Damn Reincarnation

ng, and right at the very end, she hadn’t even been able to save herself.

Thus, Anise was well aware of how people could break down and collapse.
She had faced the option of giving in to despair and running away from everything.
But in the end, she had been unable to run away.
Things like her beliefs and her duty had held her back like a curse at her very last moment.

Anise didn’t regret dying like that, however.
In the end, she had been able to choose death rather than being forced into it.

However, Molon was different.
He wasn’t able to choose death.
No one else could help him, nor could they save him.

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“If your head… was injured even a little, then I could at least heal you.
But your head is so damn tough, Molon.
I know you don’t even have a scratch.
Well, it’s kinda nice not having anything to do.”

Anise sympathized with Molon.
Her heart ached for him, and it felt like she might even cry.
However, she definitely couldn’t allow herself to reveal these feelings.
She felt like Molon wouldn’t want to see her like that, and Anise herself didn’t want to behave like that.

“…You two,” Molon said as he chuckled.

After staring blankly up at the sky for a few moments, Molon slowly turned around, and they were finally able to see his face.

It was just as Anise had said.
Even though he had slammed his face into the ground hard enough that the very mountain itself had been shaken by the force, Molon’s forehead bore not a single scratch, let alone any injury or blood.

While he was physically intact, however, his expression said something completely different about his mental state.
The impression that Molon had given off when they had seen him just a few days before was that he was the same Molon that they had known in the old days, but the man they were seeing in front of their eyes…

This man was the same as he had been when they had first reunited in the Great Hammer Canyon.
His eyes were cold, without any trace of emotion.
Eyes that seemed to have been hollowed out by the years.
Just like the eyes of Vermouth in the Darkroom — tired, cloudy, dull.

“You… you haven’t changed.
You’re just like you were in the old days,” Molon muttered at Eugene and Anise, looking at them with those lifeless eyes.

At these words, Eugene snorted and shook his head.
“It’s because we’ve both died once.
That goes for me especially, since I died the earliest.
It’s only natural that I haven’t changed.”

“That goes for me as well,” Anise agreed.
“My life was also quite tragic, but I was still able to take my life after doing all the things that I wanted to do and drinking to my heart’s content.”

“I…,” Molon trailed off with a light.
“I tried my best not to change.
I thought that I couldn’t allow myself to do so.
However, against my own will, I couldn’t help but to change slowly.”

Eugene pointed out, “Three hundred years is a long time for a human being.”

“I know,” Molon sighed.
“Three hundred years is a really long time.
However, I still didn’t want to change.
I told myself that I couldn’t, and I believed that I would only be able to fulfill my mission by maintaining a clear state of self.

A few days ago….

—Is it because of Vermouth’s request that you are unable to die?

When Eugene had asked that question, Molon had replied with a smile.

—I won’t die because I don’t want to.

—As a warrior, I need to live a worthy life.
While following the request of an old friend, I am protecting the snowy mountains and the snowfield that I love, the country that I created with my own hand, and even the whole world.

—I don’t want to die an unsightly death from old age.
I want to die as a warrior, as a hero.
Currently, death seems like a distant thing to me, but if I eventually lose strength and end up dying….

“I must not fall,” Molon stated.

—The corpses of the Nur that I have piled up until this point will act as proof of my life as a warrior and a hero.

Molon proudly declared, “This is the mission that Vermouth entrusted to me.
As the only one of us left alive, I accepted his request.”

Vermouth had made the request, and Molon had chosen to accept it.
Because this was what Molon wanted.

Molon did not resent Vermouth.
Vermouth hadn’t given him any explanation.
He hadn’t said what the Nur were, nor why they kept reappearing.
He hadn’t even explained why he was asking for this favor.

Yet, Molon still didn’t resent Vermouth.
It was because he knew full well that the only one Vermouth could trust with this sort of task was the Brave Molon.

“…I’m fine,” Molon said after a vigorous shake of his head.
“I’m just a little dizzy.
As you may have already sensed, the Nur’s miasma is hellish.
It’s impossible to get used to it.
Especially for me, since I’ve killed so many of them over such a long period of time.
As such, there are times when I can’t control all of the things inside me.”

“So what? Since you can’t control yourself, you’re trying to solve your problems like that?” Eugene asked sarcastically.

“I know that it ’s embarrassing and ugly.
I’m all too aware that such behavior does not befit a warrior, so I didn’t want to show you this.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I grew with myself.
That’s why I was smashing my own head into the ground,” Moon shamefacedly confessed.

“Idiot.
Do you really think that you can let go of your anger by smashing your head into the ground,” Eugene muttered as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

At these words, Molon could only grin.

“Hamel, Anise,” Molon spoke up after a short silence.
Like his weary eyes, his voice sounded just as worn out as he continued, “Isn’t it enough now?”

“What do you mean?” Eugene demanded.

“Hamel, you said that you wanted to see this place.
Anise, you also said that you wanted to see the thing that I didn’t want to show anyone.
In the end, you’ve seen all that you wanted to see,” Molon reminded them.

