Chapter 78 — The Great Hero from 400 Years Ago
Four hundred years ago.
It was an age when the heavens opened and countless Fragments of Destruction rained down from the sky.
The common sense of the world was overturned, and the world itself changed beyond recognition.
Heroes, Great Heroes, demons, and countless other new beings appeared, beginning an era where powerful figures struggled for supremacy.
Most of their names had long since disappeared from history.
But they had once traveled across that ruined world.
Back then, before even the title of "Great Hero" had been properly defined, there was one man who came to be called the Great Hero of Hope.
"...You really can tell this was written by someone from four hundred years ago just from the old-fashioned way he talks."
Ingwang closed the journal left behind by the Great Hero of Hope and sighed softly.
He slowly looked around.
Several shabby tents stood across the devastated land.
Inside them were wounded soldiers returning from battle. One after another, they walked out with expressions that showed they had already lost their will to fight.
There were far more injured people than healthy ones.
The battles had been desperate.
Horrifying.
Completely one-sided.
Even Ingwang, who had only read about them through written records, could feel how terrible those battles must have been.
Every single one of them looks like they expect to die tomorrow.
When would this war end?
What would this war ultimately create?
What were they even fighting against, and why?
At the center of everything was a being called the Demon King.
He joined hands with no one.
Using only his own strength, he was forcing the entire world into submission.
He was the source of all this destruction.
"Demon King... Seriously? That's a term that stopped being fashionable years ago."
Ingwang sighed.
As expected, this game's story wasn't anything special.
It wasn't that he disliked Demon Kings.
He had just been hoping there would be something more interesting behind everything, so he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"Tsk, tsk. No wonder this game survives entirely on random quests instead of having a proper main storyline. Man... Is this service really going to last?"
"...Hero, what exactly have you been talking about this whole time?"
Patience looked up at Ingwang, the Great Hero of Hope, with genuine concern.
At this point in time, she seemed quite different from the Great Hero of Patience who would meet Ingwang far in the future and unwillingly end up being called Pastien by him.
The Fragments of Destruction are supposedly destroying and killing everything in the world. So how did this girl survive?
Considering how the Great Hero of Hope would later end up beneath the Pit of the Deep Sea after fighting the Great Hero of the Fishmen, trapped in that black-and-white world...
Perhaps humanity had ultimately won against the Fragments of Destruction.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
Possibly.
Ingwang ran a hand through his hair and let out a long breath.
There was too much information in his head, and none of it fit together properly.
"Life really is pretty damn awful, isn't it?"
"What?"
"You know what I mean. Don't you think so too?"
"...The world has certainly fallen into chaos, but humanity hasn't lost hope yet."
Her eyes practically sparkled.
Feeling uncomfortable under that pure gaze, Ingwang turned his head away.
Even if he was currently occupying the role of the Great Hero of Hope, making eye contact with someone like that felt strangely awkward.
Besides, those eyes were shining far too brightly.
They were so inspiring that if he stared at them for too long, he might accidentally start shouting something hopeful himself.
"...Pastien. When you hear the word 'witch,' does anyone come to mind?"
Ingwang changed the subject.
Since this was four hundred years in the past, he decided to ask about the witch who would eventually become the cause of the Maze Forest.
Her remains probably hadn't spread across the world and transformed into the Maze Forest yet.
Thinking it was nothing important, Ingwang casually asked the question.
But Pastien's reaction was far more sorrowful than he expected.
"Of course... The Witch of Madness. When Destruction descended from the heavens, she was the first person to stand against it..."
Her voice trembled.
"My older sister..."
"...Ah...! Right! Yeah..."
Ingwang immediately cursed himself for not finishing the Great Hero's journal.
He really needed to stop skipping story content so aggressively.
He had accidentally stepped directly onto the worst possible topic.
Her sister, huh?
Then it makes sense why Pastien was protecting those remains.
Her own sister's remains were scattered across the entire world, and she had no choice but to guard them.
Seriously, whoever wrote this game's story is a terrible person.
"My sister was unlucky too. Destruction happened to take an interest in her. She was killed by Destruction... and then revived as one of its servants."
"...Wait. She didn't simply die?"
"No."
"Among those who meet Destruction's standards, it chooses only the ones it especially likes. Then it resurrects them and keeps them beside itself."
Destruction could apparently manipulate human death however it pleased.
From reading the Great Hero's journal, Ingwang already knew that the concept of resurrection didn't even exist in this era.
So he couldn't begin to imagine the extent of Destruction's power.
But in the era where Ingwang normally played the game, the name "Destruction" had never appeared at all.
