Side Story 3: The Azure Knight and the Ashen Witch
Chapter 7
I couldn’t help but ask. Just yesterday, a monster had devoured several villagers, and we hadn’t even noticed. And yet, they weren’t blaming us, they were relying on us?
“Yes! You eliminated the monster yesterday. And you did the same thing before. If you keep eliminating the monsters, this place will be saved!”
“….”
Aik’s eyes sparkled with hope.
‘If we keep eliminating the monsters, this place will be… saved?’
Could it be saved?
I stared at him for a moment, then remembered what had happened at the ruins.
The monster that had emerged from the disgusting vortex, its body oozing pus. And Lopetrefer had said that it wasn’t the only one.
Why had she suddenly done that?
“…I see.”
“What?”
A hollow chuckle escaped my lips.
Aik tilted his head in confusion, but I didn’t answer and stood up.
I looked down at him and said,
“Aik, you seem like a good kid.”
“Sir Knight…?”
“So live a long life.”
I patted his head and continued,
“I want you to live a long life.”
Until that vicious criminal eliminates all the monsters in this place.
Enzhe Lopetrefer had started to hunt down the monsters hiding in the sky, one by one.
Ariel had written a detailed report about the vortex monster, which had never been seen before, and sent it to the Imperial Palace.
And I did my best to fulfill Enzhe Lopetrefer’s requests. Of course, I ignored her absurd demands, like removing the control device or wanting to eat greasy food every day. But I could at least give her a shoulder massage.
Lopetrefer gradually gained popularity among the residents, as the rumor spread that “the criminal princess is going to eliminate all the monsters.”
A spark of life appeared in the eyes of the residents, who had finally found hope in this hopeless place.
They would sometimes send us gifts, delicious food or new clothes, through the guards.
But Enzhe Lopetrefer didn’t want anything more from them. She just kept killing monsters. No one knew why she had made that decision.
“Hmph, if I had known she was this talented, I wish she had used her powers for good in the capital.”
I couldn’t ignore Ariel’s casual remark, as I had thought the same thing.
But the thought quickly disappeared when I remembered Enzhe Lopetrefer in the capital. She had spent the first three months here like a corpse, so it was a miracle that she was even acting like this now.
But no matter how many monsters Lopetrefer eliminated, the thick, deep-seated despair that had accumulated in the Wasteland over the years couldn’t be easily erased.
“Sir Knight! Mr. Gushu…!”
Gushu was dead.
“I tried giving him the holy water you gave me… but it didn’t work.”
The cause of death was toxin buildup.
Aik, who had been living with Gushu since the green slime monster incident, burst into tears.
He wasn’t the only one. Many residents of the Wasteland mourned Gushu’s death. They knew that he had been the village head for a long time, taking care of all the dirty work.
But no one, not even me, suggested holding a proper funeral for Gushu. I knew that it was a luxury in the Wasteland.
Gushu’s body was entrusted to the undertaker, as usual. Even the undertaker had been appointed by Gushu.
I volunteered to transport Gushu’s body. I wanted to at least witness his cremation.
I was about to go to Gushu’s house to retrieve the body at the appointed time when…
“I’m going too.”
Lopetrefer, who had been reading Ariel’s magic book like a romance novel, suddenly stood up from the dark green sofa and said.
I didn’t stop her, wondering if she even knew who Gushu was. I was getting used to her sudden changes.
Lopetrefer followed me at a distance, silently watching as I loaded Gushu’s body onto a cart and took it to the crematorium.
The undertaker was already waiting for me at the crematorium, the firewood piled high. Aik, who had said he wanted to witness Gushu’s last moments, was also there.
I placed Gushu’s body on top of the firewood, and the undertaker, without hesitation, tossed a small ember onto the pile.
The ember quickly caught fire, spreading along the path the undertaker had created, and Gushu’s body, as if he were sleeping peacefully, was engulfed in flames.
The flames rose high, obscuring Gushu’s figure, and the acrid, unpleasant smell of burning flesh filled the air.
“Gushu, was it?”
“Yes.”
Lopetrefer’s face was unreadable in the flickering firelight. She broke the short silence and said,
“I heard he was sent here for gang robbery.”
“What?”
Her eyes, as she looked at me, crinkled at the corners.
“He was the leader of a gang of robbers.”
