Chapter 56: Who is Green?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless flashes of thunder and lightning tore through the crimson sky, shrieking gales ripping the heavens apart. Everything within sight was devoured in an instant, leaving nothing behind.

The earth quaked, the oceans dried up, and even the seemingly eternal air boiled away in the blink of an eye.

Doomsday was upon them.

The City of Radiance, the Land of Hope, the elves, dwarves, orcs—every living thing in existence was about to greet the end of fate.

Deathly silence and destruction would be eternal.

There was no hope, no salvation. All grievances and bonds of the mortal realm would vanish without a trace.

“So this… is this the Blood Moon that Brother Green spoke of?”

Mary stared unblinkingly at the communication crystal in her hand. Even though she was lucky enough not to witness the apocalypse with her own eyes, she was so shaken she could barely make a sound.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Cracks began to appear on the walls.

“How could this be?” Mary anxiously glanced at the increasingly unstable Bronze Walls and Iron Walls beside her, murmuring, “Fused magic crystal and mithril, reinforced by countless arrays, and even the latest magitek defenses—yet it can’t last even a quarter of an hour?”

This world was finished.

Mary understood that better than ever.

Unless…

She looked up, gazing at the figure bound tightly by iron chains.

“Sorry, Mary.”

Green, his body ravaged by countless curses, still stubbornly endured through sheer willpower. He managed a wry, pained grin.

“I know this is cruel, but… it’s the only way to save this world.”

He looked at the girl whose eyes were swollen from crying, his heart aching as he lowered his head.

“To ask you to do this, to make you become the Swordbearer—I’m sorry. Please forgive me, this useless Savior.”

Useless?

Savior?

Tears streaming, Mary shook her head fiercely.

“No!” she cried out, her voice choked with emotion. “Brother Green, you, I, I…”

Vmmm—

The sword in her hand glimmered with light.

In these days, it had been infused with countless spellforms, advanced magitek, Jessica’s Holy Light Spell, and was custom-built by Green himself to counter his own weaknesses—a true god-slaying weapon, now fully activated.

Staring at Green, Mary’s trembling hands lifted the god-slaying weapon high.

“Brother Green.” At the very brink of the world’s destruction, Mary acted. She parted her lips, whispering faintly,

“I love you.”

Shing!

But Green could no longer hear.

The very instant the Blood Moon descended, he—this “greatest source of pollution”—absorbed all the twisted pollution force flooding the world into his own body.

His immortal soul stubbornly endured it all.

But Green’s will—

That will which, no matter the pain, could always bear the weight and move forward—

Could bear it no longer.

In his final moments, his face shrouded in mist, Green murmured to Mary, “Kill me… kill me…”

No, no!

Watching the tormented, already crushed Green, Mary screamed in her heart.

“Why, why, why did Brother Green have to do this!” At last, shouting through tears, Mary swung the god-slaying weapon in her hand.

Vmmm—

The activated weapon unleashed its limitless power, piercing straight through Green’s chest.

Boom!!!

“What’s so good about this world that it’s worth Brother Green sacrificing everything for it?”

The instant Mary finally voiced the words she’d buried deep in her heart for so long, everything ended.

Whoosh~~

The crackling thunder and lightning, the earth-shattering tremors, the collapsing sky, and the crushing pressure bearing down on all things—at that instant, all vanished without a trace.

As if they had never existed.

Not a single mark remained.

Blue sky, white clouds.

The world returned to its original form.

Drip.

Tears kept falling.

“Why… why am I crying?”

Mary blinked, looking at the familiar underground laboratory before her, yet feeling a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

“Doll.”

She instinctively opened the cell used to imprison magic beast test subjects, curiosity filling her eyes as she picked up the doll and examined it closely.

“Why would there be this doll in a cell meant to hold Pollution Demons and magic beasts?”

She reached out and lightly tapped it with her fingertip, a pure Holy Light gathering like flowing water.

Swish—

Purification.

The Holy Light Spell, common in the Land of Hope, appeared almost profound in the girl’s masterful hands.

“Huh?”

Mary exclaimed in surprise.

“It isn’t polluted? That’s strange.” Hugging the doll, Mary felt an inexplicable closeness to it.

“Maybe I should bring it to Sister Sophie for a look?”

With a blissful smile, Mary skipped briskly out of the dark underground chamber.

On the road to the governor’s residence, peace and harmony filled every corner.

“Maybe, making peace with the City of Radiance really isn’t such a bad agreement? After all, Sister Sophie still hasn’t recovered from that despicable Assassination attempt.”

Muttering her disinterest in the affairs of state, Mary cheerfully made her way straight to the governor’s study.

As the governor’s beloved apprentice, Mary walked unimpeded right to the study door.

Knock, knock.

“Sister Sophie, it’s me.”

Click.

The door opened automatically.

“What is it?”

Inside the study, Sophie looked up from her quill pen. “Aren’t you working on a new Magic Beast Hunter Weapon?”

“Hehe, I am, but Sister Sophie, look~”

Mary presented the doll in her hands as if offering a treasure.

“What’s this?”

Sophie glanced over and her pupils contracted. She froze, as if the doll on the table was not an ordinary toy, but some priceless treasure.

Rustle, rustle.

Her eyes grew moist without her realizing.

The highest governor of the Land of Hope, known as the Demon King by the City of Radiance, the woman who’d turned the entire continent upside down in mere days—

She cried.

Would Sister Sophie ever cry?

Mary had always wondered.

She was always so poised and elegant, always so unfathomable.

Could such a person really have emotions like any ordinary human?

Now, that question was answered.

“Sister Sophie? Sister Sophie?” Mary hurried to her teacher’s side, dabbing away the tears with a handkerchief. “Did the Church of Light’s soul curse flare up again? I’ll go get the soul healing elixir!”

