I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 544

As Janice prepared to deploy according to the plan, a young boy’s voice called out to her.

“Um… over there!”

Janice turned to see Hannibal.

The tousled-haired boy stood a few steps away from Janice, fidgeting and unsure of what to do.

“……”

Janice was also speechless.

An awkward silence fell between them.

After a long moment of mumbling, Hannibal was the first to speak.

“Y-you can’t die!”

“……”

“There are so many things I want to ask you…”

Janice, who had also been mumbling, finally chuckled.

“I won’t die.”

“……”

“I have so many things I want to tell you too.”

They were father and son, yet also strangers.

The two stared at each other.

How long did their hesitant and awkward gazes cross, too early for any real connection?

Janice slowly reached out, cautiously trying to stroke Hannibal’s head.

Hannibal stared blankly at the hand, then squeezed his eyes shut. Janice swallowed hard.

And just as Janice’s hand was about to touch Hannibal’s head-

“Janice!”

Ash’s shout rang out.

“The operation is starting! Let’s go!”

“…Yes, Your Highness!”

Janice shouted back, gave Hannibal an awkward smile, and turned to run.

Hannibal bit his lip, watching Janice’s back as she moved away.

“Janice.”

Ash patted Janice’s back as she ran up, then gestured towards the forward base.

“I’ll help you get to the edge, but ultimately, you have to break free from the fear they inflict on your own.”

“I know.”

“If you, captured by them, use a wide-area recovery spell in the center of the enemy lines, our allies freed from fear will be liberated all at once. Then we’ll break through, gather our allies, and eliminate the enemies.”

Janice didn’t ask how Ash would gather the allies and eliminate the enemies.

That was not something she could interfere with. She had no choice but to trust Ash and leave it to him.

“Remember this, Janice. I planned this reckless operation to protect people.”

Ash whispered, gripping Janice’s shoulder tightly.

“And you are included in those ‘people’.”

“……”

“Value your life as much as you value the lives of others. Understand?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Janice nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards the hole in the forward base’s wall.

“I’m going.”

And the moment Janice, with firm steps, reached the wall of the forward base,

Creak, creak! Creak, creak!

Creeeeeeeak!

Dozens of mantis-like scarecrows pounced on Janice all at once.

Her body was subdued, and layers of fear crashed down on her. Before she could even try to do anything, Janice’s consciousness sank helplessly into the darkness.

***

Janice stood in the disciplinary tribunal [a formal court or hearing within a religious or military organization].

“…Huh?”

Janice looked around in confusion.

In the disciplinary tribunal of the Central Order, not only the high-ranking members of the Order but also those in key positions in the Imperial Foreign Ministry stood with stern faces.

“You’ve gone completely mad, Priest Janice.”

The bishop rebuked him.

“You have now abandoned not only your own life but also countless prospective followers of the Mist Kingdom.”

“……”

“You were blinded by petty personal feelings and overturned a greater cause! As a priest who upholds the will of the Goddess, as a shadow of the Goddess! You have done the one thing you should never have done.”

“I was just…”

Just…?

The words wouldn’t come out.

Janice clutched at his throat. But no sound came out.

“Why are you trying to spend the rest of your life in pain for a sin you didn’t commit?”

“……”

“You will realize, to the bone, that what you are doing is nothing more than self-satisfaction.”

It was as the bishop said.

Because of the momentary choice to save that child, Janice had to live the rest of his life in terrible pain.

Being cursed and criticized, serving as a common soldier, wandering through remote areas, and being abandoned by his comrades.

It wasn’t just Janice himself.

Because of this choice, the Empire was in diplomatic trouble, the Order’s reputation was tarnished, and his fellow Holy Knights had to endure finger-pointing for a long time.

It was purely self-satisfaction.

Intoxicated by a moment of shallow goodwill, as if he were a saint.

Not being thanked by that child, nor by the child’s parents, nor by anyone…

A life with no reward, only pain.

An act of kindness that was beyond his capacity, recklessly carried out, ruined his life and plunged him into long-lasting agony.

Before he knew it, the surroundings had changed to the audience chamber of the Mist Kingdom. The king of the Mist Kingdom, with his pointed beard, pointed his finger and shouted.

“Both of the foolish parents who indulged in their lust are dead! Just another common orphan!”

It was absolutely true.

He was just another common orphan. Even at this moment, countless similar children were dying somewhere in the world.

That child just happened to be in front of him.

Just happened to be thrown into his arms.

“Are you going to take the blame yourself to save one such orphan? As a priest, are you going to say that you committed such an inappropriate act of having an affair with a princess in the city you came to preach in?”

Janice’s lips trembled.

No, no. I don’t want to.

I actually regret it.

I sincerely repent for this foolish act I committed.

So please forgive me just once.

I will never do this again. I beg you, please…

“Now, now, let’s not make an easy path difficult. Priest Janice.”

The king smiled kindly and gestured.

“Give me that little brat. Since it’s my daughter’s child, the ownership is mine, isn’t it?”

Before he knew it, the surroundings had changed to a collapsing mountain cabin in the mountains.

Princess Cloudy was already dead, and the newborn child in the dead princess’s arms was curled up and crying.

Wah! Waaaaah…!

That desperate cry mixed up Janice’s mind. Janice unknowingly covered his ears.

Now is the time.

If I turn back now, if I run away from here.

