The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

“Wow!”

“Long live the warrior!”

After the Demon King was finally defeated, the people of the empire fell into a frenzy.

Countless people lost loved ones, property, or something else. But even after all that, people lived. And the end came.

The warrior, Ainzel, completed his mission to kill the Demon King.

The capital was filled with the cheers of the people, and there was a constant sound of music and laughter. People laughed and enjoyed themselves as if there would be no tomorrow.

And Ainzel, who had created all those scenes, would stay locked in his quarters and just sleep, or wake up occasionally and look in the direction where the laughter was coming from.

He had been waiting. For the day when someone from the church would come out and take steps to retrieve his holy sword.

He looked at his holy sword. Soon, he would be freed from it and return to the way he was before he became a warrior.

Because of the Demon King’s black magic, his sanity was gradually being eroded, and most of his past memories were not well remembered. He could not remember his parents, his hometown, or anything. Only… his comrades who had fought beside him until he defeated the Demon King, and Grandis remained in his mind as things he could not forget.

He didn’t know if he could return to his daily life in that situation. He had already long since forgotten how to live as a normal person. However, after defeating the Demon King, he hoped that he would be able to learn how to live normally again without having to fight, and he was killing time pointlessly.

And he, who had such hopes, had to hear words that completely destroyed his hopes.

“…What?”

Ainzel frowned and looked at the man in front of him. The man in front of him spoke cautiously with a troubled expression on his face.

“I, I, I told you that since Grandis still remains, returning the Holy Sword would be difficult… ”

After hearing the answer, he looked at the man in front of him with a distorted face and said.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve already defeated the Demon King! Here… What else do you want me to do here!?”

The man desperately avoided Ainzel’s eyes as he spoke and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! His Majesty the Emperor has said that this must be done, so there’s nothing we can do.”

Ainzel’s hands were shaking, and he smashed the table with his fist before getting up from his seat.

“…Your Majesty, I have no intention of doing anything as a warrior anymore, so please tell them to return the Holy Sword as soon as possible.”

He thought that if he could just defeat the Demon King and end this war, he could let go of his responsibilities as a warrior and the Holy Sword. However, this world ignored even his last wish.

He had no desire to live as a warrior any longer. And, as he thought, he was no longer needed.

Above all, he couldn’t attack Grandis.

From that day on, many people began to come to Ainzel. They were all telling him to attack Grandis. Ainzel got angry at them and chased them away, but that didn’t make anything better.

The religious order also did not accept his return of the holy sword. Returning the holy sword after defeating the Demon King was the path most warriors had taken, but the religious order was also obsessed with dealing with Grandis and eradicating the demons.

After that, Ainzel started going crazy and running wild.

“Eww!”

He would often scream and smash things, and would scratch his neck so hard that it would bleed. He acted like he was crazy.

I didn’t wish for anything.

He did not expect any reward for his actions as a warrior. He did not desire wealth or fame. He simply… simply wanted to regain the peaceful life that had been taken away from him.

All he wanted was the freedom to die, the freedom to live as he wanted, and the freedom not to fight.

That was all I wanted… and I was told to fight Grandis.

The humans still had no intention of letting him go. The pain Ainzel felt when he realized that was unimaginable.

Why, why, why.

Ainzel pulled out the holy sword. Then, he stabbed himself in the back, just like he had done in the past when he had chosen to die from the pain and fear.

And then he realized that even after he died, time did not return at all.

What on earth does this holy sword want?

Even in this situation, even after killing the Demon King, does that mean there is still work left to do?

He didn’t do any external activities, just got drunk, locked himself in his room, and lived like a wreck. Then, someone opened his door and came in.

They were his colleagues.

Ainzel looked at them, but didn’t even say hello. He just stared at them with blank eyes. While he was doing that, Beatrice approached him, cured his hangover, and spoke.

“Hero, the people are calling you. They all want you to kill Grandis.”

Beatrice said with a kind smile, but Ainzel slapped her hand away.

“…There is no need. I have no desire to fight anymore. I, I… just want to return this holy sword and go back to my hometown.”

Hearing that, Lena grabbed Beatrice’s shoulder and said.

“Get out of the way for a moment. I think things are a bit strange right now. Hey, Ainzel.”

“…huh.”

Ainzel looked at Lena with blank eyes. Lena grabbed him by the collar and said.

“Yeah, it’s not strange for you to think that way. You don’t want to fight? Of course it is. No normal person would like to fight. But what if you leave?”

Ainzel met Lena’s eyes. Lena grabbed Ainzel by the collar and brought her forehead against his.

“If you were to tell the soldiers that you were going back to your hometown while they were fighting like crazy, what would they think? Well, I think they’d be really pissed. Right?”

At her words, his face distorted. Lena said whatever.

“Listen, if you don’t fight, what will happen to the people who are counting on you? What about the people who will die if you don’t fight? Can you shoulder all that just because they don’t want you to fight?”

He never thought about it. He was just too tired.

Ainzel didn’t say anything, so Lena released his collar and spoke.

“…It might be hard right now. But you’ve done well so far. We trust you. Okay?”

Ainzel felt like he was going even crazier at those words.

I just realized that the word “belief” can be such a scary word.

He continued pulling his hair even after his colleagues had left.

Are we really supposed to attack Grandis like this?

It seems like someone will be smiling right next to you at any moment.

I feel like I’ll be cooking for him and laughing at any moment.

It feels like at any moment, that voice will speak to me-

I didn’t want to think that attacking Grandis was really what the Holy Sword wanted.

But even if he thought about it, there was nothing he could do.

All that was left for him was to attack Grandis. Whatever he wanted, it seemed like it was already a set procedure.

Even though he was suffering like that, Ainzel suddenly felt disgusted at himself for thinking that he could attack Grandis, that it could be done since she had given him permission.

A few days passed like that.

Eventually, it was decided that he would go north, to the Raven’s Citadel.

…

“Hey, are there any booksellers?”

The emperor summoned his advisers. They all bowed their heads before the emperor.

“I think we need to keep the warriors in check, so we’ll intentionally increase the damage during this expedition. If we lose, it doesn’t matter. The empire still has some reserves anyway.”

The Emperor, who had deliberately planned to reduce the influence of the warrior and then banish him from the empire, smiled sinisterly.

…

Ainzel eventually gave a speech to the soldiers in front of Grandis’ fortress.

After that, I came face to face with Grandis.

He began to fight with complicated feelings.

Grandis poured out undeads, even turning Malekidus into undead to attack her allies. But even in such a situation, Ainzel could not help but hesitate to attack her.

But the moment he heard his comrade’s call to attack – he swung his sword.

And at the same time, the record was broken.