Ch.186. What It Takes to Defeat a Hero (3)

Here.

There is a knight.

Clad in pitch-black armor.

Yet relatively small in stature.

Even shorter than Rueld standing before him.

By at least a head.

Yet why?

The hero who had reached perfection by awakening the holy sword’s potential.

For some reason, after crossing blades, he found himself sitting on the ground with a conflicted expression, struggling to get back on his feet.

A sword as dark as the pitch-black armor.

Yet nothing about it seemed overwhelming, nor did it exude any sense of pressure.

How strange.

“Here I come.”

After steadying his breath and steeling his resolve.

The hero charged with unbelievable speed like an arrow released from a bow.

The Black Knight shifted his stance and countered with a short, precise slash.

Once again, the hero was sent tumbling to the ground.

“Your spirit is commendable, but you waste too much energy, Radiant Hero. Such techniques may be useful against large monsters, but it’s a mistake to think they’ll be equally effective in duels against skilled opponents. Someone overwhelmed by your raw power might readily admit defeat, but against a master of the sword like myself, the outcome is uncertain. Be grateful we are not mortal enemies.”

Like indulging a child’s tantrum, he repeatedly knocked down Rueld who kept charging at him.

The Black Knight, who had one-sidedly thrown him around using his sword, knees, arm joints, and even kicks.

“You still have far to go. Come back when you’ve grown stronger.”

Leaving those words behind, he mounted his restless black warhorse after calming it.

Rueld could only watch the departing knight’s back with a dumbfounded expression…

====

“That knight, could he possibly be Grandeus?”

“You know of him? I thought such embarrassing stories about the hero wouldn’t have spread so widely.”

“…I’ve heard rumors about a legendary knight who defeated the hero in swordsmanship.”

The rumors were abundant.

However.

“In the end, he lost his life in a duel with my father, didn’t he?”

“That happened just before I faced him.”

After awakening the holy sword and sacred relic.

During the time when even his insufficient skills and capabilities were at their peak… Rueld.

“Why did my father duel him? I doubt they had enough enmity to risk their lives.”

Was there some circumstance he didn’t know about?

Did father seek revenge out of prejudice?

Although Kariel himself hated him, he couldn’t deny his father’s sense of justice.

…That’s what made it more infuriating.

The way he treated everyone equally, without favoritism toward himself or others.

“Haa.”

After father defeated Grandeus, the rumors about the defeat were eventually dismissed as exaggerations or lies.

“He was one of the demon realm’s commanders.”

“Hmm? …What?”

What is this now…?

“Yet all he did was the kind of work you’d expect at a relief center.”

That’s why his order of knights was even called the Relief Knights.

“The Relief Knights are still active as a secret society today, aren’t they? Surely…”

“Initially, their purpose was to provide aid to the weak amid the chaos of war.”

How laughable that a commander from the invading side would engage in relief efforts.

What a joke.

“Your father didn’t know at first.”

“Then how did he find out?”

“Hehehe.”

Should I tell you, or not?

“That foolish man requested it. Though only in name, he had become my former comrade and lord, and a knight cannot ignore his lord, can he? So, I personally arranged for him to meet your father.”

In the least dishonorable way possible.

“Your father must have been quite bitter about it.”

“……”

His lord, he says.

“Why would someone from the demon realm be a knight in the first place?”

“It’s because of a novel the Demon King wrote.”

“…?”

“That’s just how it is.”

Anyway, putting that aside.

“He was probably the first to defeat your father when he was at his peak of swordsmanship and skill. Your father may have lost easily when he was inexperienced, but after fully awakening the holy sword, he had virtually no equal opponents. Except for his own comrades and our core forces.”

“Weren’t there other heroes and champions from other countries?”

The Demon King curled her lips.

“That’s why your father survived.”

The Demon King smiled distantly as if it were someone else’s affair.

“And that’s why I’m in this state now.”

“……”

In other words.

While busy slaughtering other heroes and champions.

…Is she saying that bought time for my father to grow stronger?

“Your father’s holy sword and relic weren’t the only ones. I’ve destroyed and broken at least a dozen of them myself.”

The church must have shed tears like waterfalls from the stress of such losses.

“And there were many who posed greater threats than Rueld, so there was no reason to fear a young boy with just one holy sword at that time.”

When facing an organization of a dozen heroes armed with holy swords, holy spears, and numerous sacred relics.

To minimize casualties, she, as the Demon King, had to personally go to the front lines, if not with full force.