Then nothing will have happened.

I can correct all the mistakes. I just need to close my eyes and turn my head once.

Janice’s steps moved back one step, two steps, and then turned into a run.

Janice ran frantically down the steep mountain, fleeing from the cabin.

The child will die here. Whether he starves to death, freezes to death, or becomes food for beasts. Or he might be dragged before the king and die.

So what?

Are there only one or two children who die like that in the world?

There are countless orphans who have lost their parents.

What does that child have to do with me, that I have to ruin my life trying to save one child who has nothing to do with me?

– Why do you say we have nothing to do with each other? We are the same, we are human.

Janice’s legs twisted.

Stumbling, Janice rolled down the mountainside several times.

When his body finally stopped, Janice’s whole body was covered in blood, bruised by rocks and pierced by branches.

He couldn’t breathe. He was in too much pain to move.

In Janice’s mind, who was suffering without even being able to scream, the voice of the girl who hugged him in his childhood echoed.

– So, we have to save each other.

“…Ugh.”

Janice staggered to his feet.

A groan, not even a language, flowed out of his clenched mouth like a beast.

“Ughhhhh.”

I know.

The pain that will unfold in the future. My life that will fall into the mud.

A foolish sacrifice that no one will recognize, that is nothing more than self-satisfaction.

But, still, but…

……

Even so.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”

That was the life he had chosen.

At that moment, the dark clouds covering the sky of the Mist Kingdom parted.

As the terribly dreadful dark clouds cleared, a dazzlingly clear moonlight fell.

The moonlight brightly illuminated Janice’s path. Janice cried out and got up, climbing back up the mountainside where he had fallen.

Soldiers of the Mist Kingdom were gathered around the cabin. Janice pushed through the soldiers, throwing them aside as he moved forward.

“Stop-!”

At the tips of the spears the soldiers were pointing, was the child crying in the arms of the dead princess.

Falling and rolling, he hugged the child, and Janice cried out.

“My son… he’s my son!”

***

“Huh?”

When Janice came to his senses, there was no one around, and only a statue of a goddess stood alone in the empty space.

Janice stared blankly at it and chuckled.

“…Okay. I admit it. I regretted it.”

The goddess statue just stared down at Janice without any questioning or answering. But Janice continued.

“I regretted saving that child.”

“I should have just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know.”

“Then no one would have blamed me.”

“I acted like a saint, and what came back was my destroyed life.”

“My colleagues labeled me a traitor, I was always wandering in remote areas, and in the meantime, I sent every penny I could save to the child…”

“People in the Order distanced themselves from me. Rumors spread, and people in the regions I was dispatched to also ignored me.”

Janice looked down at his calloused hands.

“…Why do I have to go through this hardship?”

“I regretted it. I hated myself for making that choice. If I could go back, I would want to go back.”

“I am not a saint. I’m just a narrow-minded, ordinary man who has always regretted the good deed I happened to do…”

Janice burst into a hearty laugh.

“It feels good to admit it.”

The goddess statue does not question.

It does not answer either.

Looking up at his god, Janice muttered.

“But, I understand now. Even if that moment came again… I would save that child.”

“And I would regret it for the rest of my life again.”

“I’m just that kind of idiot. I want to be a saint, but I don’t have the guts… just a pathetic old man.”

Silence flowed.

Janice, with his hands in his pockets and a bitter smile, slowly raised his head again and faced the goddess statue.

“So, are you satisfied now? Then get out of my way, you scarecrow bastard.”

“The way you demons play with people’s minds is obvious.”

“Don’t bother disguising yourself as someone others believe in and put innocent people to the test, huh? Why don’t we just have a good old-fashioned fistfight?”

Then,

– …What do I look like to you?

The goddess statue in front of him had transformed into the bishop of the disciplinary tribunal.

Janice chuckled and spat out.

“A scarecrow.”

– What about now?

The king of the Mist Kingdom, stroking his beard, asked. Janice burst into laughter.

“A scarecrow.”

– What about now?

A crowd of all the people who had criticized Janice’s choices throughout his life surrounded him.

Janice shook his head as if there was nothing more to see.

“A scarecrow.”

Then, all the people disappeared, and Princess Cloudy stood before him.

And the princess smiled innocently.

– Yes, Janice. Walk the path you believe is right, with the people who are precious to you.

– If you truly believe that path is right, then all those who shout that it is wrong are no different from scarecrows standing by the roadside.

Janice, startled, widened his eyes.

“What?”

Was it an illusion?

The wavering figure looked like a princess, a scarecrow, a goddess statue…

Or, it looked like a woman burning, tied to a thorny tree.

The woman whispered warmly.

– Be strong.

And everything was covered in light.

***

“……”

Janice opened his eyes.

His bloodied body was bound by scarecrows.

And before his eyes, the Scarecrow Commander was completing the harvest from the surrounding people.

With a sinister smile, he was absorbing power from all directions.

Janice chuckled as he saw the pale face of the boy, Mikhail, hanging on the commander’s chest.

“‘That moment’ has come again.”

Janice quietly gathered divine power and muttered.

“What can I do, I was excommunicated, but still… I have the inertia of living as a priest.”

And, with his eyes wide open, he stretched his hand forward.

“I have to save people, damn it!”

Flash-!

Janice’s ultimate skill activated, and the interior of the half-destroyed forward base was filled with light.