Chapter 175

175

Click-

Leo returned to his dormitory room and sat at his desk.

It had grown dark without him realizing.

“Is summer finally coming to an end?”

Feeling the cooling weather, Leo looked up at the moonlit sky.

He then took out an old journal from his coat.

Swoosh-

He gently brushed the leather cover.

This journal held writings from the very moment he first met Lissinas.

He had often seen Lissinas write here every evening.

Taking a deep breath, Leo opened the journal.

Like what he had seen earlier in the forbidden library, there were blank pages.

But as Leo channeled mana to his fingertips, the pages lit up faintly revealing Lissinas’ neat handwriting.

The journal entries began from before Lissinas met Kyle.

Precisely, from the start of the Era of Catastrophe.

Flip-Flip-

“These are all stories Lissinas heard long ago.”

Flip-

Memories of stories told by old friends came to mind.

As Leo reminisced, his hand paused.

“Today I met the Hero of Survival. He’s exactly as they say—his personality is all twisted. His abilities are solid, but how do I fix this pessimistic attitude? What do I do with this guy?”

“So, you planned to drag me into the extermination team from the very start?”

Leo chuckled humorlessly.

He remembered their first meeting in Guardstron.

“Their first meeting was at the mercenary guild.”

Back then, Lissinas was known as ‘The Foolish One.’

In a world full of despair, where people proclaimed Lissinas’ goal to exterminate Erebus as pure nonsense, he must have seemed insane.

“It was such a hopeless era.”

In those days, people lived in constant fear of Erebus and Tartarus invading, praying for each day to pass without incident.

Kyle, as always, was busy drinking at the guild.

“Are you the Hero of Survival Kyle?”

“So, you’re the one they call The Foolish One? What do you want with me?”

“You. Will you be my companion?”

Leo remembered how shocking this unexpected proposition was.

Back then, the ‘Hero of Survival’ was a symbol of misfortune.

No one wanted to be Kyle’s partner.

That hand extended to him, a loner who had grown accustomed to solitude.

But for Kyle, Lissinas’ offer was far from welcome.

“Sorry, but I have no interest in s*icide.”

“First meeting was the worst.”

Even after, Lissinas kept hounding Kyle for weeks.

Though the journal was sparsely written in general, during this period, it was filled with daily entries.

“He really let me have it. But what can I do, I was a difficult person.”

Swallowing, Leo recalled those days fondly.

Though it would have been easy for Lissinas to give up, he never did.

Then one day,

Tartarus launched a large-scale assault on Guardstron.

Kyle and Lissinas formed their first party to repel the attack.

And amidst the fields piled high with corpses, Lissinas declared,

“No matter how I think about it, my choice was not wrong.”

Looking up at the gray sky, Lissinas continued,

“You’re the one I need, Kyle.”

And he smiled brightly.

Kyle saw some unnameable light in that smile.

“You’re the beginning.”

Lissinas extended his hand, white and clean despite the dirt around them.

“Come with me, Kyle. I need you.”

In a world consumed by despair,

Lissinas’ hopeful smile was grating at first.

Back then, Kyle was no different from the rest.

Believing the world’s end was nigh,

He indulged in wild revelries every day.

Perhaps it was natural for Lissinas to be annoying,

Because while Kyle’s steps were leading him towards darkness,

Lissinas’ were leading towards light.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re strong. You’ll survive until the end.”

“And?”

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

Lissinas smiled faintly.

“They shine even in the dark.”

For the first time in his life,

He felt so pure, so noble.

“What you hope for is a foolish wish. It’s impossible.”

Until the end, Kyle denied Lissinas’ wish.

But despite that denial,

This stubborn woman remained steadfast.

“That’s right, Kyle. My wish is a foolish one.”

Not once did she think of retracting her extended hand.

“But Kyle, we will save the world.”

Her unwavering heart,

Her consistently noble demeanor,

“Together, no one needs to see their comrades d*e before their eyes anymore. Because I am strong too.”

Kyle was saved.

When he took that hand, Kyle thought to himself,

He wanted to fulfill this impossibly foolish wish.

“Finally, this stubborn, d*mn guy has joined the extermination team. He’s the most disobedient person I’ve ever met. But finally, he’s taken the first step. This meeting is sure to change the fate of the world.”

The journal continued afterward.

The day Luna joined,

The day Aron joined,

And the day Dwenno completed their team.

The extermination squad was formed and,

Just as Lissinas had boldly proclaimed, the world began to regain its light.

“Tomorrow marks the start of the final expedition. Everything is prepared. Everything I could do is done. All that remains is to vanquish Erebus. Please let me achieve my ideal.”

And with that, the journal ended.

Lissinas had left this journal behind before embarking on his last expedition.

Having read the entire thing, Leo flipped through the blank pages.

Until one of the last pages caught his attention.

“To Kyle”

Leo paused, catching his breath.

Clearly, this was a letter to Kyle.

‘This must be Lissinas’ farewell letter to his companions… I can see it because my mana reacts with it.’

Taking another deep breath, Leo turned the page.

“If you, not me, are reading this letter… It means the world has been saved, but I perished during the final expedition.”

