No Right to Be a Hero
Pandemonium forced the corner of his mouth upward against the goosebumps prickling over his skin. Biryuho dying after devouring Moby Dick? That was so obvious it wasn't even surprising.
What had startled him was the martial power the Vessel of Wrath had put on display.
I at least thought he'd join forces with the Hero…
What was that just now? It was practically as if he'd taken it down alone.
I don't know if this is wise.
It had been proven that even a sacred beast that had consumed a Great Demon's power couldn't defeat Gretchen. And yet—was it right to take the risk of pilfering that thing?
"Shall we back off?"
No.
The answer was yes, it is right. If something that strong still hadn't been a match, then he, who was weaker than that, would be slaughtered without even managing to resist.
We begin.
He didn't hope for the strength to win. Just enough that the next time they clashed, he could at least pull his body free.
Charruruk.
Right beside Pandemonium, the humans who had hauled over countless crates dumped their contents onto the ground. Gold and silver, countless jewels spilled across the earth.
And in an instant they melted down into a single mass of lava.
Next time will be different!
A giant hand rose from the lava and crashed down upon the humans who had just been collecting Biryuho's remains.
Perhaps the Demon Knight collapsing so suddenly had knocked the soul right out of them—but the anomalies did not stop there.
A massive hand of fire appeared and pressed down upon them.
The unbearably heavy lava poured onto the barrier she had hastily created, compounding the burden.
"W-what is this?!"
Moreover, because of the Demon Knight she couldn't casually declare a sacred domain. He was already collapsed from the poison—if she poured out more holy power here, his life would be in danger.
"A d-demon…?"
"Don't move!"
"Archmage!"
"Almost done!"
Fortunately, the barrier that would filter the holy power was nearly complete. The Inquisitor gauged how far she could squeeze out the power she had been holding back.
"It's coming!"
That was when Berserk, who had been sitting with a disinterested face, reacted. Sensing the approaching corruption as well, the Inquisitor widened her eyes.
Clang!
"……!"
One step too late. The golden barrier shattered and dropped the lava it had been holding back.
"O God!"
Something unholy had invaded, but that priority slipped slightly. If they were swept up in that lava, she might be fine—but the others would surely die, so of course.
Thus the Inquisitor focused on creating a new barrier rather than dealing with the invader.
Though the ceiling was lower than before, the barrier of holy power once again succeeded in holding back the lava.
"Not on my watch! Berserk guards this place!"
In the meantime, Berserk engaged the invader who had broken through the lava.
One might wonder how she could fight in this narrow space with a weapon as long as a halberd, but Berserk's skill was truly outstanding. She somehow managed to hold the enemy at bay.
"D-demon energy…!"
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
As a bonus, the Demon Knight tried to rise only to cough up blood and drop to his knees.
Not bad for a human. But at the end of the day, you're still just human level.
"Kgh!"
Not enough, you say?
"……!"
Meanwhile, Berserk steadily continued the hand-to-hand exchange.
But at the end of the clash, Berserk took a kick from her opponent and went sliding back.
As the tough Berserk absorbed the impact and was about to charge again, the ground in front of her heaved up as if bursting, spewing lava.
Berserk's steps faltered slightly.
"I have to step in…!"
"Inquisitor, it's done!"
Fortunately, at that exact moment the Archmage succeeded in completing the protective barrier.
In that instant, a light kindled in the Inquisitor's eyes.
"…Don't—worry about me!"
"Forgive me, Demon Knight!"
And right then, permission was even granted.
The Inquisitor decided to forget for a moment that the Demon Knight might get hurt. She couldn't let a demon of corruption comparable to Moby Dick escape.
"O God, please hear my prayer!"
Divine radiance descended upon this land, burning away the lava and purifying the unholy thing.
Boom!
Then the hand portion of the arm crushing them was completely blown away. The forearm still remained, but it meant little. It could no longer press down on them.
Tch!
But though the invader may have taken a shock, she did not stop moving.
The opponent shook off Berserk, who had latched on again, and hurriedly kicked off the ground.
In one of the invader's hands was Biryuho's body; in the other, corruption had temporarily gathered both to deal with Berserk and to shatter the golden barrier.
