# Duty and Succession
"This is the burden of the previous generation."
"Your Highness...?"
"The previous Hero Party cannot shift their responsibility to the current Hero, can they?"
Gilles Bert looked at Isabelle with a refreshing smile.
The daughter of Maximillian. Those eyes that resembled that fellow to an astonishing degree.
He had been terribly jealous. Of skills he could never catch up to no matter how hard he tried, countless times.
But even so, in those days, he had raised his shield and protected him with his life on the line. Because feelings of inferiority could never outweigh duty and justice.
Seeing Isabelle's stance and spirit as she drew her sword, Gilles Bert couldn't help but smile.
You've grown well. You truly resemble your talented father despite him never teaching you anything. To a frightening degree.
There was no jealousy anymore. Maximillian was a man too brilliant for his jealousy. How relieved he felt after realizing that.
After hearing the Demon King's curse, he had sworn. That he would protect his daughter at least. Seeing Isabelle now grown up, he couldn't help but smile.
"Walk as a Hero. Go to the land that needs your help."
"Your Highness... no, Uncle."
"Bella. And all of you. Leave the current affairs to the current Hero. Go. Save San Matilenne and protect this country. This is not a request from the previous generation, but from the Guardian Duke."
Gilles Bert willingly bowed his head. Everyone in the party hurriedly tried to stop him.
Nevertheless, Gilles Bert continued solemnly.
"While protecting this country is indeed my duty, I dare entrust my obligation to the current Hero. Would you please accept this mission?"
"Uncle.... Yes, gladly...."
"Thank you, Hero."
Gilles Bert patted Isabelle's head and then looked at his son.
Oskar was looking at the ground, biting his lip with a face that seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment.
"My son."
"Yes, Father."
"This is the sword of Etakrihi. All military authority in San Matilenne obeys the authority of this sword. Now you shall wield it."
"It's... too great... an honor for me...."
"It is a duty."
Gilles Bert caressed his son's cheek.
Oskar's wet eyes looked up at Gilles Bert.
"It is not an honor. There is no honor there. Only duty. Hold this and save the people. Save the country, save your king. And protect your mother and your sister."
"...Yes, Father."
"Now you are an initiate knight of the Eastern Knight Order. Go. Knight of the Hero. Stand firm before death and protect the Hero. Be faithful to your duty, protect the weak, and always act with dignity before morality."
"Yes, Father."
The previous generation's burden to the previous generation, the current generation's duty to the current generation.
After giving them the best horses remaining in the military camp, Gilles Bert turned his back again.
After brief farewells, the party descended along the mountain.
"Am I too late?"
Ivan reached the summit, regulating his rough breathing.
No, not too late yet.
The Eastern Knight Order was still intact. Despite some losses, they still had the strength to continue fighting.
The Capital Defense Force was almost completely annihilated. It would be fair to say that fewer than a thousand remained.
And Gilles Bert....
Duke Etakrihi was catching his breath atop a dragon's corpse, holding a military flag in one hand.
"Gilles Bert—!!"
"Ivan."
Gilles Bert, turning his gaze toward the approaching Ivan, grinned under his helmet.
"How many did you kill?"
"Three."
"Haha, I killed five. I win. Again!"
"...I'll join you."
Gilles Bert quietly shook his head at the approaching Ivan.
The dragons' offensive had subsided but wasn't over yet. The dragons that had been soaring through the sky were now keeping their distance, terrified by the battle with Gilles Bert and the Eastern Knight Order.
Instead, almost all the forests of the Bernini Mountains had been burned down.
Ashes scattered. Whenever the wind blew over these naked ashes, the ash powder dispersed like fog.
Beneath it, a massive crack was visible.
Gilles Bert stood before that crack, raising his spear.
"Remember that dungeon they said was under this mountain?"
"Hmm."
"It wasn't a dungeon. If anything, it was a temple."
"...A temple."
"A temple of dragons."
Standing beside Gilles Bert, Ivan looked down at the same scenery.
A tingling sensation from the split crack below. The presence of dragons was wriggling up from down there.
How many dragons had been sleeping down there?
How? And since when? Such questions were meaningless.
