The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

46 – EP4. Crossroads of Life and Death

Death is equal to everyone. It comes quickly, discreetly, and catches us all unaware.

But pain is different. Those who have become accustomed to great pain have a threshold that changes, and they start to pay no heed to the smaller things.

It is said that when God created humanity, He made pain to avoid death and fear to avoid pain.

So, pain and fear can be considered a kind of divine gift and blessing. He was no longer the beneficiary of that blessing. No, he ceased to be.

He now didn’t even blink at most forms of pain.

He thought he was afraid of death. But he realized it inwardly.

Now, he is gradually forgetting that fear.

When did it start?

Was it when he was desperately seeking a way to escape from the corpses, or was it when he was striving to save Sein from her family? In any case, the name of fear in his heart was gradually fading.

And the result is what it is now.

“…You’re relentless.”

Ainzel looked at Count Serindel with twinkling eyes and chuckled.

“…Not many people can laugh when all eight limbs are severed.”

“Yeah, that’s right. And there aren’t many folks left alive who can laugh even with all their limbs severed, are there?”

“…I don’t know why you’re going to such lengths.”

Count Serindel mocked him. Why hold on until it comes to this?

And Ainzel had already finished his calculations in his mind.

“But hey, you’re going to die anyway, can you satisfy my curiosity?”

For someone who refused to surrender even in this state, putting constraints through drugs wouldn’t make much sense. He had silently resolved not to surrender even in death.

A confirmed death.

And in front of a being whose death was confirmed, humans tend to let their guard down. Because they think they can’t do anything even in death.

“…Go ahead and tell me.”

“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand why you kidnapped Feria. Right?”

“…Did you think about that while being tortured?”

“It was getting too boring.”

“There’s no one else who talks about torture that way except you.”

“Guess so. So, the answer?”

“I don’t know for sure. I only know that her ring is somehow connected.”

“Ring?”

“I said I don’t know for sure.”

“Well, you don’t know anything, do you?”

“Are you going to scratch my insides even though I’ve already cut off all my arms and legs? Well, it doesn’t matter. I won’t be concerned with the words of the person who will be buried with the truth I’ve spoken. I’ll be merciful.”

“What kind of mercy is that when you’ve already cut off all my arms and legs?”

“Well, the words are like that.”

Count Serindel shrugged his shoulders.

Angel clenched his fists inwardly.

Buried with the truth you spoke of? Unfortunately, I can’t do that.

“Well… I guess it’s time to finish this slowly.”

“As you wish.”

Count Serindel slit his throat.

He opened his eyes. The timeline is… strange. He thought it was when Peria was kidnapped, but it wasn’t. It was a few days ago, while Matopju was still alive.

Moreover, the information he received from Count Serindel confused him even more. A ring? What ring? He didn’t even know the identity of the ring Peria supposedly had.

He began to deduce the situation he was unaware of.

And the conclusion he reached was that it was unknowable.

All he could say was unknowable.

He swallowed the overwhelming helplessness that had become too familiar.

He decided to go to Matop. To understand what happened, he felt he needed to ask Peria first.

As he approached Matop, Peria, with a puzzled expression, appeared coming out of Matop.

I approached her and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, huh? No, no. Why are you here?”

At that moment, Angel realized what day it was.

“Matopju has fallen. I came because I was worried.”

Peria frowned and bowed her head.

“…Yeah, thanks.”

That was all she could say.

He noticed the ring she had on her hand at that moment.

“What’s that ring?”

“Oh, my grandfather gave it to me. It’s a family heirloom.”

“A heirloom?”

He realized it in that moment. He was caught properly.

He smiled inwardly.

“Yeah, my parents gave it to me, and then they died… I don’t really know what it is.”

He examined the ring once. A golden ring with a phoenix engraved. Just by its appearance, he had to grasp the whole story of this incident.

“Oh, I see.”

He gave her some comfort, pretending to be concerned about the health of someone close to her. Because of this, he couldn’t bring himself to ask any further.

“Yeah, I’m fine, so… I’ll be going.”

Angel nodded.

From the moment he returned to his lodging, he began to investigate the meaning of the phoenix relentlessly. How could Feria have gotten involved with the Empire to the point of summoning the Shadow Knights?

And he was able to come up with a convincing answer.

It was because of Feria’s words – “The old emblem of the Empire was the phoenix.”

Based on his research connecting the symbol of the ancient Empire, he finally came up with one answer.

It was a hypothesis that it was the symbol of an ancient order of magicians.

In the past of the Empire, the golden age when the mausoleum was first established, the mausoleum also symbolized the phoenix.

To be precise, it was because the magicians symbolized the phoenix in their hearts that the Empire used it as a symbol, and the mausoleum also adopted it afterwards.

The Empire of the Phoenix was a nation where magicians thrived, and those who worshipped reason and magic instead of faith and miracles were dominant.

Of course, the power of the Goddess was still formidable at that time, but the atmosphere that enveloped the whole society was different.

And the golden age of those magicians ended when one priest attacked corrupt magicians, causing them to lose their power.

Just because of one person, the golden age of magicians came to an end, and the forces that originally ruled the mausoleum hid themselves in evil.

And the last remaining trace of those forces was the ring… as the hypothesis went.

Honestly, it was a sloppy hypothesis. There were many parts that were forced together.

But frankly, it was difficult to come up with a more convincing conclusion.

However… hasty judgments are not right.

He decided to clear his mind.

And that was the moment when Feria was about to be taken away.

He surprised the knights from behind and rendered them unconscious.

“Hey! What are you doing? These knights are the Empire’s knights!”

Feria exclaimed in confusion. She secretly expected Angel to be flustered, but he didn’t even blink.

“Yeah, but precisely at this time, and forcibly taking away knights? It’s only natural to think it’s dangerous, right?”

“Well, that may be true, but…”

“And look at these knights.”

He pointed to the knights’ armor.

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“Normally, their affiliations should be written here. Look. It’s not there. And it would be possible if it was just one, but it’s not there for both. Do you understand what that means?”

Feria felt a chill running down her spine.

“No way…”

“The Shadow Knights.”

Peria had never expected to hear such a city legend-like tale at this moment.

“If they’re the Shadow Knights…”

Rumors whispered of a group who clandestinely handled all the dirty and sordid affairs of the royal court. It was nothing more than a common rumor, with the existence of the group being uncertain. However, now she was faced with their reality.

So, what would be the outcome if she were to follow them?

“…We’re in big trouble.”

“Yes.”

“But, what should we do then?”

“First, let’s get out of here.”

He took Peria’s hand and spoke. By avoiding danger for now, they would gather clues that might lead to a solution.

Even if it took dying a few times, they believed that they would eventually find a solution by collecting clues. He truly believed that.

At that moment, he felt a sense of unease about his own thoughts.

“What did I just say? Did I really just say that I’m okay with dying a few times? Did I just think of my own death as a tool?”

His mind felt tangled, like it had been shaken.

At the same time, he felt a shiver run down his skin.

He was far from being ready to defeat the Demon King.

His journey still held an unimaginable number of challenges.

But was he already starting to view his own death as a means to an end?

He looked at his own hand.

It was trembling.

A feeling of slowly losing himself.

Countless deaths hadn’t left any visible scars on him, but they had taken away something more important.

And what finally pulled him out of that train of thought was Peria’s gaze.

An anxious, shivering look in her eyes.

For now, they needed to get away and then think.