Chapter 199: The Golden Companion (6)
「John Doe walked barefoot along the “Yunseul Coast” of Lesbos Island and began to speak.
“There was a famous fairy tale where I used to live.”
There is no one next to him.
To whom is he speaking?
“The Giving Tree. It’s a story about a tree that is satisfied even though it sacrifices itself and only a stump is left.”
The sky and the sea.
And the golden sandy beach.
Unlike the confession made in the confessional, his words scattered everywhere in the world.
In the passing seasons.
In the flowing clouds.
Lastly, to the god of this world who would be watching from afar.
As if everyone should hear it, John Doe continued.
“Some people say, shouldn’t the tree take a cool revenge?”
Rustle.
Golden sand seeps out between John Doe’s toes.
Swaaaaa━.
And the emerald sea gently rushes in.
John Doe turned his head towards the sea, which was slightly cooler than his body temperature and felt pleasant.
“I cried when I first heard it as a child. I felt so sorry for the tree. But.”
Squeeze.
John Doe stood up straight with his shoulders squared towards the sea.
The person who had just melted into the world was gone.
The one who fights the world.
The one who wishes for all ruin.
And as a hero who longs for freedom, John Doe straightened his back. He lost the season he was with, parted ways with his cloud-like companions, and became distant from God.
As a being thrown away, John Doe said.
“The tree might have been truly happy. If it had been under the veil of ignorance that something had been accomplished through its sacrifice.”
Swaaa━.
The seawater that rushes in once again.
Unlike before, it does not reach John Doe in a round shape and scatters sideways.
As if to say that the world’s inverters cannot be dealt with.
John Doe smiled bitterly at the sight. As if to soothe the heart pierced by the thorns that hurt even more when he experienced it himself.
“Therefore, I will make sure that ‘Lesbos’ can sacrifice itself forever.”
A thousand years before Cain.
When the name of this island was not forgotten.
When even ‘light’ was not found.
“I will make him addicted to hope.”
John Doe made up his mind.
He would sacrifice everything for himself. He would burn everything for himself alone.
But even with hypocrisy.
He would not let it be sad.
He calmly confessed to the world from the beach he had named.
🔹🔹🔹
However, now.
Lesbos, the Golden Goblin who had carved and chipped away at itself in sacrifice, couldn’t speak.
It had wished for peace.
It had wished for others like itself to be spared from exploitation.
Incapable of achieving it alone, Lesbos had placed its trust in the hero acknowledged by the Four Seasons and offered everything it could.
But for it all to be a lie.
Lesbos couldn’t accept it.
“Liars! It’s all a lie! Did you think I’d fall for such a trick?!”
“…….”
Aurelia looked down at Lesbos with pity. In her eyes, Lesbos was nothing but a lump of red flesh.
Lesbos, seemingly devoid of tear ducts, wept despair instead of tears, denying reality.
“The hero said so. He said…… the gold my grandfather and I gathered would save this world.”
She turned to Cain.
Each word he uttered was laced with despair and anguish. What was Cain going to do with Lesbos, who was in such a state?
Squeeze.
He gripped the hilt of his sword.
Perhaps it would be more merciful to end its suffering.
‘Perhaps the peace the quest mentioned was referring to this.’
However, Cain shook his head.
“Who is this hero?”
Ending it like this would be nothing more than sweeping it under the rug. Cain, who had crossed the world lines and shouldered the burden of his heart, refused to let this slide.
Oblivious to Cain’s thoughts, Lesbos answered.
“Hmph! John Doe, of course. The great hero who wields the 〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉, who defeated the awakened Demon King of Seasons! The savior of this world!”
Lesbos raised both arms.
Or rather, what remained of its arms.
“So, if you have the sacred treasures, you’re a hero?”
“Of course! How can one not be a hero when acknowledged by the divine mark, the last promise left by the god?!”
[‘Summer’ closes its eyes.]
[‘Winter’ turns its head away from Lesbos, who remains so pure even now.]
“Then I’m a hero too.”
“……What?”
Cain extended his hand and waved it in front of Lesbos’s face.
It flinched in response, aware of something in front of it, but without eyes, it couldn’t discern what it was.
“I have the 〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉 too.”
“…….”
Lesbos froze.
Its mind raced, trying to find a counter-argument to Cain’s words that chipped away at its logic. Finally, it blurted out,
“Lies! You’re just a thief. If you were telling the truth, you would have used the shortcut that only opens with the sacred treasures…….”
Lesbos’s voice trailed off.
Nicholas, who had been taking its gold, couldn’t use the shortcut.
He could have taken a massive amount of gold at once using the ‘golden passage,’ but he couldn’t, so he had to take it bit by bit through a small teleportation circle connected to the outside.
Lesbos had thought it was because he had too many enemies to fight to retrieve the sacred treasures, that he couldn’t open the shortcut his grandfather had created.
But the shortcut had opened a while ago.
“……You must have stolen the sacred treasures to open it.”
Lesbos constructed a new narrative, piecing together the events.
However, Cain firmly refuted it.
“If what you say is true, that the divine mark is the sacred treasure, do you think anyone can just steal it?”
“That’s because you’re a remarkably skilled thief…….”
“It’s more likely that I brought the sacred treasures here as the new hero, don’t you think?”
“…….”
Deep down, Lesbos knew.
Nicholas had already revealed his deceit, calling Lesbos penniless, and Cain’s words held more weight.
However.
It couldn’t accept it.
It shouldn’t accept it.
Because if it did……
“……Then what about all the sacrifices I made?”
“…….”
This time, it was Cain who was speechless.
“I carved my own flesh with a knife for the hero who needed gold. Continuously. Every hour, every day, every year. I drank potions, cut my flesh, pulled out my teeth, and offered my eyes.”
“…….”
