Chapter 261
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 261
Elena was drawn into the barrier I had created.
She calmly surveyed the pitch-black void and spoke. "Is this barrier magic?"
"Yes. We need to have a conversation that others shouldn't overhear."
Elena, who had been silently observing the dark expanse, parted her lips. "...It would be nice if we could just vanish together like this," she murmured softly, gazing into the darkness. Then, her expression hardened once more. "The fact that you summoned only me must mean you have something specific to say, right?"
Elena continued without pause, her voice laced with accusation. "I heard from Lady Freya about what you've done. The slaughter your demons committed at the Winter Castle, and the death of Lord Wodanaz."
I silently lowered my head. "I have no excuses for that."
It was a burden I deserved to bear. I had no intention of making pathetic excuses, nor was there anything left to say in my defense.
Seeing that I offered no justification, Elena unleashed a torrent of questions, as if she had been holding them back for a long time.
"Why on earth would you do such a thing? You're not that kind of person. What are you even fighting for? I can't understand unless you tell me. Roen, what happened back there?"
I understood her confusion. To her, the man who had once fought Iscariot to the death to protect everyone was now the Demon King, instigating a war and slaughtering innocents. It was a transformation she couldn't comprehend.
However, I brushed her questions aside for the moment and raised my hand.
"I will only answer what I can. But before that..." I pointed a finger at Elena's chest. "Let's make a Mana's Oath. You must swear not to reveal anything you hear in this place to anyone. I need at least that much of a guarantee."
After a moment of hesitation, Elena nodded. "I understand."
Charrr—.
My mana intertwined with hers, weaving the Mana's Oath. It was a binding promise to never reveal the secrets of this barrier.
Once the oath was set, I began my explanation.
"You must have heard from the Chairman—no, from Ain Soph, right? About the 'Great Undertaking' the demons so desperately desire."
Elena nodded, and I continued.
"It concerns a covenant and a blessing made between the first emperor and God. The demons view it as a shackle preventing their race's prosperity and wish to destroy it. They believe its destruction will set them free, and achieving this is their Great Undertaking."
"..."
"However, that will bring about the total ruin of this world. A catastrophe so immense that I could never stop it... An unprecedented disaster will befall the entire continent, one that the Human-Demon War cannot even compare to."
Having heard this from Gillean, I had cross-referenced numerous ancient texts to discover the true nature of the destruction 'Chaos' would bring.
It was the boundary between dimensions.
A merciless energy of chaos, seeking to tear down the dimension built on order, would sweep across the continent like a tidal wave. This was something humanity could never stop on its own. Even if the demons joined forces with them, it wouldn't be enough.
The only way to stop it was to close the dimensional gate as quickly as possible the moment it opened. The negative energy harvested through the Human-Demon War would be the key to sealing that gate.
Publicly, at least.
In reality, I intended to use the energy gained from the war in a slightly different way.
After hearing my explanation, Elena clenched her fists. "So, in the end, the Human-Demon War was the only way to close that dimensional gate and prevent the world's destruction?"
"As of now, yes."
When I nodded calmly, Elena took a deep breath, her expression a mask of confusion. Then she pressed me again.
"But that doesn't explain everything. You annihilated the Devalis family, attacked the Winter Castle, killed Lord Wodanaz, and even burned the World Tree and killed Ariel. If human lives were what you needed... surely there must have been other ways."
"There were reasons for those actions as well."
It would be too difficult to explain the nuances of each event here.
"I won't ask for the details," Elena said. "But are those reasons of yours truly worth hurting everyone so much? Freya, Kiriel... and even your own heart?"
"..."
The moment I heard her question, it felt as if I'd been struck in the head with a hammer. It was the one profound question I had desperately tried to avoid. And it was the one I could not answer.
"That... I don't know."
I didn't want to hurt others. I didn't want to be in pain myself. But this wasn't a problem that could be solved with sentiment. It could only be resolved by refusing to hesitate, by bloodying my hands and enduring the weight of resentment and condemnation.
Someone had to bear that yoke. Someone had to wear the crown of thorns. I was simply the one who chose to do it.
As I kept my head bowed, Elena gripped my hand tightly. "Then why are you telling only me all of this?" she asked, squeezing my fingers. Her golden eyes, filled with expectation, gazed at me with raw affection.
I forced myself to look away and quietly closed my eyes.
Freya bore the mission of the Hero, the destiny to kill the Demon King Roen. Kiriel was not yet mature enough to accept this truth. Beatrice had the duty to unite the survivors and rebuild humanity.
Elena was the Saintess—the one furthest from me, yet also the closest. I knew the feelings she harbored for me, but right now, my duty had to come first.
Instead of the answer she hoped for, I said what needed to be said.
"It's because you have an important role to play." I met her gaze and spoke with cold clarity. "The end of the Human-Demon War, the death of the Demon King Roen, and everything that follows will be entirely your achievement. Through my death... everyone will be compensated."
