Chapter 285: After the War Ends (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 285: After the War Ends (1)
An unnamed location.
Bathed in warm sunlight, the soldiers of the Luna Kingdom watched quietly as Isabelle prayed.
It was a sacred sight.
Sunlight wrapped around her, illuminating the surroundings, while her flowing blonde hair turned pure white as she manifested her divine power. When the Luna Kingdom stood on the brink of ruin from the relentless cold wave, Isabelle—the child born of an oracle—had shielded the nation from the freezing death. Remembering the day the people cheered her name, Leo, the Knight Commander of the Royal Knights, refused to leave her side for even a single moment.
Her prayer ended.
As her hair regained its original blonde hue, Isabelle rose and walked outside.
"...Your Majesty. Why won't you return to Arcadia? Though the oracle demands your sacrifice time and time again, the Kronos Empire has declared a ceasefire. There is no reason for you to remain here."
"No, I cannot."
Isabelle shook her head.
Through her prayers, she had heard the voice of God and found the path she had to walk.
"When he destroyed Odelia's capital, Alexander used 9th Circle magic—a forbidden realm. It means the restriction has been lifted. That is why they launched a continental war, fully knowing we would intervene. We are out of time. The moment they achieve their goal through mass human sacrifice, the darkness falling upon the continent will be unstoppable, even if we borrow the power of God."
The Kronos Empire.
They had suppressed their ambitions until now.
Wary of Isabelle's existence, they had also been unable to fully unleash their power due to an unknown 'restriction.' However, the day the cold wave worsened, the binding force of that restriction began to weaken. This continental war proved it had been lifted to some degree.
Light and darkness.
The opposing forces coexisted.
Just as Alexander grew stronger, Isabelle gained power in kind. But the real problem was the unknown entity granting Alexander that power. Its descent had to be prevented at all costs. Like Leo said, Isabelle wanted to turn a blind eye to this harsh reality, but from the moment of her birth, she was fated to a life where she couldn't.
Suddenly, Roman Dmitry came to mind.
An anomaly not mentioned in the oracle.
He had appeared out of nowhere, causing a massive stir, and proved capable of slaughtering dark beings without a shred of divine assistance. If they had his help, this crisis might have been resolved far more easily. However, Roman Dmitry had made it abundantly clear that he would not fight for humanity. As a servant of God, Isabelle had no choice but to part ways with him.
Leo spoke up.
"As the Knight Commander of the Royal Knights, I will stand by Your Majesty's side until the bitter end."
Isabelle was about to embark on a treacherous path.
Though the people celebrated the peace brought by the ceasefire, for Isabelle and her soldiers, the war was far from over.
Isabelle looked at Leo.
Simply because they were her swords, Leo and the soldiers of the Luna Kingdom bore the crushing weight of the oracle alongside her.
"Thank you, everyone."
She offered no words of comfort, nor did she guarantee a bright future.
She only offered her gratitude.
Knowing the grueling trials ahead, she refused to give false hope to those destined for sacrifice.
That was Isabelle's reason for being. That was the life she lived.
* * *
Henderson lay on the sickbed, his figure pale and gaunt.
As Roman Dmitry looked down at him, the healer spoke cautiously about what had transpired.
"We used a top-grade potion on him every single day and brought in priests to pray for his recovery, but... despite our utmost efforts, there has been no sign of improvement. In truth, recovery was impossible from the start. Your Lordship's treatment kept his fading spark of life flickering, but the moment Henderson was laid in this bed, he was already beyond saving."
Immediately after the battle, Henderson had been carried in looking horrific.
Not a single part of his body was left unscathed, and his blood drenched the floor wherever he was taken. Normally, he shouldn't have lasted more than a few days. The healer had poured vast sums of money and endless devotion into preserving his fragile thread of life, while Roman Dmitry had breathed Primordial Qi into him to keep the hope of revival alive.
But that was all.
He never opened his eyes again.
While Roman Dmitry's methods possessed incredible restorative power, they could not bring back the dead.
