The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

From that day on, Ainzel and Grandis became a little closer. Ainzel gradually became less sharp toward Grandis, and Grandis felt a sense of warmth whenever she saw Ainzel.

Ainzel’s black magic skills also continued to grow little by little. Grandis taught Ainzel with all her heart and soul, and Ainzel quickly gained experience in black magic by recalling the feeling he had when handling magical power.

However, Grandis tilted his head the more he thought about it.

“This is… developing much faster than I thought…?”

Several months after Grandis woke up from her sickbed, Grandis said this. When Ainzel heard this, he looked at her and said,

“Well, what does that mean? Isn’t that a good thing?”

Grandis waved his hand at those words.

“No, no, no, it’s not that it’s bad… In fact, aren’t divine power and black magic completely opposite powers? So I was wondering if your body would be able to accept black magic well. That’s why… you have a tendency to accept black magic well or not.”

“temperament?”

“Yeah, temperament. For example, how altruistic is the divine power… That is, how much can you sacrifice yourself for others? It’s a condition. Altruistic, or rather, self-sacrificing. In any case, the more you are, the more divine power you can take into your body, and the faster the divine power grows, and so on.”

“Magic power and black magic?”

“In the case of magical power, those who follow their own firm goals will see their magical power grow faster, and in the case of black magic, unlike divine power, those who can sacrifice the world for themselves will see faster growth. So, I thought that divine power and black magic would grow slowly because they are complete opposites. Why is it growing so fast?”

Ainzel narrowed his eyes for a moment upon hearing that.

“Well, I guess it’s my privilege as a warrior… or maybe it’s my specialness.”

“distinctiveness?”

“Aren’t you abandoning the world for the sake of the world?”

Ainzel had not yet heard the news from outside. He may not know, but outside, the Demon King was probably advancing toward the humans. That was the kind of being that the Demon King was. If given time, it was certain that he would be defeated, to the point where it could be said that it was certain.

Grandis nodded after hearing that.

“…Yeah, that could definitely be the case.”

Grandis nodded as he said that, then frowned.

“But that’s not the only thing that’s strange. Your ability to handle black magic is also growing very quickly.”

“If the total amount of black magic increases, isn’t that natural?”

“No, that’s not it… It’s not your skill in handling black magic, but the speed at which you can handle black magic that’s rapidly increasing. The speed at which you learn the spell is slow, but once you understand the spell, it doesn’t take long to complete the structure. That’s what I mean.”

At those words, Ainzel shrugged his shoulders.

“Besides, once the structure is formed, the spell doesn’t move at all. Even my spells tend to gradually disperse over time, but your spell doesn’t show any signs of that. To put it simply… So, have you ever used transparency magic?”

When Ainzel broke into the mansion in the past to save Saint, he experienced that the mansion was easily penetrated with just one use of transparency, which was easier than expected.

“I’ve tried it before.”

“When you used that magic, didn’t the spell last as long as you kept supplying it with magical power?”

“…I think that’s what it was.”

“That’s not normal. No matter how much magical power you keep supplying, there’s a limit to all magic. But the fact that it kept going, no matter how much I think about it…”

“It must be the influence of the Holy Sword.”

As Ainzel continued speaking, Grandis stroked her chin.

“But then there’s something else strange… Wasn’t the Holy Sword clearly a sword created by God to kill the Demon King? It doesn’t seem possible for it to affect black magic.”

Grandis said so and pressed his head hard.

“Ah, I don’t know. It’s not like I can know anything just by saying this, so let’s just end this headache-inducing story here.”

Ainzel nodded at her words.

“Yeah… Either way, if it was a good thing, it was a good thing, it’s not bad news.”

“Then… let’s stop training here for today and have dinner.”

Grandis picked up the cooking utensils and started cooking. Ainzel watched her from behind.

Before I knew it, I had become accustomed to seeing her cooking.

Before he knew it, this cycle of waking up in the morning, eating breakfast prepared by her, training, going to work, eating dinner prepared by her again, and getting ready for the day again had become a routine for him.

His hatred was clouded. He hated all demons, but he wasn’t sure he could hate her just because they had only been close for a few months.

It was ridiculous. If the hatred was going to be blurred to this extent, then you shouldn’t have given in to it and run wild in the first place.

But he didn’t have the confidence to kill Grandis like other demons and enjoy it.

Grandis brought dinner to Ainzel, who was lost in thought.

“Okay, let’s eat.”

He secretly thought it was fortunate that he had promised not to harm her, since he could use that promise as an excuse not to attack Grandis.

He still didn’t have the confidence to let go of this warmth.

After they finished eating, they washed themselves with magic and went to bed.

“What can I say, lying down like this, it feels more peaceful than I thought. … So much so that the scenery we’ve seen seems like a lie.”

“Yeah… It’s a feeling like I’m disconnected from reality. Like everything was a story from beyond a dream… That’s the feeling.”

The image of war is fading. The hatred he harbored is gradually cooling down. Just this daily life is slowly filling him and her.

Ainzel closed his eyes and opened them.

“But if things work out the way we want them to…”

If I could handle things without Grandis knowing, if I could just quietly thwart the Demon King’s ambitions.

“We will probably meet again on the battlefield.”

He said so. Grandis had a forlorn expression.

“…Yeah, maybe that’ll happen.”

“Perhaps you will actively participate in the battlefield since nothing much has happened to you. And because of that, humanity will not be able to advance easily.”

If he went back in time and changed the future, Grandis would lose her memories. If that happened, he and she would become enemies again.

Grandis looked at him with a strange look. Ainzel guessed what it meant and spoke.

“…I won’t attack you. Nor will the demons under your command. Even if I turn back time, I won’t break my promise, so don’t worry.”

Grandis answered that.

“No, that’s not it….”

“Oh, well, I guess I have little chance of winning. I’ve seen you go wild on the battlefield more than once.”

Grandis was like an incomprehensible disaster to Ainzel. The moment they met was a time of death and fear, and it was impossible to fight back. Her appearance was clearly engraved in his mind, and even though they were now so close, her appearance did not disappear.

Grandis closed his eyes for a moment at those words, thought about something, and then said.

“Really? I didn’t know anything about you. I was curious because you showed me incomprehensible results wherever you appeared, but you didn’t even show your nose?”

“Ha, why would I show my face to you? It’s obvious that I’ll die the moment I show my face. To you, I may have been a strange person who created amazing results wherever I went, but I did it while I was dying. I’m not that great myself, so why would I show my face to you directly?”

“…Yeah. That must have been the case… .”

Grandis closed her eyes. Ainzel asked her cautiously.

“…Sleep?”

“No, I’m still fine. I just needed to think about something.”

“I thought…”

Ainzel thought about those words for a moment before opening his mouth.

“…It’s really amazing when you think about it. You and I are living together like this, working together toward the same goal.”

To Ainzel, Grandis was a monster that spread destruction wherever it appeared. To Grandis, Ainzel was a toy that created new things and relieved his boredom.

Their relationship then and now has changed amazingly.

“Yeah… that’s right.”

When Grandis responded, Ainzel looked at her and said.

“…Is there anything you don’t like?”

Grandis got up from her bed and walked over to him.

“…you.”

Her voice was trembling as if something was resting on her chest.

“You said earlier that this wasn’t the first or second time you’ve seen me run around.”

Ainzel looked at her. Grandis grabbed Ainzel’s wrist. Her hand was shaking.

“…You and I have never met before.”

Ainzel opened his mouth and tried to say something in response.

“that-“

“Tell me honestly.”

Grandis held Ainzel with an expression that looked almost like she was going to cry and spoke.

“Have I ever killed you?”