"Not so fast!"
She couldn't let them go. The moment the golden barrier broke, she ran that way and created yet another massive barrier.
It was an application she'd realized the moment the opponent tried to break the barrier to get outside.
What kept things from coming in from outside could also keep things from going out from inside.
"I won't let you escape!"
Oh?
Then she ran to Berserk's side and raised her mace. The Inquisitor's green eyes took in her opponent.
The figure resembling a purple-haired woman was just gathering corruption into her hand.
Sloppy.
But that corruption was not aimed at her or Berserk.
"Ah!"
What the invader targeted was the Archmage and the Demon Knight.
"No!"
She hastily blocked that attack. Perhaps that made her steps pause for a moment. Clang! The enemy who had blocked Berserk's attack smirked.
Boom!
"Guh!"
It wasn't lava shot out—lava made to erupt from the ground pierced the Archmage's protective barrier.
The Archmage hurriedly summoned water to block it, but its role was already finished.
The moment the protective barrier shattered, holy power crashed into the Demon Knight. The Inquisitor's instincts reflexively tried to withdraw that power.
"I told you—not to worry about me!"
The Demon Knight, eyes fierce, lifted the two-hander he'd been using to prop himself up.
"What?!"
Mighty demon energy shot forth like a flash and struck the invader's shoulder. From that impact, the invader's hand dropped the torso portion of the corpse she'd barely been gripping.
Krh!
"Cough!"
But that was the extent of the attack. Whether from overexertion or from being struck by holy power, the Demon Knight poured out blood and completely collapsed.
The Inquisitor had no choice but to withdraw her power at that sight.
The Demon Knight pouring blood from every orifice looked as if he would die any moment—she couldn't help it.
Naive. If it were me, I wouldn't have stopped.
But that very action was the decisive blunder.
Having doused Berserk in lava as well, the opponent shattered the barrier and ran for the rear. The lava pouring from above had been purified and vanished, so there was no fear for their lives—but every means of catching the opponent had disappeared.
"Not so fast!"
At least Berserk gave chase while covered in lava. But the invader seemed to have prepared thoroughly.
Outside the barrier, along the path the opponent fled, three of those fire hands that had crushed them earlier were waiting.
Hands of lava blocked Berserk's path. Though Berserk was the type to fight while accepting considerable damage, even she couldn't easily push through such a situation.
Meanwhile the invader grew more and more distant.
Fortunately no one had died, but they had ultimately been robbed of part of Biryuho's corpse. And the head portion, which held more demon energy at that.
"Berserk!"
"Damn it! We lost them!"
After a few more attempts at pursuit, Berserk finally lost the opponent. Pouring out rage at the escaped being was only natural.
But one of her entire arms, her shoulder, thigh, and part of her face had been splashed with lava, the skin sizzling and cooking. Even so, Berserk didn't once complain of pain. Having lava splash on her body seemed to mean nothing to her.
The Inquisitor and Archmage, who hadn't even been hit by lava, were all the more stunned.
"H-healing."
Losing them couldn't be helped. Couldn't be helped.
She repeated that to herself as she grabbed Berserk with trembling hands and treated the wounds. The heat eased and the seared flesh regenerated.
When the treatment was finished, her gaze naturally turned to the surroundings.
"Cough."
She could see the fire hands and the lava flowing from them scattering flames in every direction.
The current forest had absorbed toxic miasma from Biryuho's corruption—and that was burning.
"If this continues…!"
If it wasn't burned with sacred flame, the miasma would spread in every direction. And that miasma would reach nearby Ednium and Camborer.
Perhaps even the Great Forest, thinly connected along the mountain range.
"I-I'll purify it."
Moreover, if they left it like this they would suffocate from the smoke rather than the poison. Either way, they couldn't stand by.
Even in this moment, she squeezed her eyes shut, leaving the Demon Knight still gushing blood. Holy power began protecting them and suppressing the wicked flames.
Fire and poison gradually subsided.
"What just attacked us… was a demon after all."
"Damn it, damn it!"
Perhaps once the Archmage formed a new protective barrier to give the Demon Knight breathing room and used healing magic to hold onto his life—
The Archmage defined what had just occurred. Honestly, no great conjecture was needed.
