I Can’t Run Away From the Girl Who Saved Me

86 – Mask (5)

＊

The next day, and the next, the Heretic Questioner returned to the lake at night without fail.

Well, actually, it was a reasonable choice from her perspective.

She explained that her mission was to investigate her demonic energy, but that didn’t necessarily mean she had to sleep in a forest overflowing with demonic energy.

It would be convenient to have a base camp to search for traces of her men.

The problems were all mine, from beginning to end.

I was the one in trouble when she was around.

I was the one who felt uncomfortable knowing how her subordinates died.

If the curse is right and we fight, I will probably be the one who dies, and yet, remembering Sylvia, I was the one who allowed it without taking any action.

If you think about it, the reason Sylvia lived alone in this forest was as a sacrifice to prevent the curse from spreading, not because she was struggling to survive.

Consideration, kindness, helpfulness.

I painfully realized that even that requires a certain level of skill and qualification.

But it has already happened.

She had already settled down so naturally in my cabin, and I too had come to cherish the brief moments chatting with her in her own room before she went to bed.

It was a time that made me forget the loneliness of Sylvia not being by my side.

I didn’t have enough courage to tell her, who came and went almost like it was her home, to stop coming.

However, I couldn’t just leave her like this, so on the fifth day of her coming every night, I opened my mouth to hint.

“Over there.”

“Why?”

I can hear her waking up as she lies down to sleep.

I was in the back room of the cabin, she was in the living room.

We started talking without looking at each other’s faces.

“…How long will you stay?”

“…”

She was speechless.

I continued speaking hastily, wondering if I might have offended her.

“Ah, I was wondering how long the mission would last.”

“I don’t know, basically until it’s resolved. “If there is an emergency, you can return.”

“…Oh? “Solution?”

“…”

“Are you saying you can get rid of this demon energy?”

“…Ha, I made a mistake.”

“If it’s difficult, I won’t ask.”

“No, you live here too, and it would be dangerous if you didn’t know…”

“…”

Even after saying that, she didn’t open her mouth easily, as if she was hesitant.

I also heard a little grunting, as if he was thinking about it.

I was silently waiting for her to open her mouth.

After being silent for a while, she began to speak slowly.

“Don’t be surprised and listen.”

“Yes.”

“…This demonic energy is the first step of a great disaster that will lead to the destruction of mankind.”

“…”

“And that disaster… Is clearly related to the Demon King.”

“… Ah, that.”

“Did you know…?”

She asked back as if she was surprised by my cold response.

Even though I knew she wasn’t looking at me, she hurriedly shook her head and said,

“Oh, no?”

I knew.

Because the green woman told me.

It wasn’t a resurrection or anything like that, I literally knew that the Demon King was not dead yet.

Actually, when I think about it, I should have found Sylvia faster in times like this, but I couldn’t see where she had disappeared to.

“I should be a little more surprised, that he’s the devil? “You don’t know either.”

“Ah, well… The number of monsters has increased considerably these days, so I expected it.”

“…Predict the devil lord based on the number of monsters? “What kind of bullsh*t is this?”

“Ah, there is something like that.”

“…As expected, it’s suspicious,”

Her low voice sinks low.

I hurriedly shook my head violently to both sides.

This is a strange thing.

According to her, the woman who is talking to me across the room is the Heresy Inquisitor directly under the Pope of the Goddess Church.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but just looking at her appearance, which is fine even after walking around in demonic energy all day, and the atmosphere that seems to be similar to Sylvia’s that I keep getting glimpses of somehow, I can tell that she is a being with overwhelmingly stronger power than me. I was able to figure it out well enough.

But for some reason, her presence didn’t make me that nervous.

Of course, she was scared and nervous when we first met her, but as each day went by, her doubts about her and the tension that made her body stiff were gradually dissipating.

Contrary to my first impression of her, which put a lot of pressure on me, she was a more innocent person than she looked and was surprisingly an easy-going person.

Of course, I don’t think it’s something I should say since I haven’t even seen her face properly yet.

I felt a slight sense of unfamiliarity and a strong sense of intimacy, as if I was dealing with a childhood friend.

Perhaps, like Sylvia, I too was lonely because of the days I spent without anyone to talk to.

I thought so and desperately tried to change the topic.

“Ah, anyway, is it possible to get rid of demon energy?”

“Hmm… Let’s move on for now. You can purify demon energy, but you cannot purify an entire area as large as this lakeside. At most it will be around me. In that respect, this lakeside is literally a miraculous place. “How is this place still okay?”

“Purifying the surroundings is amazing enough in itself. “She looks like a saint from a history book.”

“… That’s right. “It’s that kind of power.”

She paused for a moment, then repeated in a somewhat resigned tone.

“Interrogator…?”

“But… Actually, that’s not the case. “It’s half-baked.”

“…Is that so?”

“The ability to manipulate divine power can never reach that of a saint. “Her strength can never reach that of her warrior.”

“A hero? “What is that all of a sudden…”

“But we still have to do something.”

“…Yes?”

“Since you are hiding your identity, I didn’t want to tell you either, but I will be honest. “Because you don’t seem to be a bad person.”

