The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

60 – EP4. Crossroads of Life and Death

Feria slowly closed and opened her eyes. She was in the meeting room of the Ma Tower.

The council members were in front of her. They all wore expressions filled with slight discontent and doubt.

She sighed inwardly.

One of the council members raised his hand and spoke.

“…I think you are all aware of the current matter. The Lord of the Ma Tower has decided to end cooperation with the Royal Palace. Of course, we unconditionally follow the Lord’s opinion, but the problem is that we don’t understand why this cooperation is being terminated, or more precisely, why the Ma Tower and the Royal Palace should break ties. Therefore, we, the council members, have called this meeting to ask for the reasons.”

Feria scanned the council members. She felt a bit frustrated. What exactly should she say to explain this?

“Lord of the Ma Tower, so what is the reason for us to break ties with the Royal Palace? If there is a valid reason, we have no choice, but if there is no valid reason, we cannot comply. Honestly, you must be aware that the benefits the Royal Palace provides us are substantial.”

Feria spoke with an indifferent expression.

“…There is a reason.”

The council member looked at Feria seriously.

“Yes, can you please tell us the reason?”

They had been close to Feria, growing up with her at the Ma Tower since childhood. Therefore, when Feria became the Lord of the Ma Tower, they respected her and did not feel jealousy or rivalry, but in turn, Feria couldn’t treat them lightly. In the end, Feria had to convince them of her reasons for breaking ties with the Royal Palace.

Feria spoke up.

“Because I discovered that the Royal Palace dared to place a spy within the Ma Tower.”

At this statement, the expressions of the council members changed. It was natural. Although the Ma Tower was involved in politics and had the power to interfere in politics, it deliberately kept its distance from politics. When the first Saint’s fellow magician, who was a member of the Ma Tower when the Empire of the Phoenix collapsed, saw that some magicians who were involved in politics were corrupt, he did not like it. He passed on the lesson to rebuild the Ma Tower and keep its distance from politics.

However, if those involved in Royal Palace politics interfered with the Ma Tower first, the situation changed.

“…They dared to place a spy within the Ma Tower? Who… No, I can tell without looking.”

“Is it Mei…? Dared to…!”

The council members remembered a member of the Ma Tower who had disappeared a while ago.

“…Could it be that the one who disappeared recently was a spy from the Royal Palace…? How about dealing with it?”

“There is no need to deal with it. She already burned all the information she had and disappeared outside the Empire. The important thing is that the Royal Palace attempted to interfere with the Ma Tower.”

Feria explained persuasively why she had decided to break ties with the Royal Palace.

Feria twisted a bitter smile. She had considered her entire life to be useless, but it had become a valuable tool in the end.

“It is of great significance that the palace is trying to interfere with the Mausoleum. For now, it may only involve extracting information through concubines, but in the future, they might exert direct pressure. The Mausoleum must resist such interference.”

One of the senior officials raised his hand hesitantly.

“Yes, that’s true. But won’t openly challenging the palace like this put us at risk of a full-scale confrontation?”

Feria replied with a composed expression.

“Well, fortunately for us and unfortunately for them, the Church’s ‘opposition’ is on our side.”

“‘Opposition’ from the Church…!”

“Yes, the Saint will stand by us. The Church won’t dare to meddle recklessly.”

At this, one of the senior officials spoke with a grave expression.

“…So, how long do we have to maintain this situation?”

Feria smiled outwardly and said,

“…Until we can take a proper stance in the palace.”

Within, until all those who had interacted with her and him were gone.

Feria took a seat. The room carried the scent of musty books, once used by her stepfather and now her inherited Mausoleum chamber.

She scratched her head lightly.

She had spent a lot of time in this room and had longed for it just as much.

She had been delighted to inherit this position as the Mausoleum’s High Priestess as a sorceress.

But why did this coveted position feel so humble now?

She had nothing. No family, no faith, no love. All she had was a slightly superior intellect and an overconfidence in her abilities.

Even though she had finally discovered her enemy, she had no power to bring him down all at once. She lacked the courage to rush to him and apologize for what she had done. She chuckled with self-pity.

All she could do was to threaten her enemy by writing in this room and demand their cooperation. She had never felt so powerless.

The image of him rescuing her, the way he had been driven away as a criminal, was vividly etched in one corner of her mind.

She had believed in the lies she had fabricated to drive him away, thinking that what she saw and heard was the truth, and she had acted arrogantly.

With no knowledge and nothing to offer, she felt a sense of worthlessness that she had never experienced before.

As she took out a fragment of the Holy Sword, her heart stung just by bringing it out. It was the last trace left by the angel who had been driven away with nothing.

If the Holy Sword had not been broken, she might not have treated him so ruthlessly. But the Holy Sword was shattered, and that fact couldn’t be changed. It was now impossible to turn back time and undo what had been done.

She briefly pondered why the Holy Sword had shattered. Was it true that the angel had conspired with the demons? Did the sacred deity’s gift, the sword, break due to the owner’s wickedness, and then pass on the records to her?

The truth that this fragment had brought to her was unbearable not only to her but to everyone. Well, perhaps only the angel himself could bear it. No, he might not even have been able to endure it.

As she thought about it, her mind finally reached the saint who had gone to meet the angel.

Had Seyn met him well? What had happened? Had she had the courage to apologize to him?

As she entertained such thoughts, she once again reflected on her own pitiful self. She couldn’t even muster the courage to meet him, let alone apologize.

She began to reinterpret the records of the Holy Sword in his place. Unable to apologize to him, she decided to look at the records he had experienced with her own eyes.

Even if her heart felt like it was tearing apart with pain, she had a duty to see it through to the end. She had a responsibility. If she had pushed away the one who had saved her, at the very least, she should see it through to make a judgment.

She gazed at the characters rising into the air and continued to decipher them.

And a few days later, Matap increased the pressure on the Imperial Palace, and the Pope tried to mediate as favorably as possible for the Imperial Palace, but the Holy Maiden prevented it. In addition to many diplomatic challenges, the sudden aftermath with the Count Serindel’s death. The Emperor was on the verge of madness.

And in such a situation, the comrades of the hero gathered once again. The reason was always the same, even if one seat was empty. To see the records left by the hero.

Lena’s complexion had not been good from the start. She had not yet received the grace of Angel, but that’s why she was even more afraid of the records within.

If she had also received grace from him and abandoned him, what would happen to her?

She had lost the royal elite troops she had brought with her to the undead Malekidus. They were all loyal to the royal family, and she had treated them closely.

And she thought that their deaths were Angel’s fault. She resented him for hesitating, thinking that he had caused their deaths.

So, every time Lena looked at the records, she felt like she was walking on thin ice.

“… Don’t worry too much. Maybe nothing bad will happen.”

Beatrice comforted her. Lena was probably older than her, but Beatrice always took care of her comrades.

Feria began to infuse magic into the crystal.

“… You really think nothing bad will happen anymore? I hope so, but….”

The crystal had never shown a positive sign even once. Feria stared at the crystal emitting light, trying to contain her inner anxiety.

EP4. The End of the Crossroads of Life and Death.