CHAPTER 1029: CHAPTER 1029: A COSTLY LESSON

"Why would Your Holiness create such dangerous items?" one of the Pope’s comrades asked.

"Powerful weapons were a necessity at the time. You have only learned the short tales about the Great War. Now that I will likely retire in a few years, you all who are in the highest echelons of the temple must know the full truth. There are books and records I will allow you to access in the temple so you will learn the whole truth," Pope Elsevier said.

The Pope’s comrades gulped nervously, wondering what those books would reveal to them.

"For now, what I can tell you is that society back then was not what it’s like now. The long-lived races lived openly with us humans, and they ruled over us. There were various kingdoms, like we do now, but back then, all these kingdoms submitted and followed the rule of the long-lived races, which was ruled by the dragons and closely assisted by the elves, the ones who had the longest lives among the long-lived races. Thus, they could not perceive the urgency of us humans who only live for a few decades. Can you imagine being told to wait, and it ends up decades before you get an answer? Your prime has passed before you get what you wanted, and you can no longer use it. The system of the long-lived races failed to consider humans who had short lives, even when they tried. For them, hundreds of years of waiting is alright. They shortened it for humans, but decades are still far too long. Thus, humanity wanted to break free and rule independently. However, instead of simply fighting for independence, the rulers got greedy and fearful and thus decided to eradicate the long-lived races completely so they would never rise to power again. Almost all the long-lived races perished, but some of the survivors were powerful enough to go berserk and almost wipe out all of humanity as well. Since our lifespan is different, the human population has already greatly recovered since then, but the long-lived races are still trying to recover their numbers," the Pope summarized the truth of the Great War.

The Pope’s comrades were pale as they processed what he said.

"I never liked the Great War. But it did show us something important. That the long-lived races and the human race should not be ruled together. That it must be separate. Perhaps it was what the war was meant to teach us," Pope Elsevier said to his comrades. And to Ferdinand, he said, "But I’d never want such a costly lesson again. So there’s no way I am in on whatever this is."

"I hope that is the truth. That is more convenient for us as well. The long-lived races are not interested in another war either," Ferdinand responded..

"I’m glad you think so too," Pope Elsevier said, relieved that they were not into another war either.

"Of course. Everyone is still grieving and trying to move on from the ones they had lost," Ferdinand said. "Alwin here had lost both parents and almost all the people he knew. He was just a baby back then. He was a few years old then, but if it’s in human terms, he was just a few days old."

Alwin was a perfect example of the traumatized individuals the Great War had left. And he was too young back then, so he only knew a few people. But it scarred him for life.

People like Alvis, who knew a lot of people and lost most of them, almost went crazy.

It was no wonder that a lot of them went berserk, to the point that they also died. They no longer saw meaning in a life without the ones they treasured the most.

Arabella had also reached such a point in her past life, so she understood how unbearably painful and maddening it must have been.

Raymond, Rendell, and their other comrades were in hibernation at the time, following Ferdinand’s example. Still, they also lost a lot of the people they knew and thought would still be alive when they woke up. When they were forced awake after the Great War, they learned that they had lost some of their comrades and friends.

"I see. I can’t apologize enough for your loss," Pope Elsevier said. He knew just from looking at Alwin’s face who he was since he closely resembled his parents and his Uncle Alvis. As a former researcher, he added, "I hope a day doesn’t come when you regret creating something you eagerly worked hard on."

Alwin gulped at this. He didn’t want to ever experience what Pope Elsevier did. Alwin loved his experiments and eagerly created new things that could be useful in random ways. For it to lead to the death of so many people, both ally and enemy, was such a frightening thought.

"I hope not as well," Alwin responded.

"He won’t if another Great War does not occur," Ferdinand did not want Alwin to experience it either.

[We didn’t expose him to the frontline for a reason. I only let him join one war without me, and he ended up almost dying. If he’s not so interested in anything and everything, I would have forbidden him from getting involved in anything that could be dangerous. But limiting what he learned seems to have backfired, so I’ll send him to Elrond soon to learn about the forbidden spells he would be allowed to learn. We need to equip him with the ability to also attack with dangerous spells instead of just defending.]

Ferdinand and Alwin’s other elders had focused their lessons more on defensive spells instead of offense since they were never planning on sending him to the front lines.

They did still teach him a lot of offensive spells, but never taught him what they thought were too dangerous for Alwin to learn. Forbidden spells, for instance.

But since Elrond had allowed Alwin to learn some, they realized there were exceptions they could allow Alwin to learn. Especially now that Alwin was also getting involved in a lot of issues and dangerous missions.

Alwin had grown so much that they could no longer cage him. Especially since he had taken the initiative to get out and do something behind their backs.

Of course, this was all a result of Alwin remembering his past life. He would not have dared learning beyond what they had forbidden if not for the past life he had experienced.

Getting a second chance at life had changed both Arabella and Alwin.