Instead, Madness was portrayed as the absolute evil.
If that was true...
Maybe Destruction would be completely defeated and disappear here.
But who defeated it?
The Great Hero of Hope, who eventually ended up in that horrifying state after fighting the Great Hero of the Fishmen?
Pastien, who would later become known as the Great Hero of Patience?
Or someone else entirely?
Dorfin and Jin should also have been alive during this era.
Maybe they had ended Destruction.
Or maybe Destruction simply became bored because nothing interested it anymore and casually left the world.
Or maybe...
The world was completely destroyed once and then rebuilt.
The image of the enormous pit he had seen in the Maze Forest suddenly surfaced in Ingwang's mind.
He swallowed dryly and grabbed his head.
It felt like he had gained plenty of clues by coming four hundred years into the past.
But he had no idea how to connect them.
He wasn't even sure whether any of this information actually mattered.
Why was he even trying so hard to uncover the truth?
All he really needed was to find some weakness belonging to Pastien.
That should have been enough.
Even if he learned everything, what would he do with the information?
The chairman was the kind of person who could shut him up again simply by handing him some money.
Why was Ingwang so curious?
If he uncovered even more secrets, maybe next time they wouldn't silence him with money.
They might give him something else to keep his mouth shut forever.
What exactly did this fearless Indomitable Knight want?
Even Ingwang himself didn't know.
He was simply allowing his emotions to carry his body forward.
...Fine.
Think about one thing.
My immediate goal.
Find Pie.
That's all.
"How are the soldiers?"
"They've all received treatment, but their morale has fallen badly. We suffered especially heavy casualties in the last battle."
"Right. First, gather the soldiers and..."
BOOM!
BANG!
Just as Ingwang finally tried to focus on progressing through the game's story, the game did what it always did.
It threw another sudden event at him.
Unable to finish his sentence, Ingwang stared at the direction of the explosion with his mouth slightly open.
Then, as if he had already accepted his fate, he clicked his tongue with a drained expression and picked up the Great Hero's weapon.
"Even someone else's life is freaking fantastic."
[That was the day when everyone lost their will to fight.
We had suffered such a devastating defeat that no one expected to survive the next battle.
Even I, the one they called the Great Hero of Hope, could say nothing.
Patience and I were almost completely unharmed.
To the soldiers, that made us symbols of hope.
But at the same time, some saw me as an unjust man who had protected himself so carefully that I hadn't suffered even a single wound.]
Yeah.
The world is unfair.
Even when I know I'm innocent, even when I truly am innocent, people still don't believe me.
[I led everyone.
I tried to become everyone's shield.
Yet hope did not bloom.
Had every choice I made been wrong?
Even while running toward the sound of the explosion, I questioned myself endlessly.
What was I trying to accomplish?
I tightened my grip on my spear.
Yet I was so confused that I couldn't even properly recognize what I was holding.
Only battle...
Yes.
Only battle was keeping me standing.
Even though I hated battles where someone inevitably ended up hurt.]
The powerless narration of the Great Hero echoed in Ingwang's head.
Perhaps because Ingwang had similar memories of his own, he didn't react much.
There was one major difference between himself and the Great Hero.
Ingwang had found enduring everything too difficult, so he had turned his head away.
The Great Hero, however, had chosen to endure.
Even while suffering.
Even while doubting himself.
Even while agonizing over every decision.
He had never released his weapon.
"That's why..."
Ingwang muttered quietly.
"He really was a Great Hero...!"
[Before those thoughts could reach an answer, I encountered a horrifying sight.
A person from my memories.
Someone I desperately wanted to forget but could never erase.
She had died long ago at the hands of Destruction.
Then she became Destruction's servant.
Patience's older sister.
My former companion.
The Witch of Madness.
Asset Callette.
She stood before me.]
"Hello! Senior."
"Oh my... Was I your senior...?"
The witch slowly approached the Great Hero with unsteady steps.
She wore torn black clothes.
Clear stitching marks covered her body from head to toe.
Apparently, Destruction's resurrection wasn't perfect.
No matter how Ingwang looked at her, her condition was horrible.
Even speaking seemed difficult.
Her jaw looked as though it would fall off if someone pulled it too hard.
Both of her hands tightly gripped her magic staff to keep herself standing.
The crudely stitched wounds covering those hands looked ready to split apart at any moment.
"Yeah. Something like that."
Looking at her condition, Ingwang could understand how her body had eventually fallen apart and scattered across the world.
She looked like she would collapse into pieces if someone even lightly touched her.
Rather than disgust, Ingwang felt pity.
