I Decided to Abandon the Traitors Who Planned to Use and Dispose of Me, the Hero, at the Last Moment. - Chapter 02: Hero’s Big Win! Let the Kingdom's Despair and Collapse Begin!!

Chapter 02: Hero’s Big Win! Let the Kingdom’s Despair and Collapse Begin!!

After their plan to betray me by killing me after defeating the Demon Lord was exposed, and with the Demon Lord still alive, the three women led by Marle were cornered. The first to move was Hilde.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!! Die, Hero! <<Wind Thrust>>!!“

I couldn’t tell if she was panicking, confused, or just desperate, but Hilde charged at me with her sword. I quickly had Thorn step back, raising my own sword to counter. If her attack accidentally hit Thorn, it could kill him! Why is Thorn always so fragile, Goddess?

However, what might have been fatal for Thorn was, to me, laughably slow. Perhaps Hilde thought that, with the damage and fatigue from the fight against the Demon Lord, she could take me down. Foolish, utterly foolish!

I barely moved, effortlessly deflecting her proud knightly strike with the smallest of motions, then countered with a swift slash of my own.

“―Hilde, do you still think you won’t be killed?”

Reacting to my attack, Hilde instinctively stepped back two, three steps, but then, realizing what had happened to her body, her face turned pale with despair, and she let out a scream.

“My arm!? My arm is gone!?”

I hadn’t even used a real technique—just a simple slash—but that was enough. Hilde’s arms were severed and now lay on the ground. Of course, I didn’t forget to add a flame attribute to the cut, burning the wounds to prevent bleeding and stopping her from healing with magic. Thorn once told me that attention to details like this is what sets considerate men apart!

Hilde, once so proud of her swordsmanship, would never wield a blade again. So, how do you feel now? How does it feel?

This is what it means to be a Hero. The ultimate force, the pinnacle of humanity’s power. Even though you were blessed by the goddess, there’s still an insurmountable wall between us. That’s why your plan to kill me after defeating the Demon Lord was doomed from the start.

“Argaahhh!! Noooo!! Prince, help me, Prince!! Prince Netrik!!”

Hilde screamed like a madwoman, her eyes rolling back as she fainted and collapsed on the spot.

“How could you do that to your own comrade… Elliot, you’re the worst kind of scum!”

Marle rushed to catch Hilde, glaring at me with hatred as if I were her worst enemy.

“Huh? She was the one who tried to kill me first.”

“Shut up! If you’d just killed the Demon Lord, none of this would’ve happened! You need to realize that your small-mindedness is why you lost to the prince as a man!”

Marle kept shrieking something, but it was unbearable to listen to. Her arguments were completely nonsensical, but it’s probably all she could come up with. If they hadn’t planned to betray me in the first place, none of this would have happened. Yet here she was, screaming that I was the only one to blame for not delivering the final blow to the Demon Lord. Was she always this stupid?

“Oh, I see. So that’s the kind of person you are. Well, in that case, the prince can handle the rest. See ya! Let’s go, Thorn.”

As I suggested that Thorn and I walk away from the fight, Cecilia tried to stop me. She dropped to her hands and knees, rubbing her forehead against the ground as she pleaded with me.

“Wait, please wait, Elliot!! We can’t defeat the Demon Lord without you! If you leave him alive, the kingdom will be destroyed when he retaliates! I apologize for betraying you! If you want, I’ll offer myself to you, so please, just finish off the Demon Lord and let your anger go!”

“Oh, really? That sounds tough. Do your best—it’s got nothing to do with me. …I’ve learned a lot on this journey, you know. Like how this war started. That prince you’ve all been sleeping with… the reason for the war was his habit of kidnapping demon girls from villages near the border, abusing them, and then selling them off to other countries once he got bored. Knowing that, I have no desire to fight for the kingdom at all. Anyone would be furious if their people were treated like that. Sure, it’s a shame that innocent citizens of the kingdom will get caught in the crossfire, but this mess was caused by the prince. Let him clean it up himself. And as for your offer, I’m not interested. It’s not enough to move me.”

