Exiled to the Graveyard of Heroes, I Revived Them All and Now an Unprecedented Nation of Legends Has Been Born - Chapter 29 & 30: [THE END]

Chapter 29: The Hero of [Resurrection] Watches the Traitor’s End

A beautiful woman stood atop the slain heroes.

She had long golden hair and piercing eyes—a face so flawless it almost hurt to look at. She was an absolute stunner.

She clapped her hands deliberately, like an actor savoring the stage.

“Wow, that was splendid!! What an exciting battle! I was truly moved!! I never expected even my minions to be defeated!!”

Her first words were nothing but praise.

I kept my guard up against the woman—this evil god—and asked flatly,

“What do you want, evil god?”

“I only came to share my thoughts on today’s little story. It was so entertaining!! I’d love to see a sequel with you as the lead!! Oh, and one more thing.”

“…What?”

“I came to recruit you. Want to be one of my followers? I’m sure you’d keep me from getting bored!! Ah, and if you refuse, I’ll kill you. Shred you to bits so you can’t come back.”

That wasn’t a recruitment offer so much as a threat.

“I refuse. I won’t follow scum who make people fight for their amusement.”

“Heh, I thought you’d say that. Fine—after I kill you, I’ll forcibly bind your soul as a slave. I said I’d kill you before, but I’m merciful to my favorites.”

“!”

She raised a hand toward me.

At that instant, someone drove a blade of light straight into the evil god’s back.

““Huh?!””

Our voices overlapped.

Behind the evil god stood a woman I knew far too well.

She was my old party mate and former lover—the Saintess, Nia—and she had driven a blade into the evil god’s back.

I wasn’t the only one stunned.

The evil god hadn’t expected it either; she looked taken aback.

“…Ah, you’re the current saint. You’re so insignificant I didn’t even notice. Your time on stage was already over.”

“This is payback for taking my prey.”

“Heh, how foolish. Even if you’re blessed by the goddess as a saint, an ordinary mortal who isn’t even a hero couldn’t possibly hurt me—gah.”

“Fufufu…”

The evil god suddenly spat a mouthful of blood.

She stared at Nia as if she could not comprehend what had just happened.

Nia smiled without a hint of fear.

“I could tell at a glance. You’re an enemy of the goddess—an evil god or something like it.”

“Y-You… could it be—”

“Yes. This light blade is the goddess’s magic. It will wound you thoroughly.”

“Impossible… If a mortal uses such magic, their soul will collapse. They won’t reach heaven or hell.”

“Well, that sounds perfect. A fitting end for the scum who betrayed Him. —gof”

Blood burst from Nia’s eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.

At the sight of that, the evil god’s lips twisted into a delighted smile.

“Fufu, ahahah!! I like it!! What a delicious ending!! I’ll just die quietly here!! Ah, what a fun divine life this was!!”

The evil god disappeared with that smile.

Nia collapsed where she stood, blood pouring from her body.

I rushed to her side.

“Nia, you—”

“Excuse me… is someone there? I can’t see or hear anything well… I’m sorry.”

Up close, I saw both of Nia’s eyes had burst.

Her ears were likely ruined too—she must have lost most of her hearing.

She didn’t seem to recognize me.

I didn’t know what to do, so I sat beside her and took her hand.

“Oh… thank goodness. There’s someone here. Please, stranger… would you… make a grave in that place’s homeland? In the homeland of the hero of [Resurrection]?”

“…”

“I committed a terrible sin. To protect my sister I sacrificed the person I loved most. I am an unforgivable criminal. At the grave, please tell them the traitor died miserably. Please… please…”

So she betrayed me to protect her little sister, huh.

Now that I thought about it, Nia did have a much younger sister.

Glenn or Melia must have taken the girl hostage to force Nia’s hand.

Those two really were the worst kind of trash.

And me—since I failed to act before it ever came to that—I wasn’t much better.

Nia breathed her last while begging me to let the world know of her miserable end.

The magic of the goddess that saints wielded always demanded a price if misused.

And Nia had unleashed magic strong enough to kill an evil god.

Even as a saint, she was still human—there was no way she could survive it.

“…[Resurrection].”

I tried to revive her, but nothing happened.

Just like the evil god had said, her very soul was damaged.

This was true death.

No heaven, no hell, no reincarnation—just nothingness.

