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In the far west, staring at the mushroom cloud rising from a distant place, Jeongjae felt nothing. He couldn’t think. Why had that explosion occurred? What on earth was happening now? No explanation could come to mind.

“This makes no sense. How could that magic possibly be triggered? In the heart of the Demon King’s Territory, a cloud that stirred the traumas of all Earthlings could only be the work of Jeongjae himself.

If there was anyone besides Jeongjae capable of using that magic, it would be none other than the Demon King using the Moriarty Machine. Then why? Why would the Demon King use that magic right in the middle of his own territory? And how on earth did he obtain or recreate that magic scroll?

The flow of Jeongjae’s consciousness, overwhelmed by random thoughts, suddenly cut off. The Grand Mage dropped down, collapsing onto the castle walls, losing consciousness. The next moment, he found himself being sucked into emptiness in his dream.

An empty space. Another world where only consciousness existed.

In Jeongjae’s dream, Walter Hellhound smiled and reached out towards him.

“Did you fall asleep?”

Walter asked him. Jeongjae opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Walter.

“Walter?”

“It seems you really were asleep. Yes, it really happened. Things have turned out this way. I never intended for it to come to this, but the situation has unfolded like this.”

Jeongjae took Walter’s hand and lifted himself up. The Grand Mage simply couldn’t understand the Hero’s words.

“Hold on a second, explain it slowly. Are you using the Sleep Magic that you applied? Or is this just my dream?”

“Your pupil just helped me a bit. Even after I died, I cast a spell that could interfere with your consciousness for a little while. I can’t last long. Let’s get to the point.”

“I think I just heard something super weird.”

Jeongjae closed his eyes tightly in disbelief.

“You… died?”

Walter nodded, shrugging his shoulders. As Jeongjae remained speechless in confusion, Walter casually raised both hands and began to explain.

“Yeah, might as well start from there. I’m dead. Unfortunately. Well, it was destined. I’ve seen this fate for quite some time.”

“Since when exactly?”

“From the moment you saw the ‘Manhattan’ scroll.”

“Did you die because of me, Walter?”

At Jeongjae’s question, Walter tilted his head for a moment. He didn’t answer right away, instead circling around with his words.

“It’s extremely rare for the future to be fixed in one way. So when I saw that vision of my death, I couldn’t definitively conclude that I would die like that, and I couldn’t be sure why such a thing was happening. The moment I saw your masterpiece scroll, I saw myself evaporating in the center of a gigantic mushroom-shaped explosion. It was a shock. I couldn’t even guess what kind of situation it might be.”

“That means…”

“I think I can now explain why I kicked you out. I was scared. I thought that the future might mean you would become my enemy who tried to kill me. Or maybe, due to some mistake, the magic aimed at someone else might come flying towards me. Anyway, I got too scared to keep you near, so I decided to send you away as far as possible to think about it. There wasn’t any grand reason behind it.”

“It’s surprising you didn’t try to kill me on the spot.”

Jeongjae said sincerely. For example, if it were the gods of ancient Greece, they would have immediately attempted to eliminate the “suspect for the cause of prophecy” using sheer force. Just like Zeus or Cronus would. Walter scoffed at Jeongjae’s words.

“Trying to weirdly twist a future seen by force usually leads to a huge mishap. First, precise and thorough analysis is needed. Depending on the situation, sometimes clever tactics that strategically utilize what one has seen are also necessary. After I decided to drive you away, I cooled my head for a bit. Then, the memory of a secret magical device from our ancestors’ territory resurfaced. I started considering that if it wasn’t someone with overwhelming magical power like you, that machine was the only thing in the world capable of using that magic.”

“The Moriarty Machine…”

“I needed information on whether the Demon King’s army succeeded in restoring that machine. I secretly kept the original and one copy of your scroll, and using every reconnaissance asset I had, I gathered information about the Demon King and the Necromancer. And I found out. The Demon King was indeed obsessed with restoring his father’s mechanical device, and the Necromancer wasn’t showing up on the frontlines because he was tasked with the overall responsibility. At this point, a plan began to take shape.”

“The Moriarty Machine will not be able to perfectly implement that magic. The Life Conversion Magic Circle serves as a link between explosion spells, so it will destroy the device.”

“But there wasn’t enough brilliance among the Demon King’s army to see through that. If the Vampire Lord were alive, there might have been a slight chance though.”

“To buy time, the Demon King had no choice but to create a situation where he had to activate ‘Manhattan’ himself…”

“A bait was needed. A regular bait wouldn’t cut it. Honestly, even if I charged alone, there was no guarantee that the Demon King would willingly use ‘Manhattan’. So, after countless calculations using my brain and magic tools, the result was this. With a powerful illusion spell, making everyone, including myself, Rose, you, and Margaret, charge towards the Demon King’s Castle together. In that situation, your defensive magic and Rose’s blessing would create a necessity for him to use that powerful magic.”

“But the reason you had to die…”

“The light of the Holy Sword cannot be deceived. The Demon King isn’t a fool. He wouldn’t blindly trust just because he saw us approaching through reconnaissance. At the very least, the light of the Holy Sword had to be real. Only I could draw out the real light of the Holy Sword in this world. So, well, that’s how things turned out.”

“There could have been an easier way.”

“An easier way?”

“If someone had to die, there could have been an easier way.”

Walter chuckled at Jeongjae’s words. The deceased Hero laughed until tears brimmed his eyes and asked.

“Yeah, tell me, Grand Mage. What’s a method you think of?”