Eugene noticed that Molon’s fingertips were trembling slightly.

Molon attempted to persuade them.
“I don’t know how you got in here.
Even if I make you leave, you might be able to come back in.
But please, don’t.
I still…need some time to calm down properly.
I don’t want you to see me in that state any longer.”

Molon could feel Eugene’s gaze.
He cupped his trembling hands together to hide the shaking and turned back around.

“Go back to Fort Lehain.
There’s a chance that the Nur might reappear once more.
I… I will return in two days,” Molon promised.

“And what if the Nur doesn’t reappear during those two days,” Eugene retorted.
“Will you keep banging your head on the floor like you were before?”

Molon defended himself, “It’s not like it’s really all that painful for me to do so.”

“I suppose so,” Eugene agreed sarcastically.” Your body is uselessly tough, and if your body breaks down because of excessive self-injury, then you won’t be able to continue fulfilling Vermouth’s request.”

“I’m not just doing this because of Vermouth’s request, Hamel.
Like I said before, any one of us would do the same thing that I am,” Molon argued back.

“I know.
There’s no way that you can just leave a monster like the Nur or whatever to its own devices, so even if it were me in your place, I would have lived here in order to keep killing the Nur.
Then, when I finally thought that I couldn’t continue doing this any longer, I would have killed myself,” Eugene stated without any hesitation.

“That wouldn’t have happened, Hamel.
You weren’t such a weak warrior.
None of us would have ever committed suicide without fulfilling our mission.”

“Then I would just gone crazy and broken down,” Eugene muttered as he stared at Molon.
“Just like you have.”

“…I’m not crazy,” Molon denied it.
“I’m not broken either.
I’m just having trouble keeping calm.”

“I hope that is the case.
For you, it must have been a very long time ago, but the battlefield that we fought on…,” Eugene smirked as he kicked something in front of him.

Pow!

A crumpled Nur’s head was sent flying by Eugene’s kick.

“…It was full of monsters that were much worse than this one.
If you were caught up with dealing with a guy like this for over a hundred years, then someone like you, who’s barbaric by nature and overflowing with strength, would never be satisfied with just that.
It might get your blood boiling, but it wouldn’t be enough to calm you back down.”

Anise attempted to intervene, “Hamel, Molon is—”

“Be quiet, Anise,” Eugene cut her off.

In the face of Eugene’s sharp gaze, Anise just sighed and took a few steps back.

“Idiots,” Anise muttered.

“Don’t include me in that,” Eugene replied with a laugh.

Eugene put his right hand inside of his cloak and raised his gaze to look up the mountain.
There was still some more distance that they could climb.

“Hey, Molon, I want to take a look at the peak of this mountain,” Eugene suggested.

“There’s nothing there,” Molon informed him.
“The view isn’t worth much either.”

“That’s for me to judge.”

“Hamel.”

Eugene changed the subject.
“Come to think of it, your descendant told me quite an interesting story.”

Back in Hamelon, the capital of Ruhr, Aman Ruhr had dropped them in front of the statue of Hamel and Molon, then said something to Eugene with a smirk.

Recalling that moment, Eugene said, “I’ve heard that you said it yourself.
That three hundred years ago, you were the strongest of Vermouth’s comrades.
In other words, you were saying that you were stronger than me.”

“Hamel,” Molon called out calmly.

Eugene continued unimpeded, “Come to think of it, I’m also very curious.
While traveling around with Vermouth, I faced him a few times, but I’ve never had a proper match with you.”

Molon turned his head around once more to look at Eugene.

“Also, Anise showed me something interesting,” Eugene added.

He was talking about the dream that he had been shown through the Holy Sword in the Samar Rainforest.

“You, you said something while weeping on my grave, didn’t you? You said that you wanted to fight with me someday.
You wanted to know, between you and me, who was the greater warrior, right?” Eugene pressed Molon.

Molon hesitantly tried to defuse the situation.
“…I, I don’t need to fight with you, Hamel.
I know you very well.
I recognize your ability.
You’re greater, braver, and stronger—”

“Do you really think that?” Eugene asked while tilting his head to the side.

Unable to reply, Molon just glared at Eugene.
Seeing this gaze, Eugene smiled and nodded.

“Your eyes tell me that you don’t really think that,” Eugene observed as his hand inside of his cloak grabbed onto Akasha.

Molon warned him, “Don’t do anything foolish, Hamel.”

“He would have thought that such words would ever come from your lips,” Eugene sarcastically marveled as his White Flame Formula emitted sparks of purple flames.

As Molon saw this appearance, he clenched his fists.

Eugene saw a faint light beginning to flicker within Molon’s eyes.
He promised, “I won’t use any weapons, because you’re a friend, after all.”

“Hamel!” Molon shouted in alarm.

“However, I will use magic.
Since your skills aren’t the same as they were in my past life, it should be fine for me to use the magic that I wasn’t able to use back then,” Eugene justified himself.

With Akasha, Eugene began to prepare his Signature.

Anise, who had already backed off into the distance, shook her head.

“Idiots.”