"The cause of death was the final attack, which inflicted fatal internal injuries. According to Fernando, Henderson bought a single second of time to pin the enemy down. That was the direct cause. If he had just stopped at blocking the attack, he surely would have lived. But he chose to sacrifice himself to ensure the enemy's death, and in that moment, he crossed the point of no return. As a healer, I am deeply sorry for failing to save him."
Roman Dmitry reacted calmly to the healer's words.
Listening to the man's tearful voice, he quietly gazed down at Henderson's face.
One second.
One second had divided life and death.
From the moment he faced the formidable foe Sven to the moment he coughed up blood from the enemy's blade, Henderson absolutely had a way to survive.
If he had held back even a little, if he hadn't sacrificed himself for Fernando, or if he hadn't held on for that one final second with the sole determination to bring Sven down... Henderson, having received the Primordial Qi, would have eventually greeted him with a living face. Yet, Henderson's choices had always been for the sake of others. He had willingly embraced sacrifice, fully knowing it would lead to his death.
For a long time, Roman stood in silence beside Henderson.
Without a word, he suddenly turned and spoke to Chris, who was waiting behind him.
"Prepare the memorial service immediately."
"Understood."
There were no parting words for Henderson, nor any grand gestures.
Yet, looking at Roman Dmitry's back as he walked out, Chris felt an inexplicable sense of loneliness.
* * *
The memorial service was held.
Since ancient times, cremation had been the most honorable way to send off the deceased. The pyre was lit before the eyes of Dmitry's people.
Crackle, crackle.
The flames flared up.
The fallen whose bodies had been recovered intact were consumed by the fire, fading away not on a cold battlefield, but in the warm presence of their families and comrades.
The people choked back their tears.
Looking at Roman Dmitry, who was staring blankly into the flames, they couldn't bring themselves to pour out their grief first.
But their restraint didn't last long.
Someone—just one person—began to weep.
The crying spread like wildfire, and soon the crowd was wailing, sobbing loudly as if refusing to accept a quiet, subdued sorrow. Such was the grief of losing family. Someone precious had sacrificed themselves for the sake of the nation, and that crushing grief now fell entirely upon their loved ones to bear.
Staring into the flames, Roman Dmitry recalled a moment from his past life.
After the Mad Demon died, the war didn't last long.
From the moment the Shaolin Temple fell, the war progressed rapidly. With the Nine Great Sects and One Gang declaring their surrender, the small and medium sects of the Righteous Faction Murim lost the will to hold out. The history of Murim had deemed unification impossible. All the legendary masters who had soared the skies in the generations before the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk had never dared to achieve it. But those who knelt at Baek Joong-hyuk's feet bore witness to a historic first.
Unification.
He had conquered Murim.
In the very moment he achieved his long-sought goal, Baek Joong-hyuk recalled a conversation he once had with the Mad Demon.
"Are you satisfied with a life lived for another?" he had asked the Mad Demon one day.
Baek Joong-hyuk had accepted a life of endless struggle.
He could never tolerate anyone standing above him; thus, the conquest of Murim was simply the natural process of proving his reason for existence. But the Mad Demon was different. Before meeting him, the Mad Demon had been nothing more than an ordinary boy. After their meeting, he lived a life he had never intended.
So he had asked.
Because Baek Joong-hyuk, at least, could never be satisfied living the Mad Demon's life.
The Mad Demon had simply smiled and replied:
"Please do not call yourself 'another.' From the moment my Lord reached out to me in the depths of despair, my Lord became my entire life. Everyone has a dream. If my Lord desires the unification of Murim, then achieving that is my dream as well. That is why I will never die. I will survive until the very end and watch my Lord achieve his dream by his side."
It was a tragic contradiction.
The man who promised to stand by his side had never once hesitated to sacrifice himself to fulfill Baek Joong-hyuk's dream. From the beginning, the unification of Murim was too heavy a burden for an ordinary boy. Walking alongside Baek Joong-hyuk, he met his death chasing a dream he could not bear. And at the moment that goal was finally achieved, the Mad Demon was no longer by his side.
That day, Baek Joong-hyuk set out on a journey.
He scoured the lands and eventually found a man presumed to be the Mad Demon's family.