A low voice was heard from beyond the wall.

“I… Have been given the role of a warrior.”

“…!”

“On behalf of Sylvia, who was the last hero… To finish things off.”

＊

A few months ago.

Alice lost Balder and headed to the border battlefield.

Although there were no major problems or conflicts between the heads of each kingdom, the two territories facing each other’s borders were lands where they had repeatedly clashed and ruled over and over again even before the death of the Demon King.

This is because the territory, which was originally one, was split in half when a border was created, and the conflict between the lords who wanted to restore the territory and the lords who wanted to protect the newly received territory was not easily resolved.

This was a very absurd truth for Alice, who had come expecting a complicated political problem.

At best, the lives of countless soldiers are dying like flies in a fight that resembles a battle of pride.

Still, Alice persevered to fulfill her duties.

As a priest and heresy inquisitor of the religion that both territories believe in, I try to mediate their useless conflict as much as possible and prevent soldiers from losing their lives like fools.

She wrote a letter about what she learned from Balder and sent it to the Vatican, and along with the reply, she received news from the Vatican infrequently, and collected various information sent by Eric.

Alice was having a busy time.

Every time I see the two lords bickering whenever they get together, I feel like I just want to kill them both, but when they look at each other, the soldiers’ frightened expressions show no sign of fraud or hostility at all. Every time she saw it, Alice steeled herself.

However, the conflict between the two lords, which was thought to last long, showed no sign of ending.

In fact, the fact that the Goddess Church sent someone, especially Alice, who was so popular with the people these days that she was emerging as a new icon of the Goddess Church, was close to diplomatic language telling the Pope to stop the conflict, even if only by looking at his face.

However, these two idiots, filled with greed for territory and hatred for each other, had no intention of giving up even an inch of land, nor would they bend their pride even an inch, and they were not willing to give up even a single speck of dust. There was no intention to apologize for the soldiers’ sacrifice.

Thanks to this, Alice was tied up in this territory for a whopping four months.

However, she couldn’t just leave midway.

The two lords already viewed Alice as a nuisance that prevented the battle from taking place, so it was obvious that if she disappeared, these soldiers, who were resting helplessly with their spears in hand, would go straight to the death. That is.

Then one day,

A letter was delivered to Alice.

It was a luxurious letter with the Pope’s stamp on it, but the two words ‘Top Secret’ written on the envelope gave off an unusual atmosphere.

There was also a magic effect that caused the contents to burn immediately if someone other than the owner opened it.

I can’t believe you’re so careful.

Even before Alice opened it, she could already guess its contents.

Taking out the letter and opening it only meant checking whether the analogy was correct.

The letter contained only three simple lines.

Alice.

In the end, the disaster came.

Please hurry so that you can return immediately.

After Alice burned her letter, she immediately called the two lords together.

With a request that the successors who will lead the territory in the future also come together.

In front of numerous soldiers and the sons of the two lords, Alice decapitated the lords with a single sword.

She picked up her head, which was lying on the ground, and thrust it into her sons’ faces.

“Now you two are lords. “Come on, let’s end the war.”

Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps out of stubbornness to carry on the will of their father who died in vain, the sons could only sit on the ground, tremble, and make no response.

Alice pushed in her sword again and urged.

“Either sign it or find another successor.”

That is how the war ended.

Of course, it was a method that was problematic in many ways, including politics, regional characteristics, and public opinion.

Of course, problems will be raised.

Alice is clearly responsible, and she is accused of a crime that deserves trial.

But Alice didn’t care.

Destruction has come, so what kind of nonsense is this?

In fact, the kingdoms did not voice any complaints to Alice or the Goddess Church.

I couldn’t say it more accurately.

Demonic energy was rising from all directions, undead were pouring out of cemeteries, mountains, lakes, etc. In rural villages, and the monsters that appeared from nowhere were just a warm-up so far, flocking in like a swarm of ants and destroying small villages. Everything started to be devastated.

The fields withered, and the rivers dried up.

Refugees of all kinds flocked to the capital where the royal castle existed or the city where the Holy See existed, and perhaps because of their poor environment, epidemics broke out.

Corpses piled up all over the city.

The child writhing and crying in front of the corpse and the hard faces of the wizards who burned the corpse without paying any attention to the child spoke volumes.

Just as the Pope wrote in his letter, destruction has come to the world.

＊

“You may not have known it because you were only in this forest, but that’s the situation outside.”

“…Oh my god,”

“All of these disasters are because the Demon King is still alive, so now is probably the only opportunity when the wounds inflicted by the former hero have not fully healed.”

I knew that the Demon King had been resurrected, but this was the first time I knew that the world was literally coming to an end.

The day I personally burned Lila, who had come back to life.

I could clearly feel that something was dying inside me.

Maybe that’s why I calmly accepted that fact even though I knew I was dying in the demonic energy.

That may have been the reason why I was just waiting helplessly without actively looking for Sylvia.

Honestly, to be really honest,

I was tired of everything.

Of course, my desire to see Sylvia was like a chimney, but it was just a wish.

I didn’t want to try any more.

