Chapter 360

Nebula Clasier.
It’s been more than a decade since the great evil that threatened to destroy the world was vanquished.
At one point, more than half the world was destroyed, but time has slowly reversed the damage.
Collapsed towns and cities rose to their feet, and giant trees sprouted once again in the fields that had been covered in corpses.
When the laughter of children became louder than the hymns that had been playing in their homes, people realized that the world as they knew it had returned.
However, the playback wasn’t always great.
The forces that had been united against the common enemy of Nebula Clazier also slowly dispersed.
Those whose lives were not immediately threatened returned to fighting for wealth, land, and other interests.
One by one, the shadowy predators began to express their ambitions.
The undead legions from the south were one of them.
“Yahhh! R-Run away!”
“Put the women and children in the wagons first!”
Despair reigned under the black sky.
The villagers were fleeing, abandoning their homes and livestock, their only possessions.
The chief, scouting the other side of the evacuation route with a telescope, lamented.
“——God.”
An army of the dead was coming.
The wind blowing toward the village smelled of rotting corpses.
The undead that covered the field were so numerous that they looked more like a mass of color than individuals.
“A bunch.
The chief, calculating the speed of the undead, chewed on his lower lip.
I ran the math over and over again, but the result was the same.
The pace of the villagers was much slower than the undead, who marched on without regard for rivers or valleys.
At this rate, we’ll catch up in 30 minutes at most.
No matter how lucky they were, only the lucky few were destined to survive.
When the chief cursed his own incompetence.
“Seconds, Chief, to the sky, to the sky!”
“Sky?
Suddenly, screams erupted from the residents.
I asked what was going on, but the young man who yelled at me was white as a sheet and pointing at the sky.
Is there anything more surprising in this situation?
The chief froze, his gaze following his finger.
“——dragon?”
****
The sky was high.
Aboard the Orse, Ronan and his crew were over the south in just a few hours.
Lance, who had been holding the equivalent poem, opened his mouth in admiration.
“Wow—.”
It was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
With each flap of its four wings, clouds and star clusters disappeared behind its back.
Sechika smirked, overly excited.
“What do you think, is my uncle great?”
“Yeah. Really.”
She had flown in an Orse when she was a snot-nosed dog.
Lance was so excited that he didn’t even realize he’d been secretly crossing his arms earlier.
Sechika leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Woohoo, I knew you’d like that.”
“I never knew the sky was so high—.”
Still, Lance didn’t notice.
Normally, I would have gotten it off with a match, but the exhilaration of flying is not something you can shake off easily.
A wicked grin tugged at the corners of Sechika’s mouth.
“Boys will be boys.
It had been planned since I was told I was going to ride with Uncle Orse.
He would stay up late at night, pestering his mom, and grooming himself in a way that looked like he wasn’t.
– Moms. Should I tie my hair up or let it down? Don’t guys usually like the nape of their neck exposed more?
– You’re both beautiful, so let’s go to sleep, Secchika. You’re the stronger of the two of us, but if you push me—No, don’t you think it’s enough? Didn’t I tell you how I seduced your father?
– Mom. Honestly, that was a crime.
It didn’t really help much.
Marja was never good at relationship counseling.
Sechika wanted to be a romantic woman like her Uncle Schlieffen, rather than achieve love through force.
She glanced sideways at Lance and muttered to herself.
“Your shoulders are much broader now—.”
Lance was a man.
I realized this when I went on a school trip to Adren.
I’m at the age where I’m starting to see secondary sexual characteristics, so I definitely feel my body is stronger than before.
Seeing that he was still standing still, I thought I could be a little bolder.
She was about to wrap her left arm around Lance’s waist.
“Brother. Erin’s cold.”
“Huh?”
Erin suddenly appeared and hugged Lance from behind.
Originally, Ronan was held tightly during the flight because he was in danger, but he escaped by force when he saw Sechika’s maneuvering.
Lance, suddenly realizing that the distance between him and Sechika had closed, backed away in anger.
“What, what, when did you get this close?!”
“Ahhhhh–somehow.”
Sechika scratched the back of his head in disbelief.
I never thought I’d be so lucky as to interject now.
She shook off her disappointment and looked at Erin and smiled.
“Are you cold Erin, do you want me to give you a warm hug?”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“Sechika’s head is pressed against her chest. I like you.”
With those words, Erin burrowed into her brother’s arms.
His eyes, narrowed like those of a cranky cat, opened as if for the first time since Lance patted him on the head.
“Hee hee, big brother.”
“You’re too old for this. You’re in danger, so sit down and behave.”
“Yeah! I’ll be quiet.”
“—Cheat.”
Sechika arched an eyebrow at the unnecessary condescension.
It feels deliberate, but maybe it’s just my mood?
She was in the middle of a rant.
“Voila, you’re here.”
“What?”
Ronan clicked his tongue.
His eyes were fixed on the ground.
Looking down, Sechika gulped.
In the distance, beneath the clouds, an unfathomable number of undead covered the river mountains.
“Oh my God—!”
“Hey, what’s all that?”
Lance and Erin were also stunned.
