Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Failure-3
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It was in an instant. With just a flicker of anger in Enel's eyes and a touch more resolve in his descending sword, she tumbled ignominiously across the floor.
"Urgh!"
The Princess's sword had already shattered. Even if she had been gripping it, she no longer had the strength to hold on.
The holy sword did not cut her body. Or more precisely, it did not merely cut.
A tremendous force followed the thin blade, crashing down as if to pulverize her frame.
"Kgh, uh, ugh..."
She had endured greater pain before. She had overcome far more formidable foes.
Enel, wielding the Hero's power, was a terrifying existence she could never hope to defeat with her own abilities, yet she had stood firmer in even fiercer battles.
But not this time.
His eyes told her everything. No excuse could change the fact that she was the perpetrator.
"How... why, why now... of all times?"
If he had raged, felt betrayed, and fled, she wouldn't have been surprised. From the start, she held no respect or trust for those free of responsibility.
People inevitably grow complacent. Even Elenor, who had initially treated him with wary caution, was no exception.
Once she crossed that line for whatever reason and saw him endure it without retaliation, she had no choice but to change her mindset.
The notion that he lacked any means to fight back had firmly taken root in her mind.
"Why ask such a pointless question?"
He raised his sword high once more toward the fallen Princess.
"If I lacked the ability to wield this sword, would anything have been different?"
The holy sword plunged down toward the helpless Princess. She let out a pained groan and collapsed without resistance.
"If you're so curious, I'll tell you. I endured it too. That's all."
"You... did the same?"
Looking back now, he had been helpful.
Beyond simply lifting the barrier and permitting the Goddess's blessing, he had been helpful in his own right.
Considering he was just a weak ordinary man, that was no small feat. If it had been easy, they would have recruited more companions from the beginning.
There had been sacrifices made to protect him, but he had done much in return.
He had made contact with the locals and persuaded them, shouldered the sharp fury of those four women alone.
On the battlefield, he never fled, procuring supplies for the Archer and Mage, carrying the Saintess from dangerous positions or drawing attention in her stead.
Every single action, in hindsight, was noble. It was just that Elenor had never viewed them with kind eyes.
"Then, what for?"
What binds humans are oaths. Humans, no different from beasts when alone, become truly human through promises kept, fulfillment, and the weight of responsibility.
Yet he had performed such endurance unbound by anything.
The Princess could not comprehend it.
"...Why would there need to be a reason for that? And even if there was, why should I explain it to you? I don't understand any of it."
"Urgh!"
The Princess, struggling to rise, crumbled once more under the onslaught of his sword strikes.
Like a farmer tilling the soil, he struck her down methodically, without emotion. With each descent of the holy sword, her bones ground and cracked.
A hand rested on the shoulder of Enel, who was blankly demolishing the Princess.
"You there."
Enel paused briefly, then turned around in a daze.
"Ah, didn't you leave?"
"Do you think any father with teeth could walk away unscathed after seeing his daughter like that?"
Blood from Pashier and Elenor splattered across the basement, and the traces of their battle had utterly disrupted the magic circle.
Yet the two of them conversed as if nothing had happened.
"That's a pity."
"I evacuated the others just in case, but you... Are you planning revenge?"
Enel closed his eyes and sighed.
"Do you intend to kill everyone in the Empire?"
He neither affirmed nor denied, merely lowering his head.
"Who knows."
"Even if that's on your mind, I have no right to stop you. Right now, I'm the weak one. I have to accept it."
"..."
"But."
The Emperor smiled. It was a gentle, benevolent smile, like one gazing upon his son.
"We should follow the order of things, shouldn't we?"
"Pardon?"
"The first one you should kill shouldn't be anyone else—it should be me."
"Why?"
"I made my daughter become the Hero, forcing you to abandon the Hero's power. I hid the fact that you were the true Hero. I personally selected the Hero Party members myself, and they made your life hell."
The Princess, who should have had no strength left in her body, dragged herself forward laboriously using her elbows and toes.
She no longer had the strength to open her mouth, but her eyes pleaded desperately for him not to do it.
