“After that, I got my belongings and left,” Lara said with a bitter smile, but no one among Zich’s companions smiled in response.
“How could he be so mean?” Lyla said, displeased. Lyla didn’t find Glen’s behavior strange since she already knew about his true self, but it still made her angry to hear the way he treated Lara. Others had similar thoughts as her, but only Zich made a strange expression.
“Thank you for worrying about me, but don’t worry. I have already settled my feelings. I actually feel refreshed now.” Lara had obviously been hurt when Glen ignored and dismissed her to the point she felt cornered. Yet, considering how she felt about Glen, her pain felt surprisingly light. When Lara realized this, she realized that her feelings for Glen had completely cooled. All the remaining feelings she had for Glen were swept away by his last words and disappeared.
“Yes, don’t think about that good-for-nothing man anymore. I’m sure you will be able to have a much more worthwhile meeting, Ms. Browning.”
“Haha, thank you.” Lara seemed touched by these comforting comments and smiled.
“Can I ask you one thing, Ms. Browning?” Zich asked.
“Of course.” By now, a lot of Lara’s negative feelings toward Zich had diminished and she answered Zich’s question without any reluctance.
“Mr. Zenard’s change is a bit sudden. Do you perhaps know the reason why he became like that?” Zich asked.
“Who knows? To tell you the truth, I’m going to say I no longer know Glen’s true self. However, if I must pick out a time when something strange happened…” Then, Lara proceeded to tell Zich about the time Glen had stood still next to Estellade in the middle of battle. Zich’s eyes sparkled as he heard these words.
‘That guy was standing next to Estellade?’ Zich thought and asked, “Could you explain in more detail?”
Thus, Lara explained the situation more in-depth, and Hans also added his insights since the reason why Lara met Glen at that time was because Hans had lost Estellade. Zich racked his head. ‘Considering that guy’s personality, there’s no way he would just stand there and watch after Estellade flew toward him.’ Lara also said Glen’s Tornium had been cast on the ground. ‘Did he throw Tornium away as soon as he saw Estellade come flying his way?’ It was a possibility. ‘Then, that guy definitely must have tried to pick up Estellade.’ Yet, according to Lara’s explanation, it seemed as if Glen had failed to do so and stood foolishly next to the sword as if he had lost his mind. All this meant one thing.
‘Estellade rejected that bastard!’ A person who prided himself as a hero was rejected by a holy sword!
‘Ah, damn it! I should’ve seen his face then!’ This was one of the few things Zich truly regretted. If he could, he wanted to save Glen’s expression at that moment as a portrait, statue, poem, and all other forms of art and pass them on for generations. Besides, the reason why Zich was happy to hear that this wasn’t simply because of the despair Glen must have felt by this event.
‘That guy must have really lost his regression powers!’ The fact that Glen failed to wield Estellade was proof of this. Zich always had deep suspicions and questions about the way Estellade chose its master. He didn’t know about Hans, Lara, or Lyla, but he and Glen definitely shouldn’t have met the sword’s criteria to be its master. Therefore, that meant two different things: the information that only people full of justice could wield the sword was false or Zich and Glen had something that made them exceptions to Estellaed’s criteria. Zich thought the latter was probably correct.
‘Those who have powers relating to Clowon must be able to ignore the criteria and hold Estellade.’ For Zich, he must have been able to pull out Estellade because of the Key That Distorts Destiny in his finger at the time. As for Glen, it must have been because of his regression abilities. Thus, Estellade’s rejection of Glen meant one thing.
‘His regression ability disappeared.’ It wasn’t that Zich hadn’t believed in Zich Brave’s words, but the more proof of Glen's lost ability, the better. Next to him, Lyla’s eyes appeared profound, and it seemed like she had also reached the same conclusion as Zich.
‘Whatever it is, this is good news for me.’ Not only did he gain more evidence that Glen had lost his regression ability, but he received pleasing information about how Glen had reacted to it and that Lara Browning had also left his party.
Then Zich turned to Lara and thought, ‘She really does have a talent.’ She had taken up a shield in which she possessed less talent because of Glen, but even then, she had performed impressively while fighting against him in his Demon Lord days. If she officially concentrated on honing her skills in swordsmanship, it was clear that she would reach much greater heights than ever before.
‘Should I teach her a bit?’ Of course, Zich had no intention of officially instructing her as a master like he was to Hans and Snoc, but he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give her some sort of trigger.
“Then, does that mean Acous followed that man’s suggestions?” Elena asked in a worried voice. It seemed like she was worried since Pina was from the same hometown as her.
“Yes, she said she needed to recover her school of magic’s honor.”
Elena’s face darkened, but she didn’t say anymore. Even though Pina Acous was from the same place as her, they were close to strangers and their families’ relationship was also strained. Then, after Elena closed her lips again, Hans asked, “Ms. Browning, are you planning to leave the city like this?”
“Yes. There’s no reason for me to stay in this city any longer. It will only be awkward for me to keep seeing Glen and the other companions too.”
“Do you have any plans?”
