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

"Are there still puppets in the village?"

"...You have so little confidence in your own skills... I don't have it anymore."

"you sure……"

"You have dealt with all the enemies outside by yourself. The rest are just some escaped fish hiding in the room, and they were dealt with just now - the only remaining problem is..."

"That guy, right..."

Xiaobi, who can explore the entire village through the eyes of her clone, is very clear about Jack's current situation. The black shadow is confused because the corpses remaining around were not killed by the arrows he released.

To be honest, it looked more like a cut left by the claws of some wild beast, which made her realize why the atmosphere around her was filled with such a strong murderous intent.

"Girl, the situation is a little bad... You need to be calm and make your own judgment, okay?"

"I don't care whether he killed a puppet or a human. What matters is that if he loses his mind like this again, I won't have the patience to keep him alive."

"I've already said it before... I mean to calm down and make your own judgment. I want you to understand the current situation clearly..."

"Make a reasonable analysis and decision? For someone who can't even distinguish between friend and foe, what else can you do..."

At the same time, before he could finish his words, he saw the shadow of Jack slowly walking towards him. He was covered in blood and was surrounded by the tree spirits. He didn't need to count to know how many puppets this guy had killed just now - but more importantly, he was holding the body of a headless girl in his hands.

"what is this……"

"That child had bite wounds and knife wounds on his body. I guess he was unable to save the other person, so he had to kill him... This proves that he can still maintain his rationality in this state..."

“Woooooo… wooooa ...

"The possibility... is not zero..."

"Ah... it's definitely not zero, but it's still so low that I can't stand it anymore - you guys, start."

"Uh-huh."

Although the tree spirits under the black shadow are Xiaobi's clones, they will basically follow the instructions of their servants and take action.

"Swoosh, snap, snap!" The tree spirits who had bound Jack with vines before he went berserk tightened the vines tightly, so that even if they couldn't hurt him at all, he couldn't hurt anyone either.

"I'll only ask you once. Either wake up and listen carefully, or die. It's absolutely not natural for a human to save other lives. This world is not so gentle that it will let you proudly display the spirit of a hero. When it's time for you to despair, it will make you despair to the fullest. When it's time for you to die, it will make you die miserably. This principle applies to everyone. But if you give up to such a world just once, then why did you fight in the first place?"

"..."

"Is it to show your strength? Or to satisfy your vanity? Did you cross that line for yourself with your bloodstained hands? Becoming so miserable just to show off and satisfy yourself is too costly - wake up, and wipe away those tears that flow out of guilt. Hope will not come because of a grown man's tears. What awaits you in this desolate desert is only bottomless darkness. No matter how you shout, cry, or go crazy, the only ones who will respond to your willfulness are these hungry monsters. They will follow the shouts of the living and get excited by your cries. Even if you shout your throat out, they will only eat you with more relish."

Jack, whose fur armor gradually peeled off, gradually regained his rational thinking and normal emotions, even though the hatred and guilt that filled his heart would not disappear.

"If you want more victims like this to appear, then you can despair until you are satisfied. Before that, you will once again watch the people you protect die in their mouths, again and again, over and over again until it is your turn. You will kill them again in a frenzy, strangle them with your own hands, chop off their heads, and you will be left alone and despairing anyway, so it doesn't make any difference. You will suffer from the guilt caused by this cheap kindness, and regret your own powerlessness. You who indulge in this desire to protect and think you are a guardian are just a hypocrite who can't be protected by anyone."

The shadow that held the dagger before Jack's eyes clearly stated all the facts and realities, telling him that what he should do now was not, absolutely not, to bow to reality, or to despair or go crazy - what a person can do after losing something should still exist.

"I'll say it again, keep fighting with your rationality. What I need is a warrior who can provide combat power, not a mad dog that will go berserk and bite its master at any time. If you are of no use, I will decisively grant you the right to rest in peace. After that, I will feed your corpse to the puppets as bait, and perhaps I can make the most of your cheap kindness."

"..."

The shadow moved the blade away from Jack's eyes, and saw an orc whose neck was bitten by a puppet, who had just awakened as a puppet and was now slowly walking towards them.

"Swoosh, snap!" Needless to say, the dagger thrown by the black shadow pierced his head and he fell to the ground, dying without hurting anyone.

"You... yourself... killed someone you once cherished... wouldn't you hesitate... or feel pain?

"Don't underestimate me. You don't even know what 'pain' is."

Except for Xiaobi, Jack had no idea what kind of story was implied behind the pain she was referring to - compared to the pain that person had once endured, the pain she was enduring now was nothing at all, she thought in her heart, this life built on his pain should have been extinguished in that peaceful forest.

But I survived, time and time again.

Of course, she could understand Jack's feelings.

"Pain is neither poison nor medicine for people, but the feeling when learning lessons in the process of experience. Only by accepting this pain can people gain the strength to move forward. A gentle person once said this to me."

"The power to move forward..."

"The speed at which a person can move forward will be determined by the pain that person can endure. The slower the speed, the more painful the process will be. However, faster speed is not always a good thing. The pain endured during the process will be accumulated by the speed and released in one breath beyond the range that a person can endure. You lose to the pain and fall into a state of madness. You want to win the battle, but you lose to yourself again and again."

"I...lost to...me...?"

"Only those who can defeat themselves can become the light that people admire. This is an indisputable fact. There was once a person like that, completely different from you. I'm afraid you won't be able to catch up with him even if you spend hundreds of years. But I will do it even if I have to cross that line in order to catch up with that light."

Jack, who was not as strong as his opponent, had no idea what stupid thing he had just done.

But what was sprouting in his heart now was not despair, nor pain, nor guilt - but a "yearning" that was enough to overturn all these negative emotions.

"But... before that, you should get some more sleep... Xiaobi, treat him, and the other tree spirits go put out the fire. I'll go check on the others."

"learn. 』

Jack gradually lost consciousness surrounded by the tree spirits and closed his eyes. It felt like the first time he could sleep so peacefully with a gentle smile on his face.