A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

The interior of this cage, woven from tree roots, is much larger than it appears from the outside.

Even the air here seems to be filled with a sense of sadness.

It's hard to express directly, but all I can say is that being in this place makes Latis unable to stop thinking about all sorts of sad things.

"Is there any danger in here?" Latis looked around. The old tree roots looked extremely ferocious, as if they could attack him at any moment.

“There will be no danger.” Father Thun’s words relieved Latis.

"It just looks scary."

"Who are you?" Only then did Latis remember to ask about Father Thun's identity.

"Just a priest who spoke to this poor girl." The priest's tone was complicated.

In the priest's eyes, Eorz was still just a pitiful girl.

Even though she caused such destruction, she was still just a pitiful girl.

“We’ve arrived at our destination,” the priest said, stopping in his tracks and turning his back to Latis.

"destination?"

“It’s just ahead.” The priest stretched out his hand and pointed to a flower in front of him.

Among the blooming flowers is a broken doll-like girl.

No miracle restored her to her original state, and the tattered girl lay there on the flower's heart.

"..." Upon seeing Eors's appearance, Latis paused for a moment.

"Would you like to see it for yourself?" The priest's words sounded so cold to Latis, like rain hitting his face in winter.

Aeolus became like this entirely because of him.

If he hadn't detonated that magic crystal, Eors wouldn't have been injured so badly.

Most importantly, the culprit, Bud Bush, is still completely unharmed.

Is this world really that unfair? Even that kind of guy has managed to survive until now.

The saying that bad people leave a bad reputation for a thousand years seems to be no exaggeration.

Latis approached the flower, looking with pity at Eorth, whom he had injured in the explosion.

He knew that the soul inside Aeolus was his sister, but he still found it difficult to truly feel the bond between them.

Eorth's appearance was largely the same as he remembered, but his damaged state made it difficult for Latis to utter the word "beautiful".

He reached out and touched Eors's face.

It was cold, but it felt the same as a normal person's.

“Brother?” Eors felt Latis’s hand and looked at him with his dilated pupils.

Generally speaking, dilated pupils mean that the person is dead, but this characteristic does not apply to Aeolus.

"..." This time, hearing Aiolos call him brother felt different from the last time.

Eors blinked; she finally understood why she had instinctively called him "brother."

“I will fix you…” Latis said in a deep voice.

After hearing his words, Aiolos's pupils gradually returned to normal.

"Really?" Eors looked at Latis with expectant eyes.

"Indeed, I am an excellent craftsman."

"That's great. If that's the case, I won't be able to be with Tigia." Tigia would be very sad if she didn't have me.

Eorz already regretted it when he sang that song.

But she couldn't stop herself from singing, as if something was forcing her to keep singing until everything around her was destroyed.

However, she later vaguely saw a small church.

The church brought her extraordinary peace, dispelling all the sorrow in her heart, and she didn't even realize when the singing had ended.

If it weren't for that church, she might have continued singing indefinitely until everything around her was destroyed.

She knew what song she was singing and was aware of the consequences.

The venue is now in ruins, but if it drags on any longer, the capital will be in ruins as well.

If it's not stopped, even the empire will be engulfed by a cataclysmic meteor shower.

As he sang his song without stopping, Eors kept wondering how Tiggia was doing. Was she hurt because of him?

When something happens to Tiggia, she's always the first to shout out.

That "Eorse" sounded meaningless to others, but it made her very happy.

At least, that voice let Eors know that there was still one person who was his friend and cared about him.

"Please fix me." Eors stretched out his last hand and placed it on Latis's face.

There was no blood on Eors' body, but his tattered body was heartbreaking.

"Please fix me, brother." After a pause, Eors pleaded once more.

It was as if she was afraid that Latis would abandon her.

She understood that Latis had known all along that she was just a puppet, which was why he looked at her so coldly.

Latis lowered his eyelids; Eors's call of "brother" made his heart clench.

Why do I feel so heartbroken as a man? How can an older brother feel this way?

He should be more open-minded.

“Of course I will, didn’t I just agree to that a few minutes ago?” Latis grabbed Eors’s hand that was touching his face.

