The Reason
“Has Ed… settled down?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He is sleeping now.”
“Haa… You may withdraw. Keep watching over Ed’s condition.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The physician who had reported Edward’s condition to Camilla withdrew from his seat once more to keep vigil at the boy’s side.
Once the physician was gone, those who remained were:
Empress Elizabeth, Imperial Princess Charlotte,
Grand Duchess Camilla, Lady Lirith,
and the escort knight Grace together with the personal maid Emma.
“The reason Ed-kun ended up like that is the Hero, yet we’re supposed to just leave her alone?!”
Charlotte was the first to raise her voice in fury.
She still seethed with dissatisfaction over the Hero’s disposition only moments earlier.
“Exactly! Ed saw that Hero bitch go berserk, got terrified, and lost consciousness all over again! Why did you just send her back? Grace should have finished her off!”
Lirith, who knew the situation just as well, shouted with equal rage.
“I can no longer even bring myself to tell them to calm down, Grand Duchess.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I believe we must explain the reason to the children even now.”
The Empress and the Grand Duchess had already abandoned any attempt to scold or soothe them.
“Very well. I shall explain.”
The Empress opened her mouth first to give the explanation.
“You already know that the only being capable of killing the Demon King is the Hero…”
“Wasn’t that just a legend? No matter how strong the Demon King might be, if the Imperial Family and House Frigid joined forces we could subjugate him!”
Before Elizabeth could even finish, Charlotte cut her off in anger.
Even between mother and daughter, interrupting the Empress of the Empire so freely and so often could be considered excessive.
Yet Elizabeth, who knew full well that Charlotte was not normally a person who failed to distinguish public from private, understood that the present situation was simply that grave, and therefore did not take issue with it.
Her daughter only ever lost her reason when the matter involved Edward.
Elizabeth decided to explain again, more slowly.
“Charlotte… I seem to have chosen my words poorly. What I mean, precisely, is ‘annihilation.’”
“By that… do you mean the legend that says no matter how many times the Demon King is killed he revives again—that it actually happened?”
“Yes. Many people simply regard it as a fairy-tale story that never truly occurred, but every word of the legend is fact.”
“Then the reason the dragons went extinct was truly…”
Dragons, which people of the present age had only ever heard of as belonging to the distant past, were regarded—like the tales of Heroes—as nothing more than legends and fairy tales.
But Elizabeth was telling them that the legends were not fairy tales; they were truth.
“As a descendant of dragons, Grace would know this well.”
To support her words, Elizabeth looked toward Grace.
“…Even we half-dragons knew of that legend, yet we were taught it was pure fiction, and that our ancestral dragons simply ascended to the heavens.”
Even Grace, however, did not appear to believe that the true reason her ancestors had been wiped out was the Demon King.
“Mm… The prideful descendants of dragons might find it difficult to accept that their entire race was annihilated by a single Demon King.”
“….”
“I have absolutely no intention of belittling your ancestors or your race. I hope there is no misunderstanding.”
“…There is none.”
From the Empress’s standpoint she found Grace’s ignorance of the truth understandable, and said as much.
When Grace fell silent, the Empress made clear she had meant no offense, and Grace herself showed no sign of displeasure.
“Even if we were to subjugate the Demon King…”
“He would simply revive again and again.”
In the past, many of Isania’s guardians—including the dragons—had done everything in their power to subjugate the Demon King.
In the end, however, they were all destroyed by the Demon King who kept returning no matter how many times he was slain.
“The one who can permanently annihilate the Demon King is less ‘the Hero’ and more accurately ‘an outsider who has crossed over from another world,’ I would say…”
“But the only humans who cross from another world into Isania are the Heroes summoned by the Goddess…”
“Exactly. That is why, no matter what atrocities the Hero commits, we cannot execute her. We have no choice but to resolve things as amicably as possible…”
Even without the Empress telling them, everyone had vaguely anticipated it.
That the Hero was indispensable if they wished to defeat the Demon King.
Yet there was no way they could simply accept it.
