"Huh?"
Cromwell's voice sounded dazed.
Just moments ago, she had been fighting.
For the sole remaining goal—conquering the human world, she was engaged in a life-and-death battle with enemies she could no longer distinguish.
But when she came to her senses, she was inside a familiar ship.
The dimensional transport ship that departed from her homeland.
This ship, which carried the demon legion to other distant dimensions, was like a cherished old home for young Cromwell, almost her true homeland.
Cromwell had also reverted to her childhood form.
There were no overgrown antlers, no flesh covered in blood and mucus.
Cromwell blinked as she looked at her small, intact body.
"What is this...?"
Then, footsteps echoed.
Startled, Cromwell turned to see a familiar figure approaching slowly.
Cromwell unknowingly smiled brightly and called out.
"Daddy!"
She quickly corrected herself.
"Oh, no... Elder."
"Your Excellency, here you are."
It was the elder who approached.
The elder, smiling with a more sorrowful expression than usual, slowly knelt on one knee in front of Cromwell.
"I was worried because you weren't at the training ground."
"Oh, sorry! I'll go back quickly!"
The elder cautiously asked the flustered Cromwell.
"Do you not want to train today?"
"Huh?"
Cromwell, blinking her eyes wide, quickly shook her head.
"No, I like training!"
"..."
"I also enjoy the military strategies and politics you teach, and I love the combat techniques and magic."
"Your Excellency."
"You always said, I must not lose. I am the hope of our legion. So..."
"Your Excellency."
The elder gently interrupted Cromwell's words with a soft smile.
"Today, you may rest."
"Huh?"
"It's okay to not study or train today. Today, you can do whatever you really want to do."
"..."
"If you could spend today freely, what would you like to do?"
This had never happened in her life. Not once had there been such a day.
So, with wide-open eyes, Cromwell stood frozen for a moment before finally smiling brightly with a flushed face and grabbing the elder's hand.
"Then, I...! Then, I want to play with Daddy, I mean, Elder...!"
The elder gently patted Cromwell's head, who hurriedly corrected her address again.
"Today, you can call me Daddy."
"Huh...? Really? But I've never..."
"Today is okay. Just for today, you can do whatever you want."
The elder stood up, holding Cromwell's small hand and leading her forward.
"Now, what shall we play today, Your Excellency?"
Cromwell, unable to believe whether this was a dream or reality, followed him with tears welling up.
The two spent a happy day inside the empty ship.
They cooked and ate together in the kitchen, read storybooks while lying down, played hide-and-seek, toured the ship while singing...
Like an ordinary father and daughter spending a weekend together.
Cromwell experienced the happiness of an ordinary life she had never known.
"Yawn..."
The happy day quickly drew to a close.
The elder, seeing Cromwell nodding off, picked her up and carried her to bed.
He laid her head on a pillow, pulled the blanket up to her neck, and sat by the bed, stroking her hair.
"Did you have fun today, Your Excellency?"
"Yes... It was the most fun I've ever had..."
Cromwell smiled sleepily.
"Actually, I... I didn't want to study military strategies or politics."
"..."
"I always envied other children who could sing and play. I wanted to eat sweets like other kids instead of growth stimulants, and I wanted to read storybooks with Daddy instead of training with a sword until my muscles burst."
"..."
"I hated training, fighting, eating, and growing up."
Cromwell's whining confession gradually softened.
"But I am the commander of the legion... I have to take responsibility for our legion. Failure is not acceptable..."
"..."
"I must be perfect, so..."
"It's okay."
Cromwell's eyes, which were closing, opened halfway.
The elder smiled gently and stroked Cromwell's cheek.
"You did your best."
"..."
"It's okay not to be perfect. It's okay to fail. It's okay to lose. You did your best. So, please..."
Don't suffer, and accept what follows failure...
The elder gently kissed Cromwell's forehead and whispered in her ear.
"Sleep well tonight, my daughter."
Cromwell, faintly smiling, responded in a fading voice.
"Good night, Daddy..."
***
"..."
Cromwell lay still.
Violet and Dearmudin had their hands on the forehead of the fallen monster commander, with Violet maintaining the daydream and Dearmudin directly infiltrating his consciousness into it.
While Violet and Dearmudin subdued Cromwell with the daydream, I neutralized her.
I meticulously separated and destroyed each of the countless antlers—no, magical parasites that had grown on Cromwell's head.
These parasites were the source of the zombification, stealing the magic and abilities of each legion monster and supplying them to Cromwell.
Using precision akin to surgery, I removed and exterminated each parasite with 'will.'
Originally, I would have been baffled by the complex magical formula, but with the knowledge and experience borrowed from the real Ash, I managed it without much difficulty.
Saaa...
With each antler separated and turned to dust, the other monsters' magic absorbed by Cromwell dissipated into nothing.
Kyaaaa!
Ah, ahhh-!
Each time I exterminated a parasite, distant flesh monsters shrieked their death throes and collapsed. There seemed to be some magical connection.
