CH 576

Reviving a dead friend.

If it had been completely impossible, they wouldn't have even attempted it.

However, if it was somewhat possible, the fact that it couldn't be perfectly successful would only lead people to despair.

In this absurd world, it seemed that death was an immutable truth that could not be overturned by anything.

If they couldn't save Asher, they wouldn't have even tried for Delphin, whose body couldn't be found.

This was merely a restoration that seemed like a resurrection.

While they could have their abilities, strength, and appearance from when they were alive, they wouldn't possess a sense of self.

It was nothing more than a moving taxidermy.

It could be used for combat, but not for relationships.

Although it might be more useful in battle than before, it was useless to those who truly hoped for a resurrection. And it shouldn't be used for such purposes.

The topic of Asher silenced us.

I didn't bring it up anymore.

If the dead could return, everyone would think about it.

Not only Christina, Anna, and Louis Ancton, but Bertus, and even Saviolin Turner would have no choice but to think about it as well.

"Reinhardt."

"Yeah."

"We can't justify all of this."

"I didn't know you were the type to worry about that."

"I didn't think I'd be the one to worry about it either."

Bertus lets out a bitter laugh.

Previously as a prince and a pauper, we now faced each other as an emperor and a demon king.

"I have something to apologize for."

"If it's about the past, I don't need an apology. I told you before."

"No, it's not about that."

Bertus takes the lead.

"Follow me."

As we followed Bertus, larger pods started to appear. They were three times larger than the others, and it was evident that restoration work was being carried out on very important corpses, even if their faces couldn't be recognized.

Bertus stopped in front of a certain culture pod and looked at me.

As if to tell me to look inside.

In front of me was someone's corpse.

A white-haired old man.

"We've had this body all along. I somewhat expected it, but even after the restoration was successful, he didn't open his eyes. In other words... it was a failure. I know he must have been important to you... I'm sorry. I had to use everything I could. Not telling you... not cooperating with the Black Order, it wasn't me trying to deceive you on purpose. You have every right to resent me, but..."

"Who is this?"

What was this about in the first place?

Why did you apologize for this?

As I was confused, both Bertus and Saviolin Turner were taken aback.

It was as if they were surprised that I didn't know.

"No, you have to tell me so I can either forgive or get angry, right? Who was this person..."

An old man.

White hair.

Apologies.

"Wait a second."

I thought I had a rough idea.

"Was this... that person?"

Who was it?

I couldn't remember the name.

"Larken Simonstite."

Saviolin Turner answered on his behalf.

"The Darkland's Warlord and my mentor."

That was right, that person.

Saviolin Turner seemed to recall something and slowly nodded.

"Come to think of it, you said you had lost all memories of being the prince of Darkland..."

"Ah..."

Bertus finally seemed to remember and nodded as well.

The person I needed to recognize was someone I couldn't even recall, let alone their face, but Bertus ended up apologizing as if it were his own fault.

And yet...

No matter how hard I thought about it.

It was strange how I couldn't recognize the face of the former Four Heavenly Kings.

------

Larken Simonstite.

He was the former commander of the Shanafel unit and once the continent's greatest sword, having reached the rank of Grandmaster.

He retired and stepped down from the frontlines, but for some reason, after the outbreak of the demon war, he became one of the Four Heavenly Kings in the Demon King's army.

For that reason, he was hated by all of humanity.

After the demon war, Larken Simonstite's corpse was taken by the empire. There was no real reason not to take it.

But after the Gate Incident, Bertus had no reason not to use Larken's corpse in the process of resurrecting many war heroes.

If they could revive him while maintaining his full abilities as a Grandmaster, he would be an incredibly powerful force.

However, just as they could not succeed in turning all corpses into golems, Larken Simonstite's corpse did not revive. It was unknown whether some measures had been taken or if it was just a failure.

Anyway, Bertus apologized, thinking that Larken might have been precious to me, and the situation got even weirder when I couldn't remember Larken at all.

No, by now, he should believe most of what I say, but he still can't believe that I have no memory of Darkland?

It wasn't that he didn't believe it, but rather he hadn't considered it.

Honestly, I didn't feel any guilt about trying to use Larken's corpse.

What should I have known to get angry or not?

I couldn't empathize with the feelings towards the previous Demon Kings, so there was no way I could empathize with the Four Heavenly Kings.

"Are there corpses of the other Heavenly Kings as well?"

Bertus shook his head in response to my question.

"No, the reason we originally retrieved this corpse was to study whether magical means were used in Larken's betrayal."

