Betrayed by His Party, a Failed Healing Mage Revived Past Demon Lords Out of Spite and They Were All Overpowered Beautiful Girls - 19

Chapter 19: The Traitor Hero’s Oath

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Side: Hero

Albert lost his words when he heard the report from the soldier who had ridden at full speed from the royal capital to the town of Sapan.

“The royal capital was attacked!?”

“Yes. Not only soldiers, but many knights were killed.”

“Th-that’s impossible!! The royal capital is protected by the Seven Knights!?”

The Kingdom of Halmesia had seven powerful individuals known as the Seven Knights. In terms of individual combat strength, they even surpassed Testarossa, so Albert could not believe they had been defeated, and he was thrown into severe confusion.

“The Seven Knights were annihilated. They were apparently killed easily, without even having time to resist.”

“They were easily defeated?”

“There were four monsters that attacked the capital. One of them was the user of powerful charm magic reported before… but the other three are also believed to be entities equal to or greater than the Demon Lord.”

“W-what did you say?”

The “Knight Killer,” which relentlessly hunted down the strong in the capital, the “Rotting Corpses,” whose decayed bodies spread a highly infectious and deadly plague… And the “Crimson Princess,” who controlled blood and attacked the royal castle. All of them were monsters on par with the Demon Lord, and the Kingdom of Halmesia had suffered devastating damage.

“‘Crimson Princess’… no, that can’t be.”

What Albert recalled was the Demon Lord he had finished off with his own hands. He had definitely pierced its heart with the holy sword. There was no way it could still be alive, not even a one-in-ten-thousand chance. It had to be someone else with similar abilities—

Is that really true?

If it was just someone with similar powers, that wouldn’t be unusual. However, could two individuals with similar abilities, both strong enough to wipe out the Seven Knights, appear at the same time?

Could it be the Demon Lord itself, having somehow avoided death?

“And also.”

“There’s more?”

“…Her Majesty the Queen, and the First and Second Princesses have been abducted and are currently missing.”

“…I see.”

After the soldier finished his report and left the room, Albert slammed the table hard enough to nearly break it and cursed.

“Damn it!!”

How did this happen? I was supposed to be remembered forever as the hero who killed the Demon Lord, the tragic hero who lost his beloved saint due to his companions’ betrayal!

At least four monsters comparable to the Demon Lord had been confirmed. One of them used abilities similar to the Demon Lord Albert had defeated. Was this really just a coincidence?

“…Lilith.”

“What is it?”

“Is there magic that can bring the dead back to life?”

Lilith answered Albert’s question without hesitation.

“There is not. The dead do not return. That is the law of this world.”

“…I see. Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, that was a strange question.”

Given the situation, maybe he was more mentally cornered than he thought. At that moment, something suddenly came back to him.

(If only he were here at times like this…)

What resurfaced was the day before they stormed the Demon Lord’s castle. The night he couldn’t sleep out of fear of facing a battle where he might die. A precious friend who grew up in the same village, who had no power or talent, yet came along simply because “I’m worried about Albert.”

He had said.

『If you’re scared, why not just run away? I run away all the time.』

『Huh? I’m the hero, so I can’t run away… 』

『There you go again, getting hung up on weird responsibility…Look, the hero isn’t a god, just a human. It’s fine to be scared. It’s not like humanity will be wiped out immediately if you don’t defeat the Demon Lord.』

Unbelievably, that man had told Albert, who bore the mission to defeat the Demon Lord, that it was okay to run away. That only made it impossible for him to run. Not to save the people suffering under the Demon Lord, but to protect that “useless, good-for-nothing friend,” he chose to fight.

At that moment, Albert tilted his head.

“…Hm? What? Something feels off…”

He didn’t know what was wrong. But something felt fundamentally misaligned, as if he had made an irreversible mistake.

“Ah, geez!! This is the worst!! Having to keep fighting even after defeating the Demon Lord isn’t funny at all!!”

“Don’t be selfish, Karia. That is what it means to be in the Hero’s Party. Besides, if we overcome this crisis, the name of the Hero’s Party will be ‘passed down through history forever.’ Right, Albert?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah… that’s right. Into history… our name…”

Maybe it was a coincidence. He had already been feeling a sense of discomfort toward his own ambitions and ideals, and then another small discomfort layered on top of it, growing into something larger. As if the threads binding him tightly were unraveling—

The color drained from Albert’s face.

