule. Rumors always get twisted and exaggerated—it'll probably end up buried under hearsay and hyperbole, just like before.
"Oh, Aster!"
Frondier called out to Aster, who turned his head to look at him.
"What?"
"Let's go help the people at the Barrier!"
"Don't you ever get tired?"
Despite his words, Aster walked toward Frondier with light steps, showing no signs of exhaustion.
Frondier gestured toward the workshop's door with his eyes.
"Let's go. I'd love to take everyone here, but they're all exhausted."
"Can't you see I'm exhausted too?"
"No, I can't?"
Frondier's reply was half-serious. Aster truly seemed to have already recovered—no trace of fatigue remained. Even his recovery speed was befitting of a protagonist.
'Right. The protagonist should take the lead.'
As Frondier walked toward the workshop, he subtly slowed his pace to follow behind Aster.
Better not to step out first and draw attention. Let Aster take the spotlight, then quietly reposition himself. That was Frondier's plan.
"What, are you two planning to go alone?"
At that moment, Elodie, who had noticed the situation, lightly flew over. Her slight smile suggested she still had some fight left in her.
And she wasn't the only one.
"If there's anything left, we should finish it."
Sybil approached and spoke up.
"I won't let you leave us behind."
Aten also stood behind Frondier.
Frondier scanned their faces. His worried gaze fell on each of them, checking if anyone was pushing themselves too hard.
"Frondier, are you our mom now?"
Just then, Robald Lieff trudged over and spoke.
"Everyone can take care of themselves."
"......Right."
Frondier nodded.
Meanwhile, Osprey's hands moved, casting spatial magic on the workshop door. Everyone stared at the door with resolute expressions.
"This time, let's end the war for good."
"Yeah."
With Aster leading the way, they strode forward confidently and opened the door.
And then.
"Waaaaaah!!"
They saw soldiers cheering on the Barrier.
"......?"
Everyone who had just stepped through the door blinked in confusion.
No matter where they looked—left, right, anywhere—there was nothing but jubilant cheers, not a single enemy in sight.
"......Is it over?"
Elodie, the first to regain her senses, asked blankly.
But then, one of the soldiers noticed the group who had opened the door.
"Hey! Look over there!"
Eek— Frondier subtly shifted his foot to the side.
It seemed their friends' exploits on the Barrier had been so remarkable that word had spread quickly. After all, the news of victory in war is closely tied to morale.
Luckily, Aster and the others were here to shield him—perfect.
'But how did the war end so quickly?'
Even if the Outside Monsters were dealt with, rounding up all the Shepherds of Manggot couldn't have been easy.
Just as Frondier was harboring this small doubt and trying to sneak away—
"Frondier! It's Frondier over there!!"
An unexpected shout stopped him in his tracks.
"Huh......?"
Frondier's face twisted in bewilderment at the shout. Why was his name popping up in this situation? It should've been Aster, Elodie, or Sybil receiving the cheers.
More importantly, do you even know me?
"Ah! It really is him! Frondier!"
"Over there! Wow, Frondier!"
"Frondier de Roah!"
"Frondier~!!"
But it wasn't just one person.
At the sound of someone calling Frondier's name, all eyes turned toward him.
Countless voices atop the Barrier merged into one. Those who spotted Frondier beamed and waved at him excitedly.
Soon, the scattered shouts blended together, forming a single unified chant of Frondier's name. The name rippled through the air, resonating across the battlefield.
Frondier! Frondier! Frondier!!
"Wh-what? What's going on?"
Frondier was genuinely, completely, utterly flustered as he looked around.
What's this? I didn't do anything. Well, I did do a lot, but they shouldn't know about that.
This made it seem like Frondier was the main hero of the war's victory. From his perspective, this was extremely awkward.
Heh—
While Frondier was panicking, everyone in his group except him smiled faintly in the shadows.
Whoosh!
"Huh, wh-what the—?!"
The first move came from Aster.
He lifted Frondier from behind—no, it was more like tossing him into the air.
Then Elodie used magic to keep him afloat. Of course, Frondier had no control over it.
Next, Aten conjured ice from the ground, encasing Frondier. To others, it looked like a dazzling magical decoration, but to Frondier, it was just a prison trapping him.
After that, Sybil raised her rapier, igniting flames along its blade and slashing through the air. The fiery trail spelled out "FRONDIER DE ROACH" in massive letters across the sky.
