The Dark Alliance’s Southern Front, located in the Dresden Kingdom territory. Yona had been summoned to a command tent.
"Thank you for coming, Yona."
Before him sat a middle-aged man with his hands clasped, welcoming him.
"To have the famous 7th Legion Commander come all this way puts my mind at ease."
"I look forward to working with you," Richard replied.
Tragon Jedward, the Supreme Commander of the Southern Front and a veteran among veterans who had weathered countless wars, unrolled a map. "To explain the current situation: Priests who caught the scent of the Sealed Book have swarmed the area. Battles have already broken out in five different locations." He pointed out each location on the map with his baton.
"Our role is simple. We are to safely transport the Sealed Book to Roc Island."
"Is it the real Sealed Book?" Richard asked nonchalantly.
Tragon snapped his fingers with a smile. "No need for a lengthy explanation. I’ll show you myself."
Soon after, soldiers wheeled a cart into the tent. Richard’s eyes shifted when he saw the object resting upon it. Exuding an undeniably ominous aura, it was unmistakably the real deal. Just being near it caused the surrounding cloth to crumble and its colors to fade.
"We are in charge of the ’Sealed Book,’ the great weapon that will end this long war. That is why I called for you and the 7th Legion."
"A crucial mission, then," Richard noted.
"A very troublesome one," Tragon corrected, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you aware that the Holy Federation bastards blocked teleportation to Roc Island? A pointless effort. Teleportation using runic language is impossible anyway due to that heterogeneous dark magic."
"Naturally, it can’t be placed in a subspace, either. It’s crude, but we have no choice but to load it onto a carriage and transport it ourselves."
"Hmm."
"We will move while guarding the Sealed Book with an ironclad defense. The Alliance forces are gathering here one after another. If we break through the naval blockade under their protection and deliver the Sealed Book to Roc Island, it will be our Dark Alliance’s victory."
Richard nodded in understanding.
"However."
Richard raised an eyebrow. Tragon pulled his chair a little closer.
"At the most crucial moment, right ahead of an important mission in this long war, a strange rumor about you has been circulating."
Richard brushed his hair back with a tired expression. "There are always bad rumors about me. That’s nothing new."
"I heard you made contact with the Miracle Saintess in the Bahila Territory."
Richard’s movements halted.
"They say you met her while volunteering at an orphanage. Ah, that can happen. In this crazy world, wouldn’t that just be a minor incident? But unfortunately, your actions afterward left room for suspicion."
Tragon clasped his hands together. "They say you left the Miracle Saintess right in front of you and retreated, pulling back our allied forces."
Richard remained silent.
"It would have been better if you had treated it as a simple incident and fought her right then and there. It seems the higher-ups are talking about how you missed a golden opportunity."
Richard scratched his head vigorously and replied in annoyance. "I don’t fight battles I can’t win. Our allied forces at the orphanage were outnumbered, and I hadn’t brought many Ancient Undead with me, so there was no need to force a fight. That’s all there is to it."
"Is that really all?"
"Yes."
Tragon rubbed his thick fingers together. "Of course, I believe you, but you know how it is, don’t you? The imaginations of those old elders are unpleasantly vivid."
Richard’s jaw tightened.
"It’s an order requiring an ideological verification of you, seeing as you’ve been tasked with transporting the Sealed Book. But I’d rather not go that far."
Tragon slid a blank piece of parchment across the table. "It might be a hassle, but write a report to submit to the higher-ups. Detail exactly why you had to make that decision at the time."
Richard stared at the paper.
"So, let’s transport the Sealed Book together, achieve a great merit, and end this war with the Alliance’s victory."
Tragon patted Richard’s shoulder and left the tent. Richard, who had been standing blankly in front of the statement form, soon let out a long sigh and sat down. "Damn it." He gripped a quill and began scratching out the document.
Still, considering it was an order from the old men of Roc Island, he had to be thankful that Tragon’s discretion kept it to just this.
’I merely happened to be in the same place as the disguised Miracle Saintess by chance, and I never exchanged a single word with her.’
As soon as he finished that paragraph, it came to mind.
’That’s a wonderful name, Richard!’
Her voice. The air of that day. The warmth of that day. Her soft smile as she spoke sprang to life, flickering vividly before his eyes.
"Damn it."
Richard snapped out of his thoughts and continued writing.
’During the volunteer work, I took care of the orphans. I cooked meals, cleaned, and played with the children.’
As he described the volunteer work, another memory surfaced. The time he rode the Spirit Dragon to the sea with her.
’But today, stepping out of line just this once, has been the most special and radiant day of my life, a life I’ve lived the exact same way forever.’
Her face as she smiled and spoke was clearer than anything else. Richard set the quill down for a moment and leaned his head back. He let out a heavy breath. His feelings were complicated.
After Richard left, the statement form and quill were left sitting alone in the military tent. Then, Tragon stepped inside. He approached the desk in silence. Tragon didn’t even glance at the statement Richard had written; he simply stared at the quill Richard had touched.
Then, he turned his head.
"Is this enough? Elementalist."
A strange mana, distinct from pitch-black darkness, swirled up from the floor and coalesced into a human shape. It was a man wearing a black cloak.
"It is sufficient."
Rising from his spot, he began casting a curse on the quill Richard had touched. Tragon sat down and spoke heavily.
