The war drums echoed across the valley.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Each beat felt like a countdown.
The kingdom's army tightened its formation.
Shields locked.
Spears lowered.
Mages began tracing circles of light beneath their feet.
No one wanted this.
But everyone believed it had to be done.
---
Jack stepped forward alone.
Toward the army.
Toward the commanders.
Toward the men who once fought beside him.
---
A captain rode out to meet him.
"Sir Jack... please return to your position."
---
Jack kept walking.
"My position is here."
---
"The council has already decided."
---
Jack stopped.
Slowly, he removed the insignia of the Royal Knights from his cloak.
The silver crest that had rested on his shoulder for over twenty years.
He looked at it for a long moment.
Then dropped it onto the ground.
---
The captain's face turned pale.
"Sir..."
---
"I wore this believing I was protecting people."
Jack's voice carried across the silent field.
"If protecting people means killing innocent daughters..."
He looked toward Elsa.
"...then I no longer deserve to wear it."
---
Gasps spread through the front ranks.
A Royal Hero...
Rejecting his own order.
---
The captain's hands trembled.
"Please don't do this..."
---
Jack smiled sadly.
"I already did."
---
Behind him, Rowan chuckled.
"Still as stubborn as ever."
---
The spear warrior stepped beside Jack.
Without a word...
He unclasped his own crest.
The symbol of the Dragon Slayers.
It landed beside Jack's.
Two emblems.
Two legends.
Lying in the dirt.
---
The soldiers stared in disbelief.
---
One young knight whispered,
"...What are we fighting for?"
---
No one answered.
---
Because that question was more dangerous than any dragon.
---
At the rear of the army, several nobles watched from horseback.
Their faces twisted with anger.
---
"They've lost their resolve."
---
"They've been deceived."
---
"No..."
An elderly minister narrowed his eyes.
"They've remembered."
---
That frightened him even more.
---
Elsa watched everything in silence.
Her hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From disbelief.
---
Edward had always believed people could change.
She wanted to believe him.
She truly did.
But after his death...
That hope had almost disappeared.
---
Now...
Jack stood against an army.
Rowan risked execution without hesitation.
Even the spear warrior had abandoned his title.
---
"...Father."
She whispered.
"...You were right."
---
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Quietly.
Without sobbing.
---
She remembered Edward kneeling before her years ago.
"If one person understands you..."
He had smiled.
"...then tomorrow, maybe two people will."
---
At the time...
She thought he was simply comforting a child.
---
Now she understood.
He wasn't speaking about tomorrow.
He was speaking about hope.
---
Suddenly—
A horn sounded from the rear of the kingdom's army.
Three short blasts.
Urgent.
---
The commanders looked back.
Confused.
---
Another rider galloped toward the front lines.
His horse foamed with sweat.
---
"Emergency report!"
He barely managed to breathe.
---
"A beast horde!"
---
Silence.
---
The commander frowned.
"What?"
---
"The eastern villages are under attack!"
---
Everyone froze.
---
"Impossible..."
---
"The scouts confirmed it!"
The messenger shouted.
"Hundreds... no..."
His voice shook.
"...Thousands!"
---
The old spear warrior's eyes narrowed.
---
"This isn't a coincidence."
---
Rowan nodded.
---
"The army moved."
---
"And something noticed."
---
The kingdom had gathered almost every elite soldier...
To hunt one girl.
---
Leaving its borders nearly undefended.
---
The irony settled over everyone.
---
Jack slowly turned toward the commanders.
---
"You wanted to protect the kingdom."
---
He looked toward the smoke beginning to rise on the eastern horizon.
---
"Then why are you pointing your swords at the one person who could help you?"
---
The commanders remained silent.
---
Because for the first time...
The question had no political answer.
Only a human one.
---
Elsa quietly stepped forward.
She looked at the distant smoke.
Then at the frightened soldiers.
Then at Jack.
---
Finally...
She smiled.
The same gentle smile Edward used whenever he made a decision.
---
"I'm going."
---
Jack looked at her.
---
"They hate you."
---
"I know."
---
"They'll probably hate you even after you save them."
---
"I know."
---
"Then why?"
---
Elsa looked toward the burning villages.
---
"...Because my father would've gone."
---
Silence.
---
Edward was gone.
But his choice...
His way of living...
Still walked this world through his daughter.
---
And that frightened the kingdom far more than dragon fire ever could.