I Became the Burden of a Conscienceless Party

177 – Epilogue

epilogue

Actually, I was afraid of dying.

It was only recently that I was able to think that way.

Relationships with people are truly scary.

Because he turned Jim, who moved mechanically and didn’t care whether he died or not, into a human.

I enjoyed my journey with the warrior party.

There were more near-death crises, but perhaps that made me even more attached to life.

The strange war of nerves between the warrior Esmeralda and me was heart-pounding.

Skinship with Saint Irina was thrilling.

Reading with the wizard Millia made me feel like we were together even though we weren’t in direct contact.

I had to take a deep breath at every word that Scholar Tina said.

It was all fun.

“Where will my soul go?”

He was freed from the five desires, seven emotions, and three poisons, and escaped the cycle of reincarnation.

Even if you accept the five desires and seven emotions again, the fact that you have escaped the cycle of reincarnation does not disappear.

If things go as expected, won’t it disappear?

Now I was standing in the middle of a pure white space with nothing in it.

I can’t tell up from down and I don’t know what’s far away.

“… … What will happen to the demon world and the human world in the future?”

I burned my power and my existence.

So I decided to burn everything without thinking about the consequences.

In this way, the world was enlightened and the gaping rift in hell was closed.

The land that had turned into hell has been purified, so when the living demons reach the end of their lives and die, only humans will remain in this world.

Those who were once demons will gradually regain their humanity and become human.

These two had no choice but to fight because of a problem in the world. Now that they have resolved that problem, they may be able to start a peaceful exchange someday.

Or, on the contrary, will the emotional rift between them deepen because of Belphegor, who has devastated the empire?

“… … .”

I shook my head.

It’s none of my business.

Everyone alive now will have their own definition and answer.

It’s arrogant to think that I can solve everything.

It would be right for a transcendent being like me to disappear from this world in the first place.

Belphegor will one day leave this world like my brother did.

Mara Papyrus will still be in the world, but she is basically not deeply involved in the affairs of the human world, so she will definitely be okay.

There’s Tana who can stop her rampage, and as long as Belphegor is alive, nothing will happen.

“What are you doing, absentmindedly, without even saying hello to me?”

“… … .”

As I was walking slowly through the pure white space, I heard a familiar voice right in front of me.

And that was the moment I realized whose voice it was.

“Lieutenant Colonel?”

“Yeah, thanks for the hard work.”

He’s an extra lieutenant colonel.

How did this happen? Why is he here, when he should have been reborn through the cycle of reincarnation?

“Could it be because of the dragon’s heart?”

He was implanted with a dragon heart. Is that why he bounced off the ring?

Surely that’s not possible…

“That kind of personal stuff is fine. Did you pack all your luggage?”

“… … .”

The lieutenant colonel was grinning. He really seemed to be okay with it, so I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Of course. Now, Colonel, you just have to take care of my burden.”

“I told you that’s not fun?”

“haha.”

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had such a lame joke. Yes, our journey began in this kind of atmosphere.

In the end, I became more serious and laughed less.

The essence probably hasn’t changed.

“Is there anything else I missed?”

“yes.”

“Really not there?”

“……yes?”

The lieutenant colonel did not move.

He just looks at me in the same position as when he called me.

It seemed like he had no intention of leaving.

“It doesn’t look like it to me?”

“… … .”

“You left behind a lot of regrets. Then I can’t use it.”

Those words brought a bitter smile.

Because I felt like I could never say no. The reason I was afraid of death right away was not because I didn’t know what lay behind it, but because the relationships I had built up until then would be severed.

I did something terrible.

I know that much.

But I don’t think there could be a better ending than this.

Because it’s better to have an ending that suggests there can be peace, even if it’s just a hint, than a story that ends with someone having to die.

“load.”

“Yes, Colonel.”

“I had nothing left to begin with. I had no place to return to and no purpose in life.”

“Aren’t I here?”

“Stop being a jerk.”

“yes.”

“Well, anyway, I don’t regret that choice back then. But you are different. Do you still regret it now?”

“Where in the world is there a choice without regrets? The very act of making a choice means giving up one side.”

I sat down next to the lieutenant colonel.

Then the lieutenant colonel took a cigarette out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I used to smoke a lot, but I quit naturally because my journey with the warrior party got longer.

Did you smoke when you escaped back then? In the end, you failed, but… … .

“load.”

“Yes, Colonel.”

They each have a cigarette in their mouth and chat.

My life in the Demon King’s Army was not long, but this moment clearly brought back memories of that time.

“Do you remember what I said?”

“Well, what do you mean?”

“How to win on the battlefield.”

“… … .”

“You have to survive. Surviving is winning. At least you have to win, right? You can’t just end up a loser after all that hard work.”

widely!

The lieutenant colonel hit my back hard. A sharp shock followed by a cold pain lingered.

“Now stop being so stubborn and just go back to where you were.”

***

Awakening in agony.

When I slowly opened my eyes, all I saw was a blue sky with white clouds floating around.

It was a sunny day.

And as I looked up at the sky and turned my head, I soon saw the figure of the Demon King Belphegor.

She was covered in wounds. I saw that she, who seemed invincible to anyone, was bleeding profusely.

“What happened?”

“I did what I had to do.”

Belphegor grinned. It was a fierce, hearty, yet tender smile.

“You did things your way, so I did the same.”

Only then did I realize that she had taken care of the breakdown of my body.

She was the one who had succeeded in usurping my power once. She seemed to have taken half of my burden by swimming against the torrent of power that was bursting out.

Thanks to that, we both survived.

It led to a better ending than I could have imagined.

“Okay, so should we begin now?”

With those words, Belphegor stood up from his seat.