“…If you die like this, how am I supposed to hate you? Leaving your sister behind, betraying me for nothing—it makes no damn sense.”

A choking bitterness welled up inside me.

I hadn’t known something this sickening could even exist in this world.

And then—

“My, my, what reckless things you do.”

“Huh, who’s there!?”

“Hehehe… just a wandering fortune-teller.”

A voice rang out behind me. When I turned, I saw her—an old crone.

The same fortune-teller who had spoken to me in an alleyway during the raid on the capital.

But why was she here…?

“You used my magic even though you’re not a hero—that’s why this happened. Young people these days really are reckless.”

“W-Who are you?”

“Don’t ask boring questions, Elott. More important is that girl. At this rate, she truly will die.”

“…What should I do?”

“There’s nothing you can do. It was her choice. But… I can at least keep her soul from collapsing.”

…!

“I can’t resurrect her, mind you. But I can let her be reborn as someone else.”

“Then… please. I’m begging you.”

“Alright. You go revive the rest of your comrades.”

“…Yes. Thank you… Goddess.”

“Heh, I’m just a fortune-teller.”

I turned to resurrect the friends slain by the evil god.

And when I looked back—Nia’s body and the fortune-teller were both gone.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

Quick Peek

The Old Woman’s True Identity

The fortune-teller was actually a fragment of the goddess. To make sure she wouldn’t perish until the evil god was defeated, she had survived for four thousand years by hoarding the crystallization of human greed—money. By summoning Yamada, a man practically made of greed, she regained just enough strength to protect Nia’s soul.

If you thought, “Wait, the old woman was the goddess all along!?” then toss some ★s my way!

Next time, the grand finale!! And the new series, “After Crushing the Mastermind, I Gained Infinite Mana. Since I Dodged the Bad End, I’ll Overpower Both the Game World and the Real World” will begin posting! Don’t miss it!!

And if you caught yourself thinking, “The evil god was way too evil,” “That ending was bitter,” or “I totally pictured the goddess as a beauty,” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!

Final Chapter: The Hero of [Resurrection] Reunites with the Demon Lord

The Ixion Kingdom was gone.

One day, its entire population simply vanished.

In truth, they had all been turned into weapons by the evil god, but only a handful of us in Resurek knew that secret.

To the rest of the world, the truth would never be known.

Ah, and by the way—Glenn and Melia were still alive, rotting at the bottom of the Abyss.

The Hero of [Torture] had been gleefully experimenting on them, trying every method he could imagine. Watching them suffer had become his new daily pastime.

Hm? You want specifics?

…Like implanting insect-type monster larvae inside their bodies so they were eaten alive from within. At first, it was amusing to watch them writhing in agony, but once the creatures began bursting out of their bellies, it got too grotesque even for me.

Shizukuishi and the other otherworlders clutched their mouths, muttering things like, “I-It’s like Ali○n…” as if recalling old trauma.

Well, enough about those two.

“W-What is with this mountain of paperwork…?”

“These are letters from kings all over the world requesting an audience with you. Strictly speaking, founding a nation without the goddess’s permission is a sin punishable by death. Still, it seems they at least have the courtesy to recognize you formally.”

Zona laid stack after stack of documents across the table.

“S-Still, this is way too much paperwork…”

“That’s thanks to the Principality of Full-Armor pressuring every nation to act.”

“Principality of Full-Armor… you mean Noel?”

“Yes. Also, half of Ixion’s territory has now been absorbed into Resurek. At this rate, let’s make the entire world yours, my king.”

“I already told you—I’m not starting another war.”

Half a kingdom might sound small, but Ixion had once ruled half the continent.

Which meant a full quarter of the continent now belonged to the Hero Nation of Resurek.

Honestly, it was far too much land to govern properly.

As for the other half of Ixion’s territory? Noel had cleverly arranged for the surrounding nations to divide it among themselves.

Naturally, the Principality of Bandelt claimed the largest share. As expected of them.

“We’ve also received piles of requests from elves, beastfolk, dwarves, and countless other races asking to become citizens of your nation.”

That line came with yet another stack of documents—handed over by a cute blonde girl.

Her face carried a faint resemblance to Nia.

“Thanks, Sheena. But really, you don’t need to help with this. You should be outside playing.”

“I don’t have time to play. If I want to repay the kindness you showed me when you took me in, I have to work.”

