The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits - Chapter 178



EP9. ■■

I couldn’t help but doubt my eyes. No, before that, I couldn’t even tell how things were going.

Suddenly, I heard that Grandis’ territory had disappeared overnight. And then, Grandis appeared before my eyes.

Looking at her, who was still smiling faintly with a tired voice, Feria, Lena, and I all couldn’t help but feel nervous.

However, the situation was quite different from the past. If Peria and Lena had joined forces against Grandis, they would have easily defeated Grandis. Furthermore, this was Peria’s workshop. Naturally, it was a battlefield that was terribly unfavorable to Grandis.

“…Why did you come here?”

Feria spoke in a chilling voice.

Grandis smiled, lifting only one corner of her mouth, and answered.

“Hmm, I came here because I have something to say. I didn’t really plan on coming here. I just had to say something, so I came under duress.”

“…What? If you do anything stupid, I will finish you off immediately, so tell me.”

“Where on earth does that confidence come from?”

Even in this situation, Grandis seemed to think of Peria as her inferior. After a few arguments, Peria spoke first.

“Why did you come here? If you think it is justified, I will not antagonize you.”

“Hmm… I think you know. My territory was destroyed in an instant. So I had to find someone, and since you were the one with the greatest magical power, I came here. By the way, you were here too? That’s fortunate.”

After saying that, Grandis grabbed me by the collar and pulled my face closer. Feria hit her staff on the floor once, snapped her fingers, and spoke.

“…Do it that far. If you bother me any further, I won’t forgive you.”

Then Grandis slowly let go of my collar and said.

“Tch, you’re not having fun. I was expecting a more interesting reaction.”

“There’s no reason for me to react like that for you. So, why did your territory get destroyed? Surely you didn’t destroy it yourself.”

“Hmm- I myself destroyed it. It was a place I had protected, how could that be? It just happened because of someone I couldn’t stop.”

Grandis’ expression gradually became fierce as he spoke. Feria frowned at the sight. She could sense that he was sincere.

“What the… who would suddenly make your territory look like that? It would be more convincing if you did it yourself. And if it was good for us, it would be good, but it doesn’t seem like a bad thing.”

Grandis, who had been staring at Peria as she spoke, smiled and said.

“Should we leave it at that?”

“what?”

“Don’t you already know that? Even after seeing me, you still have the sanity to have a conversation… and above all, when you see ‘that guy’ next to you.”

Grandis pointed at me and said.

And then he smiled coldly.

“Haven’t you already seen the record contained in the fragments of the Holy Sword with your own eyes? So, of course you know that I wouldn’t do something like that, right?”

Upon hearing that, Peria’s face hardened for a moment and she said.

“…Okay. Okay. Assuming what you say is true, then what made your territory like that? Did the legendary Dragon King appear?”

“No. Something worse than that popped out. The Demon King.”

When I heard that, I felt like I had been hit in the head with a hammer. The Demon King? What on earth does that mean? The Demon King was definitely dead. That must have been the case.

At that moment, a guess struck my mind like lightning. But it wasn’t. It had to be not.

The aura that had made me a monster, so terribly similar to the Demon King, could not possibly have been the Demon King.

Feria seemed to be thinking the same thing, and said with a crumpled face.

“What does that mean?”

When thinking about it logically, the appearance of the Demon King was nonsense. The period in which the Demon King was generally known to appear was at least several hundred years. So, the idea that the Demon King would appear only a year after the death of the Demon King was absurd no matter how much you thought about it.

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“Well, I don’t really know what happened. But the guy said he was the Demon King of Arrogance.”

“The Demon King of Arrogance?”

Lena interrupted him mid-sentence. Grandis looked at Lena, smiled rottenly, and then said.

“Uh. He said I was part of the Wrath Clan and that I had forgotten my hometown, the Demon Realm. I couldn’t quite understand what he was saying… but what I did know was that he wanted to attack humans, and when I refused, he got angry and destroyed my territory. That’s all. I couldn’t do anything in front of him.”

The more I listened, the more unbelievable the sound became. I saw Peria collapse with a thud.

“…Fuck.”

Lena cursed softly.

Grandis looked at us and said.

“So, I came here to make a proposal. You need to win against the Arrogance King or whatever, and I want revenge. So, let’s work together.”

Feria said, her hands shaking.

“…I need to think about it for a moment.”

Grandis made a “hmm” sound and opened her mouth.

“Well, fine. Do whatever you want. But…”

And then, suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and said.

“I want to talk to this guy alone, is that okay?”

“what?”

Lena said, her face crumpled.

“Do you know what you’re going to do…!”

“Ha, didn’t you see the records? Rather… it seems like I was the one who was closer to this guy.”

Lena shut her mouth at those words. It seemed to be an aftereffect of her saying that she had looked through all my records while I was down.

As Lena looked at Grandis with glaring eyes, Peria stopped her.

“…Okay, good.”

As the words that were almost like a sigh came out of Peria’s mouth, Grandis smiled with her red eyes shining.

“However, if you do something foolish, you won’t die a good death.”

Grandis simply looked at Peria, who was making threats, with a look of amusement.

“Okay, okay. Are you done talking? I’ll take her.”

After saying that, Grandis grabbed my wrist and led me away.

Boom, the sound of Grandis closing the door echoed. It was the lounge inside the palace. I was so nervous that I couldn’t say anything.

Apparently she said that she also saw the records of the Holy Sword. That means she also saw the relationship between her past self and me.

I didn’t know what to say. Besides, Grandis didn’t say anything to me after she brought me here. The two of us just stared at each other.

But, even so, just by looking at her like this, those eyes, that appearance, the image of her smiling at me in the past came to mind.

After remaining silent for a long time, she finally seemed determined to end the silence.

“…That’s why you hesitated so much right before attacking me?”

I didn’t answer her. In fact, it would have been more correct to say that I couldn’t answer. How can I say that I couldn’t do anything because just looking at her brought back memories of the past?

She looked at my complexion, smiled, and said.

“I guess so.”

“…”

“In the records, I too lost everything, and now I am in the same situation.”

“ah…”

That’s right. If you think about it, she was no different from the person who lost her territory.

Grandis came to me.

“Me, right now… I’m trying to pretend like I’m okay… but I’m going crazy… Was I like this in the past too?”

“that,”

“I don’t know the feelings I had for you in the past. I don’t know the thoughts I had for you in the past. And… I don’t know the love I had for you.”

“….”

“Tell me. What was that feeling that filled my heart that felt like it was going to burst in the past?”

“I am,”

She strode toward me. I took a small step back, and then she strode toward me again.

She didn’t stop coming toward me until I finally felt my hind legs touching the sofa in the break room, with nowhere else to back down.

Her face came closer to mine again. I fell down on the sofa.

She naturally made me lie down on the sofa. Then, she got on top of me and brought her face close enough that I could feel her breathing, and then she said.

“What on earth are the feelings I have for you right now?”

I thought something touched my lips.