The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits - Chapter 206



EP9. The Warrior

Feria looked at me. … Her face showed no belief in what I was saying. But then she changed her expression and smiled tearfully.

“…huh.”

I bowed my head to her radiant smile.

“I will believe you.”

Maybe it was just a lame excuse, but she decided to take my word for it. If she decided to believe what I said, even though she knew it wasn’t true, then that alone would make sense.

I hugged her. I held her for a long time, just holding her. Maybe I could move my body more and kill a few more enemies. But that didn’t matter. I had a feeling that the time we spent hugging each other was more important than killing a few more people.

After hugging each other for so long, the first one to return to us was Grandis.

She looked at me and Feria, frowned, and said.

“Are you guys just hugging each other like that because your work is done? … No, wait.”

She knew what I had in my hands.

Grandis walked up to me and spoke. Unlike Feria, she spoke in a quiet voice.

“…What did you do just now?”

I opened my mouth to ask that question.

“…I killed the enemy’s number two. So, when you think about it, it’s not so bad…”

“No, what did you do?”

“…”

I kept my mouth shut. Grandis grabbed my collar and said.

“…Why on earth are you doing that again? The enemy’s number two? You had to become a hero just to deal with one guy? I… I can’t tolerate that. No matter how strong the enemy is, I could have just defeated him. Why on earth, why did you have to do something like that knowing that you would suffer again?”

“I thought it was something I had to do… That’s why I did it. I thought it was a lot for the price I could pay for my own suffering.”

“No, what could you possibly exchange for the pain you’re in? I… no, not just me, but everyone else wants you not to be in pain, why, why is that?”

“…”

“That’s such a selfish choice. For you to try to take care of everything by yourself… I don’t know if that’s a choice I’d make, but it’s so selfish that it doesn’t suit you.”

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I kept my mouth shut. In a situation where the more I suffer, the more selfish I become, and now I have chosen the most selfish choice of anyone.

But… selfish as it may be, I thought this was the best I could do. That’s why I couldn’t feel any regrets, even if it was painful and scary.

And Grandis knew that I had no regrets, so she continued to hold onto my collar and shed tears for a while.

“Why, why… I told you I didn’t want to be sick. I said I didn’t want to die. But why…?”

“I made up my mind. I didn’t want to be hurt, and I didn’t want to be afraid, but I thought I had to fight, considering all of that. So I took up the holy sword again.”

She said nothing more. The strength in her hands gradually weakened, and she finally let go of my collar.

“Let’s go. Now, what we had to do is done.”

I said so at the end. All we could do was finish. All that was left was to return to the Empire with our troops. It would be difficult to gain much benefit from trying to further reduce the enemy’s power. The strength poured out in a single battle does not recover in a day or two, and considering the recovery, it would have been wiser to return to the Empire at this point.

Soon, Sein and Lena also returned. As soon as Sein saw me holding the Holy Sword, his eyes widened and he looked surprised. Then, he made a bitter expression and said.

“…If that’s your choice, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Contrary to what Sein said, Lena’s reaction was much more intense.

“What the fuck is that!?”

Lena said in a screaming voice, mixed with six-letter words.

“Dude, why the hell did you grab that monster again!? Are you trying to hurt me again? You… why on earth would you do something like that?”

I looked at Lena, and she gritted her teeth once and said.

“…Let’s talk again after we get back. As things stand now, I don’t think we can have a fucking conversation.”

“Yes. I have to march the soldiers again.”

The operation was over in one day, and the soldiers who had to continue marching for several days had to return to the empire after completing the operation for only one day. Since it was not known what would happen during the process, for example, it was quite possible that the enemies would pursue the soldiers again, it was necessary to keep an eye on the soldiers.

The results were clearly a success, but we kept quiet and headed back to the empire.

…

“ha….”

Beatrice sighed as she dealt with all sorts of tasks. She wondered what was going on. It seemed ridiculous that she was sending invitations to foreign leaders to ask for help, let alone going out to fight together.

There was something else that made her heart feel even more suffocated.

The Holy Sword, which had clearly looked fine, disappeared before her eyes. That meant that the Holy Sword had been restored and someone had been chosen as a warrior. And that was why she felt even more suspicious.

Originally, if the Holy Sword disappeared and a direct contract was proposed, a ritual by a saint was necessary as a preliminary preparation. … No, to be exact, it may not have been necessary to have a ritual by a saint alone. The Holy Sword was said to have been created by the combined power of three gods, and it did not make sense to say that it was possible only through a ritual by a saint who followed the God of Light.

However, she could not believe that the demons or the collaborators were after her. The reason was simple. They had not even been able to find out where the holy sword was. However, the fact that the holy sword suddenly disappeared in such a situation made her feel more anxious.

“…Please, please not.”

Even though she knew it was selfish, she wanted the one chosen by the Holy Sword to be someone other than the one she loved. He was someone who had already suffered too much in her eyes and deserved to be happy now. She didn’t want to see him suffer any longer.

And then, finally, her comrades, the soldiers, and Grandis arrived. After some time, she was reunited with Ainzel.

As expected, and as she had hoped, Ainzel was holding the Holy Sword in his hand, and she covered her mouth as soon as she realized it.

“Oh my god… .”

But when she opened her mouth, which had been shut like that, Ainzel said nothing. Beatrice collapsed in front of him and knelt down in the same position.

“Why, why are you so cruel… God…”

She muttered like that. Ainzel watched her quietly.

Ainzel arrived at his accommodation and lay down. Then, he closed his eyes to fall asleep.

But he couldn’t fall asleep. His heart was beating too fast.

He flinched, his hands shaking. The moment of his death when Kaledar stabbed him in the neck replayed in his mind.

He continued to tremble. The moments of his death kept coming back to his mind. He began to groan.

“Ugh… .”

It had been a long time since he had felt this way. It was an experience he had experienced countless times in the past, but he had regained the fear along with the pain, and this was the result.

He thought absentmindedly. If this continues, will it be like the past again?

So, are we going to go through this process again, where we’re reliving the pain again, suffering through it again, and then soon becoming numb again?

“…No, no.”

He struggled to force his voice out of his vocal cords, even as he writhed in pain.

“I won’t lose.”

He made a vow to himself, saying that he would not let go of this pain, of these countless emotions he was feeling right now.

Don’t become dull. No matter how painful it may be, don’t lose what you’re holding in your hands right now.

His suffering in the bedroom was no longer a repetition of pain. At that moment, the process of pain he was feeling transformed into a struggle not to lose the emotion in his hand. It became a promise to engrave the pain in his heart and not forget it.

He got out of bed with a start. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in this condition anyway.

He got up and looked in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot.

Pain was no longer something he had to numb to. It was not something he had to simply endure. Pain was something he had to overcome. In order to have a perfect ending, he had to overcome it.