Editor : Amethyst00



Clack–

Returning to his dorm room, Leo sat at his desk.

Before he knew it, the sun had set.

‘Is summer finally coming to an end?’

Feeling the cool air, Leo looked up at the sky bathed in moonlight.

Then he took out the old memoir from his coat pocket.

Swssh–

He carefully brushed his hand over the leather cover.

From the moment he first met Lysinas.

He had often seen her writing in this book every evenings.

Leo took a deep breath and opened the memoir.

Just like the one he saw earlier in the Forbidden Archive, the pages were blank.

Seeing that, Leo channelled mana at his fingertips.

A faint light shone from the page, and Lysinas’s neat handwriting appeared.

The memoir began before she met Kyle.

To be exact, from the time when the Age of Calamity began.

Flip– flip–

‘These are all the stories I once heard long ago from Lysinas.’

Flip–

The stories his friend once told him came to mind.

Leo’s hand, recalling the conversations he once shared with that friend, suddenly stopped.

[Today I met the “Surviving Hero.” Just as the rumors say, his personality is twisted beyond repair. His ability is certain, but how in the world am I supposed to fix that pessimistic attitude? How am I supposed to guide this guy?]

‘So you were planning to drag me into the subjugation party from the start, huh?’

Leo let out a hollow laugh.

The memory of his first encounter with Lysinas in Godthrone surfaced.

‘Our first meeting was at the Mercenary Guild, right?’

At that time, Lysinas was called the Fool.

Proclaiming that she would subjugate Erebos in a world filled with despair. To the people of that time, she must have seemed insane.

‘That’s how hopeless the era was.’

It was a time when everyone merely prayed that Erebos and Tartaros wouldn’t invade, barely getting by each day.

Kyle, too, spent his days drinking at the Mercenary Guild as usual.

"You’re Kyle, the Surviving Hero, right?"

"Then you must be that lizard called the Fool? What do you want from me?"

"You. Won’t you become my comrade?"

The sudden proposal had startled him.

At that time, the “Surviving Hero” was a symbol of misfortune.

No one wanted to become comrades with Kyle.

A hand extended toward someone used to being alone.

But to Kyle, Lysinas’s offer was far from welcome.

"Sorry, but I’ll pass. I’m not into suicide missions."

“The first meeting was the worst.”

Even after that, Lysinas persistently sought out Kyle for weeks.

The memoir, sparsely written, recorded those days one by one.

‘She really cursed me out a lot. Well, I can’t blame her — I was pretty prickly.’

Tsk— Leo clicked his tongue as he reminisced about that time.

Even though she could’ve given up, Lysinas never did.

Then one day—

Tartaros launched a massive invasion on Godthrone.

To repel that invasion, Kyle and Lysinas formed a party for the first time.

And on the corpse-filled plains, Lysinas said,

“No matter how I look about it, my choice wasn’t wrong.”

She spoke as she looked up at the gray sky.

“It really had to be you, Kyle.”

Lysinas smiled brightly.

In that smile, Kyle saw a light he couldn’t explain.

“You’re the beginning.”

That white, slender hand that had reached out to him countless times without giving up.

“Come with me, Kyle. I need you.”

In a world filled only with despair—

That Lysinas could smile with such hope was irritating at first.

At that time, Kyle was no different from others.

He believed the end of the world was near.

“Let’s just live as happily as we can today,” he used to say, wasting away in decadence.

Perhaps it was only natural that Lysinas annoyed him.

If Kyle had been walking toward the darkness… then Lysinas had been walking toward the light.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re strong. You’ll survive to the end, and—”

“And?”

“Even if you’ve given up and fallen into despair, your eyes are still alive.”

Lysinas smiled softly.

“They’re shining in the darkness.”

It was the first time in his life—

that someone had looked so noble.

“Your wish is a foolish one. It’s impossible.”

Yet, until the very end, Kyle denied Lysinas’s wish.

But even in the face of denial, this foolish woman remained steadfast.

“You’re right, Kyle. My wish is a foolish one.”

Without withdrawing her extended hand, she said,

“But Kyle, we’re going to save the world.”

That heart that never gave up—

That pure and unwavering figure—

“Let’s go together. You won’t have to watch your comrades die before your eyes anymore. Because I’m strong too.”

—saved Kyle.

When he took her outstretched hand, Kyle had thought,

That he wanted to grant that foolish wish of hers.

[Finally, that stubborn, damn guy joined the subjugation party. He never listens to a thing I say. But still, he’s taken a step forward. This meeting will surely change the fate of the world.]

The memoir continued.

The day Luna joined.

The day Aaron joined.

And the day Dweno was joined.

The subjugation party took shape.

Just as Lysinas had declared, the world began to regain its light.

[Tomorrow marks the beginning of the final expedition. All preparations are complete. I’ve done everything I can. Now, only the subjugation of Erebos remains. May my foolish wish come true.]

That was the end of the memoir.

Before the final expedition, Lysinas had left this memoir behind.

After reading through it all, Leo rapidly flipped through the empty pages.

Then he stopped on the last one.

[To Kyle]

Leo swallowed hard.

It was undoubtedly a letter Lysinas had written to Kyle.

‘A letter to her comrades… The reason I can see mine must be because it reacted to my mana.’

Taking a deep breath, Leo turned the page.