'What the hell......?!'
The others were just playing along with the cheers for Frondier. That much he could understand. But the overwhelming roar from the crowd was genuine.
All these people knew Frondier, chanting his name in unison with one heart and one voice.
'No way!'
At that moment, Frondier's head snapped toward Osprey as the man's peculiar expression flashed in his mind. Osprey's head also jerked away. Of course, his face revealed nothing.
"Chief! You know something, don't you!"
"Hmm, I suppose I'll have to explain this too. Not now, but later."
"You should've told me earlier than this!"
Frondier shouted at Osprey with all his might.
But in that moment, Frondier witnessed something far more astonishing.
Whoosh—
A hologram large enough to fill his entire vision appeared in the air above the barrier. It was mirroring his current appearance like a reflection.
"...What the hell is that?"
Bzzzt—
And right on cue, his Sage Phone rang.
When Frondier raised the phone to his ear, a familiar voice greeted him.
"Hey, Frondier. Phew, finally got it fixed."
"...Senior Quinier?"
"Yeah, yeah. Ah, hearing your voice feels good. I missed seeing and hearing you—half of that's solved now."
Quinier's voice still carried her usual cool tone.
Frondier honestly felt glad too, but explanations about this situation took priority.
"So what's that about? My face is floating in the sky in a very unsettling way."
"Ah, I'll show you."
"Show me what?"
Quinier didn't answer—or rather, she didn't need to.
Soon, the hologram's screen changed.
[What the hell is this supposed to be!!]
Suddenly, Belphegor appeared in the hologram and shouted something incoherent. Only then did Frondier understand everything.
Overcome with shame and despair, Frondier's empty hand covered his eyes.
The sky was dark. The world was dark.
Is this truly the world after winning the war?
"Kyah, it turned out great. How about it, Frondier? Thanks to this, the Shepherds of Manggot lost morale and the war ended. The angle, the direction—perfect! Yeah!"
"......"
Frondier couldn't even respond.
Instead, his past self in the hologram, oblivious to the situation, was enthusiastically shouting.
[Still don't get it?!]
He yelled so loudly that the unnecessary echo lingered far too long.
[I am—]
Frondier de Roah—!!
De Roah!
Roah!
Roah.......
After the war ended, most of the demoralized Shepherds of Manggot were captured.
Some had died earlier, and a few had taken their own lives, but the Empire had made every effort to restrain the Shepherds.
As a result, the Shepherds now knelt in a row before the Emperor inside the Imperial Palace.
Under the watchful eyes of the nobles and the Emperor, they trembled with humiliation and fury.
"...The nature of their crimes is despicable, waging war without even a declaration—"
"Shut up and kill them already!"
Notker cut off the palace official's speech.
"Why waste words prattling on?! Does the Imperial Palace find amusement in toying with those about to die?!"
At those words, flames seemed to ignite in the eyes of most nobles.
Amusement? How dare such words leave his mouth. The very instigators who set the Empire ablaze—how could they?!
"Notker."
It was the Emperor, Bartello, who spoke with a heavy voice.
"What is it, Bartello?"
"How dare this wretch—!"
Notker's casual use of the Emperor's name finally snapped the nobles' patience, but Bartello restrained them.
Swish—
Bartello rose from his seat. He even stepped forward, approaching the Shepherds.
Everyone was stunned.
"Y-Your Majesty, it's dangerous!"
"What danger? They're all bound, unable to use their strength."
Nothing but cowards here. For some reason, Bartello's mood seemed foul.
He lowered himself slightly, meeting Notker's eyes as the Shepherd knelt.
"Shepherd of Manggot."
"......"
"Why did you wage war?"
A question that should have been obvious.
But for the Shepherds, it wasn't.
To them, war was inevitable—merely a process leading to the outcome they themselves would forge.
But they had failed.
Crack— Notker's jaw clenched as if his molars would shatter.
"You abandoned us! Emperor!!"
A desperate scream. Though his restraints prevented him from manifesting Aura, the raw anguish in his voice remained undimmed.
"...So it's about the previous generation."
Emperor Bartello's grandfather, Edezion.
He had been the figure present at the beginning of the monster invasion. The time when the Empire, utterly unprepared, had watched helplessly as its citizens were slaughtered. The Empire had retreated wherever the monsters pushed, its territory shrinking relentlessly.