"...I think I did have a nephew like that, but what is this about?"
The Mad Demon had lost his family early on.
His only remaining relative was an uncle who lived a life soaked in alcohol and gambling—a man who had so thoroughly forgotten the meaning of family that he hadn't even worried about his nephew's disappearance. He was an ignorant fool who couldn't even recognize the Heavenly Demon. Yet, intimidated by Baek Joong-hyuk's extraordinary aura, he bowed his head and trembled, terrified of what might happen to him.
Thud.
Baek Joong-hyuk tossed a pouch at the man's feet.
Discovering the gold coins spilling from inside, the man looked up with wide, greedy eyes.
"It is the price of that child's life."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The man rejoiced.
As if he had gained the entire world, his eyes sparkled with the reflection of the gold, showing absolutely zero concern for the Mad Demon's tragic end.
Baek Joong-hyuk knew this uncle would not mourn the Mad Demon's death.
He would immediately run to the gambling dens, indulge in fleeting pleasures, and squander it all. Even if, by some stroke of luck, he sobered up, the memory of the Mad Demon would completely fade away in his newly wealthy life.
Even so, Baek Joong-hyuk had wanted to find him and offer compensation.
There was no profound reason.
Just as he remembered the Mad Demon, he simply hoped that someone else in the world would remember the Mad Demon as a human being.
And with that, he turned away.
The era of the Heavenly Demon.
Thus, the era of Baek Joong-hyuk began.
* * *
Several days had already passed.
Seeing Roman Dmitry refuse to leave the burnt ashes, Chris approached him with a worried expression.
"My Lord. Why don't you return inside now? After the non-stop forced marches starting from Redford, you need rest as well. The people of Dmitry fully understand your heart."
"Chris."
"Yes, my Lord."
"I told you before, didn't I? I want you to stand as a commander in my absence."
He did not take his eyes off the pile of ashes.
Staring at the remnants of what had once been living, breathing men, Roman Dmitry spoke.
"Living as a commander, you cannot help but face countless deaths. With a single word of mine, by my command, people die—that is the life of a commander. In the life I have lived, there was no room to suffer under the weight of my own commands, nor was there room for human affection. Yet, I have never once taken the deaths of my people for granted. Even if it is seen as a calculated act, that is fine. For me, as their commander, sending them off like this is both my process of accepting their deaths and a demonstration to the living."
They were cold words.
Yet, Chris felt a strange, profound sense of loneliness emanating from them.
"A commander cannot exist as an ordinary human," Roman continued. "The moment you appeal to emotion, even once, those who follow your orders will realize you are just another human and try to close the distance between you. Perhaps people desire such a human commander. But if there is a goal you wish to achieve, you must thoroughly calculate your every word and action."
He was drawing a line.
While showing absolute sincerity by mourning the deaths of his subordinates, he actively blocked people from approaching him on a personal level. Chris had followed Roman Dmitry from the very beginning. He had sworn his loyalty back when Roman was still mocked as the Fool of Dmitry. But even though a significant amount of time had passed, the existence known as Roman Dmitry was still not someone he could feel completely comfortable around.
That distance.
It was exactly what Roman Dmitry intended.
Through thoroughly calculated words and actions, he refused to allow human affection to blur the strict boundary between lord and subject.
The life of an apex predator.
That was how Roman Dmitry had always lived.
Now, even without conscious intent, he instinctively spoke and acted exactly as an absolute commander must.
Chris wanted to ask.
Is it not exhausting to live like that?
But he couldn't bring himself to say it aloud.
From everything he had witnessed, he knew all too well that Roman Dmitry was a being who had no choice but to live that way.
Roman Dmitry spoke again.
"Chris. If you wish to live as a commander in the future, keep this in mind. While you must show that you do not take the deaths of your people lightly, you must also understand that only clear, tangible compensation can truly make up for their families' grief."
It was a firm stance.
He would never turn his back on those who bled and died for him.
"Summon the leadership of Dmitry. From this moment on, we will hold a meeting regarding the compensation for the war casualties."
"I obey your command."
The meaning of 'clear compensation.'
Before long, the people would experience its true weight.