“Are you saying all my sacrifices meant nothing?”
Aurelia closed her eyes.
Tears welled up between her eyelids. She wept on behalf of Lesbos, who couldn’t shed a single tear.
“All things…… are made right by the light.”
All she could do was make the sign of the cross and clasp her hands together, praying for the being who had endured such a sacred sacrifice.
“Cain-nim.”
She couldn’t bear to witness any more of this cruel truth.
“This is far enough.”
Let it pass peacefully, oblivious to the truth. She drew her mace once more.
But Cain shook his head.
“No, this is where it begins.”
“The truth so far is cruel enough, why must it begin here?!”
For the first time, Aurelia raised her voice at Cain.
She was a cardinal tasked with cold, emotionless secret missions, but the plea of such a pure being resonated deeply within her heart.
She couldn’t bear to see Lesbos suffer any longer.
She wished for it to find peace in death.
“I am a hero.”
Cain reached out and took Lesbos’s mangled hand, its red flesh exposed.
Lesbos flinched but didn’t pull away from Cain’s touch.
“You said it yourself. A hero is born from the recognition of the sacred treasures, but a hero’s recognition is built over time.”
“……Yes.”
“Honestly, I don’t know much about either. But there’s one thing I do know.”
Cain smiled.
He was a hero.
And he had been a hero.
He had stood at the forefront of the Great Wall, fighting and inspiring hope in his comrades.
He might not have lived as gloriously as Abel, the hero, but he had sharpened, wielded, and polished his sword every day to protect humanity.
“A hero creates hope.”
Cain was hope.
And now, he was the hope of Ethelred Domain, the hope of the Northern Elf Forest, the hope of Airian Island, and the hope of Academy City Märchen.
Click.
Cain guided Lesbos’s small hand and placed it on the hilt of ‘Summer’.
Then, he smiled.
“This one creates hope too, so it must be a hero.”
“Cain-nim?!”
Aurelia gasped and rose from her seat at Cain’s unexpected action.
At that moment.
[‘Summer’ looks at Lesbos.]
“Huh……?”
Lesbos’s vision was dark.
Born as a goblin in a dark cave, it could sense the world even without eyes, but it couldn’t see clearly.
But now.
[‘Summer’ speaks, saying it’s been a while.]
Aurelia covered her mouth with both hands.
‘Summer’, which hadn’t responded to the Holy See’s countless attempts over the years, had acknowledged this goblin.
[‘Summer’ apologizes. It regrets blessing Lesbos back then.]
Lesbos stiffened.
The golden message filled its darkened vision, revealing the identity of the being before it.
“I, Is that really you, Summer-nim?”
Flash!
The holy sword, ‘Summer’, began to emit a brilliant light. The light enveloped Cain, Lesbos, and itself.
Fwooosh!
【Yes.】
It created a space for the three of them.
‘Summer’ manifested in the form of Cain, much younger than he was now, perhaps a little over ten years old.
‘Summer’ looked at Lesbos, now a lump of flesh, with tear-filled eyes.
Step.
It took a step forward.
With its small hands, it cupped Lesbos’s face.
Fwaaaaaaaaash!
A gentle, warm light emanated from where its hands touched, and the Golden Goblin Lesbos began to revert to its original form.
Its hair grew.
Its eyes reappeared.
Its teeth regrew, its original golden skin was restored.
【Do you recognize me?】
Lesbos blinked.
Its senses, dormant for nearly a hundred years, had returned, and it took a moment to adjust.
Then, gazing at ‘Summer’ with its golden eyes, Lesbos…
Thump.
……lunged forward and hugged ‘Summer’.
“Of course! How could I ever forget you, Summer-nim?”
【If I hadn’t blessed you, you wouldn’t have lived like this……】
‘Summer’ recalled that day a thousand years ago.
It had bestowed its blessing upon Lesbos, who was struggling alone after losing its grandfather.
It wished for Lesbos to live a long life, free from pain.
It had never imagined it would lead to this.
“……No.”
Lesbos glanced at Cain, who was watching them, and then spoke.
“Still, thanks to you, I realized how foolish I’ve been.”
【Lesbos……】
“I’m grateful that I could see you like this, even for a short while. And hero.”
Lesbos stepped away from ‘Summer’ and approached Cain. It bowed deeply.
“I apologize for acting foolishly. I should have recognized you sooner.”
“…….”
Cain silently shook his head.
Seeing this, Lesbos smiled.
“You’re so dignified, just like a hero. I may be a fool, but even I know this moment is our last. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to see you all like this in the end.”
Its words were like a final farewell.
‘Summer’, witnessing this, turned its head away, blaming its past foolish self.
“Now, please kill me. Now that I’m whole again, I find myself wanting to live.”
“You can live.”
It was Cain who spoke.
【……What?】
‘Summer’ turned to Cain, who continued speaking calmly.
“It’d be a shame to die like this, wouldn’t it?”
“But there’s nothing I can do. In reality, I’m just a breathing piece of meat.”
Lesbos, its reason and intellect restored, assessed its situation with a clear mind.
“Don’t you want revenge?”
“……I do.”
Lesbos clenched its small fists. But it was a dream it couldn’t even dare to dream, for it had nothing.
“But what can I possibly do……?”
“You can do it.”
‘Summer’, who had been watching, was taken aback by Cain’s words.
【How?】
Cain placed his hand on his chest and smiled.
“World Line Fixation.”
It was a power capable of altering the world’s reformation, and its worth was immeasurable.
‘Summer’ jumped up in protest.
【Are you crazy?! You have no idea how serious this is!】
“Then I’ll bet my future on it.”
【Cain!】
“I refuse to accept this kind of ending.”
[‘Winter’ remarks that it knew this would happen.]
[‘Spring’ smiles.]
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