The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Rupture

Ainzel opened his eyes in a dark cave.

He began to wonder how he had ended up here.

Only after spending some time like that did he realize what had happened before he fell asleep.

He looked up at his hand.

Obviously, his hands were clean. His eyes were clear, showing off his white skin color without a speck of dust.

But why, why is it so red?

Why is blood dripping from my hands like this?

These hands were stained with the blood of my comrades.

With these hands he took the lives of his comrades.

Each and every one of them was someone who could be of more help than himself. They were people who should not have met their deaths so meaninglessly.

But he killed them. The voices begging him to kill them. The feel of the blade against their necks. The spray of blood that splashed across his face. Each and every one of them clouded his memories.

Still, I didn’t feel any regret. I wanted to regret. I wanted to feel pain. I wanted to blame myself and regret that it was my fault that my comrades died.

But he had already lost the ability to regret, and what was left was a terribly cold sense of reason.

His reason began to instinctively calculate what to do next.

If there is a way to deal with the Demon King’s black magic, it may be possible to win against the Demon King.

And the person he must ask to deal with that dark magic is…

“…Grandis.”

He called the name softly. His voice was hoarse and scraping like metal, and his voice was also small, but he heard a voice answering him.

“Yeah, I’m here. Why are you calling me?”

Ainzel turned his head and looked at her.

“…was there anything like that?”

“Of course. I woke up much earlier than you and was remodeling this area.”

Ainzel got up from where he was lying. Looking closely, he saw that the place he had been lying on, although not very soft, had the shape of a bed.

“Did you make this?”

“Yeah, I made it. I think it’s because of that that you seem to be sleeping really well.”

“…I did something useless.”

“I know it’s disappointing to hear you say that about my consideration, but it doesn’t matter. Well, I think we should talk a little bit first… About what we were talking about yesterday. That is, about how you said you could go back in time.”

Ainzel looked at Grandis. Grandis’s eyes were not the eyes filled with curiosity and enthusiasm that Ainzel had ever seen, but rather, more than anything, they were serious eyes.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Oh, how harsh you are. Didn’t you kneel before me yesterday?”

“I think it’s an unrelated story.”

Aside from Ainzel’s promise not to attack Grandis, Ainzel didn’t particularly like Grandis. No, to be precise, he didn’t like all the demons. Grandis was one of the demons, and she was one of the ones who killed him once, or was it twice? In any case, he had no reason to like her.

Grandis shrugged his shoulders once, as if he knew that fact, and then said.

“You clearly said that if you died you could go back to the past. But you didn’t say anything more than that. So, I’d like to hear a clear explanation of what that means.”

“It’s exactly as you heard. When I die, I go back to the past, and there’s no limit to the number of times I can do that.”

“Hmm… How come you have such an ability? It’s an ability that makes no sense at all.”

“The Holy Sword gave me… the power as a warrior.”

“The power of the warrior… Okay. Then when will you go back to the past? Is there a special cycle or something?”

Ainzel shook his head after hearing Grandis’ words.

“No, there is no such thing as a cycle.”

“Then what point in time do we go back to?”

“The point at which I return to the past is… the point at which I made a wrong choice. The point at which there was a better way. And… the point at which, in the eyes of the Holy Sword, I needed the minimum amount of time to accomplish my mission. That’s the point at which I can’t be certain.”

Ainzel squeezed his eyes shut. He thought of the girl and the small villagers who had died after being judged by the Holy Sword to be of no use in accomplishing their mission.

“…Hmm, I see.”

Grandis nodded twice after hearing that.

“Then… can I ask you one favor?”

Ainzel looked at Grandis.

His expression seemed to say that he would listen to what he had to say. Grandis faced him and said.

“So… if you go back to before you passed through my territory, don’t let me see you in my territory. Then I can protect my territory. Do you mind if I ask you a small favor?”

Ainzel nodded.

“No problem. But… when do you plan on starting learning black magic?”

“Oh, don’t whine. It’ll start soon. Why would you delay it on purpose just because I am? I want you to do well and defeat the Demon King.”

Grandis had finished renovating the cave where Ainzel and herself would hide out. Before she knew it, the cave had turned into a cozy haven.

Ainzel frowned at the sight, but didn’t say anything else.

“Now, take a deep breath and exhale.”

Ainzel heard Grandis’ words and spoke in a questioning voice.

“…Does this make any difference?”

In Ainzel’s opinion, this was essentially similar to the process he had gone through while becoming enlightened about magical or divine powers, rather than the process of becoming enlightened about the dark magic he had thought of.

When Ainzel said that, Grandis gave Ainzel a pitiful look and then said.

“Of course. You think of black magic as a power completely separate from divine power or magical power, but black magic itself is a power that was originally inherent in your human bodies. It is not something that can be awakened through any special process or ritual.”

“…Is that so.”

“Of course, since you already handle divine and magical powers, and those powers are the exact opposite of black magic, it may be impossible to handle them together. However, that has nothing to do with it. Now, I will move the black magic inside your body, so feel it.”

Ainzel closed his eyes and felt Grandis’ hand on his back. He felt the black magic inside him move from the cold, delicate hand.

In fact, he could sense the black magic outside his body from the beginning. He just couldn’t sense the black magic inside his body. After feeling the black magic once, Ainzel suddenly felt an unfounded confidence that he could control the black magic inside his body.

Ainzel gathered the black magic flowing through his bloodstream into his hand and released it.

Grandis looked at the sight and said with a look of disbelief.

“…What? Was the warrior more of a genius than I thought?”

Of course, Ainzel was only good at handling black magic, but after that he had a hard time. Especially when it came to composing spells.

Grandis tilted his head at the sight and then said.

“Is this… is this right? He was able to awaken the black magic in an instant, and even though he was already handling divine and magical powers, he was able to do it, but if you look at what happened after that, it was just completely ordinary…”

Ainzel spoke to Grandis, who was struggling like that.

“Well, maybe it was influenced by the Holy Sword or something else.”

“Holy Sword? Does that make sense? I clearly heard that the Holy Sword was a sword created and given to humans by the God of Light. If it had a negative effect on the use of black magic, I would have given it to them, but I don’t expect it to have any positive effects.”

Ainzel shrugged at Grandis’ words.

“well.”

Grandis had no choice but to keep her mouth shut when even Ainzel acted as if she didn’t know.

After finishing her training in handling black magic, Grandis began chopping ingredients in the kitchen she had remodeled.

“…What are you doing?”

Ainzel looked at Grandis and said. Grandis shrugged her shoulders at Ainzel’s words and then said.

“What are you doing? You haven’t eaten anything since you woke up this morning. You need to eat well to be able to fight.”

Ainzel looked at her with a suspicious expression.

Be that as it may, Grandis quickly began to carefully place each piece of food into a bowl that no one knew when it had been made.

Ainzel felt suspicious as he looked at the unexpected food in front of him.

Surprisingly, the food was all of excellent quality, both in appearance and aroma.

Ainzel began to put the food in his mouth. He could feel that each and every one of them was made with great skill.

Ainzel soon became obsessed with what she had created.

And he was overcome by the urge to spit it out.