Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

not……

Could it be that Charles believed her words, became furious, and planned to settle accounts with her?

But she guessed wrong again.

Because Charles stopped not far in front of her.

Although he firmly believed that she was a fake, Ciel couldn't help but stare at her for a while.

But soon, as if he was afraid that if he continued to look, he would deceive himself and take the witch in front of him as a real priest, the hero withdrew his gaze.

Then he said:

"Do you know what the biggest difference between you and Rachel is?"

Lacey was stunned.

She thought to herself, what kind of question is this?

She is Rachel, and Rachel is her. The same soul is contained in the two bodies of the witch and the priest.

Besides, when she pretended to be a pastor, she was almost acting in her true colors.

If I had to say what the difference is between the two of them...

Does it matter if her breasts are a little bigger?

After thinking it over, Lacie really couldn't find any difference between her and herself, so she could only remain silent.

Charles seemed to have anticipated this result.

So he gave the answer quietly:

"Rachel never tried to persuade me to turn back."

Then, he showed a nostalgic expression, as if he was thinking of some good memories, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Whether it was defeating dragons, annihilating monsters, or even if I was being foolish and wanted to do something I couldn't do, she never told me to give up."

"At most she would just laugh at me - at me being stupid, at me not knowing my own limitations."

"But in the end, she always stands with me."

Ciel spoke softly, lowering his head to look at the handkerchief wrapped around his left wrist.

"We have conquered dragons, annihilated monsters, and repelled countless unimaginably powerful enemies..."

"After every fight, she would scold me and blame me for getting myself hurt again."

"But every time, she was the one who carefully bandaged my wounds and treated my injuries. If it weren't for her, I would have died on a battlefield somewhere, right?"

"That's why I like her."

Having said that, the brave man raised his head again and looked at Lacier with his iron-gray eyes, looking at the false priest in his mind.

"You just want to persuade me to give up and turn back," he said, "but if it were Rachel, she would scold me first, then pick up her staff and stand beside me."

"And this is the biggest difference between you and her."

As Lacie listened, she suddenly felt a little amused and helpless.

This idiot!

Of course she would stand beside him and fight alongside him, but there was no other way.

If telling the truth couldn't make Charles change his mind, she had already made up her mind to stay.

But before she could express her plan, Charles suddenly smiled again.

"Actually," he said, "I didn't actively seek death."

"Just like you said, before she died, Lacier told me to live well..."

"I don't want to make her mad."

He gripped the holy sword again, turned his head, and stared at the crazy mother who had temporarily stopped moving for some reason.

"But I am a hero."

He said.

"I can't just watch that thing leave Lentiheim and attack the nearest human city. I can't run away with you or anything like that."

"Besides..." The man reached out his hand and gently touched Lacie's head. "Besides, it only takes one person to find reinforcements."

"Before the reinforcements arrive, I will stop him."

"So, go ahead."

“——This is an order.”

So, driven by the master-servant contract, Laciel began to use the warping spell involuntarily.

In front of her, the man held the holy sword in one hand and held up a faint light in the other, and slowly walked into the endless fog and darkness.

The dim light illuminated the man's profile.

——He was smiling at Lacie.

"I remember that," he said. "A hero should not flee from the battlefield."

[To be continued]

-

30. Go swing the sword

After sending the witch away, the hero turned around.

Without any ties anymore, he could finally travel alone with peace of mind.

At this moment, he and his crazy mother were the only ones left in the huge hole under the giant tree.

After the elves disappeared, the Mad Mother stopped moving, just like a giant beast that felt satisfied after eating, and she calmed down temporarily.

But only temporarily.

Charles noticed that His aura was gradually getting stronger.

The mad mother stopped in the center of the giant tree's hollow, her huge body hidden in darkness and thick fog. Intermittent dark red light lit up from the bloody flesh on her body, flickering rhythmically like her breathing, and emitting a terrifying high temperature to the surroundings.

The large tracts of glowing plants that originally grew around him turned into flying ashes, and the roots that originally transmitted nutrients and energy to him were infected by the filthy flesh and blood that spread from his body.

Then, Ciel noticed that the ground beneath his feet began to tremble slightly.

It was as if something was slowly but inexorably piercing into the trunk of the giant tree, cutting off its roots, robbing it of its life, devouring its body, and completely turning it into an empty shell.

Then, this empty shell will welcome a new owner.

Perhaps then, the poems sung by the bards from the outside world will come true, and the elves of Lentiheim will have the so-called...