As I looked at her back, I began to notice things beyond it.

I could see a large number of human and warrior parties surrounding us.

All around it, broken weapons of all kinds are rolling around on the floor.

“What are you thinking? What on earth is going on… … .”

“I have to come to my own conclusion.”

She has not only shared the burden that I had to bear, but has also been keeping this position until now.

“Come now, you humans. I am the Demon King.”

The end of the heroic tale is the execution of the Demon King.

As the one responsible for starting the war, Belphegor wants to take responsibility.

For the world to come.

“Liris will be sad.”

“… …Why is that kid’s name coming out of your mouth?”

Belphegor glared at me with a trembling expression. However, he soon chuckled and walked forward with a much brighter expression, saying:

“Then I’ll leave it to Liris. She’s a delicate child, so if there’s someone around her, I’ll feel safe.”

“… … .”

I couldn’t stop it. No, it would be more correct to say I didn’t stop it.

Because there were more than a few people who shed blood because of her choices.

Someone had to take responsibility, and Belphegor was insisting that it was his.

That’s the answer she found.

Since I forced my answer, I can’t deny it.

“We finally made it this far.”

The one who walked out among countless humans was the warrior Esmeralda.

She walked out confidently, leaning on a single holy sword.

A situation where both of them are covered in wounds.

One blow will determine the outcome.

And the outcome is already decided.

Squeak!

Two people walking towards each other and quickly closing the distance between them.

The outcome of the scheduled match is revealed at the end of the crossover with a cutting sound.

“I won.”

“… … Okay, you won.”

The victory of the warrior Esmeralda.

Belphegor, who had already achieved his goal, had no intention of winning.

Belphegor, already wounded, falls and Esmeralda raises her holy sword, which is like her symbol, towards the sky.

“Waaa …

A moment when a scene from a heroic tale is reenacted.

The people gathered cheered and rejoiced.

“Thank you for your hard work, Demon King. My name is Esmeralda. May I hear the name of the monarch who accepted defeat for the sake of the world?”

Courtesy towards others.

Esmeralda must have also known that Belphegor had lost.

Belphegor laughed at that sight.

He answered with a pleasant smile, looking up at the sky.

“I am… … Demon King Belphe… … .”

“Oh my god! Did you guys hear that?!”

“???”

A rapidly changing atmosphere.

Esmeralda, who had been speaking in a serious tone, opened her eyes wide and shouted as if she had been shocked.

Belphegor, whose words were suddenly cut off, just blinked as if he didn’t understand the situation.

“It wasn’t the Demon King! The Demon King… … . The Demon King was none other than Jim, who we had thought was our comrade! How on earth could this happen?!”

“uh……?”

Those words made me stand up too.

I have no idea what you are talking about right now.

However, Esmeralda’s acting skills were outstanding, even fooling me.

The mood is changing.

“… … No, it’s not something only a warrior can do.”

There is an agitator among the crowd.

And the greatest agitator I know is Saint Irene.

As I was looking around to find her among the crowd, I somehow saw Lilith.

What is this? What is going on?

“Oh! I’m sorry, everyone! I can’t kill Mr. Jim! Mr. Jim may look helpless as he lies there, but he’s incredibly strong… … and I don’t have the strength to do it anymore… … .”

A sighing crowd.

It’s an eerie feeling, as if I’m watching a well-directed play.

Something was designed.

And this design is not just one person’s design.

The warrior party and the release.

It is clear that this is a collaboration between humans and the Demon King.

“Then I will do it.”

Then finally the person I was looking for emerges from the crowd.

Saint Irina.

“I will seal and watch over the Demon King’s evil.”

“I can’t sacrifice Irina alone. Then I will have her watch over Demon King Jim together with Irina.”

“… …Matap will join too.”

“Ahem! Ji, I will also stay with the Eye of Truth and try to find a way.”

I couldn’t open my mouth because the decision was made without any room for rebuttal.

“seal!”

Because Esmeralda hit him.

***

A few more days passed since then.

At the time, I wondered what on earth had happened, but now that I think about it, it was different because it was designed by smart people.

I became the Demon King.

And everyone in the warrior party was bound by a contract of marriage.

The warrior party had to reside in the Demon King’s Castle under the pretext of surveillance, and to further justify this, they connected the Demon World and the human world through political marriages.

Thanks to this, the human world was unable to think of taking revenge on the demon world, and the demon world was also unable to invade the human world.

How could that be possible when the Demon King and the Hero have combined?

In that instant, I lost all my strength and became an ordinary person.

Even the warrior Esmeralda said she would retire now and broke the holy sword with her own hands.

Well, since that’s what people in the world think, there’s no problem.

“……brother.”

When I sit in the Demon King’s office and process all kinds of paperwork, I often think of the moment when my brother left the castle.

“Brother, is this why you ran away?”

The work was pretty tough.

Because the war had ended and the Demon World had become a land for humans, no matter how hard I worked, there was no sign of it ever ending.

Is this why you ran away, brother?

I know that my brother went through a lot of trouble to make Kapilavastu a proper country.

I just inherited a country that was already wealthy and powerful. It was my brother who made the country powerful.

“Should I escape… … .”

I couldn’t figure out why my brother left the castle and embarked on a path of asceticism.

Following him, I also embarked on a path of asceticism and was eventually able to reach the place my brother had reached.

But I couldn’t know.

Why did my brother go out into the world? Why did he throw everything away?

After wandering for a long time to find the answer, I finally found it.

“There may not be just one reason.”

That there is more than one answer.

The reason my brother left for this journey is something only he knows.

Yeah, today.

I was able to find my own answer.

“The answer is escape.”

Became a burden to the party without conscience (complete)