The current capital is Silester, but this is already after the third relocation.
...Before that, the land of Manggot had been part of the Empire's domain.
"To divert the monsters' attention, they used all the citizens as shields, and the Empire fled like that! We trusted only the Empire and stood our ground there! We believed the knights would come, that the soldiers would arrive to protect us! Didn't they say so?! Why didn't they come?! If they weren't coming, why did they abandon us there?! Why did they bind people with lies and throw them as fodder to the monsters?!"
Bartello's eyes grew calm at Notker's words.
Notker was too young to understand the situation at that time. Naturally, he hadn't lived through that era. It was likely that someone who barely survived in Manggot had children, and these stories were passed down.
This was the truth of Manggot.
The truth as they saw it, as Manggot knew it.
"Y-you fool! At that time, the Empire's east and west were—!"
"Enough."
Bartello cut off someone's outburst once more.
Knowing all the facts doesn't change a person's heart.
The entirety of the facts cannot determine right or wrong.
'......I wanted to embrace Manggot within the Empire's arms. No matter how the past had been, I knew that to dissolve Manggot's resentment, their forgiveness was needed more than explanations. But I underestimated the weight of that karma.'
Bartello's gaze turned to Notker.
"......?!"
At that moment, Notker felt something strange in Bartello's eyes.
It wasn't bloodlust or hostility. An indescribable terror pricked at him.
Bartello's eyes were not normal. Not as a metaphor or exaggeration—just the plain truth.
"I will bury all of the past. All of your Karma Fire will burn me."
Bartello spoke.
Notker, momentarily dazed, snarled again at those words.
"How dare you spout such sophistry—"
"You call it sophistry?"
Bartello's voice and pupils remained composed.
"I know myself well. This isn't empty talk. These 'eyes' tell me so."
As he spoke, Bartello seemed unlike an emperor in some way.
"As Manggot desired, the Emperor of the Empire will burn in the Karma Fire and die."
Manggot had crumbled.
And the Empire had won the war.
This Raid by Manggot had come much earlier than it would have in the original game. Normally, they would have appeared only after the protagonist, Aster, had graduated.
Thus, all the events that should have unfolded in between were skipped, and I didn't know whether they were entirely omitted or would resurface as triggers later.
......That's right.
At this point, having won the war against Manggot, I had overcome a hurdle I had never once crossed in the game.
"Now, even the sole advantage I brought to this world is gone."
From here onward, a world entirely unknown even to me unfolds.
Of course, my prior knowledge isn't limited to quests or the story. I know countless elements of the game as knowledge. That will still come in handy.
But now, I don't know what will happen next.
Just like the inhabitants of this world, I too will be swept along in the tide of great currents, living as it carries me.
"It would've been nice if it ended here."
Sigh. A sigh escaped me naturally.
The front of the Barrier, where I had come alone after painstakingly securing everyone's understanding, still carried the scent of blood in the air.
Of course, there had been hope—that clearing this Main Quest might mean clearing the game. I had even dared to hope that clearing it might let me return to my original world.
......But I'm still here.
"Trash game."
When the hell will it end?
If I clear it, can I leave this place?
More fundamentally, does this game even have an ending?
"......No, all these questions are wrong."
The truth I had been desperately avoiding.
An obvious truth, but one I had evaded because accepting it felt like it would break me.
"......This isn't a game."
It took me so long to finally utter those words.
A phrase I muttered every time I faced unfairness, contradictions, and inexplicable trials while living in this world.
Trash game.
It was both a lament over absurdity and a grumble, but also a repeated self-affirmation that this world was a game.
But this is reality.
Because it's reality, it's absurd, ironic, and full of contradictions.
What I need to return to my original world isn't clearing the game.
It's simply finding out how I crossed into this world, who did this, and whether that method is possible here as well.
Beep—
Then, for the first time in so long, the Smartwatch on my wrist reacted.
I turned on the screen to check the incoming message,
"......."
Grind.
An unbearable disgust lodged in my throat, and I gnashed my teeth.
"Never mind. It's still a trash game."
With the tone of an extra in a play, I spat out my line and turned my back on the Barrier, walking away once more.
Even after the war ends, the stench of blood lingers for a long time,
and the winter here will last forever.
......
[World Quest.]
['Etius' completed.]