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Chapter 259: Rinella’s Destiny is Her Own (52)

The Saintess\' warm comfort continued for a long period.

Wasn\'t she the one who usually nagged and teased me?

Yet here she was, suddenly holding me tightly and offering sincere comfort. It made me wonder what on earth had happened overnight.

From the way she initially scrutinized me, it seemed she might have seen the \'me\' from the future.

If so, it was logical to assume that the change in the Saintess\'s attitude was also due to \'me.\'

Even while my thoughts raced, the Saintess continued to soothe me..

Now, there was even a hint of sobbing mixed in.

The Saintess kept stroking my head as she spoke..

"I will make sure that you, you of all people, won\'t end up like that… I will be by your side whenever you\'re struggling or in pain, so please always consult me."

"I-I see."

My voice, stifled by the Saintess’ soft valley, turned into a mumble as it came out.

I wanted to further probe into the situation, but the Saintess wasn’t letting me go.

Technically, I could have escaped from her embrace with a bit of effort.

While the Saintess was quite strong thanks to her martial arts training, she was no match for me, who had spent a lifetime training with swords..

Yet, ultimately, I could not push her away.

Because it felt good.

The embrace of the Saintess was cozy and soft.

It brought back memories from my childhood.

They say a man is always a child at heart, no matter how much he grows.

Just like the saying went, I found it hard to shake off the maternal comfort of the Saintess.

To be precise, it was a certain part of her body that symbolized motherhood.

Still, as I quietly listened, I began to understand why she was acting this way.

Several keywords kept appearing in her speech.

Like \'alone,\' \'in pain,\' and \'I\'ll be by your side.\'

It seemed the Saintess was shocked after seeing the \'me\' from the future.

It must have been sad and frightening to see what became of me in the future.

Though I never directly talked to him, I could roughly guess in what state that man was in by piecing together the fragmented memories I stole glimpses of.

He had lost all his dear ones.

The only mission left for him was a hollow phrase: \'Save the world.\'

Could he have managed to do it in the end?

Because the future was unknown, I sighed deeply and raised my head.

Then I firmly grasped the hands of the grieving Saintess.

"Saintess, don’t worry. I am Ian Percus, after all."

"…That person also claimed to be ‘Ian Percus’."

Oops, right.

Just as pity reappeared in the Saintess\'s eyes, I quickly corrected my statement.

"It\'s different, that person didn\'t have you by his side, Saintess."

Perhaps he did.

But I wasn\'t tactless enough to mention that.

The Saintess, while still lookingsad, seemed a bit reassured.

"That’s why the path I walk will surely be different. Not only the Saintess, but I have many good friends by my side... Is there really a need to make such painful decisions?"

"Ian, that... might be a hard thing to discuss."

The Saintess averted her gaze slightly as her voice trailed off.

Her expression was clearly one of distress.

I just looked at her, dumbfounded, wondering why she was acting like this.

After hesitating for a while, the Saintess firmly shut her eyes and said to me,

"…We’ve decided to abandon the Percus territory."

My body, previously trying to persuade the Saintess, suddenly stiffened.

For a moment, I couldn\'t comprehend her words.

Abandon? Percus territory?

Why in the world?

Although a whirlwind of questions stormed in my mind, the only words I could muster were,

"That\'s absolutely impossible."

Immediately after, I started seeking out people around to discuss the matter.

The Imperial Administrator, Arthur, was the first person I visited.

He displayed a more dramatic change than the Saintess, leaping to his feet as soon as he saw me.

Fumbling, he attempted to kneel before stopping himself in fright.

As I stared at him in disbelief, Arthur, sweating profusely, greeted me.

"D-Do you have any orders? The orders you gave are being carried out sequentially. Thanks to the cooperation of Viscount Percus…"

"Orders?"

It was now Arthur\'s turn to be dumbfounded by my counter-question.

He glanced at me briefly, then, thinking it was some kind of test, immediately started reciting the orders my future self had given.

"A large-scale retreat operation. If the underlying of the Evil God is summoned, we can’t handle it with our current forces, so we must evacuate Percus territory within three days…"

"…Three days? How can all the territory\'s people leave in just three days?"

Arthur could not easily answer my question and bowed his head deeply.

With a sense of guilt, he recited the grim reality.

"So at least hundreds of refugees are expected to arise. But previously, you, Sir Ian, said that it was an unavoidable sacrifice..."

Damn it.

I muttered under my breath, unable to curse out loud in front of Arthur.

