118. The Road to Salvation
The queen reacted as if she had been waiting for the question.
“Have you ever felt that something was strange, hero?”
“What’s strange?”
“The purpose of your and the Demon King’s existence.”
Until now, I thought it was just a legend, but now I know that’s not the case.
In the past, heroes existed before the Demon King, and records of this have been lost.
In other words, the legend of a hero saving the world from the devil was wrong from the beginning.
“According to legend, the hero saves the world from the devil and brings peace.”
The Queen smiled and showed the picture behind her throne.
The painting depicts a warrior fighting against the devil with a brilliantly shining holy sword.
Everyone knew about that legend, and all the warriors followed the legend and stood against the Demon King.
“But this legend is wrong. “It is true that heroes bring peace, but this does not mean that they bring peace from the devil.”
It’s as expected.
In the first place, the story of the legend itself was contradictory.
In the end, the being who was supposed to bring peace brought peace through violence was not fundamentally different from the Demon Lord.
If the devil wins and humanity perishes, it is the same as bringing peace in the end.
“Then how does a warrior bring peace? In the end, a hero is nothing more than a weapon.”
Arcel asked, frowning her eyes.
The queen said that it was still true that warriors bring peace.
But I didn’t understand the method.
“Hasn’t the warrior already brought you peace?”
“What?”
“The warrior has already brought peace to the world.”
The queen spoke with a grin.
Arcel wondered what kind of bullsh*t that was.
Of course, she succeeded in subduing the Demon King, but the world still remains in a state of suffering.
“Many people were sacrificed in the war against the demons. Moreover, the scars of war still remain. “How can you call that peaceful?”
“Hero, your very existence brings peace. “Just like the devil.”
Then this time, he says something that goes beyond bullsh*t.
How many people died in the war caused by the Demon King, and even though he is a hero, even the existence of the Demon King brings peace.
At first, I thought he was making fun of me on purpose.
But the Queen seems to be saying what she said, and she smiles and begins to continue her words.
“Of course, what the warrior said is correct. Many people died because of the war. But that is only a very small sacrifice compared to a real war.”
“What do you mean by real war?”
“That’s literally it, it’s not just a fight between a demon lord and a hero. “All the forces that exist in this world are realizing the law of the fittest of the jungle for each other’s benefit.”
“…Are you trying to joke with me? “There’s no way you wouldn’t know that hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of the war.”
Countless people died in the war with the demons.
The war caused the deaths of countless parents and countless children.
Parents buried their children in the ground with tears in their eyes, and the children burst into tears remembering their memories with their parents.
“At best, hundreds of thousands of people are dead.”
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But to say that it was only a small amount made Arcel doubt whether the queen had any concept of numbers.
However, in order to be queen, she must have the concept of numbers.
Hundreds of thousands of people really thought it was nothing.
“Think about it carefully. It was a war that lasted nearly 20 years. The war continued for more than half of the warrior’s life. “It was also a war against a powerful being called the Demon King.”
The queen speaks as if she does not understand Arcel, who is rather angry.
“And yet only a few hundred thousand people died. Of course, in the background, the hero was trying to reduce the number of casualties as much as possible. Even taking that into account, it’s a small number.”
The queen speaks with narrowed eyes.
“What do you think would have happened if it had been a war not with the Demon King but with another country?”
“Why is there suddenly a war with another country?”
“It’s not nonsense. One side was probably destroyed. Either everyone starves to death due to lack of food due to war, or one side loses the battle and everyone is massacred. “Right now, more than a million people are living in the forces adjacent to our Kingdom of Hermod.”
The queen said.
If the war had been a war not with the demons but with another country, it would have continued until one side was destroyed.
She said that then hundreds of thousands more people are sacrificed.
Still, this also did not make sense to Arcel.
“Wars with other countries have not occurred in the past hundreds of years. Even if there was, it was just a small fight that amounted to an argument, so it couldn’t have happened in the first place.”
There have been no records of war for the past hundreds of years.
There are no traces of war even in unrecorded history.
There may have been something similar to the Cold War, but there was never any blood shed while pointing spears and swords at each other.
But why is the Queen suddenly talking about a war that never happened?
“If there is a being called the Demon King and humans go to war with each other, the results are obvious. Everyone is just swallowed up by the devil. No matter how strong the hero is, he will not be able to fight against the entire demon race alone.”
“That’s it.”