The opponent was clearly a demon of a similar tier to Moby Dick, and its purpose was Biryuho's corpse.
"At least it's fortunate no one died. And that we weren't completely robbed either."
The Archmage was right. That no deaths had occurred was certainly lucky.
Berserk or the Inquisitor would have been fine even if it charged them, but if it had deliberately targeted the Demon Knight, he would have died.
"…They deliberately left him alive, though."
"What do you mean by that…?"
"Coldly speaking, if the Demon Knight dies, the shackle restraining you, Inquisitor, also disappears, doesn't it?"
"……!"
…So that was why the invader had said that? That she wouldn't stop? That she would have traded the Demon Knight's life for the invader's?
No—perhaps it wasn't even a trade. A Great Demon dwelled in the Demon Knight's body.
Didn't they say it was forcibly keeping the Demon Knight's life going? If it used some trick…
"Are you feeling any better?"
"…I'm fine."
"Don't be too angry. Losing them wasn't your fault."
"Berserk isn't angry about that…!"
If it had used such a trick? Could she make that kind of gamble?
Demons weren't trustworthy beings to begin with. She did not regret her choice.
She did not regret it.
Did not regret…
"Enough."
The Inquisitor gritted her teeth as she watched Berserk plop down.
"Let's head back for now. We can't leave the Demon Knight like this…"
Yes—losing the demon wasn't Berserk's fault.
It was no one else's responsibility but the Inquisitor's.
"I… I…"
"……?"
But how could this be? It wasn't a situation where she'd overused holy power and overloaded her body like last time—she'd clearly still had strength left.
How could she let the enemy escape?
How could she, who had the duty to punish all demons, do that?
"I…"
It was utterly unforgivable.
This was her incompetence.
"Hey, what's going on here?!"
An indelible shame.
"Ah, you!"
"I came because smoke suddenly started rising—what is all this? Why is everything all burnt up??"
"Perfect timing. We need mages skilled in healing magic and someone versed in poisons… well, you can handle it."
"Huh?"
The Inquisitor's vision blurred unbidden from the surging emotion.
Crying helped nothing. She knew that, but she was so frustrated she couldn't hold it in.
She didn't even have the ability to treat the Demon Knight who'd collapsed from poison, and on top of that she'd lost the very opponent the Demon Knight had endured pain to try to catch—it hurt so deeply.
"This is… shit! It's a hemorrhagic toxin! When did he get bitten by a snake?!"
"I don't particularly recall seeing him get bitten…"
"It'll be because of the White Snake Magpie Flower the tiger bloomed. Berserk's seen that. Back home a lot of people died from that flower."
"White Snake Magpie Flower? Crazy, crazy."
Moreover, unlike her who'd only ruined everything, Slicker was quickly deriving conclusions and taking appropriate measures.
"Damn Knight Sir, if I hadn't gotten the antidote in the Great Forest… seriously…"
In the parched air and the swamp-like sticky waiting, Slicker moved his hands diligently.
He fed something through the mouth and injected something into the forearm and leg.
"…Done. Use healing magic quick. There's a high chance blood will pool and form blisters, but magic can handle that, right?"
"…Is he… going to live?"
"The antitoxin went in in under thirty minutes… so he'll probably live. Even if the treatment is shit, it's not a poison that kills quickly. Plus Knight Sir isn't an ordinary person… with healing magic on top, dying would be harder."
And at last a conclusion was reached. The Demon Knight would live.
Even though there was nothing she could do.
"More than that, clear away the holy power a bit. Knight Sir may not say it, but honestly it doesn't seem like it feels good… Bookworm?"
That merciless reality finally called forth thick teardrops like chicken droppings.
"I am…"
"Inquisitor?"
"What, is the priest crying?"
"I am incompetent…"
It wasn't just this incident that was the problem.
The guilt of evacuating first at the end when they subjugated Moby Dick.
The powerlessness of being able to do nothing when persuading people about the Biryuho subjugation.
The wretchedness of being of no help with her sluggish body in the early part of this subjugation, and though Berserk had held her back, the reality of being unable to help in the final fight due to elemental disadvantage.