“Your Majesty! Then, just as Her Highness said, we can simply subjugate him again and again ourselves! We don’t need any Hero!”
This time Lirith stepped forward shouting.
The only being capable of eternally annihilating the Demon King was a Hero from another world.
But they could not tolerate leaving the Hero alone for that reason alone.
No one here knew how strong the Demon King truly was, yet none of the people present were weak.
Even if guardians like the dragons had fallen, these women were confident they could defeat the Demon King any number of times for the sake of the one they loved; therefore they could not tolerate leaving the Hero be.
No—more precisely, they could not allow her to live.
“It would be better to keep fighting a revived Demon King. That Hero is not normal! I beg you to execute her!”
Thus Lirith strongly petitioned for the Hero’s execution; Charlotte beside her nodded in agreement, and Grace and Emma appeared to share the same opinion.
“Lirith… I feel the same as you, and so does everyone else here… But you already know it is not that simple… And there is still another reason.”
“What other reason could there be?”
“Yes…”
Camilla decided to tell Lirith the reason in the Empress’s place.
“The problem is that a person of Isania personally harming one who has received the Goddess’s blessing becomes… an issue.”
“What do you mean?”
“From here on I must speak of matters the legends never covered…”
Whether Empress Elizabeth felt the same was unclear…
But Camilla most certainly shared the feelings of Lirith and the other three.
She wanted to tear apart the Hero who had reduced her son to this state.
She wanted to cut her down with her own hands this very instant.
Yet she had to restrain herself from killing her.
In truth, when Tenesa had mentioned a sacred marriage, Camilla had nearly drawn her sword on the spot.
But there had been a truly unavoidable reason…
Even as a mother, she had no choice but to endure.
“In the past, the Heroes summoned to subjugate the Demon King were not merely one.”
“Not one?”
“Lirith… do you think everyone would welcome a Hero from another world?”
“Of course—unless it was a lunatic like the one summoned this time, anyone who came to defeat the Demon King would be welcomed, wouldn’t they?”
“You know there are always people who grow jealous of those superior to themselves, or who try to use them.”
Such types exist in every group.
Yet the people of that era had not stopped at simple jealousy or clinging for advantage.
“It did not end with jealousy or exploitation. Many took the extreme step of trying to kill the Heroes.”
“Even though they were Heroes summoned to save the world from crisis?”
From Lirith’s perspective it was hard to understand.
No matter how wicked a person might be, she found it difficult to believe that many would try to kill their saviors when their own world stood on the brink of destruction.
“Didn’t they do something crazy like this Hero?”
Perhaps they had been lunatics like the one summoned this time.
“No. The Heroes the Goddess chose and summoned in the past were, unlike the present one, people so strong and just that no one in the Empire could treat them lightly.”
“Strong and just from the beginning? And you said Heroes?”
But Camilla’s answer was the opposite of what she expected, and the plural “Heroes” left her with no choice but to question it.
“In order to subjugate the Demon King who had even wiped out the dragons by any means necessary, the Goddess summoned multiple just and powerful individuals from another world all at once.”
“Wait a moment! Then why didn’t the Goddess summon Heroes like that this time instead of a lunatic?”
“I cannot say for certain… but it was probably because of the price.”
“The price?”
“Without the Pope here it is difficult to explain in detail, but I will tell you what I can…”
Summoning a being from another world was no easy feat even for a Goddess, and therefore a price had to be paid.
That price could be the world’s treasures, beasts, livestock—or human lives.
Yet the benevolent Goddess had first paid the price herself through her own sacrifice in order to perform the summoning.
What exact price the Goddess paid was known only to the Pope of the Church.
Because that price had been something of great importance, the Church had never shared the details even with the Imperial Family or House Frigid.
As Heroes continued to be sacrificed, the Goddess eventually had no more price she herself could pay; therefore, in order to achieve high efficiency at low cost, she poured her entire heart into selecting the next Hero.
As a result, a Hero of outstanding potential who had been summoned at a low price in the past successfully subjugated the Demon King and returned to his own world.
