Chapter 30 – End of the Battle
The single remark from the boy standing before him changed everything.
The defeated strategist weakly pushed himself up, while the dazed woman slowly lowered the sword in her hand.
Before Sheto’s eyes, the destruction of the Hero, which he had witnessed many times now, was already beginning.
“I had heard stories… But you Heroes really do disappear…”
Without concern for the onlookers, Berganda walked over and stood beside him. Sheto looked up and saw his calm expression as he put away his weapon.
“Any last words?”
“Just…one thing.”
The boy hesitated, and then he straightened his posture and looked up at the Demon General.
“After I am gone, everyone in the army will return to being ordinary people again. Most of them are soldiers who were strengthened by the divine rule.”
“And you want me to let them go? And forget how they have killed our friends?”
“But you are barely holding up as it is. Why suffer such pointless losses now? It would be better to retreat.”
The boy spoke firmly, even as his body was falling apart. Berganda could only chuckle sadly.
“Good grief… And I thought you were a mere child. A puppet for a god’s game.”
“Then…”
“Thanks to you, my forces are in complete disarray. After the victory fest, we will be forced to reorganize. Komos will be furious, but I will accept your request.”
“Thank…you.”
The boy said. And then he turned to his comrades.
“Thank you for coming this far with me. I am truly sorry about all of this… It is my responsibility.”
“…You can’t be serious!”
As the Hero faded away, he saw Poro staggering forward.
In spite of the roughness of his words, there was confusion and pleading in his eyes.
“What do you mean, it’s ‘your responsibility’! If you think so, lead us to victory! What happened to this ‘Reset’! What is the god doing!?”
The words drifted away, hollowly.
Poro reached out to grab the Hero’s collar, but his fingers caught empty air.
“How far…”
Poro’s face was stained with frustration and he screamed.
“How far will you go to make fools of us!? All you Heroes…!”
The boy bit his lip once and bowed his head once again. And then he was gone.
—
Furukamuto let out a sigh as he watched the scene in the water mirror.
After that desperate struggle, through mud and broken bones, he had still failed and been defeated by the two monsters.
While it had been entertaining in a way, the final outcome was still utterly ordinary.
“Well, I suppose it was amusing enough.”
“You truly are the worst.”
The goddess did not hide her disgust towards him. He only gave her a look of contempt and then turned back to the Goddess of Time.
“Yesta. Allocated all existing Eye blessings towards buybacks. Include the levels granted to the soldiers as well. It is not much, but it is better than nothing.”
And like that, the clock staff mercilessly drew away the light of the world below. Yet none of the soldiers or those on the battlefield noticed a thing.
“After I have been frozen, send a notice to all tags. Tell them I was defeated because of Saliashe and her kobold.”
“Understood.”
In the council chamber, the other gods quietly began to drift away as the Dragon God once again took a sip from his cup.
While seeing all of this, Furukamuto leaned back comfortably in his chair.
“Regrettaly, I have been defeated. But make no mistake, Saliashe. This loss is due to the limits of my own strategy.”
“…Even now, you cannot shut your own mouth!”
“I have a reason for speaking. The flaw was with my selection of Hero. As expected, human self-restraint is quite unpredictable. From now on, I will only choose those who can execute my orders…like a machine.”