I Became the Guild Leader in Exile

116 – 8# Pillar Conquest War (4)

The pillar conquest war had succeeded.

This news greatly boosted the morale of the heroes. Since the pillar that was supporting the Goddess of the End had collapsed, the imperfect Goddess of the End would soon descend upon this land.

Now that they could confront the goddess, they could escape the prophecy of the end. The disasters caused by the demonic beasts would also decrease, and the calamities brought by them would eventually disappear.

However, it was hard to confidently declare that peace would arrive. Humans would, for their own gain, hesitate to draw their swords against each other.

But it was also impossible to distrust humans from the start and let the evil right in front of them go. After all, Isaac himself was human. Isaac clicked his tongue.

“Can’t we just get along?”

“It seems impossible, Master.”

“Zik?”

Unexpectedly, it was Zik who disputed Master Isaac’s opinion. She had seen the greed of countless humans since her childhood, so she could deny it immediately.

“Human greed is like a bottomless poison. They will crave for more and more.”

“That’s right.”

“When the demonic beasts disappear, humans will eventually point their swords at each other.”

And that was a kind of chaos that they couldn’t prevent. When that time came, Master would have to make a choice. No matter what, Zik would follow him to the end.

“I also know that.”

“Then…….”

“But I won’t just sit still.”

Isaac had witnessed the horrors of war in his previous life. As a war correspondent, he had seen people being slaughtered by the regular army, not the rebel army.

He had also realized that most of the things the regular army announced were lies. Unfortunately, there was not a single person who remembered the names of the innocent civilians who died.

It wasn’t that his influence as a journalist was extremely strong, either. He had risked his life to report the truth, but was eventually buried under other news.

“When all this is over, establishing a school would be a good idea.”

“A school, you say?”

“Yes, a school.”

Isaac knew very well the importance of learning. In his previous life, he had received the privilege of education, but didn’t understand its significance at first.

As a journalist, he had come to realize the importance of education. It was thanks to the people he had met. They had risked their lives to teach him what they knew.

Of course, that wasn’t something that the government or the rebels would be pleased about. They wanted people to be ignorant, so they could control them as they pleased. That’s why they were always oppressed.

[How can you do this?]

[Death is not scary. I don’t think this will change everything.]

[Then…….]

[But isn’t this my beloved hometown?]

“……Yes, if people can learn equally, that would be a good school.”

However, having knowledge didn’t necessarily mean that peace would arrive. On the contrary, there were people who would interpret knowledge in their own way and lead the world to chaos.

But Isaac believed that there were more people who wouldn’t do that.

Isaac made his next move without hesitation.

Zik gazed blankly at Isaac’s back, answering calmly. She hadn’t thought that far ahead, but Master had already thought about the future.

‘Do I have the qualifications to be by Master’s side?’

When you’re under the shadow of someone too great, you naturally lose confidence. Did she have the qualifications to be by such a person’s side? Perhaps, next to Master…….

“What are you thinking about?”

As if he had read Zik’s ominous thoughts. The Master, who had been looking ahead, suddenly turned his head to gaze at Zik. Zik then forced a smile and waved her hand.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Zic kept concealing the truth as usual. It’s a bad habit from his childhood, still lingering, to hide what’s frightening. But Isaac didn’t let it end there.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“……!!”

“Zic, I’m watching you. Tell me clearly.”

Isaac didn’t call Zic ‘kid’ like he usually did. Maybe it was because of Zic’s confession in the past. Or maybe it was because, after all that had happened, Isaac saw Zic as a ‘woman’.

And naturally, a man tends to pay more attention to a woman he’s interested in. Thanks to that, Isaac realized that Zic was getting anxious. Now he wants to know the reason.

“Master…….”

Zic thought about Master’s change. Was his existence a burden to Master? But before he could think further, his heart reacted first.

Master was looking at him.

Just that alone made him happy.

A different thought took over his mind.

It was because Isaac had finally made up his mind. He had been worrying about it for a long time. Was it right to accept the heart of Zic, who was seven years younger?

No, before that.

What did he want to do?

Did he dislike Zic? No, it wasn’t that. Then, did he not see Zic as a woman? From the moment Isaac confessed to Zic, he became conscious of Zic.

He didn’t want to be hated by Zic. He wanted to be seen a little better by Zic. Such thoughts crept up on him. For a moment, it was just that he liked Zic.

The love he realized for the first time wasn’t as sweet as he thought, but it was much deeper. And finally, Isaac decided today.

“I’m not the type to drag things out.”

“Zic, I……!”

“Are you confessing? I’m envious.”

“……!!”

“……?!”

But Isaac’s confession, which had gathered his courage, didn’t reach Zic. A disturbance intervened, and the first to react was Zic.

“What the hell?!”

Zic’s eyes turned red as she swiftly drew her sword from her waist. The sword, which flashed out, was aimed precisely at her own neck and swung around. The anger contained in that sword dominated her emotions.

The shock and fear of encountering an unknown enemy were nothing compared to the anger of not being able to hear Master’s confession, which ruled her emotions. As a result, she didn’t notice.

“Be careful, Zic!”

“There’s an opening!”

A familiar voice rang in Zic’s ear. However, just as the man’s blade was about to touch Zic, Isaac barely blocked it.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“No, it’s not your fault. Rather, explain! Zicfried!”

“…….”

Zic’s gaze fell deep, looking at Isaac’s arm, which was bleeding profusely from the sword wound. The only person who could inflict such a wound on Master with a sword was the dragon slayer, Zicfried.

“Do we still have something to talk about?”

“Don’t joke, if you had left that sword as it was, Zic would have died!”

Isaac rebuked Zicfried, who spoke nonchalantly. His arm was wounded so deeply that the bone was visible, bearing a grudge-filled blow.

It was as if he had struck his own daughter. If Isaac had been just a little late, he would have lost Zic right before his eyes. That anger dominated Isaac’s mind.

“Shouldn’t the conditions be equal, so we can see each other on the same level?”

Her hair started as green, but it darkened halfway and eventually turned into a deep purple color at the end. She had a peculiar hairstyle.

However, her body, untouched by the slightest bit of fat, was so beautiful it could be mistaken for a statue. But strangely, Isaac felt a sense of fear when he faced her.

It wasn’t the fear of being preyed upon by a predator, but a primal fear of encountering something that shouldn’t exist. That fear was emanating from her.

“Those two b*stards…just…!!”

“…….”

Even though Zieg didn’t seem affected at all, perhaps her anger had overcome even the primal fear. So, the woman smiled, as if she found it amusing.

“That kid is an interesting kid. Maybe it’s because he’s my son?”

Her words, which completely defied expectations, came back like a massive bombshell. Not only Zieg, who was directly involved, but even Isaac was taken aback.

“Wait, what did you just say?”

“What nonsense are you spouting…!!”

Even Isaac, who knew the original story, had never heard this before. From the start, the setting for the main character Zieg was that he was cursed by the Dragon Slayer’s curse due to Ziegfried.

The Dragon Slayer’s curse.

The dragons cursed the Dragon Slayer, and the curse was passed down to his son. The person who received the curse would eventually become a dragon and spew out hatred.

‘I had thought something was off, but…’

Why didn’t any symptoms of the curse appear? Moreover, the gender was different. And to top it off, Father Ziegfried appeared as an enemy.

Was this the cause of the distortion?

“It’s because of you, Gaia.”

Gaia.

The goddess of the beginning. And simultaneously…

The goddess who fell to save the children bound by Tartaros.