[Should I face her as the Witch of Madness who had come under Destruction's orders to eliminate me, a Great Hero?
Or should I see her as my former companion?
As Patience's older sister?
I had to choose.
And whichever choice I made, I surely regretted it for the rest of my life.]
"Should we... talk... for old times' sake...?"
[She saw my hesitation and said those words.
Everything that happens from this point onward depends on my choice.
I made my choice.
And I decided to carry the consequences.
What will you choose?]
Ingwang answered immediately.
"Sounds good. Got tea?"
"...I have... cookies... The ones Tien... liked..."
"Sister!"
The Witch of Madness reached into the pocket of her ragged clothes and pulled out a worn pouch.
Inside were cookies.
Pastien arrived shortly after the Great Hero.
The moment she saw her sister's ruined body...
And the cookies she had brought...
Her legs lost all strength.
She collapsed to the ground.
[I did not speak with her.
She was now a servant of Destruction.
If I talked to her and confirmed that she was still the same woman I remembered...
I knew I would no longer be capable of pointing my spear at her.]
"Destruction... was more reasonable... than you'd think... His face is scary... though..."
"Really?"
Crunch.
Crunch.
Ingwang walked right up to her, took one of the cookies she offered, and casually shoved it into his mouth.
He reacted like it wasn't anything important.
To him, this was merely the past.
It wasn't even his own past.
But the people watching him began to wonder whether the Great Hero, already suffering mentally, had finally gone completely insane.
"Destruction... wanted a proper death..."
[Destruction destroyed everything.
Even those who tried to become its followers were destroyed.
It left only the things it personally acknowledged.
The world I once knew was annihilated.]
"It seemed... to be waiting..."
She struggled to speak.
"For someone worthy... Someone whose actions were supported by conviction... Someone capable of deeply impressing it..."
"Don't expect anything from me. I'm definitely not that person."
"...Can't I... have a little hope...?"
"Even if I said yes, you're destined to die and scatter across the entire world anyway, so don't expect too much."
"...I'm disappointed..."
"I'm used to that."
[She refused to easily accept death.
She said she still could not die.
Eventually, she fought even against her younger sister.
Against the little sister she loved more than anything.
What she wished to accomplish...
I never discovered.]
Ingwang stared at her.
Then, without thinking much, words slipped out of his mouth.
"...The only thing I'm good at is staying alive."
"Even if everyone around me dies, I'm confident I'll be the one person who survives."
"...Cowardly..."
"I thought so too."
Ingwang gave a bitter smile.
"But what am I supposed to do? People around me kept dying even when all I did was stay alive."
"So shouldn't I at least be proud of myself for surviving?"
He paused.
"Well... I couldn't do that either."
"...Are those... words you're saying... as a Great Hero...?"
Ingwang opened his mouth to say something more.
Then suddenly, pain crossed his face.
He lightly hit his own head several times and lowered it, covering his eyes.
He had started talking about himself without even realizing it.
And that made it hurt far more than expected.
He had forgotten.
No.
He had simply stopped thinking about it.
I should stop.
I really should stop now.
If he kept talking...
He would remember a past he had never told anyone about.
A past he had refused to speak about no matter what happened.
A past he hated even thinking about.
But perhaps because the witch looked so miserable...
Perhaps because this world itself looked so miserable...
Ingwang suddenly spoke aloud thoughts that he hadn't allowed himself to say for nearly ten years.
"...My life is full of regrets."
"Nothing but regrets."
"And until the day I die, I probably won't even be able to properly reflect on them."
His voice became quieter.
"Turns out I'm more afraid than I thought."
"Even regretting things scares me."
"As for facing what I did wrong... I just can't do it."
What exactly did he need to reflect on?
Why was facing it so frightening?
Ingwang didn't say.
He didn't want to.
Even putting it into words terrified him.
"...I'm the same..."
The Witch of Madness smiled weakly.
"...I'm full of regrets too..."
Ingwang continued.
"I wanted to get angry, but there was nobody I could direct that anger toward."
"Even if there had been someone, I probably wouldn't have been able to get angry at them."
"Someone once called me stupidly kind."
He laughed at himself.
"But really, I'm just a pushover who doesn't even know how to get angry."
"Even when I get mad, a few words are enough to calm me down."
"So when I first got angry after coming here, I was actually surprised."
"I kept wondering, Why did I react like that? Was it really that serious?"
"...I also wondered... why I challenged Destruction..."
She gave another weak laugh.
"I regretted it... a lot..."
The Witch of Madness responded to his complaints through the framework of the game's story.