“Not really. I’m just planning to continue traveling and help those in need since that’s the reason why I began traveling in the first place,” Lara smiled at Hans in appreciation of how he had helped remind her of the original reason why she left home.
“Then how about traveling with us for a bit?”
“…What?” Lara’s eyes opened wide. She was surprised by Hans’ proposal. It seemed like other companions were also surprised. However, Hans calmly asked for Zich’s permission. “Sir Zich, will that be all right?”
“I don’t mind.” Zich had already thought he might try teaching her a bit. Since she also brought news of Glen’s embarrassing moments, Zich easily accepted Hans’ request. ‘Also, if we meet Glen Zenard later on, and he sees Lara Browning on our side, he’ll definitely make a great expression.’ Zich imagined Glen’s twisted expression and laughed inside his mind.
Lara was flustered; the situation was progressing without her intention.
“How about it, Ms. Browning? I think that our party will definitely not lag behind Mr. Zenard and his party members.”
Zich yelled at Hans. “Hey, who the hell are you comparing us to? Of course, we’re definitely above them!”
“Um, I’m a bit taken aback by the sudden suggestion.”
Zich replied, “Well, Ms. Browning, we also don’t plan to immediately leave this city. So, you can take your time to think more about this.”
“…Then, I’ll think more about it.” However, Lara also thought that this wasn’t a bad idea. She had gotten more time to make her decision, but her heart was already skewing towards joining Zich’s group.
* * *
Even though the atmosphere in Pialu had been like a festival recently, today’s atmosphere was different. The sound of people clamoring and celebrating had disappeared and silence fell upon the whole city.
The city walls were usually not open to the public since there was the danger of falling. However, the most important reason why it was blocked by the public was because it was a military structure. However, the city wall today was filled with people, and it wasn’t only the top of the city wall. People had also climbed up to the nearby mountains and gathered together. They were there to see the funeral.
Even though they ended up victorious in their fight against the monsters, there was significant damage and a great number of people died. Most of the people who had died were the fathers, husbands, and sons of people who lived in Pialu. The citizen’s eyes reddened as they watched the last moments of their loved ones who died for them. Family members of those who died cried their hearts out, and there were even some people who fainted. Even then, the funeral continued.
Priests from Karuwiman came out, gave their funerary blessings, and lit a huge pile of logs. The blazing fire burned the logs, and people moved the corpses on top of the logs, intently watching this sight unfold. There were members of Wolf’s Canine among the corpses; many of the members from Wolf’s Canine had died, especially the members that Vice-captain Nick had brought along. Of course, they hadn’t died because of the monsters, but because of Zich and Til.
However, Nick’s conspiracy wasn’t revealed to the public, and neither was the true nature of the mercenaries who followed Nick. The public was told that Nick had met his end honorably while chasing after the mastermind behind the monster attacks.
“Waaaawwwwwww! Daddddddd!” Ellie reached out her hand towards the flames. Max desperately grabbed Ellie and pulled her back; she looked as if she was immediately going to jump into the flames. Max’s eyes were also bloodshot. No matter how many complaints he had about Nick recently, they had known each other for a long time, and he felt despondent.
The other members of Wolf’s Canine were next to him. They watched Nick and their comrade’s last moments with devastated expressions. Til was standing at a short distance from the other members of Wolf’s Canine and stood next to Zich. He calmly looked at the area where Nick was lying down.
Then, he suddenly said, “Thank you for keeping your promise.”
Zich had been watching the funeral emotionlessly unlike the others, and he looked at Til.
“With this, people wouldn’t point their fingers at Ellie.” He looked at Ellie who was still trying to frantically wiggle out of Max’s grip. Deep sadness filled Til’s eyes. Ellie had lost her one remaining parent, and she had now become an orphan. However, she at least wouldn’t be picked on by people as a child of a criminal. The other mercenaries in his group would also treat her pitifully as the daughter of one of their comrades who died honorably.
“Mr. Til, what do you plan to do from now on?”
“I’ll have to reorganize the mercenary group. We’ve lost too many people.” On the other hand, it was fortunate that most of the casualties were the new members that Nick brought. “I’m planning to remake the group again from the very beginning. We had too many traitors.” Even after excluding the new mercenaries that Nick brought, the people who kidnapped Walter and Ellie were some of his original subordinates.
“It’s impossible for me to know the hearts of all my subordinates, but I'm going to do my best to make a mercenary group with people I can trust.”
“So you’re planning to return Wolf’s Canine to how it used to be.”
Til nodded.
“It sounds difficult just listening to you.”
“That’s why I’m planning to stay in Pialu for a while. Fortunately, the city officials said they wanted to extend our contract, so I’ll be reorganizing the mercenary during this time.” The war against the monsters was over, but the city planned to maintain its military strength just in case.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to do it. I’ll be cheering for you.”
“Thank you. What will you be doing, Mr. Zich?”
“I’m planning to leave soon since we’re still in the middle of traveling.” Since they got everything they could get from Pialu, they needed to head in the direction that Windur pointed towards.
“If you get into trouble, please come and find us. I want to pay back this favor.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Then, the two of them looked at the blazing flames.