Episode 193

6.

Why do people go crazy over titles? The very first title that no one else has ever earned! A unique title that no one else can obtain! A ridiculous title that almost no one can even attempt.

Even if the reward isn't jaw-dropping, they still chase it. They pour everything they have into the challenge. Why? There is no reason.

"It's just self-satisfaction."

Most people would answer like that. That is also true. If it were not, there would be no reason to obsess over something with no reward, even taking a loss to do so.

But this applies only to a small number of people—hardcore maniacs so attached to the idea that they'll challenge it from some forgotten corner of the world, some even staking their lives on it. Everyone else, however, strives for an invisible reward.

"What do you mean, no reward? People recognize you. Is there any reward more valuable than fame?"

Most titles have names. And the more unique and one-of-a-kind that name is, the more value it has. Even if people can't remember the person's name, they often know the title. Titles are fame. For fame, countless people risk their lives, work hard, and challenge themselves.

And among those, the most representative, the most famous, and the hardest title of all is 'Dragon Slayer,' is it not?

[You have achieved the achievement: 'Dragon Slayer (L)'.]

That single line. He had never imagined he would achieve something he'd once vowed to challenge someday, let alone this easily. And on this continent, no less. Here on this continent, without any of his items, Buja couldn't have killed a dragon—he couldn't even have killed a kitten raised by one.

"Whew."

That's why it still didn't feel real. He had never expected Cassius to leave him a gift like this, not even at the moment he drove the sword into her heart.

'Is this some kind of prank?'

He'd been skeptical right up until the moment Cassius drew her last breath. At best, he'd thought she might give him a treasure or two from her lair.

'Or maybe she's just giving me this sword?'

'Maybe she was supposed to die anyway,' he thought, 'and she just made it look like I stabbed her so the other dragons would see me as their enemy.'

In stark contrast to his cynical suspicions, the holograms faithfully displayed Cassius's gift.

[Your level has increased by 9.]

[You have obtained 50 stat points.]

[You have obtained 5 special stat points.]

[You have obtained 2,000,000 gold.]

And that was just from a quick glance at the level, stat points, and gold. It was a simple reward, granted purely for the achievement.

How could he not be stunned? This was no different from finding a winning lottery ticket on the street.

His heart pounded.

It wasn't the desire to brag, nor was it the joy of earning a title no one else had ever achieved. No, it was the rewards shimmering right before his eyes that thrilled him to his core.

Kim Buja was the type of person who only pursued titles if he could see a clear, exploitable value in them.

When he looked back, he saw Kallis and the knights staring at him with the same disbelieving expressions.

He patted the princess on the shoulder as she approached to comfort him.

"A single path has opened," he said. "Let's go."

The smile on his lips was no longer that of a dazed fool, mesmerized by the countless holograms blocking his view of reality.

Everything had become clear.

The more he thought about it, the more he wondered whether this was a chain of coincidences or a carefully laid plan, but ultimately, he decided it didn't matter.

So what if it was coincidence? So what if it was fate?

It had already happened, and from this point forward, everything would unfold according to Kim Buja's will.

He needed to sort through the holograms, but something else was far more important. Unlike the system windows he could check later, there were treasures he would lose forever if he didn't grab them now.

"Everyone, take one of these."

More than ten sacks, each enchanted with a spatial expansion spell worth 10,000 gold, dropped out of thin air.

The 50,000 gold he had received as mission funds and the 50,000 he already had vanished in an instant. But for Kim Buja, who had just pocketed two million gold, the expense was pocket change.

Besides, it wasn't like he was just throwing the money away.

"Let's start by looting the rare items."

Cassius's death was undeniably a shame. She had been a dragon who was remarkably friendly toward humans, one filled with curiosity about Earth. He was certain that, had she lived, she would have been an immense help time and time again.

But she was dead.

And if they were going to mourn her, they should also honor her last wishes.

"Don't leave a single speck of dust behind."

Cassius had told him:

—"If your luck holds, I will watch over you. I will watch the paths you take. And to do that, I will give you everything of mine."

She had never put it quite that bluntly, of course, but Kim Buja, who interpreted her words however he pleased, didn't hesitate for a second.

No, this was the bare minimum he had to do.

"Grab anything and everything you can. From here on out, we're heading into a war where any of us could die at any moment."

It was time to create another miracle.

* * *

The Pope was furious.

"You let her slip away right before your very eyes?"

"We are sorry."

This was nothing new. It had been almost a year.

The war with the Empire. He had coordinated with the Allied Forces, investing an enormous amount of time and effort. In the twilight of his life, he had staked everything on his ambition to place the entire continent beneath his feet.

Bringing down the Empire itself had not been particularly difficult. After the decades he had invested, it had collapsed with almost laughable ease.

Up to that point, he had considered it the natural outcome. He had run every simulation a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times over, and he had already recruited the key figures who formed the Empire's backbone.

After that, there had been little left to do.

The Empire had fallen.

The Allied Forces now ruled the continent.

And the Temple had become completely independent.