"Because of my greed, my lies, and..."
The Emperor drew a breath, looking several years older and utterly exhausted compared to moments ago.
"Because of my past, you were hurt, weren't you?"
Enel stood silently, saying nothing.
Cupping his face with both hands, he forcibly suppressed the ragged breaths bursting from his throat.
He was sobbing without tears.
"Should... I kill you?"
Caught off guard by the question, the Emperor burst into hearty laughter.
"It's your choice! I made a mistake, and now I'm paying the price for it. You too, someday... Urk!"
Before his words could finish, Enel's foot slammed into his abdomen. The Emperor's body flew limply, crashing into the basement wall.
"E-Emperor... Your Majesty!"
Enel scanned his surroundings, searching for the source of the incongruous presence that had caught his senses.
Far off, an arrow was embedded.
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"W-What do we do..."
The Saintess and the Elf had successfully sneaked into the basement, but they couldn't grasp the atmosphere here.
"If we let him notice and act, it'll be too late."
Nerwen, who had been lost to reason and panting until they arrived, had regained her usual cold, ruthless expression.
"Pardon?"
"You said it yourself. Some ritual is underway to expel Enel from here, one way or another."
The ruined magic circle, the fleeing mages, the fallen Pashier and Elenor.
"Just kill them."
"Pardon? What do you..."
Before the Saintess could speak, Nerwen raised her bow and aimed at one man.
"N-Nerwen!"
Despite Celia's scream, the arrow left Nerwen's hand. But it did not strike a human body.
It should have hit without fail. No one, no matter who, could have dodged her arrow without noticing it.
But that bow and arrow weren't truly hers. Even the arrow shot by the finest divine archer doesn't return once released from the bowstring.
Even if the target was sent flying by the massive impact and crashed into the wall, the shooter had no means to respond after the fact.
"A miss."
"W-Wait a..."
"I'll go first."
Nerwen dashed to Enel's side—the man who had just embedded someone into the wall—before Celia could stop her.
"What is it?"
"I came to help!"
In the prison, Nerwen reset her goals to the minimal reward she could gain there.
She couldn't move him. During their last encounter, ruminating on him in her cell, she had realized it. For whatever reason, if he commanded her, she couldn't refuse.
Forcibly abducting him was impossible too. Setting aside his baron's title and imperial guards, if captured, a single "Release me" from him would set him free.
Her path was clear then. It might be a long road, but she had to return. She had to earn his favor.
She didn't know what made a human man feel goodwill, but for now, she had to stick by his side unconditionally and help him.
"I don't know what ritual this is, but... it seems you handled it on your own without delay. Let me assist."
With Enel on her back, Nerwen stood before him, aiming her bow at the humans around them.
It pained her that the Princess lay fallen, but there was no helping it. If he commanded, Nerwen would kill her.
She was a bit surprised that the man she had just targeted was the Emperor, but she had no luxury to worry about political ramifications now.
The issue was how to escape this place, but Enel had already taken down the Princess. Even with her battered body, Nerwen could lead him to safety while fleeing.
Nerwen was happily planning their future, finally able to smell him right beside her.
She didn't notice Enel behind her raising the holy sword high.
"Grrraaagh!"
Unable to react at all, she was struck by the holy sword descending on her back and rolled across the ground.
It was a strike infused with the Hero's power. There was no way the Elven Archer, for whom being hit at all was humiliating, could withstand it.
"I told you not to appear before me!"
His tear-choked roar filled the basement.
"Why, why, why, why, why do you keep showing up like this? Why do you keep making me kill you!"
Flesh that should never be exposed spilled out. Her body bent at angles it never should.
Nerwen's barely regained reason was being eroded by pain.
Startled by the gruesome sight, Celia instinctively cast a holy spell.
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
As her body healed and sensation returned, Nerwen screamed the cry she hadn't managed moments before.
Enel lifted his gaze from Nerwen sprawled on the ground and locked eyes with Celia, who was hiding on the stairs.
Seeing those hollow eyes, Celia trembled, unable to move even a single step.