Book 1 Chapter 676
676.
“As expected, Lord Dweno is amazing!”
“How brave he was, sweeping away the demon bastards all by himself!”
Praise for Dweno never ceased from all sides.
Ar muttered, listening to the stories.
“It’s Lord Dweno, as expected. Even before achieving the great feat of a hero, he has tremendous popularity among the people.”
‘It would be natural, if it were natural. In the early days, Dweno was the most renowned in our party.’
He and Lisinas were also famous to the extent that there was no one who didn't know them.
‘Well, Lisinas and I were infamous, though.’
The foolish one who spouted naive words about saving the world.
And the surviving hero who alone returned alive after sacrificing his comrades.
He was not a welcome presence, as there were rumors that he summoned death.
In Luna's case, it was a time when she was just starting to make a name for herself, and Arion was young.
The most famous hero at that time was Agon of Leisar.
Arion's master, who bore the alias 'Guardian of the Azure Sky,' and a candidate for a comrade chosen by Lisinas.
And it was Dweno who possessed a prestige no less than that of Agon.
“He is indeed great.”
“Of course he’s great. Because he’s Lord Dweno.”
“That’s right. Everyone in this city respects Dweno. He’s a great leader.”
Enniha said, taking a big gulp of alcohol.
Next to her, Dryana hummed and nodded her head.
Listening to her words, Leo silently brought his glass to his lips.
“I was a failed leader.”
One day, after the battle and while enjoying a banquet.
Suddenly, Dweno's words came to mind, spoken when they were sharing drinks alone.
“The warriors of Ivaldi were excellent, and there were many skilled artisans. If I had protected them to the end… the outcome might have been different.”
It was one of the few days Dweno, who rarely spoke of his past, shared his own story.
“How good would it be if we could turn back time? Then I could have saved more people.”
“Are you drunk? You know better than anyone that such a thing doesn't happen.”
“…….”
“We don't have the luxury to look back at the past now. It's time to look forward and move on.”
“Haha… that’s right. You’re right.”
“Dweno, you’re already carrying a lot. Don't try to carry the past too.”
“Don’t say such disgusting things.”
“Even when I’m saying something nice.”
Dweno smiled faintly, looking at Kyle, who was frowning.
“You make one promise with me too.”
“What?”
Dweno gulped down his drink.
“To regret the past, but never be bound by it.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Yes. If it’s you, there would be no such thing.”
“Brother Leo?”
Chelsea’s voice broke his reverie.
“Why?”
“Your glass is empty… Shall I pour you some?”
“No.”
“That’s not like you, Leo Plov. To be lost in thought.”
Leo chuckled as Duran snorted.
“Just, I was thinking about old times a bit.”
“You’re imitating an old man again.”
Kyle said as Eliza slightly curled up the corners of her mouth.
“Eliza.”
“Why?”
“You’re going to be punished by heaven for that.”
“Me, what?”
Kyle shook his head, seeing Eliza frown sharply.
“Leader, what are you thinking so deeply about?”
“Nothing much.”
Leo scanned the beast-folk and dwarves enjoying the banquet.
“It’s just that something I did in the past has become a regret.”
“That’s unusual. For the leader to think like that. I thought the leader wouldn’t have any regrets.”
Leo chuckled at Illiana’s words.
“Where in the world is there such a person?”
They wouldn’t know, but the people here now are beings from the past.
5000 years ago.
Countless lives that resisted destruction and ultimately perished in Ivaldi.
Dweno's regret.
But suddenly, such a thought came to him.
‘If I had… taken his hand a little sooner.’
If he had taken Lisinas's hand and embarked on the journey to save the world a little sooner.
‘Could these people have lived?’
He knew it was a meaningless regret.
But Leo did not stop regretting.
These were the regrets left by a close friend.
It was the unknown past of a comrade who had saved his life countless times on the battlefield.
They were heroes who had vanished in places he didn't know.
