The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP7. At the End of Darkness

Ainzel poured himself a drink. He had never had one, but he felt like he needed it today.

In short, Ainzel was trying to get help from alcohol, as adults often say. He was that upset.

Ainzel looked at the glass of wine in front of him. He didn’t know if it was true that it was helpful to borrow the power of alcohol when he was upset. He just hoped it would help. He hoped it would help him find some solution in the confusing situation where he couldn’t make a decision.

He sniffed the wine in the glass. It was a peculiar scent he had never smelled before.

He hesitated for a moment and then poured the drink into his mouth. Something prickled, and various tastes filled his mouth, such as astringent, sour, and bitter. There was a mud scent hidden in the grape scent, a berry scent (he didn’t know why the liquid made by fermenting grapes had a berry scent), and a peculiar grassy scent. The strange scent confused him.

He tried to swallow the strange liquid. A bitter, astringent aftertaste arose.

“Ugh.”

He swallowed all the liquid and felt a burning sensation rise up his face.

He put his glass down on the table and rubbed his eyes.

His head was dizzy and his body was hot. But it was precisely because of this condition that he was able to gain the qualification to look honestly into his own mind.

Ainzel felt dizzy and tried to figure out what he wanted.

“…I don’t want to be separated from Beatrice.”

Most of his actions after becoming a warrior were with her. In addition, she helped him a lot.

He received her help in fighting the Duke of Ruderan, in capturing the Emperor’s leash, and in fighting the demons and monsters.

There was no reason why I would want to break up with someone who had helped me so much.

But rather, because of that, Ainzel became even more anxious about being separated from Beatrice.

I didn’t necessarily believe that Beatrice had deliberately tried to steal credit for her exploits from the Paladins.

However, he came to think that because of the grace he had received from Beatrice, he himself might be holding back the saint. He thought that if he sent Beatrice away, she would be more helpful if she took an active role in helping him, who was still weak, rather than staying by his side.

… In the first place, was it really helpful to be a warrior? Was it just a waste of time to mess up the war against the Demon King that could have been won without him? As doubts spread to his own needs, he held his head in his hands.

‘…No matter how much I think about it, it seems more reasonable to lead the sect somewhere else rather than have Beatrice follow me around and take care of me.’

When Ainzel reached that conclusion, he lowered his head and sighed.

‘…Yeah, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let Beatrice go and have another high priest join the party.’

In fact, considering the value of her name, Beatrice was more strangely involved in the warrior party. As the leader of the religious order, Beatrice was in a position where even the kings and emperors could not easily touch her. Even the successor to the Magic Tower, the young lady of the Duke’s family, and the successor to the Fairy Kingdom all pale in comparison to the splendid name of the Saintess.

Thinking about it, Beatrice seemed to think it would be better for her to stand at the forefront with the Paladins rather than with the Hero Party, an organization that was tasked with assassinating the Demon King. In the first place, hadn’t she gone to the fortress with the Paladins and taken it over herself?

Ainzel thought for a moment, then poured himself another glass of alcohol and downed it.

He made up his mind.

The next day, the Pope’s invitation arrived. He said he would meet me in three days.

In the meantime, the Pope said that he would suggest that Beatrice go somewhere else instead. Then, if the warrior made up his mind, he would actively bring up the subject.

After reading the letter, Ainzel tried to reply to the Pope, saying, “I understand.”

And then, a question suddenly crossed his mind.

So where will Beatrice go after she breaks away from herself?

The question was, where on earth will we fight and for what?

In the first place, it never occurred to him that he would become the Pope and separate Beatrice from him without deciding where the saint should go.

If that’s the case, then he had already made up his mind about where he wanted to send the saintess, but Ainzel had no idea about it.

As the invasion of the Demon King’s forces became more and more intense, the front lines of conflict between the Demon King’s forces and humanity became more and more numerous, and the degree of conflict also became more severe.

In that situation, Ainzel had no idea where he was going to send Beatrice.

Ainzel hesitated, then wrote a letter to the Pope asking where he intended to send Beatrice, and then sent it.

“Oh, my lord. I think we’ll probably be sent to another front.”

“…Other, you mean the front line?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, I will have to separate from you, warrior.”

The day after Ainzel sent his letter to the Pope, Beatrice came to see him and said this.

Ainzel was taken aback. Of course, he had thought that it would be better for Beatrice to help him somewhere else, but he had not expected things to turn out this way so suddenly.

Ainzel began to wonder if maybe Beatrice didn’t want to be by his side helping him.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t want to fight alongside you, warrior. I just think I need to use my power where my help is needed most.”

“…Can you tell me where that is?”

Instead of spewing out harsh words to Beatrice, Ainzel asked her that. Beatrice hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“…I plan to go all over Calethion and fight.”

Ainzel was shocked to hear that. The entire Calethion area was the place where the conflict between the Demon King’s army and the Empire was most intense, and it was a front line where the Empire was unusually being pushed back.

And there was only one reason.

“…You’re going to the front line where Malekidus and Grandis are together?”

These two men, who were said to be the strongest among the commanders of the Demon King’s army, had transcended races. With just the power of these two, the empire was being pushed back on the front lines, and some even said that it would be a miracle if they could recover even 50% of their troops, so the situation was so desperate.

“Yes, because I think that front is where I’ll have the most work to do.”

“…Was it your idea to decide to go there?”

Ainzel looked at Beatrice and asked. Beatrice smiled slightly and said.

“The Pope suggested it, but it was my decision.”

Ainzel frowned when he heard that.

“You didn’t think about it yourself, and no matter how much you thought about it, the chance of you dying was too high, so you accepted it?”

He thought that the battlefield that Beatrice had chosen was too dangerous. The Empire was giving up and withdrawing its troops, so why would he stick his head into that front line and end up dying? It was a strategy that felt like it was malicious, as if it was telling him to go to the front line and die.

“Yes. It is my duty to be the first to go there. That is why I have also been entrusted with accompanying the hero to defeat the Demon King. However, since I feel that going to the Calesion front is the most suitable duty for me, I must go there. The reason I became a saint is to fight in places where others cannot go, in the most dangerous places.”

“Does that make sense? Even if it does, this doesn’t make sense. It’s obvious I’m going to die…! Even if I stop being a member of the warrior party, I have to figure out how to survive long enough to be of help. This is suicide!”

“Even if the possibility is slim, I must go. That’s my faith.”

Ainzel looked at Beatrice with empty eyes and said.

“…Aren’t you scared? You’re going to the most dangerous place and you might die, no, you’re almost certain to die.”

Beatrice hesitated for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“I’m not scared at all.”

The words that came out with that bright smile felt so horrible that Ainzel covered his mouth.

That can’t be.

If you are a human, if you are a living being, the survival instinct takes priority over anything else.

No matter how strong your beliefs are, there will always be a little bit of a desire to live or a feeling of fear in your heart.

Although he had lost the will to live, it was not that his body had lost its survival instinct; it was that he had become unable to receive the survival instinct signals from his body.

The words, ‘I’m not afraid at all’, as if he had devoted everything to his faith and belief, struck Ainzel as terrifying.