Chapter 242 - Fate of the Races (4)

The campfire was placed away from the stream, yet the sound of clatter could be heard. It was the sound of two people washing dishes.

“If I think about it…..”

Arrieta possessed an exalted background. She wasn’t suited for such work as washing dishes, yet she was doing it. She spoke.

“…in the past, I felt something similar.”

“When?”

Laura was washing the metal bowl as she tilted her head in puzzlement. She was using her magic to scrub away stubborn spots that she could easily wipe away with water. She had reached a point where she was adept at washing the dishes.

“It was my first live battle. It was as if the world had been flipped on its head by the power of fate.”

Arrieta had a coming of age ceremony on her 15th birthday, and she had to step onto the battlefield as the Dragon Demon Princess. It was her first mission, so the mission wasn’t that dangerous. In truth, not a single hair on her had been damaged..

Despite this fact, there had been a lot of deaths.

They had killed many monsters, and the soldiers under her command had died in the expedition.

Kairen had been strict in teaching her, yet she was traumatized by the deaths. The shock was beyond imagination. It had driven her into a spiral of confusion.

“…I knew I couldn’t live like how I lived the day before. I thought everything would change in the future.”

However, her prediction hadn’t come to pass.

“I still talked with people that had nothing to with the battle. I slept when I got tired. I ate when I got hungry. It is obviously something a living body requires, yet at the time, I thought that was out of the ordinary. I expected things to be different.”

Her first battle had been that traumatic of an experience for Arrieta. This was why she thought her whole would change, yet nothing had changed. When she realized this truth, she found it all to be a bit too weird.

Arrieta wiped away the remaining water from the dishes as she spoke.

“…I’m feeling a similar feeling right now. We are facing a man that lived the life of a god, and he has a grand plan that would change the fate of the world. The fate of humanity is on the line, but we are washing dishes right now.”

“This stuff accumulates.”

“Mmm?”

Arrieta became puzzled at Laura’s sudden words. Laura continued to speak.

“Atein speaks in a cosmic scale, but in the end, events accumulates.”

“Are you comparing his endeavors to washing dishes?”

“Sleeping, washing, meeting other people and fighting…. Hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of these events accumulate….. Then we reach a point of grandess spoken of by Atein.”

“I see. You can think of it that way. If such trivial tasks do not exist, the grand plan has no meaning?”

Arrieta looked impressed as she nodded her head.

Laura asked a question.

“What do you think about it, Arrieta?”

“Are you talking about Atein’s story?”

Laura nodded her head. Arrieta thought on it for a moment before she gave her answer.

“I’ve always felt this before. From one to ten, that man looks at events in too large of a scale.”

“Mmmm?”

“We criticized Atein for thoughtlessly messing with the underbelly of the world thinking he was doing it in the present. In truth, he was speaking in a scale that ecompassed human history and civilization. Isn’t it quite ridiculous?”

“…….”

“If one made a mistake, one should reflect upon one’s actions. One should apologize, and one should think about making up for that mistake. A normal person would think like that. That thought process is missing from that man, and he is unapologetic about it. His view is so macroscopic that it is hard to tell where his thought process had run awry.”

Arrieta shook her head from side to side.

“He is trying to make the entire world fit around him. He doesn’t put any importance to the standards that had been developed in this world. You can see it in how he talks about the Dragon Demon war. I’ll sum up his words. He made a mistake, but he wasn’t in the wrong. Still, he would take responsibility for his mistake. He would do this by making another big mess in some other way.”

“…….”

Laura blinked her eyes. Arrieta wasn’t wrong, but Laura wondered if it was ok to summarize Atein’s words like that.

Arrieta snorted.

“I cannot trust someone like that. He isn’t family. He isn’t from my kingdom…. He speaks as if he is loves ‘humanity’, and that we should support his cause. I am not that open minded. In order to secure the future of humanity, he is planning on stepping on the throats of the people of the Rulain Kingdom. I cannot allow that.”

“Arrieta, you…...”

Laura just blinked her eyes, and she spoke as if she was impressed.

“…you have a lot that you consider to be precious.”

“Mmm? What do you mean?”

“I just…. I just want to reach the end of this fight, and I want to see what’s beyond it.”

It didn’t matter what happened. Arrieta had things that were precious to her. This was why her will to fight Atein wouldn’t falter, since she had to protect what was precious to her.

Laura didn’t have any of that.

Of course, there was something that was precious to Laura.

‘You all...’

She treasured Azell and her comrades. However, Laura wasn’t fighting Atein for them.

This was why she was envious of Arrieta. However, she heard something unexpected when Arrieta opened her mouth.

“I am envious of you, Laura.”

“What?”

Laura’s eyes turned round. Arrieta let out a gentle laughter as she spoke.