Since all reinforcements and supplies had to be procured locally.

…Even small losses were difficult to accept.

However, because the invasion force was so powerful, the enemy couldn’t easily identify this weakness.

Information disruption.

Divide and conquer tactics.

Establishing thorough strategies and tactics for perfect victory.

“That’s all in the past now.”

The Golden Demon King savored the memory like a delicacy.

“……”

A being who had half-conquered the continent.

One who had burned the world, using lamentations as entertainment in a song of blood and death.

Even such an evil figure, whom humans should naturally consider an enemy.

In the end, is she just a witness to history?

But the souls of countless innocent people who were unjustly killed by her… who could possibly cleanse them?

…It’s impossible.

To Kariel, she seemed to feel neither regret nor guilt.

I’ve done what I needed to do.

This is as far as it goes, though it’s regrettable.

It might sound strange to call it relief, but that’s how it feels.

Moreover.

Even in this isolated world where she couldn’t communicate with anyone except Kariel.

She didn’t appear miserable or unhappy at all.

By the church’s standards, such a being should have been cast into the deepest pits of hell long ago.

“You seem to have the luxury of concerning yourself with others’ lives.”

Kariel flinched at the Demon King’s sudden remark.

“Neither pity nor scorn others. No matter how wretched or despicable they may be, it’s entirely the life they’ve chosen.”

“But there are those who became that way against their will, aren’t there?”

“That’s their fault. When the neglect and indulgence of their own lives reach their inevitable conclusion, why should you, an outsider, lament it?”

“……”

“The ignorance of those who don’t even know why they stand where they are. I haven’t lived such a comfortable life that I can afford to waste compassion on those who don’t even try to understand that.”

It’s not out of arrogance.

Nor is it because she’s exceptionally talented or superior.

“Life and death are one. Does covering your eyes and closing your ears make them go away?”

They don’t.

So why do people neglect and indulge in life as if they’ll live forever?

Even with desperate determination and all one’s strength, achieving anything is uncertain.

At the very least, shouldn’t one know why they were born into this world, what their origin is?

As a sentient being, if you don’t know that…

You’re worse than a beast.

“A sentient being who wishes to be an ordinary wildflower is itself a sin. A sin against whom? Not against the world or us, but against themselves.”

“Why is that a sin?”

“Because they were born.”

“……”

Incomprehensible words.

Who would dare claim her standards are absolute?

Though one might pretend to agree because of her power.

Accepting it deep in one’s soul is a different matter.

“Isn’t that arrogance?”

“By nature, the awakened and the guides must be vigilant. If a ruler is not vigilant, the state of that country will become quite serious.”

“So, were you a successful ruler?”

“At least.”

The Demon King paused there.

And remained silent for a long while.

“I achieved my purpose. Though it was more the role of a servant and slave than a ruler.”

“…Servant? Slave?”

“Such things exist.”

As if she had no obligation or inclination to answer further, she asked instead.

“So, how was his sword?”

“……”

One thing was clear.

The Demon King had no regrets.

At first glance, it seemed beyond arrogant and prideful, to the point of excessive stubbornness.

But Kariel deliberately refrained from defining his impressions with any prejudice or specific sentiment.

…Unless he heard directly from her.

This wasn’t something anyone could arbitrarily judge or determine.

“I’m not sure yet. Not yet.”

The Demon King was ultimately defeated by the hero.

And I am trying to defeat the hero, my father, who was the Demon King’s greatest nemesis.

The only important thing is.

…That one fact.

How I think about her and how I accept her is ultimately a secondary concern.

Whether she was historically the continent’s enemy, a nemesis, or a villain.

What does it matter to me?

I just need to become stronger, that’s all.

I realize I’ve been in a deep pit all along.

No, I realized it too late.

Only when I’m sick, rotting, and dying.

Do I truly feel it more desperately.

Therefore.

Past or future,

Good or evil.

What does it matter?

Let such things be as they may.

I will escape from this cold, dark pit.

If I need to become stronger for that.

So that I can stand proud before anyone.

I will become stronger than anyone else.

As long as the process is honorable.

As long as it’s not wretched, cowardly, or base.

The rest is none of my concern.

I am.

…not a hero.

I could never be one.

Maybe I could have been in the past, but not now.

I’ve already.

Made a pact with the Demon King.

I have no intention of denying or rejecting that fact.

So.

This is entirely my choice.

Therefore.

All future regrets, all despair, even all frustration.

…Must be entirely mine.

No one else’s.