‘History cannot be changed.’
Even if they win here, history will not change.
But…
‘Their existence can be conveyed to the future.’
The existence of those unknown to the people of the present era.
The final moments of those who fought to the end for the world at that time.
‘It can be passed down to later generations.’
That would be his role, living in the present.
‘I will definitely convey your stories to later generations.’
Leo turned his head.
It was the location of Dweno's workshop.
‘So, Dweno. Don't be bound by the past either.’
***
The next morning.
Chelsea, who had been sleeping in her tent, sprang up.
“Hwaaah-hmm!”
Chelsea yawned languidly, rubbed her eyes, and got up from her spot.
Chelsea had gone to sleep relatively early around dawn.
‘Ar and Dryana… and Illiana aren't here. Did they go for training?’
Looking at one side of the room, Eliza, Aina, and Artian were sleeping as if dead.
Yesterday's battle was fierce.
It was natural to be physically exhausted as a result.
When she slipped outside, it was late morning.
‘Did I use too much magic yesterday too?’
She felt muscle pain all over her body due to magic overload.
“As expected, I’m more suited to fighting at the front than casting magic from behind.”
After rubbing her shoulders a few times, Chelsea stretched with a groan.
“Oh! Little miss! Good morning!”
“Wahahaha! You were amazing yesterday! It would’ve been a disaster without you!”
“Do you perhaps need a magic staff? I can make one for you.”
Dwarves and beast-folk passing around the fortress walls showed her goodwill.
“It’s okay! My magic staff is very good! Shall I help you move the repair supplies?”
“No, no. How can we ask such a task of a valuable mage?”
“I’ll help!”
“It’s fine! Just get some good rest!”
As Chelsea approached the female beast-folk amiably, the female beast-folk waved her hand in refusal.
Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief as she watched them.
‘The walls have crumbled a lot.’
The blatant wary gazes had disappeared.
It seemed that stopping Tartarus’s invasion together and enjoying the banquet had been effective.
‘Anyway, the conditions for breaking through the dungeon are met.’
To clear the dungeon that has now appeared, internal exploration of the dungeon is essential.
Whether it’s this fortress or the area around the fortress outside.
They must find and destroy the legion's records that generate the dungeon.
That alone would perfectly resolve this mission.
‘Before that… can’t I request support from Damian?’
It was when Chelsea was contemplating.
“You’re up early.”
“Brother Leo. Good morning!”
Chelsea smiled brightly and approached Leo.
“Where have you been?”
“I left the kids with Dweno and came back.”
Early in the morning.
Leo woke up the sleeping Ar, Dryana, and Illiana and dragged them to Dweno’s workshop.
“Huh? Ar is training too?”
Leo smiled as Chelsea tilted her head.
“I thought it might be necessary. It’s a training Arion also did back in the day.”
“Did Ar readily go in?”
She had already heard the details of the training.
“No.”
Of course, there was no worry.
‘Let me goooo! You pervert!’
Chelsea muttered, having heard the situation from Leo.
“A water ghost… no, a fire ghost.”
Chelsea clicked her tongue, then snorted, “Hmph!”
“It’s good to be able to receive training from Lord Dweno and Brother Leo!”
“Then do you want to receive it too?”
“…I’m fine.”
Chelsea smiled awkwardly.
Chelsea, who had been caught and trained by Leo since her first year, knew better than anyone.
How terrible Leo’s training was.
‘Well, the effect is certain, though.’
Chelsea, shuddering, said.
“Are you going to prepare breakfast? Then I’ll help.”
“No. We’ll grab something quick for breakfast today. There’s something I need to do before that.”
“Something to do? What is it? Is it related to clearing the dungeon?”
“No, it’s personal.”
“Personal…?”
“Yes.”
Leo looked at the city inside the fortress.
“I need to find my lifesaver.”
“Lifesaver?”
The place Leo headed to was the armory production area, adjacent to the fortress’s residential district.
