# Translation
Holy Knight Eric.
Despite his behavior of bullying young children, he possessed fairly decent skills.
He was an opponent I absolutely couldn't let my guard down against, someone I couldn't afford to give any opening to.
I spoke while staying alert to the holy knights surrounding me.
"Did you receive the gift I left in the auditorium?"
"I received it well, you piece of trash. What exactly were your intentions in coming here? And where is the Saint... no, where is Estia?"
What filthy, greedy eyes.
If I hadn't kidnapped Estia, this trash would have always been near her.
At that thought, I felt the blood in my head turn ice cold.
"You're not going to answer? Speak!! Why did you come to this church after five years!! What's your purpose!?"
"..."
Eric shouted in rage when I ignored his questions.
I checked Eric and the nearby holy knights.
Every single one of them reeked like rotten cheese.
None of them seemed worth showing mercy to.
"...I'll answer with actions."
"What?"
"First, one."
I quickly moved my body and slipped through the gap between the holy knights.
He was startled but swung his sword to protect his life.
However, his sword didn't reach me, and the sword another holy knight swung to protect him only cut through empty air.
I safely moved behind the holy knight and placed my sword against his neck.
"Hi, hiiik...!! P-please spare me...! Captain Eric...!"
"This trash!! How cowardly, taking a hostage!!"
Fighting multiple opponents alone is difficult.
So I take a hostage and slowly reduce their numbers.
That's the standard method in one-versus-many combat.
I pressed my sword deeper against the holy knight's neck to threaten them.
"Multiple people attacking one person is more cowardly, holy knight."
...No, wait.
The Hero Party also attacks the Demon King with multiple people.
I take that back.
Eric trembled as he watched me take a hostage, but soon narrowed his brow as if he'd made a decision.
"...Holy knights can be trained again from the start. But you can only be killed right now."
"C-Captain Eric...? D-don't come clo—"
"Die, kidnapper of the Saint."
*Slash—*
Eric mercilessly swung his sword at me while I held the hostage.
As a result, naturally the hostage's body was severed and fell to the floor.
"C-Captain... why..."
"You're a heretic who defies the Goddess. Everything is according to the Goddess's will. The Goddess will watch over your death as well."
"..."
He's insane.
Eric had brutally cut down his own comrade right before his eyes.
Though he hadn't managed to harm me at all.
He desperately tried to justify his actions as the Goddess's will.
I found Eric's actions and words amusing.
"Let's see if you'll say the same when you're left alone."
One person.
Two people.
I watched as Eric's victims continued to pile up.
Until he collapsed from exhaustion.
Until he begged me to kill him.
*I'll make him experience half the pain that Estia went through.*
On behalf of Estia, who had no thoughts of revenge, I planned to slowly crush him to death.
The secret passage was long.
Judging by the wind blowing, there was clearly an end, but Hare's patience wasn't particularly outstanding.
"S-should we really have left the old man behind...? If he sacrificed himself for us... shouldn't we offer our lives out of guilt toward him—"
"Shut up, Hare! How many times have you said that now!"
"Exactly four times."
"I'm going to get neurotic! Stop it already!!"
"..."
At Luna's booming cry, Hare closed her mouth.
Hare continued to bite her nails and show signs of anxiety, but the Hero Party ignored her behavior and headed toward the end of the passage.
"If we pay attention to every little thing, there'll be no end! You're all weird!"
"You're weird too, Luna. Don't pretend you're not."
"What's wrong with me! I'm normal!"
"People who think they're normal are the most abnormal."
"Th-that's nonsense!"
Though there was a minor argument in the process, Estia put her finger to her lips when they reached a certain point.
"Shh, everyone be quiet!"
"...I don't sense any presence. Is something wrong?"
"From here on, we need to be quiet. The kids won't like it if it's noisy."
Kids?
What does that mean?
The Hero Party couldn't understand Estia's words.
Not until they reached the end of the passage and saw the horrific scene that unfolded.
Saten opened her eyes wide in surprise and said,
"Is this a prison...?"
"It's not a prison! It's a laboratory! They don't just lock them up!"
Saten narrowed her eyes and asked,
"You seem to know this place well. You, Estia."
"Yeah, I used to be here!"
"...I see."
I thought she was just a thoughtless fool, but she lived here.
It seems I misjudged her.
Saten walked forward, suppressing the nausea rising from within.
About eight rooms, perhaps.
Over thirty children trapped behind iron bars.
They had no emotion in their eyes, like dolls.
They didn't move, like puppets with cut strings.
They were just like dolls with only their hearts beating.
"U-urgh— Wh-what is this— U-ugh—"
"Luna ended up vomiting after all. Well, she grew up normally, so she can't hold back her nausea when seeing something like this."
"D-don't urgh— explain..."
Luna couldn't suppress the rising nausea.
Primal fear and disgust.
Luna, who barely calmed her emotions, wiped her saliva and spoke with burning righteousness.
"Everyone...! Let's save these kids...! They're so pitiful...!"
"Yes, do as you please."
"Argh...!!"
*Crash—!*
Luna instantly broke the iron bars and went inside.
Then she approached the children sitting still with unfocused eyes.
"But it'll be useless!"
"K-kids! Snap out of it! Let's go out with your big sisters! I'll help you!"
I can save them!
Because I'm the Hero!
Luna burned with the Hero's righteousness and began pulling the children out of the prison one by one.
