WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 507: The End, an End to Everything (7)

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"I will help you leave this country."

It was once what she had wanted more than anything. The general said he would grant it, yet Morgan could not nod.

"If I leave, where would I go?"

"To your homeland..."

"My homeland? What a cruel joke. You burned my homeland. You set fire to the forest so you could hunt fairies more easily, then captured my kin as they fled the flames."

The general fell silent. Perhaps he had not known his people had gone that far. He rubbed a hand over his face, and Morgan gave a hollow laugh.

"It's too late."

There was no strength in her voice.

"You asked what I wanted, didn't you? Then let me ask you. What exactly can you do for me? Save and heal my remaining kin? That's impossible. It's too late to save them now. Even if you began treating them, they'd only waste away and die."

Not every Night Fairy was as strong as Morgan. They had been withering away for a long time, and even treatment now would not carry them through another season.

"You burned the place I could return to. What about seeking out other races, wherever they might be? That's impossible too. They would probably see me as a traitor who sold out her own people. I'd be lucky if they didn't beat me to death."

A dry, self-mocking chuckle escaped her.

"It's too late. There is nothing you can do for me. I have nowhere left to return to, and no kin left to save. All that remains is..."

Morgan raised her hand. Flames rose from her palm, black, viscous, and deeply ominous. They almost looked like blood.

"My hatred for you."

The general looked at Morgan.

Morgan looked back at him.

"......"

Just as Morgan had sensed something familiar in the general's eyes, he sensed it in her red eyes as well. Eyes melted by congealed hatred, eyes burning with flames that would not go out until something had been burned and killed.

That was why the general had rebelled.

He had killed the king, slain the corrupt nobles, and purged every person in power. As the royal palace burned, he felt his rage being released. He would stop here. But what about the woman before him?

'It runs deep.'

Deeper than his own, so much deeper that comparing them felt disrespectful. The general's revenge had ended with the royal palace burning, but the woman before him would not stop at that. As she said, she had nothing left and nowhere to return to.

She would not stop.

Not until she turned everything on this land to ash.

And from what the general could see, the woman before him had the power to do it. She was not yet complete, but completion was close. His instincts as a warrior warned him. If he was going to kill her, it had to be now.

"......"

Without a word, Morgan bent down. She picked up the sword the general had left on the ground and held it out to him.

"Kill me."

Her voice was quiet.

"It would be better if I died here. If I survive, I will have to take revenge. I will have to avenge my kin, and I will come to want it myself. But right now..."

Morgan smiled weakly.

"Right now, I just want it to end."

If she survived, she would have to begin her revenge. And that revenge would not end until everything on this land had been reduced to ash. Morgan knew a long, arduous life as an avenger waited for her.

"Kill me. It would be the best ending for you and for me."

The general took the sword Morgan offered him.

Morgan quietly closed her eyes.

She thought this was her end, that she could finally rest. Yet no matter how much time passed, there was no sign that her life would end. Morgan opened her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Morgan frowned.

The general had not swung the sword. Instead, he had dropped to one knee and placed it at his feet. Like a retainer pledging loyalty before a king, he bowed his head.

"My name is Lucius."

He revealed his name.

"I was once a centurion of this kingdom, and they called me a general. Yet I killed the king with my own hands. I purged every person in power. I killed my master with the sword meant to protect him. There could be no greater rebel than me."

He raised his head with a bitter smile.

"I have nothing left and nowhere to return to, just as you do. I had intended to take my own life after burning the royal palace. There was no reason for me to keep living."

"Then why..."

"But now I have found a reason to live."

He offered his sword to Morgan.

"I will become your sword."

Why had he made that choice? Even the general himself did not know. Was it because he felt a kinship with her? Or was it atonement? For the other humans who lived on this land? Or perhaps he wished to find some meaning in the rebellion he had committed.

It was probably all of those things.

Lucius placed his sword in Morgan's hands. Then he asked what she wanted to do.

"......"

Morgan remained silent for a long while before speaking weakly.

"I want to hold funerals."

2.

The general kept his promise.

When Morgan said she wanted funerals, he ordered the soldiers remaining in the kingdom to collect the bodies. Whenever a soldier handled a body carelessly, he punished them himself.

"Show them every courtesy. I will cut down anyone who does not."

No one dared question the general's orders.

