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Chapter 302: Proof (7)

“Stupid goody-two-shoes, foolish goody-two-shoes, the biggest idiot of a goody-two-shoes in the whole world….”

Deathbringer knelt before the solid wall of Divine Power. His hands, which had struck and pounded against it over and over in an attempt to break it, had turned bright red and looked ready to bruise at any moment.

“I’m telling you, you’re really going to regret this….”

But somewhere inside his chest, somewhere deeper than his heart, hurt even more.

“You damned goody-two-shoes….”

Ah. Would it have been better if they had talked more?

Would anything have changed if, instead of taking it easy and thinking, Surely we won’t run into him anytime soon, he had pressed and badgered the Inquisitor a little more?

If he had found the courage to approach her instead of stalling because he was afraid of what answer she might give, if he had….

But she was not the only one who had suffered after the Demon Knight disappeared. She was not the only one who had hesitated to talk because the pain ran too deep.

A life spent unable to view one’s own feelings objectively, unfamiliar with talking things through with others, and ultimately choosing to press everything down alone was not something that applied to only one of them.

In other words, this was an outcome that could not have been avoided, however much they might have wished to avoid it. It was the conclusion born from several people like this happening to meet one another.

Because they would never cross one another’s walls, they had no choice but to sink into their own swamps and die. Forever staring at doors that would not open no matter how often they knocked.

“What are you doing?”

“……?”

Forever?

“Is rolling around in the dust your hobby? Or have you finally figured out your place and decided to grovel flat on the ground?”

Instead of knocking on a door that would not open, Deathbringer looked at the person who smashed it down. He stared straight at someone who lived however they damn well pleased and barged in wherever they wanted, without caring whether another person was sinking into a swamp and dying.

“…What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Then he gave his assessment in a single sentence. Did that person possess no sentiment whatsoever? Had working iron for a living turned them into iron as well?

“What?”

“The goody-two-shoes just went to kill Sir Demon Knight… Don’t you have any thoughts about that?”

“Oh, she went to kill him?”

Deathbringer clenched his teeth. She went to kill him? Went to kill hiiim? She weeeent?? Anyone overhearing would think she had gone to the market to buy something for dinner…!

“Even a snake would have warmer blood than you!”

“Snakes are cold-blooded. I’m warmer.”

“Do you think I said that because I didn’t know!?”

“Then don’t use something incorrect as your comparison.”

But the Meister was truly a steelhearted person who lived entirely as they pleased. After picking fault with that of all things, the Meister idly cleaned an ear.

“Enough. Where did she go?”

“…Why are you asking?”

“You said the Inquisitor went to kill the Demon Knight. Aren’t you following her?”

“What could I even do if I followed—”

“So you’re going to stay here?”

“…….”

Faced with a pointed remark that struck the heart of the matter, Deathbringer fell silent like a bear with its mouth full of honey. Infuriating as it was, the Meister was someone who, in many senses, said nothing but things that were true.

“…Why do you want to go?”

“Because I have a commissioned item to deliver. I should give it to him before he dies.”

“I’m the idiot for asking.”

“So, are you going or not?”

“…I’m going.”

Deathbringer answered sullenly, neatly piling his mounting resentment in one place. Tap, tap. At the same time, his hand knocked against the screen of Divine Power that had yet to vanish. It was the barrier imprisoning him.

“But because of this, I can’t leave right—”

Toss.

Before he could finish, something was thrown through. The objects were decorative items such as cuff links, epaulets, brooches, and buckles.

“…These are….”

Their unusual quality, however, did not lie in the fact that they were accessories. It lay in the fact that they had passed through the barrier of Divine Power and fallen in front of him.

“Normally, you shouldn’t let anyone other than the client try on a commissioned item, but I don’t think the client is going to complain, so let’s exercise a little flexibility.”

Deathbringer hurriedly grabbed them and attached them across his body.

“That one goes on your boot. That one goes in your ear. Think of it as one for every joint.”

The Meister kindly told him where each piece had to be worn. He was suddenly going to have to pierce an ear, but he was in such a hurry that he hardly cared. Deathbringer fastened one accessory to each part of his body.

“But will they let the two of us run through the Demon Realm?”

The moment the Meister judged that he had put everything on, a finger beckoned.

“No idea.”

It was a gesture telling him to come out, so Deathbringer silently complied. With a peculiar sensation, his hand passed through first, followed by the rest of his body.

“Then how did you get down here?”

“I said I was going to bring you back, and they let me descend.”

“You didn’t think about what came after that?”

“No.”

Was this really right? Deathbringer was struck speechless by the Meister’s shameless confidence.

“Then… what are you planning to do?”

“The Inquisitor probably just walked there. There’s no reason we can’t do the same.”

“Through the Demon Realm? The Demon Realm where demons leap out at you?”

“…Hmm.”

