The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP7. At the End of Darkness

Ainzel smiled as soon as he came to his senses.

“…under.”

What Ainzel saw before his eyes was the Pope.

The Pope looked at him and said with an expression that said he had seen something strange.

“Why are you like that?”

Ainzel smiled as if nothing had happened and then said:

“Oh, it’s nothing. How far did we go?”

“…I even went so far as to ask them to send the saint somewhere else.”

Ainzel heard those words and realized.

The fact that the Pope, who was right in front of his eyes, had killed him.

The Holy Sword sends him back to the moment when he made a mistake.

And, the moment he was talking to the Pope. The fact that he returned to that moment is probably because the Pope and his own death are closely connected.

Ainzel naturally reasoned in the face of death he had become accustomed to.

“Fine. If you really must send Beatrice all over Calethion.”

“Hmm?”

Ainzel spoke with a natural expression and tone of voice.

“I will go with you. All over Calethion.”

“…Why on earth would you do something like that?”

“It’s just that the Pope seems to want to reduce the influence of the saint. I want Beatrice to live. So I thought that if I go there and save her, it might not matter.”

“Hmm… I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

“I don’t think I can do anything on that battlefield anyway. A plan is only effective against an opponent that can’t be reached, and I don’t want Beatrice to die somewhere I can’t even see. So, I think it would be a good idea to aim to save her throughout Calesion, and then see that she’s safe and then go with the priest the Pope sends.”

“Hmm… Well, it doesn’t sound like a bad story to me.”

Ainzel smiled. Yes, now it was more important to save her than to separate from her.

“Then I guess I’ll take it as such and go now. As for my colleagues… I think I’ll have to hear what they have to say first before going or not. After all, it’s a very dangerous area.”

“Okay, then you can go. Fortunately, an amicable agreement has been reached.”

As Ainzel turned and left the Vatican, he pondered why the Pope was so obsessed with the entire Calethion.

Why would he send her to the entire Calesion where two legion commanders were running wild? Even when Ainzel said he would save Beatrice, the Pope’s expression was unwavering. That meant that he was not killing Beatrice, but had another goal in mind.

“What on earth do you want?”

Are there any traitors throughout Calethion? That would probably be the most convincing. But even so, there was no reason to plant traitors throughout Calethion, so there was no reason to obsess over Calethion.

Ainzel got into the carriage.

“Where should we go? Should we go back to the mansion?”

As the coachman spoke, Ainzel spoke.

“No, let’s go to the Holy Land.”

First, I had to go to the Holy Land. Since I didn’t know what he would do to Beatrice, I thought it would be best to strike first and tell him that I was also going to the entire Calecion.

As the carriage began to rattle and head towards the Holy Land, Ainzel chuckled as a memory suddenly occurred to him.

‘Come to think of it, I fought the ogres here back then and kept dying.’

Those days when he had still feared pain and death now felt strange to him.

Ainzel closed his eyes.

I felt a rattling sensation.

And he thought, how long will it take before he loses even this rattling feeling?

In the past, I wouldn’t have even cared about the entire Calesion region.

In the first place, he couldn’t even think of going to such a place, so he probably thought of persuading Beatrice somehow.

Now, I had given up on persuading Beatrice and was looking for a way to compromise first.

Ainzel was a little worried whether this could be called progress, but it didn’t really matter. Learning to give up quickly was something that was neither good nor bad.

And if you think about the compromise he came up with, which was the end of the process of losing pain and losing fear, it was a reasonable guess that he would lose something later on.

Perhaps, rather than having a sense of balance that recognizes this kind of shaking, you might lose your sight, your hearing, or even become a wreck, having lost all your senses.

Even though he had become a warrior and still had a long way to go, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about the future since he had already become like this. But Ainzel couldn’t help it.

If I hadn’t lost my fear, I wouldn’t have even thought of fighting that overwhelming Grandis.

As Ainzel thought about that, he realized that he had arrived at the Holy Land.

“I also plan to go all over Calethion.”

“yes?”

Beatrice looked at Ainzel with a puzzled look. Ainzel spoke with a calm expression, completely unfazed.

“I also got to go all over Calethion.”

“No, sir, why on earth?”

When Beatrice asked, Ainzel looked at her and said.

“Because I realized that I couldn’t stop the Saintess from going all over Calethion.”

“What on earth does that have to do with this…”

“It does matter. I have no intention of stopping you from going there, nor can I stop you, but I must at least prevent you from dying.”

“No, it’s too dangerous for you, sir.”

“Saying that won’t make a difference. I’ll stay by Beatrice’s side and keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t do anything dangerous.”

“What is that…!”

“It’s good that you’re fighting on the front lines, but haven’t you thought about the soldiers whose morale will be boosted just by you holding out in the back? What about the people you can heal? Don’t just think about fighting on the front lines. And don’t even think about meeting a glorious end.”

“…that.”

“Listen carefully, if you’re not suicidal and you really care about people, then probably nothing will happen.”

“…all right.”

Beatrice couldn’t bring herself to shake off Ainzel’s stubborn stance.

“I’ll ask my other colleagues if they want to go or not. It’s a dangerous place after all.”

“okay.”

Beatrice bit her lip. Her expression seemed to indicate that something had changed from what she had thought. Ainzel felt that he was finally beginning to get a sense of what she wanted.

Death. Perhaps Beatrice wants death itself.

She wasn’t originally the type of person to crawl to a place where she would die like this. However, no matter how much I thought about it, she now looked like someone who longed for death.

There had to be something different from the past that made her seek death.

Ainzel stared intently at Beatrice’s face.

He continued to look at her face, then got up and went back to his mansion. It was a matter that needed to be thought about a little longer, a little longer.

…

“…Please retreat.”

These were the words Ainzel said to Beatrice.

In the middle of the entire Calethion, Ainzel suggested to Beatrice that they retreat.

“but….”

“Even if you die here, it’s just a waste of time. If the soldiers are all retreating, you won’t be able to save much even if you try to fight. And… you won’t be able to buy time against that thing.”

“You should try that,”

“No, I know without even trying. It will never last long.”

Ainzel said, feeling the powerful energy swirling around him.

“Can’t you feel it, Saint? These two presences, just by appearing, seem to sweep the place like a storm.”

The saint also felt its presence. No, she could easily tell what it was.

“Grandis and Malecidus are coming. Let’s go quickly.”

At Ainzel’s urging, Beatrice got up.

“…all right.”

Ainzel started running, thinking about how to retreat quickly. He could still escape now. If he had gotten a little closer, he would never have dared to escape against the overwhelming powers of Grandis and Malekidus.

As Beatrice and Ainzel were retreating in a hurry, a soldier suddenly approached them.

“What? We must retreat now.”

“Yes, I know that too… but it’s a big deal. In the capital… something happened in the capital.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Pope is taking control of the religious order in the capital and is indiscriminately purging those who follow the saint.”

Ainzel frowned.