Chapter 38
Chapter 38
The Holy Empire, Obedih.
Obedih, the empire that was more splendid and beautiful than any other under the name of Arschen and Idelbach, the twin gods and gods of mirrors.
The empire built in the name of the gods was like the last bastion in an era of great destruction where kingdoms were falling.
Monsters appeared all over the world, and meteorites poured from the sky.
The land was polluted, earthquakes struck, floods occurred in deserts, and mountains caught fire.
People prayed to their gods in front of half-destroyed temples, but all they received in return was a voice saying, “A hero will save you.”
Sian Terezia, the crown prince of the Obedih Empire and said to be loved by the gods more than anyone else, became a hero at the voice of the god saying “Save the world,” at the request of the papal office, at the plea of the imperial people.
There was a time when he believed that he would one day save everyone.
After all, he heard voices that even the pope could hardly hear every day.
“A hero isn’t chosen because they’re a hero.”
Sian chose his words carefully as he looked at Irina in front of him.
He doesn’t know how many times he failed.
He doesn’t know how many times he wanted to run away.
Why do all the heroes in legends always succeed?
Why does he only fail?
How many more times does he have to fail before he can save them?
“The chosen one had to become a hero.”
How many times had he failed?
Sian blankly counted the times that only he remembered.
When he was given another chance, he thought the god had given him one more opportunity, and when he was given yet another chance, he expected to do better.
But no matter how many times he repeated, he only failed.
His countless sacrifices, jumping in like moths to a flame to save the world, now felt like they were just for failure.
“If failures continue, you despair time and time again. For what am I suffering like this? For what must I witness and remember so many deaths?”
“Mr. Sian.”
“But they always sacrifice themselves for me. As they die, they grab me with their blood-stained hands and whisper.”
It was an honor to serve Your Highness the Crown Prince as my lord.
I was glad to be able to contribute even a small trace to the hero’s life story.
He keeps failing.
The people he loves die over and over again.
He wonders what meaning these deaths could possibly have.
Sian banged his head against the wall in agony.
He had even begged the god to please give up on the world.
That he just couldn’t do it anymore.
To find another hero.
But the god steadfastly designated him as the hero.
He kept repeating.
“……”
Fail and again, again, again.
Irina, sitting in front of him, was staring at him with her blue eyes shimmering.
Sian had no intention of telling her everything he had experienced.
Things like the fact that he had regressed many times until he saved the world, just because the god had designated him as the hero, or the choices he had to make to save the world despite that.
“Irina, I think I wanted to run away so many times.”
He started to get used to seeing his loved ones fall.
“…Didn’t you run away?”
“No.”
Sian nodded.
“I had too much to protect to run away.”
He smiled slightly.
If he had been just a commoner instead of the crown prince, or even just a mere noble, he might have run away.
He might have stubbornly refused when the voice of god said he was the hero to save the world.
But he was the crown prince.
He loved his country.
He loved the white sparkling palace when the sunlight fell in the morning, he loved the lazy wind that poured in the afternoon, and he loved the beautiful capital that turned all red when the sunset came.
People were kind to him.
The nobles and subordinates who said they had no worries because our Crown Prince was so reliable.
“Even when the world fell into chaos, people showed me trust.”
What on earth did the imperial people believe in to show him such trust and affection?
People who had never met him offered him a potato they had barely obtained, saying they were sorry they couldn’t give him something more precious, just because he was the crown prince, just because he was the hero.
“In the end, I couldn’t protect them.”
“But, you succeeded in the end, didn’t you?”
But Sian stood up and said casually.
“Did the god say I succeeded?”
“The world still exists now, doesn’t it?”
The fact that the world exists like this after going through the great destruction must mean that you succeeded.
Irina grabbed Sian a bit desperately.
Sian sighed at the small fingers grasping his clothes and sat down again.
“That’s right. Irina, your world hasn’t perished yet.”
“And my world is also Mr. Sian’s world, isn’t it?”
Sian shook his head.
“No. My world is gone now.”
He left everything behind a thousand years ago.
He had struggled so hard to make it happen somehow, but failed.
