The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 136

Chapter 136: A Momentary Dream (1)

「John is dead.

He may not have been of this world, but he fought more valiantly than anyone else and vanquished the Demon King of Summer who opened his eyes this time. John Doe, the mightiest hero.

In the middle of a vast green meadow and a clear blue sky.

There were two people standing in front of a small, white cross-shaped tombstone.

“How hateful God is……”

The Sorcerer King muttered, holding a thick cigar in his mouth.

“He was not a being of this world, but of another. It is only natural……”

The Sage, too, did not smoke a cigar, but his face was as crumpled as the Sorcerer King’s.

He could not say it aloud because of his status as a Sage, but he was resentful of the judgment of God, which was as sharp and cold as a knife.

The Sorcerer King deliberately changed the subject.

“The Reminisance Meadow is far away, but I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t come. They’re all so heartless.”

The two of them rushed from the ends of the earth as soon as they heard the news of John’s death and burial.

But only two came.

The two of them looked around, but there was no sign of anyone else coming.

“John’s obituary was sent simultaneously to all the party members who had been woven together by ‘miracle,’ but only two of them came.”

It had been decades since John Doe had defeated the Demon King with them.

However, as he had not aged a bit at that time or now, it was not so long ago for him.

The same was true of the Sage.

“I’m rather surprised that I’m here with you at such a time.”

His mind was the same as it had been then, and he had maintained his youth in his own way.

However, unlike the Sorcerer King, his eyebrows and hair were slightly graying, showing his age.

The Sorcerer King licked his lips a few times, looking at the Sage’s white hair.

“Your temper is still the same, even in your old age.”

“It’s better than being antisocial, even though you’ve aged so much.”

“……Bastard.”

“Unlucky bastard.”

The two of them cursed at each other and then laughed.

“How long has it been since we last met?”

“We parted ways at the dusk of summer, and I went east and you went north, so it’s been about 50 years.”

“50 years.”

The Sorcerer King looked back on those years.

Swoosh━.

He reached into the cloak he was wearing and pulled out a bottle of crimson whiskey. A bottle of liquor with a label that looked like it had been worn by the sun.

“Where did you get such an old drink…… oh.”

The Sage belatedly recognized the liquor.

Plop━.

The Sorcerer King opened the lid and poured the liquor on John’s tombstone, saying, 

“I guess you don’t have any.”

“……I lost it.”

“That’s how memory works. No matter how much you plead to keep it for a long time, it ends up as a memory.”

The Sage closed his mouth.

The day they defeated the Demon King and caught a glimpse of John Doe’s despair, their party disbanded.

John gave them each a bottle of liquor at that time.

If he ever dies.

━Pour it on my tombstone. I can’t drink well when I’m alive, but I can drink when I’m dead.

A strong alcoholic drink that smelled so strong.

The liquor, which had not lost its aroma even with time, flowed down the white tombstone.

“I didn’t think that even the saintess, who seemed like she couldn’t live without the hero, wouldn’t come.”

The Sorcerer King muttered.

And the Sage replied bitterly.

“I thought that things that would never change would eventually change with time.”

“Even the Demon King couldn’t tear us apart, but time did. In a way, time is scarier than the Demon King.”

The two of them smiled at each other and reached out their hands. Then, a small glass appeared, and the Sorcerer King poured a little of the remaining liquor into it.

“To the departed hero.”

“To our departed friend.”

The two of them drank a glass each with their backs to the tombstone. Then, suddenly, the Sorcerer King asked.

“So who made John’s tombstone here?”

“…….”

The one abandoned by God.

A victim who was rejected by the world no matter how high his realm became.

John Doe, the hero who could not even say his own name.

He left the stage of history, leaving behind a puzzle that even the two smartest people in the world could not solve.

As the two of them were lost in thought.

The strong liquor that had flowed down the tombstone disappeared with a slight silver glow.

🔹🔹🔹

“I guess that’s it.”

Cain replied leisurely. Oleciren’s eyes became as sharp as a knife blade in an instant.

Hybolt asked the next question as if he had been waiting.

“My wife has become difficult.”

“That’s a gain.”

“……My dead wife has returned.”

“Since you had a funeral, you should check the national law to see if you need to have a resurrection ceremony.”

“My wife found out about the things I did in the meantime. And this is the state of things.”

Hybolt turned his head.

And Everwyn’s white face, her arms crossed tightly, looked at the two with eyes of dissatisfaction.

“You should be scolded.”

“You really do speak your mind.”

Hybolt replied with a sigh, and Everwyn, who was listening, retorted.

“So you were going to cut my throat?”

“No!”

Hybolt shook his head vigorously and refused strongly.

Everwyn turned to Oleciren, as if she would not let it go.

“You’re my daughter, but do you hate your mother for being young?”

“No!”

She replied similarly to Everwyn’s pointed question, as if she was afraid that someone would say she was not the daughter of King Hybolt.

Grin━.

Cain laughed at their appearance.

When the three of them looked back, Cain gestured for them to continue what they were doing and stood up from his seat.

“Well, there’s no need for me to be here anymore. It’s a good atmosphere.”

Oleciren asked in a deflated voice.

“What’s the good atmosphere……?”

“Right now.”

Cain smiled wryly.

And he nodded once to Everwyn.

“I don’t know how long you’ll be here, but don’t have any regrets.”

