The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

87 – EP5. Wind Memory

The world tree had burned down, and the slaughter was intensifying. Angel ran while holding Lena and spoke.

“Lena, can you run?”

“Yeah, I can run on my own two feet.”

Upon hearing those words, Angel put Lena down. Lena started running.

“What the hell is happening right now? Why is the world tree… why is it burning?”

Angel answered Lena’s question.

“…The Empire requested military assistance from Tyrantus. Your father accepted it. And then the fairies who thought he surrendered rose in rebellion.”

Lena looked surprised, with a slightly bewildered expression, and said.

“All this happened while I wasn’t there?”

Angel silently affirmed it. Lena furrowed her brow and started cursing.

“…Look over there. They’re attacking the world tree. Even the palace has turned into a sea of fire…”

“…Being attacked even by the world tree, I’m not sure who the hell started this, but they’re obviously out of their minds. The world tree is not just a tree, it’s the spiritual ruler of the fairies. Is it normal to murder the ruler of the fairies while claiming to protect the fairies?”

Angel bit her lip and said.

“…Well, I’m not sure which is more normal, attacking the Empire or setting the world tree on fire.”

“Trying to attack the Empire?”

“Yeah. I almost died just moments ago.”

In response to Angel’s calm words, Lena grabbed him by the collar and said,

“What!? Those lunatics…! Let me see. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Angel, feeling the concern for his safety and well-being after a long time, responded in a bewildered manner.

“Uh… I’m fine.”

Lena examined Angel and breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing he had no major injuries.

“So, what’s going on in the heads of these lunatics?”

As she spoke, Angel rolled his eyes from side to side.

“Well? Spit it out!”

Pressured by Lena, he sighed and finally spoke up.

“…Ricardo.”

“What?”

“Ricardo, your brother, is behind all this.”

Lena stood still for a moment, seemingly needing time to process what she had heard.

Angel sighed and scratched his head.

“…What?”

Lena belatedly asked.

Angel remained silent.

She grabbed Angel’s shoulders and urgently asked,

“No, wait. Are you saying our brother did all this?”

“…”

“Our brother insulted Father, descended upon the Empire, set the World Tree on fire, killed people, and is trying to wage war with the Empire?”

Angel looked at her.

“That can’t be true, right? There’s no way… Our brother might be a bit intense and irritating at times, but he’s not the kind of fairy to do something this insane.”

Angel simply continued to gaze at her. In reality, anyone hearing that their sibling tried to kill their parents would find it hard to react differently, but reality was cruel.

Lena looked at the World Tree.

The Creator of Life. The oldest tree. The benefactor of the fairies. The tree that bore all those titles was turning into ashes and smoke.

“…Is this the spectacle my brother has created?”

Angel patted her shoulder.

Lena’s face twisted in anguish.

Tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Is this a lie? This…?”

“…There’s no time. As I said earlier, even the palace has turned into a battlefield. Eberkas and your father are fighting, but the guards have been completely overrun, and there are many soldiers sympathizing with Ricardo. If we don’t go quickly, there will be more casualties. Otherwise…”

Angel took a deep breath and continued speaking.

“This country will be completely devoured by them.”

Lena broke down in tears and finally opened her mouth.

“…Alright. Let’s go. Quickly.”

They started running. There were no more words.

The palace had deteriorated even more since Angel left, with most of it in ruins. Lena looked around in shock.

“The palace turned out like this?”

“…There’s no time to be shocked. We have to fight. Quickly.”

At that moment, a shock wave reverberated through the air, followed by a powerful explosion.

“…He’s probably over there, Eberkas.”

With those words, Angel started running in that direction. Lena followed him.

“You came? The guards’ children are keeping me trapped, so I can’t move. Can you help?”

Eberkas said. Then, he looked at Angel and spoke again.

“Oh, not you, hero. It’s too dangerous for you. Can you help out in another battlefield?”

Angel clenched his lips. Was it implying that he should retreat, considering that the enemy here was more powerful than him?

But Angel retreated. He realized that fighting now wouldn’t be of much help. It would be better to support the soldiers in another place.

Knowing that, he felt resentful but ran silently towards another direction.

“…Big brother.”

Lena looked at Ricardo and spoke.

Ricardo looked at her without saying anything.

“Ricardo!”

When Lena shouted, Ricardo narrowed his eyes slightly.

“This… is all… your doing? You, who said our father kneeled before the humans, now you’re causing all this trouble. Are you responsible for this?”

Ricardo opened his mouth.

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“Foolish younger sister… It’s such a pity.”

“What’s there to pity!?”

“You ended up fighting me here. Yes, I orchestrated all of this from behind.”

“Are you… Are you in your right mind?”

Ricardo replied as Lena trembled with anger in her voice.

“Yes, I am in my right mind. The ones who are truly out of their minds are those who bow to the Empire.”

“What!?”

“How did they treat us? They claimed to be our allies on the surface but treated our nation more lightly than a warrior’s will. And now they expect us to be their shield? Don’t make me laugh! We will not become slaves!”

“So, you’re willing to start a war with the Empire? You act all rational and clever most of the time, but you don’t seem to understand that fighting the Empire means death for all of us.”

“Yes, the likelihood of winning against the Empire is slim! But we know the value of honor and will die with pride until the end! We won’t choose to live as slaves!”

“Are you insane!?”

Lena’s words were almost like a scream towards the end.

“…Am I insane? No, I’m not. The countless people who follow me are proof of that. More people support me than even my father. It’s because they desire not to live as slaves and understand that there’s more worth than what one can gain as a slave.”

“Why did you set the World Tree on fire? You said it was for the fairies, so what is this madness of burning the World Tree?”

“The World Tree supported my father. Even if we were miserable, it wished for us to survive until the end… It’s not that I don’t understand the World Tree’s intentions. I know he did it for us. But what’s the point of surviving that way? The World Tree was a wave of the past. Now we will become a new tide!”

Lena drew her bow, not the one she usually used but the one lent to her by an angel.

“…In that case, I’ll stop you.”

“Little sister, if the World Tree’s consciousness had truly ended, you might have been able to stop me if you were with Ivercas. But… unfortunately, the consciousness was severed in the middle. You couldn’t cross that barrier.”

“Still, I will fight!”

Ricardo looked at Lena with a sad expression.

“…Do you not know that there is something more important than life?”

“Something more important than life?”

Ivercas asked. It was clearly a phrase he had heard somewhere before…

“Yes, the warrior spoke to me about it. He said there was something more important than life… Once you start running, there’s no end, that’s what he meant.”

Ivercas stared at him with a blank face.

“That phrase left a deep impression on me. So, I also decided to fight for something more precious than life. Freedom.”

Ricardo snapped his fingers.

“…It seems there’s no point in saying more.”

The troops of the Praetorian Guard quickly gathered.

“What is this?!”

“Where did these troops come from…?”

…They were the troops bound to my father.”

“What?”

“The troops that were tied to father have come here, little brother,” she said.

“That means…”

“Father, who summoned Eberkas, must have had a hard time doing something. He must have lacked magical power. But despite that, father killed countless people who followed me… and eventually gave up suppressing me.”

Lena’s expression became astonished.

“Father, the king of Tyrentus, is dead. Now Eberkas will soon disappear to the spirit realm.”