Book 1 Chapter 713

713.

Whooooosh-

The scars left by the war were clearly visible on the land that the phone had clawed across.

This place, once a fierce battlefield.

The victors cheered in joy, and the vanquished gnashed their teeth, plotting for the future.

Gardesron had once again achieved a miraculous victory.

As usual.

After a great war, a grand banquet is always held.

Moreover, this was the first victory for Gardesron after Risinas had formed the Arhi party.

And it was a great victory.

After being crushed by defeat, Gardesron was enlivened after a long time.

"Drink! Drink!"

"Wahaha!"

"Elf lady! You were amazing!"

The heroes who had fought on the battlefield laughed cheerfully, pouring drinks into an elf woman's cup.

Luna, an elf, took the cup full of alcohol to her lips and drank it down heartily.

"Puhah~ Another one!"

Luna excitedly shouted, shaking her empty cup in the air.

"Dwarf! You were amazing!"

"Can you possibly repair my weapon?"

Dwenodo was also surrounded by people.

He too laughed heartily and drank the alcohol offered by the people without refusal.

They were the two who drank the most heartily when the banquet began.

Kyle, watching them from a step back, glanced away.

"Arion-nim. Have another drink here."

"Ah, no, I'm fine."

"Try this too!"

"Ah, no. I'll take care of it myself…"

Those who had become Arion's followers clung to him, offering him drinks and food.

The foolish one and the surviving heroes brought an elf mage and a dwarf craftsman.

And the beast warrior was warmly welcomed by the people of Gardesron.

Now, at this moment, everyone was forgetting that it was the age of disaster and enjoying the present.

Even so, almost no one approached Kyle.

Kyle and Risinas were still ominous presences in Gardesron.

Kyle, taking a sip of his drink, suddenly realized that he wasn't the only ominous presence around.

Looking around, Kyle put down his drink and began to look around the places Risinas might have gone.

'Where did she go?'

Kyle, who had finally climbed onto Gardesron's castle walls, scowled.

The top of the castle walls was deserted.

Having won a great war, Tartarus would have no power to invade for some time.

Therefore, the number of guards on the castle walls was relatively small compared to usual.

The guards saw Kyle and saluted.

Even if he was called an ominous presence, Kyle had been an active hero in Gardesron for a long time.

His achievements were more brilliant than any other hero in Gardesron, so he deserved to be respected as a hero.

Kyle waved his hand dismissively at the guards and leaned against the castle wall.

Then, he suddenly spotted a familiar back outside the castle wall and stopped.

Risinas stood in the midst of the horrific battlefield.

Thump- Thump-

Despite the footsteps from behind, Risinas did not turn around.

She simply stood with her hands clasped together, her eyes closed in silence.

"What are you doing here?"

Risinas opened her eyes at Kyle's slightly crooked question.

The hands that had been clasped as if in prayer slowly loosened.

"I was appeasing the departed spirits."

"Departed spirits."

Not just anyone could become a departed spirit.

Only those who had accumulated great power during their lifetime could leave their will in mana.

As such, beings called departed spirits were generally powerful.

Appeasing the departed spirits meant helping them let go of their lingering regrets and grievances from their lives.

Thus, it was an act of freeing them from mana.

"Is it really necessary to appease them?"

At Kyle's question, Risinas turned to look at Kyle.

Her black hair swayed.

Her obsidian-like black eyes reflected Kyle's face.

This black dragon, called the foolish one, seemed to mourn the dead just by his existence.

Lost in such sentiment, Kyle said,

"The more departed spirits you have, the better, right? They were a great help in this battle."

Risinas gave a wry smile at Kyle's words.

"They were a great help."

Risinas turned her gaze back to the battlefield.

"But I don't think we should keep the departed spirits in this world forever."

"Why?"

"There are already too many departed spirits in this world."

A world that had suddenly plunged into ruin.

As such, there were too many departed spirits.

"Most of them want to stand on the battlefield again. They want to somehow instill hope in this declining world."

There were also departed spirits who had been broken.

But even if they were broken, if they still had lingering regrets as departed spirits in this world.

The result was the same.

Even those who were broken wanted to see hope in this world.

"My role is to show them hope."

"You care about the living as well as the dead?"

Kyle, crossing his arms, looked exasperated.

"Here comes the saint."

Despite Kyle's sarcasm, Risinas just smiled.

She knew he was like this anyway.

"If I hadn't seen or heard them, but I couldn't ignore what I saw in front of me."

"……"

"But I have my limits too."

Because it was the age of disaster, there were too many departed spirits with regrets.

And no matter how powerful she was, she couldn't summon all of them.

If possible.

She wanted to give more departed spirits a chance.

That's why Risinas always summoned new departed spirits.

After a battle was over, the departed spirits who fought together were appeased and sent off after the battle.

It wasn't good for departed spirits to linger in this world for a long time.

But appeasing departed spirits wasn't easy either.

