Whoosh! A small Fire Seed appeared, like a campfire being lit, and with it emerged a brown-haired girl. Strangely, the girl was clutching a worn-looking wooden sword as if it were a treasure. Raon swallowed dryly as he looked at the child floating like a cloud.
'Is that child Sia...'
Since Sia would have been much younger when she donned the Green King's helmet than she is now, it wasn't particularly strange for her soul to appear as a young girl.
'Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be injured.'
Whether Murkada had protected her well or not, there wasn't even a small scratch visible on Sia's soul. Whoosh! As Raon exhaled in relief and tried to approach Sia, the black ashes left by Murkada's soul swirled around her and himself.
'This is...'
As he wondered if he should stop it, he felt the warmth that Murkada had shown from the black ashes. Thinking that his actions must have meaning, he lowered his hand. Whoosh. As Murkada's black ashes carefully seeped into Sia, a vivid and deep red light surged from her, like Fighting Spirit.
"Ah..."
Raon saw the meeting of the two in the light where Murkada and Sia's souls intersected.
[Mom! Dad!]
Young Sia searched for Sylvia and Edgar in the mental world that existed alone. The small hut visible behind her, the steaming food, and the lush greenery and trees indicated that she had spent a happy childhood.
[Where are you!]
Sia called out for Sylvia and Edgar as if she thought she was in reality, sitting down. Of course, the two didn't appear. Before long, the food had grown cold, the bushes and trees had withered and fallen, and gray snow had piled up on the hut. Sia's feelings of despair had affected the mental world.
[Sniff...]
Sia seemed to realize that crying was useless, so she stopped her tears and stood up. She didn't eat the food or enter the hut. What Sia reached for was the old wooden sword stuck between the firewood. She gripped the wooden sword, which looked like the one Edgar had used, and struck the air.
[Dad...]
There was no strength, the speed was slow, and the form was off, but it was clearly Edgar's Mystic Soul Sword. Sia seemed to be trying to overcome her fear by imitating Edgar's swordsmanship. It was something difficult to imagine for an ordinary young girl. Now it felt like she was truly the daughter of Sylvia and Edgar. Whoosh!
It was when Sia's mind was growing and the forest was trying to regain its greenness. A huge crack opened in her mental world, and another mental world invaded. It was Murkada's blackened dead forest. Crash!
The powerful wave created by the collision of the two mental worlds crumbled the hut and forest in Sia's mental image like dried leaves.
This phenomenon occurred because the realm of Murkada's soul was overwhelmingly larger. Crackle! Like an elephant and an ant. No, due to an even greater difference in power, Sia's mental image began to be sucked into Murkada's.
Murkada approached Sia with blazing red eyes. He exhaled a breath mixed with the scent of blood, revealing the despair and anger he felt when he was betrayed and killed by humans.
[Ah...]
Sia collapsed on the spot, unable to breathe properly, seemingly terrified by Murka's Killing Intent.
[Human!]
Murka gripped his stone sword more tightly, as if recalling Essian's childhood through Sia. Sadness and despair seemed to bloom in his trembling eyes. Rumble!
Murka raised the stone sword above his head. Even a light strike would turn Sia into a splatter of blood, but he just stared at her with gritted teeth.
[Ugh...]
Before long, what reflected in Murkada's eyes was not anger towards Essian, but concern for the tribal children he had sent away at the end. Eventually, Murkada carefully lowered the stone sword without giving in to anger. What he chose was not desperate revenge against humans, but tolerance.
[You too must be a sacrifice for those demons.]
Murka bit his lip until it bled, pushing away the despair and anger trying to dominate his mind.
[If I kill you, I'd be no different from those beasts.]
He forgave the malice of humans and prayed to the gods of nature, hoping that the young tribe members would survive well.
[Huhh...]
Sia, realizing that Murkada's Killing Intent had disappeared, clutched her chest and exhaled a turbid breath.
[What is your name?]
Murkada knelt down to meet Sia's eye level.
[S-Sia.]
Sia revealed her name, feeling that Murkada's gaze had become warm.
[How did you come here?]
