Chapter 926 The Regrets Of A Venerable
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The moment we reached this strange new world, we were greeted by a truly awe-inspiring sight… Or well, just a very pretty ice giant lady I guess. This was, without a doubt, the Frost Queen, the Venerable of Ice. At long last, we finally met her! And not only in her Divine Realm, but we also meet her… wait a second, why is she in the flesh? I remember the Fox Venerable was the same but that is a Dream Realm, so she just made her body from an illusion dream, her soul is the only thing in the dream. However, the woman in front of us looks to be completely in the flesh! So how the heck is this possible?
"Y-You're the Frost Queen?!" Benladann and everybody else asked, although I kept myself calm.
"Yes, indeed. I am the Frost Queen…" She said with a sigh. "You're the first to have ever completed my Trials and reached the last floor, this is where you'll-"
"I hope we don't have to fight again, we are very tired." I sighed.
"A-Ah, no, you won't be fighting again." She said. "Drake, I am glad to see you."
"Yeah, yeah, I already kind of know the whole prophecy thingy… So you're a good person or not? Are you going to join us? I am a bit tired, so I want answers." I said.
"Hmph, so bold as to talk with a Venerable in such a manner!" She said with a smile. "But that's something that Dragons are good with."
"Talking about dragons, what about Terra? Did you seriously threw him at us so we could kill him? If you made me kill one of my kin, I am not going to become your friend." I said.
"Hehe…" She giggled. "Fear not, my child. Terra is as good as new."
FLASH!
Suddenly, Terra, alongside many Orcs and other monsters we fought emerged out of thin air around her, making an enormous army.
"Hello Drake! Seems like you did it!" He said happily.
"T-Terra?! You're alive!" I said.
"Well… not exactly." He sighed.
"What do you mean?" I wondered.
Suddenly a table and several seats appeared within the beautiful grassy fields where we were all located, as the Frost Queen invited us to seat around the table. Suddenly, food began materializing in a split of a second, meat, vegetables, fruits, sweets, cakes, everything one could imagine.
"How about we have a good meal while we discuss everything? There's a lot we need to talk, after all, this is a fateful meting I've been waiting for a long time." She said with an air of generosity, humility, and tranquility. Her presence alone, which I had a hard time admitting, was very soothing.
"Alright then, we'll sit down." I sighed, quickly sitting surrounding the table.
After that, some of us who were very hungry started eating right away. I held myself back, but Benladann and the rest started digging without doubting at all. I had my doubts though, I had never spoken with this woman, and if all, this might all be a trap.
"Benladann maybe you shouldn't eat…" I said.
"B-But I'm hungry!" She pouted childishly. I couldn't fight against that cute and spoiled pout.
"Sigh…"
"Fear not, Drake. I don't have any ill will, this food was made through Creation Magic using Divine Power from my own Divine Realm, it is safe to eat and delicious." She said. "I wish I could had used it to cure world hunger, but even I have my own limits in power. I once thought I saved the world, only to learn I brought the suffering of many while doing so."
"Huh? What do you mean?" I wondered.
"Isn't it obvious? The Vampires." Sighed the venerable.
"The Vampires…" I muttered. "Right! I was going to ask you about that… Why there was a sign of the Vampires down there? Isn't it widely popularized that you hate them?"
"I… I had such a past, yes. I suppose that's the only thing left by me. The massacres that the Blood Venerable brought to the world really turned it upside down, his legacy of blood… it was a nightmare that lasted for several years. When I was finally able to wake up from that nightmare, I had saved many. But in the way… I also brought the demise of many innocents… I am not the self-righteous person that most people in the world seem to think I am. In fact, I am someone that is always regretting what I've done." The Venerable said, with all honestly.
"You've… regretted it?" Rose spoke after hearing the Venerable's words, everybody quickly fell silent as the conversation got too serous for them to want to annoy us with their munching noises.
"I do… dear Rose." Sighed the Venerable. "Vampires might had brought a lot of disasters, but the descendants of the descendants of the Venerable of Blood, inherited a world which they had not conquered, a world given to them. It was a world they didn't brought down themselves. In the past, there were many Vampires, millions. There were bound to be good people, innocent people, and some that simply wanted to live peacefully and without bothering others. In the past, there were many Vampire Factions, but I… I indiscriminately killed many. When it was all over, I held the blood of countless innocents, children, elderly, mothers, fathers… many people that never hurt anybody… I am responsible for the massacre too… I have used this time in here to think about what I've done, and I've only regretted it."
Rose suddenly felt shocked by knowing the truth, as tears began to flow from her eyes.
"Venerable… you don't hate my kin?" She asked timidly.
"I don't… dear. If anything, I am very sorry for what I've done… I am very sorry… I want to help you, and… do something for all the things I've done to your people." She sighed. "The way I did it… was certainly not the right one."
It was shocking, the one known to have slaughtered all Vampires was in fact… regretful of having done something like that.
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