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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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[I’m sorry. You got hurt because of me… ]
The memory began with Dagran and Reina’s first encounter – their fateful meeting, where Reina was injured protecting Dagran.
The audience experienced the budding affection and subtle shifts in their relationship, thanks to Elena’s “Illusion” and “Hypersensitivity” inscriptions, which allowed them to feel the emotions embedded within the memories.
[I will make you smile, no matter what!!!]
The memory progressed, showing Dagran and Reina living together.
Dagran tirelessly worked to awaken Reina’s emotions, while Reina remained skeptical.
His efforts seemed futile.
How could he possibly change someone born without the capacity to feel?
But Dagran persisted. He created a device that visualized emotions, proving to Reina that she did have feelings, even if she couldn’t perceive them.
When she dismissed them as meaningless byproducts, he crafted the holy sword, “Guide of Emotions,” allowing her to channel those emotions into energy.
And when Reina wielded the sword, infused with her own emotions, she realized their intensity.
She could feel, even if she couldn’t express it.
[…It seems… I love you.]
Reina finally understood love…the overwhelming desire to protect the dwarf who had saved her, the strange feeling of shared joy and pain.
She accepted her love for Dagran and began their relationship.
“Ah…”
The dwarves in the audience wiped away tears, moved by the love story of their beloved Dagran and the human knight.
[When you’re in pain… I’m in pain too.]
[Can you see my heart?]
Seeing the golden haze emanating from Reina in the memory…
Everyone was captivated.
Her love for Dagran was genuine. The dwarves felt a fondness for Reina.
This beautiful human woman had truly loved the dwarf they respected and admired.
Dagran had been happy, loved by her.
[A large-scale monster attack!]
But then, the day of the attack arrived, and everyone’s faces hardened.
The day that had shattered their perfect love.
-Crack!
The screen went blank.
The memory playback stopped.
The dwarves, immersed in the story, murmured in confusion.
Ed stepped onto the stage.
“Yes, I apologize for the interruption. But this is necessary to reveal the full truth.”
He pointed to Croto and his companions, who sat frozen, their eyes unfocused.
They were trapped in Elena’s spell, their memories being extracted…the memories of that fateful day.
“To uncover the whole truth, we will show you Reina’s memories and their memories, chronologically edited. Professor.”
Ed looked at Elena, who nodded.
She extracted specific memories from Croto and his men and stored them in a magic sphere, which she handed to Ed.
Ed connected the sphere to the projector. Croto’s memories began to play.
[Aaaaagh!!!]
The memory began with the monster invasion – the chaotic, brutal scene unfolding before their eyes.
[Pour the oil! Load the fire arrows!]
The border guards stood their ground, bravely fighting under Dagran’s command.
[Kyaaaaaaa─!]
But the tide turned when the Ekayan appeared, the Shadow Forest’s most powerful monster, infused with demonic energy.
Its acid carried parasites that burrowed into the brains of its victims, turning them into zombies.
The infection spread rapidly, creating chaos.
[Retreat to the third defense line!]
Dagran ordered a retreat.
But he refused to let the Ekayan reach the kingdom.
He announced his intention to hold the line and detonate the explosives, sacrificing himself to stop the monster.
The other dwarves, inspired by his courage, vowed to fight alongside him.
“Ah…!”
“Dagran!”
“As expected of you…”
The dwarves in the audience wept, seeing the true Dagran, the courageous leader they remembered.
[Damn it! I’m an Imperial knight! Why should I protect your kingdom?!]
But Croto had other plans.
The cowardly knight, who had deserted his post before, was already thinking of escape.
[Are you not knights? Your duty is to protect us. Fight to the end.]
Dagran ordered them to fight, to uphold their honor as warriors and knights.
[Damn it! I’m not dying here!]
But Dagran’s words backfired.
Croto and his men pretended to obey, but they secretly plotted.
[If that dwarf’s suicide plan works, we’re all dead! We have to stop him!]
They sabotaged the “Explosion Inscription,” the core of Dagran’s plan.
They killed the dwarf operating the inscription and fled through the only escape route, sealing the exit behind them.
“Those bastards!”
“H-How could they?! Such a despicable act!”
“We must tear them apart!”
The dwarves in the audience roared with fury, their hands reaching for their weapons.
They wanted to rip Croto and his men to shreds.
-Crack!
The perspective shifted to Reina.
[No… Dagran… My Dagran… I can’t live without you─Ugh!]
Reina, having received Dagran’s letter, was rushing to save him.
But being four months pregnant, she was in no condition to fight.
She collapsed, overcome by morning sickness.
[Ugh… Ugh…]
Realizing she couldn’t defy her husband’s wishes, she wept.
The audience wept with her, feeling her anguish.