The corpses, both animal and human, that they devoured reminded me of army ants in the jungle.
Of course, those were much uglier.
Ronan cursed as he watched the march of the dead.
“You’re going to fry them in this shit, you saved the world, and then you screwed it up again. We should rip all their heads off and marinate them in it.”
“Ro, Uncle Ronan?”
Cechika panicked.
At first, I thought it was someone other than Ronan.
It was the kind of thick, crude swearing you’d expect from a small-town mercenary.
“Uh–you’re a pretty good bather, huh?”
“I’m sorry, kids, but if you don’t curse at that, I used to work in the temple, and every time I see something like that, I’m sorry I quit smoking.”
“Wow, did you used to smoke?”
It was a shock to Sechika, who didn’t know Ronan’s past.
Anticipating his father’s radicalization, Lance had already covered both of his sister’s ears.
“Hey, brother. What did your dad just say, huh?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Oooh, where is that? Erin needs to know!”
Erin whimpered that she hadn’t heard correctly, but Lance didn’t loosen his grip.
She had only known her father as a loving man, and what she heard would shock her.
“Orse. Where’s Asel? He’s not the kind of man to leave you like that.”
[I don’t know. I’m pretty sure he said he’d wait at this point].
“But why isn’t it there, you little bastard, surely it hasn’t been eaten?”
“What, what?!”
Cechika was stunned.
It wasn’t something you’d say in front of a party’s daughter.
Ronan, realizing his mistake in hindsight, tapped her on the shoulder and said.
“Ike, I’m sorry. He’s got too much going for him to be called a dirtbag. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, a handsome face, five kids, and surprisingly good at being a man—”
“That’s not the problem! I mean, could my dad really have been eaten?”
“What, that was the problem? What am I?”
Ronan laughed in disbelief.
Just as Lance doesn’t know much about his past, this girl doesn’t seem to know much about her father.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to look seriously scared.
“Don’t worry, Cechika. I could take ten times that many and he wouldn’t get eaten.”
“Ooh, my dad’s that hard? Even if he is, he’s ten times—.”
“Okay. Now think about what this dragon calls him.”
An unprecedented killing machine sanctioned by the Demon Dragon.
Suddenly, Ronan realized that time was a cruel thing.
I can’t believe that Asel is treated like this, and he’s not some kind of cool wizard.
But no matter how many people around him proclaimed him to be a great wizard, at home he was just a commoner.
“By the way, that’s really gross and I can’t stand it.”
Ronan frowned suddenly.
I could smell the rotting corpse from earlier and it made my nose hurt.
Originally, I was going to find the undead and then drop down, but I realized I needed to change my plan.
“Son. Do you remember what your dad told you?”
“Yes?”
“Why, you know what I said in front of the memorial. Didn’t I tell you that war is like a thing?”
“Uh–some shit.”
“That’s right, you definitely take after your mom and have a good head on your shoulders. From now on, Dad’s going to clean up dog poop.”
What an apt analogy.
Ronan stroked the hilt of the sword at his waist.
In the past, it was known as lamancha.
Now the holy sword, which was imbued with the spirit of Lin, was vibrating as if demanding to be released.
“You’re on a field trip, so just stay here and behave, because if you follow or do anything stupid, I’ll report it to your mom. You’re going to get married and have a family one day, and you don’t want your wife-to-be making fun of you for having such a big ass.”
“Hic—!”
Lance and Erin’s faces went white.
Adeshan was a very good mother, but when she got angry, which was very occasionally, she became more frightening than anyone else.
Lance, who clenched his hips reflexively, nodded quickly.
Sechika giggled.
“I don’t mind having a big ass—can I go anyway, Uncle?”
“No way, you’re going to tell Marja all about it.”
“Hing—.”
Eventually, all three became depressed.
It was a shame to see them sagging, but I had no choice.
They were too much for the little guys who didn’t even have hair yet.
Ronan’s chuckle turned serious.
“Then do me a favor. Orse.”
“Wait a minute. How are you going to go… Grrr! It’s dangerous!”
Before Lance could say anything.
Ronan, timing the flapping of his wings, flung himself toward the ground.
Erin and Sechika screamed after her.
“Ah, Daddy!”
“Uncle Ronan!”
The cries fell on deaf ears.
Ronan’s figure quickly became a tiny dot and disappeared.
Orse growled as he listened to the children’s trio.
【It’s noisy. Be quiet.】
“But if you fall from this height—!”
[You really don’t know anything, that monster must be pretty tough on his children].
“A monster?”
Orsay didn’t answer.
It wasn’t worth the question.
He remembered all the adventures he and Ronan had had together.
Aurora Skar in full glory.
The struggle in Adren to stop the mad dragon king.
With Ronan on his back, dodging spears of light raining down like meteors, the day was bloodier than ever.
I still get shivers when I think back to the moment Ronan slit Duaru’s throat.
[I miss that. I miss that.]
Orse snorted.
At that moment, Ronan, who had landed on the ground, yanked on the hilt of his sword.
Chaaaahhhhh-!
The blade drew out soundlessly, tracing an arc, and a red crescent moon rose in the center of the army of the dead.