I didn’t understand why she was saying this. But then, I realized it when she continued,
“Are you still sad?”
She was mocking me.
“This place isn’t called the Wasteland for nothing. It’s not just the monsters that are filthy and wicked. The people who live here are too. They live on vile hopes. It’s just that those hopes are invisible in this place, in this Wasteland, so they don’t do anything… So… it’s only natural for them to die like this.”
Lopetrefer looked at the cold corpse, burning in the flames, with a mocking gaze.
“Look, trash is burning.”
“…Lopetrefer.”
She didn’t wait for me to speak. Someone’s shadow appeared in her black eyes, as vast as the universe. It was me.
“Do you really want those people to be saved? Do you really want them to be free?”
But I knew there was a trap in her question. And I had a feeling that she knew it too.
So instead of answering, I asked,
“What about you?”
If the residents of the Wasteland were just trash or waste, then so was Enzhe Lopetrefer, who had been sent here for her crimes.
If I was a hypocrite, wanting to save the residents of the Wasteland, then so was Enzhe Lopetrefer.
Then what do you want to do?
Do you also want to be saved?
Do you also want to save someone?
What are you thinking?
Enzhe Lopetrefer’s frail voice, barely a whisper, replied to my single question,
“That’s impossible.”
Seasons changed, and a year had passed since we had come to the Wasteland.
Of course, there were no seasons in the Wasteland, where the air was always stale and unpleasant, but time still flowed, even in the Wasteland.
A new village head was elected after Gushu’s death, more people died from the toxins, and monsters were continuously pulled out of the vortex Lopetrefer had created and eliminated.
Imperial mages would occasionally visit the Wasteland to check on the vortex, but the Soran Halo that Ariel had been waiting for never appeared.
She had even written a letter saying she would come, but she hadn’t shown up, and when I asked why, the Imperial mages had said that she wasn’t ready yet, although they couldn’t tell me the details.
And today, a year later, was the day Soran Halo was finally ready to visit the Wasteland.
So we didn’t even bother with our usual “guard duty” and stayed at home, waiting for her arrival. We had to go to the border bridge when it was time for her train to arrive, so I kept checking my pocket watch.
And then, I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. I tried to stand up, but my arms and legs felt heavy, as if they were weighed down by stones, and I couldn’t breathe.
Had I caught a cold?
I dismissed it and touched my forehead, which felt dizzy, trying to take a deep breath.
At that moment, Ariel knocked on the door and entered, announcing Soran Halo’s arrival.
“Senior, it’s time to… Huh? Senior? What’s wrong? You’re sweating profusely. Do you have a fever?”
Ariel’s face, which had been filled with joy at the thought of seeing her favorite senior, was now filled with worry.
I groaned and tossed and turned in bed.
“I think I caught a cold…”
“A cold? Here? Where there’s not even a breeze?”
Ariel, as if she couldn’t believe it, rushed to the bedside and checked on me.
But her expression, as she examined me, hardened. It wasn’t a look of concern, it was a look of anger.
“…Ariel?”
I cautiously called out her name, and she glared at me.
I felt a pang of guilt, even though I didn’t know why. But I understood the reason the moment she turned around and lifted my luggage bag.
“What’s this?”
She turned the bag upside down, and holy water vials poured out. An endless stream of glass bottles, not a single one empty.
“You haven’t… drunk a single one?”
Her voice, directed at me, was cold and sharp for the first time.
Ariel tossed the empty luggage bag aside and gritted her teeth.
“Senior, are you here to commit suicide?”
No.
But that was what it looked like to Ariel.
I knew I had to drink the holy water, but I couldn’t. And I hadn’t even given the holy water to the residents, as if I were giving out charity.
I just couldn’t drink it.
I couldn’t bring myself to drink it after seeing the people here.
That was all.
‘The one who can’t tie the knot.’
My chronic habit hadn’t changed at all since that day, six years ago.
As I was thinking that, the closed door suddenly burst open. Enzhe Lopetrefer was standing there, her face expressionless.
Enzhe Lopetrefer looked at the holy water vials scattered on the floor, then at me, lying on the bed in pain. She then looked up at the sky, then back at me.
A twisted smile appeared on her emotionless face.
“You’re disgusting.”
She said, and then she turned and left.
Ariel, instead of scolding me further, went back to her house, then returned with a white powder. She poured some of it into a holy water vial and handed it to me.