The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody - Volume 3 - Chapter 50

CHAPTER 50

The Ex–Demon Lord in Search of an Answer

Finally, dawn rose on a completely sleepless night…and a knock came at my door.

“…Pardon me.”

It was Latima. As soon as her quiet voice reached my ears, she entered the room.

“You are already awake this morning, too.”

If this was an ordinary day, I would have said Sorry to make you come all this way for nothing, with a dry chuckle. But I had no energy for banter at the moment.

Even then, Latima didn’t seem particularly concerned about my welfare.

“Breakfast is served. Please make your way to the dining hall,” Latima informed me with indifference—a business transaction.

I simply answered with a nod and got up, following her request and trailing behind her.

“Latima.”

Why did I call out? I had no idea, even now. Before I could stop myself, I’d asked her a question.

“Say there came a time when your life and Lady Lydia’s life were to be placed on a set of scales, compared for their worth. What would you—”

“What a foolish question,” she snapped in a sharp, flat tone. “I would do anything for Lady Lydia.”

It was a stalwart, grand declaration.

…Then what made me so hesitant?

I was no closer to the answer as we reached the dining hall. There, everyone was sitting around a large table.

“Hoooly smokes! Your food is seriously the best, Latima!”

“…You flatter me, Lady Lydia.”

“Gimme seconds!”

“Sheesh, you eat so much, Sylphy,” replied Ginny.

“Hee-hee, I am a growing girl!”

“…Yeah?”

“Hey, Ginny! If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face!”

“It’s nothing. I pray you grow! …Especially in the chest area.”

It was a boisterous breakfast scene.

Ireena and Ginny had already gotten familiar with the Sylphy in this era and developed a relationship with her, just as they had in modern day.

In the midst of this…I didn’t say a word and ate in silence.

…I couldn’t taste anything. It was as if my taste buds had lost all their senses. It must have had to do with last night.

“Why didn’t we… Why didn’t we tell her what was on our minds?! If we had just told her! None of this would have happened! Am I wrong?!”

“Join me in committing the final sin.”

If I did that, then Lydia would be saved. And…my sins would be wiped clean. There was no other atonement.

…Then why was I hesitating?

Was it because I’d be killing innocent people instead of demons?

Or maybe…I didn’t feel as guilty about it as Rogue to allow myself to be killed by Lydia.

…That must have been it.

One of my earlier conversations with Ginny crossed my mind. It had been right after the school festival.

“…Ard, could you be the Demon Lord?”

I had immediately replied, “No.” Even though I didn’t mean to snap at her, my tone had been hard, and even I didn’t know why I’d been so emotional about it…but once I met Rogue, I understood.

I had wanted an escape. I’d wanted to escape the Demon Lord…from my past self. To forget my wrongs and live another life as Ard Meteor. Unlike Varvatos, Ard’s days would be filled with nothing but good times.

That was why.

…Ugh, god. I was revolting. Was I really this selfish? Did I think I could kill my own, dear friend and still expect to be saved? It was damn presumptuous of me. Despicable, really.

…Was it that egotism that was making me unsure?

The more I thought about it, the more I hated myself.

“Hey, Ard. You got some time today?”

“What?”

“Hang out with me today. I bet you’re free, right?”

I shot Lydia a bewildered look.

…Those clear eyes bore right through me. They seemed to see anything and everything, giving me complex feelings impossible to express.

“…I understand.”

It wasn’t as if I could refuse.

…After breakfast, Lydia quickly grabbed my hand, dragging me out to town.

The Frontline City of Aether couldn’t compare with the activity of the royal capital of Kingsglaive. By no exaggeration, it was the city that flourished the most in the ancient world. And there I was, walking with Lydia in the middle of it…

“Ohh! You, over there! Would you like to spend a passionate evening with me tonight?!” And the lust beast Lydia was making a show of seducing all sorts of women.

“Hey, Ard! You give it a try, too! You can’t be a full-fledged soldier if you suck as a pickup artist!”

I was forced to flirt…

“Why’re you getting all the love?! You gotta be kidding me!”

…And then she got unreasonably violent. You gotta be kidding me.

…Remind me: Why was I good friends with this person again?