"Hmm..." Eors's voice was very soft, so soft that it seemed as if it would disappear in the next second.

No, it's not that it seems... After a few seconds, Eors's voice fell silent.

"Eors..." Latis noticed something was wrong with the girl and called out anxiously.

"I'm here..." For the first time, hearing a second person call his name in such an anxious voice, Eors felt a little happy.

She is a doll with a heart, a doll that can express her feelings, and what a happy doll she is.

Even knowing that she is a puppet, Aiolos is still incredibly happy.

Why was I feeling sad just now? There are so many things that should make me happy.

After the truth comes despair, but along with despair, there may be something else.

Why didn't I realize this before? It's too late now.

Is it because I'm a puppet that I'm not smart?

"Could you call my name one more time?"

"Eorth." Latis gritted his teeth, suppressing a certain emotion, and called out Eorth once more.

"Hmm." Eors closed his eyes, his hand falling limply from Latis's face.

The sound was very soft, like a leaf floating on water, like smoke dissipating in the wind.

This time, Eors's voice didn't just "seem" to have disappeared; it truly vanished.

“Please let me see.” Father Thun stepped forward, making way for Latis to give him some space.

The priest looked at the girl with a complicated expression.

He shouldn't have bothered with this, because Bray would have handled it.

But... he still came.

Because one of the characters in the story is this girl.

"Ultimate Healing Technique", "Injury Reversal", "Pain Shielding"

Father Thun attempted to heal Eors using various spells.

However, all of them ended in failure.

Father Thun could only sense, little by little, the fading of Aeolus's last breath.

Although it's a bit unbelievable, this doll girl does indeed possess a kind of vitality.

Just like people, they have their own vibrant lives.

Of course, we can't say that Eorus was an ordinary person, but he was very close.

The elven couple who created Eorus were truly extraordinary craftsmen.

Unfortunately, these two exceptionally talented craftsmen met such a tragic end.

"..." Father Thun was still casting a spell with his right hand, but his left hand had already clenched into a fist in resentment.

Latis was unable to help and could only watch Father Thun cast his spell.

Indeed, Father Thun's healing spells can pull a person from the brink of death back to life.

However, at this moment, he realized a cruel reality: he had no way to cure a doll.

No matter how close Aeolus was to a human being, he was still a puppet.

The doll can only be repaired, not cured.

“You’ve worked very hard, and everyone recognizes your efforts,” Father Thun said gently in Eors’ ear.

The girl's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Eorse was barely conscious at the moment, but the priest's words still elicited a response from her.

I know you must be very happy right now.

"Believe me, you haven't done anything wrong."

"Your efforts to make others happy are not wrong."

"And you, who hope to bring happiness to others, must also have your own happiness."

A few tears streamed down Eors's cheeks.

Then the priest shut his mouth and said no more to Aeolus.

There's no point in saying anything more; besides, the other person wouldn't hear it anyway.

Those tears were Aeolus's last tears.

Father Thun removed his hand from Eors' side and stopped casting the spell.

Aeolus's last glimmer of hope vanished completely.

This songstress, this doll-like girl, is broken.

“It was my fault for not guiding her properly.” Father Thun knelt on one knee before the sleeping doll girl and took her slender, pale hand in his.

If Father Thun had spoken more to the girl from the beginning, and dispelled her obsession with "emotions,"

Then the subsequent events wouldn't have happened.

He supported the girl's pursuit of love, so she did not refuse the opportunity to gain love when it came to it.

Ultimately, this led to the death of this poor girl.

For the first time in all his years as a priest, he regretted his guidance.

Even though they managed to dispel the effects of Eorz's third song, it was still too late.

"I'm sorry." Father Thun bowed his head and apologized to the sleeping Eors.

“All of this has nothing to do with you,” Latis suddenly said.

"..." He silently approached Eors and drew a few strokes on Eors' chest.

The girl's chest opened, revealing her now-dimmed core.

He took out the core and put it in his clothes, then pulled Eors' body out of the flower.

“I’ve seen your clothes before. You’re a follower of ‘Gadell the Lamp,’ right?” Latis said, looking at Father Thun.

"I've heard that followers of 'Gadell the Lamp, the Old Man' are all guides."