“I-I see…”

This girl was Nia’s little sister, Sheena.

I had asked Noel to track her down, and I took her in myself.

Right after learning of her sister’s death, she had been crushed with grief. But now she worked diligently at Zona’s side, pouring all her effort into Resurek.

Honestly, I wished she could just be a kid—running around with the same carefree energy as Hachi.

But instead, here she was, buried in work.

“Oh, by the way, how’s she doing?”

“You mean the masked girl?”

The masked girl had been brainwashed after receiving power from the evil god. Once the god disappeared, she regained her sanity… but—

“She’s currently stalking the Hero of [Slaughter].”

“O-Oh, I see.”

“Incidentally, the Hero of [Slaughter] has formally requested a law against stalkers.”

Apparently, the masked girl had fallen head over heels for Rocoro—the man who had defeated her.

Well, if it was Rocoro, the strongest hero in both name and deed, he could probably handle it.

More importantly, I had to figure out how to manage all this new land.

Maybe I should grant noble titles to Tiara, Meimei, Imuru, and the other heroes, and have them govern different regions.

As I sat there glaring at yet another pile of paperwork—

The door suddenly burst open, and Silesta came charging in.

“Mister!!”

“Whoa, you scared me! What happened? Why are you in such a rush—”

“Mister, I finally understand how wonderful love is!! Marry me right now and let’s make babies!!”

“Hm, looks like she’s been infected by that ‘Ideological Pandemic Woman’s’ nonsense.”

“Don’t tell me Ayla broke out again and started spreading her ideas!?”

Silesta’s eyes literally had hearts in them as she tried to push me down.

She was completely under the influence of [Love].

“H-Hey, Zona!! Stop Silesta!!”

“My king, producing many children is no problem. In fact, leaving behind as many heirs of royal blood as possible is the wisest course. Ah—here come more.”

“El-chi!! Hold meee!!”

“Wha—Miss Takanashi too!? S-Someone!! Anyone!!”

As I frantically shouted for help, another figure burst into the room.

“Boss, boss!!”

“Hachi!? Perfect timing!! Please save me!!”

“Waaah, Boss is about to mate!!”

“T-That’s not what’s happening!! Just help me—”

“Listen, listen!! Outside, Yamada’s trying to build a giant humanoid weapon with transformation functions out of a modified battleship, and Shizukuishi’s screaming at him!!”

…What!? That’s way too interesting!!

While I was still being smothered by Silesta and Takanashi—

“And listen, listen!!”

“T-There’s more!?”

“The armor person said, ‘We’ve found what you were looking for!’”

“!?”

There was only one thing I had asked Noel to search for.

They’d found the Demon Lord’s corpse.

I somehow managed to restrain Silesta and Takanashi, then hurried straight to Noel.

“Noel!!”

“Hm, you’ve come. Elott, this way.”

He led me deep into the underground of Ixion’s castle.

Down a spiraling staircase, we reached a place that looked like a mausoleum.

At its center, someone lay in repose.

Their appearance was androgynous—neither fully boy nor girl—with twisted horns, a tail, and wings sprouting from their body.

“The Demon Lord…”

This was the very one—the Demon Lord I longed to apologize to.

When I touched them and cast [Resurrection], their eyelids slowly fluttered open.

“Nn… where is this…? Huh? Hero?”

“…Demon Lord…”

“Hey, you’ve got a different vibe now. You seem way nicer than before. So, what’s going on here?”

“T-That is…”

I had sworn that the first thing I would do when I saw them again was apologize.

But now, no words would come out.

While I fumbled for an answer, the Demon Lord just smiled and said,

“Let’s talk. Tell me what’s happened since our battle.”

“Y-Yeah!!”

And so, I began recounting everything to the Demon Lord—everything that had led to this day.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

The loss of taste was stress-related.

But strangely enough, while eating and watching Glenn and Melia being tortured, the flavor came back.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. With this chapter, the story is complete—but a print edition project is already in the works! Please look forward to more news.

Also, my new series “After Crushing the Mastermind, I Gained Infinite Mana. Since I Dodged the Bad End, I’ll Overpower Both the Game World and the Real World” has begun posting. If you’re interested, please check it out!!

And if you found yourself thinking, “That was fun,” “The author’s jealousy leaking into the tidbit cracked me up,” or “I’m off to read the new series!!” then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!