He must have lived for hundreds of years, unable to accept that failure.
“No one remembers. As if it never existed. That’s how it was erased from the world.”
He saved the world.
But everything he wanted to save the most disappeared completely.
The people he loved fell one by one before reaching the end of the world, and his empire sank under the sea with everyone who had been kind to him, becoming a legend.
He closed his eyes and pressed his palms against his eyes.
Fatigue washed over him.
Only after he had finally protected the world could he lift his head and look at the sky.
Standing in the square of the last city in the ruined world, looking at the sky that seemed to know nothing of this tragedy, Sian felt a sense of futility.
He had saved it in the end, but what was left now?
Could the destroyed civilization really be rebuilt?
Could humans move forward again after such a tragedy?
‘…What should I do now?’
Still, a city boasting splendor comparable to the past Obedih Empire.
It seems that humans and civilization always rise again no matter how much they fall.
He took a deep breath and exhaled, smiling gently.
“So, Irina.”
“…Yes.”
“This is the kind of person ‘Sian Terezia’ you asked about is.”
Irina nodded slowly.
Her hair swayed with each movement of her head.
“How about it, the tale of a failed hero?”
“……”
“I hope your curiosity has been satisfied.”
He briefly thought about his story that he didn’t bother to tell Irina.
There’s no need to say it.
Because as long as he is a failed hero, and as long as there is nothing he loves left here, he has no need or reason to save the world.
Well, since his god abandoned him, such assumptions seem meaningless.
His god threw him into this vast flow of time and told him to save the world.
And then abandoned him.
At first, the voice that kept coming gradually decreased.
Towards the end, he didn’t even hear that he was a hero.
It was just a repetition of meaningless deaths.
The voice of god no longer came to his world.
No one told Sian Terezia that he was a hero.
But Sian had no choice but to wipe away his momentary despair and rush out to save the world again.
Because destruction would soon come to this vast land, and he was the only one who knew what crisis would come.
If he didn’t step up, those who would die were the people he had once tried to protect.
As he swung his sword and burst his power to kill monsters, he thought.
Why can’t I give up on a world that even god has given up on?
“Did your god tell you to protect this place?”
“……”
“Just don’t protect it.”
He spoke sincerely for Irina’s sake.
“It was a world that even god had given up on. Look at me who ended up protecting it. Now god doesn’t even answer me.”
Irina was already feeling sorry for him, even though she hadn’t heard everything.
“…Is Mr. Sian’s god the same as my god?”
Looking at her was like seeing his younger self.
Someone who likes people, believes in human kindness, and doesn’t mind much even if that goodness doesn’t come back.
“Isn’t it the twin gods and god of mirrors?”
“Yes, it is the twin gods.”
“Then it’s the same.”
Sian smiled.
When he had saved the world and was left alone in the ruined world, the voice of god finally reached him.
‘Well done.’
Hearing those words, Sian Terezia vowed.
The god would pay the price someday.
Because this was the world he had saved by giving up everything with his own hands, he would be the one to bring it down.
He might die here right now with his last breath, but someday he would surely return and bring down the world with his own hands.
That was why he didn’t tell Irina Seike in front of him everything.
If she was chosen by god to save the world, she would probably become his greatest enemy.
“No, no. That’s not it.”
Irina closed her eyes, pressing her head as if it hurt.
He could clearly see power flowing abundantly from her.
“Just a moment, System. I’ll handle this myself.”
She raised her head and met his gaze.
Blue eyes met his.
“I… I won’t say you failed.”
“Think that way if you want to.”
“Including myself, today’s humanity and civilization clearly owe a debt to you, Mr. Sian…”
Irina paused as if choosing her words.
Her eyes seemed to be glistening.
“That’s why, at least I, the people living today, can’t call Sian Terezia a failed hero.”
Sian thought he could understand why the god had chosen Irina Seike.
Will she someday become like me?
Will you become broken like me?
He quietly looked at the woman in front of him and smiled more brightly than anyone.
“Think as you like.”
Sian felt expectant, yet sorrowful.