"Ah... I see."

The corpse was retrieved to determine if magic had been used to brainwash the Grandmaster.

"Of course, Larken wasn't brainwashed."

I knew everything I needed to know.

What the empire was doing. What was actually happening.

It was an ethically disastrous, dangerous, and potentially threatening later on.

There was no denying the need to stop it.

But there were just as many reasons to leave it alone.

The research has already progressed significantly and is now in the practical application stage.

Golems were already being deployed as guards near the Magic University, as well as in the extermination squads patrolling the outskirts of the empire and hunting monsters.

They wore helmets so that no one could recognize them.

It was only natural for guards to be armed, so no one would suspect anything.

"Reinhardt, if this army is deployed, the Allied Forces may end the war sooner than expected. It could even be in the blink of an eye."

"Probably."

If countless heroes from history were to be resurrected, humanity's strength would be raised to unprecedented levels.

It would be incomparable even to the heyday of the demonic war.

No matter how numerous the monsters of the Gate are, would that be a problem? Perhaps even the dragons from other worlds might be hunted down in vain.

The end of the Gate Incident seemed genuinely close at hand.

The sight I saw was both horrifying and overwhelmingly impressive.

Their army might have posed a threat to Edina and me, but ultimately, the last warp gate was our top priority.

This army of the dead could have been the key to preventing me from using the Alsbringer at the last moment.

What came after was for later.

"Sooner or later, I'll have to pay the price for all of this."

"..."

"Reinhardt, we need to talk."

Bertus spoke with a resolute look on his face.

------

I had a conversation with Bertus. It wasn't a long one.

The price for all of this.

Someone has to pay it.

There was some other small talk, but that was the main point.

So, I decided not to interfere with the Empire and this project.

It's not something I can meddle with anyway.

I concluded that I must accept that they were not involved with the Black Order, even if it goes beyond trust.

Ultimately, a choice has to be made.

Whether it's a choice that leaves only regret, or a better one, is unknowable at this stage.

After the conversation, I went out to the lobby.

Saviolin Turner looked at me. She felt strong suspicion and doubt about the decision made by Larken Simonstite and was furious.

She considered him a traitor who betrayed humanity and hated him for it.

But now, Saviolin Turner may not know what that betrayal was about.

"Lady Turner, I don't know much about who Larken Simonstite is."

"..."

"But the previous Demon King, Valier, wanted to create a new world through the Akasha he took from Cantus Magna and migrate all demons to that world."

I had clearly seen the letter left by the previous Demon King.

"Larken Simonstite probably sympathized with the Demon King's intention."

Only the Demon King himself, me, and the Four Heavenly Kings knew the true purpose of the previous Valier.

Larken Simonstite would have tried to help complete the Akasha.

"Everyone must have hated fighting."

If the demons disappeared, the struggle between demons and humans would vanish, and there would be no more fighting.

But because Akasha was such a powerful weapon, there could be no dialogue or persuasion between the two sides.

They fought without understanding each other, and one side was annihilated.

"That... must... have been the case..."

Saviolin Turner hung her head and said nothing.

In the end, they wanted peace.

The desires and hopes of all beings are so simple as to be trivial.

To be happy.

Not to be hurt.

To wish for a peaceful world.

These simple and intuitive desires lead to different actions.

Some dream of a new world for peace.

Some draw their swords for peace.

"What happened to... Akasha?"

"I'm not sure. We probably can't use it again."

Where Akasha originated from has become unknowable.

In the world, only the consequences of Akasha's misuse remained. We had to resolve those issues, gather what was left in the world, and grasp even a meager tranquility.

My business there was done.

It had been more dangerous than I had thought, but I had decided to leave the Empire alone.

There would be no turning back.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I should go. What's the point of staying here any longer?"

Bertus looked somewhat regretful.

"Wait, how can I find you if I need to?"

As I was about to turn away, Bertus asked.

No, he phrased it a bit oddly.

"You know exactly what's going on now, don't you?"

"The dormitory."

"...Huh?"

"I will be in the dormitory. Probably in Ellen's room."

"...?"

"I'll be here all winter. If you have anything to say, come visit."

As soon as I turned into a cat, Turner and Bertus's expressions became quite amusing.

-Meow

"..."

"..."

Now, I couldn't feel embarrassed anymore.

Why weren't they even slightly shocked by my appearance?

-Nyaa

"What a crazy... little thing..."

When I pretended to be cute and playful, their expressions became even more entertaining.