Bang, bang, bang.

Mary rushed out of the study.

Sophie did not stop her, only gazed blankly out the window.

The breeze was gentle, the sun was warm, and the beautiful, peaceful town rang with distant laughter. Cooking smoke rose from the chimneys, adding a touch of homely life.

Everything was so normal, so perfect.

No. Something was off.

Sophie rubbed her eyes in confusion.

Why did this “normal” scene, this “ordinary” doll, make her feel something so different?

She stood and paced back and forth in the study.

Sophie had a hunch—the answer she sought was hidden here, in the study she’d called home for so many years.

“Hm?”

After a while, Sophie was surprised to discover, among discarded scrolls in a corner of the study, a worn little booklet lying hidden.

She picked it up and quickly read through it.

“A Diary?”

Hmm, calling it a Diary might be a stretch.

This little booklet spanned many years, full of miscellaneous fragments. It was so rambling that to call it a “Diary” felt too formal.

It felt more like… casual notes?

“The first day in Falling Leaf Town: I saved a witch from a church priest. Her name is Sophie. The poor girl almost got burned at the Execution Ground by the townsfolk.”

A witch? Execution Ground? The church?

Hmph, are they still spreading these worn-out tales?

How many years has it been, and the church hasn’t made a bit of progress?

Sophie sneered.

A witch?

Ha, there was no such laughable thing in this world. Only ignorant villagers in backwaters would believe such superstition.

“But that poor girl was called Sophie too?”

Curious, Sophie read on.

“Fourth day in Falling Leaf Town: Ah, this girl finally opened up to me. I told her why I saved her—in truth, I just need her.

I want to change the wasteland, at least let the townsfolk have full bellies during the winter solstice, maybe even have chicken stew at home.”

“What nonsense?”

Sophie barely resisted the urge to throw the booklet away—Full bellies?

Maybe Falling Leaf Town wasn’t paradise, but when had it been so poor that eating chicken stew was just a “dream”?

Was her magitek research all a sham?

Unconvinced, Sophie kept reading.

But the more she read, the more lost she felt.

In this booklet’s strange world, there was no Holy Light.

The Church of Light did not oppose magitek—because there was no magitek at all.

The Land of Hope’s city-state didn’t exist; there was only a barren wasteland.

And the world faced long winters, drought, and all kinds of disasters.

“Was this the plot of some bard hoping to peddle a story?”

Sophie couldn’t help but guess at the author’s motive.

But then, how did this booklet end up in her study?

And this self-proclaimed lord of Falling Leaf Town had the same habit as her: pondering the future in the study of the lord’s manor?

Sophie kept reading, feeling as if she were being drawn into another Sophie’s life.

That Sophie, though sharing her name, lived a completely different existence.

No adoring crowds singing her praises, only endless rejection.

Only that lord cared for her.

“Sixth month in Falling Leaf Town: Met the Church’s Truth Knight Jessica, here to hunt Sophie. Turns out Sophie is one of the top three most wanted witches…”

Jessica?

That annoying pope?

Whoever wrote this fantasy certainly was bold.

Sophie chuckled, reading on with growing interest.

Hmm?

She stared, transfixed, at the main character’s choice.

“Blessing of Life—I know that spell. Giving one’s own life to another… but why? Just for that ridiculous dream?”

It was only a hypothesis, but if such a desperate world really existed, would someone truly give their life without hesitation for a small hope of change—and the recipient wouldn’t even know?

Sophie grew more and more engrossed.

The plot became ever stranger and more tangled. Even with all her experience, Sophie found herself drawn in.

She witnessed the protagonist gradually turn the wasteland into a prosperous city.

Saw him improve the fate of “witches.”

Interact with other races.

Reform the rotten old system, even at his own expense.

Finally… the story reached its end.

“Fourteenth year in Falling Leaf Town: We won.”

The story stopped, just like that.

They won. And then what?

A happy ending? If so, why not say so? Was the author planning a tragedy instead?

Too many questions weighed Sophie down.

And, there was still one most important question…

What was the protagonist’s name?

Sophie, anguished, put down the booklet.

“The name, what is the name…”

Humm.

A faint, almost imperceptible sound brushed past her ear.

Who?!

Someone had entered her study without a sound?

Sophie’s hair stood on end as she scanned the room.

Empty. Not a soul in sight.

An illusion?

No, that wasn’t right.

Sophie trusted her instincts.

But—

“Why does that intruder make me feel no threat, but instead give me such a deep sense of comfort and security?”

Sophie reached out and touched the booklet.

Thump.

She fumbled, and it slipped from her grasp, falling face-up to the floor.

“Huh? There’s a name?”

Sharp-eyed, Sophie saw a faint, blurry name on the back cover.

“Green.”

Sophie read the name aloud.

Ordinary, unremarkable.

Drip, drip.

“Green.” As if enchanted, Sophie unconsciously repeated the name.

Green, Green, Green, Green!

Suddenly, she looked up and grabbed the doll Mary had brought from the table.

“No… no, it can’t be.” Sophie’s mouth opened and closed, as if she were enduring a soul-wrenching pain.

“I have a dream.”

“The power of dreams is limitless!”

“My future can’t be without you!”

“Your sins, I will bear them for you.”

Countless clear phrases echoed in her ears, as if they sprang from the very depths of her soul, an inseparable part of her being.

Green, he is, who is he?!

A blurry face.

A broad, warm chest.

He was…

“Idiot.”

Sophie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “My idiot, mine alone, the idiot I got killed, the idiot who sacrificed himself for the whole world…”

“He is…”

Looking dazed, Sophie murmured, “My beloved.”