I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 550

And then, a few more days passed quickly.

A funeral was held at the cemetery west of the city.

The choir sang, the citizens wept, cannons were fired into the sky….

Empty coffins were placed in two newly made graves.

Two casualties were announced.

Zenis.

And Mikhail.

Mikhail was processed as a casualty at his own request. Since he would be dead if he returned to his homeland anyway, it was his intention to avoid the eyes of his country through a fake death.

“…….”

Standing on a distant hill, Mikhail stared blankly at the grave with his name on it. In front of the young knight’s grave, the soldiers of the Vermillion Kingdom who had come with him were sobbing.

“What are you going to do now, Mikhail?”

I asked casually, standing next to Mikhail and watching this scene together. Mikhail smiled bitterly and lowered his head.

“……I’m going to do as you said back then.”

“Huh?”

What I said back then?

“Rage.”

Mikhail stared at his grave with eyes that no longer wavered.

“All this time, I’ve been angry at myself. At myself for making mistakes, at myself for letting my subordinates die, at myself for missing the one and only chance I had as a crown prince.”

“…….”

“I still hate and despise my failed self. But, I’ve finally realized.”

Mikhail raised his clenched fist in front of his chest.

“Mistakes are not the target of anger. They are the target of learning… And the direction of anger should not be myself. That only eats away at myself.”

“Then what are you going to be angry about?”

“Monsters.”

Mikhail’s crimson eyes, which answered immediately, looked north.

“And… the system of my homeland that drove me to move so urgently.”

“…….”

“Prince Ash, I’m going back to my homeland.”

I was surprised and widened my eyes. Mikhail nodded.

“With this funeral, my homeland will think I’m dead. So, I can sneak in.”

“Won’t it be dangerous?”

The Vermillion Kingdom does not forgive failed royals.

If Mikhail’s survival is confirmed, all the griffin blood flowing in his body will be taken away and he will die. That’s why he even held this fake funeral.

But Mikhail’s will was firm.

“Now is the only chance to change my country.”

“…….”

“To a country that no longer conducts bio-experiments on people, does not inject magic, and does not force breeding… a country where even artificial enhanced humans like me can be treated as people.”

Mikhail was still haggard, but he showed a smile that revealed a strong will.

“To a country that gives those who have failed a chance to rise again. Now is the only chance to change it.”

“……Okay.”

Faced with his strong will, I eventually nodded quietly.

It would be good to fight together on the monster front like this. But that is not a problem that I can force.

The boy before my eyes is also a king.

He is the master of his own destiny and the captain of his soul. He has the right to live as he wishes.

No matter what awaits him at the end.

“And… I have five fiancées waiting for me.”

“What?”

“I haven’t even had the ceremony yet, but I can’t let them experience widowhood already, can I?”

Mikhail, who had made a joke for once, grinned. I widened my eyes and then burst out laughing.

Mikhail, having made the joke, was embarrassed and kept rubbing the area below his nose with his finger.

“……I realized it here. It’s not just my own life that’s on my back.”

Mikhail took his eyes off the funeral and looked around the entire Crossroads.

“The lives of my dead subordinates. The lives of all my brothers who had to die before me because they were called failures. And….”

A slight embarrassment was mixed in with the smile on Mikhail’s lips.

“Because I owe a debt to all the good people of this Crossroads who tried to save me, even though they had nothing to do with me.”

“…….”

“So, don’t worry. I won’t die.”

Shouldering a backpack that seemed to have been prepared in advance, Mikhail held out his hand to me.

“I’ll go get angry.”

I quietly took his hand. And I said.

“Good luck.”

“You too. And Crossroads too. May good fortune be with you.”

After shaking hands firmly, Mikhail turned around without hesitation.

In the forest in front of Mikhail, a young griffin was tied up. It was the griffin that had been taken to the forward base during the last defense battle, and was also declared dead.

Whirr-!

As Mikhail got on the saddle, the griffin spread its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing into the distant sky in an instant.

“…….”

I was quietly watching Mikhail’s receding figure when someone came walking up beside me.

“……He’s gone.”

“Lord Diermuidin.”

It was the great mage, his long white beard fluttering.

The great mage, who had seen the funeral scene, stroked his beard and chuckled.

“It’s been a while since there were no casualties, so I thought it would be a defense battle without a funeral, but there are only two fake deaths… Is this okay?”

“To hold two funerals to save two people… In that sense, isn’t it a good event?”

“Oh my. It’s absurd.”

Diermuidin, who had been silent for a while, blurted out.

“But what’s more absurd is… what you said about me still being young. I haven’t heard such an absurd thing in decades.”

“…….”

“And I haven’t heard such a pleasant thing in decades either.”

I glanced at Diermuidin. The great mage put his hands behind his back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Seeing that there are still so many things I haven’t experienced even after living this long… As you said, it seems like it’s not my time to die yet.”

“Where in the world is there a right time to die?”

If there is one, it would be when you’ve lived out your natural lifespan, lying on a warm bed, reminiscing about your fulfilling life… That would be the right time to die.

‘It’s not now.’

Now, all of us, everyone in the world….

We are too young to die.

So, my people, don’t die.

No.

I won’t let you die.

I’ll stop it. The destruction of the world and all.

“Prince Ash.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“Thank you.”

Diermuidin, who suddenly threw out a thank you, turned around abruptly.

“I will generously pour out my remaining ‘youth’ here.”

The great mage disappeared with quick steps. I stared blankly at his back and muttered.

“……Is it my imagination?”

Somehow, that old man seemed a little embarrassed….

“Senior!”

At that moment, Evangeline jumped up from below the hill and called out to me. When I looked at her, Evangeline gestured urgently.

“It’s time for your speech! Come on!”

“Okay.”