[I-I don't know. I was with my dad, and then strange people wearing helmets flew in and...]
She bit her lip, saying she had no memory after that.
[Where is this? Where are my dad and mom?]
[It's hell.]
[T-Then does that mean I can't see mom and dad anymore?]
Sia seemed to know about hell as she clasped her hands together and her eyes welled up with tears.
[No, that's not it...]
Murkada stumbled over his words, seemingly flustered by Sia's tears.
[Let me explain properly. This place is...]
It was when he was about to explain to Sia again. Crack! Sia's mental world began to melt like snow in spring. If that space collapses completely, she too will disappear.
[Was this their aim?]
Murkada frowned as he watched Sia's collapsing mental image. Those strange beings with helmets must have known he wouldn't kill this child, and designed it so that the child would naturally die when the two mental images collided.
[I won't fall for your schemes.]
Murkada pounded his chest hard. He clenched his fist, vowing not to take out his malice on an innocent child.
[Sia. What is your most precious possession?]
Murkada exhaled softly, holding Sia's increasingly fading hand.
[T-This.]
Sia raised the old wooden sword she was holding.
[It's Dad's sword.]
[It's a good sword.]
Murka nodded, saying it should be fine.
[Come this way.]
He took Sia back to his own mental world. Boom! Murka struck down with his stone sword, causing a strong impact in the mental world. He endured excruciating pain, as if his soul was being torn apart, as he continued to destroy his own mental world. Crash!
Thanks to his relentless strikes with the stone sword, a hole large enough for a small child to enter finally opened in Murkada's mental image.
[Enter through here.]
Murkada told Sia to enter the hole while coughing up black blood. He looked as if his soul had suffered a great wound.
[U-Uncle. Are you okay?]
[I'm fine.]
Murkada smiled, lightly brushing off the blood that had trickled from his mouth.
[You said you wanted to meet your mom and dad, right? I'll make sure you meet them.]
He patted Sia's head as if to say not to worry.
[Uncle. What's your name?]
Sia stopped as she was about to enter the hole and looked up. Her eyes no longer trembled. They were filled with pure innocence that regarded Murkada as a fellow human.
[Murkada.]
Murkada wiped the tears from Sia's eyes as he revealed his name.
[I'm the most incompetent and stupid King in this world.]
[Wow, a King?]
[Now, go to sleep.]
As Murkada stroked Sia's forehead, she went limp as if falling into a deep sleep.
[There's no time.]
Murkada's fingertips trembled as he watched Sia's world crumble. There was no time to waste; he had to cast a Magic before that world completely shattered for this child to survive. Slash! After sealing the hole Sia had entered, Murkada turned his stone sword upside down and unhesitatingly stabbed his own stomach. Roar!
The oath Murkada made while spilling his soul's blood was that Sia's soul would be protected as long as he didn't move from this spot. And that Sia would never wake from her sleep without his acknowledgment.
Murkada thought neither of revenge against Essian nor of worry for the escaped tribe. His only thought was to save the life before him. It was a moment when his soul ascended to an even higher place.
[Phew.]
Only after confirming that Sia's soul had settled within his mental image did Murkada lower his stone sword. He smiled weakly as he packed the ground to ensure Sia wouldn't wake.
[It will probably be a long time...]
* * *
Raon bit his lip as he watched Murkada's soul circling around Sia's.
'Murkada...'
Even though he had seen it himself, he couldn't believe that an Orc who had lost his tribe due to human betrayal would trust and protect a human again. It was astonishing even to him, who had been reincarnated.
"Thank you for protecting my sister."
He bowed towards Murkada's soul. This was a gesture of praise and respect from one person to another. Whoosh! Murkada created a small resonance as if accepting the gratitude, and then enveloped Sia. Whoosh!
As the black ashes left by Murkada seeped into Sia, her appearance began to change. From a young child, through the time of a radiant young girl, she transformed into Sia's current appearance.
It seemed as if Murkada had used his own soul to nurture Sia's soul, as if keeping his promise to protect her.
"Murkada."
Raon bowed his head towards Murkada's soul, which had become faint as if about to disappear.
"If I get the chance, I'll look for your descendants and see if they're doing well."
