As Zenis was preparing to be deployed according to the plan, a young boy's voice reached him.
"Um... over there!"
When Zenis turned around, it was Hannibal.
The tousle-haired boy stood a few steps away from Zenis, unsure of what to do, fidgeting.
"..."
Zenis too seemed at a loss for words.
An awkward silence settled between the two.
After mumbling for a while, Hannibal was the first to break the silence.
"You, you can't die!"
"..."
"There's so much I want to ask you..."
Zenis, who had also been stumbling over his words, eventually smiled wryly in response.
"I won't die."
"..."
"I, too, have a lot I want to tell you."
Being both father and son, and yet not having any relationship at all.
The two looked at each other.
It was too early for any meaningful connection, their gazes awkward and premature, intersecting for who knows how long.
Zenis slowly reached out his hand, intending to gently pat Hannibal on the head.
Hannibal stared blankly at the hand before closing his eyes tightly. Zenis swallowed hard.
And just as Zenis's hand was about to touch Hannibal's head-
"Zenis!"
Ash's command echoed.
"The operation is starting! Let's go!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Zenis shouted back and gave Hannibal an awkward smile before turning to run.
Hannibal bit his lip, watching Zenis's retreating back.
"Zenis."
As Zenis ran, Ash patted his back and gestured towards the forward base.
"I'll help you to a dangerous extent, but in the end, you have to escape the fear they impose on your own."
"I understand."
"When you, captured by them, use the area healing magic in the center of the enemy lines, the allies freed from fear will simultaneously be liberated. Then, we'll rush in, regroup our forces, and take down the enemies."
Zenis did not ask how Ash intended to regroup the allies and defeat the enemies.
That was never his domain to begin with. He had no choice but to trust and leave it to Ash.
"Remember, Zenis. I planned this reckless operation to protect people."
Ash whispered, gripping Zenis's shoulder.
"And that 'people' includes you."
"..."
"Value your life as much as you value the lives of others. Understand?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zenis nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards a hole in the wall of the forward base.
"I'll go now."
And the moment Zenis, with steadfast steps, reached the wall of the forward base,
Creak, creak! Creak!
Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak!
Dozens of scarecrows, rushing in like mantises, swarmed over Zenis all at once.
His body was overwhelmed, and dozens of layers of fear pierced him. Without a chance to react, Zenis's consciousness sank helplessly into the darkness.
***
Zenis found himself standing in the tribunal.
"...Huh?"
Zenis looked around in confusion.
In the central church's tribunal, not only the high members of the church but also key figures from the imperial diplomatic department stood with grim faces.
"Completely insane, Priest Zenis."
The bishop rebuked him.
"Right now, you have forsaken not only your own life but also the potential followers from the Mist Kingdom."
"..."
"Blinded by petty personal emotions, you've overturned a greater cause! As a priest serving the Goddess, as the shadow of the Goddess! You've done what you should never have done."
"I, just..."
Just...?
He couldn't finish his sentence.
Zenis grasped his throat, but no voice came out.
"Why suffer for the rest of your life for a crime you didn't commit?"
"..."
"You'll painfully learn that what you're doing is nothing more than self-satisfaction," said the bishop.
The bishop was right.
Due to the choice made in a moment to save that child, Zenis had to live the rest of his life in terrible pain.
Subjected to insults and criticism, he wandered in exile, deserted by his comrades.
It wasn't just Zenis who suffered.
Because of his choice, the empire faced diplomatic troubles, the church's honor was tarnished, and the comrades of the Holy Knight Division were pointed fingers at for a long time.
It was purely for self-satisfaction.
Intoxicated by a momentary good will, as if he himself had become a saint.
Unthanked by the child, the child's parents, or anyone else...
A life of nothing but pain, without any reward.
An unmanageable act of kindness carried out without a plan doomed his life to ruin and plunged him into long-term agony.
Suddenly, the surroundings changed to the audience chamber of the Mist Kingdom. The king of the Mist Kingdom, with his bristly beard, was yelling and pointing.
"A foolish act of young parents who succumbed to their lust and both died! Just another common orphan found anywhere!"
It was indeed the truth.
Just another orphan. Even at this moment, countless similar children were dying somewhere in the world.
That child was just in front of him.
Just thrown into his arms.
"Are you intending to disgrace yourself to save such an orphan? A priest, engaging in inappropriate relations with a princess in the city you came to evangelize, are you going to say that about yourself?"
Zenis's lips trembled.
No, that's not it. I don't want this.
In fact, I regret it.
I truly repent for this foolish act I've committed.
So please, forgive me this once.
I won't do this again. I beg you, please...
"Let's not make the easy path difficult, Priest Zenis."
The king smiled generously and gestured.
"Give me that child. It's my daughter's child, so the ownership is mine, isn't it?"
Suddenly, the surroundings changed to a crumbling mountain lodge.
Princess Cloudy was already dead, and the newborn child in the dead princess's arms was curling up and crying.
Wah! Waaah...!
That desperate cry jumbled Zenis's thoughts. Zenis involuntarily covered his ears.
Now is the time.
If I turn back now, if I run away from here.