“I could just drop magic on the Demon King’s Castle.”

“The Demon King might have survived. The castle itself is a quite sturdy building, and I know its underground facilities are even tougher. They probably evacuated the main executives the moment your magic circle emerged above the castle, so most likely, they survived.”

“But at least I could have blown up the castle. Then that device too could have been obliterated. It would have inflicted significant military damage on the Demon King’s army. The war couldn’t have ended. But at least I could have achieved an accomplishment as great as what you did, had I sacrificed my life instead.”

“Too bad! I win!”

Walter clapped his hands.

“You’re right. The only one I could sacrifice instead was you. But you know what? I really hated you. I hated you so much I could grind my teeth over it. Why? Because you looked like you were ready to die. I was crying and creating a fuss, not wanting the future I realized to come true, while you looked like you’d just die on demand!”

“Then that means I was the one who had to die.”

“Yeah, that thought crossed my mind! I wondered why the hell I should die for someone like you; it disgusted me! Why couldn’t I just tell you where to cast your magic? Why did I have to devise one of the greatest deceptions against the Demon King and throw my life away? I couldn’t believe it! But I was smarter, and I had the choice, so I ended up dying, you bastard. You, who were only thinking of dying, lived on, while I trembled until the very end, wanting to live, and here I am dead. And that’s just how this world is!”

“You could have… said something…”

“This is my personal revenge against you for getting on my nerves. Right, I was scared of you at first and kicked you away. But after that, I didn’t bring you back because I knew if you were around, you’d notice the plan I came up with. And if you noticed, you’d be the first one to abandon yourself, so I thoroughly excluded you from my surroundings. Didn’t know anything, did you? You really got played, huh?”

“What on earth for…?”

Even though it was a dream, Jeongjae choked up to the point he could barely speak. Walter smiled warmly and patted Jeongjae’s shoulder.

“How would I know?”

“The war will continue. We only avoided immediate defeat thanks to you. The road to victory is still long.”

“Which means now it’s your turn to hold on. I didn’t come to your dream because I was scared of dying. I came to put a curse on you.”

“A curse?”

“Live, you bastard. Because someone who died to save a fool like you got blown to bits, you must survive against all odds. I know well what kind of person you are. You are a person who will definitely have to survive by clinging to your life more than anyone else.”

Jeongjae was left speechless. Walter’s words rang true. His curse weighed heavily, and the command to live felt almost like a noose tightening around Jeongjae’s neck.

“This is my curse, so survive to the end. If there’s even a shred of regret for sacrifice left in your mind, from this moment on, completely erase it and focus on surviving. Concentrate on winning by living. I’ll pass on the dream I couldn’t achieve to you, so remember me and focus on achieving that.”

Jeongjae nodded silently. Walter seemed to be preparing to slowly step into the void, as if time was running out. Realizing the true farewell was approaching, Jeongjae reached out to grab Walter.

Walter turned to Jeongjae and spoke.

“Oh, do you know?”

“What… are you talking about?”

“The Holy Sword probably survived. And originally, the Holy Sword is handled best by people from that world. So, your world, you know? If you need it, take it. You’ll do fine. You have a strangely similar aspect to me.”

Jeongjae shook his head at Walter’s words.

“I don’t have your abilities. That position is too heavy for me.”

“I messed it all up. A Hero isn’t supposed to plan and execute everything alone. You’ll do even better. You already have the best advisers who only give advice for you. The Hero is supposed to govern those advisers, but I took on the adviser role myself. You’ll surely be better than me.”

“But…”

“Get a grip on reality.”

Walter snapped back.

“How much debt do you owe me, and you think you have the right to refuse my orders? Let’s be blunt. Even if someone like Rose claims rights to the Holy Sword, just twist their hand and take it. After all, two of the three queens of our alliance will support you, so what the hell are you afraid of? You coward.”

Jeongjae nodded.

“Got it. I’ll… do my best…”

Walter finally seemed to feel relieved and truly prepared to leave. With some lingering regret, Jeongjae raised his voice to stop the former Hero once more.

“Is it okay that I’m the last one you came to see? Isn’t it okay if you don’t go see Rose?”

“I think I’ve said what I needed to Rose. That girl… still has traces of me. A deep trace that will carry over to the next generation…”

“Walter, you’re not suggesting…”

“A prince has been born in Eramenia as well. Leaving a crown prince behind in the Empire… was what I could do… to not be erased by her…”

Walter barely managed to bring back the expression on his face which looked like he would burst into tears any second.

“With everything, if the last person to see me is Rose, I couldn’t possibly leave with a smile like I’d just seen you. I’ve cried enough these days. I really don’t want to cry again, even in the last moment of being erased from this world. That’s my true intention.”

“If it’s Rose, she’ll raise your children excellently.”

“If she weren’t that kind of woman, I wouldn’t have fallen in love. Yeah, now I’m really leaving. Even at this moment, the Great Sage is straining quite a bit to extend this conversation. It would be troubling if I caused more inconvenience.”

“Walter.”

Jeongjae had prepared himself to say farewell to the Hero.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for us, not only your final sacrifice, but sincerely.”

Walter nodded.

“I just wanted to hear that after winning in the war, from everyone in the world. But at least thank you for letting me be able to hear those words in the end.”

Jeongjae opened his eyes. The fleeting dream came to an end, and Walter Hellhound truly exited this world. The Hero vanished in the truest sense, having left a powerful stamp of the soul in his own way on many people.

 

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