[If you’re reading this letter instead of me… that must mean the world has been saved, but I died during the final expedition.]

Grip—

Leo’s hand tightened.

[You’re a twisted guy. Always sarcastic, always cursing. Honestly, there were so many times I wanted to punch you in the gut, but I held back each time.]

‘…What do you mean held back? You dropkicked my gut every chance you got! Does that not count as a punch or something?’

Even as he let out a hollow laugh, Leo kept reading.

[But… my choice wasn’t wrong. If you’re reading this letter, then it means that because you were there, the world could be saved.]

“…I couldn’t do anything alone.”

He denied Lysinas’s words.

[Kyle. Thank you for following me on my reckless expedition.

And I’m sorry.

I never wanted you to become the Surviving Hero.

But in the end, I made you watch your friend die.

I promised that wouldn’t happen… but I couldn’t keep it. I’m truly sorry.

So I hope your future is a happy one. That you’ll never be left alone again.

That you’ll no longer be the one who survives alone.

It was a joy to walk alongside you.

If the world has found peace… I hope you’re truly happy, Kyle.]

Drip— drip—

[May blessings be with you, who begin a new era. — Lysinas.]

The words blurred.

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his cheeks, soaking the letter.

“You damn lizard… You said you wouldn’t show me you dying…”

He had never once turned away from a comrade’s death.

But neither had he overcome or moved past it.

He simply thought he had grown numb.

Yet the tears wouldn’t stop.

How could he not cry—when his friend’s letter, written even after death, still worried for him?

Thinking of the comrade who had left too soon, Leo steadied his emotions.

[P.S.: I really wasn’t going to write this… but I can’t hold it in.]

Then, reading the words written at the end of the page, he tilted his head and turned it over.

[Bastard. Idiot. Dumbass. Moron. Don’t breathe. Go die. Go stick your face in water and drown.]

At the flood of curses and insults written large enough to fill the page, ruining the touching mood, Leo’s expression turned blank.

Unlike her usual neat handwriting, this was extremely irritated.

“What the hell… all of a sudden…”

Feeling his tears dry, Leo flipped the page with a dumbfounded look.

[I liked you. You never realized it, did you?]

“……”

Leo blinked as he read Lysinas’s final words.

Then he read them again. And again.

But he still couldn’t understand.

‘So… this is a letter from Lysinas, meaning this is Lysinas, and this was written only for me to see, meaning “you” is me, right? So “I liked you” means Lysinas liked me?’

“Huh?”

In a rare display of foolishness, Leo made a dumb noise and leaned close to the memoir.

“Huuh?”

Still with a stupid face, he held the memoir far away and, finally realizing the meaning, shouted with a red face,

“What the hell!!!”

bl

Whoooosh—

A wind reeking of stench blew.

The smell of corpses.

Any ordinary lifeform would have died instantly from the poison and stench in the air.

This was, without doubt, the most dreadful place on the surface.

The base of Tartaros’s supreme commander — the Lich King.

“It’s been a while, Hell Kaiser.”

At the words of the Queen of Monsters, Sillatna, the Lich King Hell Kaiser curled his lips upward.

“A hundred years, was it?”

A span long enough for a human generation to pass.

But to monsters who had lived for thousands of years, such a time was nothing.

“I heard about what happened in Lumene. Seems you lost all your subordinates.”

“Not only the subordinates. Even the Curse King has been completely destroyed.”

Sillatna crossed her arms.

“I went through quite a lot of trouble to ‘bring him back,’ too.”

Sillatna’s plan to resurrect the Curse King.

It had all gone to waste with this incident.

And in the process, everything she had planted in Lumene over the years had been lost.

“I’m in such a foul mood, I was thinking of destroying a country or two to vent.”

“Which one?”

“That brat’s country — what was his name again? Leo Plov? Turns out his homeland is a small frontier kingdom.”

Sillatna said it as if she were talking about stepping on an ant.

“I was thinking of crushing that country.”

“That place may be on the frontier, but it borders the Lordren Empire. Not a place you can attack lightly.”

“But I’m bored.”

The legion commanders—

They were dreadful monsters who could annihilate a small kingdom in a single day if they wished.

At Sillatna’s words, the Lich King said,

“There’s still much we lack to rampage as we please, Sillatna. It’s been a long time since we began training our successor legion commanders.”

“Yes. That’s right. We trained them well 3,000 years ago, but those damned bastards wiped them out.”

Annoyance appeared on Sillatna’s face.

At that time, seven legion commanders had been defeated, and though the surface races had lost half their forces, Tartaros had taken far greater damage.

“Since then, it’s been subjugation after subjugation… In the end, we’re right back where we started.”

To the races on the surface, “Legion Commander” was a name of dread.

But to the Lich King and the Monster Queen, they were still mere fledglings.

“So I recently tried an experiment.”

“What kind of experiment?”

“To ‘bring back’ our old comrades.”

“Impossible, isn’t it?”

“Our god’s power grows stronger by the day.”

Hell Kaiser grinned, revealing his teeth.

A crimson glow flashed in his eyes, revealing a skull.

A white skull with the appearance of a giant ruby embedded within.

“Then it’s not impossible. Not perfectly, of course, but still it's possible.”

“It's worth trying, then. So, how far has that plan progressed?”

At Sillatna’s question, Hell Kaiser laughed—

Clack, clack, clack.

“Soon enough.”