This time was the same.
They had needed to summon a Hero of high potential at a low price.
“Then the present Hero is…”
“Yes. It seems she was summoned solely for her low cost… and for the potential to grow strong in the future.”
Unfortunately, unlike the Heroes of the past, she was a person completely lacking in character or morality.
“If you look only at potential for growth, there really is no one quite like that lunatic…”
The Goddess had summoned a Hero looking only at potential.
“Yes. I still haven’t finished explaining the reason, so let me continue. The people of this world, who should have given every possible support to the Heroes they had so painstakingly summoned just so they could subjugate the Demon King, instead used them, slandered them, and even went so far as to harm them.”
Yet because they were powerful individuals summoned from another world, it would not have been easy.
In order to harm such Heroes,
the humans of Isania
employed every filthy method imaginable—false accusations, human sacrifice, love, anything.
No matter how strong those Heroes were, they were few in number and could never have faced every person in this world.
“In this manner… every single Hero was sacrificed either before they could subjugate the Demon King, or in the middle of doing so…”
“What, were the people of that time just planning to go extinct? Couldn’t they at least wait until after the Demon King was defeated before pulling their schemes?”
At the very least they should have put out the immediate fire first.
She simply could not understand how the people of the past had thought.
“Embedded in the heart of every Hero from another world is a Goddess Stone containing the Goddess’s blessing.”
“What? Don’t tell me they were after that…”
“Yes. Their outward appearance was of course beautiful beyond question, and the stones contained immense mana and numerous blessings. Because there was not one Hero but many, and because the Goddess—though furious—continued to summon more, everyone began to target the Heroes.”
“How could anyone even think that… Are they insane?”
“The humans of that time foolishly believed that no matter how much the Demon King threw the world into chaos, the benevolent Goddess would somehow look after them so that the world would never truly be destroyed…”
Everyone in the room could only feel speechless after hearing Camilla’s story.
The Goddess who had summoned the present lunatic of a Hero already seemed half-mad herself, yet the people of the past had been even madder.
Leaving them to that thought, Camilla continued the tale.
“In any case, the sacrificed Heroes came to hate this world—Isania… and the Goddess.”
They could not help but hate.
They had been summoned from their own world into a strange one.
Even if there had been a bargain with the Goddess,
they had left their homeland and come to another world
in order to save Isania.
Rather than receiving every possible support,
they had been used and even lost their lives?
Even the kindest of people would have harbored a grudge.
The Heroes who had been betrayed and killed after being summoned to Isania, in the moment of their deaths,
without a single exception, cursed and resented this world—Isania.
And ultimately…
the final destination of all their malice could only be the Goddess herself.
Because she was the one who had summoned them.
Because everything had begun when they accepted the bargain under the conditions she spoke of, at her request.
The Goddess who received those curses suffered greatly.
Yet the Goddess—
when the first Hero was sacrificed, because she loved the Isania she ruled, she benevolently overlooked it and issued an oracle so that the same thing would not happen again.
But no matter how many oracles she issued, Heroes continued to be sacrificed.
The Goddess who had endured for so long finally flew into a rage,
and delivered her final oracle.
Even I can no longer bring myself to invite guests from another world for your sake.
I am deeply disappointed in you.
If ever again a guest I have invited is sacrificed by your hands,
I will abandon everything—not the Demon King—
and personally destroy this world and rebuild it anew.
I will not interfere even if you quarrel with a Hero from another world.
But the killing of a Hero is absolutely forbidden.
Should a Hero fall by the Demon King’s hand,
foolish though it may be… I will have no choice…
for the sake of you whom I love, to seek out another Hero.
But do not think to use this.
Any wicked scheme that uses the Demon King to sacrifice a Hero
I will never tolerate.
I say it once more, finally:
Killing a Hero with your own hands is absolutely forbidden.
I will always be watching over the Hero.
And from now on…
I will love and cherish the Hero far more than you disappointing ones.
The contents of this oracle were known only to the heads of the Imperial Family, House Frigid, and the Church.
