Chapter 300

Episode 300 Evidence (5)

“I’m going to die...”

We succeeded in burning Behemoth’s brain. It was such an arduous process that I felt fortunate that there was no bone between the eyeball and the brain.

[...Damn nursing mouth bastard.]

I should have expected this from the time when the vitreous body that fills most of the eyeball was as hard as frozen pork belly. Even the vitreous body, which should have been jelly-like, was so strong that I wonder how hard the real flesh must have been.

I wondered if I had gotten a new job as a miner. It wasn’t dug really dirty.

[Damn it, if the hero arrives first...!]

But in the end, I was the one who won.

I avoided the burned brain and stepped on the behemoth’s eye socket. The bloody and rotten smell lessened a little, and the open scenery gave me some breathing room.

“I used up all my magical energy, but why do I feel like I have no stamina?...”

However, I inadvertently stopped walking due to the feeling of exhaustion after using up all my magical energy. In my mind, I wanted to lie down and rest in a suitable place.

[Aren’t you walking quickly?]

“...I guess I’ll just take a break.”

I raised my eyes as I saw the devil yelling that he didn’t want to die. If it hadn’t been for Faust, I would have laid down and felt like my stomach was hurting, but it was a shame that I couldn’t do that.

“I’m fine...”

“No. let’s go.”

I slowly went down through the eye socket and outward. The behemoth’s head wasn’t a good slope to go down step by step, but thanks to the special part called the tusks, it wasn’t completely impossible.

With a groan, I stepped on the tusk and slipped down. The slightly wobbly body almost created a slightly comical scene.

“I almost fell...”

It was almost like I was facing this hard earth for the first time. I straightened my body, leaning on my tusks, touching my nose, which had escaped breaking.

I was able to stand still because I had used up all my magical energy and was not out of stamina.

“...Where are we going now?”

However, there was one problem.

There is nowhere to go.

[You can decide the destination later, so let’s go first.]

“Just shut up.”

[Please think about it as you go!]

In my heart, I want to go back to that city. Such as Mr. Richa or Lord Little with dark blue hair. I think Faust will definitely want to see it.

There is also a sword and a lucky bag necklace that need to be returned.

“...I wonder if I can come back here later.”

However, there is a hero over there, his disguise has been revealed, and crucially, I have no demon power at the moment. To be exact, it is the power that will allow you to escape no matter what you commit.

“I’m fine.”

So it probably won’t be right to go back right away. I scratched my head as I watched the boy speak with a calm expression.

“...Let’s come back in about five years.”

That was all I could say. The boy smiled faintly without answering.

“If I leave the sword here... I don’t know if it will be retrieved. “I should just take it with me.”

[Are you intentionally wasting time?]

If you’re going to come back someday, wouldn’t it be okay to give it back then? I glanced at the amber sword I had placed in my inventory and then caught a glimpse of the corpse of the monster I had caught.

...You can’t even get that, right? I glanced at the hideously tough and hard leather and then shivered as an incident from the past came to mind.

“Hey ya ya ya.”

[Please Gretchen. Let’s go—!]

“No, this time I don’t mean to mess with you. “Is there really no way to take this with you?”

[...Why is this happening?]

“I do it because I don’t want to end up looking like Biryuho, which was ruined by Moby Dick.”

[....]

The devil glared at me. The red glow of the goat bone mask felt just like that, even though there was no special emotional expression.

[...It could happen if we just leave it alone, but now the hero is coming here. Leave it alone. We will clean it up over there.]

“...You really can’t take the material?”

“You already know. Aside from the wrong I did to you... I created dozens of victims because I couldn’t control that demon properly. “I sacrificed thousands of people to bring you back.”

A voice echoed in my ears, breathing heavily.

“I am such trash. They say I’m a fool who doesn’t deserve to be saved by anyone. So no matter how you think about it, this is true. “I’m... I’m not worth investing 9 years of your time in.”

How do I get over this? [Hey, Gretchen.] I put my hand on the collar of my shirt to relieve my frustration a little. [I have to go.] But my shirt is already unbuttoned. [I chose this instead of that monster’s corpse.] I eventually returned to sighing.

“...Let’s review it from the beginning.”

Still, if you climb up step by step, you will reach the top someday. I rolled up my sleeves—they were tattered, so it didn’t mean much—and grabbed the rough surface of the cliff.