At that time, the queen nodded her head at Arcel’s words and smiled warmly.
It seems as if Arcel was waiting for him to say those words.
“What are you talking about now-“
“As the hero said, we humans have never waged war with each other. “There were several fights over trade prices and the pride of leaders, but there was no war that involved shedding blood and destroying each other.”
“…”
Hearing the queen’s words, Arcel felt something passing through his mind.
Recall memories from the past.
When the soldiers needed support due to the war against the demons, the local nobles, even though they were reluctant, provided various supplies because they had to deal with the demon lord anyway.
Even nobles who were not on good terms with Hermod were eventually able to gain his cooperation by providing him with food and a garrison.
In addition, when Arcel went to a foreign country, all the royal families treated him favorably, saying that it was in the hope of confronting the devil.
Even if they had dark intentions or were plotting something, there was no truth to the fact that on the surface everyone worked together to fight the devil.
“…You’re crazy, you really expect me to believe that right now?!”
Arsel shouted as he pulled out the holy sword.
The queen’s words ultimately mean that all humans were able to fight as one thanks to the Demon King.
“That’s just a consequentialism! It’s just one of the results of that situation. “It really cannot be said that the existence of the Demon King played a role in preventing another war!”
“Is that really true?”
We have big and small grudges against each other, but now that there is an even bigger threat, the Demon King, we didn’t want to waste our power and end up destroying each other.
In short, the existence of the Demon King prevented another war.
In addition, the existence of the warrior became the center that brought humans together.
“You must know this fact better than anyone else, but do you really think it is just a consequentialism?”
“That’s…!”
The queen asked Arcel as if interrogating him.
The queen’s eyes glared at Arcel.
Arsel felt as if he had been stripped naked.
“…Pfft!”
I couldn’t deny it any longer.
If you think about it, even though there was a demon king, they continued to watch each other’s opinions and engage in a war of nerves.
But what if there is no devil? Even though the Demon King is not there now, they quietly take care of their own safety thinking that they might appear again at any time, but if the threat of the Demon King disappears forever in the future, how will they come out?
There are no more threats to worry about.
Now there is no reason to join forces.
They are subordinates who think it is better to take away the other person’s power rather than join forces.
The result was obvious even without looking at it.
“Ah, our poor warrior.”
The queen walked in front of Arcel.
“Accept reality. This wasn’t just the case with the hero. “This result is a result that has been created since the legend of the hero and the demon king began.”
The queen caresses Arcel’s face and smiles kindly.
It felt like it was targeting tasty food.
Gathering her appetite again, the queen tried to savor Arcel.
Arcel was horrified by that sight and took a step back.
I felt it would be better to face the devil.
“But doesn’t it seem a little strange?”
“Alfred…?”
At that time, Alfred, who had been quietly listening to the story, stepped forward.
Alfred blew air into the hole in the queen’s chest and slowly began to regenerate her body.
“Of course you are right. In the end, humans never fought with each other because of the Demon King. “But there is something about that that I don’t understand.”
“What is it?”
“How can you be sure that the devil will not destroy you? “The fact that only a few hundred thousand people died in the war was only possible because the Demon King took heed and did not attack your base.”
“…You are sharp.”
As Alfred said, the peace the Queen spoke of was an unstable concept that was established only when the Demon King did not succeed in destroying humanity.
If that happens, the Demon King will kill the warrior and wipe out humanity.
Of course, this also resulted in peace.
Therefore, one condition is necessary to complete Queen’s theory.
“So, you guys also created the Demon King, right?”
“You created the devil…?”
The devil imprints fear in humanity without destroying it, and makes humans cooperate with each other.
“You can make a hero, but why can’t you make a demon lord? Heroes were created in the first place to defeat the Demon King. Then, just create the same hero early and have him ascend to the position of Demon King, and that’s it.”
There is only one way to satisfy that condition.
The devil is also created like a warrior.
And the idea was to start a war against the created demon lord without destroying humanity.
“Alright, Alfred… that’s a bit too far-“
Arcel seemed like he could not be trusted at all.
However.
“That is correct. That’s amazing. According to previous records, there were people who figured out what I said before, but no one could even imagine what you just said.”
What Alfred said was true.
The Queen even applauded with admiration.
“This is crazy…!”
Eventually, Arcel could no longer bear it and tried to cut down her queen with her holy sword.
I was able to understand everything else.
But does that mean you are creating a demon lord?
