Ep 78. Live. (1)
It was a strange occurrence: a millennium-old reign had come to an end over the course of a single day.
Because it was an easy feat? Couldn’t be.
He was death, the Reaper, and a practical king among the twelve divinities. Even among the other deities, Felicir’s fall had seemed like an impossible dream.
The means to kill the Reaper were few and far between. The means to stop him were even less. Considering the intervention of other deities, standing against Felicir was equivalent to suicide.
‘…And yet it happened…somehow.’
Iris’ eyes scanned over her surroundings. The afternoon sun was brilliantly shining down upon Partivine’s busy streets – though, they weren’t exactly busy in a typical way.
The enforcer let out a small sigh, wiping the sweat off her forehead. Things were finally beginning to clear up.
Nearly half of Partivine had been destroyed by numerous mages under Felicir’s influence. A week prior, these streets had been filled with death and ruin; in the days that followed, wails of grief and loss had filled them.
Now, even those were all but gone. The sunlit streets were instead replaced with sounds of clanging hammers and grunts of construction workers.
One of the said workers then made their way over to the red-haired enforcer, pointing at a pile of wooden beams behind him.
“Enforcer Alpid? We’ll need to move the remaining materials to the next district…”
“Of course. Here.”
With a wave of her hand, a glowing blue portal shimmered into being beside them. As if on cue, several workers gathered around the pile in pairs, lifting the beams to bring them over to their next workplace through Iris’ portal.
Soon, the streets were emptied of its workers. Where they’d left, Iris could see rows of simplistic wooden buildings now replacing the street’s ruins.
“It’s only a temporary fix, but…”
“It’s not too bad, is it?”
When Iris turned around towards the sudden voice, Patrick was curtly waving his hand, approaching his coworker from behind.
“Did you get some sleep last night? Iris?”
Iris furrowed her brows at her friend’s overemphasis on her name. And it worsened when she realized just how silly of an expression Patrick was making as he said it.
“…No, but I’m fine. Also, are you doing that on purpose?”
“You bet I am.”
The red-haired enforcer clasped her aching forehead, followed by a regretful sigh. The reason behind her friend’s teasing behavior was quite simple.
Now, even Patrick knew who Iris really was.
“Who would’ve thought that our esteemed coworker was a literal god? I’ve been wondering how you knew where to find the deity of life, but that all makes sense now.”
“Please shut up. I swear someone’s going to hear us.”
“And what’s wrong with that? This entire city worships you.”
“…I don’t deserve it.”
On that day, all Iris had done was open the way for others.
The moment she knew of Serenis’ presence in the city, Iris had hurried to make her way to the dragonlord’s side – but despite her haste, she could never actually bring herself to join the fray.
To be precise, even though she’d reached the vicinity, the enforcer couldn’t bring herself to intervene. She knew that her presence would be nothing but a burden to the dragonlord.
The Reaper could suppress her in an instant. It would’ve been a trivial task for him to then turn his sister against Serenis. Iris’ divinity offered no protection from the Reaper’s control.
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Because of this, the enforcer’s decision had been to instead seek out those that could help: namely, Aldrid. At the very least, the deity of life wasn’t vulnerable to Felicir’s influence.
And truth be told, this decision had been on point. When Iris reached the deity’s cabin to explain the situation at Partivine, she’d not only found Aldrid herself, but several others that were willing to help the dragonlord; in the end, the decision to seek out the deity of life had resulted in an ideal outcome.
Unfortunately, travelling across the entire continent with a single portal spell also came at a cost: it warranted an explanation as to how she was doing it, because no living mage should’ve been able to do anything of the sort. The enforcer had to explain her actual identity to those that were present – including Patrick, who was so casually shrugging back at her this very moment.
“And why don’t you deserve it? Aren’t you used to people thanking you for everything? Now that I think about it, our workplace pretty much has thank-you letters to you all over the wall.”
“…”
Haste makes one careless, and carelessness can lead to disastrous consequences. Like right now.
Then again, perhaps it was only natural to tease a friend who turned out to have been a superstar all along.
“…I should’ve knocked you out again before I said anything.”