He gripped the edges tightly.

“You’re a stubborn b*stard with a twisted personality, always mocking and cursing. There were times when I genuinely wanted to punch you in the chest, but I restrained myself every time.”

“…What? You’re talking about those times you drop-kicked my chest! And you’re calling that not a punch?!”

Despite his attempt at humor, Leo continued reading.

“But… my choice was not wrong. If you’re reading this now, it’s because your existence saved the world.”

“… I couldn’t do anything alone.”

Leo muttered in denial.

“Kyle. Thank you for joining me on this reckless expedition.

And I’m sorry.

I didn’t want you to become the Hero of Survival.

But in the end, I showed you the d*ath of a friend.

I promised that wouldn’t happen, but I couldn’t keep that promise. I sincerely apologize.

I hope your future is filled with happiness. I don’t want you to be left alone ever again.

I hope you stop being someone who just survives alone.

It was enjoyable to have you by my side.

If the world does become peaceful, I hope you truly find happiness. Kyle.”

Thud-Thud-

“Even though you promised you wouldn’t show me that you were dying…”

Leo was never one to turn a blind eye to the deaths of his comrades.

Yet, he had never truly overcome them either.

Perhaps he had just become desensitized.

Still, his tears wouldn’t stop.

How could they, at the sight of this letter from a friend who worried about him even after d*ath?

Remembering his irritating companion who left too soon, Leo tried to compose himself.

“Postscript: I really didn’t want to say this, but I just can’t suppress it.”

He turned the page, curious, to find scrawled across it in large, agitated letters,

“You son of a b*tch. Idiot. Moron. Fool. Stop breathing. Go d*e elsewhere. Drown and d*e.”

Leo blinked in confusion at the sudden insult breaking the touching atmosphere.

The handwriting was erratic and far from the neat script previously seen.

“What…?”

AsLeo’s tears dried up, he read on with bemusement.

“I liked you. You didn’t realize that, did you?”

“…”

Upon seeing Lissinas’ final words, Leo blinked repeatedly.

It still didn’t make sense.

‘So… since this is a letter written by Lissinas, I am Lissinas in this context. And if this letter is only visible to me, then ‘you’ must mean me. So when the letter says ‘I liked you’, it means Lissinas liked… me?’

“Huh?”

Confused, Leo leaned in closer to the journal.

“Huuuh?”

With an increasingly baffled expression, after moving the book farther away and finally understanding the implication, Leo’s face turned red as he screamed in shock.

“What the—!!!”

*

Whoosh—Whoosh—

A foul-smelling wind swept by. It carried the stench of rot.

Any normal being would have likely suffocated and died from the poison and filth in the air.

This was indeed one of the most horrifying places on Earth.

The headquarters of the Commander of Tartarus, the Demon King Hel Kaiser.

“It’s been a while. Hel Kaiser.”

At the Demon Queen Silatuna’s words, Hel Kaiser curled the edges of his lips upward slightly.

“Almost a century, I believe?”

A long span of time for humans, equivalent to about a generation.

But not so much for immortals who had lived for thousands of years.

“I’ve heard all about your ordeal in Lumeran. You’ve lost many of your minions, it seems.”

“Not just them. The Curse King has been completely annihilated.”

Silatuna crossed her arms.

“I took quite a few casualties trying to resurrect him.”

Silatuna’s plans to resurrect the Curse King had been completely thwarted, causing her to lose everything she had planted in Lumeran for an extended period.

“I was just about ready to obliterate a country to let off some steam.”

“Which one?”

“Uh, what was the name of the A-class novice that group? Leo Flove? His country was some small kingdom on the frontier.”

Silatuna mentioned it casually, as if talking about stepping on an ant.

“I was thinking of smashing that kingdom.”

“That’s still close to Rodren Empire’s borders. It’s not that easy.”

“But I’m bored.”

The Legion Commanders, those who, if they so chose, could obliterate a small kingdom in a day, were no ordinary beings.

“You lack a lot of things to act recklessly, still. Silatuna. We’ve been nurturing our replacements for legions for such a long time, haven’t we?”

“Yes, we’ve been cultivating them for 3000 years. But they were defeated in the end.”

Silatuna’s expression darkened.

Back then, seven Legion Commanders were exterminated, and the powers of the surface races were halved as a consequence.

However, Tartarus suffered much greater losses.

“After repeated attempts at extermination, it feels like we’ve just been running in circles.”

To surface races, the title “Legion Commander” was synonymous with awe-inspiring terror.

But in the eyes of the Demon King and Demon Queen, they were still novices.

“So, tell me about your recent experiment.”

“What kind of experiment?”

“Bringing back our old fellows.”

“Isn’t that impossible?”

“Our god’s power keeps getting stronger.”

Hel Kaiser grinned, his teeth showing.

As his crimson eyes gleamed, his skull was revealed.

An appearance with a white skull that seemed to have large rubies embedded in it.

“So, it’s not impossible. Of course, not in a perfect state.”

“It’s worth a try. How far has the plan progressed?”

In response to Silatuna’s question, Hel Kaiser chuckled darkly.

“Very soon.”