How many people died because of the devil? Isn’t it true that he intentionally made people die like that?
“Alfred, why are you stopping me now?!”
“Don’t lose your strength for no reason. “I won’t die from that much anyway.”
Alfred stopped Arcel, who was about to cut off the queen’s head.
“Why don’t you calm down first? My mother said that the only thing that makes a person excited is when they are in bed. “Besides, if you get unnecessarily excited, you won’t be able to hear anything you can hear.”
“…I understand.”
Arcel took a deep breath and held onto his hand holding his holy sword.
Part of me wanted to cut down the queen right now, but there was still a story left to be told.
“But even if you created the Demon King as you said, how can you completely control the Demon King and wage war? “There’s no way I could control a monster with that much power.”
“It’s not that difficult.”
The queen smiled and answered Arcel’s question.
“Maybe the Demon King received a similar education as you? Think about it carefully, what kind of education did you receive when you were brought to the Kingdom of Hermod since you were young because you were chosen to be the Holy Sword?”
“…”
It was an education that was almost like brainwashing.
No matter what happens, we must protect humanity, and even if it means sacrificing ourselves, we must achieve peace.
I heard that voice every day.
Even if she covered her ears, the message continued to flow through her head.
After the journey was over, he could not hear his voice, but sometimes in his dreams he saw the sight of his neck, hands and feet being tied with unbreakable chains.
“Oh my god-“
With that, Arcel learned one more thing.
How did the Kingdom of Hermod create the Demon King?
And why was the demon king he defeated able to hold and use the holy sword?
All the questions began to come together piece by piece.
“To corrupt a former warrior… And turn him into a demon lord-“
Now it has gone beyond the level of disgust.
I can only wonder how someone could commit such a terrible act while wearing a human mask.
“I did not corrupt it. It’s just made that way. According to the records of our predecessors, there were times when defective products came out and we had trouble.”
“The hero of the time was so weak that he couldn’t even retrieve the body, right?”
“Yes. “If he couldn’t even retrieve the body in the first place, he wouldn’t have been able to become a demon king because he wouldn’t have the power to rule over the demons.”
Alfred continued the conversation as if nothing had happened, but Arcel felt like his mind was about to break.
“Furthermore, even if you make such a defective product into a demon lord, it will just become an annoying monster.”
“There must have been quite a bit of trial and error, right?”
“Records say yes.”
In the end, that means that you too become like ‘him’.
The process is unknown, but he becomes a demon king, subjugates demons and brutally slaughters people.
It would be better to die yourself.
“Ah, warrior. I hope you don’t make the same mistake as the warrior in your squadron. According to the record left by the previous hero, after the former warrior learned of this fact, he had the same expression as the current hero.”
The queen shook her head with a wry smile.
“A pitiful, cute expression that says it would be better to die.”
-The hero pulled out the holy sword and stabbed himself.-
Arcel recalled the story his little Alfred had told him.
And the warrior jumped down the endless cliff.
Despite this, his words did not change.
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In the end, he became the devil and slaughtered countless people.
“How on earth could you do something like that?”
Arsel could no longer even hold the holy sword.
I couldn’t even understand the process of becoming a demon lord, so that part came as an indescribable horror.
“But even if I do this, I still don’t understand in the end.”
What else is left here? Alfred asked, tilting his head.
“From what you said, it seems that in the end, the hero becomes the devil one way or another. So then, there was no need for him to find the hero and kill him, right? “I don’t think there’s any need to retrieve the body.”
It was strange when I heard it.
The queen sent a pursuer and tried to kill Arcel for over 5 years.
Why was that?
If the hero was destined to become the Demon King anyway, there would have been no need to put in the effort to kill him.
“I told you, right? I move for peace. Also, I was once saved by a hero…”
Said the Queen, blushing shyly.
Does the salvation the queen speaks of mean being kidnapped and rescued by Alfred?
In short, he sent a pursuer to kill Arcel in order to repay her favor.
Arsel never thought that there would be someone more creepy than Alfred in the world.
That’s not even a demon, but a human.
“Furthermore, as the warrior said, although it is only a few hundred thousand, in the end it is an imperfect peace accompanied by sacrifice and war. Honestly, I can’t call that peace. “More than anything, what I truly want is absolute peace.”
The Queen said, spreading her arms wide.
Those words were the queen’s clear sincerity, without an ounce of falsehood.