I didn’t want to work hard.

Losing Layla wasn’t enough, the fact that I made her into that unpleasant creature seemed to be consuming all my will.

I may have thought of myself as the most unfortunate and useless being in this world.

However, I never dreamed that the whole world would be in the same situation.

Even though I had absolutely no right to do so, I asked as if scolding him.

“…If you knew, why didn’t the Pope tell you in advance…”

“We only knew that a disaster was coming, but we did not know the cause. “When I first heard that the Demon King was still alive… My back was soaked in cold sweat.”

Did the Pope know?

Unknown.

According to what the Green Lady said, the Goddess was punished by losing her divinity simply by leaving a warning to the Pope that danger was coming to the world.

I don’t know anything about the world of the gods, but maybe I couldn’t tell you more than that even if I wanted to.

“Actually, I have to go catch the devil right now…”

“…”

“Honestly… I’m scared,”

Her self-deprecating laughter echoed very mournfully throughout the cabin.

I couldn’t say anything.

“Sylvia… It’s something even that great warrior couldn’t do. I don’t know if I can do it. Honestly… Um, yeah… I’m scared. “I’m afraid I’ll die without being able to do anything.”

“… Interrogator…”

“But it has to be done…”

“…Why?”

I asked quietly.

“Didn’t you hear me? “Disaster…”

“I know. But why should you? “It would be crazy to face the Demon King alone, obviously…”

“I’m going to die.”

“Even if the world is saved, what does it mean if you die?”

I know.

How like a dog that feels.

I’ve never said it honestly,

It bothered me quite a bit to think that, unlike all the misfortunes that had happened to me, many people in this forest park were living ordinary lives.

Jealousy? No, rather… It’s closer to a feeling of deprivation.

That feeling of relative deprivation and resentment, wondering why only you are happy.

It was my honest feeling that I felt more often and more strongly after being separated from Sylvia.

Perhaps, because I was in a situation where I couldn’t blame anyone, I ended up blaming everyone in the world.

“The hero and his comrades are all dead. “What are you going to do with that?”

Or maybe I, too, am getting scared and throwing a tantrum because the future that the green woman asked me to come to is approaching.

Because I, too, am afraid.

She listened to me for a while and then slowly opened her mouth.

“It has meaning.”

“What do you mean?”

“Revenge.”

A somewhat unexpected word came out of her mouth.

“There was a friend of mine in the warrior party. My lifelong friend. “My dearest friend.”

“…”

“But, I couldn’t protect that friend’s family. “That friend’s younger siblings and parents… but their deaths were also related to the devil.”

Did her friend’s family get caught up in the chaos of the outside world that she was talking about and end up dead?

I felt embarrassed once again.

I was only thinking about my misfortune, but if the devil is active, the terrible things that happened to my family will become common enough to make people laugh.

I quietly closed my eyes and hugged Pia.

Pia gently wagged his tail and caressed my cheek.

“What can I do?”

She smiled and sighed as if spitting out her words.

A sound rang out.

It seemed like he had been sitting the entire time he was talking and was now lying down on the floor.

“I’m dying anyway.”

“Yes?”

“It’s complicated, so to put it simply, unlike Sylvia, I am a hero created by pouring in divine power.”

“…”

“I guess I can’t bear that force. “It’s like a side effect.”

“Ah…”

“Don’t be like that. Just because we saw each other makes you sad. You don’t even know my name or face.”

“…Then”

“Don’t ask me to tell you.”

“Why…?”

“If you stick together, it’s hard to break up.”

She sighed heavily as she told a joke so cruel that she couldn’t even laugh.

Hero.

Perhaps the hero who was coming to visit me that the woman in green was talking about was not Sylvia, but this person.

While I was thinking that, she slowly opened her mouth.

“…I have men I sent to this forest. “He’s probably dead.”

“…”

“I wanted to at least apologize to those guys and go, but I guess I have to move slowly.”

“…”

“Thank you so much. “He probably won’t come starting tomorrow.”

“And you will come again.”

“… hahahaha, well.”

Obviously, she won’t come back.

I was so anxious about her presence, wondering if the curse might be right, but it was so sad to think that she would disappear again.

I wonder if Sylvia felt this way when she opened a simple bar the day before I was to leave.

As I listened to her life story, which must have had as many ups and downs as mine, a part of my heart became even more empty.

The voice didn’t sound that old.

At most, she would be around Sylvia’s age.

But, the time limit…

“…Over there.”

“Why? Now go to sleep, did you forget I have to leave before you wake up?”

“…”

I couldn’t hide it anymore.

And now I had no choice but to admit it.

From his rough and rough, yet strong tone of voice that shows his determination, to the courage to calmly accept the fact that he is terminally ill.

She is clearly a heretic inquisitor from the Goddess Church, no, she is probably a warrior.

Oh, my life too…

I never thought I would meet two warriors in my life.

Although I couldn’t give her a drinking party as her parting gift, I was able to give her something she was desperately looking for.

She has been hiding this because of her guilt, but she will need courage to defeat her demon lord.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Actually… I know where the interrogator’s subordinates are.”

.