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Ghosts of the Past (10)
The girl did not know the hero, but the hero knew who the girl was.
Reed Adeleheights Roton's daughter, Rosaria.
The hero thought it was just a dream, but after pondering several times, he was sure.
'So this child entered my head.'
He was puzzled by the sudden drowsiness, but then he began to understand.
It was because the child wanted it, she summoned the hero here.
"I am..."
The hero swallowed his words and answered again.
"I'm the one who makes you unhappy."
He really was that kind of person, so he said that as a warning for her to be cautious.
However, Rosaria merely tilted her head.
"Why do you make me unhappy? It's good to be happy."
"Happiness... Not everyone can enjoy it. If someone is happy, someone else suffers. That's the way it is."
Then, Rosaria frowned and shouted.
"Nothing will happen if you think it can't! If you don't think positively, you can't achieve anything!"
The hero stared at Rosaria, who was boldly shouting.
"Is that so?"
The hero tried to ignore her by hanging his head, but Rosaria sat down next to him.
Even though he had warned her that he was the person who made her unhappy, there was no hesitation in her actions.
"But where is this place?"
"It's my dream."
"Your dream? Then I'm in your dream?"
"That's right."
"How?"
"Because you have the power to do so."
"Come to think of it, I've been wanting to scold someone who's been bothering my dad lately... Are you the one who's been bothering my dad?"
"Yes."
Then, Rosaria's innocent eyes blinked a couple of times.
"It's different from what I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought the person who was bothering my dad was the Demon King, so I thought he would have horns on his head!"
Rosaria growled, making horn gestures with her index fingers.
Caught up in her naive innocence, the hero even said something unnecessary.
"The Demon King looks surprisingly similar to humans. There are no horns, and if you close your eyes, you look like a human."
"Really? How do you know? Are you a hero?"
He hesitated for a moment at the rapid-fire questions, and then answered.
"Yes."
Then, Rosaria's eyes sparkled.
"I want to be a hero. That... what was it called..."
She wrinkled her face and thought for about a minute, finally finding the word.
"A hero's spire!"
"It's called a hero aspirant."
"Yes, I am a hero aspirant!"
Rosaria quickly accepted and corrected herself.
Her language and demeanor showed a pure innocence that seemed far from being a hero.
"Why do you want to be a hero?"
"Because I want to be strong. So I can scold the people who bother my dad and make him happy."
The hero looked at her with pity.
It was because he himself was the one making her father unhappy.
"There is a way for you to become strong."
"How?"
"Follow your intuition. Use that intuition to wield magic. Then, you will become even stronger and have the power to protect your father. Without a doubt, you could even defeat a hero. That's the kind of being you are."
There's no doubt that if she learned magic through intuition, that would be the case.
However, those who learn magic before the maturation of their souls always head toward destruction.
The hero didn't know that.
He only knew that she had to learn magic that way in order to strive for the future he thought was right.
Then, Rosaria, holding her teddy bear tightly, tilted her head and replied.
"Thinking is more fun."
"Why?"
"When I use magic without knowing anything, someone gets hurt. No matter how much good intention I have when using magic, someone will undoubtedly think of me as a bad person."
Rosaria knew that her way of using magic was special.
If she wished for something, she could use that magic.
Being able to do whatever she wanted was a very attractive thing.
But Rosaria was more afraid than attracted.
She had now learned that such magic could hurt Reed or cause trouble for him.
She chose the difficult path, not the easy one.
With her not-so-brilliant mind, she tried to understand the magic she was using somehow.
"So, I won't use it recklessly. I want everyone to be happy!"
Rosaria showed pure and firm conviction.
Suddenly, the hero recalled his past.
It was a time when pure conviction was his driving force.
To eliminate evil and do good, and thus save the continent.
After the Demon King disappeared, the hero entrusted the holy sword to the saint and led a wandering life.
Then, he accidentally fell in love with a magician.
He thought he could live quietly and die, but there was an unexpected tragedy.
It was the fact that he did not age even after decades.
As the charming smile on his wife's face turned into deep wrinkles, and the child who once cried in his mother's arms became a father, his appearance remained the same as it was when he was a hero.
In the end, he could only helplessly watch the death of his loved ones.
His children would continue to die as time went by, which he could not resist.
He knew that it was the constraint of his existence and the constraint of tragedy.
After his wife's funeral, the hero wandered the continent with his face covered.
During his aimless journey, the hero saw everything he would experience in the future through a dark voice.
He moved again to save the continent.
Not as the light of everyone, but as darkness.
It was his firm conviction, but now it was shaken.
Through his conversation with Rosaria, he realized how desiccated he had become.
'Aries, you might be right.'
Purity stagnates, and as it stagnates, it rots.
The hero forced a smile.
"I wish everyone could be happy, as you said."
The hero lied.
Someone had to die, and someone had to bear the tragedy.
The hero got up from his seat and began to walk slowly.
"Where are you going, sir? Sir?"
Rosaria got up late and tried to follow him, but the hero's body was already buried in the mist of darkness.
The hero woke up from his sleep.
Rosaria, too, felt lonely in the space left alone for a moment before she woke up from her dream.
It was a dream so vivid that it seemed strange.
***
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Dream big tl dot com
***
Reed received numerous thank-you letters from lords and kings in the tower.
The contents of the letters were similar.
They were written over three pages, summarizing their gratitude to Reed, who worked hard for the peace of the continent, using splendid vocabulary that went round and round.
Before he knew it, Reed grew tired of replying and began to copy and paste his responses.
'Their power has weakened considerably.'
At first, it was definitely a disaster.
With over a million casualties, including civilians, in just a month, it was enough to go down in history as a disaster.