When I had removed most of the antlers and parasites,
"The eastern wall, monsters subdued!"
"We just received a report of completion from the north!"
"The west is almost finished too! We'll enter the castle and exterminate the remaining monsters!"
The tide of battle had turned, and victory was within reach.
At that moment,
"Huuu..."
Dearmudin sighed deeply and opened his eyes. At the same time, Violet, drenched in sweat, gasped for breath.
And Cromwell, subdued in their daydream,
"..."
She was dying with a faint smile on her lips, still lost in the dream.
I gently patted Violet's back in gratitude and turned to Dearmudin.
"...What dream did you show Cromwell?"
I asked this because Cromwell's face was so peaceful.
Not a typical expression for a monster, especially one that had been rampaging like a fiend after being zombified. It was a startlingly serene face.
Dearmudin muttered bitterly.
"The dream this child most longed for. And... the same dream that her father, the elder, longed to see."
***
Dearmudin had heard stories from the elder while living with him at the abandoned cathedral.
"The elder treated Cromwell like his daughter. And Cromwell also regarded the elder as her father."
But it was never expressed.
Cromwell was a legion commander from birth, and the elder was merely her trainer.
"Years passed, and after Cromwell was killed by Night Bringer, the elder regretted it."
"Regretted?"
"He regretted training his daughter solely to function for the legion. And he also regretted not being more than that."
"..."
"He wished he had treated her more warmly, let her 'live like a person' more... Such belated regrets."
We quietly looked down at the dying enemy commander, who was peacefully dreaming.
With all the parasites removed and the zombification undone, Cromwell was dying quietly.
Dearmudin sighed faintly.
"I understood his regret."
"You understood?"
"I raised many disciples like my own children. I've seen countless young ones leave before this old man."
Dearmudin fixed his intense gaze on me.
"Of course, Prince Ash, I do not regret sending my disciples into harm's way."
"..."
"Human history, magical history, is built on blood and lives. My disciples fulfilled their roles splendidly. It's a cause for sorrow, not regret."
Dearmudin repeated.
"I never had regrets like the elder. But I understood his heart."
Heart, indeed.
"So... I wanted to give this child a peaceful end. To let that father and daughter experience the happiness they never reached, even if only in a daydream."
Not because it was the only strategy.
But to fulfill the last wish of someone he empathized with and understood, even if they were an enemy and a monster.
Dearmudin had proposed this strategy.
"..."
In truth, I had other strategies. Perhaps safer and more certain methods. I possess various powers and abilities now.
But I followed Dearmudin's proposal because...
The 'heart' he harbored would be necessary for my future strategies.
"While living with them at the abandoned cathedral, I thought about the difference between humans and monsters."
Dearmudin tried to speak in a calm tone.
"You once said, Prince Ash, that what distinguishes people from monsters is the heart. If we can hold hands and look in the same direction, regardless of race, we should be treated as the same people."
Indeed, the World Guardian Front is an alliance of various races and nations that once fought each other.
We now stand shoulder to shoulder with enemies from a thousand years ago, a hundred years ago, and even ten years ago.
"I thought the demons at the abandoned cathedral could be like that too."
We tried to build an advanced base fortress at the abandoned cathedral in District 10 of the Lake Kingdom.
The demon survivors were trying to survive against zombies, and we needed bait to draw the zombies' attention and reduce their numbers.
Our interests aligned, and the cathedral functioned as a forward base for a while.
For a time, we were allies.
"The idea of monsters becoming allies is absurd, but... Isn't it no different from the history we've experienced? I thought so."
Dearmudin clicked his tongue bitterly.
"I believed they could become like us. Because they had human nature (인지상정)."
"Human nature..."
"Yes. Even those who mistreated the elderly and tried to burn this world down had a heart that resonated with ours. Despite cultural differences and pointing weapons at each other, there was room for agreement and understanding. Just like the people of our world."
Reflecting on the days at the cathedral, Dearmudin eventually shook his head.
"But I know, Prince Ash. This is the result."
"..."
"Everyone at the cathedral died, and the demon who devoured her kin became a zombie and invaded our world. Granting a peaceful end to such a monster might be nonsensical."
Dearmudin's voice trembled.
"But I... saw a glimmer of possibility, even if it was a fleeting ember. The moment when yesterday's enemy could become today's comrade..."
"..."
"Haha. For the great Dearmudin to say such weak words."
Dearmudin pressed his hand firmly against his chest.
"Perhaps this human nature is our greatest weakness."
"And possibly our greatest strength."
Human nature has led to countless crises but also brought us here.
'And this human nature...'
The ability to empathize and sympathize with the enemy, even a monster.
I need this weak human heart for the path I intend to take.
Dearmudin, letting out a bitter sigh, slowly extended his hand forward.
"Sleep well."
He gently closed the eyes of the monster, who was taking her last breath, and whispered.
"Sleep well..."