Quit The Hero Party

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EP.511 Master of the Demon Lord, Demon Lord Subjugation Battle (4)

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The sun rose in Arcadia.

In the cursed land where the sun had not risen for a thousand years, a single mage created the sun. The ashen sun burned away the darkness that had gnawed at the ancient kingdom. The raging flames consumed a millennium of curses.

The kingdom was engulfed in fire magic.

However, the flames were not consuming the kingdom, but rather the darkness that had been eating away at it. The ashen flames that burned only the darkness felt more like a holy fire than fire magic. Remembering the old doctrine of the Church that spoke of purification through burning, the ashen mage laughed.

Everything is burning away.

The lingering attachments, regrets, and sorrows left from that day were all devoured by the flames. In the midst of the burning, the mage let out a long breath.

“···Hah.”

The ashen mage, Cardi, leaned against the wall.

Even though it had been a millennium since he had returned as the great mage, there was not a drop of mana left in his body. He had poured every ounce of his mana into generating this massive fire.

‘Even all the mana I could use going forward.’

He had left nothing behind.

It was fine if he was no longer a mage. He had come back here with that very determination in mind. Thus, he felt no attachment to the mana he had lost.

‘In the first place···.’

The time spent living with mana had grown shorter than the time without it. There was nothing strange about it now. Cardi watched the mana leaving his body. The mana that had left his soul and body became firewood.

Crackle, crackle, crackle.

His millennia became kindling for the raging flames. Amidst the intensely burning fire, Cardi let out a carefree laugh. The laugh that escaped him was light. The light laughter mixed with the flames.

The mage who had endured a thousand years felt a sense of liberation.

Watching all that was burning away, Cardi tapped his ear. Perhaps, it wouldn’t reach the one who had likely plunged into the core of the Demon Lord… but it was fine if it didn’t.

“I leave the back to you, Raniel.”

I ask you, Raniel.

The sun of Arcadia.

The lord of this land we served that day.

Descend. Downward, again downward.

Plunging into the black lake at the center of the Demon Lord, Raniel felt her body sinking. She descended into an endless darkness.

How far had she come down?

And how much further did she have to go?

Was there even a bottom?

Struggling to retain her sanity in the black lake where she could not grasp any of these questions, Raniel could hear screams echoing around her, and darkness reached out with hands to claw at her.

The center of the Demon Lord, the source of the Demon Lord.

Recalling where she was, Raniel ignited flames from her body. There was still one path remaining. Pulling flames with her, Raniel plunged downwards. Then, suddenly, she glanced at her right arm.

■■, ■■■■■■. ■■■■.

In her right hand, she clutched the soul of a queen.

The blackened soul let out a bizarre cry as it clawed at Raniel’s arm. Though the flames wrapping around her arm didn’t hurt, it was incredibly bothersome.

“Tsk.”

Raniel clicked her tongue.

Due to Cardi’s request, she had tried to choose a humanitarian method as much as possible, but… if she lost her composure like this, there was no other way.

Just then, the seemingly bottomless lake was drawing closer. As Raniel plunged toward the bottom, she stretched her arm back, clutching the queen. Fwoosh, the flames intensified from her hand.

Thud.

The moment her toes touched the ground, a cheerful sound rang out, soon replaced by a sound of crunch as her foot sank deep into the earth. Keeping her feet firmly planted, Raniel swung her raised arm towards the ground.

Ka-BOOM!

With the queen’s soul still in her grip, Raniel drove her right hand deep into the ground. The earth split apart with a thunderous sound. The flames surged high. The swirling flames spread out in a circle centered around Raniel.

Fwoosh.

The flames didn’t spread far.

Even though they could incinerate everything here, her master had not yet deemed it time. The flames drawing in a circle created a small space around Raniel.

“Slowly.”

A space created at the root of the shadows, her own space.

“Are you more aware now?”

Gently brushing off the soul she had grabbed, Raniel took a few steps back. Flames ashen rose from the spot she retreated to, resembling a campfire.

“······.”