However, the main force, Lich Baal, was killed by Freesia, and the holy knight Arthur found peace again at the hands of his former comrades, Isel and Rachel.
Thanks to their arbitrary interpretation that the demon deceived and manipulated the gods, the betrayal of former comrades did not shake the Althea Church.
But what really began to give them hope was the Bolt gun.
After the introduction of that weapon, the increase in casualties took a sharp downturn.
Heroes were human too, and they had a fear of the unknown.
They became more cautious, continued analyzing new weapons, and revised their plans, but it was difficult to revive their momentum.
'Anyway, I felt that the original plan began to change after Kaitlyn's weapon appeared.'
The atmosphere was vastly different depending on what ordinary people could do.
The disaster that started as a small spark turned into a flame, and then a wildfire, gradually subsiding.
All the forces on the continent headed to the Demon King's Castle, leaving not even the slightest ember behind.
The final, ultimate battle had begun.
***
Grancia Castle.
The current king had assassinated his father and taken the throne, but his actions had come back to haunt him, and he was executed.
Now transformed into the Demon King's Castle, it lay beneath swirling dark clouds.
The magical barriers, which should have emitted a faint light, were layered so densely that they appeared as a thick, dome-shaped cover.
The thickly layered barriers were estimated to withstand dozens of high-level magic attacks without breaking.
Unable to break it, the common psychology of magicians was to want to try to break it.
Before the frontal battle, the tower owners and their elite wizards also participated.
The tower owners, who usually wore uniforms, wore robes like other wizards due to the wartime situation.
It was a very rare situation for soldiers and even for wizards from the same tower.
When the tower wizards and the workshop wizards faced each other, they began to mock each other as if they had an ancient tradition.
"Seeing all those colorful robes reminds me of my daughter's clothes."
"You guys are still wearing uniforms. Are you still pretending to be students at that age?"
The battle of pride between the tower and the workshop continued without either side backing down.
It was a childish situation, but the commander Helios and the workshop leader didn't bother to intervene.
"They're fighting so much."
"How can dogs and cats get along? We have to understand that."
"Ha ha! If we're the dogs and you guys are the cats, it's a perfect match!"
The serious Helios and the playful workshop leader continued their conversation, checking their strategy.
Freesia, standing next to Helios, looked bored like a daughter who had been dragged to a fishing spot with her father.
"Why do you guys get to have all the fun?"
"Because if you step in, it'll turn into a dogfight."
If she, the last resort and wild card, stepped in carelessly, the battlefield would turn into chaos in no time.
Freesia was a figure who shone in large-scale battles, so she was planned to be used only as a last resort.
"I can join the fight if you want, but there will be restrictions."
"Why fight with restrictions like a girl? In a battlefield where people kill and are killed, you have to smash whatever comes your way. I'll just watch. The most fun fight is the one between weaklings anyway."
Freesia began to create a picnic atmosphere by pulling out her chair from the shadows and even setting up a tea set.
It would have been an irritating action if someone else had done it, but no one was displeased because it meant that Freesia was behaving quietly.
Lounging and munching on snacks, Freesia lazily scanned the people around her.
Her mechanically moving eyes caught sight of a figure.
Silver hair and golden eyes.
A man wearing a uniform alone among the robed wizards.
It was Reed Adeleheights Roton.
'Despicable guy.'
Crunch, crunch.
Freesia chewed her snack with emotion.
After glaring at him for a while, Reed became aware of her gaze and turned his head to meet her eyes.
Freesia didn't want to give him any attention.
However, as if determined to step into her line of sight, Reed approached her.
Just as she was about to warn him that she'd kill him if he caught her eye,
"I apologize for shouting suddenly back then."
"You mean when you said you'd kill me if I got in your way?"
Freesia interrupted and looked up at Reed.
"Upon reflection, I should have politely declined the gift from the tower master, but I was short-sighted. I am sorry for being too emotional."
"......"
Freesia looked up at him without a word, her mouth slightly open.
Realizing belatedly that she had been making a stupid expression for a while, Freesia cleared her throat.
"Ahem, did you really apologize?"
"Yes? Oh, yes……."
"Don't do it again."
Freesia climbed onto the chair and patted Reed's shoulder.
Her grudge against Reed, whom she had angrily threatened to kill, ended there.
'Why did it end so easily?'
Although he was the one who apologized, Reed was also surprised by the outcome.
At least he thought he would have to endure her bad mood for a few months, but in the end, she just told him not to do it again.
He decided to apologize first, fearing that his pride might create a grudge, and that was the right answer.
'It's a little scary how easily it was resolved, though…….'
It was so easy that he wondered if there was another intention behind it.
As Reed tried to go to the tower masters, Freesia stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to where the tower masters are……."
"You're not here as a full-fledged member anyway. Just stay here."
As if she had used up her patience, Freesia pulled out a chair from the shadows and placed it next to her.
Realizing he would lose more by refusing, Reed obediently sat in the seat she prepared.
The command meeting was over.
The tower master of the Sky Chamber stretched his finger to the ground, and a white light point was engraved on the floor.
As his finger moved, a magic circle began to be drawn.
A magic circle that would take five people and a total of three hours to draw was completed in just five minutes by following the trajectory of his finger.
All the gathered wizards poured their mana into the magic circle.
After holding the mana of 300 wizards for an hour, the magic circle finally began to work.
Woo-woo.
The magic circle drawn on the ground vibrated, and something like white steam began to rise.
Helios raised his right hand and gathered the steam on his palm.
The steam grew increasingly intense, and Helios focused his gaze on the layered magic circle.
"Everything will return to its place."
The light gathered in his hand became a pillar of pure white light, stretching towards Grancia Castle.