Dweno, who used a personal workshop, was a special case.
Most smiths produced weapons in a common area.
Guardthrone was the same.
Clang- clang-
Hooosh- hooosh-
Whoosh-! Sizzle-!
The sound of hammers and bellows.
And the sounds of heating and cooling iron were heard from all directions.
“You two. This is a restricted area, isn’t it?”
Originally, outsiders could not enter here.
But this morning, he had received permission from Dweno to enter.
Leo showed the letter Dweno had written for him from his pocket to the person in charge.
The person in charge, who read it, nodded and asked.
“What’s the matter? Did you come to repair some armaments?”
“Is there a dwarf named Dinet here?”
“Dinet?”
The dwarf woman, who seemed to be in charge, tilted her head.
“She’s a smith who makes swords. I know her as a mid-level smith.”
Dinet.
It was the name carved on the end of the hilt of the sword Kyle used, along with the Ivaldi emblem.
He had asked about her in his previous life, but Dweno didn’t know her either.
‘There were many smiths in Ivaldi. A mid-level smith might have been able to properly do a person's part… but unfortunately, she wasn't high-ranking enough for me to remember her.’
Ivaldi was one of the few fortresses that had resisted Erebus for a long time during the Age of Calamity.
As such, it boasted a massive scale.
The population inside this fortress alone was considerable.
Therefore, it was highly unlikely that Dweno, who was also the supreme commander, would remember the name of a mid-level smith.
“Dinet… Dinet… Ah! That Dinet.”
The head of the weapon workshop nodded.
“Why is an outsider looking for Dinet?”
“She’s my lifesaver.”
“What?”
“I saved my life countless times thanks to the weapons that artisan made. I want to express my gratitude.”
“Hah… I never thought the day would come when someone who used Ivaldi’s weapons would come to express gratitude…”
“I was too late, though.”
It might be different from their perspective, but in actual history, it was a thank-you after 5000 years.
When Leo smiled bitterly, the person in charge smiled sadly.
“Dinet would have been truly delighted to hear that. She’d call it the greatest honor as a smith.”
“Would have heard?”
“She died. Just before being transferred here.”
“…….”
At those words, Leo closed his eyes, and Chelsea gasped.
“Her tomb is in Ivaldi, but there is a monument here commemorating those who died. I can guide you if you wish.”
“Please.”
***
In the place he was guided to, tombstones were lined up.
A few new gravestones, created after their transfer to the present world, were visible, suggesting this would become a new cemetery.
Leo stood before a tombstone.
Searching for a name carved on a tombstone, Leo found the name Dinet.
She was an artisan whose face he didn't even know.
Dinet herself would never have dreamed of knowing about the user of the weapons she made until the moment of her death.
The surviving hero had merely accidentally picked up Dinet’s weapon on the battlefield.
Dinet had simply made weapons as a smith.
But…
“Thanks to you, my life was saved countless times.”
It didn’t change that Leo owed his life many times over.
“Thanks to that, I was able to save the world.”
The armaments of a smith who, even in a desperate world, never stopped making weapons, hoping for this world to be saved, became the cornerstone of saving the world.
“Thank you. For saving my life.”
Though it was impossible for his words to reach her.
After delivering the words he absolutely had to say, Leo turned around.
***
Whoosh-
Black flames surged within the hearth.
Swoosh-
Gias lifted a massive hammer.
Before him was an anvil resembling a mountain of cast iron.
Upon that anvil lay another Gias.
Thud-
Gias, holding the hammer with both hands, smiled.
“Everything according to the will of God.”
With an eerie smile, the massive hammer was swung.
Crunch-! Crunch!
The arm of the Gias lying on the anvil was mercilessly crushed.
The pain of a living body being mangled.
“Kee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Kahahaha!”
The mangled Gias let out a crazed laugh.
Through Gias’s bloodshot eyes, he saw the black flames engulfing him.
“Everything according to the will of God!”