Quit The Hero Party

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EP.512 Master of the Demon Lord, Demon Lord Subjugation Battle (5)

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One thousand one hundred and seventeen years.

The year 1117.

“Seven years are the key.”

With seven fingers spread out, Raniel broke into a mischievous smile. As Acriel blinked in surprise, Raniel cleared her throat and spoke.

“A hero’s tale that cannot be heard without tears, a masterpiece of the era that naturally evokes admiration, applause, tears, and shivers…”

“I get it, I get it. Just tell the story.”

With a weary look, the queen gestured for her to begin, and only then did Raniel shut her mouth with a laugh.

“How shall I open the story? The introduction is crucial, you know.”

“Can’t you just start it roughly?”

“You don’t understand. The introduction must pack a punch! Just wait a moment.”

After pondering for a while, Raniel let out a short sigh. A sentence perfect for the story’s opening had come to mind.

‘Nothing beats this.’

Recalling her own monologue from seven years ago, Raniel opened her mouth to utter the beginning sentence of the tale.

“There was a party formed to slay the Demon Lord.”

The opening of the story.

The first line thrown out.

‘…My neck?’

The queen absently touched her own neck.

From her perspective, it was a somewhat chilling beginning.

With the introduction, Raniel began the tale.

It was a journey she had walked, her life, and the story of the humans who passed through her. If it was a hero’s tale, it certainly was; if it was a tale of the masses, it also fit that description… and it was a story of human growth.

A single character.

The story continued with Raniel van Trias at its center.

The self-righteous mage walks the path alone. She drags countless burdens, seeking perfection solely by herself. Because of this, the mage fell apart. In the end, she crumbled. Mischievously, the story did not end there.

Even as she walked a self-righteous path, it was a road for others. The mage always sacrificed herself for others.

There was meaning in the path she walked. To prove that, many gathered around her. Those who had received help from the mage or survived because of her…

Countless individuals came together to aid the mage.

Through them, the mage was born anew. In this second life she obtained, she did not pursue perfection alone. She realized she could not.

“……”

The queen listened attentively to the mage’s tale.

Perhaps it was a story of her distant descendant.

‘…How similar.’

The queen couldn’t help but smile softly.

The life story being told by the mage before her, amusingly, resembled her own life. After all, she too had lived a self-righteous life. For a very long time.

She had thought she must be perfect alone.

She believed that she alone could be the one to stand against the First Light. She thought only she could reach that truth. But no, it was not so. In the end, it was not her who faced the Light in the last moment.

The one who opposed the Light till the end was…

“Clerk Rugran.”

Those were the talented individuals she had nurtured.

Her subordinates who came together under her name.

“Belial van Dragonik.”

“Ganikalt van Galatrick.”

“Gleria Bel Armias.”

From the mouth of a descendant born after an eternity, names she recognized could be heard. The queen leaned in closer to listen to the story told by this descendant.

It was intriguing. It was delightful.

It was not a story she was unaware of.

The path walked by the descendant was filled with traces of her subordinates. Everywhere the descendant walked, the footsteps of her subordinates were deeply imprinted. Following the road laid by Cardi van Armiel, the descendant ran forth.

“Aha.”

The previously crinkled expression relaxed.

The queen listened with a smile, and not stopping there, she added a word or two.

“Indeed, Cardi has a stubborn side. To be honest, it was quite ridiculous.”

“Was it like that even back then?”

“More so! When he first pledged his loyalty to me, I think he was either a hundred or two hundred years old. Quite young for an elf.”

“Is that so?”

“From what you tell me, it doesn’t seem so now, but in my time, elves who lived a thousand years were quite commonplace.”

The queen smiled.

“And yet, he acted like someone who had been through several thousand years right in front of me. A child who hadn’t even lived two hundred years.”

“A child…?”

“At the time, I had already lived over nine hundred years. From my perspective, he was indeed a child. It was quite amusing.”

As Raniel blinked in surprise, the queen shrugged her shoulders. It was clear that some things never changed.

“Anyway, so…”

Raniel continued her story.

Naturally, it was not a story that was purely joyous. The queen groaned at every mention of the sins committed by her shaded subordinates, their mistakes.

There was a story made by their sins.

Raniel spoke of a superhuman who desired to become a ghost of a sword. She told of a mage who became tainted by madness without actually becoming the Light, and she recounted the countless fallen heroes.

Through them, the path continued.

She spoke of the starlight bequeathed by a great mage that connected to future heroes, of the unyielding hero who would not bow down, of the hero who carved great deeds, and of the most heroic hero.

Through them, the path continued.

The story surpassed its midpoint and neared its conclusion.

The queen listened to the end faced by the disasters, her subordinates. With that end, the queen sighed in relief as well.

“So that’s how it goes.”

The heretic became a saint.

The saint became once more a human.

Gleria achieved a reunion with Cardi and met her demise in the arms of the beloved she longed for.

“This is.”

The Death’s Blade became a knight.

The knight finished his life as a human at the end of the decisive battle, serving the queen as a sword.

