This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

The helpless half-orc girl was surrounded by eyes, and the suspicion on her reminded Black Shadow of what the villagers had said - a half-orc with cat ears... What an unpleasant coincidence...

"...Do you...know anything about magicians..."

"Hmph... wearing that cloak... and still wanting to get information about that magician from me? That guy is a traitor! He deceived my ancestor! He even abandoned her! He is an enemy that I cannot forget even if I want to!"

"...Oh...there is such a thing...how about you tell me in detail?"

"It doesn't matter how much I say. My ancestor who was once an adventurer trusted the magician too much, so he deceived him and abandoned him—"

“Swoosh, snap—!”

The shadow who stabbed her shoulder with a knife, now saw only a person who was talking nonsense, and had no intention of taking the other person's life to heart: "I'm sorry, I didn't make it clear - what I want to know... is detailed evidence and well-founded intelligence... not unfounded statements."

"What I said is all true..."

“Crack—” The shadow who stepped on the hilt of the knife deliberately increased the depth of the wound, making the other party’s mouth become more hideous: “No matter how much you torture me, it will not change the facts of the past! That magician is a big liar! You who inherited the cloak were just deceived! ! He only gained your trust in order to use you! In fact, he didn’t regard you as a partner at all! He would even sacrifice you when necessary—”

"——He has already sacrificed his life for me! If you say one more word that makes me unhappy, I will shut you up completely now!!"

"..."

The shadow with his palm on the hilt and clenched fingers was definitely not a big liar or a selfish person who tried to take advantage of others.

The girl didn't understand why so many people in the world forgot his achievements and put unfounded slander on him, hurting him and damaging him, forcing him to protect himself and use those horrifying images like swords to stab himself. In the girl's eyes, it was no different from self-criticism, which was really pitiful.

"I don't know what grudge your ancestor had against him... I don't know why he abandoned his companions, but who was the betrayer? Do you really know who it was? Are you the one involved? Have you ever met him? If you don't know anything, don't pretend to know everything about the magician!"

"You don't understand anything... How painful it was for our ancestor after she was abandoned! How lonely she was! How could someone like you who was able to receive the love she gave and survive until now possibly understand!"

"That's because you don't know how to love him! I don't plan to live in mediocrity all my life while being loved by him! I tried to understand him! To trust what he said! To find the reason why he insisted on protecting you! In the end, I only knew that he was protecting you! I never loved him once!"

"Those who have never loved their ancestors are not worthy of being loved!!"

"Swoosh!" The magic power wrapped around the cat-eared girl who broke free from the restraints cut through the vines like a shaped knife, and then turned into the outline of a claw and attacked the black shadow.

"Pang!" The black shadow that blocked the attack swung its cloak due to the aftermath, and the girls who were fighting with each other revealing their faces once again exchanged the weapons in their hands and the melee techniques they had learned with each other's bodies.

"I curse that magician! It's his fault! The human continent was destroyed! Many people died! Everyone is in misfortune because of him!"

"It's your way of thinking that is cursed! The end of the war has nothing to do with him! You just want to throw all the responsibility on him!"

"Then why did he abandon the human continent! Why did he abandon his companions! Why did he watch his own people die without saving them?! Big liar! Big liar! Big liar!!"

"Brother is not a big liar!!!"

"Snap!" The sparks flashing between the two were like the release of the hatred stored in their hearts. It was so meaningless and at the same time too short-lived that people couldn't help but lose the real sense of hatred - and, people often hurt each other because of this.

"If it weren't for him! If we hadn't met that magician! Our family wouldn't have fallen to this state!"

"Don't be ridiculous! That person lives with a sense of guilt every day! Have you ever touched his wet eyelids? Have you ever felt his trembling body?! People who cannot feel the sense of guilt will have no sympathy! People without sympathy have no sense of responsibility! People without a sense of responsibility cannot nurture the conscience in their hearts! And people without conscience are the ones who do evil things - I will never allow anyone to regard him as that kind of person again!"

The concentrated magic power of the skill and the blade of the dagger collided again. In order to justify his own words, he denied the other party. In order to rationalize the facts he knew, he swung the sharp blade in his hand. The collision between the eyes flashed with the sparks flying from the weapons.

The bright red trajectory wrapped around the claws of the cat-eared girl and moved forward, while the emerald green light wrapped around the arrow in the elf girl's hand and released it. Whenever the attacks intersected, the atmosphere would cry and the cave would tremble. Wendy and Jack, who could feel that the collision of these magical ripples was definitely not simple, hoped that each other would be safe.

"…This ripple of magical power… Is she fighting with someone…"

"...Mr. Jack...Ms. Linnae...please be safe..."

She was fighting on the other side of the prayer, so she would not lose easily to a mob that believed in slander, because she firmly believed in the person she knew - he would never lie to her.

"Then... why did the magician... not save his companions?"

"...The oath of life is very short... Some people stay to protect their colleagues... Some people leave to protect others... Some people move forward for the future of their people - but... the choice of that magician... He failed to save anyone and gained nothing. What awaits him... is only the beginning of the end. "

Jack, who had felt uncomfortable whenever he thought of the black shadow's back, now realized how pathetic and pitiful the person he wanted to protect was.

"...Is that the reason why the human race's continent was destroyed..."

"...Originally... the destruction of the human continent... could have been avoided... The Demon God Hera once proposed to the magician that if he pledged allegiance to the Demon God, she would not invade the human continent and other countries..."

"..."

"...That day...the direction pointed by the magician's fingertips...opened a battlefield, life began to wither, nature was invaded by monsters and the ecology changed...the great war was like an endless collapse of mountains...once it started, it lasted for several years...in the end...the fire of the phoenix burned every corner of the human continent...the prosperity of the world came to an end."

People always say that the magician brought about the end of the human world.

This statement is not correct. Indirectly speaking, it was his choice that led to the beginning of the great war. It is not his or the heroes' responsibility to change this result, but...

"Why...if he is a wise man...why would he reject the Demon God's proposal?"

"...Jack...if it were you...would you accept it?"

"Of course - if it can save so many people and change this rotten world, I am willing to sacrifice my life in exchange for a world where everyone can be happy."

After seeing this world corroded by the rotting dead, I believe that anyone would feel that the magician's choice is actually just to escape because he is afraid of becoming a plaything of the devil.

"If doing that... could create a world where everyone can be happy... then that would be too wonderful... What a pity... What a pity... Jack... this kind of thing only happens in dreams..."

"Then tell me, why would the magician do that..."

"——Don't you understand... because that magician... trusts mortals like you too much..."

"..."

"Think about it... If you change the world today... and prevent the beginning of a great war... What will be the result? Will people be happy because of this? Will people feel grateful because of this? Because there is no killing, because there is no war, people will still fight for their own interests. The meaning of fighting is to make people realize the importance of unity and the necessity of continuing prosperity. The future of a society without self-awareness is only the result of destruction... The magician's prayer... is to hope that people can use their own hands... to open up their own future... That's why he rejected the invitation of the demon god. "

"..."

Jack had never even thought about this kind of thing.

He believed in his heart that sacrificing himself could save the world, but he felt extremely ashamed and embarrassed for his naivety.

It turns out that the people who were betrayed were not every victim in the human continent, nor were they the soldiers who died on the battlefield, but the good-doer who chose to believe in everyone.

The future he hopes to create does not come from his own hands, but is to be fought for by the people who will live on this land with their own hands.

Otherwise, the result will be the same as what we just saw. People who don’t know how to fight for life are not even as good as the life of a Mars.