And stumbled backwards out of the meeting room.

The responses from everyone I met thereafter were mostly similar.

Oddly enough, the women were more worried about me than the strange contents of the operation.

"Senior Ian, are you alright? What should I do ... N-No matter what, If you\'re going through something difficult, you must tell me. You really must!"

Those words came from Seria.

I almost said I felt like dying right then and there from the overwhelming burden, but managed to hold back.

How could a noble abandon their territory, let alone their people?

Celine sighed deeply as she saw my pale face.

"Ian Oppa…"

She weakly tapped my shoulder.

"...There\'s no other way."

No other way?

The Yurdina family had a thousand private soldiers, and even the Rinella family’s mage corps was present.

Yet, Seria already had a resigned look on her face, and I had no idea where Senior Elsie and Sir Reynold had gone.

Finally, the last person I went to see was Leto.

As soon as I entered the reception room, panting, Leto sighed as if he had expected this.

"…You’re back?"

"Hey, Leto. Are you in on this too?"

Leto did not bother to ask what I meant.

His demeanour suggested from the moment he saw me he had instantly figured out my intentions.

With a sigh, he began to explain.

"There\'s no other choice. The more you hear, the worse it gets… We simply don’t have forces to confront that monster right now, facing it directly would be madness."

"We should at least buy time for the people of the territory to evacuate! What’s the point of us sitting in this mansion collecting taxes all this time?! It\'s times like these we need to make sacrifices..."

"Ian, the Dark Order is still too powerful."

I was speechless and closed my mouth.

Leto, too, must have been sad and regretful.

He grew up here as well, building countless memories with me.

Despite the painful look in his eyes, Leto laid out the reasons one by one, trying to convince me.

"We can’t predict what kind of attack might happen during the retreat. And most of the available forces we can mobilize are not from the Percus family, you see what I mean?"

"But…"

"Deploying our forces into battle blindly won\'t guarantee victory against such an opponent."

With that, Leto tossed a document he was holding towards me.

It was a paper filled with dense notes.

I blankly stared down at the document.

At the very top, in large letters, it read,

‘Corpse Giant.’

"This is the information we got from your future self yesterday. The more detailed, the less time he could stay in this timeline, so it\'s only roughly organized..… and yet it’s like this."

My eyes skimmed over the notes on the document.

‘Infinite regeneration.’

‘Revives surrounding corpses to fight as allies.’

‘Cannot be fought by a legion, a small elite squad must be formed.’

‘A method to stop the regeneration is necessary.’

It was an incredible enemy.

Is the Evil God’s underling truly such a terrifying existence?

Left speechless, I stood dumbfounded.

"Acting rashly would only increase the casualties. Because the corpses will just keep multiplying."

It was a death sentence.

And it was issued by the advisor I trusted most.

"I’m sorry, Ian…"

It was a sensation I had not felt in a long time.

The despair and profound sense of helplessness from being utterly powerless.

I was an incompetent human.

At least in the eyes of the hundreds who were about to lose their lives.

**

Unable to bear it any longer, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

I heard that the ‘me’ from yesterday had also drunk excessively, but no one among my family or companions stopped me.

It seemed everyone understood my feelings.

Getting drunk might even bring out the personality from the future.

I thought about that possibility but soon shook my head, dismissing that possibility.

Hadn\'t that man himself emphasised that it was \'impossible\'?

Therefore, even if I fell asleep drunk, the chances of him being summoned again were slim.

Besides,nothing would change even if he did appear.

After all, he was the one who decided to abandon the territory.

Today, my headache seemed to worsen.

So I sighed lightly and opened my bedroom door.

I was ready to collapse drunk at any moment.

If there had been no unexpected guest in my room, I would have followed through with that plan.

However, as soon as I opened the door, I had to stop in my tracks.

Someone was there.

It was a girl with ebony-like hair cascading down, adorned with golden dew on a pristine white canvas.

I could immediately tell who she was.

It was none other than Ria Percus, my younger sister.

But there was another reason I had to stop in my tracks.

It wasn\'t surprising that Ria had entered my bedroom uninvited, as it had happened a few times before.

What shocked me was the pose Ria was currently in.

She was kneeling, tears streaming down her face.

"O-Orabeoni…"

Sobbing, the girl spoke.

"Pl-Please don\'t hate Ria..."

That was all my younger sister wanted to ask of me, even at the cost of throwing away her pride.

I felt the need to share a conversation with Ria.