Patrick laughed off the comment, waving his hands defensively. Iris had already knocked him out once before, and he sure didn’t need a second helping.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. Anyways, go get some rest – that’s what I actually came to say. We’re almost done with the basic setups anyways. I can cover.”
“Then I’ll go see if the chief needs any-“
“Woah woah woah, give yourself a break, seriously. I know you barely even slept the last few days. A person needs to rest if they wanna function, you know?”
“…I’m…not exactly a ‘person’ in the conventional sense…”
“…”
When an awkward silence settled in between the enforcers, Iris briefly cleared her throat to continue the conversation.
“Ahem…that being said, I could say the same to you, Patrick. You’ve been doing enforcement work alongside relief work and construction, haven’t you? I hardly saw you taking a break.”
“Eh, I got some shut-eye at one of the refugee tents earlier. I’m fine.”
“At a tent? What about your house?”
“Gone. Blew up. Being rebuilt.”
“…You could’ve at least used the association chambers. I’m sure they’d let an enforcer use one.”
“Nah…I’d rather not.”
When Patrick’s expression grew grim, Iris belatedly realized that she’d misspoken.
Being located near the centre of Partivine, the Mage Association had remained relatively intact through the Reaper’s onslaught. The remaining personnel had busily went about setting up temporary camps for those who’d lost their homes, but a select few were given permission to use the empty chambers within the association building itself. The enforcers that worked for the association were included, but…
Right now, Serenis was there.
One week had passed since Felicir’s passing; and throughout that week, Patrick had avoided speaking a single word with his sibling. He went out of his way keep himself busy with the city’s repair work.
Of course, Patrick wasn’t the only one who was making an effort to contribute to the city’s recovery. Karas was burdened with addressing the fallen Magic Institute; Raizel was (at Serenis’ fervent request) working to clear up the ruins and rubbles, Otoka was helping with various reconstruction processes, and even Aldrid had gone out of her way to treat those who had been in critical conditions. Iris had returned to administrating the enforcement sector in its entirety while also overseeing the city’s repair progress.
But unlike the others, Patrick’s motives weren’t purely a devotion to his job. Instead, what motivated him right was escaping the situation that loomed behind him.
‘…As if I could see her right now.’
Even Patrick had come to realize how little Serenis seemed to care about her own well-being. Under normal circumstances, it might’ve been something to scold one’s little sibling for: to be more careful, to never do something so reckless as challenging a deity alone.
But ironically, that recklessness had prevented their city’s demise. That recklessness had saved countless lives.
Deities of life and mana had supported Serenis’ decision, providing what aid they could in her endeavors. They’d protected his little sibling from the Reaper’s grasp.
“…”
Patrick’s little sibling was human, and yet, a dragon; family, and yet, a demonlord. And while said sibling was out protecting their city…
‘…I did jack shit.’
Whatever happens, Serenis was his little sibling; whatever happens, Serenis was family to him. But such thoughts only watered Patrick’s worries.
Did a person like him have the right to reprimand his little sibling?
Was it truly right to tell a person – who’d risked their life and sacrificed their arm to save countless others – that they shouldn’t have done so?
“…”
Seeing Patrick sinking deeper into contemplation, Iris guiltily looked away. She felt that she should’ve known better – especially as someone who knew exactly what it was like to have clashing morals prevent one from speaking to their sibling.
“Um, sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Haha, what’re you apologizing for? I just need to think on things a bit more. Go get some rest, Iris. You’ll need it later.”
“…Right.”
Even as Iris opened up a new portal to leave the area, Patrick’s gaze remained fixed towards somewhere else – towards the empty streets where his house had once been.
Perhaps, just like his house, his past life had crumbled without him ever realizing it before. Only now was it beginning to dawn on him.
And just like the house that would be built anew, his life may also need a complete overhaul.
Serenis had made it quite clear that she couldn’t simply live as his little sibling Zion; if anything, she was much closer to her identity as a dragonlord. That much was painfully clear.
Before, Patrick had thought that everything would be alright as long as he continued to treat Serenis as family. He hadn’t been able to see the significance of the matter until now.
‘…Things can’t stay the same, can they?’
His little sibling had drastically changed. He, too, had to change in accordance.
Living as a dragonlord’s brother would be quite different from the life he’d led up to this point.