“When this fight end, you will be free to do what you want. I am jealous of that freedom. The end of this fight would basically be an end to the curse. Afterwards, you can go wherever you want. You can be with whoever you want.”

“Arrieta, you…….”

When she saw Arrieta’s smile, Laura realized one fact. Laura knew why Arrieta was truly envious of her.

However, she knew it wasn’t a good idea to voice such thoughts out loud.

Laura was taken aback at emotions that she was unfamiliar with. Arrieta picked up the washed dishes. She laughed heartily as she stood up.

“After washing the dishes, it is time to pass the night in the open air. I feel a bit sad when I think about the fact that such days like this will come to an end soon.”

“…yes.”

Laura nodded her head as she swallowed the words that was hovering around inside her mouth.

Kairen spoke.

“Since we’ve defeated Almarick, Atein doesn’t have many cards left.”

“The problem remains. As we destroy his cards, his personal power becomes stronger. The loss of the pillars causes a problem in the long term, but he is sacrificing his underlings to strengthen the Great Darkness….”

As of now, they had destroyed five pillars.

Creator of Dragon Weapon Iksseru.

King of the Dead Belrun.

Steel King.

Infinite Beast.

Tree God.

“There are seven pillars left…….”

Azell replied to Kairen’s mumbled words.

“If it is as Kayalia had predicted, it doesn’t matter how much resources is put into the Great Darkness. If the Great Darkness loses half of its pillars, its foundation will start to shake.”

“Basically, we have to destroy one more pillar. However, the problem remains in that we don’t know how much time we have left.”

Atein was carrying out his ritual. Kayalia had an inkling as to what was going on, but she didn’t have any specifics. She could only guess. In her opinion, Atein must have finished the first step of his ritual by now. He probably moved onto the next step.

“If he finishes the ritual, it’ll be the end.”

Before her rights were restricted, Kayalia had found out that Atein’s ritual had a total of four steps. When he finishes the four steps…..

“It’ll be irreversible.”

Azell was sure of it.

Atein would use a massive system called the Great Darkness to manifest a miraculous magic. The spell would scar the world.

As Atein had done several times before, he would change the balance of the world. Even if Atein was defeated at this time, it would be a loss.

“The probability of our victory is uncertain…….”

Kairen made a decision after he thought hard on it.

“We have to put it all on the line.”

Finally, the date with destiny was at hand.

The forest was underneath the night sky, and the ghost-like figure of Kayalia was floating in the air.

She suddenly raised her hand, and she placed her hand over the luminescent moon. She was seeing it with her eyes, but it didn’t feel real. The light from the moon went through her hand…..

At such moments, it brought home the fact that she wasn’t really alive. This wasn’t her world. Her world was within the Great Darkness, and the Great Darkness held only those that were gone from this world.

Still, there was a reason why she couldn’t leave this world. She only had one reason.

“Kayalia.”

-Is the meeting done?

Kayalia asked the question in a welcoming manner when she heard Azell call out her name. Azell spoke as he sat on a nearby boulder.

“Yes.”

-Please let me know what I have to do.

“You have to travel with us for now.”

-I see.

Kayalia didn’t ask for more details.

Kayalia and Atein could see into each other, so she was a risk. This was why the party didn’t tell her anything important. Azell’s party was fighting for their lives, so she did feel left out. However, she didn’t care.

The fact that Azell trusted her was enough for her. The fact that she would be able to fight the end battle with him was enough for her…..

“I want to ask you one thing.”

-What is it?

She was like a fish swimming in water. She flew threw the air, and she brought her face right in front of Azell’s face.

If she still breathed, they would be able to feel each other’s breath.

However, they could only look at each other. She couldn’t feel anything. She had no breath nor body temperature.

-At such a moment, I really resent the fact that I’m dead.

“…….”

-At the very least, I would be able to kiss you if I was alive.

“…would it be inappropriate to say that I’m sorry you can’t do it?”

-Don’t say that.

Kaylia burst out laughing as she circled around him. She was being illuminated by the moonlight, so there was a white halo behind her. She looked like a forest fairy.

She suddenly looked up at the sky as she asked a question.

-What are you curious about?

“You…….”

Azell hesitated for a brief moment. He was careful in his choice of words.

After she joined up with them, he had always had this question. He couldn’t be callous in how he asked this question, so he had buried it until now.

Still, he felt like he had to ask this question right now.

“…why did you choose to die?”

-Didn’t I tell you my reasons?

“I’m not talking about the past. I’m talking about this era.”

Azell spoke in a heavy tone when he saw her eyes turn round.

Soon, Kayalia let out a timid laughter. She looked like a cute girl.

-You know about it.

“…….”

-I guess it isn't a secret that is hard to figure out. I should have expected it.