Honestly, I was quite cute.

I did look cute when I saw myself in the mirror in that form.

------

Ludwig was assigned a special mission.

His task was to protect a priestess who purified the plague that had broken out in the refugee zone.

Ludwig and Rowan exchanged various stories as they headed toward the area where the plague had spread.

"Will you not receive an escort from the Holy Knight Order...?"

It was too dangerous for a single priestess to wander around. Wouldn't it be safer to be escorted by disguised holy knights? Rowan shook her head at Ludwig's question.

"If we had the manpower, it would be better to send priests to more places."

"...I see."

In the face of an absolute shortage of manpower, they had no choice but to disperse like this. Ludwig nodded in understanding.

Most priests and holy knights were dispatched to the battlefield, making the lack of manpower even more severe.

"Excuse me if this is rude, but... how did you lose your arm?"

"I was bitten by a snake."

"A snake...?"

"It was a snake with petrifying venom. It wasn't a large snake... but monsters aren't necessarily less dangerous just because they're small."

"I see..."

Rowan couldn't hide her sorrow as she looked at Ludwig's empty sleeve.

"It's alright. It's better than losing my life."

Was it better to lose an arm and survive than to die and never return? Ludwig couldn't be sure but thought he had to say something like that for now.

The lost arm wasn't important.

It was painful to think of the other things he had lost.

"By the way, how serious is the plague problem...?"

Ludwig forcibly changed the subject.

"The individual plague cases themselves are not that severe. Not all plagues lead to death. Most of them are like minor colds."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but the important thing is that a healthy person catching a cold and a weakened person catching a cold are completely different."

"Ah... I see."

A cold for a healthy person may last a few days, but for a weakened person, it could be a life-threatening illness.

"The basic conditions are so poor. Even if they recover from the illness, their weakened bodies will continue to die, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

Deaths due to weakness were not illnesses and could not be cured.

People who were already weakened, even if they were saved from the plague, would still die because their strength was exhausted. That could not be prevented.

"And if those corpses are left to rot, it will lead to another plague. It's a chain reaction."

At Rowan's words, Ludwig's complexion darkened even further.

"At least it's winter now, so decomposition is slower. That's why there are fewer plagues than last summer. Of course, we can't call this a fortunate situation."

The cold prevented the abandoned corpses from decaying.

However, one could not call it fortunate, as the cold itself was killing people.

The epidemic itself was problematic, but the more important issue was the harsh environment. People were dying from diseases they should not have died from. Consequently, Rowan emphasized that even if they purified this epidemic, another would inevitably arise, making this work always a temporary solution.

Rowan was someone who had to pour water into a leaking jar, knowing it was futile.

"Most importantly, there is a severe shortage of priests. Most of the Holy Knights and priests have been deployed to the frontlines, and the number of priests of Tu'an has drastically decreased. Many have died, but even more have converted to other faiths or abandoned their beliefs altogether."

"Ah... I see."

"Yes, it's because of the Demon King..."

Countless followers felt betrayed by their god who chose the Demon King and renounced their faith. Would priests have been any different? The number of priests in Tu'an and Als Order had drastically decreased compared to before.

Most of the remaining priests and Holy Knights were sent to the frontlines.

So, it was only natural that the priests of the Tu'an Order, who had to deal with epidemics, were always in short supply.

Moreover, for the priests of Tu'an, the refugee areas, and even the entire Imperial Capital region, were as dangerous as, if not more so than, the battlefield.

Ludwig began to think that Rowan's work, purifying epidemics in Imperial Capital, where no one praised her and everyone hated her, might be even more dangerous and noble than going to war.

Rowan was wandering in search of a task that needed to be done in a place where no one praised her and everyone despised her.

And she did not give up on her faith in Tu'an.

"As a human, I often wonder."

Rowan spoke quietly as they walked.

Looking down at the ground, Rowan said,

"What kind of being is the Demon King?"

The Demon King.

That word was like a stone stuck in his throat.

For most people, the Demon King was a symbol of hatred and despair.

Rumors about the nature of the Demon King were rampant.

However, Ludwig was not a person who had only encountered rumors.

That was why he hated the Demon King even more.

Because he had lived with the Demon King without knowing who he was, in close proximity.

"He was my classmate."

"…What?"

"I lived with the Demon King at the temple."

"!"

Rowan stared at Ludwig with her mouth wide open.

Only then did Ludwig truly realize that, for better or worse, he could not help but be treated as a special being simply because he had been with another special being.