| Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
“And that’s why… I… attacked the Mephilad Kingdom… to save Elle,” Herrell said with an apologetic look.
“Oh, I see. To think that the story we knew had this hidden side. Heh… You’re a bit like an acquaintance of mine, you see.”
“Did that acquaintance also betray the kingdom?”
Gilmars shook his head at the question.
“Nah, regarding the man in question; To free a single slave1, that madman got rid of all slavery organizations in this kingdom.”
“Is that so… He seems awfully different from me, doesn’t he…? Even though we both thought of only a single person, he ended up saving many people. Me, however… in the end, I…”
Tears fell, once more, from Herrell’s eyes. He chewed on his lip, too, in apparent frustration.
“Sure, betraying the country as the hero isn’t something that can be excused, you know? Still…”
“Still…?”
Herrell and Gilmars both fell quiet for a moment, then the latter started to speak again.
“As a person… I don’t get the feeling you did something wrong, you know.”
“I see…” Herrell slowly closed his eyes, as if he thought deeply back on the past. “I… I wonder, what should I have done?”
“I’m not sure.”
When Gilmars replied, out of nowhere, smoke enshrouded their surroundings. Then, that smoke gradually took the shape of a person. It was Mephistophales.
“You were defeated, weren’t you… Mr. Lucifeyr, or rather, Mr. Herrell.”
Lucifer thought that, different from up to now, Mephistophales’ manner of speaking seemed strangely human-like.
“That magic power… You’re one of the leaders, aren’t you?” Gilmars asked Mephistphales and readied his sword. The fight between Gilmars and Lucifeyr had ended, so the other people who’d felt relieved, drew their weapons, too.
“That’s right, you see, but I didn’t come here to fight. Just for a bit… please let me talk with this man.” Mephistophales replied, while he produced a sheet of paper from out of nowhere.
Gilmars and the people around them sheathed their weapons for the time being. It was probably because they felt Mephistophales’ earnestness.
“Mr. Lucifeyr, you understand, don’t you?”
“Yes…” Herrell replied in a single word, without moving any part of his body.
Mephistophales looked at him, nodded, and destroyed the sheet of paper.
“With this, you will die. Because you broke the ‘I shall not lose in the fight against the humans’ clause of the contract, right?”
“I know.”
“I see…”
Mephistophales suddenly went towards Herrell and lowered his head.
“To be honest… I’m grateful to you.”
“What…?”
“I am unable to bring a human back to life with my contract ability… In fact, if I were to bring back the one you love, it would be as a demon.”
“Is… that… so?” Herrel muttered, but his mouth relaxed. No matter how you looked at it, he was smiling. For some reason, that smile looked happy.
“Either way… it was impossible… At this point, knowing that doesn’t even make me angry.”
“I see… Still, take this as my apology to you.”
Mephistophales placed his hands on the ground, and from there a black shadow appeared. It looked like the same shadow, as when a magic beast was summoned. Then, the corpse of a woman emerged.
It was Elle. The fact she had been death for 300 years seemed like a lie. To the untrained eye, she’d probably appear, as if she was sleeping. Then, Mephistophales lifted the body up, and put it down, right next to where Herrell was lying.
“Since it’s the end… huh? Mephistophales, do you… have such a personality?”
“That’s not it, you know. You and I have something in common. We both serve the deceased.”
“Is that so…?”
Herrell embraced Elle’s body tightly. And, at the same time, the wings he had as Lucifeyr vanished. When they no longer felt his magic power, the people around them realized Herrell had died.
Mephistophales raised the corners of his mouth2 to an abnormal degree, and grinned. If the people who knew him saw that, they’d probably reply that he was just as usual.
“Well, then! All the leaders except for me have died!”
Gilmars felt like Mephistophales, who looked quite delighted, even though he was talking about his friends, was plotting something.
“What do you mean?” he tried to ask him.
“Hm? Well, I can’t explain it to you, you see, but from now, it’s going to get truly interesting~!” Mephistophales replied, while his body gradually turned into smoke.
Gilmars slashed at him, but the attack was blocked by a scythe.
“Tch…”
Mephistophales continued to grin as before. He fully turned into smoke, which then immediately dispersed. Finally, at the moment of his departure, he muttered a short, meaningful sentence. Though there was no one who could hear it.
“Finally, I will return home! Just a bit more…”
TL notes:
Sounds like Mephistophales is using the demons as a means to an end, and Alim’s hypothesis that someone on the demon’s side is originally from earth (or at least not from Anazumu), might prove true.