There were many who wanted to stay in this world for longer.

After listening to Risinas' explanation, Kyle took a bottle of alcohol from his pocket.

He pulled out the cork with his mouth, then approached Risinas.

Drip- drip-

Kyle tipped the bottle and poured its contents onto the ground.

This was for those who had died on this battlefield.

And for those who had died before standing on this battlefield and had been summoned by Risinas.

After pouring all the alcohol, Kyle flung the bottle away.

Clang-!

Glass fragments flew.

"Go. Don't linger pitifully."

Risinas looked at Kyle with a look of disbelief.

"You've done enough. Leave the rest to this woman."

Kyle said indifferently.

"You saw it too, didn't you? She's trustworthy."

With those words.

Grains of mana of various colors began to appear all over the battlefield.

Risinas' eyes widened at the beautiful sight.

A moment later.

The departed spirits imbued with mana disappeared.

Risinas looked at Kyle with her mouth slightly ajar.

"That's unexpected. I didn't know you had a talent for departed spirit summoning."

"I didn't do anything."

"It's amazing. Being able to move the hearts of departed spirits."

Risinas said seriously.

"It means your words reached the departed spirits. It means the departed spirits trusted you, even though you're not a departed spirit summoner."

It seemed that the rough but sincere words had moved the departed spirits.

"They didn't want to leave, no matter how many times I persuaded them."

Risinas smiled faintly, looking at the now-disappeared departed spirits.

Kyle said, looking at Risinas like that.

"The more people know you, the less they'll want to hear you say 'go'."

"What?"

Risinas was flustered.

'The more people know me, the less they'll want to hear me say 'go'?'

"What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what it says."

Kyle smirked and looked at Risinas.

The moment their eyes met, Risinas averted her gaze without realizing it.

Why? It was difficult to meet his eyes.

For some reason, her heart pounded.

"You're that kind of person."

"You mean someone who is trustworthy and reliable… so someone I want to fight alongside?"

She asked with a hint of expectation.

Even this man, who had initially refused her requests stubbornly, had eventually taken her hand.

And they were overcoming difficult journeys together.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Huh?"

"How can someone who knows your deceitful nature trust you? Departed spirits would know your true nature better than anyone, right? If you, who are like that, tell them to go, would they want to go? They'd first doubt if you're trying to trick them."

"……"

Risinas smiled faintly.

"Kyle."

"Why?"

"Die."

Risinas did not hesitate and poked Kyle's temple.

***

Leo rubbed his temple as he walked down the dark hallway.

For some reason, recalling the past, he felt a phantom pain in the spot where he had been hit.

'If I hadn't seen or heard them, but I couldn't ignore what I saw in front of me.'

As expected, Risinas was trying to shoulder everything in the world.

'My mindset was completely different from hers.'

If a large number of unspecified departed spirits had been summoned by the soul-raising spell he had used yesterday.

Leo intended to listen to their stories.

Risinas said that appeasing departed spirits was also her duty.

'I can't do it like Risinas, though.'

If beings were drawn by his soul-raising spell and appeared.

He had a responsibility to appease them.

At that moment.

"Kyaaaah!"

A scream came from the other end of the hallway.

Leo tilted his head in confusion at the somehow familiar scream.

Chelsea appeared, breaking through the dark hallway.

"Leo oppa!"

Chelsea, spotting Leo, ran over and clung to him.

"Ghosts! Ghosts!"

Clinging to Leo's head, Chelsea was in a panic and spoke incoherently.

Leo put his arm under Chelsea's armpits and lifted her.

"Where?"

"They're chasing me!"

Chelsea, pointing behind her, was terrified.

Leo looked in the direction Chelsea had come from.

Clank- Clank-

"Mage! Killed…!"

A blood-stained knight, with his sword raised, was running at full speed when he made eye contact with Leo.

Leo narrowed his eyes.

'A departed spirit.'

Although he looked terrifying, he was clearly a departed spirit.

Seeing that, Leo gestured.

"Hey, come here."

At those words, the knight, who had been cautiously observing, suddenly turned around and ran back into the darkness.

Leo's eyes twitched at that.

"Why is he acting like that?"

"He looks like he's running away?"

Chelsea said with a bewildered expression.

At those words, Leo lowered Chelsea.

And he chased after the knight.

"Le- Leo oppa! Where are you going!"

"He's running away because he's guilty. So I have to catch him."

"What if the opponent is a ghost?"

Chelsea had also fired some magic at the pursuing knight.

However, the knight, whom Chelsea could initially touch, passed through her magic without being affected.

When her attacks were ineffective, Chelsea had no choice but to flee.

"So what if he's a ghost?"

"He's dead!"

"Hasn't anyone died?"

"Uh… well, that's true?"

Chelsea wore a blank expression.

"Aren't you coming here?!"

"Le- Leo oppa! Let's go together!"

The knight, who had been chasing the students, suddenly found himself being chased by Leo.