Dragons had slept beneath this temple that existed in some distant era, the demon race realized this fact, and the three Grand Dukes used the demons' information to create this trap.
If anything, the starting point of the episode of Tilles' crisis of destruction.
A system remarkably similar to the underground temple where an ancient god was sealed beneath Krasilov. The kind that feels almost malicious.
The kind that would one day awaken and burn that country, yet no one in the country would be aware of it beforehand.
That must be why a new Hero is needed even in this era. As countries collapse, new evils arrive, and the evils of old times once again roam the world.
How many more of these things remained? This world had to fight not only the remaining Seven Dragon Generals but also things like this. Time bombs planted underground in nations, invisible to the eye.
Ivan sighed.
Gilles Bert's hand rested on his shoulder.
"Leave."
"Do you plan to die here?"
"Of course not."
Gilles Bert laughed, "Haha."
"Haven't we overcome such hardships plenty of times in the old days? How dare mere flying lizards attempt to plot against the Knight of Iron Mountain?"
"...Such bravado."
"It reminds me of something you once said."
Gilles Bert shrugged nonchalantly and said.
"You once grumbled. About being a hunting dog whose leash only changes."
When had he said that? Probably when he first joined the Hero Party and when he left.
On the final journey toward the Demon King's castle, Ivan left the party. It was at the point when the war was reaching its climax.
He served according to the royal command. When the Hero Party pushed the frontline by killing the Seven Dragon Generals, he was assigned to support Krasilov's Northern Corps.
Ivan had grumbled to Enrique when leaving the party. About how well they used him, just changing the leash.
The fate of a hunting dog. A self-deprecating joke.
If one were to recall what happened afterward, it was no joking matter. After all, they were boiled after the hunt was over. Wasn't the Annihilation Squad a very capable hunting dog?
Gilles Bert broke Ivan's contemplation with a face mixed with laughter.
"To the prey, do the hunter and the hunting dog look any different?"
"..."
"To the prey, both are just predators. Isn't that right?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"If the Hero is the natural enemy of the demon race, then so are you."
Gilles Bert removed his helmet, tucked it under his arm, and extended his hand.
"I am not part of the Hero Party."
"From the previous generation's perspective... well. I think you were the only one who thought that way."
He gripped Ivan's forearm strongly. It was the salute of days gone by.
Ivan also gripped his arm in return. With their gazes locked, Gilles Bert continued with a smile.
"Speaking on behalf of the current generation, the same applies. Ivan Petrovich Yeremov. You were a member of the Hero Party then, and you still are now."
"Gilles Bert."
"So damn timid. Have some confidence. Otherwise, I'd be anxious about entrusting the kids to you."
Chuckling, Gilles Bert shook Ivan's arm once.
The two men's hands separated. Gilles Bert spoke again as he put his helmet back on.
"The previous generation will bear its own burden. You are the scout for the current Hero. Leave behind the burden of the previous generation and continue its duty. Light the path for the current generation."
As the uncle of the current Hero, the father of the current knight, and the friend of the current scout.
"Don't talk like you're going to die."
Ivan barely parted his dry lips to speak. Hearing his voice, Gilles Bert burst into laughter.
"Very well, let's meet alive. In San Matilenne."
"Good luck."
"Good luck to you too."
After Ivan left, he turned his head again.
Gilles Bert exhaled deeply under his helmet. His breath resonated within the visor.
Through the split in the visor, he could see the deep ravine.
Numerous yellow pupils were glaring at him from below.
He couldn't help but smile.
"Come."
He raised his spear. Thankfully, it still felt light.
He extended it toward the sky. Toward the dark night sky obscured by smoke.
"You face the Guardian Duke of this country."
The sky split open. The morning star shone. Below it, the Eastern Knight Order gathered. The surviving Capital Defense Force assembled, each raising their weapons.
Toward the symbol of hope. Willingly.
Not for their own hope, but for the hopes that remained in this country.
The military flag fluttered. The insignia of Etakrihi and the flag of the Eastern Knight Order billowed like a wall.
-BUUUUUUU—!!
The Guardian Duke's horn echoed throughout the mountains once more.