That was true. This was the Demon Realm. The Meister tilted their head, admitting that had not occurred to them. Are you really a Master Artisan? Deathbringer slapped his forehead at the sentence he found himself thinking at least five times a day.

“…If walking there is a problem, then we can bring horses.”

“How are we supposed to bring horses in here?”

Part of the city wall had collapsed, but could a horse pass through that? Even if it could, they would have to lead it through slowly. Would the people around them simply stand by and watch?

Deathbringer raised these practical problems, and the Meister ignored every last objection.

“Who knows? We don’t know that yet.”

As the Meister said that, their gaze settled on a man with dark blue hair and an expression that seemed somehow to be missing a screw.

“…Ah?”

At only a few words from me, those green eyes trembled. Like paint dropped onto white paper, the eyes held subtle variations in shade, and a single teardrop rolling within them made their color paler still.

“I know it’s a presumptuous request. But, Inquisitor. I….”

How heartbreaking it was.

Forcing my increasingly labored breath into order, I moved my tongue. One chance was all I needed. I would not shamelessly ask for two, so just once. Just once.

“I cannot.”

But some apologies came too late, even when you did not want them to. Even against your wishes, circumstances and judgment would inevitably make them so.

Just as leaving Bemurchen had been something for which I had no other choice. Just as it was inevitable for each of us to place our own problems ahead of the other.

“I—I am the Hero. I am the person who must follow the oracle and carry out God’s command.”

And so my apology had come too late.

“I cannot let you live.”

Naturally, inevitably, it had come too late.

“…I see.”

But Inquisitor. Even if there was nothing to be done about my not receiving a chance to atone, what would become of you after you killed me?

The you I knew—the you I could see now—did not look as though you could possibly go on living as a whole person afterward.

It seemed as though the word Hero would consume you and make you lose your own life.

Was that truly all right?

“I’m sorry.”

There were so many things beyond an apology that I wanted to tell her. That she must not equate herself with only one of the concepts that constituted her. That she must not confuse means with ends.

But judging by my clouding vision, my body had already reached its limit. I might die from blood loss before the Inquisitor ever drove her mace into my head.

“Do not… apologize.”

“No. I have to apologize.”

Even so, that would be better. Better than the Inquisitor suffering a lifelong wound from killing me.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Demon Knight, I—”

I repeated the only words I could gather and swallow, picturing a future that, even if it could not be the best, might at least become the lesser evil.

After careful thought, I had abandoned the idea of confessing the truth—that there was more to the Demon Knight’s story. The Inquisitor had made this decision not because ‘I’ was the Demon Knight, but because the ‘Demon Knight’ was me, and there was nothing I could do about that.

If telling her would not change her choice and would only deepen the Inquisitor’s guilt, then leaving with my mouth shut was the wiser decision.

“I’m sorry.”

Still, yes. Even knowing that nothing could be done, I could not help worrying about the Inquisitor, who would be left behind wounded, and the boy who would never receive salvation.

I blinked as I looked at the blurred faces of Faust and the Inquisitor. [It ends like this? Like this?] The hysterical shout ringing in my ears truly managed to foul my mood right to the very end.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t save you.”

「…It’s all right.」

[If it’s going to end like this, if this is how it’s going to be…!]

But the bastard’s shouting did not merely make me feel unpleasant. 「You…!」 I did not know what it was trying to do, but Faust cried out to the demon in horror.

「You think I’ll let you escape?!」

[Damn brat, let go! I will never die here!]

「You’re not going anywhere!」

[You damned little brat…!]

Ah, seriously. That fucking demon bastard was nothing but trouble to the bitter end.

[Do you think your soul is the same as it was at the beginning? You think you can stop me with a shattered soul?!]

Watching the Demonic Energy inside me begin to churn when I was already on the brink of death, I vomited out a bowlful of blood. “Ah.” The Inquisitor gasped, but I no longer had the presence of mind to pay her any attention. My vision had blurred so completely that I could no longer see what was before me.

「If it’s all right with you, could you use that?」

[…You fucking bastard!!]

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Only one thing reached me clearly now.

「I think it will be nearly impossible, given that there is the contract, I am suppressing it, and there is very little time left… but you never know what might happen.」

[Cut the shit! You want us all to die here?! Not me, no! Do you think I survived that hell just for this?!]

「If your heart bursts here, you will certainly die. Even if the Hero does nothing, even if we do not wait in agony.」

[No, no! Don’t even think about trying it, Gretchen!]

Faust’s voice had become strangely calm, while the demon’s cries had risen almost to screams.

「I’m only saying this just in case, but I’m all right. Truly.」

[No, no, Gretchen. Please. Don’t do it. You’re already almost dead, so what’s the point of hastening it? You wanted to save the kid, and now you’re going to do this?! Are you?!]

「Your salvation was far more than I deserved from the very beginning.」

[I—I don’t want to die!!!]

Did that entire exchange make me sad? Or did it feel satisfying?

