The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP9. ■■

I suddenly opened my eyes. It was my bed, just like any other day. It was my home, just like any other day.

But something felt off today. I don’t know why. But all of a sudden, I had this feeling that ‘this is not where I should be.’

Why is that?

I decided not to think about it any more. Today, my parents went out to work again. I will also help with the farm work on busy days.

But now was a time when there was nothing I could do to help. The sky was so amazingly blue, and as I looked up at it, I felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

What on earth is it? Why do I feel this way?

I didn’t really know, but I had a feeling that I was forgetting something important.

I, I-

I gave up thinking any further and got up from my seat.

…

Feria finally figured out a way. Using a similar principle to psychic magic, she was able to enter the minds of others directly.

If I use that method, I will definitely be able to directly face the person inside me. That much was certain.

However, there was a problem.

The question was how Ainzel would react if his colleagues entered his mind directly.

Right now, Ainzel had become a monster and was going berserk. There was no way to know what would happen if they entered his inner self, and even the option of Ainzel attacking them could not be ruled out. In reality, they could easily defeat Ainzel, but inside, it was a different story.

Ainzel’s mental power, independent of his talent, could have surpassed them. No, the odds were quite high that he would.

Or perhaps Ainzel’s inner self could have rejected them. If the Demon King’s black magic could also affect the inner self, then it was entirely possible.

That’s why she was reluctant to say anything to others.

Rather, I thought about going into Ainzel’s mind alone, Peria.

But she had no choice but to tell her colleagues about it. At the very least, she should have been given a chance to atone.

Feria picked up the crystal ball to contact her colleagues after much thought.

…

Beatrice was praying to God that day as usual.

The chains of faith that bound her to herself made it impossible for her to do anything except pray, even in this state of confusion. Yes… even in this situation where Ainzel had become a monster.

She felt like she had become a doll, unable to do anything herself but simply follow what others tell her to do.

As she complained of such frustration, she unconsciously yearned for an escape.

When I close my eyes, it seems like his image is engraved on my retina. Not only the way he smiled at her, but also the way he suffered, the way he left for the last time, it felt like all of his images were engraved on my retina.

But now he was not by her side. He was running wild, a monster.

There has been no contact from Peria yet. In this situation, I also thought that I should deal with her before she reaches the imperial capital and causes more damage.

If you make rational judgments, it would be right to kill him right now. In fact, the possibility of returning the monster to its original state was so slim that it could be considered almost impossible, and in such a situation, it made no sense to not deal with the monster for the sake of a mere human. Furthermore, she was strong enough to deal with the monster, even though she was obscured by her profession as a priest.

The problem was that, to her and her colleagues, Ainzel was ‘no more than’ human, and they had already come too far to make rational judgments.

I saw his sacrifice. I saw his past. I saw his pain, I saw him.

Even after that, I couldn’t dare to tell Ainzel, ‘Sacrifice yourself for this world.’

He had already made countless sacrifices for the world, and the price for not knowing that was his current situation.

So Beatrice clutched her head. What would she do when she reached the state of transcendence? After all, all she could do was stay in her room and pray.

As Beatrice was thinking like that, she received a call from Feria.

…

Se-in nodded after receiving the call and decided to take a moment to think.

You could die.

No, it wasn’t exactly death. The soul was just disconnected from the body, but the body was still ‘alive’. So to speak… it was a mental death.

Se-in was troubled. If it was simply about throwing away her life, she wouldn’t have even thought about it. However, there was too much on her shoulders right now.

For example, like her younger brother who is currently in her arms.

If she died now, her younger brother would face the storms of the world without a guardian. The name Ruderan and the countless people who belonged to it were too big for her to live quietly. Her younger brother would suffer in the midst of politics where beasts run wild.

Is that right? If she really knew what would happen to her brother if she died, why did she have to come forward?

But there was only one answer she could give.

“I have no choice. Yeah.”

She said so. Her brother rubbed his eyes while sleeping in her arms and said.

“Huh…? What did you say?”

“No, nothing.”

Se-in stroked his younger brother’s hair. His younger brother began to fall into a deep sleep again.

Yes, this is atonement. She already stabbed Ainzel with a sword once for her own brother.

So, isn’t it natural that I think of him before my younger brother this time? And besides…

“I don’t want to be an embarrassing older sister.”

It was her sister’s fault. It was her subordinates’ fault. She didn’t want to do something shameful like ‘blaming’ herself and avoiding her own responsibility. If she heard that her sister was doing something like that, her sister would get angry right away.

Yes, of course, the child you are holding in your arms right now will be like that. He is a very confident child even in normal times.

She thought so and smiled faintly.

…

Lena frowned. It was after hearing Feria’s plan. The reason Lena frowned was simple.

Because it just didn’t seem like that method would work.

Lena watched the monster running silently in front of her, grabbing the scruff of the neck of the monster that had rushed at her and devouring it whole.

Is Peria speaking after seeing that sight for herself?

She saw it clearly. Ainzel’s form melted away and transformed into the form of a monster.

But is it really possible to get inside him and convince him?

To her, such a plan seemed highly unrealistic.

But, there was nothing I could do.

If Ainzel couldn’t be saved, the only option was to kill him.

Since she was the one who said in the first place that the monster should not be killed, she could only hope that Ainzel would be saved.

…

The monster finally reached the border of the empire. It made a grunt sound and then began to roar loudly.

“AA …

A voice that seemed to be crying out in pain. People began to tremble in fear.

The monster flared its reptilian nostrils and then charged toward the walls.

And then, a blue barrier blocked those monsters.

Clack, clack, the impossible sound of someone wearing shoes could be heard from the sky.

It was Feria. Feria looked quietly at the monster that was Ainzel in the sky.

“Grrrrrrr…!”

When the monster saw its target empire in front of it, it could not control its desire to destroy it, and let out a howl filled with anger and resentment.

Feria swung her staff.

A huge chain came down from the sky and began to bind the monster’s body.

“Kurrrrrrrrrr…!”

The monster became more and more violent and rampaged, but the more it did so, the more its body became constricted.

The thing that bound the monster was none other than Caven Theodore’s chain. In the past, it was the magic that Ainzel used to bind Grandis.

Feria had cast that spell on her own. If they had failed, Ainzel would have had to be killed, so there was no other way.

She smiled, shedding tears. Then she approached the monster, caressed it, and said.

“Hello, Ainzel.”

What was the monster thinking at that moment?

“long time no see.”