However, the other members of the Hero Party didn't help Luna and just watched silently.
"Why is everyone just standing there! We need to help the kids!"
"..."
In fact, everyone except Luna knew.
That those children could never be saved.
Estia quietly approached Luna and said matter-of-factly,
"Stop it now, Luna! Those kids are as good as dead! They're children waiting to be disposed of!"
"...No, I can save them. Their hearts are beating and l-look, their eyes are open—"
"Even if their hearts are beating, their souls are dead. I know. No matter what you do, they can't be saved!"
"..."
*Thud—*
Luna set down the child she was holding.
She felt sadness and anger for children she'd never met.
"They're still so young... why did this happen to them..."
They must have had so many things they wanted to do.
Why did they end up dying in this state?
Luna stood up with her mouth tightly shut.
"...Let's go to the Demon King. Let's go kill the Demon King."
"Good idea. I want to kill the Demon King quickly too."
For different reasons, Saten also wanted to meet the Demon King soon.
"There's a door at the end of this prison! I've never been there either! That's the only way!"
"Then let's go there. Demon King... I'll definitely annihilate you...!!"
"Let's go!"
Estia immediately started walking and guided the way.
Saten watched Estia from behind.
*She was experimented on and lived here...? She seems fine on the outside...*
She doesn't seem particularly afraid.
Doesn't seem to have any trauma either.
She speaks as if it has nothing to do with her at all.
"Maybe her head isn't a flower garden but made of dreams."
"...What are you talking about, Saten?"
"Just talking to myself."
Estia, who survived the experiments.
Perhaps because Saten herself had been in extreme circumstances, she could see a bit of herself in Estia.
*Unlike me, she became a fool. But she might be suppressing a lot.*
With that speculation, Saten decided to keep a close eye on Estia walking ahead.
The corridor was littered with countless corpses of holy knights.
"Why are you killing your comrades instead of killing me?"
"Shut up—!!"
Not the result of my actions, but Eric's.
He swung his sword to kill me, and each time he did, he killed his own comrades.
"C-Captain Eric...!!"
"Now the last one. The tenth, Eric."
"P-please, Captain Eric...!!"
The holy knight in front of me shed tears and begged for his life.
Though he was trash that reeked, his tears at least were sincere.
However, Eric swung his sword with cold eyes.
"You son of a bitch—!!"
"K-keurk..."
"Impressive."
He killed all the holy knights himself.
Judging by the blood on his sword even before fighting me, he must have killed civilians on his way here too.
I approached Eric as he spewed curses.
"You... killed all my knights..."
"..."
"My comrades...!! You made me kill them with my own hands...!! Return Estia to me right now...!!!"
While the Hero Party trained diligently, Eric was busy satisfying his desires.
Even the structure of his brain seemed dominated by desire.
He swung his sword at me with a grimace.
[You're not planning to die from an attack like this, are you?]
[1. Dodge and kill.]
[2. Dodge and strike.]
Two choices.
Choices that could be seen as kill or spare.
Without even looking at the future, I shouted,
"Number 1."
"What the hell are you—"
"You'll see."
A sword swayed by emotion and desire loses direction and cuts through empty air.
I immediately swung my sword upward.
Eric's hand holding the sword shot into the sky.
"Ku, kuaaaah—!!"
"First, one right arm."
Eric let out a pain-filled groan and lost both arms in an instant.
I remember there was a child in the prison who looked like this.
"How does it feel to lose both arms, Eric?"
"Keu... Damn bastard... Are you planning to take revenge on me...? To make me feel those children's pain...? What a trashy idea...!!"
"You're not repenting at all."
"Why should I repent for that...!? I moved according to the Goddess's will!! Everything according to the Goddess's will!!"
How strange.
The Goddess wouldn't do such things.
Why does this holy knight Eric keep invoking the Goddess?
"Eric. Depending on your answer, I can spare you. Answer properly."
"..."
"What exactly is this Goddess you speak of?"
"Ha, haha... An interesting question."
Eric smirked and answered confidently.
"The Goddess is... an omnipotent being who gives fun to the world... gives joy... gives happiness..."
"That's a bit different from the Goddess I know. Not the Demon King?"
"You know... Then let me ask you... What do you think the Goddess and Demon King are...?"
What are the Goddess and Demon King?
I didn't answer that question.
There was no need to have a conversation on this topic with that guy.
He had already decided on his answer.
"No answer... You don't know... I'll tell you the answer..."
Eric grinned and shouted as if his words were the correct answer.
"The answer is...!! The side that helps me is the Goddess... The side that doesn't help me is the Demon King... Why do you think so many people believe in the Goddess Church now...? It's all because it helps them...!! By sprinkling Holy Water in this difficult society...!! They're giving happiness to the world...!! Do you understand now...!!?"
"..."
I silently cut Eric's legs.
"Kuaaaah—!!"
"I can't listen anymore. Think about that Goddess and Demon King again by yourself. By the time you finish thinking, Danuel will arrive."
Let Danuel confirm his death.
I removed even Eric's last remaining leg so that tenacious bastard could suffer for a long time.
*I might have taken too much time.*
Now that I've finished Estia's revenge on her behalf, I should hurry.
I reopened the secret passage and ran toward the end.
*I wonder if the Hero Party is doing well...*
Now that I've removed Estia's obstacle, my head was full of worries about the Hero Party.
Today might be my last day with them.
I wanted to take care of them more than usual today.