Two Hearts (2)

A violet light flashed across the sky over Legion. At that moment, something unbelievable happened.

"It ends here, Monestier."

Crack!

Verdin, who appeared out of nowhere, stabbed the dragon's heart with a violet sword.

"Roaaarrr!"

The dragon roared. It struggled desperately to shake off Verdin, but the more it flapped its wings, the deeper the blade went.

Crack.

The tough scales surrounding its skin split, and blood oozed out.

Watching this scene, Valentine and another general's eyes widened in shock.

"Verdin?"

"He killed the dragon?!"

Not only did Verdin succeed in slaying the dragon, but this achievement also instilled hope in the adventurers and residents of Legion witnessing the battle.

"Uwaaah!"

"No way!"

Whooosh-

The dragon began to fall. Verdin, still clutching the sword embedded in its heart, spoke to Monestier.

"Listen carefully. I will tell you how you and your parents can survive."

Monestier's eyes slowly closed. He wanted to respond to Verdin, but he seemed to have exhausted all his energy and couldn't open his mouth.

"You have already become an Apostle under God's will. This cannot be undone, but if you abandon your desires and go quietly to the tower..."

"...."

"I will find a way to save your parents and bring them to you. I swear it on God."

"...."

"Open your eyes, Monestier."

"...."

"Remember what your true dream was."

"...."

"Do you really wish for that flame to fall on Legion and kill everyone? Including your family and innocent citizens!"

Monestier closed his eyes.

In the ensuing darkness, he recalled his past.

'My dream…'

Did I ever have such a thing?

Bang!

* * *

A vast plain where green leaves danced with the wind.

A brown-haired boy lay under a large tree, gazing at the blue sky.

"This land is as wide as the sky. So why am I just lying here?"

The boy waved his hand at a dragonfly flying by with a disgruntled expression.

"You guys are lucky. You can go anywhere you want, can't you? Right?"

Of course, there was no response from the insect.

A dragonfly landed on the boy's head.

He waved his hand to shoo the dragonfly away, stretched, and stood up.

"Ugh! Let's head back to the village."

The boy returned to his village, but no one welcomed him. All the adults were away working in the fields, and he was the only child in the village.

"Mother, am I really a Strange?"

His mother, who was picking a basketful of flowers, replied.

"Monestier, how can you ask such a thing? Of course, you are! You even received a guardian spirit through the trials, didn't you? Stop saying useless things."

Young Monestier lowered his head.

"Then why am I here?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I heard from my uncle that other Strange children all learn swordsmanship…"

His mother didn't reply, only frowning as she continued to pick flowers.

"Mother, Mother, Mother! I want to learn swordsmanship too!"

Young Monestier didn't know it at the time. Despite bearing the name Strange, his family was too poor to send him to an academy.

Moreover, his family lived in the most remote, backwater village among all the branches of the Strange family. Their existence wasn't even acknowledged by the main family.

"Do you really want to learn swordsmanship?"

"Yes, Mother. I am sure I can become the best knight. My guardian spirit said so too."

An elderly man holding a wooden sword floated above Monestier's head, nodding briefly.

His mother sighed deeply. She gently stroked Monestier's head before straightening up.

"Didn't the guardian spirit teach you?"

"Of course, I learned from him! But he said there's a limit to what he can teach me now."

"Why is that?"

"He said there are many things I can't understand just through explanations."

"…I see. Then I will find you a swordsmanship teacher."

Monestier leaped for joy.

"Really?!"

"Yes, your father will be going west soon. He will ask a close relative there if they can take you in."

"West…"

"If you go there, you will be able to learn swordsmanship."

He was happy.

Finally, the day had come when he could live up to the name of Strange and escape his boring life.

Not even a week passed before his father brought good news.

"Monestier, tomorrow a carriage from the west will arrive. Follow it, and you will learn the sword with your relatives there."

A blessing from the gods.

Finally, Monestier was going to learn swordsmanship, the dream he had longed for.

"Hey, Monestier, I heard you're going west to learn swordsmanship? We'll finally have a knight from our village!"

"Hahaha, don't forget us when you become successful!"

"Here, take this. The villagers chipped in to buy it. It's not the best, but it's usable, according to the weapon merchant."

The village chief wiped his nose and handed over a short sword. The scabbard looked shabby, but the blade was sharp when drawn.

Monestier bowed deeply.

"…I will return as the best swordsman!"

And so, Monestier left for the west with the blessings of his village.

However, life in a foreign place was not smooth. The place the carriage arrived at was a much larger estate than the village he had lived in.

From food to clothing, everything was different from what he had experienced before.

There were a few other children learning swordsmanship with him, but they all despised Monestier's background and family.

"You filthy brat! How can you come here when you don't even have money to replace a broken sword?"

Monestier tightly gripped the handle of his worn-out sword, which had loosened from rigorous training.

"Leave him alone. What can he do when his parents are all farmers? He doesn't even have money to sharpen his blade."