Then it will be as if nothing happened.
All mistakes can be corrected. Just close your eyes and turn your head once.
Zenis's steps retreated one, then two, and soon turned into a run.
Zenis fled down the steep mountains, running away from the lodge.
The child would die here. Whether from starvation, freezing, becoming prey to beasts, or perhaps being dragged before the king and killed.
So what?
Are such dying children rare in the world?
Why ruin his life over one child with whom he has no connection?
- Why no connection? We are the same, humans.
Zenis's legs tangled.
Stumbling, Zenis tumbled down the slope, rolling several times before coming to a stop below.
When his body finally stopped, Zenis was bloodied, bruised by stones and pierced by branches.
He couldn't breathe. The pain was too much to move.
Unable to scream, Zenis agonized, and the voice of a girl who had hugged him in his childhood echoed in his mind.
- So, we must save each other.
"Ugh."
Zenis staggered to his feet.
A groan, not even a word, escaped his clenched mouth like that of an animal.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh."
He knew.
The pain that awaited him. The mire his life would fall into.
Recognizing it as a foolish sacrifice that would go unnoticed and satisfy no one but himself.
But, still, even so...
...
Nevertheless.
"Aaaaaah!"
This was the life he had chosen.
At that moment, the dark clouds covering the sky of the Mist Kingdom split apart.
As the terribly ominous clouds cleared, a dazzlingly bright moonlight fell.
The moonlight brightly illuminated Zenis's path ahead. Zenis, weeping, got up and climbed the hillside he had rolled down.
Surrounding the lodge were soldiers from the Mist Kingdom in droves. Zenis pushed and threw aside the soldiers as he moved forward.
"Stop it!"
At the tip of the soldiers' spears was a child, crying in the arms of the dead princess.
Barging in, Zenis grabbed the child and cried out.
"My son... He's my son!"
***
"Huh?"
When Zenis came to, he was alone, with only a statue of the goddess standing in an empty space.
Staring blankly at it, Zenis chuckled.
"Alright. I admit it. I regretted it."
The statue of the goddess, without any interrogation or response, simply looked down at Zenis. But Zenis continued.
"I regretted saving that child."
"I should've just turned away and pretended not to know."
"Then, no one would've blamed me."
"Coming off as a good person only to return to a ruined life."
"Branded a traitor by my comrades, constantly wandering the wilderness, sending whatever little money I gathered to the child..."
"The church's people distanced themselves from me. Rumors spread, and the people in the areas I was sent to ignored me."
Zenis looked down at his worn hands.
"Why do I have to suffer like this?"
"I regretted it. I hated myself for making that choice. If only I could go back, I would."
"I'm not a saint. Just a narrow-minded man who always regretted the kindness he happened to offer..."
Zenis burst into laughter.
"Admitting it feels liberating."
The goddess statue, does not interrogate.
Does not respond.
Looking up at his silent deity, Zenis murmured.
"But now I understand. Even if that moment came again... I would save that child."
"And I would regret it for the rest of my life."
"Just such a fool, I am. Wanting to be a good person but lacking the courage to be one... just a pathetic man."
Silence followed.
Pocketing his hands and smiling bitterly, Zenis slowly raised his head to face the goddess statue again.
"So, are you satisfied now? Then move aside, you scarecrow bastard."
"The way you demons play with human hearts is all too familiar."
"Don't pretend to be someone others believe in to test the innocent, okay? Let's just have a straightforward showdown to the death."
Then,
- ...What do I look like to you?
The figure in front of Zenis changed to the bishop from the tribunal.
Zenis chuckled and said,
"A scarecrow."
- Now?
The king of the Mist Kingdom asked, stroking his beard. Zenis burst out laughing.
"A scarecrow."
- Now?
All those who had criticized Zenis's choices throughout his life were surrounding him.
Zenis shook his head as if he had seen enough.
"A scarecrow."
Then, everyone disappeared, and Princess Cloudy stood in front of him.
And the princess smiled innocently.
- Yes, Zenis. Walk the path you believe is right, together with those dear to you.
- If you truly believe that path is correct, then those who shout that it's wrong are no different from scarecrows standing by the roadside.
Zenis blinked in confusion.
"Excuse me?"
Was it a mistake?
It seemed the figure wavering before him could be seen as a princess, a scarecrow, a statue of the goddess...
Or even a woman tied to a thorn tree, burning.
The woman whispered softly,
- Be strong.
And then everything was enveloped in light.
***
"..."
Zenis opened his eyes.
His body, covered in blood, was bound by scarecrows.
And in front of him, the scarecrow legion commander was completing the harvest from the people around.
With a sinister laugh, it was absorbing power from all directions.
Seeing the pale face of the boy - Mikhail - hanging from the legion commander's chest, Zenis smirked.
"‘That moment’ has come again."
Quietly gathering divine power, Zenis muttered,
"What can I do, even if I was excommunicated, I still have... the inertia of living as a priest."
Then, with eyes wide open, he stretched out his hand forward.
"We've got to save people, damn it!"
Flash-!
Zenis's ultimate skill was activated, and the interior of the half-destroyed forward base was filled with light.
--TL Notes--
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