Even though it’s a fake funeral, I have to follow all the procedures.

As I slowly walked down the hill along the path, I first hummed the poem I would recite at this funeral.

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.

***

“…….”

“…….”

Further west from the cemetery. At the entrance of a shallow forest.

Zenis and Hannibal, who were squatting on a tree stump here, were quietly watching the funeral.

Ash recited a poem, gave a speech, and when Evangeline waved her arms, gunshots rang out in the air….

And the funeral ended.

As Zenis quietly watched the crowd of people gradually dispersing, Hannibal asked carefully.

“How do you feel?”

“Huh?”

“How does it feel to watch your own funeral?”

“…….”

Zenis looked down at the bandages that were still wrapped around his body.

“I don’t know. I’ve died and come back to life several times in the past few days, so I don’t really feel whether I’m really dead or alive.”

“…….”

“How about you?”

Zenis turned to Hannibal. Hannibal widened his eyes.

“Me?”

“Does it feel real that I’m your father?”

“…….”

“Well, I guess you’d know if you heard the story back then, but even if I’m not your biological father….”

Zenis awkwardly scratched his bearded chin. Hannibal also smiled awkwardly.

“Actually, I knew from the first time I saw you.”

“Huh?”

“That you weren’t my biological father.”

Zenis widened his eyes. Hannibal scratched his messy hair and explained.

“I’m a hybrid of human and beastkin… But since my mother is said to be a definite human, my father must be a beastkin.”

“Ah…….”

Come to think of it, that was true. Zenis smiled bitterly. It was a problem that couldn’t be hidden in the first place.

“You must have known from the first time you saw me.”

“Yes. That’s why I was more curious. Why, why did you consider me, who had nothing to do with you… as your son?”

Hannibal hesitated and added honestly.

“Whether you really considered me as your son.”

“And whether I could really… consider you as my father.”

Even though they were sitting side by side.

There was still a distant gap in the hearts of this fake father and son.

Zenis, who had been hesitating, stammered and asked.

“Don’t you resent me?”

“Me?”

“For leaving you in the orphanage and never showing your face for your whole life.”

“…….”

“Don’t you resent your biological father and mother either?”

Hannibal, who had been hesitating for a long time, slowly swept back his messy hair, and then looked at his father with his exposed round eyes.

“It would be a lie if I said I never resented them… right?”

“…….”

“But you also resented me, didn’t you, Father? Because you suffered so much because of me.”

Zenis also hesitated, but eventually nodded honestly.

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s call it even.”

Hannibal smiled and held out a small fist.

“Since we’re tied, let’s call it off. Let’s not argue about that in the future.”

“Can it be done like that?”

“Let’s just do it.”

Zenis chuckled and held out his fist in return.

The two fists lightly bumped in the air and then fell.

A moment of silence came. The two quietly watched the funeral scene that was now coming to an end.

“……Hey, Father.”

“Yeah?”

“What my mother left for me… When you told me about it back then, I didn’t hear it properly.”

Zenis glanced at Hannibal. Hannibal was trembling slightly, as if he was nervous.

“Can you tell me one more time?”

“…….”

Recalling the memory of that day, Zenis slowly answered.

“…She told you to sing. She said she was good at singing.”

“Singing? Haha, I’m tone-deaf. I didn’t inherit that from my mother.”

“Get a job too. She said she wanted to work in a solid business.”

“Hmm, I wonder if being a mercenary is not a solid job…?”

“Travel too. She said to wander the world while talking to people from all over.”

“I’ve already done that a lot!”

“And….”

Zenis smiled mischievously as he delivered the last words.

“She also told you to donate to the temple.”

Hannibal frowned.

“Is that really what my mother told you to do?”

“Hahaha!”

Zenis burst into laughter. Hannibal, who was looking at Zenis with narrowed eyes, asked carefully.

“……Father.”

“Yeah?”

“How do you want to live in the future?”

“…….”

“You can do anything now.”

Zenis, no.

The man who was Zenis looked at the cemetery. At the place where his tombstone with his name was erected.

The priest Zenis was dead. He was posthumously honored for his achievements after death, and he regained his lost honor.

The incident 14 years ago was completely buried under the ground, and the assassins of the Fog Kingdom would no longer come.

And… nothing was left.

Even though the life of a priest is to come empty-handed and leave empty-handed, it was a difficult task to bury everything under the tomb and start from the beginning.

So Zenis didn’t know where he should go.

And,

“Let’s find it together.”

Suddenly, warmth was felt.

When Zenis looked in surprise, Hannibal’s small hand was carefully holding Zenis’s pinky finger.

“We’re still young.”

“…….”

“Let’s sing together, get a job, travel… and donate too.”

Hannibal smiled shyly, but brightly.

“Let’s live like that.”

“…….”

Zenis was silent for a long time, then,

“……Okay, let’s live.”

Slowly lowering his head, he touched Hannibal’s forehead with his own.

And he whispered with as much warmth as possible.

“Let’s live together, my son.”

The still awkward father and son sat there for a long time.

Basking in the scorching sun, listening to the cicadas chirping in the distance, and feeling the hot wind.

Talking about the future they would share.

And so, summer was beginning.

***

[STAGE 31 – CLEAR!]

[STAGE MVP – Ash(EX)]

[Level Up Characters]

– Ash(EX) and 50 others

[Deceased Characters]

– None

[Injured Characters]

– Mikhail(SSR) and 30 others

[Acquired Items]

– Oldest Scarecrow Magic Core(SSR) : 1

– Scarecrow Legion Magic Stone : 211

[Stage clear rewards have been paid. Please check your inventory.]

– SSR Grade Reward Box : 1

>> Get Ready For The Next STAGE

>> [Next STAGE : Impregnable]