At last, someone slowly rose from the deeply excavated ground. It was the soot-covered soul. Yet, the moment it approached the campfire, the soot embedded within the soul gradually peeled away.

Beneath the peeling soot, a human spirit was revealed.

Arcadia’s first and last queen.

Acriel Clen Arcadia slowly opened her eyes.

*

Acriel slowly lifted her arm.

She touched her body and her ears. The soot that should have been there was nowhere to be found. The cursed voices that should have reached her ear no longer echoed.

…It was impossible.

Her soul had been completely intertwined with the shadow, hadn’t it? She knew of no way to purify a soul mixed with shadows. To be precise, based on the information she had when she was ‘conscious’, there was no such way.

A soul tainted by shadows cannot return.

It would have to live forever twisted and deformed.

She recognized that fact, and some of her loyal subjects had knelt before her, declaring they would go with her. That was their way of expressing loyalty.

The ancient tree bearing a curse, Abaddon.

The sun reflecting the curse, Tristan.

The lake consumed by the curse, Akelm.

She remembered how the souls of her loyal subjects had become blackened by her very hand. And she also remembered the fact that Ganikalt had cut them down because she had found no way to revert them.

‘And… I was the same.’

That was as much of the scenery as she remembered.

Even if she had become one with shadows, when her body existed, it had been possible to maintain consciousness. She had memories of witnessing the world in a twisted manner and making judgments. Those memories tormented her.

She had broken what she had tried to protect with her own hands.

She had led her loyal subjects down the wrong path with her own hands.

And ever since the day her flesh was severed by her loyal subject’s sword, all memories had been cut off. After that day, she could no longer maintain consciousness.

‘Just sinking into the black lake, becoming one with the shadows.’

Listening to the whispers of the shadows, she wandered between the curses and screams they emitted. And now, after such a long time, she opened her eyes…

“You are…”

Acriel opened her mouth like a groan.

She saw her soul.

Though it was eventually crumbling to dust, her consciousness was clearer than ever. The screams and curses no longer echoed in her ears. At this very moment, she was whole.

“You are, exactly…?”

Acriel gazed at the woman before her.

The figure of the woman standing beyond the blazing ashen campfire seemed somewhat mystical. She looked like she resembled Cardi, yet not quite.

That person brought her back to humanity.

Freed her from the shadows.

The one in front of her had found the answer that even her loyal subjects, and Cardi van Armiel, could not. To Acriel, the person before her looked almost godlike.

“Shall we sit for a moment?”

However.

“I’ve run so much that my legs hurt.”

That illusion didn’t last long.

Raniel let out a long breath and plopped down, sitting by the campfire, massaging her ankles while making a grumble of discomfort.

“Isn’t it quite massive? Just running to the center took a lifetime. Do you know how much I suffered to get here…?”

Seeing her sigh heavily, it was hard to convince herself that she was a divine being.

“Please, sit down for now. It’s going to be a long story.”

Acriel blinked as she followed her instructions and sat across from the campfire. The roaring ashen flames were warm. Looking around, she saw there were many restless souls, but they couldn’t cross the circular flames surrounding this place.

“Did you ask what I am?”

Raniel raised her head.

She faced Acriel across the campfire.

“I’m Raniel van Trias.”

She introduced herself.

“I am the first hero, inheritor of Ganikalt van Galatrick’s will. Also, I’m the ashen mage who follows Cardi van Armiel’s intentions.”

There were more titles to introduce, but she decided to leave it at that. As she mumbled, Raniel smiled.

“Acriel Clen Arcadia, the last queen of Arcadia.”

When her name was called, the queen’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s been one thousand and one hundred and seventeen years since your body was severed by Ganikalt’s sword, and you were merely demoted to an incomplete god.”

Raniel spoke calmly.

“Do you wish to hear?”

About the events of the past thousand years.

At that question, Acriel swallowed hard. However, it didn’t take her long to exhale the breath she had been holding. She slowly opened her mouth.

“I can listen for as long as time allows.”

Raniel grimaced slightly.

“There will be plenty of time.”

Crackle, the campfire continued to burn.

