Глава 7

Rhodes Island, we get some of what you're saying. But we'll never see eye-to-eye.

We've followed the Captain our entire lives, but we we didn't do it blindly.

If... one day, that Cautus girl there turns into a tyrant like Talulah...

We will end you.

The Captain fought against all those people... against slavers, oppressors, corrupt rulers, and those who brought ruin. None could escape.

The Captain knew. About all the people in Chernobog who lost their lives to the Catastrophe. About all our battle brothers who died in vain.

He had his regrets, but knew he couldn't escape. He has set us free now, though. We belong only to the Captain and the ideals he fought for, not to Reunion.

We will take up his 'Aegis' from now on. Not as the Aegis of the Infected, but as defenders of all the enslaved.

We'll keep an eye on you, Cautus. If you take even a single step onto the wrong path, we swear to hunt you down.

We will treat these prophecies... as our secrets.

Because before that, we have a tyrant waiting for us in the control tower.

...The person who pushed you into a war against us and brought about this chain of tragedies is the leader of Reunion, Talulah.

We're going to regroup. We need to tell the guerrillas the news.

As for you... Continue to carry out your mission, if that's what you want.

Snow... flakes...?

This heavy snow... Is Yelena coming to pick up the Captain...?

Amiya, don't be too concerned about it.

The Sarkaz people have a long history with Originium. Their memories mix with Originium and become one with the land, returning to their own bodies.

Sometimes, certain tribes that have long passed down these Originium crystals will gather this information in one place.

Through the continuous use of Arts, this information, mixed together unexpectedly, manifests in different ways.

Most of these messages are lost to time, their contents jumbled or outdated. There is no basis for these prophecies.

But, they directly affect other people.

Like... someone hears these prophecies and starts to try to fulfill them, right?

I can't tell if these ideas are just vague whispers... or seeds that can bloom into reality. I really can't tell, but...

He could have killed me.

But... he thought...

I'll kill her now.

Stop. How are you so sure that she's our enemy?

She is Kashchey's heir! She'll poison us all, just like that old serpent!

No, you stubborn old man... You're wrong.

Even if she's bound to turn out like that in the end, we can't kill her now.

Because she's not Kashchey right now. Eh, who even is that? I can't understand you. All I know is, she's just Talulah.

...Who put these ideas in your head? It will twist your will to fight.

Twist? ...As if, old man. This whole idea of a pure warrior's spirit? If you really had that, I never would've met you.

If you really had that, we wouldn't be able to sit around a fire and have soup like we are now.

You're... just sixteen.

Did your soup get cold?

Always been cold. It's better that way.

I'll listen to you this time.

No, Father. That's not how it works.

If you believe you're right, then... no matter what happens, you should keep on believing that.

Because if something happens to Talulah, that's between her and her people.

But reality is just what's in front of us. Right, Father?

No matter what the future has in store, right now, I am I, and you are you.

No matter how much you dwell on it, we are who we are today. The only ones who we can change are ourselves, and we are the ones who will make that decision.

Let's try walking her path and see what happens.

...You'll be a great leader in the future.

I don't want to become a leader. I just want a comfortable life with my brothers and sisters, my uncles and aunts, and you.

I'll remember that.

Are you sure?

I won't forget.

Rosmontis... Dr. Kal'tsit... Doctor...

...He could've killed me... Mr. Buldrokkas'tee... could have killed me.

But I saw... I saw what he was thinking.

He didn't do it. He stopped himself, at the end.

I can still... hear him...

Amiya.

Tell me the most important thing. What was the last thing he said?

'I have seen. Woe and tragedy.'

'I have seen. Death and carnage.'

'I have seen. Neglect and blasphemy.'

'But someone once told me. It is all in our hands. If in the future, this is all that awaits us...'

'O, little King of Sarkaz. It is all in our hands. If this is fate...'

'Then I reject it.'

He said... He asked...

He sighed...

'My Lord... Where will you go?'

...Then nothing more.

Doctor... I've read it all. I've seen everything.

I read his entire life.

Amiya...

Buldrokkas'tee... He admitted that he betrayed his convictions twice in his life.

The first, was when he left Kazdel and walked away from his life as a Sarkaz warrior.

The second, was when he stood up against Ursus and walked away from his life as a warrior of the Ursus Empire.

And just now... I'd say he made his final betrayal. He betrayed Reunion and the Infected he served, and stopped being a warrior of the Reunion Movement.

With his death ends his last act of betrayal.

But...

He betrayed everything he cared about, because he has always stood up for his beliefs.

But this... isn't right, is it?

This kind of 'sublime betrayal' is a sort of release for those who deceive the world. It is an easy way to move things towards the best outcome.

But not for Buldrokkas'tee.

Do you mean that...

Speak up, Amiya.

...Kazdel is Mr. Buldrokkas'tee's home.

Even though he's come so far, he's always wanted to go back to Kazdel... It's not that he didn't want to go back home, but that he couldn't. He had to pay the price first... for his betrayal.

Ursus is his motherland. He fought for Ursus all his life... and blamed himself for the death of his son.

He believed that Ursus was evil, but for the sake of this land, he gave his life... fighting until the very end. He also paid the price for his second betrayal.

This time... he had to stand up against Talulah. But he foresaw that some of the people he strove to protect would die because of his actions.

Even though the decision he made preserved a future for the Infected, he... only felt pain... for the deceased.

This is his third act of betrayal, and the reason he was so determined to atone for it. From beginning to end, this battle was to make up for the consequences of his betrayal.

Through these three times, fate ended up pushing him further and further when he just wanted to turn back. He hated the cruelty and mockery of fate. He never wanted to follow it, but he bore the consequences for it all the same.

Ten years, twenty years... I'd be able to understand. But... too much time had passed. After facing all those regrets for so many years, too much time had passed.

At the very end, even I could not understand.

He could've taken my life, but he stopped at the end.

...He defeated his lifetime of suffering, his centuries-old ideology, and his love for this entire world.

He no longer followed the principles he had adhered to for countless years. He... succumbed to fate.

No, saying that would defile his memory. Rather, he chose to ignore everything he had been resisting, and overcame the final obstacle within his own heart.

He entrusted the future to you. This time, he gladly chose to do what he thought was right, rather than torture himself to maintain a certain ideal.

Of course, deep in his heart, this part is as you described...

It once belonged to Talulah, and now belongs to you. But it has always belonged to FrostNova.