novelraw Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96
“Haram is a wonderful place, my dear.”
As she said this, my mother wore a smile as beautiful as the flowers blooming in the garden behind our mansion.
My mother always longed for her hometown.
She was always proud of the fact that she was born and raised in Haram, and she would always whisper to me about the beauty of the bustling port city where you could see the wide-open sea just by opening a window.
Although I had never been to Haram, my mother’s repeated whispers built up a sense of longing in my heart.
I wanted to go there someday, just once.
So I thought, and the child in me, who knew no self-restraint, eventually resorted to whining while clinging to my busy father’s arm.
“…Lina.”
Whenever I did, my father would stroke my head with a troubled smile.
My father, who was not a man of many words, would just roll his eyes, not knowing what to say, before his adjutant would call for him, and he would leave with just a single word of apology.
How busy my father was, moving to protect his homeland.
How he was walking a dangerous tightrope on the battlefield, risking his life each time.
At just ten years old, my foolish self did not know.
When my father would not relent, I began to pester my mother.
But she, too, just gave a troubled smile, just like my father.
From then on, the number of times my mother mentioned Haram noticeably decreased.
No, she deliberately avoided mentioning her beloved hometown in front of me.
Feeling resentful towards my mother for this, I whined even more, and in the end, my mother laughed as if she could not help it, took my hand, and we set off on a journey.
I was simply happy.
I was happy to be traveling with my mother, happy to be able to go to Haram, which my mother loved so much, and happy that I would be able to meet my maternal grandfather for the first time there.
Haram, when we arrived, was a beautiful city, just as my mother had said.
In the wide fields that stretched out behind it, the crops that farmers had grown with their sweat were ripening.
Looking further, one could see beautiful mountains covered in fresh greenery, and the river that flowed through the city sparkled in the sunlight.
What I liked most of all was the wide-open sea visible from the top of the tall buildings.
A city enveloped in beautiful nature.
I felt I could understand why my mother loved Haram so much.
We stayed in Haram for several days.
At first, my mother was anxious, like someone being chased, but after meeting her father and enjoying the food that could only be tasted in her hometown, she became very happy.
And a few days later.
Haram burned.
“Lina! My baby!”
Even though it was more than ten years ago, that voice calling my name remains vivid.
My mother ran, holding me.
A frail woman, with blood streaming from her head.
Blood flowed from my head too.
Far away, a beautiful pillar of light that began high in the sky plunged towards Haram.
Explosions erupted, buildings collapsed, and people were lifted into the sky before falling, becoming crimson flowers with a horrific sound.
I repeatedly lost consciousness and woke up.
Each time, the scenery before my eyes had changed.
The blue sky where white clouds had floated was now stained black, obscured by dark smoke.
Haram, where people had lived together in harmony, was engulfed in flames.
The fruit stand where I had bought delicious fruit the day before was smashed as if crushed by something.
The warm hand of my grandfather, who had put a piece of candy in my mouth, calling me cute as I peeked here and there on the street holding my mother’s hand, was now rolling on the ground, cold.
My mother, who had smiled at me, was now screaming like a madwoman, constantly looking around.
The sky above was filled with the airships of Purity.
I closed my eyes and opened them.
A lot of time must have passed, as the scenery had changed again.
I could see the Alliance airships engaging in battle against the Purity airships.
The tide of battle was overwhelmingly against the Alliance.
The number of Purity airships was far greater, and they had already formed a perfect formation, so no matter how hard the Alliance tried, it was like throwing an egg against a rock.
Despite this, the Alliance airships did not retreat.
With the vast sky unfolding just by turning their bows a little.
With an escape route to survive.
As if something were pushing them from behind, they did not hesitate to enter the skies above Haram.
A deafening noise rang out.
An Alliance airship, unable to withstand Purity’s offensive, crashed.
Seeing the emblem painted on the side of the airship, my mother screamed.
It was the same emblem engraved on the sides of the airships that frequented the port in the Verdin domain with my father.
As time went on, the number of crashing airships increased.
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, my mother was gone, and I was in the arms of a man I did not know.
The man, with half his face covered in red bandages, was wearing a military uniform engraved with the Verdin family crest.
The man limped, repeating the word ‘sorry.’
I turned my head with difficulty.
Far away, I could see my mother, crushed under a fallen pillar.
I wanted to tell him to help my mother, but no voice came out.
When I closed my eyes and opened them again, I saw a white ceiling along with the smell of medicine.
My older brother was holding my hand and crying.
And on that day, my older brother became the new Margrave of the Verdin family.
* * *
Celina recited the events of about ten years ago with a calm face.
I think it was just bad luck.
It just so happened that at the very time Celina visited Haram holding her mother’s hand, Purity launched a surprise attack on the city.
The Alliance abandoned Haram.
The reason was simple.
Purity’s offensive was so fierce, and the Alliance did not have the strength to stop it. Strategically, it was the right decision to divert the forces that would have been allocated there to gain an advantage elsewhere.
However, the Margrave at the time could not abandon his wife and youngest child.
Damond Verdin.
To save his wife and young daughter, he fought against Purity’s fleet attacking Haram, knowing it was a place of certain death, and the knights and mages of Verdin who followed him in loyalty shared his fate.
As a result, the undefeated fleet that the Alliance had prided itself on was annihilated.
