The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Grandis stroked Ainzel’s face as she was sleeping. She couldn’t sleep well.

She became aware of her feelings. He had already become incredibly precious to her.

Who could have supported him when he showed his weakness? Perhaps before and after his regression.

But on the other hand, that made her feel uneasy.

When he died, he would return to the past. It was necessary to revive her vassals, but for some reason Grandis was a little reluctant about it.

If he went back in time, she wouldn’t remember anything she had with him.

The fact that the memories she had now, the emotions she had now, could no longer continue and were cut off was unpleasant to her.

For him, the only thing that remains is a forgotten memory.

Not only that, she was not happy with herself either.

To be exact, she was not happy with herself when he returned to the past.

She already killed him once, I heard.

But what if he goes back in time and meets her again and she kills him…

No, that can’t be possible.

She was terribly selfish.

Everything outside her interests was good, but she was obsessed with everything within her boundaries.

And Ainzel became to her… the most precious thing to her in ‘this time period’.

Before she knew it, she was in love with him.

She was so selfish that she wanted him to always remember her in a good way.

Grandis was selfish and could only give ‘this’ kind of love.

Without considering others, she only wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t get hurt, and that she would always be a beautiful memory in his heart.

She was really, really selfish… I was troubled by her love, which was so selfish that others could not even think about it.

She finally made a decision, even though it might not be good for him.

The next day, she saw Ainzel and treated him as usual. She smiled at him like she always did, cooked for him like she always did, and taught him black magic like she always did.

However, the content is significantly different from before.

“Now, this is a technique that was practiced 300 years ago, but I have acquired almost all types of black magic techniques. I learned it because my bloodline is one of the oldest among the demon race. If there is anything good about this technique…”

Suddenly, he tells me about a magic technique from the past that I have never heard of or seen before.

“The most important thing when creating undead is…”

He also taught him how to create undead that he didn’t need. Ainzel frowned at the sight and said.

“Why are you suddenly teaching this?”

As for Ainzel, he could only tell that Grandis had a change of heart, but he couldn’t guess anything more than that.

The contract Ainzel made with Grandis was to teach him until he reached the level of Master.

However, in the case of past techniques such as sorcery or techniques for dealing with the undead, they did not help him much in reaching the level of a master.

That’s why Ainzel asked her the reason.

However, Grandis decided not to answer Ainzel, so he just smiled and said this.

“You can’t learn something and then give it to others.”

Ainzel could only nod obediently at those words.

There was no other way to refute it. At least what Grandis was teaching was not something that he would be at a disadvantage in learning on his own, and even if he asked her to teach him other things in order to quickly advance in his realm, he knew less than Grandis, so for now, he had no choice but to learn what she was teaching him.

And little by little, the content of what she taught began to change.

“Do you know how to destroy this technique?”

When Grandis asked, Ainzel answered.

“well.”

It’s been like this all along.

Grandis taught a strangely wide range of spells, and even began teaching them how to destroy them one by one.

It’s starting to feel like… I’m training not so much to become a warlock, but to fight against warlocks, or to survive against them.

Ainzel looked at her suspiciously, but Grandis paid him no attention and stubbornly lectured him to memorize all of that knowledge.

“So, why should I memorize not only how to create the Mountain of Death, which disappeared in ancient times, but also how to deal with it?”

At that moment, when Ainzel could no longer bear it anymore, Grandis looked at him. Her eyes did not seem to show any emotion.

It was as if he had known this would happen.

“…Haa, why are you asking that? Is it going to be detrimental to you if I teach you something?”

Ainzel glared at her and said.

“Don’t even think about playing with words. So why do you have to memorize these things? Isn’t that a waste of time? You should raise your level as soon as possible…”

“Why should I save time and raise my level?”

“What… does that mean?”

At Ainzel’s words, Grandis came closer to Ainzel and spoke.

“Why do I have to save time?”

“…What on earth do you mean? Of course, wouldn’t it be better to quickly turn back time and revive my comrades and you revive yours?”

Hearing that, Grandis shook his head and said.

“No? Why do you think that? Since my memories will be forgotten once you return to the past anyway, it doesn’t really matter to me whether I regress quickly or not. And… Yeah, to be honest, I feel a little uneasy.”

“You’re anxious? What do you mean?”

“Think about it. If that’s the case anyway, and you’re caught by other demons before you defeat the Demon King, wouldn’t it be better to know how to drive them out? You won’t reach out to me again anyway. So if you don’t take advantage of this time before you return, it’ll be hard to know how to deal with other demons. Rather than end up like that, I think it’s better for you to learn from me now.”

Ainzel frowned at Grandis’ words.

“…Is that so.”

Grandis hugged him as he spoke and said:

“Ainzel, think about it. I am teaching you this way so that you can fight in a slightly better situation, so that you can be in a slightly less painful state. Do you think I would do this to buy time? Why am I doing this?”

When Ainzel nodded with a trembling expression at Grandis’ words and left, Grandis lay down on her bed.

I lied to Ainzel.

No, in a way you could say it’s true.

The reason she had been cramming so much knowledge into Ainzel was because she wanted him to be able to cope a little better. From none other than herself.

He told me everything he had. He told me everything he knew. And it was all because, after he returned, he wished he hadn’t died.

Even if she were to remain a memory to him like a midsummer night’s dream, even if she were to disappear like a bubble, she wanted him to remember her positively.

That is why she taught Ainzel everything she knew. It was not a simple teaching. Obviously, she knew that he could be a threat to her subordinates, or even to her past self.

She was the kind of person who could sacrifice herself for her own selfish love.

That’s why Grandis called Ainzel. There was something he absolutely had to ask of him.

“…I don’t know why you’re suddenly talking like this.”

“Oh, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Please, don’t worry. Even if you don’t ask like this, I won’t attack you.”

As Ainzel said that, Grandis took a step towards him.

“…No, that’s not what I was trying to say.”

Ainzel then asked.

“Then, why on earth are you saying this?”

Then, Grandis spoke in a small voice, as if in response.

“…Okay.”

“what?”

“You can kill me.”

A look of shock appeared on Ainzel’s face.

“What is that?”

“You can attack me. You can kill me. But… But… Just don’t kill me.”

Because it was her love, even if it was selfish.