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<Don’t say such a bad thing!>

<Haha! It doesn’t take a lot of magic, so don’t worry about it. It’s kind of confusing to say that you’ve actually changed. It’s very stable to reveal it after the Demon King’s War.>

Jun was far from being a bluff. She probably meant what she said about it being no big deal.

In fact, while confronting the demons, the transformation magic did not dissolve…

But why, of all moments, at this point when the magi disappeared?

Anasta shook her head in foreboding.

It wouldn’t be a big deal. How hard it must have been to fight the Demon King. After defeating the Demon King, she ran out of magic and the spell was broken.

But once it was not easy to get rid of her chills…

Anasta’s eyes immediately turned red and tears streamed down her face.

Robur, who was unaware of the situation, was bewildered and flinched when Anasta suddenly began to cry. She tried to calm Anasta somehow.

“Anasta? No, why are you crying, apart from your new face…! Did you think I was going to give you a hard time?”

Anasta shook her head. She tried to vent her anxiety. But the only thing that flowed out through the open mouth was an earnest prayer to Saint Marianne.

“Jun… Please… St. Marianne…”

***

Meyer Knox was willing to die in the dungeon if he could kill the Demon King.

But when did it happen?

Ever since he met Jun, he began to dream of a peaceful future after killing the Demon King.

A peaceful world without demons, a life where he could fall in love with her, and even get married if possible.

But he knew that was not an opportunity that was given to him.

If that was the case, then…

At the very least, he wanted to give Jun the future she wanted.

A future of peace and honor where she would not only be in the history books, but would be treated as one of the last seven.

It was heartbreaking and empty to not have confidence in that future, but..

At least she, his hero, would live.

That was enough for Meyer.

***

Meyer’s eyelids slowly lifted.

His pupils contracted for a moment as the sun’s rays pierced his eyes, but soon his golden eyes came into clear focus.

Blue sky. The drooping trees. The feel of the earth on his hands.

Meyer’s cottony, flabby body woke up weakly to the vivid momentum of life.

“Your Excellency!”

It was a familiar voice, Axion.

Meyer twisted around to face Axion, who looked at him incredulously.

Around him, he could see the people who had been with him in the Demon King’s palace.

No way. Meyer said, his face twisting.

“Are you dead, too?”

“That’s not it…”

Axion swallowed the gloom.

Yeah, it didn’t seem like a hell of a place to go after death.

“So I’m alive? August, did he save me?”

But he still didn’t understand.

August at the time of killing Fabian didn’t have the power or the ability to do that.

August could save the dead, but he could not save the dead altogether.

On the other hand, he certainly killed himself… he never thought he could live.

“Ha, I don’t know what happened, but I guess I wasn’t meant to die there…”

His heart was filled with joy rather than solving questions.

The future with Jun. Happiness by her side…

It was natural for him to be happy because what he had given up was once again in his hands. Meyer looked around, smiling in a way that was unlike him.

“By the way, everyone, what’s wrong with your expression when I’m alive? What about Jun? Where is Jun?”

Meyer sought out the one he expected to be the first to rejoice in his return.

He guessed she was angry with him for choosing to die over her objections… Still, when he saw that everyone eventually made it out this way, it looked like the gate had been closed properly.

As Meyer looked for Jun, Axion’s face twisted even more. Tears soon sprang to his face, which had always been calm, no matter how difficult the situation.

Meyer asked, bewildered by this completely unexpected reaction.

“Why? What’s wrong? What happened to Jun? Did she get hurt when she got out?”

His heart dropped as he spoke.

Axion and the rest of the expedition stared at Meyer’s side with somber faces.

Meyer finally turned and looked at his side. There was Jun, lying still. Her black Black Knights uniform was stained from the battle, but her face was as still as her words.

“… Jun?”

Meyer rushed to grab Jun by the shoulders. Her body shook at Meyer’s touch without any resistance.

Feeling horrified with goosebumps on his skin, Meyer involuntarily gasped and pulled his hand out of Jun’s.

He felt guilty that he felt that way from Jun. Meyer smiled awkwardly and asked the people around him.

“She’s tired and sleeping right now? WelI, she can. Because it was a hard battle. “

“…”

“Then you should say yes. Why is everyone reacting like that? You scared me.”

Meyer smiled despondently and rebuked the others.

“Vice Commander…”

When everyone was silent, Julieta opened her mouth in a whisper. She was filled with low despair.

“She saved His Excellency.”

“What?”

“The gate was opened when His Excellency died. We got out safely and… The Vice Commander used her magic.”

Meyer’s face was distorted. He couldn’t believe what Julieta said.

“She’s a supportive wizard. It’s ridiculous that she can save a person…”

“Hidden… I think there was hidden magic.”

No one knew about the ‘soul scale’ because Jun never mentioned it.

But all magic comes at that price.

You can’t perform miracles beyond mana. Therefore, you could guess what the price of magic to save people was without having to listen.

Sevi muttered in a hoarse voice.

“A long time ago…. She must have been thinking about it since the days when the special unit was established. That maybe this is what would happen.”

Shortly after the memorial service for the Green Brigade, Sevi recalled what Jun had said to him.

“She said to me. Even if it looked like she was going to die, she was thinking of everyone. That she wasn’t really going to die…”

But now he knew what that meant. That it was a lie.

<Sevi, I lied to you. I’m terribly sorry.>

Sevi curled up his skinny body and moved it in a sobbing manner.

“The Vice Commander lied…”

Nova embraced Sevi. Nova’s face was also a mess of tears.

Meyer looked at the others blankly.

He finally understood what the somber cries that filled their faces were for, but he could not accept it at all. It was obvious that they were joking with him…

Meyer turned his gaze toward Jun, who was beside him.

Her drooping eyelashes swayed in the wind, and her open lips almost seemed as if they would breathe out.

“Jun, get up. Don’t mess with me.”

Meyer shook Jun. Her thin body shook helplessly at Meyer’s touch.

Her thin hands fell with a thud. His hand, which she always held firmly whenever he shook, no longer held him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We killed the Demon King and peace came. But you’re not there?”

I didn’t want to open my eyes like this. Jun Karentia, what on earth are you thinking?

<… You’ll regret it.>

<I won’t regret it.>

“Ha.”

At the last moment, Meyer, who recalled the conversation he had with Jun, burst into laughter.

“Haha…”

The burst of laughter soon became a cry.

Meyer hugged Jun hurriedly. If he didn’t hold her in his hands like this, he thought she’d disappear any minute.

Her listless body in his arms kept reminding him of the reality that she was dead.

Tears streamed down Meyer’s cheeks, his tears dribbled down Jun’s face.

Unlike in legendary stories, tears did not work any miracles.

<I like the Commander best.>

Jun’s voice was ringing in his ears. That’s what Jun said when she came to visit him in the dungeon alone.

He did not deny the words. She liked Meyer. He acknowledged that fact.

But on the other hand, no matter how much she liked him, he didn’t think she liked him as much as he liked her.

He thought that Jun would live happily until the end, even if Meyer himself died…

Therefore, he did not want to believe this reality that she gave her life for him.

<I have a favor to ask you, too.>

“Liar.”

<The Commander should also take care of his own health without doing anything dangerous.>

“It was all a lie…”