I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 549

A pale, misty fog escaped from the dead Scarecrow Commander’s body.

Soon, the fog seeped into the bodies of the heroes and soldiers who had their strength stolen. It was the monster releasing the power it had taken.

Those who regained their strength showed various reactions. Some rejoiced, some sighed in relief, and some collapsed onto the ground, dazed.

Above all, it was proof that the battle was over.

“…….”

Mikhail clenched and unclenched his fist with a blank look. I stood behind Mikhail and patted him on the shoulder.

As soon as the enemy commander was confirmed to be down, everyone cheered. I clapped my hands and commanded them.

“Alright, alright, let’s save the post-battle celebration for later! Clean up first, clean up!”

Everyone busily began the cleanup.

The battle hadn’t been long, but the Scarecrow Commander was so powerful that there were quite a few casualties.

Fortunately, the paladins of the Holy Knights came and began to heal those around them.

Especially the heroes who had rescued Mikhail at the beginning and bought time while fighting the Scarecrow Commander were severely injured.

Rosetta personally cast healing magic on those heroes. As expected of someone with the title of Saintess, her healing effect was tremendous.

Rosetta, who was healing the heroes one by one, stopped in front of Zenis last.

Zenis was exhausted and had a large wound on his face.

Hannibal was nursing Zenis, who was panting, unable to heal himself because his divine power was depleted.

“Ugh……!”

When Rosetta approached, Hannibal guarded Zenis, sending her a wary look, but Zenis gently pushed Hannibal aside.

“It’s okay.”

“……Yes.”

As Hannibal stepped aside, Zenis staggered to his feet.

“Sister.”

“You’re still foolish, Zenis.”

Looking at her badly injured younger brother, Rosetta clicked her tongue softly, then said,

“Come here.”

She held out her hand, imbued with divine power. Zenis chuckled.

“Are you going to heal someone like me?”

“A priest must not discriminate against patients. Isn’t that the first doctrine we learn?”

And, just before Rosetta’s hand touched Zenis.

“Sister.”

Zenis spoke.

“I have made my choice.”

“…….”

“I don’t want to give up my life as a priest.”

The ‘uncles’ of the party standing around Zenis, as well as the other priests who were healing patients around Rosetta, all flinched.

“……Hah.”

Rosetta, letting out a soft sigh, stared at Zenis.

“You understand the choice I gave you, right?”

“Yes.”

“To die as a priest, or to live here instead of being excommunicated… You understand that I opened a way for you to live, right?”

“Yes.”

“And yet, you’re saying you’ll die?”

“Of course, I don’t want to die. But…….”

Zenis glanced at Hannibal standing next to him, then spoke with a determined tone.

“I don’t think my past life was wrong enough to warrant excommunication.”

“…….”

“For the past 14 years, I have always regretted my choices. I felt sorry for causing trouble to the Order, I was ashamed to face all the brothers of the Holy Knights, and I was sorry to you, Sister.”

Zenis reached out and placed his hand on Hannibal’s messy hair.

Zenis gently stroked Hannibal’s head as he flinched and closed his eyes.

“But seeing this child grow up and stand before me, I’ve changed my mind.”

“…….”

“I did the right thing, Sister. So, there’s no reason to run away.”

Rosetta lowered her head and rubbed her forehead with her hand.

“But you don’t have to die, do you?”

“My choice must not be buried in darkness, so that someone else… so that another child like this can be saved.”

“From pretending to be a saint, now you’re even pretending to be a martyr?”

Rosetta clicked her tongue several times, then turned her head to look at Hannibal.

“Is this child your son?”

“No.”

Zenis answered immediately.

It was an answer to protect Hannibal, that he was not the ‘that child’ from the Fog Kingdom, and that she should not touch him.

“But I have thought of him as a son my whole life. Just as I have thought of you as my sister.”

“…….”

“Please, from now on, think of him as your nephew.”

And a request to protect this child after he dies.

Rosetta, having read all of Zenis’s implications, quietly closed her eyes, then stretched her hand out to the side.

Whack-!

The steel whip that was in her hand stretched out long to the side.

“This……!”

“No way!”

“Do you think we’ll just stand by and watch!”

The heroes and soldiers who had fought alongside Zenis rushed forward. But Zenis shook his head and stopped them.

“It’s okay.”

“But……!”

“It’s okay.”

Zenis smiled peacefully.

“This is the path I have chosen.”

Zenis’s will was firm, and in the end, everyone flinched and stepped back.

Except for one person. Hannibal.

“Hannibal.”

“…….”

“Step aside.”

“I don’t want to.”

Zenis tried to persuade him, but Hannibal didn’t budge.

“I don’t want to…….”

“Hannibal.”

“We just met… and I haven’t done anything yet…….”

Hannibal, who had always acted mature, glared with teary eyes and whined like a child for the first time.

“I don’t want to part like this…….”

“Hannibal.”

Zenis carefully reached out and awkwardly hugged Hannibal. And he patted his back with clumsy hands.

“Thank you. For living like this.”

“…….”

“You are proof that my life was not wrong. So, please, live strong in the future.”

Rosetta just stood there, blankly watching the father and son preparing for their farewell.

“……It’s happening again.”

Rosetta muttered softly in a hoarse voice.

“I became a priest to save people, and yet again… I have to kill someone.”

“Commander, you don’t have to do this.”

“We all know why Zenis did what he did. So…….”

Other priests approached Rosetta and whispered. Everyone Rosetta had brought seemed to be friendly towards Zenis.

