"No!! This, this is a doll I found in the forest!! I found it!!!"

The child's desperate cry was not heard by anyone.

The guards were busy taking out their anger by drawing their weapons, and the women had to watch their husbands die.

"Aaaah!!! Please save me!!!"

"You sons of b-tches!! How dare you immigrants do this to our empire's people!!"

"W-what are you talking about!! Gaaah!!"

The screams did not cease, and a bloody wind blew in time with the cries of the man who was kneeling on the ground, hugging a rabbit doll and wailing.

"Please save me!! Don't take my dad away!!"

The guards, who had captured the men as they came, began to threaten them with them as hostages.

"You vermin who repay kindness with enmity!! Just try to run away! These men's lives will be forfeit!!!"

And so, everyone except the old and the weak was taken away.

As if it had been planned from the beginning. Everything ended in an instant like that.

Their purpose was not to find the culprit. They just needed an excuse to make the rumors a reality.

And so, the children lost their fathers, and the wives lost their husbands.

A woman who had stepped forward to protect her husband was seriously injured by a blind sword. The child, who was pressing down on the wound with her small hands, wailed.

"Mom, mom... it's all my fault. I brought that doll... sob...! Dad, what about dad... mom, mom, don't die!!"

"No... my daughter... mom, cough! Mom is sorry..."

Black blood gushed from the mouth of the woman who was struggling to speak.

"Aaaaaah!!! Mom!!! I-I'm sorry... it's because I brought the doll... I-I'll go and say I'm sorry. Huh? I'll tell them..."

The child's cries, which did not seem to stop, and the woman's blood, which did not seem to stop, gushed out.

"Mom... couldn't buy you a doll... I'm sorry..."

The light in the eyes of the woman who held her daughter's small hand tightly gradually faded.

"Ne-Nella... r-run away..."

"Mom... moooom!!!"

The child, who was wailing by the side of her dead mother, suddenly wiped her blood-stained face with her hands as if possessed by something.

"Yeah. I'll run away."

And so, the light disappeared from the child's eyes.

***

"You rotten bastards!!! How, how could you do this to the children!!"

"My son! Give me back my son... give him back!!!"

The people gathered in the square all raised their voices in condemnation.

The parents who had lost their children wailed for them to give back their children, and the people of the empire who had lost their children threw stones and rotten vegetables.

Not a single person standing in front of the execution platform was unharmed. They had all been severely tortured while trying to tell their stories of injustice.

But their pleas had become useless, as can be seen now.

It only left deep scars and pain on their bodies.

"Dad!!! Dad!!! Mister, please save my dad. Please? Sob..."

The father of the child who was clinging to the trousers of the guard guarding the front stood in front of the execution platform and shed sad tears.

"Get the hell out of here, will you?! Take a good look! Do you know what crime your father committed?!"

The man, who roughly kicked the frail child who was only half his size with his boot, clicked his tongue.

"I-I'm sorry. My child... was just being childish... I'm sorry."

The woman, who was about to lose her husband, quickly shielded her child, fearing that her child might be harmed.

No more tears came out.

Five years had already passed since she had left her homeland, where war and poverty were endless.

During that time, she had cried and cried until her tears had dried up.

But even at this moment when she was about to lose her husband, the woman did not cry.

She had to be strong. No matter how unfair and sad it was, she had to protect the small life in her arms.

By any means necessary. Even if it meant crossing the border again, even if it meant returning to the war, she had to protect this.

The face of the man looking at them was stained with tears. He tried to move his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

They had shown their thoroughness by even casting silence magic on all the prisoners in case of any commotion that might occur at the execution site.

"...By the order of His Majesty the Emperor, the criminals will be executed!"

The executioner recited the words that would decide their life and death.

"Execute!!!"

-Clank!

And so, they disappeared into the mists of the execution ground without being able to say a single word of love to their families.

***

The people of the Esna Kingdom were instantly branded as heretics and were driven out of the empire.

Even then, they only executed the fifteen whose crimes were certain, and the rest were merely exiled.

The people of the empire who did not know the truth were partly outraged by this merciful verdict, and partly praised the emperor as a benevolent ruler.

"Mom... where are we going now?"

"Won't there be land for us to set foot on? Don't worry. This mother will somehow... somehow..."

The woman could not finish her words. She had to promise to save them somehow, but the words would not come out of her mouth.

"Hello?"

Everyone was startled by the appearance of the silver-blue-haired man who suddenly appeared in front of the immigrants and began to panic.

"R-run away!!"

"Uh-oh? You shouldn't run away."

The man, who had finished speaking, activated a barrier magic around them and blocked the immigrants' steps.

"I'm hurt, you know? I'm a guardian angel who came to help you."

"I-I'm sorry! We don't know anything! We were just about to leave the empire!"

The white-haired old man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, quickly prostrated himself on the ground.

"I told you I came to help, didn't I?"

"W-we have nothing... if you're okay with it, please take this old man's life... please, just our people... just our people!"

The old man was trying to offer his own life out of guilt for not being able to protect his people.

"No! I came to help!!!"

As the silver-blue-haired man shouted, even the people who were scared prostrated themselves on the ground.

"P-please! Mercy!!!"

"Hoo, it seems I've become a very bad guy."

The man, who roughly ran his hand through his short hair, threw a pouch in front of them.

"Here, this is for your expenses first. And I'm going to move you to a safe place now."

"...Pardon?"

The old man's eyes widened as he opened it.

"H-how could you give us something like this..."

"Just because. I'm just helping, I guess. I feel like I have some responsibility... well."