“I’m an echo that Everwyn left in this world anyway, so won’t I have no regrets if I disappear?”

“Well, regrets will remain not only in your heart but also in the hearts of these two.”

“…….”

Everwyn closed her mouth.

And Cain said to the two.

“Now will never come again. It’s a miracle that bloomed once on a battlefield where everyone is dying. So don’t regret it.”

Cain grabbed the barracks door.

Then Hybolt asked.

“Do you have any regrets?”

Cain’s words themselves were ordinary. However, the heavy weight of regret contained within them could be felt.

Cain shrugged his shoulders at Hybolt’s question.

“Well, I’ve forgotten all about it.”

Because he had to forget to live.

Cain had to forget.

“Yeah…….”

Hybolt muttered a word and reached out to Everwyn. She, who had been standing with her arms folded, cautiously took Hybolt’s hand.

Cain turned his body as he watched them, and Oleciren’s voice could be heard behind him.

“I’ve decided not to grant you the title of duke for the time being. Until you return to the royal road and receive it officially, you will be a temporary duke.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you have a surname you would like? You will have to use a different surname if you become a duke.”

“……Walker.”

Cain bowed his head.

Across the sea, the meadow, the city, the snowfield, and even the world line.

“Cain Walker?”

“I’ve always walked.”

“Duke Cain Walker. That’s fine.”

Leaving the barracks, Cain looked east. A white snowfield that could only be reached by crossing the sea, the empire, and the Holy See.

The land of the Great Wall that blocked out the monsters along with Reminisance, where the eastern immigrants gathered.

━Walk.

Johnny-Walker will still be alive in this world line.

━Look back once in a while as you move forward. The footprints in the snowfield are the path you made.

Lord East, Johnny-Walker.

Cain recalled his master, Johnny-Walker, who had taught him the meaning of life, and smiled.

It was a strange feeling to be able to follow him in this way.

Thud━.

Cain walked around the expeditionary force camp.

“Lord Ethelred!”

Knights cheered wherever he passed.

“The great knight Cain Ethelred!”

At someone’s cry, those who had been in the barracks came out one by one and began to shout together.

Cain, who had killed Airian’s nemesis Glumiêm and the World Tree.

“Waaahhhhh!”

They shouted with their hearts bursting, as if no one had told them to.

Cain’s every move made the hearts of the romantic knights beat faster, and his overwhelming skills and his refusal of the title of duke turned even the cynics around.

As he recalled the Great Wall amidst their overwhelming support, he asked the knight closest to him.

“Do you know where Abel is?”

“Yes, he went to the Elivagar River.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. He said he had some personal training to do.”

Cain bowed lightly and waved to the cheering knights as he walked on.

He didn’t feel bad.

It felt good to have the world he had changed until now applaud him.

However, an ominous feeling crept in.

‘Will things really change this much for me?’

The World Line Fixation shows how much the world has changed.

In other words, it shows not just that it is changing in Cain’s favor, but that it is changing in and of itself.

Keeping that in mind and being vigilant, he left the camp and headed toward the lantern that was shining alone in the distance.

Swish━.

An arrow flies.

Arna, who was in the river basin, shot an arrow over the river.

Clatter━.

Abel stepped on the river and narrowly dodged it.

“Relax your feet a little more!”

Arna shouted and this time put two arrows on the string. Abel answered, stepping on the river water that was lit only by the lanterns and starlight.

“I understand.”

Swish━.

The first arrow aimed at his knee.

Abel dodged it lightly by moving his body to the left.

But.

Swish━!

The second arrow flew towards Abel’s head, who had moved to the side, as if it had been waiting.

“Ugh━.”

At that moment, Abel gritted his teeth.

His ‘battle instinct,’ which occurred at the moment of life and death, miraculously twisted the muscles of his whole body and tilted his head back.

Whoosh━.

The arrow fell into the river as it was.

Click━.

Arna nodded once to Cain, who had approached, and said to Abel.

“You’re habitually dodging to the left now. It might be okay when you’re first facing an opponent, but once you fight with them for a while, they’ll figure out your pattern!”

“I’ll fix it! Oh, brother?”

Abel blushed when he saw Cain.

Splash.

But at that moment, the aura he had been operating was released, and Abel fell into the black river.

Since the Elivagar River had a very strong current, Cain ran straight forward.

Pong━.

Unlike Abel, who seemed to be barely hanging on by the skin of his teeth, Cain ran lightly over the water, kicking it with the tips of his toes, and grabbed Abel’s arm.

“Are you okay?”

“……Yes.”

He didn’t seem to have swallowed any water the moment he fell. However, his clothes and hair were completely wet.

Cain lightly carried Abel to the river basin and Arna bowed her head.

“Thank you.”

“But why are you training so hard?”

Cain tilted his head.

Moving the aura constantly to stay afloat on the water and dodging arrows was difficult to watch, and it was even more difficult to do it yourself.

Moreover, it was even more threatening if the one shooting the arrows was Arna of the ‘Flash.’

“I asked my mother to.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to be strong.”

Cain scratched his cheek.

He wondered how far Abel, who had a talent so great that he could defeat the Demon King, would go if he worked this hard.

“Did you hear that?”

Arna asked, knowing that Cain had come from a long talk with Edmund.

“I heard it all, but it was nothing special.”

Cain smiled.

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