The Paladin Owns the Relic

Chapter 176

176 – Forest Knight (6)

“I… Am…!”

As she answered, the forest queen’s face suddenly distorted.

It’s twisted. Something that’s flaky and that’s about to come out on its own.

“Your Majesty?!”

Her forest knight hurriedly hugged her. Irregular heart sounds beating abnormally.

Something that was about to jump out of her body calmed down again as time passed. The queen took a deep breath.

“No… No… Duran… It’s already too late… Everything is over…”

The Queen stretched out her hand. She stroked Duran’s face.

“The reason I… Created you in the first place… Was purely out of my own selfishness… Duran…”

“But Your Majesty…!”

“Put that heart…in it. We can’t I’ve come too far to turn back…”

The Queen of the Forest staggered to her feet.

“The heart you had in the first place… Was made by me.”

The queen left the lake.

“That is not true. Duran. Don’t hang on there. Everything…It’s all fake…”

Fake.

Duran sat down on the lakeside in a daze. The flowers bathed in moonlight were gradually losing their light.

The surroundings are quiet. As if time had died.

My excitement slowly cooled. It got darker as time went on.

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Duran wiped her face. She let out a deep sigh.

She didn’t shed any tears.

Maybe…

You may have already expected this result. The fact that she accepts her own heart was a story that she couldn’t have in the first place.

「Because everything is fake.」

It is a life born fake.

Even if you tasted a moment of happiness…

It can’t be real.

. . .

“Hey. You.”

“It’s okay. Zahard.”

She sat down in front of him. She stared at her silently.

Paladin. Zahard.

A person who worships gods and at the same time sacrifices his life for others.

He helped me a lot. He was overflowing to the point where he wondered if he could get this much help from the enemy.

I didn’t want to deny that. Even after she had been rejected by the queen, she was still grateful to him.

…Just.

It’s still frustrating even after everything is over.

“…Zahard.”

Duran opened his mouth.

“After a while, the ceremony begins. And the ceremony…Is scheduled to begin in a human city.”

“What?”

“In order to become a new vessel for the World Tree, a large amount of nutrients are required. The Fairy Forest replaces it with a number of offerings that have been prepared for a long time. The pure affection they nurtured with their souls becomes a sacrifice. But the Ancient Forest doesn’t have that.”

Duran put down his sword. He sat upright in front of Zahard and looked up at him.

“In order to make a sacrifice for the World Tree, I plan to sacrifice a human city that will be destroyed anyway.”

“Are you going to use humans as living sacrifices? Are you insane?”

“To the spirits, human life is like a tree that humans see. Bell if needed anywhere. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You are the same?”

“I…”

Duran nodded slowly.

“Your Majesty wants it, so I just follow it.”

“……”

The eyes of the paladin in front of you change. Feeling what she thought was a friend, she glars at him in disgust.

“…I’m not saying this…But it’s such an idiotic love game. Do you have no subjectivity?”

“That is a luxury for a knight.”

There is no Duran. Gone with his failed heart.

Only the knights of the forest look at him.

He was silent. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand Zahad. If he changes his position, he will be angry with himself too.

Different opinions between races. That’s it. But apart from that, he wants to pay back everything he’s given him.

“…Your Majesty’s time is short. We plan to bring in an army soon and burn all the remaining cities. The World Tree will regain its true form with the souls that have lost their way and the blood that has flowed through the buildings.”

“Like this dog…!”

“It’s no use even if you curse. When everything is over… I beg the World Tree to set you free. He is indifferent to human affairs anyway. It would be easy to get one of you out of here.”

Duran stood up.

“All I have to say is over.”

“Hey.”

The paladin asked quietly.

“You… f*ck. Are you satisfied with that? Are you satisfied with all of this?”

“It is not a matter of being satisfied or not satisfied.”

“…You bastard.”

Duran didn’t say anything despite the swear words thrown at him. He just turned around and left the room.

The tree spirit guarding the door lowered its head.

“Duran. The rest we…”

“…Yes.”

The Queen has no time left. And she was in a very precarious state now that her vessel was nearing completion.

Sequential seizures several times a day.

She needed an article.

Not Duran, but a real knight.

“I will ask you to monitor me.”

. . .

The forest queen raised her head. In a daze she looked up at the sky.

The feeling of something crawling out of her body.

It was definitely the sense of ‘death’. A sensation she had never felt in her nearly eternity of years was choking her throat.

“……”

It wasn’t that I had no regrets in my life. She thought she was already dead since the incarnation of the World Tree died.

It was only a year ago that she had first spoken to him directly. Contact that has been reached beyond thousands of years of time.

He said that he needed an incarnated body like the time he traveled the world, not the restraints of a sapling of the world tree.

I don’t know why. But the forest queen didn’t ask anything. It only mattered that he asked him to do something.

The Queen of the Forest was confident that she would lay down her life for him. She could drop her body off the cliff at any time.