“Shit! If it’s gonna be like that, let’s have an eating contest!” barked this big woman-child.

“N-next up… C-c’mon, let’s race… Burp,” suggested this person I didn’t even get along with.

“Argh, geez! Lose at least once, dammit! You’re no fun at all!”

“…Could you please stop hitting me each time you lose?” I replied to this dumb-ass with a terrible personality.

Why did I like her so much?

…She was really starting to piss me off, so I hit her back.

“Urgh?! D-damn you…! Serving a knuckle sandwich to a lady’s face is the worst!”

“A lady? Where could she be? All I see before me is a savage monkey.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’re dead meat!”

Our pointless bantering devolved into a fistfight where we ignored everything around us, paying no heed to the commotion that we were creating.

She was infuriating.

There was no one as incompatible with me as her.

There was no one as opposite to me as her.

And more than anything…there was no one who was as outspoken with me as her.

“Take that!”

As if my useless thoughts had backfired on me, I failed to dodge a fist that I would have normally swerved… A direct hit made contact with my face, and I sprawled out right there in the middle of the main street.

“All right! I win!” With a look of pride, the idiot puffed out her comically large chest. I hated that shining face.

…I absolutely detested her.

“Looks like I’m the big winner here!”

“…What are you talking about? Did you not have more losses than wins?”

“Can it! The winner in a fight takes all! I decided that just now!”

“…You know, I think you’re a moron.”

I’d accidentally let my true self slip out, but I didn’t care anymore. She saw through everything anyway.

She knew my normal “Ard Meteor” personality was all an act.

And she knew I was in agony.

…It ticked me off, so I went for a foot sweep.

“Whoa?!”

It was a beautiful move. Lydia smacked her face right into the paved road. Served her right.

“Y-you little shit! You play dirty!”

“It’s your fault for falling for it.”

Part two of our fight then broke out…

“Huff, huff, that’s…my win. Now I’m the total victor.”

“What the hell…are you saying, you doofus…? That one…didn’t count…”

We were both beaten to hell and back as we threw abuse at each other. I wondered what other people had to be thinking.

…I was willing to bet they thought we looked like a huge pair of ding-dongs.

What the heck am I doing? I thought as I immediately started to laugh.

“Heh, hee-hee-hee…”

Apparently, the ass beside me had the same idea. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…”

After we laughed for some time, Lydia let out a big sigh.

“So? Is that weird mood of yours all gone?” She looked straight at me.

…I knew it. So she’d seen through me after all.

“You may be a moron, but you certainly have sharp intuition.”

“Shut it… So feelin’ better?”

I shook my head. “…If you had to sacrifice yourself…to regain the things and people most precious to you, what would you do?”

It was an innocent question—random, almost. No one could possibly know how I was truly feeling.

However…Lydia gave a disgusted look that you might give a disappointing problem child.

“You can use flight magic, right?”

“…What about it?”

“Come with me. There’s something I wanna show you.”

As she said this, I began to float…and soared into the sickeningly blue sky.

We flew through the sky for a few hours until the bright, blue sky took on a tinge of orange.

Following behind Lydia, I contemplated in midair.

If she had nodded in affirmation to my question, it might have somewhat dispelled my confusion… I could have stiffened my resolve to bring the name of Demon Lord to life in its truest sense: to lose everything, but save Lydia… And finally die by her hand.

I probably could have then agreed to this future. But she hadn’t done that.

Why? I started to mull things over.

“Everyone’s always going around calling me Hero and Champion, but I’m really not that great. You know… It must just mean I’m a boring waste of space,” Lydia said, murmuring into the setting sun.

Before I could ask the true meaning behind those words…

“…We’re here,” she announced and immediately began to drop down. I followed suit…and settled on the ground.

The only things around us were ruins. They must have once functioned as a magnificent fortress. Now, the many buildings showed not a trace of their former glory, and not a soul was to be found.

“This is…”

“One of my greatest crimes.” Lydia gave a pained look. Right after, a swirl of black mist suddenly surrounded us…

They were all shaped like skulls.

“…Are these cries of the deceased—Ghosts?”