Not a single airship survived.
The same was true for Damond Verdin, who had been hailed as a hero.
“There were no survivors from the 4th Unit. I heard that the soldier who saved me at my mother’s request also died as soon as he reached the vicinity of Monora. If the soldiers of Monora who were patrolling the area hadn’t found me, I would have died too.”
“……”
Celina’s steps towards the Monora lord’s mansion were fast but heavy.
Her eyes, looking down at her own feet as if reminiscing about the past, were filled with bitterness and gloom.
“After that, Purity and the Alliance fought a fierce battle over Haram. Only after the surrounding nature was completely destroyed and the mana sources that could be obtained from Haram were completely depleted did Purity retreat, and the war stopped. I visited Haram after the war ended, but I couldn’t find anything.”
It was obvious what she had been looking for.
The remains of her parents.
If that was impossible, she would have wanted to recover at least a memento.
And she must have failed.
If she had succeeded, there would be no reason for Damond to be walking around perfectly fine with corpses in Sursa Village.
“It’s because of me.”
“……?”
“Because of me, my parents died. And the 4th Unit was annihilated. If I hadn’t whined, my mother wouldn’t have gone to Haram, and my father wouldn’t have led the 4th Unit to defy orders and fight a battle with no chance of winning.”
“That’s…”
It could not have been Celina’s fault.
What fault could a young child have?
She was just one of the many victims created by the war between Purity and the Alliance.
However, I knew that the answer Celina wanted was not the weightless phrase, ‘It’s not your fault,’ so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
“Rian.”
Celina stopped for a moment.
We had already reached the front of the lord’s mansion.
The soldiers guarding the entrance to the mansion opened the gate and cleared the way, but Celina did not move and just stared at me.
“You said you met my father in Sursa, right?”
“…That’s right.”
“I need to find out what happened. Will you help me?”
In other words, she meant that she would be walking into the most dangerous place in this battle, and she was asking me to be her escort.
And I had no choice but to nod my head.
‘The possibility that Damond is alive… is nonexistent, I suppose.’
Putting together the given information, the Damond I met was likely a walking corpse, just like the other zombies.
Compared to ten years ago, he had not aged at all, his body temperature was cold, and I could faintly smell that unpleasant odor from him that I had smelled from the villagers.
It was just a guess, but a normal conversation between father and daughter would probably not be possible.
What kind of reaction Celina would show then.
I was already worried.
* * *
The office of the lord of Monora.
To be precise, in front of the office door.
Standing in the middle of a wide-open corridor, I was exchanging meaningless glances with the soldiers guarding the office.
The reason was, sadly, that I had not been granted permission to enter the office.
Persuading the lord was a crucial step in minimizing the damage in this war, but I never imagined I would be blocked right from the meeting stage.
‘…This is a new experience in its own way.’
Even though I was a low-ranking soldier, after building some reputation, my treatment had not been bad.
Even the high-ranking nobles of the Empire treated me with some respect.
But the lord of Monora was a person who was even more obsessed with status than the Empire’s nobles.
He had blocked me from even entering the office, saying he did not want to see my face, let alone talk to a soldier who was a refugee.
I had intended to persuade the lord myself, but in the end, I had no choice but to trust Celina and wait.
Still, Celina should be fine.
She was relatively eloquent, fearless, and not someone who would back down just because her opponent was a high-ranking noble.
Above all, within the kingdom, the name of Verdin carried weight.
No matter how much of a lord of Monora he was, he would not be able to completely ignore Celina’s arguments.
I waited patiently.
A rather loud noise came from beyond the door.
And as time passed, the noise grew even louder.
At this point, it seemed less like an exchange of opinions and more like a fight…
BANG!
While I was off guard, the door flew open.
The soldiers guarding the door were startled and hastily stood aside, and Celina, looking thoroughly annoyed, walked out, grinding her teeth.
“Really! What kind of person! He’s completely unreasonable. It’s like talking to a brick wall!”
Huffing and puffing, Celina glared at the innocent soldiers for no reason and roughly ruffled her hair.
It seemed the conversation had not gone well.
I grew curious about what kind of person could infuriate Celina to this extent.
I stealthily turned my eyes and checked the inside of the office through the wide-open door.
A young man was sitting in a red, ornate chair.
His hair was a dull white, and his skin color was also pale, looking far from healthy.
However, his build was sturdy, and his limbs were long, giving off a strange impression of a mixture of frailty and strength.
‘That’s the lord of Monora… His attire is that of a typical noble.’
He, who had been staring at Celina’s back with a bored expression, chin in hand, must have felt my gaze and turned his eyes to me.
At that moment.
“……?”
I felt a slight pain in my left eye.
The symptoms of the Dragon’s Eye trying to activate on its own had appeared again.
I hastily covered my left eye and turned my back.
‘…Why all of a sudden?’
The Dragon’s Eye could be activated and deactivated at my will, but there were occasional times like this when it would activate on its own.
However, I had never once felt inconvenienced by the Dragon’s Eye activating on its own.
Although it was startling since it was used without my will, the results mostly ended up in my favor.
For example, when it discovered a mana source that needed to be identified.
Or when I faced an enemy whose strength needed to be analyzed.
“Are you okay?”
A strange scent came from Celina as she approached with a worried face, her anger seemingly having subsided.