He sheathed his chipped sword back into its scabbard.

"Just because you carry the Strange name, do you think all Stranges are the same? Puhaha!"

It was humiliating.

Monestier closed his eyes, trembling with anger.

He endured all kinds of insults from his peers who stayed with him at the mansion. However, he patiently bore the contemptuous behavior directed at him.

'Those bastards.'

Though his heart was filled with rage, he maintained a smile on his face.

If I fight and get expelled, I'll disappoint my parents and the villagers who sent me here.

I must survive here no matter what.

The mind of a mere nine-year-old child was filled with resentment toward those who bore the same name, 'Strange.'

However, as the years passed, his efforts did not betray him. While all his kin, who couldn't withstand the harsh training, disappeared, he remained resolute no matter what.

Thus, at the age of sixteen...

"From today on, you will be appointed as a knight of Strange."

This day marked the first time a knight emerged from the village where Monestier was born and raised, the day when the most talented swordsman among the branch families shone.

'Did it take too long?'

No, I am the only one who became a formal knight at the age of sixteen here.

'Yes.'

Anyway, I succeeded in achieving my dream.

I will now return to my parents in glory. Monestier, with this thought, returned to his hometown with the knights he led.

He wore the shabby sword he had received from the villagers when he left.

But the reality he faced was too horrendous.

"What happened?"

The village was gone.

No, to be precise, it seemed to have been attacked. The houses were burnt, and the people were dead.

It was a devastating sight.

Before he arrived, crows were pecking at the flesh of the dead, and the living seemed to have been partially devoured by animals.

Monestier fell to his knees and wept.

'Who could have done this?'

He felt despondent upon hearing the report from a neighboring villager. The reason for the village's destruction was absurd.

"They said they killed them out of boredom?"

A knight visiting to fulfill an imperial request had killed all the villagers.

His name was Hysteria de Strange.

He was a knight of the same age as Monestier.

"Insane!"

Hysteria was the second son of the direct line of the Strange family and one of the current strongest swordsmen.

Moreover, his status was far too high to be touched. He was an untouchable existence, rumored to be a madman that even his elder brother, Gunter, couldn't stop.

"Sob... Sob..."

Though enraged, he could do nothing. The despair he felt from such a reality was overwhelming.

'Strange.'

My cursed name.

Crunch.

Blood flowed from his tightly clenched fist.

"Damn it... Damn it... Damn it!"

From that day on, Monestier left the knights and wandered the continent.

To become stronger, he went to battlefields or hunted monsters every single day.

He cut, slashed, and cut again.

Someday, I will become stronger than anyone carrying the Strange name.

Monestier lived with this sole purpose.

As time passed, his fame spread across the continent, and the imperial army, recognizing his exceptional swordsmanship, intended to select him as the next Sword Master.

Even Lois, the head of the Strange family, acknowledged him and recommended him as one of the generals.

'Finally, the time has come.'

If I receive the title of Sword Master and become a general, I can avenge all those who scorned me and took away my loved ones.

Monestier had planned for a long time how to bring down Strange.

"Bourbon is targeting Strange, you say?"

Not long after, good news arrived. A mercenary, who had fought alongside him, told him about an incident involving Bourbon and Strange.

'This is my chance.'

The mercenary warned Monestier to be cautious since he was a member of the Strange family, but Monestier took it as a divine revelation to fulfill his long-cherished wish.

"Introduce me to Marquis Pierre."

With this, he completed the puzzle for the Strange extermination operation. Everything he had planned proceeded smoothly. As time passed, Strange would be eradicated.

Moreover, in the same year, he received a divine blessing.

"My parents are alive?!"

Through a wandering merchant he met in Legion, he learned about his parents' whereabouts.

"Yes, I happened to be in that village back then. I helped some people escape by putting them in carriages."

A divine blessing indeed.

Monestier followed the wandering merchant with a face full of joy. He found his supposedly dead parents in a mercenary group on the outskirts.

"Mother... Father..."

A dramatic reunion.

What a relief.

It truly was a relief.

There was nothing more to wish for.

Had the story ended here, it would have been perfect. He could have taken his parents and lived quietly somewhere.

However, the plan to exterminate Strange had already begun, and the operation failed due to Verdin.

He was sentenced to death.

Along with the parents he had just reunited with.

'...Oh God.'

* * *

In the center of Legion.

Monestier, who had returned to human form, fell in front of the statue of a past hero of the continent.

Thud!

'...My true dream?'

In his fading vision, Monestier gathered his remaining strength to respond.

"My true dream is."

His past memories quickly flashed before his eyes, stopping at one scene.

"My dream is..."

His younger self, lying in a vast field, watching dragonflies freely flying in the sky.

"My dream is."

Whoosh—

A strong wind blew from the west. Monestier looked at the sky, closed his eyes, and smiled faintly.

'It's all achieved.'

"If you want to hear the answer, come to the tower."

Wait for me, Verdin.

"With my parents."