“First of all, it’s absolutely not your fault that you couldn’t control the demon and created dozens of victims. It didn’t happen because you gave up control, it happened because you tried but it wasn’t enough and you failed. yes?”

“But if I were a little stronger...”

“It’s unnecessary to assume that I was a little stronger. “That’s not something you can control.”

Even if you don’t have magical power, your strong body won’t go anywhere. Since I don’t have much rock climbing experience, it’s inevitable that I won’t be able to find my way around, but at least I won’t be in trouble due to lack of grip strength or waist strength. It was like that in the beginning.

“People usually describe damage caused by external factors that they cannot interfere with or control as a disaster. And when a disaster occurs, the fault is never the victim’s. It’s definitely not your fault. okay?”

「....」

“And the thing about sacrificing people is... yes. I can’t confirm that either. Because a mistake is a mistake.”

When I reached about halfway through one, I felt a little weak. To be more honest, it was a bit difficult.

Rustle. The often collapsing footing and sore muscles made me feel more tired than running several hundred meters. The same was true even if the recovered magic power was invested in between.

Climbing without tools was not something for a beginner at climbing.

“But... you were young and couldn’t call for rescue, let alone find someone to help you. The environment you were left in was one that even adults could not easily endure. “I think that needs to be clearly pointed out.”

Still, I passed half of it. Yes, more than half way through. I stretched out my hand again, looking at the distance below, which had become difficult to return to, and the distance above, which had decreased significantly. There is only half left.

“I’m not saying everything is forgiven just because you’re young. I’m not saying that it can be justified just because the person you killed was a criminal. “I just think that considering your age and circumstances, you deserve at least one chance.”

“Even though I killed so many people?”

“Yes. “Nevertheless, that’s what I think.”

Can the blood price of killing thousands of people be forgiven? Probably not. Dead people, regardless of whether they are criminals or not, will not understand the child.

“It would be so unreasonable if someone had to die because their struggle to live was a crime.”

I don’t think there are many people who can make a different choice in an environment where they can’t sleep, are in pain every moment, and can kill someone if they let their guard down even a little.

Therefore, the opportunity had to be given. It was so cruel to not even give them a chance to get better just because they had accumulated so many sins.

“But but how could I do that? What right do I have to live on the blood of those people...” I

felt too sorry for the child, who would not have been able to enjoy life properly, to let him die like this.

“Yes, Faust. The reason I rolled around randomly, saying I didn’t care if I died for a while, was because I couldn’t see any hope of getting better from here. Guilt is weighing down my whole body, and I never know when and where the devil will pop out. “I couldn’t see any point in being alive, so I thought it would be better to die.”

“...Yes.”

“But not now. If I last 9 years, you can get a chance to live. “The time I endured gained meaning.”

I moved my arm one last time at the edge of the cliff I had reached.

“My 9 years will be your 50 years. And your 50 years might just save more people than you killed. “Maybe you will be able to do more good deeds than the sins you committed.”

Rustle. My fingertips touched the top of the cliff. My whole body was soaked with sweat and it felt like a million pounds.

“So Faust lives. The sin you carry on your shoulders may be too heavy and the guilt will torment you from time to time, but try to live. As you live, opportunities to atone will come. There are moments when I can become a better person because I was not forgiven. That’s life. “That’s life.”

Still, it was the end, so I put the last of my strength into my fingertips. My body was pulled up and my body fell down on the cliff. Fuck. Watch me climb a rock wall without any magic power again.

“And to put it bluntly, I barely made a living by killing thousands of people and replacing an adult like myself. “It’s not polite to hang up here.”

Even though I felt the presence of divine power approaching, I lay on the ground and did not intend to move. The Inquisitor wore armor and there was no way he could rock climb with that armor. That kind of medicine was a bold decision that came out after calculation.

“Faust.”

“...Yes.”

“Do you still want to die after this?”

As if that was not an entirely wrong calculation, the sign of divine power stopped at the bottom of the cliff and did not move.

“Am I really going to die?”

no. It moved.

“...I am.”

Uh uh. [Hey, Gretchen.] My intuition suddenly started ringing an alarm. [I think I need to move right now─] My eyes widened.

“I...”

Quaaaaaang!

A huge sacred force struck the cliff and it began to collapse.