The scent of medicinal herbs mingled with the stench of bandages caked in blood, stinging my nostrils.
The all-too-familiar smell unique to hospitals.
A place I'd frequented like my own home, so familiar it was beyond words.
I stared up at the ceiling before closing my eyes.
My memories were hazy.
The last thing I remembered was stabbing the beast with a black wave. After that, my vision had gone dark.
Did she notice my subtle reaction?
Rie, who had stayed by my side all night and woken in a daze, gave a faint smile.
The empty sleeve of her left arm fluttered.
Even after losing her left arm, she was still alive.
"Captain, you're awake?"
"How many days has it been?"
"About half a month. Even so, isn't this a bit too late to wake up?"
"The subjugation battle..."
Rie gave an awkward smile.
She hesitated, as if pondering the best response, before finally speaking.
Her reaction was one of disbelief, even for herself.
"...We won. I only heard about it secondhand, so I don't know the details, but they say you pierced the heavens? Anyway, it ended right after that."
She revealed that even she hadn't woken until a week after the battle concluded.
Only through her bewildered reaction could I finally confirm it.
That we had subjugated the first Great Beast, Ereveon.
The obsession that had gripped my mind loosened just a fraction.
Relief at having liberated the Northern Frontline mixed with irritation that the Southern Kingdom Alliance, the eastern cult, and the Red Star still remained.
After subjugating the first Great Beast, the threats left on the continent no longer felt like despair to me, but mere annoyances. Was that fortunate, at least?
Eight years ago, I'd been powerless, forced to the Northern Frontline. Now, the biggest difference was that I had power.
With a slightly lighter heart, I let out a soft breath.
"You really worked hard, Rie."
"I didn't do much. This is all your achievement, Captain."
I wanted to deny those words.
I already knew that the reason I'd survived here until now wasn't because I was all that great.
I owed my life to the people on the frontline, and I'd clung to it at the cost of others' lives.
I still remembered the faces of those who had saved me, who had kept me alive.
I recalled Crim, who had guided the clumsy me.
I still faced the comrades who had fought alongside me and fallen before me.
Could I have survived this long without them?
"No."
I knew that wasn't true.
"...Captain?"
"It would have been impossible without you all. Thank you."
I murmured softly, gazing at my unmoving limbs.
That voice had, unbeknownst to me, edged close to a sob.
"...Really."
I hadn't even cried when Crim died.
My friends from training, my comrades who crossed the line of death back-to-back, my superiors who led the charge to save lives.
Even as they all fell, I hadn't cried.
Only now did I understand why I couldn't cry.
"Thank you. Truly."
I had held back my tears.
To repay their deaths with this victory.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Two months later, I had recovered enough to move.
Not fully, so I still needed walking aids.
The Wave Resonance that had instantly killed Ereveon had placed that much strain on my body.
I quietly approached Lady Freya Nordelheim.
"Are you feeling a bit better?"
Lady Freya was gazing intently at the grave of the family head, Baldir Nordelheim.
The supreme commander had lost his life to the great beast just before Ereveon was subjugated.
Lady Freya turned to me with a faint smile.
A white flower was clutched in her hand.
"Thank you for fulfilling my father's long-cherished wish. Without you, our benefactor, the Northern Frontline would never have been liberated in his lifetime."
The lady performed a formal bow of utmost respect.
"As the next head of House Nordelheim, I offer you my deepest gratitude."
"Without you and the supreme commander, victory on the battlefield would have been impossible."
Freya smiled faintly.
"I'm always grateful to you, Ian. I don't know how to repay this grace... Tell me what you desire. As the next head of Nordelheim, I will grant your wish."
I saw not the spirited girl, but the dignified demeanor of a family head.
People always change.
They never stop in one place, always moving forward, evolving.
That change itself holds the potential for humans to exist as people and grow further.
"My wish—"
Thus, what I wanted was no longer just my own self-preservation.
"Is for you to stop bearing the weight of the dead soldiers. For House Nordelheim, which has lived as the Empire's shield for over 400 years, to be freed from all duties and obligations. That is the one and only thing I wish for you."
I had received much help from Freya.
I didn't want to see her wear such a sad expression.
"I'll bear the weight of the dead."
I gripped Freya's hand tightly.
"Lady Freya. So this isn't your responsibility."
Freya burst into tears.
I silently accepted her grief.
Just as she had once quietly healed my scars.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
For the first time, peace came to the Northern Frontline, where battles against monsters and Great Beasts had raged without end.
With the subjugation of the first Great Beast, the monsters and Great Beasts had vanished.
Three more months passed.
As the survivors' bodies nearly fully recovered, an unprecedented festival commemorated the peace after 400 years and honored the dead.
Paper lanterns hung low atop the walls dyed the night sky.
The fortress interior, once stained with the reek of blood, was filled once more with people's voices after so long.
In front of the monument at the plaza's center, soldiers and citizens bowed their heads one after another.
The black-draped marble slab was densely engraved with the names of those who never returned that day.
Their number was beyond counting, and not one name was meaningless.
Incense and flowers wafted on the gentle breeze.
The priest paused in silent prayer, and all followed, bowing their heads.
Some sobbed quietly, others stood still with hands clasped.
One paper lantern rose into the sky on the wind.
Someone lit the flame, and soon dozens, hundreds of lanterns drifted from the plaza into the darkness.
It was as if the souls of the dead were ascending to the heavens.
In that moment, no words or music were needed in the plaza.
Irena and I quietly watched the scene.
In the serene silence, she slowly spoke.
"...This might be the quietest night ever."
No clashing steel echoed from the frontline, no soldiers' death cries.
Irena tilted her glass.
Her cheeks were flushed red.
"Thanks for keeping your promise. A bit disappointing we couldn't finish it together, though."
"What are you talking about? This was finishing it together. Without the people who bought time, killing it would have been impossible."
Moments later, the bells tolled at last, and the banquet began.
Limping to the platform, Franz Eldin raised his glass high, leaning on his cane.
"To everyone. To this night without monsters."
People raised their glasses, laughing and toasting.
They sang with grief buried deep, and laughed.
All those emotions were genuine.
The first night without Great Beasts in 400 years had arrived.
The night sky, freed from the shadow of monsters, was filled with stars once more.
The clink of glasses, the sound of instruments, dances under the lanterns.
The sorrow hadn't fully vanished, but the small peace blooming atop it wrapped this night firmly, unyieldingly.
For now, I set aside thoughts of the Southern Kingdom Alliance, the eastern cult, and the Red Star in the capital.
Irena, tilting her glass with me on the terrace, whispered.
"Hey, Ian."
Irena had always repeated her regrets.
Would it have been okay if she'd done that?
If she'd acted differently then, could people have been saved?
Even knowing it couldn't be repeated, even realizing perfection was never granted to humans.
She sank endlessly into the cycle of regret and self-loathing.
But now, for the first time, Irena didn't regret her choice.
Even if given the chance to relive her life countless times, she would make the same choice again.
So Irena thought.
"Meeting you was the greatest luck of my life."
Irena leaning her head toward me happened in an instant.
She smiled shyly.
"Thank you."
What kind of face was I making right now?
One thing was certain—my face was flushing red as if it might burst.