Following his words, Keisha sneered.
“How impulsive you are!
Who told you to give up?”
"What?"
“Instead, couldn’t you retaliate in a more positive and constructive way?”
While Yuz was puzzled, Keisha approached the window.
“Come here and look outside.”
Yuz looked out the window as Keisha instructed him.
The Imperial Army Training Camp and the units located behind it were clearly visible from above.
“You see that Imperial Army unit over there?
It was founded by the Derek family and has been operated for generations.
The training of the recruits was my supervision, but organizing it like this is up to Derek.
He is a truly great man.”
The Imperial Army banners hung everywhere were fluttering proudly in the wind.
Yuz couldn't understand Keisha who suddenly started praising Derek.
“Derek is a man who considers the Imperial Army his sole purpose and everything in his life.
He lived for just that.
Just as you and I lived out of vengeance alone.”
At that moment, Keisha's sunken blue eyes sparkled.
“But, how would he feel if there was an army much stronger than the Imperial Army he built with his entire life?”
A smile appeared on Keisha's lips.
“Coach, is it possible that you…?”
“Yuz.”
Kisa continued talking.
“Soon, let us leave this place together and create an army stronger than the Imperial Army.
An invincible steel unit, which no enemy can ever destroy.”
Yuz's eyes widened.
"This is the way you can get true revenge on Derek.
And I, in turn, will break free from this pointless life and find a new purpose."
In any case, there was no more hope for the Imperial Army.
The rebels he had longed to kill were all dead, and staying here meant merely becoming Derek's subservient.
If his life was going to be an absurdity where he didn't know what he should achieve in the future, then staying here and living as a coach all his life wasn't so bad.
but…….
He looked at Yuz who was in front of him.
After he brought Yuz here, his convictions changed.
This boy wished him to take a better path, not the path he himself had taken with difficulty, a path captivated by revenge.
It wasn't out of complete altruism towards Yuz.
Perhaps saving him was the way to save himself, who had lived miserable in the past and only saw revenge, even if it came too late.
Keisha remembered the resolve he had made in front of Theo in the first battle with the rebels in the past.
'I will create a mighty army that no one can defeat.'
A battlefield soldier has no choice but to kill, whether he likes it or not.
Because killing enemies and shooting them down is the soldier's destiny.
But, ironically, doing so was the way to save and protect their allies and side.
Keisha now wanted to live a life aimed at saving and protecting, rather than one aimed at killing others.
He wanted to spend the rest of his life with a desire to protect what was precious, rather than revenge filled with grudges.
If possible, let it be with this boy in front of him.
So he thought, then opened his mouth talking to Yuz.
“So, starting tomorrow, we will engage in more intense training than now.
You are ready, right?”
“I'm ready!”
Keisha smiled when he heard Yuz's measured answer.
•
“They were good days.
Both for me and for the Colonel.”
Theo concluded his speech as he looked back.
Elia felt tight in her chest after hearing the story.
'Kesha went through all that?'
'I always thought he was just a crazy man with power.'
“It was not long before Yuz grew stronger, and the Colonel announced his intention of independence to me and some other comrades.
I of course agreed, and we were discharged from the Imperial Army and became independent sooner than expected.”
For Theo, who hated the imperial army's mistreatment, there was no reason to refuse.
Grand Duke Vonberg, who had been keeping a close eye on Keisha, attracted Keisha, and they went there to form a stronger unit of the imperial army.
"At that time, the Grand Duke's influence in the political arena was minimal.
But he recognized us and embraced us."
It was insightful.
As for the story after that, Elia, the nobleman's country daughter, knew her well.
Kesha's squad, which had joined the Grand Duke's family, gained the Duke's support and consolidated its strength, quickly forming a much stronger unit than the Imperial Army.
After that, the Human-Demon War broke out, and the squad achieved far greater achievements than the Imperial Army, steadily advancing towards victory.
In contrast, the imperial army suffered a crushing defeat, and its reputation declined sharply.
But there was something strange.
‘In the original novel, and also after I came here, I had never heard the name Yuz.’
“So, is Mr.
Yuz in the front unit now?”
When Elijah asked, Theo's eyes twitched.
He mumbled with a sad face.
“Yuz is dead.
Most likely.”
While Elia had a strange expression on her face at Theo's answer, which seemed like a guess, he answered.
“He was absorbed by a portal in the great battle here during the Human-Demon War.
But he is no longer the same as you.”
“So then.
But how did that happen...?”
Elijah muttered in a distressed voice, and Theo opened his mouth.
"If Yuz had been alone, the portal would never have absorbed him.
He was strong."
'So, does this mean someone was with him?'
Theo continued, looking at Keisha who was sitting in the plain over there.
“Erhan, do you know why the Colonel cares about Miss Lavinia so much?”
Elia tilted her head.
'Wasn't Keisha's love for Lavinia just part of the setting of the original novel?'
'Male characters who act like fathers obsessed with their daughters for no apparent reason always appear.'
Ilya herself did not harbor any special doubts.
But when I heard Theo's words, I felt like there was something calling for attention.
“Is it possible that Mr.
Yuz was sucked into the portal while trying to save Miss Lavinia?”
"Okay."
Theo nodded.
“Miss, who had been following us well since she was young, insisted on that very day to accompany us to the battlefield.
She was originally a calm person, but that was strange.
She insisted with tears, trembling and her lips blue, so we couldn’t help but respond.”
“Whatever...!”
When Elia tried to object, Theo continued.
“Of course, if we had known that the battle would be this violent, we would not have brought Miss with us of course.
But according to the scouts’ reports, the size of the monsters here was not large at all to begin with.
It was less than a quarter of the usual training level.”
So, it seems they considered it safe and brought Lavinia.
“But suddenly, the situation changed and monsters appeared in large numbers, and at the moment when we were trying to evacuate the missus as quickly as possible, a monster grabbed the missus.”
Elijah remembered what Lavinia said to Keisha in the park last time.
‘I also know better than anyone else how terrible and hellish the world my uncle belongs to is.’
'She was able to say that because she had witnessed the horrors of war at that time.'
“Fortunately, Yuz saved Miss Lavinia, but in the end he was absorbed by the portal.
The Colonel came here every day even after the war ended.
Maybe to collect the body if it showed up.
But it was no use.”
Elijah looked calmly at Keisha.
'What was the feeling that drove Keisha to come here every day?'
'She couldn't even imagine it.'
“When the Colonel returned, he began to care for Miss Lavinia with great care and love, considering her a precious life that Yuz had saved at the cost of his own.”
Only then was Illya able to understand the feelings of Keisha, who was playing a more exaggerated role as a surrogate father to Lavinia than the Grand Duke, her real father, in the original novel.
Instead of living as a captive of the spirit of vengeance like in the past, he decided to protect the life that his subordinate had saved with the greatest strength he had, and lived accordingly.
This was Keisha's way of mourning his dear subordinate.
“During that period, the Colonel stopped visiting this place.
But his sudden arrival this time for fortification work means that...”
Theo paused for a moment, then continued.
"The Colonel, too, must have come to terms with himself somewhat now.
He's found a new place to put his heart."
“A new place to put his heart?
What do you mean?”
When Elijah asked, Theo smiled sweetly at her.
“Erhan Trengen, it is you.
Because now you are filling the void left by Yuz.”