Cecilia, with no response from me, just stared, her mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. Honestly, what a funny girl.

To begin with, the divine revelation I received from the goddess was to “end this war.” She never specifically said I had to kill the Demon Lord, so it wasn’t really necessary. Maybe that’s why the goddess didn’t command me to defeat him. In hindsight, perhaps her true intention was for me to eliminate the prince instead, to truly bring an end to the conflict. Who knows?

“—Wait! The Demon Lord!!”

At Marle’s words, I turned around and saw the Demon Lord standing there.

“It’s over! We’re doomed!! Run, Cecilia, run!!”

Carrying Hilde, Marle and Cecilia fled in a panic, dashing away as fast as they could.

As I watched the three of them disappear, exhaustion overwhelmed me, and I collapsed onto my back, spreading my arms and legs out. I started talking to the Demon Lord again, sensing that he no longer held any hostility.

“…Women are truly difficult creatures, Hero.”

His words carried a weight of experience and weariness, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah. But, I made plenty of copies of the crystals showing what those three did and scattered them all over the world. Not just in the kingdom, but even abroad. I also made sure to send them to the main church that sent Cecilia. So, their little scheme with the prince is now known worldwide. What happens to them after this isn’t my concern.”

“Hahaha, I see. That’s a fine way to get your revenge.”

The Demon Lord laughed heartily, with no sign of hostility, and instead, he seemed almost friendly.

“Hero, I never intended to wage war against ‘humanity.’ My war was against the ‘kingdom.’ That’s why I’ve only advanced on the kingdom’s front, while defending against attacks from other nations.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. Things will likely change now. I’ve already set things up so that word spreads about how the prince—and not the kingdom or the demons—was the real cause of all this. For all I know, other countries might turn on the kingdom because of it. But I’m done fighting, so it’s not my problem anymore.”

I’d suspected that the kingdom was the one stirring up the conflict and framing it as a war between humanity and demons. And now, it’s clear—the prince is the true evil here. Whether the other rulers knew about it or not, the royal family of the kingdom might end up being purged by humanity before the demons even get to them.

“Hero, now that you’ve abandoned the fight, what will you do?”

“My body has taken a beating from all the reckless things I’ve done in this war, and it’s been screaming in pain. I’m a mess! …So, I’m heading south. I’ve heard they have good hot springs there. I’ll soak in them and heal my wounds while living out the rest of my life in peace.”

“I see… Hmmp!”

The Demon Lord nodded at my words, then slammed his fist into the floor next to me, creating a massive hole.

“This strike is filled with the rage of a friend whose woman was stolen! Let it be known that the hero, Elliot, who fought the Demon Lord, perished here. The man before me now is free from all chains—take care of yourself, Elliot.”

The Demon Lord gave a sly grin, and I returned it with a smile of my own. No words were needed—a strange camaraderie had formed between us, forged through the clash of swords.

Without me, the kingdom’s strongest warrior, they would undoubtedly be destroyed by the Demon Lord or perhaps another nation. But that no longer mattered to me. From here on, I would live my own life.

“But, Demon Lord, why did you stop fighting me?”

“Heh, before I became the Demon Lord, I was just another demon. But my childhood lover was stolen by the previous Demon Lord. I trained and fought for revenge, and that’s how I ended up in this position.”

I see. So, he knows the pain of having a childhood friend taken from him too. Why is it that childhood friends always get stolen away? Tell me, Thorn—because the goddess sure isn’t answering.

“One day, when this war is finally over, tell me your own story of sweet revenge, brother.”

At my words, the Demon Lord nodded with a smile. Our conversation wrapped up, and I tried to move on, but my body was so exhausted that I couldn’t budge.

“Ah, I can’t move. Thorn, could you carry me?”

“Fine. But take off that armor first, it’s too heavy.”

With the clanking and zipping of metal, I stripped off the armor, feeling much lighter. With a strange, comical shout of “Heave-ho!”, Thorn lifted me onto his back. And so, with the Demon Lord watching us leave, we walked out of the Demon Lord’s castle together.