He had overturned the nation by himself, slaughtered the king's warriors, and set fire to the royal palace itself. To the suffering people, he was a hero. To the surviving people in power, he was a nightmare. No one dared treat him lightly.

And so the fairies' funerals were held in silence.

The general personally recovered the badly damaged bodies that had been tossed carelessly into pits. He carefully washed them and remained there from the beginning of each funeral to its end. He stood silently at Morgan's side.

Even after the funerals ended, he did not leave her.

"Kill me."

"I cannot grant that request."

"If I live, I will burn this whole land. Do you want me to take revenge? Do you want to watch your people burn?"

"If that happens, I intend to be the first one you burn. It would only be right."

Morgan stared at him as though he had lost his mind.

"Is that supposed to be a threat? You think I can't burn you?"

"Of course not."

"Then why..."

"Since you can burn me whenever you wish, there is no need to do it at once. Is there anything you would like to do before then?"

Morgan was dumbfounded, but she thought it over. One by one, she asked him to take care of the things that needed to be finished.

"There are surviving members of my kin."

"I will look for them."

"They will not live long. Still, I don't want them to suffer at the end. Can you grant them what they want?"

"I will. Would you like to meet them?"

"No. How could I face them?"

One thing at a time.

"I want to drink water. May I?"

"Why are you asking my permission?"

"Because I had to ask for permission."

"...You do not have to anymore."

"Then I want cold water."

One thing at a time.

"Can I try farming?"

"I will prepare it for you."

Again, one thing at a time.

Morgan made small requests, and Lucius fulfilled them without a word. Time passed. One day, then two, then a month. Even as the seasons changed, Lucius remained at Morgan's side.

"You know."

One day, Morgan spoke.

"I admired you, humans. Unlike us, you live each day with fierce purpose. You cultivate reality and make something of it. I thought that was admirable."

"Did you?"

"I wanted to become like you. The humans in the fairy tales I read were beautiful. But was I mistaken? You are not especially beautiful. If anything, you are hideous and cruel beyond measure."

Lucius smiled bitterly.

"I do not consider humans particularly beautiful either."

"But you are human."

"Yes. That is why I believe it even more strongly."

He continued.

"They sell lifelong friends for a handful of coins. Parents sell their children. It is common for people to kill someone who has done them no wrong because they desire their possessions. Stealing from those weaker than themselves is even more common."

Having risen from lowly beginnings to a high position, Lucius knew well how human society worked. He had seen every ugly side of it.

"Humans are fickle. They cast aside lifelong promises on a passing whim. An upright official who once cried out for justice may become corrupt when you return the following year. Those who declare that they are different from everyone else eventually become just the same."

Lucius spoke.

"That is what humans are. They say they are different from beasts, that because they can think, they are not barbaric... But beasts may be better. Humans can become more terrible than beasts."

"So you really are urging me to set everything on fire."

"Please hear the rest of what I have to say."

Morgan looked at him as though he was absurd. Lucius let out a short breath and continued. His voice had been dry until then, but now it was entirely different.

"But there are people who are not like that."

He smiled.

"There are people who give their lives for strangers whose names they do not even know. There are people who gladly share food with hungry children, and people who give to others first even when they are suffering themselves."

"......"

"The people in the fairy tales you read are not all fictional. They existed in history. People like that appear in this world from time to time."

"Only a few special people are good?"

"No. I mean anyone can become special."

Anyone could become special.

"I have seen a merchant who ruthlessly pursued nothing but profit use the money he earned to build an orphanage for children. I have seen a soldier who ran away again and again just to survive stand on the front line for a friend and die in battle."

He had seen shining moments, just as he had seen ugly ones.

Lucius spoke for a while, then glanced at Morgan and suddenly fell silent.

"Why did you stop talking?"

"It was not something I should have said to you. I misspoke. I never intended to persuade you."

"It doesn't matter. Keep talking."

Morgan often heard about humanity's beautiful side from him. At first, she thought his stories were exaggerated or false, but she came to realize that was not always the case.

"...I saw it too."

"You did? What did you see?"

"When there was a flood near here, a child fell into the water and was being swept away. No one stepped forward, so I thought, see, it was all a lie."

Morgan laughed as if it were unbelievable.