Ganikalt concluded his life as a human, alongside the knight who defeated him and the hero who turned him back into a human.

“Is this the conclusion you pursue?”

The queen chuckled softly.

The woman who seemed suspicious when they first met now felt familiar to her.

The hero sitting beyond the campfire.

Not an hero simply for having inherited starlight. Not an hero because they wanted to live as one. They were heroes because they devoted their lives to carrying forth dreams woven by others, bringing fantasies to reality and achieving their utmost.

The hero appeared as a frail human.

‘It can’t be helped.’

A bittersweet smile lingered at the queen’s lips.

Having seen numerous heroes gives her insight. Even if one peeled back their layers, they were merely wounded and fragile humans. The girl before her was no different.

Though wounded, she simply did not stop moving.

She pressed on and achieved her goals.

The life lived by the human before her was evident to the queen, and she smiled bitterly. What a rugged journey it had been.

“I’m proud of you.”

Acriel reached out a hand.

Startled, Raniel trembled her shoulders but soon accepted the touch. The queen gently stroked the hair of her distant descendant.

“It must have been difficult. Very difficult. Didn’t you get tired? Though I shouldn’t say this, if you had taken an easier path, you could have reached it long ago.”

The queen’s fingers slid down along the ashen hair. With her hand lowered, she looked at Raniel. Raniel smiled and shook her head.

“That would render it meaningless.”

“Meaningless, you say.”

“I know those who have fought for you, for the best conclusion. Knowing that, I couldn’t look away.”

Because those people bled for her.

Because they sacrificed themselves for future generations.

The essence of Raniel was ultimately a fixation imprinted when she was young. Despite the passage of time, that fixation had not changed. She simply learned not to let it bury her.

“I hope they receive their reward.”

That was the best conclusion Raniel could envision.

“You too are the same.”

Raniel gazed at the queen before her.

The queen had poured her entire being into protecting the continent on the day the shade was born. Despite her crimes under the shadow, she could not deny the time she had lived as the Queen of Arcadia.

“Has my explanation been sufficient?”

Why do you go to such lengths?

To that question, Raniel answered. In response, Acriel let out a deep breath and laughed lightly.

“Quite enough. More than enough.”

The queen understood the mage seated before her.

She recognized the will of her subordinates embedded in the life she had lived. Having realized that, the queen was able to smile.

“My will has been carried on by my subordinates, and since you, who inherits their will, have reached me…”

Acriel looked at Raniel.

“My life was not without meaning. My sacrifice was also worthwhile. You intended to express that, didn’t you? Am I right?”

Raniel nodded.

The queen burst into laughter.

To walk such a difficult path just to convey those few words, what a loss it was.

‘Yet still.’

Just that one word.

That single message she wished to convey.

“Is that so…?”

That message clearly resonated with her.

The queen smiled. Life wasn’t always beautiful. It had been a broken and twisted existence. Yet, at this moment, she found it beautiful.

“Please send my regards to Cardi.”

“I will.”

“How about sending praise to Kyle Toven as well? To be honest, I can’t believe he defeated Ganikalt with just one sword.”

“I was actually thinking of treating him to drinks once everything is over.”

“Raise a toast in my name at least.”

Raniel chuckled.

The queen smiled and slowly rose from her seat.

“Are you leaving?”

“It’s about time, isn’t it?”

The queen gazed at her crumbling soul.

With the passage of time, her soul would crumble. But there was still something she had to do before that.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Of course.”

Acriel reached out.

Her finger pointed toward the flame beyond. Not crossing the boundary of the fire, she indicated the restless wails of the vengeful spirits in the darkness.

“Those.”

If she had reached this far, the hero would surely know what they were. The fact that they were the resentful spirits of the race abandoned and tormented by the stars.

Thus, this was a question.

The final question posed to the hero.

“What will you do about those vengeful spirits?”

Master of the Demon Lord.

The king of curses asked the hero a question.

Kyle Toven let his sword droop.

After Raniel plunged into the sludge, the grasping hands that surged from all around ceased their movements. It wasn’t just the hands that stopped; the falling rain of swords from the sky and the quaking true form of the Demon Lord also… everything paused.

It felt as if time had stopped.

In the stillness, Kyle exhaled deeply, letting his sword droop. Raniel eyed the center of the Demon Lord, preparing her breath.

‘It’s unlikely, but…’

Should anything go awry.

If within there, Raniel were to transform into something else, if darkness were to inundate…

“Huuh…”

Kyle exhaled slowly.

It wouldn’t happen, but should such a thing occur, he too would need to be prepared. He would have to unfold the reverse path, even if it meant his body crumbled.

Just as Kyle was calming his breath.

The sludge at the core of the Demon Lord stirred.

At last, something erupted from the boiling filth. It was not a hand nor another’s form. A flicker of flame rose up.

A slender flame.

A flame that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment.

However, the flame did not extinguish.

The flame that did not extinguish gradually spread outwards. This small flame, which originated from the heart of the Demon Lord, gently danced. As if caressed by someone’s touch, like a mother lovingly stroking her child, it was a benevolent flame.

It was different from Raniel’s flame.