"Forging orders from the higher-ups during wartime is a grave felony."
"Even if it becomes an issue, the higher-ups will understand, as it was done to weed out a traitor."
The man took his hand off the cursed quill. "Besides, you saw it too, Supreme Commander."
"I did."
Before crossing over to the Southern Front, Richard had stayed in a military tent in the Bahila Territory. The man had shown Tragon the items found inside it.
’How to Stop the War’
’Why This War Must End’
Richard wasn’t thinking about winning the war; he was researching ways to stop it. Various books, critiques, and even the notes in his journals proved it.
"He has been influenced by the Saintess, and in the end, he will betray the Dark Alliance."
The cursed quill flew up and danced across a blank piece of stationery.
"We must act first before he does. For a better future for the Alliance."
Anna was also at the Southern Front in the Dresden Kingdom territory, where Richard was. The Holy Federation had not yet amassed a large-scale army. Forming platoon-sized guerrilla units, they launched attacks on any Dark Alliance forces slipping out of the Southern Front. Since there was no way to know who possessed the Sealed Book, a relentless offensive was the only answer.
Anna, too, had to move frantically alongside the other Priests.
That night.
Having gone through several battles without a proper wink of sleep, Anna finally got some time to rest her eyes. Even then, it was nothing more than camping out under a blanket in front of an extinguished campfire. However, her mind was so complicated that sleep eluded her. On a night when even the colleague on night watch was dozing off from sheer exhaustion, Anna didn’t wake him; instead, she kept watch over their surroundings, taking over his duty.
’What is he doing right now?’
Just as Anna looked up at the night sky and recalled Richard’s face, a sound broke the silence. The nearby bushes rustled and swayed. A wild animal? Or an enemy?
Anna carefully stood up and looked in the direction of the noise. But then... She gasped inwardly.
It was undoubtedly the Spirit Dragon. The very same Spirit Dragon Richard had used when he first showed her the sea. The Spirit Dragon stared intently at Anna before turning its back. It repeatedly looked back and moved forward, as if telling her to follow.
’Richard?’
Anna hurriedly followed the Spirit Dragon. Only after crossing the forest and coming quite a distance did the creature come to a halt.
"O-Oh, hello," she whispered. "What’s the matter? Did Richard send you?"
The Spirit Dragon scratched its ear with its hind foot, then gestured to the ground with a nod. When Anna looked down, a single letter lay on the dirt. As Anna picked up the letter, the Spirit Dragon melted into thin air and disappeared.
She let out a soft breath. Her heart began to pound rapidly. After checking her surroundings once more to ensure she was alone, Anna carefully unfolded the letter. She covered her mouth, overcome with emotion.
It was truly a letter from Richard. She pulled out the conch shell she had fashioned into a necklace, a keepsake she treasured deeply. The handwriting on the shell and the handwriting in the letter were completely identical. It was a hasty scrawl, as if written in a rush, but it was unmistakably Richard’s.
She focused and read the letter.
’I intend to destroy the Sealed Book and end this irrational war. Will you join me?’
The letter detailed the date and location for them to meet. Anna carefully folded the letter and started walking. Naturally, she wasn’t heading in the direction of her colleagues’ campsite.
At the same time, Simon and Lethe, who had received Israphel’s help, also crossed over using the teleportation magic circle. Because the distance was so great, they hadn’t arrived directly at the Southern Front where Richard and Anna were. They should have taken another teleportation magic circle from here, but since there were too many people guarding it, they decided to procure horses and ride to the front lines.
"If I may speak, sir," Lethe initiated the conversation. "If history runs its course, the ’Legion of Betrayal’ incident is about to occur, is it not?"
"It is."
"This is merely a thought, so please do not be angered. What if..." Lethe continued in a serious tone. "What if we could prevent the Legion of Betrayal incident and save Professor Anna and Richard?"
Simon fell silent. Of course, it wasn’t as if Simon hadn’t thought about it. The greatest hardship in Simon’s life was the Legion of Betrayal incident itself. Even though it happened twenty-two years ago, people still shuddered at the mere mention of the Legion of Betrayal and harbored deep hatred for the 7th Legion.
If that incident had never occurred, wouldn’t he be able to live proudly as a Legion Commander while attending Kizen right now? His father wouldn’t need to live in hiding anymore, and his mother’s honor could be restored. He would fully inherit his father’s army and the Ancient Undead, and he wouldn’t need to hide his identity from his friends or the people around him. Above all, the pain and hardship the two of them had to endure during the Legion of Betrayal incident would be erased.
Honestly, it would be a lie to say he had no desire to change the past. Simon squeezed his eyes shut.
"Everyone has regrets," Simon said. "If it were possible, I’d want to change the bad parts of the past too. But we didn’t come here to change the past; we came to protect the future."
Simon turned his head to look at her. "In the end, I believe all regrets, sorrows, and frustrations are necessary trials for moving forward. Because we faced those hardships, we are who we are today. The Legion of Betrayal incident must happen."
Lethe nodded silently and lowered her gaze. "That is an admirable perspective, sir."
No further words were exchanged. With serious, hardened expressions, the two of them raced toward the site where the incident was destined to unfold. Soon, the historical event that would change the fate of the continent would take place.

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