The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

A few days passed. Ainzel continued to train with Grandis, and before he knew it, he was gradually becoming more comfortable with handling black magic.

Even after his black magic wore off, Ainzel continued to train, and Grandis continued to watch Ainzel, then prepared a meal and ate it with him.

As soon as he took a bite of the fruit of her creativity that was unfailingly on display, he frowned, and Grandis laughed at the sight of his face and threw away his creation without hesitation.

“You’re not even going to eat it now? You made it yourself.”

Grandis then looked at Ainzel and smiled brightly and said.

“Why should I eat it? Your face already showed me what it tastes like.”

Ainzel frowned and said.

“I feel like an idiot for eating the food you made with so much effort.”

Grandis shrugged and said.

“Well, but you still end up eating first. How kind of you, warrior.”

Ainzel made a face, and Grandis burst into laughter at the sight.

Grandis said, wiping away the tears that were streaming down her face with her fingers.

“Kuuu, look at the reaction. This is the first time I’ve received a reaction like this in my life, it’s fun.”

Ainzel looked at Grandis with cold eyes and said.

“Is this your first time receiving this kind of reaction?”

A look of disbelief. Grandis laughed a little harder at Ainzel’s expression before saying.

“Oh, this is the first time I’ve had a reaction like this. Since I’m in that position, I’m often overwhelmed and can’t say anything, and I try to show my subordinates that I’m competent… ”

As Grandis spoke, his expression darkened as he thought of his dead vassals.

The faces of the vassals who had turned to ashes overnight after meeting a bad master seemed to linger in my mind.

Grandis closed her mouth and bit her lip. The smiling face from just a moment ago was gone, and in an instant, her complexion darkened.

Ainzel would have been fine with leaving him alone, but he suddenly felt uncomfortable seeing him acting like that.

Finally he saw the sight and said,

“…Don’t worry too much. They’ll all come back anyway. Your retainers, and your territory. Isn’t that why you’re working so hard right now?”

Hearing what Ainzel had said, Grandis looked at him.

He soon felt unfamiliar with her staring at him and turned his head away.

Grandis then poked Ainzel’s stomach and said.

“What, are you comforting me? The warrior is kind even to the demons.”

Ainzel slapped the hand away.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so funny about being kind to demons.”

Although Ainzel was hanging out with Grandis like this now, he was notorious among the demons as a murderer who would go crazy and run wild whenever he saw a demon. Furthermore, he still had a bad feeling about the demons in his heart. Grandis was also a collaborator, so they were only close, but if she wasn’t a collaborator…

… At least his position within the group would be slightly, just a little bit different from that of other demons, but it wouldn’t be that different.

But, contrary to Ainzel’s sentiments, Grandis smiled and said.

“Really? Well, your rumors were so vicious… So, are you only being nice to me?”

Ainzel crumpled his expression and said as Grandis smiled.

“…Leave it at that.”

…

Grandis lay in bed and fell into a dream.

She saw a black castle in her dream.

It was her castle. It was her estate.

Grandis knew that the scenery he was seeing before his eyes was a dream.

But even so, she was emotionally disturbed.

“…I had this dream, and I became weak.”

She saw her dead vassals, her family. She truly considered them her family.

They came to her in the form of undead, their flesh rotting and falling apart.

But the voices coming from them were so incredibly rational.

“Master…”

Grandis noticed the corpse approaching her from the front.

He was the butler who had assisted her since she was young.

The butler spoke with a look of hatred on his face, despite his corpse-like appearance.

“Master, why have we been serving the Demon King?”

Grandis closed his eyes once, opened them again, and spoke.

“…So, why did you serve the Demon King?”

She said in a self-mocking voice.

“Because of the master’s wrong choice, our children had their souls stolen by the demon lord, and we were killed by the demon lord without even being able to rebel. For what on earth, for what reason did we have to die?”

The butler’s voice pierced his heart. Grandis lowered her head.

“…I don’t think so,”

“I guess you weren’t there.”

Grandis frowned. The butler spoke in a voice that was too indifferent to say anything.

“So what does it mean that we didn’t intend to do so? Does it make any difference that we, the dead, can come back to life just because we didn’t intend to bring about this result? Does it make any difference that your careless actions caused our deaths?”

Grandis frowned and held her head with trembling hands. Her head seemed to be hurting.

“Well, it can be changed. If the warrior… if the warrior changes the past with his power…”

“How can you trust the warrior? Couldn’t he really betray you, take what he wants from you, and then keep his mouth shut without anyone knowing? If the warrior’s power is real, I think that’s much more likely.”

“No, no. He’s not that kind of person…”

“Haven’t you heard the rumors about the hero? Do you really trust a monster who commits massacre whenever he sees a demon? He is nothing but a monster driven mad by hatred. Are you going to decide to help the demon lord out of mild interest and then be betrayed by the hero out of mild faith?”

“No, no… .”

She clutched her head. This was a dream. She knew it. But she was still shaken. Before she knew it, she was in pain.

She felt them approaching her.

…

Ainzel felt uncomfortable with the feeling of waking up earlier than usual. If this happened, it would be difficult to maintain a normal state. After all, he couldn’t force himself to fall back asleep after waking up.

He got up from bed with that thought in his mind.

And he looked sideways.

“Ugh… ugh, ugh…”

Next to him, Grandis was sweating and groaning.

Ainzel felt puzzled when he saw her like that.

I thought to myself, how could he make such a painful expression? It looked like he was suffering from a nightmare.

He gently touched Grandis’ forehead.

… my forehead was on fire. What on earth could possibly cause such a high fever?

It would be safe to say that those who had reached the state of transcendence, or even the state of extremes, practically never got sick for physical reasons, but on the contrary, mental issues had a greater effect on the body. In other words, Grandis was currently experiencing some kind of mental problem.

Should I take care of him? He shook his head as he thought about that. After all, he was a demon. There was no reason to take care of him…

He frowned at himself, unable to deny that his eyes were drawn to Grandis, who was suffering as he thought such thoughts.

“…Damn, you’re just sitting there making me nervous.”

Ainzel got out of bed and used magic to soak a towel in water.

Then he placed the towel on Grandis’ head.

“…Is this the right way to do it?”

Ainzel didn’t know if what he was doing would be effective. But he still took Grandis’ temperature, changed her wet towel, and held her hand.

“I don’t know what’s causing you so much trouble, but wake up quickly.”

He took a deep breath and took out his cooking utensils. Thinking about it, he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to cook for her once in a while since he had always been eating the food Grandis had prepared for him.

He began to make vegetable stew, chopping, seasoning, and boiling the ingredients as Grandis had done. It wasn’t great, but it was the best he could do.

After the stew was finished boiling, Ainzel sat down on Grandis’ bed again and held her hand.

And then Grandis slowly began to open her eyes.

“Uh… um…”

She found Ainzel holding her hand.

“Are you awake? Then I prepared the meal, so eat first. I don’t know what the problem was.”

However, Grandis did not let go of his hand.

“What are you trying to do? You have to eat first…”

“no.”

Grandis said, looking slightly more at ease.

“Just keep holding on like this.”

Ainzel continued to hold her hand after hearing those words. Until the stew cooled down.