The man, who winked one eye, smiled awkwardly.

The people's eyes widened when they saw the pouch, and they soon began to bow their heads to the ground and repeatedly express their gratitude.

"T-thank you!"

"Thank you! Thank you!"

The pouch the man had given them was full of gold coins. It was a large sum that would be quite helpful wherever they went.

They couldn't trust the strange man. But they had to. In this situation, distrust would not help them at all...

Even if they suspected and were wary of him, they had nothing left, but the gold coins they could feel in front of them were different.

"Now, then. Where should I move you? Aren't people getting tired of it by now? Should I move you to a quiet forest?"

"Move us... what do you mean?"

The people, who did not understand the man's words, all tilted their heads. They knew that what they had just seen was roughly magic, but they had never heard of a magic that could move so many people.

"Let's just go."

The man took them all and teleported.

There were no more immigrants left there.

***

Aman, who was watching the immigrants' migration, decided to do them one last favor.

Most of them were people who had lost their heads of household, and the only men left were either old men or very young children.

Aman went to them, gave them a small(?) amount of travel expenses, and found them a new place to live.

The Morain Kingdom immigrants, who had heard the news of the Esna Kingdom people, also hurried to prepare to leave.

Aman did the same favor for the Morain people.

The people of the Esna Kingdom and the Morain Kingdom may have been enemy nations in their homeland, but in a foreign country, they were all in the same situation as immigrants.

As a result, they had settled in a place not far from each other and were living in exchange.

They would gather like that and form a new small village.

He also erased the memories of the young children who had witnessed the terrible scene with their own eyes. All the parents and adults repeatedly expressed their gratitude and even prostrated themselves on the ground, sobbing.

"Ha, what a dragon I am. A good dragon."

After finishing his work, he polymorphed back into Professor Aman with a proud heart.

There was no good in them knowing whose help they had received.

He, who was praising himself like that, returned to the academy and went to find Lucas.

For some reason, he wanted to quickly show off the good deed he had done.

"Eungheung~ Lucas~ you're here~"

He, who was even humming a tune as he searched for Lucas's presence, entered the library.

***

Lucas, who had visited the library for the first time in a while, was rummaging through the bookshelves.

He had found and read most of the books he needed, but rummaging through books when his mind was complicated had a calming effect.

The librarian, who knew this well, did not disturb him at this time.

"Lucas! Lucas!"

But that peace did not last long.

The damn lizard had come to find him. Not just came to find him, but came to find him very excitedly.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Just~ well, I have something to brag about~ and I'm in a good mood~"

Annoyance slowly crept up as he watched him put a rhythm to the end of every word and ride the rhythm.

"Oh my, you're frowning again! What an interesting child."

"..."

"What do you think I did today?"

"Whatever it is, please lower your voice. This is a library."

"Huh? Then I'll just do this!"

Aman, who clapped his hands, quickly cast a blocking magic.

"Now no one around us can hear us."

"Haa..."

A deep sigh came out at Aman's cheerful appearance.

"What do you think I did today?"

"....What?"

Knowing that it would not end unless he listened to Aman's story, Lucas asked back as if he were eating mustard with tears in his eyes.

Starting with that, Aman's mouth was moving more diligently than ever.

He began to talk, spitting saliva, about what he had done with the immigrants, how great he was, and so on.

Lucas, who was watching him, felt good inside.

He even found Aman's appearance quite cute.

Even though he was in the form of a child, seeing Aman, who had come to him and wanted to be recognized for his achievements, reminded him of his time as a dragon.

It was the same during the two thousand years he had been the Lord. Young hatchlings would come to him with the first gems they had collected and boast, and they would ramble on and on about what had happened on their first excursion.

Aman was also one of them.

He still couldn't forget Aman's shining eyes as he explained what his first excursion was like.

He had a much brighter and more cheerful personality than other dragons.

Because of that, he was often looked down upon by other dragons, but he didn't care at all.

There was even a time when he had caused a commotion all the way to the celestial realm because he had stolen his father's artifact and twisted time during his hatchling days.

"Pfft."

"Huh? You're laughing?"

Aman stopped talking and his eyes widened at the laughter that had burst out without him realizing it as he thought about the old days.

"You're laughing!? I did something amazing!?"

"No. You did well. I was just thinking about something else..."

"Something else!? I'm talking about something amazing I did and you were thinking about something else!?"

Aman's face turned red and he even stomped his feet.

"I-I'm sorry. I was listening."

Lucas, who felt sorry as if he had hurt a young hatchling, quickly raised one hand in apology.

"Hmph, okay. So you're saying I did well?"

"Yes. You did very well. I'm proud of you."

The corner of Aman's mouth curled up at Lucas's praise, and he puffed out his chest.

"Right? Hem! I'm amazing, right?"

He looked like a big puppy showing off its tricks and waiting for its owner's praise.

"Yes. You are amazing."

As Lucas smiled gently, Aman also smiled brightly.

"...Huh?"

Aman's expression changed in an instant. Lucas also narrowed his brow at his questionable behavior.

Because the way Lucas spoke when he praised him, the way he nodded his head as if he was proud and ran his hand through his hair. All of it had momentarily overlapped with someone he knew.

"Found you."

"..."

"I know who you are. I found you. Me."

Aman's eyes curved like a bow. Aman, who smiled brightly, showing his teeth, brought his mouth to Lucas's ear.

"Life goes on and on, and we meet here."

For a moment, Lucas's eyes widened as much as they could, and then a smile hung on his lips.

"Right. It goes on and on, and we meet here."

(End of Chapter)