I am back – Chapter 144

It’s hard to understand how a city occupied by hundreds of Demon King’s soldiers could be captured by just five people.

Of course, a battlefield isn’t governed by common sense.

A brilliant general can make a lose-lose battle turn into a win, and conversely, a general can lead a must-win battle to defeat.

From the Demon King’s side, the existence of a Hero was striking.

With a single swing of a sword, dozens of demon races could disappear, and even the demon race that had slain hundreds of humans could be cleaved in half by a holy sword.

But that didn’t mean they were unbeatable.

Since the odds weren’t zero, some commanders from the Demon King’s army resorted to overwhelming numbers or various ambush strategies, determined to confront the Hero, and they had, in fact, occasionally managed to push back. No one had succeeded in killing the Hero, though.

As long as they didn’t die, they could come back and fight again. With that thought, the five people had held out until now.

But this battle was different.

Actually, it was debatable whether it could even be called a battle.

“Please, spare my life!”

“What…?”

The first words from the captured Demon King soldiers, holding knives to their necks, were those desperate pleas.

“I don’t want to fight! We’ll surrender, so please spare our lives!”

The Demon King soldier shouting that was guarding a checkpoint on the way to the city walls.

Had it been any other time, like when the Demon King’s army was much closer to them on the battlefield, he would never have said something like that. He would have rather risked his life to inform others that the Hero party was here.

Well, the same could probably be said for the Kingdom’s troops.

“….”

Arna, who was holding a sword behind another soldier, locked eyes with Siyun. A silent conversation passed between them.

Somehow, it seemed like this was truly sincere.

They had thoroughly checked the area around the checkpoint before arriving here. They were certain there were no ambushes left.

Even if they let their guard down for a moment, they could easily suppress this many soldiers.

*

Of course, that didn’t mean they’d blindly let them go. They had experienced many times already the consequences of a slightly careless moment on the battlefield.

Two captured Demon King soldiers were surrounded by the five members of the Hero party, their arms firmly bound with strong rope, forced to kneel.

Whether the others noticed or not, it seemed that the presence of Siyun and Arna was unmistakable to them. The soldiers’ faces, already pale, turned almost purple upon seeing the two.

An Elf and a black-haired Hero carrying a shining sword—such appearances were not common even for Irrelaysia.

“So…”

Kalia stepped forward.

The red-haired knight seemed well-known. The demon soldiers trembled even more at the sight of Kalia. Though her hair color was not that special in this world, seeing the first person would naturally make one think of the other three. No matter how demoralized a soldier was, they couldn’t possibly fail to recognize the sight of people with golden coins worth ten pieces hanging around their necks.

“You want to surrender?”

“Y-yes! Exactly! It’s not just us!”

“What do you mean, it’s not just you?”

Upon Kalia’s question, the two soldiers exchanged glances for a moment before looking back at Kalia.

“We, we are opposed to the Demon King’s objective! Everyone in this city feels the same!”

“We’ve been waiting for the Hero to arrive.”

Whoever snorted derisively.

Aside from Pia, it would have been strange for anyone not to react like that.

“It would be impossible for the Demon King to gather such a number of opponents at such a major stronghold. Do you think we would fall for such lies?”

“No! Really, it’s u—”

Feeling the cold blade at his throat, the soldier fell silent.

“I understand that you have no will to fight. You surrendered, and I’ve never seen Demon King soldiers behave like this before. However…”

Kalia glared at the two as she spoke.

“Just because you have no will to fight doesn’t mean you are automatically allies.”

“….”

“It’s easy to tell if what you’re saying is a lie or the truth.”

Dana stepped forward from behind, her hand enveloped in a light blue glow, reminiscent of thin lightning dancing around her fingers on a rainy day.

“Reading minds isn’t possible, but I can definitely tell if you’re lying or telling the truth.”

“What could we gain from lying?”

The soldier shouted in terror.

“Saintess!”

Another soldier shouted from the side.

“We share the same faith as the Saintess!”

“….”

At those words, the surroundings fell eerily silent.

“Please believe us. We can guide you into the city.”

“….”

Siyun, Arna, Kalia, Dana, and Pia looked at each other in silence for a while.

*

“That was quite unbelievable.”

Kalia commented after hearing Pia’s account.

Kalia had almost perfectly adapted to using chopsticks now. Initially, she couldn’t even hold them properly after coming to this world, but perhaps thanks to her unique athleticism, after consistent practice, it was now believable that she had always used chopsticks.

“I have no idea what we were thinking to trust those demon races.”

“Because the situation was that strange,” Dana replied, concentrating and maneuvering her chopsticks.

“In such a situation, you believed those… demons?”

Ayn said, looking shocked.

Ayn enjoyed hearing about Siyun’s adventures in Irrelaysia. Of course, there had been quite a few stories till now, but you couldn’t expect to share everything that had happened over five years in just a few weeks.

“That’s right. We didn’t completely trust those demons, but we at least thought it was worth checking out.”

“…The Goddess must have helped us,” Pia added, continuing Arna’s statement.

“Yeah, I felt it too.”

Siyun, who had been recalling things quietly while listening, finally spoke.

“The Goddess?”

Ayn said that with a somewhat awkward expression. It seemed she still struggled to get used to the term “Goddess.”

It was understandable. In this world, especially in Korea, religions that believe in goddesses were hardly mainstream. In fact, if you asked Koreans to cite a religion that believed in a goddess, very few would be able to answer. Some might stutter out “Hinduism” in an unsure voice.

“She never directly said, ‘Trust what I say.'”

“When it’s time for an important decision, she doesn’t impose it unilaterally,” Kalia continued.

She merely gives slight hints. It’s not exactly, “There’s no disadvantage in complying with my request,” but sometimes you get the feeling your mind has lit up with guidance. This was a way for faithful believers to communicate with the Goddess, and not only Siyun or Pia but many sincere followers experienced this too.

And the Goddess usually answered Siyun and Pia in this manner unless it was a personal matter that needed discussion.

When it came to issues that required self-realization, the Goddess would always remain silent.

“So?”

Perhaps understanding a bit better, Ayn asked.

“What happened when you went to the city?”

“To put it simply, they were right.”

Kalia said calmly.

“There were almost no people wanting to fight in that city.”

“But the Demon King’s army…”

Kalia nodded as she spoke.

“They acted as if they were born to kill in battle and behaved like an unyielding force of evil that would never crumble.”

“But that means the demon races were living beings too,” Dana finally succeeded in getting a piece of kimchi onto her chopsticks, speaking as she did.

“In battle, they trembled in fear, they felt pain when wounded, and they had families back home. They were living beings too, wanting to protect their own… Not that it absolves them of all their crimes.”

“But that also means there were innocent beings among them.”

Kalia took Dana’s words.

“They could never be said to be innocent from the perspective of the Demon King’s army.”

And to that, Arna added,

“How is that even possible?”

At Ayn’s words, Kalia spoke with a sardonic expression.

“What I mean is that the upper echelon of the Demon King’s army is not much different from the upper class of the Kingdom. Nobles don’t hesitate to spend money to send their kids to relatively safe places. And some entities bribe in rather peculiar ways.”

“Up until then, I thought there were no other religions among the demon races except for those who believed in the Demon King. I thought anyone else must have been killed.”

Pia, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, spoke up.

“But whether they are demons or humans, those who survive will usually do anything to survive,” she concluded.