“…Don’t cry.”

「I won’t. I have no right to.」

I could not really tell. This ending was tragic, and I was sorry to the Inquisitor. Yet even so, I also felt the relief of an approaching finale and the elation that I was finally going back. The train racing forward without offering me a choice was agonizing, and it was also comforting.

“It’s not your fault.”

「It isn’t your fault either. So, kind one, wake up now.」

Ah, still, Inquisitor. I am sorry that I’m inflicting this trauma on you right to the very end. But at the very least, this must be better than having you kill me.

「May this nightmare not torment you for long….」

As if entranced, I recited the keyword that would activate the magic in my chest protector.

“I want to go home….”

Ah, I wanted to go home.

“I want to go home….”

Seeing his eyes go blank and lose focus, the Hero—the woman who had been the Hero—flung her mace away without thinking. Clang, clang-clang. The metal rolled down the sloping pile of stones, and her now-empty hand reached toward him instead.

“N-no….”

She hurriedly cupped the dying man’s cheek. Hhh. His shallow breaths grew fainter by the moment. Death was trying to take him away.

“No. No. Demon Knight, no….”

That was the one thing she did not want to see. She was the one who was supposed to kill him. Everything that had happened to him was the result of her choices. Yet even so, she did not want to see it.

Her heart finally broke free of its grave and burst out. Please don’t die. Please don’t leave me behind. How could I ever…?

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I—I… I….”

The Inquisitor burst into tears and embraced the fallen man. I have to kill him. Her responsibility as the Hero bore down upon her, but that was all it did.

Faced with the true threat of loss, duty flowed away with her falling tears and was forgotten.

『Are you sure you won’t regret killing Sir Demon Knight, you idiot?!』

But the warning that the slick bastard had shouted at her in his stead kept returning to her mind.

That bastard had been right. She regretted it. Deciding to kill you, attacking you, everything she had done to reduce you to this… she regretted it all.

In the end, she had been someone incapable of becoming the Hero.

“I was wrong, Demon Knight….”

But what value was there in a woman who could not become the Hero?

If she could not carry out the mission God had entrusted to her, what meaning did her existence have?

“I….”

…She did not know. In the first place, she even doubted whether she possessed the qualifications to be the Hero. Could someone who was swayed by affection and could not even kill the Great Demon before her truly be the Hero? Had it really been right for her to become the Hero?

“I should never have become the Hero.”

God must surely have seen some kind of potential in her when He appointed her as the Hero. Yet she was so inadequate that she had failed to accomplish what God had commanded. More than that, she had failed even to save you.

All that remained in the end was the reality that she had become neither one thing nor the other, and utter devastation.

“Someone like you should have been chosen as the Hero instead….”

Ah. Why had God chosen her? Why had He selected her and placed such a crushing burden upon her shoulders?

It would have been better if the Demon Knight had been chosen instead of her.

“God, please… please….”

Before that painfully profound sense of powerlessness, the Inquisitor instinctively sought God. There was nothing else she could do, even though it was God who had ordered her to kill him.

The faith she had served throughout her life offered no alternative, so even though she knew, habit made the prayer spill from her lips.

“Please, God….”

But an unconscious habit and the conscious misery of realizing it were separate things. Still clutching the Demon Knight, she swallowed her choking sobs.

The fact that there was nothing she could do at this moment except beg God made her feel more wretched still.

She could neither treat the Demon Knight, nor save him, nor promise him a future.

Because every action she might take would instead kill the Demon Knight.

“Take my life instead and save this man.”

Why did we have to end up like this? She bit her lip as she gazed at the man who was still her idol.

Why must we do nothing but miss one another this way? Even though she had learned that the devotion with which he disregarded his own life had really been nothing more than self-abuse, she still clung to a fragment of the admiration she felt for him.

“He never wished to harbor a demon, so please grant him the chance he deserves.”

The Inquisitor still wanted the Demon Knight to live. She wanted your dependable back to stand before her, wanted you once again to choose in her stead among the choices that remained whenever she had to decide something.

Because he was the object of her admiration, her idol, and a person like a lamp that illuminated the road ahead. Because he was the one who had helped her move forward without having to lead everything as the Hero.

Even if all those teachings had arisen from what had once been a misunderstanding, she had undoubtedly been able to change because you were there.

And so.

“God, please….”

Because you were my hero.

I want you to live.

“Ah….”

But she could not save him. He harbored a demon, and she was a priest. She possessed no power to save the vessel of a demon.

Clop-clop.

“I knew this would happen.”

Because she had no power to heal her hero.

“I told you you’d regret it, you damned goody-two-shoes….”

“…You.”

“Wow, he’s actually still alive.”

Before the people she had left behind, but who had tenaciously followed her all the way there, the Inquisitor finally burst into loud, childish sobs.

“I won’t be the Hero anymore, so please, just save this man….”

They were tears perfectly suited to her age.