In truth, there was no longer any power capable of checking the Temple. The Allied Forces may have seized control of the continent, but their true strength was a pale shadow of the old Empire's.

Why else were they still called the Allied Forces? Even after the Empire fell and they took its place, people still called them that. Perhaps, with time, they would be reborn as a new Empire, but that process would surely involve rivers of blood and might ultimately come to nothing.

If that happened, then naturally, no one would be able to stop the Temple's rise to power. After all, hadn't the Empire been the only force capable of keeping the Temple in check?

That was why he had believed his era had finally arrived.

At least, until that slippery little princess slipped through his fingers.

It hadn't bothered him much at the time. Even when the Allied Forces' high command diverted troops to chase her, he hadn't particularly cared. They had needed a pretext, so they had sent soldiers, but the fact that they hadn't committed their full strength made it clear they weren't willing to risk everything for her.

Of course not.

She was just one person. A girl who had spent her entire life in the imperial palace, who had barely interacted with the outside world, who was nothing without the Empire.

'Sooner or later, they'll catch her,' he had thought. 'Or she'll hide somewhere like a mouse and never show her face again.'

That complacency had, after a year, returned as a festering rage.

That little girl had become the Empire's final flame, burning brilliantly as she rallied the remaining troops and fought back, all while struggling to clear her name. As a result, countless people had witnessed the true, ugly nature of the Temple and the Allied Forces, and now their legitimacy had plummeted to rock bottom.

This was their last chance.

They had to capture the princess immediately and kill her, execute the saintess in the name of God, and completely eradicate the remnants of the Empire that supported her.

"She has gone deep into the Forbidden Mountain Range, making pursuit difficult."

"Again?"

It was always the same story. Every time they were on the verge of catching her, they would miss her by a hair's breadth for one reason or another. Then they would give up. It wasn't because of a spy in their midst; the reasons always sounded plausible. Often, they pursued her to the very end, only to be forced to retreat because she had already escaped.

They had always told themselves they would get her next time, and that pile of broken promises had led to the current crisis.

There was no "next time" anymore.

"We will gather all our forces. Contact the Allied Forces. We end this now."

"But, Your Holiness…" one of the elders began.

The Pope shook his head firmly. He knew exactly what the man was going to say.

"You think this isn't the right time, don't you?"

"It is the Forbidden Mountain Range. If we make a mistake and provoke a dragon…"

"That is precisely the problem! How long are we going to keep backing down out of fear of losses? There is no more room to retreat. If those rats escape again and bide their time—"

"...Understood."

"And besides," the Pope added, "dragons have been extinct for a long time."

While that was common knowledge, he possessed an unshakeable certainty.

"It has been thousands of years since they last appeared in the historical record, and the last one seen was an ancient dragon. Considering that, there are no dragons left on the continent."

Even here, alone with his subordinate, the Pope's kindly smile was full of composure. The foundation of his certainty lay in his own corruption. He was a Pope who had betrayed the will of God, yet the continent continued to turn, undisturbed.

Legends and history were, in the end, nothing more than records—illusions created and written by humans. If he wrote his own version, that would become the truth and the legend for future generations.

And so, he made his decision.

"We finish it this time. Ignore the Black Magic Cultists scattered about. The princess. As long as we kill her, everything ends."

"Yes, Your Holiness."

They would see it through to the end. He would stamp his seal on history as its true master.

Of course, in the Pope's mind, the concept of defeat did not exist.

"Assemble a force that can end this decisively."

Probably no one on the continent even considered the possibility of the Temple's defeat.

That was how many troops they gathered.

For the final holy war.

7.

The battle in the canyon had been a clash between the Allied Forces and the Empire. This time, however, it was a battle between the Temple and the Black Magic Cult.

Naturally, the composition of the army was completely different.

Two hundred thousand Allied soldiers, thirty thousand Temple knights, two thousand priests, one hundred high priests, and five elders.

And the Pope himself.

None of them had forgotten the horror of the canyon. They knew full well that even an army of priests overflowing with holy power might not have been enough to counter that strategy, so this time they had come fully prepared. They were confident they would not fall for any trick. On top of their countermeasures against black magic, they had the might of the Allied Forces.

It was an absurdly excessive number of troops to throw at what was, at most, a few hundred enemies.

Naturally, morale was sky-high.

They didn't call it a battlefield outright, but the Temple's soldiers all whispered among themselves.

"This is gonna be a cakewalk, right?"

"Yeah, finding them is the only hard part."

"As long as we don't split up and get ambushed, we're golden."

"It's the Forbidden Mountain Range, though. We might need to be more careful about monsters."

"What if a dragon shows up?"

"They said dragons are extinct."

Their confidence was absolute.

"Feels more like we're here to conquer the Forbidden Mountain Range."

No one was worried about the battle. In fact, few even thought of it as a "battle" at all.

'Are humans finally going to conquer the Forbidden Mountain Range?'

Speculating about such a historic achievement, they marched into the mountains to fight the final battle of the holy war.

* * *

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