All who died had wishes and dreams that they sent into the universe before they perished. If those feelings were especially strong, they would remain in that place forever as a mass of thought. The final deluge of will from the dead. Those were Ghosts.

And these posthumously manifested the sentiments of their final moments.

“Lydiaaaaaaaa…!”

“Devil, she is…!”

“Give me back my child…!”

“Go to hell…!”

They all detested her. They wanted her dead.

The ghosts swirled around her with a cursed energy. But they were formless masses of thought. They could do nothing against living flesh and blood.

But…the heart was a different story.

Lydia had adopted an anguished look. “It’s rough. You know you have to face it, but you want to run away, against your better judgment.”

She seemed on the verge of tears… I called out unthinkingly.

“What in the world is…?”

“I told you. This is my sin, my crime. It used to be a city where only demons lived…one we attacked long ago. In terms of military strategy, it was a key location. We had to take control of this one,” Lydia continued on gravely. “Taking their castle and forces down was simple. But…occupying it was difficult. Far from listening to the civilians, we attacked them at night…”

With a quivering voice, she concluded, “We killed them all. Women, children, it didn’t matter. Not a single one was left alive… If we hadn’t, we would have lost our friends. Which was why we decided to take the ‘best’ course of action.”

At last, tears welled in Lydia’s eyes. Her expression was one of regret and intense self-hatred…

It was the first time I’d seen her like this. Well, it was the first time I’d ever heard of this.

…I couldn’t bear to watch this any longer.

As I thought this, I tried to send her a proverbial lifeboat to give her an out.

“You said they were all demons, right? Then—”

“Then it couldn’t be helped? Then it’s not a sin to kill them? …I can’t bring myself to believe it, even when I try,” Lydia rejected outright—denying the very thing that would absolve her.

“What is the difference between people and demons? We see demons as monsters, unfailingly believing them to be no different than repulsive fiends… Long ago, I thought so, too. But I realized I was wrong. People and demons share the same roots.”

With that as a preface, Lydia managed to say, “I’m just a murderer. I’ve realized that and continue to dirty my hands… We’re the ones who should be called monsters.”

I wanted to argue with that conclusion somehow.

You’re not a monster.

It was all for justice. There was no other way.

You’re not guilty of anything.

Worrying won’t get you anywhere.

…However, all those words got stuck in my throat and never made it out.

Lydia didn’t want anyone to console or forgive her. After all, she…had already come to a single conclusion.

“I’ve already decided how I’m going to die. Fight and fight and fight to the bitter end. If I can make it so people have no one to fear… If I can create a world where everyone, people and demons, can live together in harmony…then I think I’ll try and die in the most cruel and pathetic way.”

That’s the only way I can forgive myself. That was what Lydia was saying.

Those eyes were crystal clear, devoid of any hesitation…as if they’d completely forced out any objection or opposition…

From what I could see, those eyes were terribly cruel.

I could only stand there silently. Lydia let out a relieved sigh and smiled.

“I’m not worth anyone changing their beliefs to accommodate me or sacrificing themselves to save me… It doesn’t matter how I go; there’s no need for anyone to stress about it.”

That’s not true.

Even though I wanted to argue, I couldn’t. I’d realized that anything I said would be futile. When Lydia got like this, she wouldn’t bend for anyone. Her guilt, self-loathing, and sense of purpose…had cemented her belief system.

“…What about our feelings? If you were to die…!” I could only argue with her like a child throwing a tantrum.

Lydia stroked my head as she admonished me. “It’s what I have to do. I’ve got to atone for my sins. If I can’t do that…then I can’t die with pride. The virtues in your life are important, but not as much as the way you die…”

She looked straight into my eyes. It really felt as though they were all-seeing. In fact…she must have picked up on everything.

And even then, Lydia continued to speak.

“Don’t try to change the way I die.”

Her smile held a hint of sadness. The eyes gazing at me seemed apologetic.

But… I could clearly see that she knew her beliefs wouldn’t change.

…Lydia. If that’s your wish, then I…!

Under the darkening sky, as the cursed proof of Lydia’s sin swirled around us, I gripped my fists tightly.

And I quietly reflected on the answer I’d discovered.