"Don't tell me..." Elena's eyes widened.
I nodded, confirming her fears. "Yes. Through alchemy, I will bring back everyone who died in this war. But no one must know that I was the one who saved them. The new lives they gain must be attributed to your power, Elena. It must be your miracle."
The grand feat of resurrecting a million souls. This near-miraculous event could not be associated with the Demon King Roen. If it were, the malice and hatred directed at me would fade, and those who were revived would begin to doubt their own existence. People would ostracize them, calling them evil beings brought back by a monster.
Therefore, they must not be treated as homunculi created by the Demon King. They had to be seen as beings granted new life through Elena's divine magic.
As I revealed my intentions, Elena’s eyes welled with tears. "But that's too pitiful, Roen."
"..."
To bear all the hatred to prevent a predetermined doom, only to hand the credit to someone else. As she said, it was a pitiful fate.
However...
"This is my destiny. It is my burden to bear. No one has the right to pity me. Not even you, Elena." I grasped her shoulders. "Saintess Elena, your role is crucial. Can you do it?"
Elena looked at me for a moment before averting her gaze and shaking her head. "...I can't do it."
"No, you must. Without your help, I cannot bring them back."
If Elena didn't help me, the new life given to them would be a curse rather than a gift. It would be a stigma that followed them forever.
"But the truth..." Elena choked out.
"The truth doesn't matter. What matters is what people believe. Not everyone needs to know the wretched truth."
If the truth only brought pain, there was no need for it to be known. It was better for everyone if it remained buried. Through this, we could prevent the apocalypse and recover from the scars of the war. The world would return to how it was, with the death of the Demon King as the final period.
But despite my persuasion, Elena remained stubborn. "I... I won't do it."
I gripped her shoulders firmly. "Elena, you have a duty to save them. Are you going to turn a blind eye to the lives of a million people?"
"But, more than those people, I—" Elena choked up, unable to finish her sentence.
"I'm sorry."
I wiped the tears from her eyes and invoked Kabeltar's ability to peer into her memories.
Tzzzzz—.
Having reached its adult form, Kabeltar could not only read memories but manipulate them. Using the dragon's authority, I spoke to her.
"Elena, you will not remember this conversation. Instead, you will move according to my will through fabricated memories. Please... forgive me for being so cruel."
"N-No. Roen, please..."
Despite her pleas, the authority of the Black Dragon enveloped her. The powerful divine energy within her instinctively resisted, but the interior of my barrier was the darkest, most secret place in the world—a place where even the brilliant majesty of God could not reach.
Crack—.
Kabeltar's authority finally shattered her mental defenses and settled in the deepest part of her heart. With this, the contents of our conversation were rewritten. Elena would now fulfill her role.
She fainted from the backlash of the memory manipulation. I caught her in my arms and stepped out of the barrier.
Vwoom—.
The moment I emerged, a furious Cardinal Morz shouted at me. "You bastard! What have you done to Lady Elena!"
I gently laid the unconscious Saintess on a table, taking in her peaceful face one last time. "...I did something I can never be forgiven for."
I had ignored her feelings, forcibly manipulated her will, and used her for my own ends. It was a sin beyond redemption.
"Hmph!"
Cardinal Morz charged at me without warning, gathering divine power in his palm to strike.
Thwack—.
"Wh-What are you doing!" the Cardinal barked.
Leonhardt had blocked the attack. He grabbed the Cardinal's arm and looked at me with blue eyes shining with firm conviction. "Junior... are you really okay with this?"
I brushed off his gaze, feigning ignorance. "What are you talking about?"
"Elena... for you..."
"..." I glanced at Elena for a moment before closing my eyes. "It's already in the past."
I gestured to Ciel and Gillean. They stood and followed me. As I turned away, I glanced back over my shoulder at Leonhardt.
"As of today, the demon army will return to the Demon Realm. You can consider the war over. Whether you believe me or not is up to you."
*
After the meeting, the demon army truly did retreat. They vanished back into the Demon Realm and did not reappear.
At first, the world was skeptical of their retreat. But as time passed, people began to accept the reality of it. Once the peace was established, those who had been hiding in fortresses and cities emerged to reclaim their lives.
They rebuilt fallen walls and recovered the bodies of the dead. They tilled scorched fields and planted trees to restore the forests. The deep wounds left by the Human-Demon War across the continent would not heal easily, but humanity began to move forward, step by step.
At the center of the recovery were Beatrice and Elena.
The Empire and the Holy Kingdom dispatched personnel to the regions ravaged by the demons. From the Devalis walls to the Winter Castle, they rebuilt everything the enemy had swept through—the flooded lands, Jerome, and the Gilbert Kingdom. They also reorganized the military to prepare for a war that could restart at any moment.
Six months after that strange peace had settled, a bizarre rumor began to drift out of the Demon Realm.
It was a rumor that a civil war had erupted—a bloody conflict to oust the Demon King Roen.