The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

55 – EP4. Crossroads of Life and Death

“…Drink it.”

Sein poured Peria a glass of alcohol with a natural gesture. Peria downed the entire glass in one gulp without showing any signs of hesitation.

“…Damn it.”

Peria slammed the empty glass onto the table, making a loud noise, before speaking.

“Did I expect myself to end up like this? When they called me a traitor, I thought that’s what I was… Did I expect myself to end up like this?… Now that I know the truth, that he was actually my benefactor, what does that make me…?”

She banged her forehead on the table, creating a thumping sound.

“I’m going crazy, really. What am I supposed to do…? Now that I know, what should I do…?”

Sein could only gaze at her with a bitter expression. She couldn’t say anything because she was in the same situation.

“Well, I don’t know what I should do either. It’s so difficult for me that I’ve given up my position and spent the whole day lying in bed.”

Peria gnawed at her lips.

“Yeah… as if there’s a solution for this hopeless situation. It’s my fault for being deceived by those damn bastards.”

Peria curled up her face and started pouring out her frustration.

“Not only did those damn bastards try to kill me, but they also killed my parents, who I didn’t even know existed?”

Peria started to raise her voice, hissing.

“Who cares about the emperor’s position. The important thing is that I’ve gone through all of this, even with the help of Angel, and ended up betraying my benefactor. I even betrayed my enemy!”

She gripped her head in anger, lowering her voice.

“f*ck, what should I do? How am I supposed to handle this? Deceiving oneself unknowingly and later being betrayed, it’s… ridiculous. No one can accept that if they’re human…”

After saying that, Peria realized something and stood up.

“I’m leaving.”

Sein said nothing and quietly let her go.

“Yeah, if I’m a human, then it shouldn’t be like this.”

Peria clenched her teeth and left the mansion, talking to herself.

Even though it was clearly the scorching heat of midsummer, she shivered as if it were the depths of winter.

Everything felt barren, and she couldn’t sense any vitality no matter what she looked at.

She felt like she was slowly withering away.

She had lived her whole life being praised as a genius.

She easily solved problems she had never seen before and always found the answers to anything.

However, there was no answer right now. I couldn’t see what was ahead, let alone the path right in front of me.

“…What should I even say?”

As she read the hidden records in the Holy Sword, she became overcome with emotions.

She saw him smiling at her during their month-long escape, saw him promising to protect her as he fought fiercely against their enemies using his meager strength, saw him declaring to the emperor not to touch her.

Even though she had received so much grace…

“I should’ve stopped him…” Regret filled her mind, and her anger towards the emperor and his close aides, who had attacked and violated her, grew stronger.

She hardened her face and made up her mind.

“From today on, there should be no magicians in the palace.”

Her words came out of nowhere, but their impact was immense.

All the magicians followed her words. Normally, even if they were her words, they would have consulted with the elders to some extent. But because she spoke with such certainty, or rather, with a burning rage, the story changed.

It took less than two days for the magicians who had cooperated with the palace to cut off their cooperation.

“What the hell is that bastard doing all of a sudden?”

Because there were many magic systems intertwined in the palace, countless things stopped working when the magicians suddenly disappeared. The emperor felt like he was losing his sanity once again.

Furthermore, since other magicians also obeyed the Holy Tower, there was no magician who could replace them.

“What the hell… Did she figure it out? How?”

The emperor groaned and muttered to himself.

“She would have expelled the warrior who knew about that!”

Because of that, the emperor intentionally did not execute the warrior and instead banished him to deal with him outside the country. This was because, before execution, it was essential to allow the person to speak his last words, which could be dangerous if the cornered warrior revealed the truth.

The contemporary Duke of Luderan, Saint Luderan, had less political experience and danger than his father, but his military prowess was incomparable to his father. If there was a valid reason, he had enough potential to launch a coup, and that’s why the emperor had banished him quickly without giving him any chance.

“After using dark magic to wipe us out, the hero turned Count Serrindel into a Death Knight!”

The voice of a terrified soldier echoed, and the Emperor had to taste the feeling of the sky singing.

Defeated? Count Serrindel?

The loyal and faithful Chancellor who had tried to make him the number one leader of the military?

The Emperor stumbled in disbelief.

Defeated even by a hero who uses dark magic? Well, enough to become a Death Knight?

The Emperor began to calculate what he could do. And he realized that there was almost nothing he could do.

Sending a small search party like last time would only lead to the same situation, and sending a large force could potentially start a war.

The current empire did not have the resources to start a war. Of course, the empire’s territory was vast and its population was abundant, so it would quickly recover, but at least it would take until next year to wage a war.

There were only two things he could do in such a situation: swallow his pride and agree to capture a hero from another country, or… send someone who could take down the hero alone, even in a small scale.

Yes, except for Sein, there was no one else. If she were the world’s strongest inspector, she could bring down a hero no matter how strong they were.

However, it was he who personally caused her downfall for political reasons. Furthermore, Sein was so frustrated by the situation that she even resigned from her position.

In the end, there was no choice but to ask Sein to handle the hero.

The emperor abandoned his pride and demanded that other countries bring down the hero, but other countries did not show much interest in the hero.

“Why! Damn it!”

The Emperor pounded his fist on the desk and exclaimed.

“What? You’re still sitting there quietly? You bastards!”

The Emperor grabbed his head.

He had used every trick in the book to eliminate one hero. He told his soldiers to ignore the information provided by the hero and deliberately sacrifice themselves to make the hero a criminal. The information department fabricated lies about crimes such as rape and theft.

But…

“Murder is real!”

The hero had collected evidence and testimony that he had slaughtered countless imperial citizens. The moment the Emperor saw that, he realized.

That if he tried to attack the hero and couldn’t finish him off at once, he might get hurt himself.

The Emperor wanted to ask Sein Ruderan as a last resort to eliminate the hero.

There was no other way. Although it might be a handshake politically, being able to kill a hero…

That’s what the Emperor thought, but he received an unexpected response.

The fact that Sein had disappeared from the mansion.