Parallel Memory

Chapter 712: The Choice After Victory

The cheers had barely begun to settle when the head of the authority raised his hand.

The crowd slowly quieted.

Mia, who had been standing near the center of the stage, turned toward him.

The ceremony was supposed to be over.

The medals had been awarded.

The fallen had been remembered.

The heroes had been celebrated.

Everyone had expected the final announcement to be a closing statement.

But the expression on the authority’s face suggested otherwise.

"There is one final matter."

The crowd grew quiet.

The official turned toward Mia.

"Lady Mia Frostine, as one of the principal representatives involved in the recent negotiations with the Devil Kingdom, would you step forward?"

Mia’s expression changed slightly.

She had known this moment would come eventually.

But she hadn’t expected it to happen here.

In front of everyone.

She walked forward.

The medal around her neck moved slightly as she stepped toward the front of the stage.

The authority handed her a document sealed with the symbol of the Human Domain.

Mia looked at it.

Then at the crowd.

The entire plaza was watching her.

Thousands of people.

Families.

Soldiers.

Merchants.

Nobles.

The relatives of the fallen.

The survivors of the war.

And among them were people who had lost everything.

Mia slowly took the document.

The authority stepped away.

Mia looked down at the seal.

Then she broke it.

A murmur passed through the crowd.

She unfolded the document.

Her eyes moved over the words.

Then she raised her head.

"Before I read this proposal," Mia said, her voice carrying across the plaza, "I want everyone here to understand something."

The crowd became silent.

"This is not a declaration of victory."

Several people exchanged confused looks.

"The Devil King is dead. The army that invaded our territory has been defeated. The war has ended."

Her fingers tightened around the document.

"But the war ending does not mean the hatred created by it has disappeared."

The plaza remained silent.

Mia looked toward the families standing near the front.

Parents.

Children.

Brothers and sisters.

People who had lost loved ones.

"I know many of you have lost someone."

Her voice became quieter.

"I know some of you are standing here today because someone you loved did not return."

The expression on her face hardened.

"I know that for many people, peace is not the first thing they want."

A few people in the crowd lowered their heads.

Some clenched their fists.

Mia continued.

"They want justice."

A voice suddenly shouted from the crowd.

"Justice won’t bring them back!"

The words echoed across the plaza.

Mia stopped.

The person who had shouted stood among a group of soldiers.

His face was twisted with anger.

"My brother died there!" the man shouted. "My entire unit was destroyed! And now you want to talk about peace?"

Another voice joined him.

"Why should we trust devils?"

A third shouted:

"They attacked us first!"

The crowd began to stir.

The calm atmosphere from earlier disappeared.

Mia looked at them.

She did not immediately respond.

Because she understood.

She had stood on the battlefield.

She had seen humans die.

She had seen the remnants left behind when devils fell.

She had smelled the corruption in the air.

She had watched people who had fought beside her disappear.

She knew exactly why they were angry.

She couldn’t simply tell them to forgive.

That would be insulting.

So Mia looked down at the document.

Then she raised it.

"This is not a demand that you forgive them."

The crowd slowly quieted.

"This is a proposal."

She turned toward the authority.

"During the final stages of the war, the successor to the Devil King’s throne approached us."

A murmur spread across the plaza.

"Her name is Lilith."

Some people looked confused.

Others frowned.

Mia continued.

"She is the daughter of the Devil King who ruled before Aamon."

The crowd became louder.

"The previous Devil King?"

"She survived?"

"She’s the successor?"

Mia waited for the voices to settle.

"According to Lilith, her father sought friendly relations with humanity. The conflict within the Devil Kingdom began because of that belief."

Her gaze moved across the crowd.

"Aamon and his supporters rejected that path."

Several people laughed bitterly.

"So we’re supposed to believe a devil’s story?"

Mia heard the voice.

This time, she did not ignore it.

"No."

The crowd quieted.

Mia looked directly toward the direction of the voice.

"You are not supposed to blindly believe her."

That answer seemed to surprise people.

Mia continued.

"You are supposed to judge what she does next."

The crowd remained silent.

"Lilith has proposed a peace treaty between the Human Domain and the Devil Kingdom."

The words spread across the plaza.

For a moment, nobody reacted.

Then—

"What?"

"Peace?"

"With the devils?"

The noise erupted.

Mia stood still.

She allowed them to react.

She understood their anger.

The proposal was not easy to accept.

Not after the war.

Not after so much blood had been shed.

A soldier near the front raised his voice.

"Why should we stop now?"

The crowd turned toward him.

He continued.

"We finally have the advantage! Their king is dead! Their army is broken! Their kingdom is divided!"

His voice grew louder.

"Why would we make peace when we can finish the job?"

A murmur of agreement spread through part of the crowd.

The soldier clenched his fist.

"We lost too much to stop here!"

Another voice shouted:

"Exactly!"

"They nearly destroyed our forces!"

"Why give them time to recover?"

"Kill them before they can rise again!"

The words spread.

The mood of the crowd changed.

Some people who had been cheering only moments ago now looked toward the stage with anger.

Mia’s expression remained calm.

But inside, she felt the weight of every word.

She understood the argument.

That was what made it dangerous.

The humans had suffered.

The Devil Kingdom had been weakened.

Aamon was dead.

The devil forces were divided.

If humanity wanted to continue the war, this might be the best opportunity they would ever receive.

Destroy the remaining forces.