But Rosetta shook her head.

“In the end, what will be recorded in history is not that Zenis saved that child. It’s that he had an affair with the princess of the Fog Kingdom who was dispatched as a diplomat, which completely severed diplomatic ties between the two countries and blocked all missionary activities in the West.”

“…….”

“This is a matter of principle. You know that excommunication was a big concession. If Zenis insists on not giving up his priesthood… I have no choice but to kill him here.”

The other priests all fell silent. Rosetta gripped the whip tightly with her hand, which was about to lose strength.

“Ahem!”

Walking next to Rosetta,

I whispered quietly.

“There’s another way, Rosetta.”

“……?”

I smiled at Rosetta, who turned around in surprise.

“I told you before, the world has many sides. So, there aren’t only two paths… How about we try a different path?”

“What other path? For our Order, and for Zenis, there are only two choices: to die as a priest or to live after being excommunicated.”

“Well, leave it to me.”

It’s time for this genius of tricks to step in.

I strode towards Zenis and drew the longsword from my waist.

And passing by the other heroes and soldiers who were looking at me with puzzled expressions, I stood right in front of Zenis, and,

Swish!

Lightly swung the longsword from top to bottom.

Everyone was horrified, but Zenis didn’t move.

Thud-!

The longsword, barely missing Zenis’s neck, was embedded in the ground.

Well, it was a ceremonial longsword, so nothing would have happened even if it had hit him. Anyway.

“Lay Priest Zenis.”

Calling Zenis’s name, I took out a document from my pocket.

A list of the fallen.

There were many casualties in this battle, but no one had died yet. I wrote Zenis’s name at the very top of the empty paper.

“Joined the Crossroad on the monster front as a temporary priest, fought in eleven defense battles, and finally, faced the invasion of the Scarecrow Monster without retreating, and died a glorious death.”

“…….”

Zenis looked up at me with a blank face.

After finishing writing the list of the fallen, I turned around to face Rosetta and spoke in a stern voice.

“I, Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, as the lord of Crossroad and the leader of the World Guardian Front, formally request the head of the Goddess Order, Rosetta.”

Rosetta slightly bowed her head and replied.

“……I, Rosetta, head of the Order, am listening. Please speak.”

“Although Lay Priest Zenis committed a great wrong in the past and caused trouble to the Order, considering that he has lived faithfully his whole life and saved many people, and that he has devoted himself to saving patients and defeating monsters here at Crossroad until the very end, thus enhancing the reputation of the Goddess Order.”

I grinned.

“I request that he be posthumously honored, that his past sins be forgiven, that his sentence of serving as a common soldier be lifted, and that his position be restored.”

“…….”

Rosetta looked at me with an absurd expression.

My suggestion to make the perfectly alive Zenis into a ‘dead person’ must be ridiculous.

But, I played along with your shallow trick, didn’t I?

I’d like you to play along with my shallow trick too.

And, soon.

“……Lay Priest Zenis committed a wrong 14 years ago that deserved excommunication.”

Rosetta opened her mouth.

“Considering that he has devoted himself to the Order throughout his life, cared for the less fortunate, and above all, took the lead in defeating monsters at Crossroad to the point of being recognized by the lord.”

Rosetta slowly retracted the steel whip and tied it to her waist.

“I acknowledge his merits and posthumously honor him. I lift his sentence of serving as a common soldier and acknowledge that he died a martyr as a member of the Holy Knights.”

And then, Rosetta slowly approached Zenis and gently stroked his cheek.

Rosetta’s hand glowed white with the divine power of healing. The wound that the Scarecrow Commander had inflicted on Zenis’s face healed, leaving a large scar.

As if he were a different person. A large scar.

“Zenis. You are now dead here.”

“…….”

“My troublesome younger brother. You have already paid enough for the sins you did not commit over the past 14 years.”

Rosetta paused for a moment, then smiled affectionately.

“I now forgive all those sins.”

“…….”

“I pray that you will have a peaceful and happy life in the next world.”

As if blessing the deceased in a funeral.

Rosetta whispered to Zenis.

“In the next life that follows, I hope that you will continue to walk the path you believe is right, just as you have lived this life, hesitating and agonizing.”

“…….”

“And that at the end of that path, you can be proud of yourself for having lived a life that you were satisfied with.”

Rosetta’s hand slowly fell from Zenis’s face.

“This sister will pray and pray again.”

Rosetta turned away and moved away from Zenis. Zenis was staring blankly at his sister’s back.

Rosetta, who came to my side, turned her head away with a sigh when she met my eyes.

“It was a petty trick, Your Highness.”

“I know.”

I grinned.

“But we solved it, right?”

Priest Zenis, who had committed a sin that would lead to excommunication from the Goddess Order, died on this battlefield.

And because he died honorably, he was posthumously honored, and as a priest, he was forgiven for his past sins.

The ‘man who was Zenis’ who survived will live again with a new name and identity.

Wherever, however, as he has lived so far, saving and rescuing others.

Even with a different name and identity, I firmly believe that he will be able to live like that in the future.

“…….”

Rosetta, who had tasted my trick for the first time, still seemed bewildered, but soon nodded slowly.

“……How long has it been since someone didn’t die even though my hand touched them.”

Rosetta, who was quietly looking down at her hand, clenched it tightly and faced me again.

“So, Your Highness. Yes. I will admit it.”

The woman who is the head of the Red Priests,

Wore a refreshing smile that she had never shown before.

“I am very pleased with Your Highness’s trick.”