Or perhaps every inferiority complex layered up since before that, and every shortcoming of ability she'd keenly felt, was mixed in.
Not that it particularly mattered now that the sorrow had burst.
"I have no right to be a Hero…"
Grief came like a fever and wrung her tear ducts tight.
"W-w-what are you suddenly saying."
"Inquisitor, if it's about what just happened, that was something no one anticipated. Please don't blame yourself too much."
"Priest, don't cry."
The companions tried to soothe her, but it didn't really land. They were words she'd always heard.
But whether that was the truth or empty words to comfort her, she couldn't tell.
To her ears it seemed closer to the latter than the former.
"I am not worthy…"
"Inquisitor…"
She would rather have the sharp rebukes and the point that she didn't even have the right to cry, like when she'd sought learning at the temple. If it were like that, at least she could hold back the tears.
But both the Archmage and Berserk were so kind that it was a problem. Their kindness only made her more sorrowful.
"Someone like me…"
"Shit, what are you even saying."
"Hic."
Then Slicker spat a vulgar curse he'd never once uttered in front of them.
"Are you mocking me right now? Is this a joke? Some people want to fight alongside him but can't because they don't have the ability…!"
Naturally, the discontent of her who had been secretly envious of Slicker was provoked.
"You—you at least figured out the Great Demon's location! And you detoxified him just now! Whereas I, I only get in the way…!"
"That was a special case this time! You get to fight shoulder to shoulder with Sir every single time!"
"Look at this state! How is this fighting shoulder to shoulder?! I'm no help to the Demon Knight!"
"Shit, what bullshit! You have the power to stop Knight Sir when he goes berserk, and you can reach out a hand when Sir's hands fall short!"
Abuse she'd never once heard in her life burst forth. But if it was irritating or unpleasant—well.
"The Demon Knight can fight without me!"
"That guy fights without me too! Don't piss me off saying such obvious things!"
"You're the one—d-don't piss me off! Why are you changing the subject and going crazy?!"
"I-Inquisitor, your language."
"I'm done talking, you damn Bookworm?!"
"You're the one who's done talking, you idiot! Bastard!"
Rather, the more abuse she heard, the more only the sorrow of incompetence and the rage of powerlessness filled her.
"Do you even know how it feels for the person who always has to wait in the rear when you say that?! How miserable that is!"
"You're the one who doesn't know how it feels to want to help but only be a burden, and watch someone who never loses to anyone collapse because of me!!"
No. That had been there from the start.
It was just that under the exchange of raised voices, the crater of emotion gradually grew larger and finally burst open with a bang.
"Damn it, how would I know that?! I can't even stand by his side, I don't even get the chance to talk to him anymore!"
"I can't stand by his side either and I can't talk to him either!! I'm the same as you!"
The frustration and resentment she'd never properly expressed poured out like a waterfall.
"And in that situation I, I! My judgments always seem to be wrong…! You always helped him, but I only ever mess things up…!"
"Damn it, what judgment did I make that was right?! Go on, tell me! For reference my recent track record is shutting my mouth and trying to die!"
"Well said! You moron! Why did you shut your mouth and try to die?! Damn it, is it that you don't trust me either?!"
"No, shit, you're the one who changed the subject first! And it's not that I didn't trust you, okay?! It's just, I just… because I'm a human who isn't worth it…!"
"Why aren't you worth it!!"
"Sh-sh-shit! You're not a moron who only gets in the way either, okay?!"
The Inquisitor and Deathbringer, who had been yelling at the top of their lungs, finally had tears welling in both eyes. Having completely exposed their insides to each other, emotion had surged up.
"I am useless…"
"Stop with the bullshit, if you're useless then I'm even more useless…"
"You're useful… I'm not…"
"Cut the pissing-me-off talk… I, I even this time…"
"This time what… *sob*."
"Damn it, Knight Sir is definitely disappointed and won't even talk to me… *wail*."
"Sniff, what are you saying. He doesn't do disappointment… Because he never expects anything to begin with… sniff."
"Shit, you're the worst, you Bookworm bastard…"
It was the moment when the Archmage, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, ordered Berserk to go fetch people, and chose to devote himself to treating the Demon Knight.