84 Unconditional Love
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So, it was like that. Just as I had thought, the demon general and the demon armies were mostly dealt with by my parents, their heroic friends, and the armies assigned to them. On the other hand, they left behind the unprotected cities filled with people, the villages, and then…
It was obvious that the humans would want to take down all of that, so there wouldn’t be more chances for new Demon Kings to be born, even demon generals. With that in mind, they also used this opportunity to rid the continent of the “pest” and take over its territories, creating outposts and more, investing in the conquest of a completely new and fertile land filled with precious materials, rich soil to plant all sorts of crops, and even more.
This faintly reminded me of the conquest of Amerasia in my original world. The continent where I lived, Euramica, had conquered Amerasia only fifty years before my birth. It was said that they had encountered many native humanoid species there, which were all slain as they were called barbaric. However, I was sure they were just people like us.
Naturally, it was all because of greed. The nation of Euramica had conquered Amerasia and had slain its natives so there wouldn’t be any opposing forces trying to stop them from taking over the entire land. Of course, some were spared from it but later enslaved. They were used as mere pawns for the conquerors, who began to extract all sorts of resources from their untouched mountains, rich forests, and beautifully vast grasslands.
Unsurprisingly, the same concept was present in this world as well. The Gallatea Continent’s four major kingdoms had forced an alliance to completely conquer the Demon Kingdom and make them human territory, building up their outposts, and exterminating all the demons. Even the most innocent of children weren’t spared, so there wouldn’t be loose ends.
My parents at that time had believed they would simply be taken in as prisoners of war, or the humans would rule over them and turn them into something like citizens of vassal nations. Sadly, the truth was harsher than their na?ve hopes. As they were swallowed by rage and sorrow over the death of their companions, they wanted to slay the demon generals and the Demon King more than anything, prompting them to ignore most of what happened behind their backs.
When everything ended and they realized what the humans had done… they felt disgust to the point of disbelief. They felt horrendous guilt and sorrow, to the point that they decided to isolate themselves, living far away from those monstrous and greedy people who only wanted to use them as an excuse for mass genocide.
But… was that all? Weren’t there any demons left they could help? Anyone they could offer their hand to, to at least redeem themselves? I know they technically didn’t do this, but… even then, they felt guilty enough, right? So why?
…..
“Why didn’t we help the demons after that?” I asked.
“Well… we didn’t do it because we didn’t want to. We cut ties with humans and anything happening in the Demon Continent. In short, we escaped from there… we simply didn’t want to get involved with them any longer,” my father answered.
“We… we’re sorry to disappoint you, Sylphy… maybe… maybe we should’ve done something else,” mother apologized with a light sigh.
“We simply wanted to live our own lives. But due to such a desire, we ended up becoming rather selfish. We had the power to change things, but we chose not to, due to the fear of going against the gods,” Shade said.
“Yeah… well, we did try once, but the Gods sent oracles to us, telling us we shouldn’t meddle with the affairs of the Church of Gods,” Nepheline added.
“As dogs of the gods we were, we decided to obey their orders and lived in isolation, where we could finally begin our lives and build our family… since we were kids that lived as heroes, trained as heroes, and constantly fought life and death battles, we simply wanted to live as people now, as citizens. We envied the freedom of choice that the people we protected had… we decided to selfishly make new lives and… well, you came to be not long after,” father said.
“If we hadn’t taken such a selfish decision, you wouldn’t have come to life, dear Sylph… however, we don’t regret such a selfish decision as that… after all, you’re our light,” mother continued.
“You’re our treasure. Even if you were born after we took such a decision, we won’t regret it, ever… I’m sorry that… I’m such a disappointment,” father said, his voice croaky.
Shade and Nepheline said similar words to Aquarina, who seemed to be taken over by grief.
“I’m sorry, my little princess…” Shade apologized. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
“We did it because we wanted to have our own lives for once… but maybe… it wasn’t truly the right choice. Though, it was the one that also brought you to us… my beautiful little treasure,” Nepheline said.
They hugged Aquarina as she began to cry. On the other hand, I was embraced by my parents.
“W-What nonsense are you talking about? I’m not blaming you for anything! And I would never become disappointed at you… y-you’re my mom and dad… I would never… never hate you after all the love you’ve given to me…” I told the.
“S-Sylphy…!” My father broke into tears as he began to hug me tightly.
“S-Sylph…” My mother did the same.
“Y-Yeah! It’s… like Sylphy says… I won’t judge you for what you did… I still love you, mama… papa…” replied Aquarina, kissing her parents’ cheeks.
With that, we were suddenly embraced by our parents as a sorrowful yet mellow atmosphere was built. Knowing this tragedy made us feel the bitterness of war and the harshness of reality even more than our battle against Hell. But not just that, it also reinforced our bonds with our parents…
It didn’t matter if they made the wrong decisions. After all, they’re weren’t perfect… they’re people… and nobody was born perfect. Then again, that’s… also what make people humans. I know they commited many mistakes, but I am just a near five year old girl. I doubt I can even get through them or even dare lecture them. I was never good at talking anyways… I just want to live happily. We’ll see what we can do in the future.
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