Kayalia clasped her hands behind her back, and she acted as if she was kicking a rock with her foot. Of course, her foot couldn’t interact with her surroundings, so her foot passed through the rock.

Silence continued to hang between them. Azell waited for her to talk.

Finally, Kayalia let out a sigh as she opened her mouth.

-I’m already dead. So it isn’t right to characterize it as me choosing death.

“I didn’t ask the question, because I want to hear you make plays on your words.”

-I didn’t plan on doing that. Mmmm. I just want to make it clear that it isn’t what Azell oppa thinks it is.

Kayalia wasn’t part of this world. Her world was the Great Darkness.

This was why her existence would end when the Great Darkness was destroyed.

If they wanted to stop Atein’s plan, they had to destroy the Great Darkness. It was a must. When the King of Death Belrun was killed, the ability to deny death was gone. However, it wasn’t a guarantee that Atein would be able to overcome this problem with magic.

In the end, Atein’s plan would only end when the Great Darkness was destroyed.

-Reygus oppa and I are in the same boat.

For Kayalia and Reygus, the act of destroying the Great Darkness was an act similar to suicide. They were putting their lives on the line for this fight, yet their reward would be their death. How ridiculous was that?

-The people in our world are already dead. We just want to greet the end of our lives doing the right thing.

In the past, she had let her hate and despair choose her path for her. However, she was always suffering as she walked down that path. At the end, she died with regret and doubt in her heart.

This time she didn’t want to repeat her past mistakes.

When she died, she was able to escape the torturous emotions that had taken hold of her heart. She was able to see into her heart, and she was able to make a decision. Until the end, she would walk down a road that wouldn’t make her regret.

“Kayalia…….”

-I feel it every moment. I no longer belong to this world. My world is like a dream. It is merely a shadow of this world.

It was like watching the outside world through a window for Kayalia. She could only intervene using magic. She couldn’t touch or feel anything in the other world.

-I realized that my old relationships are my only ties to this world.

It was too cruel to ask of her to find meaning through the people of this era. The past was her only connection, and the people from her past was the only thing tying her to this world.

-I didn’t choose death, Azell oppa.

Kayalia let out a bright smile. Not a single ounce of regret was within her smile.

-I want to complete my life that I was unable to finish.

“…….”

Azell was at a loss for words when he was faced with her smile. He could only show his respect towards her.

They could no longer give more time to Atein. That is why they had to end this even though their victory wasn’t guaranteed.

They had to hit the Dragon Demon castle hard, and they had to take down Atein in one fell swoop.

The killing of Atein wasn’t the highest priority. It was to destroy the ritual that was being carried out. If one considered the fact that the Dragon Demon castle was the headquarters of their enemy, they would be able to celebrate even if the destruction of the ritual was the only thing they achieved.

“If that happens, the fight will change into a battle of attrition….”

If Atein was still alive and the Dragon Demon King worshippers were intact, the war wouldn’t end just by stopping the ritual. Atein would once again make preparations to make another ritual, and the Dragon Demon King worshippers would launch a fierce counterattack.

“Until now, they wanted to fight their battles away from the eyes of the world. We were able t o dictate where the fight would happen. What would happen if they gave up on defending the Road of Emptiness?”

From the beginning, they had decided to avoid attention from the broader world. They wanted to cause chaos from behind the curtain. The chaos, which had been caused by them, hadn't subsided yet.

What if the elites of the Plain of Darkness no longer cared about staying hidden? What would happen if they started attacking all of society?

The ones that had wanted to fight a stealth war would run full tilt into the fight. Most of the members of the Guardian Shadows were highly influential people in human society, and they might have to pull themselves out from the frontline. They had other duties they had to fulfill.

“It will happen eventually. We are pushing them into a corner, and there is a high probability that they’ll go all out…. At that time, their power would be weakened. However, it’ll be hard to take care of consequences that happens afterwards.”

“In the end, the best plan is to kill Atein in this fight.”

At Leticia’s words, Kairen nodded his head.

“However, it won’t be easy. Still, the other members of the Guardian Shadows will attack the waypoints to draw their attention away. We also formed an elite force that’ll accompany us to the Plain of Darkness. We are still gathering some supplies, so at the very latest, we’ll carry this out within four days…..”

-Excuse me.

At that moment, Kayalia suddenly poked her head into the meeting.

This was the first time she had interrupted a meeting, so the party members looked at each other in puzzlement. Kayalia hesitated before she opened her mouth.

-There is something I must inform you….

“What’s going on?”

-Reygus oppa said he’ll destroy a pillar. He already left.

“What?”

Kairen got up in surprise. He had made intricate plans in his head. At that moment, the sound of his plans being obliterated could be heard within his head.