"Then the town drunk suddenly jumped into the water. He leaped in without hesitating and saved the child. He got swept away himself and struck a rock, breaking his leg, yet he did not complain once."

"Is that so?"

"After he climbed out of the water, he only asked if the child was all right. Then he sighed and limped away."

Morgan learned later that the drunk had been a father who lost his own child on a rainy day. He had lived buried in drink after that, but when faced with something similar, he had jumped into the river without hesitation. As though he were repenting for his past.

"I thought it was beautiful."

Morgan looked at Lucius.

"You told me to say what I wanted."

"Yes. Anything."

"Make me come to like this country that I hate. Give me a reason not to hate you, a reason not to burn you. That is my final wish."

"That is a difficult request."

"Is it impossible?"

"It is close to impossible."

But Lucius smiled.

"That is why it is worth the challenge."

"I will try. As far as I can."

3.

Lucius had led the rebellion and overthrown the monarchy, but he had stubbornly refused the throne. He said he lacked the qualities of a ruler, and that he no longer wanted to witness the world's ugliness.

Yet in the end, Lucius took the throne.

No one knew what had changed his mind.

Rumors only said that a fairy had made a request of him. And so Lucius took the throne.

「Lucius, King of Avalon.」

The moment he ascended the throne, he began his reforms. He changed the nation's name and reformed every system. Though he claimed he lacked the qualities of a ruler, he possessed the quality a monarch needed most.

Lucius had an exceptional eye for people.

He appointed countless talented people. He placed them where they were best suited and willingly listened when problems arose that he did not understand. Day and night, he devoted himself to his work, remaking the kingdom that had rotted to its core.

As if he were showing it to someone.

Even if this nation fell someday, even if it did not last long, he wanted to show her that it could be beautiful, if only for a moment. Because that was what she wished for.

"Morgan."

Lucius continued to govern.

"What do you think?"

At the end of every season, he asked Morgan what she thought of the country. Each time, Morgan answered indifferently, "It's still not much. I want to burn it down." Lucius only shrugged.

"Morgan, what do you think this time?"

"It's somewhat worth looking at. You said you built waterways here? The city looks a little better with water flowing through it."

"Then..."

"I still hate it."

The seasons passed.

"What about this time?"

"...It's not bad."

Flowers bloomed and withered.

"Morgan?"

"Could you ask me after more time has passed? It's not bad. People have become a little kinder. Is that enough?"

Leaves fell, and snow came down.

"Morgan."

"......"

"You have no answer this time."

"I like it."

One day, after several years had passed, Morgan answered with a sigh.

"I said I like it. I've come to like it."

"This country?"

"Are you asking because you do not know?"

"...Ah, you meant me?"

"Because I have come to like you, I am trying to like the rest as well. I still dislike it, but not as much as before."

She had found something she liked too.

"Will you help me, Morgan?"

"Don't you think that is underhanded?"

"I built it to show you, so what does it matter if it is a little underhanded? I need your help."

Morgan had the ability to rule dreams, and through it, she could look into countless possible futures. Lucius used that power to govern the nation. Choosing the best possible future, Avalon blossomed into something beautiful.

"Come to think of it, this country's name."

"Avalon?"

"Yes. You changed it. What does it mean?"

"It means a utopia."

Lucius smiled.

"What do you think of this country?"

A nation that prospered by gathering the most beautiful things.

Avalon, a nation of ideals.

Over more than a decade, the nation finally became beautiful. Morgan could finally say she liked this country. She came to find beautiful the nation she had built together with her companion.

"Yes."

After more than a decade, Morgan smiled.

She could smile again.

'It is beautiful. Just as you said, I have come to like it.'

She was just about to say those words.

"Waahhhhhhh!"

Cheers drowned out her voice. Something struck the city walls. Spears and swords clashed, and amid their screams and cries, Morgan's voice was swallowed up.

...When something beautiful blooms.

If it is only scenery, people admire it. But if it is another human being like themselves, they do not admire it. They become jealous instead. They envy those who possess what they do not.

And in the end, they try to destroy it.

Because if they cannot have it, they must break it.

To keep their people from being taken by Avalon, to stop the ever-prospering Avalon from swallowing them whole, the nations of the Continent united and began a war. They made Avalon a common enemy and marched upon it.

A war broke out.

The flames of conflict covered Avalon.

Author's Note

I am a little late!

Footnotes:

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