Because it was content almost impossible to believe as an oracle from Rabinus, the Goddess known for benevolence and peace.
If the people of the Empire who worshipped the Goddess learned of it, they would surely come to revere her as an object of terror, and the potential for chaos was enormous; therefore it had been decided that only the barest handful of people would ever know.
“…Then if Grace had killed the Hero back then…”
“Before the Demon King even appeared, the Goddess would have destroyed the world.”
That was the most important reason they overlooked every atrocity the Hero committed.
No matter how furious they were, no matter how unforgivable it felt—if they killed the Hero, the world itself would vanish.
If I had succeeded in taking the Hero’s head right then… this world where Young Master and I live… but that bitch!…
Was I too rash…? Yet at this rate Master is in danger… Kuh… What am I supposed to do!
Having heard the story, Emma and Grace each felt regret and anguish within their hearts.
“Then what are we supposed to do? Anyone can see that if the Hero grows even a little more, she’ll become an opponent we can’t handle!”
“Exactly as Her Highness says—that bitch will obviously become a threat we can’t deal with, and most importantly she’ll come after Ed! Look at Ed right now—he collapsed just from hating her!”
“That’s right! Even if the world ends and the Goddess rages, I will never hand Ed-kun over to that lunatic Hero!”
Charlotte and Lirith now knew the reason, yet they still could not simply let it go.
The man they loved was in despair.
And it was not only the two of them; Grace and Emma felt the same.
They could not forget his weeping face.
The smiling face they had always longed to see
had been a smile far too sorrowful.
They were not the only ones who felt this way.
KWAANG!!
“Of course I will never hand my son over to the Hero—to that lunatic!!!”
Camilla, who had been listening, slammed her fist down on the table and roared.
“Camilla?”
Elizabeth beside her called her name in surprise and studied her expression.
The others were equally startled that the always quiet and composed Camilla had exploded in anger.
“Your Majesty, earlier when we were with Tenesa you asked me something.”
“Mm… I know what you intend to say. But I never said we should give him to her, so ease your expression.”
Elizabeth soothed Camilla, for the Grand Duchess looked ready to raise a rebellion the moment anyone approved of a sacred marriage between Edward and the Hero.
“I believed you would say exactly that. In any case, from now on even the mild-tempered Tenesa will not remain idle.”
“Haha… It seems you didn’t quite believe me… but yes. The Pope will not stay still either.”
Indeed.
No matter how gentle and pure Tenesa was, once matters had reached this point her attitude toward the Hero would change.
However—
“There’s no way that Pope auntie will manage her properly!”
“The Lady is right! The Pope is just as crazy as the Hero!”
Their daughters did not trust Tenesa.
“Haa… The sacred relic the Goddess granted in consideration that the Hero might instead bring harm to the world—Tenesa will no longer spare its use.”
Understanding her daughters’ position, the Empress sighed and continued.
“So you need not worry. Until the Hero calms down and is properly educated, I will issue an imperial decree forbidding her from taking even a single step outside the Church.”
The answer they most wanted to hear.
She told them the Hero would not be allowed to leave the Church and approach Edward.
“Of course, looking at the Hero’s condition, it will not be easy…”
“Yes. As the children say, the Hero does not seem normal, so it will take a long time.”
“We must simply trust that the Pope—no, Tenesa—will handle it well. Let us end things here for now.”
For the time being…
the reason they must not kill the Hero, and the aftermath of dealing with her…
the complicated discussion was finished.
Yet the four who had listened to the Empress and Grand Duchess did not believe the Hero would obediently be reformed.
That lunatic will never give up on Ed… If that’s the case I’d rather… no, I won’t give Ed to anyone!
A Hero targeting Ed-kun… It makes even that bracon Lirith look normal…
Young Master… Young Master… What am I supposed to do!
To protect Master… there is no other way. I must grow even stronger and break through my limits…
The four women who loved one man
left the room, each deep in thought,
preparing for the threat that would come in the future in order to protect him.