Whoosh. Murkada's last soul fragment seeped into him as if entrusting him with a request. As he had seen and felt, it was a kinder aura than anyone else's. Whoosh!
As Murkada's presence completely disappeared, the blackened dead forest crumbled, and Sia's mental image that he had seen in the red light came back to life. A small hut and lush forest filled the grayish-white space.
Raon watched as Sia came down to the hut, and then lost consciousness.
* * *
When Raon opened his eyes again, he saw Glenn and Merlin frowning.
"Grandfather! It's my turn this time, isn't it!"
Merlin raised her chin towards Glenn.
"What nonsense are you spouting! Didn't you carry him yesterday too! And don't call me grandfather!"
Glenn frowned as he looked down at Merlin.
"What else should I call grandfather if not grandfather!"
Merlin shook her head, not backing down.
"I can't reason with you..."
"Um..."
Raon raised his hand towards Merlin and Glenn.
"Why are you fighting?"
"Huh? Raon? Why are you awake?"
Merlin gently patted his stomach, telling him to sleep more.
"Ahem..."
Glenn also let out a long, regretful cough.
-Those two. They were fighting over who would carry you on their back.
Wrath shook his head as if exasperated.
-They've been like this every day, it's so annoying!
He clicked his tongue, saying humans live such tiresome lives.
'Ah...'
Raon chuckled. Now he understood why the two had been arguing.
"Don't fight over such strange things... Hm?"
As he tried to get up while stopping the two, he felt his body was light.
'What's this?'
After Wrath's descent, he had felt tired and heavy even after sleeping, but now it felt like all that fatigue had disappeared in an instant.
-Come to think of it, you...
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at Raon.
-What did you eat by yourself!
'What are you talking about? I didn't eat anything.'
-Aren't the wounds of your soul all healed! How could that happen without eating something!
He grabbed Raon's collar, asking if he had eaten something delicious by himself again.
"Raon. What happened inside the mental image?"
Glenn's eyes widened as if he had noticed his own recovery.
'Wait. If I've changed...'
Raon looked at Sia lying on the bed. She too seemed to have properly accepted Murka's soul, emanating a composed Aura. Instead of the despair and anger of the Green King that she had shown until now, he felt the innocence of the young Sia that Murka had protected.
"Ah, the young miss's soul is growing!"
Merlin also swallowed dryly, feeling Sia's soul growing.
"This is..."
Glenn quickly turned to Raon as if seeking an answer.
"I'll tell you."
Raon nodded with a gentle smile.
"About the true King Murkada..."
* * *
Raon felt his own changes as he practiced swordsmanship behind the lake at the annex building.
'I've become stronger.'
By accepting Wrath, his physical abilities had greatly improved, and his mana circuit had expanded, increasing the speed of his aura manipulation. He thought he would experience a plateau after reaching the peak of Grandmaster, but he didn't expect to achieve growth in this way.
-Grr, this is irritating.
Wrath glared at Raon, furrowing his brow.
-How can it be that my incomplete descent has become advantageous to you! How does this happen!
He gritted his teeth, asking why Raon was always so lucky.
'I don't know either.'
Raon chuckled and shrugged. It seemed like his luck in this life was good because his Past Life had been the worst.
-Sigh, I'd rather see Murkada who has terribly bad luck instead of you. If I had known he was that kind of guy, I would have made him my subordinate...
Wrath clicked his tongue, regretting not having had more conversations with Murkada.
'Same here.'
He nodded, thinking it would have been nice to have had a little more time to talk with Murkada.
-He wasn't meant to be born an Orc. No, that would be disrespectful to him.
Wrath nodded, showing an uncharacteristic respect for a demon king.
'That's right.'
It was when Raon was about to resume his training, remembering Murkada's last moments.
"Y-Young Master!"
Helen came running, her skirt covered in dirt. She was in such a hurry that she stumbled, nearly falling, even though it was a path she always used.
"What's the rush? You can speak slowly..."
"I can't do that!"
As Raon waved his hand telling her to come slowly, Helen urgently opened her mouth.
"Madam has woken up! Along with the others!"