Erase the threat.

Make certain the devils could never rise again.

Some people believed that was the only way to guarantee peace.

A man near the front shouted:

"How many more times are we supposed to fight them?"

Another replied:

"Once!"

The crowd turned toward him.

"Once more! One final war! Destroy their kingdom completely and our children will never have to fight them!"

The words received cheers from part of the crowd.

Mia stared at them.

One final war.

She had heard that phrase before.

Every war began with someone promising it would be the last.

She lowered the document.

Then another voice rose from the crowd.

"How many more?"

The question was quieter.

But it carried farther.

An elderly woman stood near the back.

Her clothes were simple.

Her face was lined with age.

She held a small object in her hands.

A pendant.

Perhaps belonging to someone who had died.

She looked toward the stage.

"How many more of our children must die before we decide we have taken enough revenge?"

The crowd fell silent.

The woman lowered her eyes.

"My son died in this war."

Nobody spoke.

"I hated the devils."

Her voice trembled.

"I still do."

Mia looked at her.

"But I don’t want my grandchildren to grow up hating them."

The plaza became completely silent.

The woman tightened her fingers around the pendant.

"If this Lilith truly wants peace... then let her prove it."

A soldier shouted from the crowd.

"And if she betrays us?"

The elderly woman looked toward him.

"Then we fight."

The simple answer struck the crowd harder than any speech.

Mia lowered her gaze.

That was the truth.

Peace did not mean forgetting.

Peace did not mean lowering one’s guard.

Peace meant choosing not to continue killing when another path existed.

Mia raised the document again.

"Lilith has offered to recognize the Human Domain as a sovereign nation."

The crowd listened.

"She has agreed to open a permanent passage between the Devil Kingdom and our territory."

That caused another wave of murmurs.

"A permanent passage?"

"That could be dangerous."

"Or useful."

Mia continued.

"She has also agreed to establish diplomatic relations and guarantee the safety of human representatives within the Devil Kingdom."

The plaza became increasingly divided.

Some people looked skeptical.

Others were beginning to consider the proposal.

Mia looked over the crowd.

"None of this erases what happened."

Her voice hardened.

"The dead are still dead."

The crowd became silent.

"The families who lost loved ones will still wake up tomorrow without them."

Mia’s hand slowly closed around the document.

"No treaty can change that."

She paused.

"But the question before us is not whether the war was justified."

Everyone listened.

"The question is whether we continue it."

The plaza was silent.

"Do we continue shedding blood because we have already shed so much?"

Mia looked toward the soldiers who had called for total annihilation.

"Or do we decide that enough people have died?"

The soldiers did not answer.

Mia turned toward the authority.

"The proposal is simple."

She raised the document.

"Lilith, the successor to the Devil Kingdom’s throne, has offered a peace agreement."

She looked toward the crowd.

"If humanity accepts, this could become the beginning of a peace that lasts for generations."

A voice shouted:

"Or it could be a trap!"

Mia nodded.

"Yes."

That answer silenced the crowd again.

"It could be."

Mia did not pretend otherwise.

"We don’t know what will happen in ten years."

She looked toward the distant horizon.

"We don’t know what will happen in a hundred."

Her eyes returned to the people.

"But we do know what war brings."

Nobody spoke.

"We know what it costs."

Mia’s voice became softer.

"And if Lilith truly intends to follow the path her father once wanted, then perhaps this is an opportunity humanity may not see again."

She looked at the families of the fallen.

"Perhaps our children should not inherit our hatred."

The words lingered.

Then the crowd erupted again.

But this time, it was not united.

Some shouted in favor of peace.

Others demanded war.

Some shouted that the devils could never be trusted.

Others shouted that the dead had already paid enough.

The plaza became a storm of conflicting voices.

Mia stood in the center of it.

For the first time since returning from the Devil Kingdom, she understood the true difficulty of what they had accomplished.

Defeating the Devil King had been easier.

At least there had been an enemy to fight.

Peace was different.

There was no single enemy.

No battlefield.

No attack to dodge.

Only choices.

And every choice would create consequences.

*************************************************************

Far away, on a rooftop beyond the main plaza, Zero stood silently.

He had remained hidden throughout the ceremony.

He had planned to leave several times.

But then Mia had stepped forward.

And he had stayed.

Now he watched the crowd divide.

Some wanted war.

Some wanted peace.

Some wanted revenge.

Others wanted to move forward.

Zero understood all of them.

That was the problem.

He had seen the Devil Kingdom.

He had seen Lilith.

He had heard her father’s dream.

He had also fought Aamon.

He knew better than anyone that not every devil was the same.

But he also knew that peace would not magically erase the hatred between the two sides.

It would take time.

Perhaps generations.

Zero looked down at the crowd.

Mia stood on the stage, surrounded by thousands of angry voices.

For some reason, he felt sorry for her.

"That looks troublesome."

He turned away.

He had no desire to be involved.

But then he stopped.

His eyes moved back toward the stage.

Mia was still standing there.

She looked exhausted.

Yet she did not step away.

She continued facing the crowd.

Zero stared at her for a few seconds.

Then he quietly sighed.

"Guess you can’t run from everything."

The wind moved through his cloak.

Below, the argument continued.

Humanity had won the war.

But now it had to decide what to do with its victory.

And for the first time in centuries, the future of humans and devils would not be decided by a battlefield.

It would be decided by a choice.

A choice between revenge—

and peace.