22 – A Soothing Walk Through the Woods

“Exterminate them?” repeated Jonny. “We?”

“Unless you don’t want to,” she said, stopping in her tracks. “I can take you back if–”

“I want to!” shouted Jonny.

Then, he noticed that the corner of her mouth was twitching, and immediately felt slightly embarrassed. They resumed their march into the woods, and Jonny walked with a pep in his step, excitedly thinking about what was about to happen. Finally, he was going to be able to fight for real again. His hands were literally shaking in anticipation.

“Why do you want to become the strongest?” asked Igrette suddenly.

“Huh?”

Igrette repeated her question, and Jonny thought for a few seconds before responding. He couldn’t exactly tell her it was related to what happened before he went to the orphanage, but he could give her the answer he had back on Earth.

“Because it’s cool,” he said with a shrug.

“Cool?” she asked. “Is that all?”

“It’s also fun,” he said. “And I’m good at fighting. If it’s fun and I’m good at it, shouldn’t I aim for the top?”

“I see,” she said.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Igrette spoke again.

“I also find fighting fun,” she said. “And I don’t mean to be arrogant, but many would say that I am quite good for it. I even dreamt of being the strongest once.”

“Cool.”

She looked down at him, then back ahead.

“Do you want to know why I let go of that dream?”

“Why?”

“Because I realized it was impossible.”

“You gave up?”

“I did.”

“Do you regret it?”

“…I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I never gave up. If I kept pursuing strength singlemindedly, pushing myself to the limits to go as far as I could. But more than that I regret that I ever pursued that ideal in the first place?”

“Why?”

“Because there are things that are more important than strength, and I didn’t realize that until far too late.”

“What happened?”

Igrette did not respond immediately, but she slowed her pace and stared into the distance.

“Do you know about the Demon Wars?”

“Kinda? Like the ones in the stories?”

“Yes.”

Jonny nodded. One of the most basic children’s stories was the tale of the first Hero and the first Demon King. Once, long ago, a Demon King appeared, and his goal was to erase humanity from the world. Then, the Hero appeared, fighting back against the demon army, and eventually defeating the Demon King and bringing peace into the world. The story didn’t go into much more detail than that, instead focusing on the Hero’s friends, and how they worked together and used friendship and love to win, but Jonny knew that the Demon War was not a one time thing.

Every few centuries, a new Demon King would appear, and a new Hero would rise to defeat them. This was also not something that the nuns spoke too much of, but Jonny was vaguely aware that the last Demon War had ended a little over fifty years ago, and that the Hero was still alive, and worked as a teacher at the Feria Academy, the most prestigious school in the country, located in Feria, the kingdom’s capital.