But…

But why why… Now that it’s almost over…

“…I want to… Die…”

The Queen hugged her knees.

“No…Ah…”

It is because her body has weakened.

That’s why her mind is weakened.

The forest queen hid her tears. She gasped for breath, trying to suppress the resurgence of seizures.

It is nearing completion as a bowl. All that remains is a living sacrifice and a suitable place to comb the new body.

The results of my patience were right in front of my eyes. The Queen forced herself to stand up. The flowers hanging from the end of her hair were already falling off.

Forcibly increasing the size of the ancient forest.

Even trying to kill the entire expedition.

The attack on the fairy forest.

It was all done for this one thing.

“Your Majesty.”

“…Let go. Duran. You said you didn’t have to come closer.”

“But my body…”

“I’m fine.”

The Queen of the Forest gritted her teeth. He shook off her outstretched hand.

The more her heart trembled, the more calmly she pushed away.

“I can do it myself.”

Stronger, stronger.

“…Call the guardians. Duran. It’s time for her to make a move. I will gather all her forces and head for Garnet.”

…Let’s go.

“The end…”

Toward the end.

“I have to go decorate. Duran.”

The knight of the forest remained silent. She silently looked at her trembling, her little nodded her head.

“…As Your Majesty wishes.”

The knight of the forest had her back as always.

“I will follow you.”

. . .

The door is open. I looked back.

The haggard-looking forest queen and forest knight.

I was sarcastic towards them.

“Are you here to make fun of prisoners?”

“…….”

The Queen of the Forest said nothing. She just looked at me carefully.

All the flowers on the tip of her hair were withering and falling one by one. Her hand, which trembled intermittently, meant that she was not very well.

“…I still don’t know. Why can’t I kill you.”

“Looks like we were lovers in a previous life.”

“Don’t be sarcastic. Even if you say things like that, I’m not angry. Paladin. I would like to ask Why do I feel longing for you? What is this unpleasant little feeling?”

“Don’t ask me, ask yourself.”

“……”

The forest queen sighed.

“We will advance to Garnet now. It’s not a taste of the past, but I’m going to swallow a proper death and a garnet full of fear. A soul stained with resentment tends to become even better food.”

“What do you mean by saying that to me? Psychopath queen.”

“…If you can stop me, this is your last chance. I’m going to place two Guardians here. Anyway, Duran alone is enough to destroy Garnet.”

The forest queen looked at me sideways.

“If you can take something out, take it out now. Show me the bottom, tell me why I can’t kill you.”

“Do you think I can be a hero? Enough to rush into an impossible battle for the sake of others?”

“Okay. It may not be a hero, but it seems that the person who admires it is right.”

“…What?”

“Even if you hide it, you can see it. You long for something Maybe that’s why I obsessively help others.”

“Don’t talk like you know me. Queen.”

The chains clicked.

“Because it can tear off that smooth face.”

“Are you angry? Are you missing an important part? Since your bare face is revealed, you are trying to cover it up with anger.”

“…Doesn’t it bite?”

“This feeling. This fragment. Maybe… I…”

The queen turned.

“A hypocrite trying to be a fake hero. The only moment that can stop me from going to the massacre is now. I’m going to walk like this. In the meantime, if you do nothing…Every human in Garnet will die.”

“Do you play with me?”

“I am not playing with it. Just testing ruler.”

The forest queen took her one step forward.

“Ten steps left.”

“This b*tch…!”

“Nine.”

She moved her arm.

“Eight.”

I struggled.

“Seven.”

I gritted my teeth and screamed.

“Six.”

I…I’m a hypocrite?

“Five.”

Are you admiring someone?

“Four.”

That can’t be. I am me only country My motto in life is to no one…

“Three.”

Borrowed…Not…Not…

“Two.”

…Wait.

“One.”

No way…?

“You…?”

“Bye bye then. A Holy Knight who has nothing.”

The queen of the forest lifted the hem of her dress as if to say yes.

“I haven’t been able to resolve my unpleasant feelings, but… I’ll leave them here because they will be forgotten anyway. I hope you have a good time.”

“Sleep…!”

The door is closed. The spirits blocked the door again.

I put aside the possibility of not knowing.

I need to get out. Let’s go out

Think next.

All I have left is…

Is there only one?

Light holy power flowed from the stigma. It wasn’t that I was standing still. I’ve been able to pierce the restraints given to me little by little and use my holy power a little bit.

The collected holy power was still small. However, it was gradually increasing in size.

“……”

In the end…Is it a race against time?

I gritted my teeth. The darkened dungeon was silent.

All the sound of the tree spirit moving occasionally.

“…f*ck.”

It’s all messed up.

“Is it because I’m a f*cking asshole…”

“The president is not an idiot.”

…?

I glanced back. Something dug a small hole and evaded the tree spirit’s eyes and clung to my body.

A voice so small that only I can hear it. Looking closely, it wasn’t even a mouse.