——The mother tree of elves.

But this is probably not good news either for the elves or for the outside world.

So we can’t let this crazy mother continue like this.

Ciel took a deep breath.

Between him and his mistress, there were continuous flickering lights.

Those were the lanterns they had brought down with them, and it was then that Charles finally understood the nature of those lanterns.

They are the "eyes" of the Matron.

So they can disperse the fog -

No, it is not actually dispelling, but the people protected by the lanterns can see the truth hidden under the dream of existence through them, through the "eyes" of the mistress.

The mistress is always in deep sleep.

He weaved the thick fog with dreams and used dreams to simulate the future of the elves. In this way, He wanted to find a way out for His children.

Charles had heard that some terminally ill mothers would leave a unique legacy for their young children:

They will condense all their life experiences, words they want to talk about, and love they want to express into a thin booklet, because they are destined to no longer accompany their children to grow up. But it seems that as long as they leave the booklet, they can quietly guard their children in another form of life and accompany them through their long lives.

Maybe the mistress thinks so too?

He knew that his life was coming to an end, so he squeezed out all his remaining strength and created the thick fog, hoping to deduce a future that would allow His children to grow up smoothly.

Layer upon layer of dreams were nested within each other, future after future was simulated, and in the final dream of existence, His toddler finally climbed out of the cradle with difficulty and headed towards the starry sky.

But after the dream of existence ended, in the last layer of the dream, the mother's body was already emaciated due to the weight, and the pollution that came from nowhere had tortured her to the point of being on the verge of death.

The real Him was dying.

What Ciel was facing was no longer Him, but something vile that had almost completely taken over the Great Mother's body.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the children who are connected to Him by blood can perceive the true appearance of their mother buried deep in their dreams.

At that time, in the eyes of Charles and Rachel, the mistress was still beautiful and holy, but in the eyes of her children, she had a hideous, ferocious, and almost crazy appearance.

The thing that occupied the mistress's body deceived the hero and the witch, but it could not deceive the mistress's children.

Thinking of this, Charles clenched the holy sword in his hand expressionlessly.

Only...

This was the only thing he couldn't tolerate.

He had lost something equally beautiful before, and no matter what, he was unwilling to witness the passing of another beautiful thing.

So, he ran.

Every step the brave man took left a deep pit on the ground. Wherever he passed, the soil sank and the rocks collapsed. Even the fake thick fog was almost torn apart by his figure.

There was a howling wind.

However, the faint light held in Xiaer's palm did not go out. On the contrary, it became brighter and almost burned.

Then a dazzling arc split the thick fog, and after a strange loud noise, in an instant, Charles appeared on a low hill not far from the mad mother.

Then he crouched down slightly, inhaling and exhaling.

The accumulated power burst out at the moment of exhaling.

——The low hill collapsed.

With Charles' body as the center, an indescribable force was thrown into the ground. In contrast, with a dull roar, the brave man grasped the holy sword with both hands and fell towards the crazy mother like a meteorite.

The mad mother seemed unaware of Charles' approach and therefore made no defense.

The holy sword easily pierced through the mad mother's flesh and blood. Not only that, but Charles' entire body also pierced through the mad mother's body like an arrow and drilled deep into her body.

The dirty flesh and blood kept shrinking and expanding, with hard fragments of unknown material mixed in between.

Charles swung his sword expressionlessly, cutting off the flesh, tentacles, eyeballs, and tumors that looked like some kind of organ that blocked his way.

His body and face were covered with the blood and flesh of the mad mother, but he didn't care about the dirty things that were even slowly wriggling.

Until now, Charles had never faced an enemy of such a huge size.

So he could only gamble.

The gambling-crazy mother's huge but cumbersome body would drag Him down.

Even to the crazy mother, perhaps he was just a tiny insect that could be easily crushed to death, just like humans can easily kill ants.

But what if that ant has exceptionally sharp mouthparts that can easily break through human flesh and get into the human body?

To it, humans are powerful, but in fact, to it, humans are also fragile.

Humans have too many weaknesses all over their bodies. Sometimes, even a powerful ant can kill a human.

Charles is now a powerful ant, but he doesn't know whether the mad mother will have various weaknesses like humans - so he can only gamble. He gambles that after he gets into the mad mother's body, he will be able to find something like a "core".

Rachel once told him that as a hero, it is not enough to just swing the sword, but one must learn to think and sum up experience, so that one can be invincible.

Charles always listened to Lacele.