"The Holy Sword..."
The only Holy Sword I knew of was the Excalibur that Sofia possesses.
A sword that banishes evil.
A light of hope that cuts through darkness.
The Holy Sword Excalibur.
"The Holy Sword is like the ultimate weapon that the beastkin poured all their strength into creating. But it was kind of a prototype, so they couldn’t mass-produce it. I heard they were only able to make three of them."
"And one of those is the Excalibur that Sofia has?"
"Exactly. I don’t know where the other two are. Anyway, getting back on topic—since they couldn’t produce more Holy Swords, they started making lower-tier weapons in large quantities, or creating barriers and stuff. The beastkin cooperated in a lot of ways. Thanks to that, human casualties went down, and all’s well that ends well."
Lena smiled cheerfully.
But in the very next moment, that smile disappeared.
"Well, of course, things didn’t go that smoothly."
Lena shrugged with a "what can you do" look on her face.
There was clear anger and hatred in that expression.
"Some humans started thinking like this: ‘If we use the beastkin, couldn’t we become even stronger? Couldn’t we live even more luxurious lives?’"
"That’s..."
"Humans are such greedy, hopeless creatures. That hasn't changed since ancient times—pathetic, really. Don’t you think so?"
"..."
I had no words to answer.
I wasn’t going to say all humans were like that, but...
There are all kinds of people in the world.
Where there are good people, there are also bad people.
So...
Lena’s words carried heavy weight.
"So, some humans began scheming, spiraling out of control... and eventually, they crossed a forbidden line."
"By 'forbidden line' you mean...?"
"They laid hands on a Divine Beast’s child."
As Lena said this, her expression turned ice-cold.
It was as if all emotion had been carved away...
I couldn’t help but shudder.
"Back then, humans kidnapped the Divine Beast’s child and used it as a sacrifice."
"They actually did something like that...?"
"They used the child’s power to create a type of barrier. Within that barrier, there would always be bountiful harvests, happiness would come, and disasters would be kept away."
It sounded like a perfect fantasy.
Something everyone would wish for.
But...
Sacrificing someone for that?
That’s absolutely wrong.
Apparently, Lena felt the same way—her fist clenched tightly.
"There are a few of those barriers scattered around… and one of them is Blue Island."
"What?"
"We deliberately spread the cursed swords to disturb the atmosphere of the city and break the seal."
"...Wait a second. Then why did Snow go berserk?"
"When the seal was broken, the hatred and resentment of the Divine Beast’s sacrificed child poured out. It then possessed the Divine Beast of this era… something like that."
It was a harrowing story.
Just listening to it made my chest ache.
But even so—I couldn’t run away from it.
As a member of Snow’s family.
As a human being.
I had to face the truth head-on.
"Back to the story... there's no parent who wouldn’t be furious if their child were kidnapped, right? The Divine Beast got angry—absolutely livid. The humans apparently tried to talk their way out of it with fancy words and excuses, but of course that didn’t work... and, well, war broke out."
"That outcome... makes sense."
"It turned into a brutal war—blood for blood, a complete mess... and in the end, the Divine Beast lost. Its power was overwhelming, but the humans brought out the Holy Swords, and that’s what forced it into a corner."
"..."
"And so, the Divine Beast, now consumed by vengeance, was sealed away, and the humans won their peace... The end, happily ever after."
Lena said it mockingly, but there was nothing happy about it.
If anything, it was a bad ending.
"I had no idea something like that had happened..."
"Well, I mean, of course not. You can’t exactly go around saying, ‘Hey, we killed the child of the beastkin’s god,’ right? That part of history was rewritten to suit the narrative."
"...Wait a second."
Suddenly, a possibility crossed my mind.
"Could it be that the Alliance of Dawn... is connected to the Divine Beast from back then?"
"Ding ding ding—correct."
Lena grinned, clearly amused, and affirmed my guess.
Comments
Post a Comment