Instead of answering, Isaac simply stared at him.
Isaac’s gaze moved to the Knight of Death, who was leisurely watching everything as if mocking them, then he looked back at the protagonist.
The bastard was smiling.
Isaac gritted his teeth. His hand moved towards the sword, but Merlin grabbed his wrist.
"Don’t forget what you said."
Even without Merlin explaining what he meant, Isaac knew the answer.
Isaac was reminded of their past conversation.
"If I die, will you take revenge for me, Isaac?"
"I guess your silence answers enough."
"If you were to die, I would definitely take revenge. I’m a good guy, you know? I will take your money thou—"
Isaac throat constricted. The bastard was trying to send him away. Trying to protect as many people as possible until the end.
Isaac’s mana flared.
"Let go of my hand."
"Why?"
"I will help yo—"
"Don’t you have a reason why you were trying to get stronger?"
Isaac froze.
Merlin smiled.
"I know how kind you are Isaac. I’ve seen it for years. For someone like you, to not participate in the war, there has to be a reason. A reason so big that it mattered more to you than anything else."
There was a reason.
But it wasn’t noble like what Merlin seemed to be thinking.
Isaac simply hadn’t cared about anyone.
Why would he?
They would revive when he died, and time turned back.
Instead of risking his life needlessly in the war, and starting from zero again in next life, Isaac had decided to reach the next realm, so that in next life, he would know how to reach next realm.
For that, he needed to live long enough to reach next realm.
That’s why he didn’t risk his life in war.
But then—
Why now?
Why was he trying to throw his life here?
So what if Merlin died?
He would be revived again when the time turned back.
Why was Isaac so angry because Merlin would die?
His death didn’t—shouldn’t—matter.
"Let go of my hand, Merlin."
"Isaac." The protagonist looked at him calmly. "Go to the elven forest. If both us die here, the children will also die, unable to reach the elven territory."
"Merlin—"
"Go, Isaac. You still have the goal you need to achieve by getting stronger. You can’t die here."
The protagonist let go of his hand, and turned back to the Knight of Death.
"Shall we change the location?"
"Okay."
Both of their figures blurred. Winds erupted, and they were gone.
Isaac didn’t follow.
Merlin’s words kept swirling in his mind.
’Go, Isaac. You still have the goal you need to achieve by getting stronger. You can’t die here.’
His own words kept coming back to him.
’Lives don’t matter.’
’Bonds don’t matter.’
’People don’t matter.’
’I only need to live for as long as possible, and get stronger.’
Finally, Isaac lifted and looked at the children.
Then, he moved.
He guided them through the Forest of Journey’s End.
No one spoke up, except for young children crying when they became hungry.
Hours passed. By the time they reached the beginning of elven territory, a new day had begun.
Faint sunlight broke through the canopy, and landed on the group.
Behind the group were large white trees. They were White Parasitic Trees, which made up the Forest of Journey’s End.
In front of them were normal green trees.
Once they stepped into that area, there would no danger. Isaac would no longer need to guide them, and they would soon meet the elves.
The group entered the elven territory.
Isaac remained rooted at the boundary.
He stared ahead. The elves should’ve been alerted that someone entered their area. they would soon arrive.
This was Isaac’s chance to reunite with Sylvie.
Even though he had tried to not think about meeting her again, because he was felt too guilty, now that he was here, he felt an intense feeling of homesickness.
He wanted to meet his friends in the elven forest. He wanted to meet Sylvie.
He missed the honey extracted from the Golden Bees. He missed bantering with his father-in-law.
As if the floodgates had been opened, all his past memories rushed at him.
Yet, he didn’t enter the elven territory.
He turned back, looking at the direction where they had come from.
Was Merlin still alive? Was he still fighting?
Or was he dead?
Merlin was smart. If he knew he would lose, he should’ve brought time for the group to reach elven territory and then he should’ve escaped.
Maybe Isaac could still help him if he rushed back now.
He had helped the children and the adults reach the elven territory. He was no longer needed here.
Isaac looked at both directions one by one.
Should he go back to the elven territory, his home, and live a long life to get stronger?
Or should he go and fight, knowing his life would end early?
At that moment, he noticed a commotion in the group.
"Sob, sob, where is uncle Merlin. He promised he would come to see the sunrise with me!" The little girl, Lily, began to cry.
Following her, the other children also cried.
"He will come soon, Lily. For now, let’s continue moving," the caretaker said.
"No! He needs to come now! We have to see the sunrise!" Lily cried harder.
"Lily, you can watch the sunrise with him tomorrow. Sun rises every day. So, don’t cry. Uncle Merlin is busy today," another caretaker said, crouching to Lily’s eye level.
"No! Uncle Merlin said each sunrise is different! Today’s sunrise will not come tomorrow! I don’t want to miss today’s sunrise!" Lily cried.
Isaac, who heard her words, felt as if his head had been hit by a hammer.
"Each sunrise will be different, even if the sun rises every day," he muttered.
It was as if he had received the answers to the questions he had been drowning in until now.
So, what if sun rises each day?
So, what if people will be revived each time?
The days would always repeat. The sun would always rise to the horizon.
Yet, the day one would spend under that sun will never be same.
Each day would always be unique.
Even if people were revived, would they really be same?
They would not remember the life they had lived with Isaac. They would not remember the conversations they had with Isaac.
So, yes, they might be the same to themselves when time turned back.
But to Isaac, they would be different.
He finally realized why he was angry at the notion of Merlin dying.
’The Merlin I will meet in my next life won’t be the Merlin who was my stupid friend.’
"Take care of the children. The forest from hereon is safe. The elves will accept the children. If they try to refuse you adults, give them the files on Communication Technology," Isaac said.
"What do you mean—"
Isaac turned around before the caretaker finished her words.
Weapon Element empowered his body, and he ran. The ground shattered under his feet.
Winds whipped against his face. The surroundings blurred.
Isaac ran. He ran as fast as he could.
’Please.’
’Let me be on time.’
The forest thinned. The canopy disappeared, bringing along the full glow of the faint, warm sunlight of the morning.
He left the Forest of Journey’s End, and entered the normal forest of the kingdom.
The forest was quiet, as if holding silence for the mourning.
Isaac could only hear his heart ramming against his chest loudly.
He ran without caring about his exhaustion.
He found the signs of Death Elements. He followed them. The trees began to wilt as he moved closer to his destination.
Then, as the morning sunlight became too intense to be called sunrise, he found Merlin.
Blood dripped from his body.
He was missing his head.
A spear of Death Element was stabbed into his chest, pining him to the top of the only standing tree in the area.
All around, everything had wilted and died. Red Lightning—death—still danced around.
Isaac’s feet slowly came to stop before the tree.
He stared at the corpse pinned above, at the blood that was slowly dripping down.
The protagonist was dead.
He died alone, sacrificing himself for others.
Again.
...
Author’s Note:
Send Powerstones if you are enjoying the novel!