The slowly burning campfire symbolized the time left for the queen. Gazing at the flames, Raniel began her tale.

It was the path traversed by an ashen mage.

Starting from Cardi van Armiel, it continued to Raniel van Trias.

She listened to the story.

Acriel heard of a thousand years’ worth of history. It was a story she didn’t want to believe, but the more she heard, the more she had to accept that fact.

Fragmented memories, shattered bits…

Each time she heard the story, they pieced together.

Having gathered all the stories and patched together her fragmented memories into a single puzzle, she let out a long, very long sigh. It was a lament, a regret, and a scream.

“Thus.”

She moaned.

“Thus, did it come to be.”

The loyal subjects she cherished had become calamities.

The loyal subjects who reached her could not escape tragedy and had also turned into calamities. Arcadia had crumbled under their hands, becoming a nightmare in the history of humanity for a thousand years.

The black storm, Belial the Black Dragon.

The traitor, Gletus.

Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade.

As she mulled over those names, the queen could only moan.

It was a tragedy. An irrefutable tragedy. Wiping her face, she looked ahead. There stood the one who calmly conveyed the truth to her.

The person who introduced herself as Raniel.

The hero of this age, who said she inherited the will of Ganikalt and Cardi. Gazing at her, the queen opened her mouth.

“What is the reason you share all this with me?”

Acriel questioned.

It was not blame. It was a pure inquiry.

“You are not my loyal subject. There was no reason for you to save me. You could have burned me along with those restless souls; that would have been much simpler…”

She asked.

“Why, then do you wish to return me to humanity and tell me all of this?”

To face the mistakes I have made?

Or, to confront the tragedies that arose from your actions? She could not tell. To have traveled so far just to criticize her was… an incredibly difficult path.

“Ultimately···.”

“You need to know. At least you do.”

Raniel said.

“You are correct. I did come to free you, but I didn’t come here to save you. Saving you is not my responsibility.”

She spoke calmly.

“As you pointed out, I am not your loyal subject. I have only read the records of your life. I have never faced you, nor conversed with you. To me, you are simply a stranger.”

But, she added.

“However, I know.”

She smiled bitterly.

“I know Rugran, the one who founded the new kingdom, Cartedia, to inherit your will. And I know Rugran Clen Cartedia, who forged the dagger to ultimately kill the Braver.”

The queen’s gaze wavered.

“The head of the guardians who did not lose their loyalty to you until the very end, Ganikalt van Galatrick.”

She lifted her head, which she had unknowingly lowered.

Before her was Raniel, sitting as she had from the beginning. But unlike before, Raniel was wearing a faint smile.

“To keep my promise to you, and to keep the promise to my comrades, I endured a millennium of hardships… for a foolish elf whom I know.”

A foolish elf.

While it seemed an inappropriate nickname, Acriel felt she recognized the one it belonged to.

“Cardi asked me to save you.”

Cardi van Armiel.

“Returning you to humanity was not easy. Truly. It was more complicated than for others.”

She had to burn the altar deep within the kingdom.

It had to coincide with the moment the Demon Lord’s power was drastically weakened during its subjugation. That’s why Cardi headed there.

But that was only part of it.

Raniel understood the hardships Cardi had faced for a thousand years. The contracts forged by ancient heroes. What sacrifices they had endured to stop the lord they had served. Raniel knew all that.

“That’s why.”

Because she knew.

“I felt you needed to know.”

Even if everyone in this world remained ignorant of this fact.

At least you needed to know.

There was an elf who had suffered for a millennium to reach this point. There were heroes. Their lives and the paths they had walked.

“And by the way.”

Raniel let out a long breath.

To the queen looking at her with painful expression, just a mere human, Raniel addressed her.

“The story isn’t over yet.”

“…Not over?”

“I only spoke of a thousand one hundred years. I’ve yet to tell you about the remaining seven years.”

Raniel stretched out her arms in front.

She spread her seven fingers toward the queen’s face.

“This seven years is the crux. Are you not interested?”

If it were a novel, it might span around 500 chapters.

“Above all, this story has a happy ending.”

Raniel smiled mischievously.