-Crack!
The scene changed again.
Croto and his men were running towards the underground tunnel.
They killed the dwarf guarding the entrance, activated the control panel, and smashed it, preventing anyone else from using it.
They entered the tunnel and sealed the entrance from the inside.
[We’re alive! Damn it! We made it!]
The memory of their vile act played out before the dwarves, their fists clenching, some gasping for air, overwhelmed by rage.
That tunnel was meant for the civilian dwarves, the families the border guards had sworn to protect.
-Crack!
The scene returned to Reina.
[You bastards!]
Reina saw the destroyed control panel and the guard’s body and realizing what had happened.
[Graaaaagh!]
But there was no time for vengeance.
The monsters, having breached the defenses, were attacking the survivors.
Among them, she saw Dagran, fighting alongside the remaining border guards.
[Dagran!]
They were reunited.
If Croto and his men had opened the tunnel, they could have all survived.
[Absolutely not! Don’t open it! They’ll hold us accountable! We’ll be executed!]
But they refused to open the tunnel, prioritizing their own safety.
Civilian dwarves were slaughtered and their bodies were infected by the Ekayan’s acid.
And then…
[Ugh!]
Dagran, protecting Reina, was hit by the Ekayan’s acid.
[It-It’s… n-not your… f-fault… I-I… l-loved you… truly…]
Dagran, on the verge of turning into a zombie, took his own life.
Reina tried desperately to heal him, but she understood his wish – he didn’t want to become a monster and attack her.
She let him go.
“Those… those bastards…”
“Ah… Aaaaagh…”
“Dagran… Dagran…”
The dwarves witnessed the truth of Dagran’s death.
He wasn’t a coward who had given up on life, but a brave warrior and a loving husband who had protected his wife until the end.
[Aaaaaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaagh! Aaaaagh…]
Reina screamed, her body radiating an aura of pure hatred and resentment.
She hadn’t been driven mad by a monster, but by grief and the desire for revenge.
[Aaaaaaaaagh!!!]
Having lost her child, consumed by rage, she fought the monsters, her hatred fueling her power.
She slaughtered thousands, finally avenging Dagran by slaying the Ekayan, a creature even Swordmasters struggled against.
[Grrrr… Grrrr…]
But the victory came at a cost.
She had lost her sanity, becoming a mindless killing machine.
She should have destroyed the tunnel and punished Croto and his men, but her rage had consumed her.
[Graaaaaaaah!]
She turned her fury on the fleeing monsters and the zombified dwarves.
“R-Reina…”
The dwarves finally understood.
Reina hadn’t massacred her people.
She had given them peace, releasing them from their monstrous existence.
She had the power to kill the Ekayan, but when the reinforcements arrived, she hadn’t attacked them.
She had simply raged, her hatred remained unquenched, until her life force gave out.
‘Dagran…’
As her madness faded, she whispered her husband’s name.
Her emotions and memories flooded the audience, revealing the depth of her ‘grudge’, her all-consuming resentment.
‘I’m sorry… I couldn’t… avenge you…’
Her final words. Her regret, her burning hatred, her lingering attachment… these had corrupted the holy sword, turning it into a demonic blade.
The memory playback ended.
“……”
Silence.
The dwarves’ eyes were red with tears and rage.
Their fury was focused on Croto and his men. They wanted to tear them apart, make them suffer.
“Please wait a moment.”
As they surged forward, Ed stepped onto the stage. He glanced at Isabella, waiting backstage, then addressed the dwarves.
“The right to take their lives… doesn’t belong to you.”
He opened the glass case, drew the holy sword, and knelt, presenting it with both hands.
-Click. Click.
A woman stepped onto the stage. The dwarves gasped, frozen in shock.
The dignified gait, the flowing blonde hair…
Reina, in all her former glory, stood before them.
Ed raised the sword.
“Reina Andriel, the time has come to reclaim your tarnished honor and reveal the hidden truth. I present to you this holy sword, to deliver justice to your old enemies.”
Reina, dressed in her knight’s regalia, reached out and grasped the hilt of the “Guide of Emotions.”
She raised the sword, pointing it at Croto and his men.
-Whoosh!
A brilliant golden haze erupted from her, the warm color of love, the same aura she had radiated when protecting her husband.
“Croto, Egua, Arzier. I will punish you for your crimes.”
And she stood there, the noble knight who had slain the ancient nightmare, the Bayater, the hero the dwarves had once revered.
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Debt is long overdue. Execute them.
How was she resurrected tho?
Thanks!
Sensei reconstructed her body with what little remained of her + the memories they saw of her. Then, Isabella did some soul fuckery, but imo probably just collected the negative emotions that remained of her, as it’s her family’s specialty.