“!?”

And then, remembering what he had done to the best friend he had cherished more than anything, Albert vomited everything in his stomach. Testarossa and the others were stunned at the hero suddenly throwing up.

“W-what happened!?”

“Hey, what!?”

“…Strange. I should have healed your body perfectly.”

“N-no, I’m fine. I just suddenly felt sick, haha…”

Albert forced a smile and desperately tried to brush it off as Testarossa and the others rushed to him. However, his mind was anything but calm.

(Since when? Since when did I stop being myself? When did I start obsessing over something as stupid as ‘leaving my name in history’!?)

His thoughts spun endlessly.

(That’s right, what I wanted wasn’t to leave my name in history. I just wanted to go on fun adventures with him, that’s why I became a hero. Defeating the Demon Lord or being remembered in history didn’t matter at all.)

He desperately suppressed the trembling in his limbs.

(It was a pure chance that I came back to my senses. I’m not like Alicia, but I still have the goddess’s blessing. If my opponent is someone skilled enough to control me, next time I won’t come back to my senses. I absolutely cannot let them realize I’ve regained it.)

Albert realized it immediately. It was after Testarossa, Karia, Mana, and Alicia joined the party that he started becoming obsessed with gaining fame.

(Alicia… I killed her. Testarossa and Karia are bad with magic, so the most likely one is Mana?)

Albert turned his suspicion toward the party member who wasn’t here. But he quickly denied it.

(It’s also possible Testarossa and Karia are pretending to be bad at magic. No, this won’t work. I can’t trust anyone. Which one is it… no, finding the culprit comes later. First, Valsh’s… remains…)

Albert clenched his teeth as he thought that far. After killing his best friend, he had even falsely accused him of conspiring with the Demon Lord to kill the saint. How could he possibly face him now? Even so, at the very least, he didn’t want to leave his dear friend’s remains in the Demon Lord’s castle.

“So what are we going to do, Albert?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me. Are we going to the capital to reinforce defenses, or stay in Sapan and monitor the Great Forest of Ruve? Which is it?”

The deathly mist had stopped expanding near the entrance of the Great Forest of Ruve. Civilians had already evacuated from Sapan. The only ones left in the town were soldiers, knights, or tough merchants who had gathered seeing opportunity in the chaos. Albert made his decision immediately.

“…For now, until we receive orders from the king, we stay in Sapan and monitor the Great Forest of Ruve.”

Testarossa and Karia nodded and left the room for their respective tasks. Only Albert and Lilith remained.

“Then, I will take my leave as well.”

“…Wait, Lilith. I have something important to discuss.”

“A discussion?”

Testarossa and Karia were suspicious. However, Lilith had joined the party while Albert was not in his right mind. At the very least, she was not an enemy he had to defeat. Albert confessed everything he had done and asked for her cooperation. It was obvious even to Albert that Lilith admired “him,” so he told her the truth knowing he might be killed.

“I see.”

“You can kill me after everything is over!! But right now, him… at least his remains…”

“…It finally matches.”

Lilith nodded quietly.

“Huh?”

“Albert. A smart idiot. Someone who gets scammed easily, loses not only the party’s money but even the clothes off his back, and then charges into a group of ogres with nothing but underwear and a wooden stick to get the money back.”

Albert was shocked.

“H-how do you know that!?”

“I heard everything from my senior apprentice.”

“That guy!! He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone about that!!”

“…A kind fool who prioritizes helping others over fame. Someone who endures silently so as not to worry others even when every bone in his body is broken. I finally feel like I have seen the Hero Albert that my senior apprentice talked about.”

“…”

Albert clenched his fist. First, he would save the Kingdom of Halmesia, which had fallen into crisis before this unknown threat. Then, he would confess his crimes before the people and restore his dear friend’s honor. And after everything was over, he swore he would offer his own head at “his” grave.

“Then, let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“I will help recover my senior apprentice’s body from the Demon Lord’s castle. If I keep casting advanced healing magic, we should be able to manage even inside the mist.”

“…Thank you.”

Albert and Lilith quietly slipped out of Sapan in the middle of the night and headed toward the depths of the Great Forest of Ruve, where the Demon Lord’s castle was. Just as they left the forest, what emerged from the forest were countless skeleton soldiers.

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