Chapter 57 - The Calamity of the North (3)
There are things one must protect.
And to protect them, one must be prepared to sacrifice their life.
Even if it's the most precious thing in the world.
"...You were the one who said that."
Tia recalled that memory.
"I've been trying to live up to those words all this time."
A person who shoulders a great cause must give up their personal life.
Otherwise, they won't be able to protect what they must.
"If you ask me what I'm thinking, all I can say is that I'm still doing just that."
This was undoubtedly a lesson from Clay.
Clay didn't refute it.
However,
"Did you believe in me?"
That was the important question.
"As the Hero, I have no intention of denying the words I spoke. The me of that time truly believed that."
But whether there was faith to accompany those words was a different matter.
"If you followed my words, shouldn't your faith in me also have been firm?"
To follow only the Hero's teachings while not believing in the Hero himself was a contradiction.
"You're telling me two contradictory things."
"Is that so?"
Tia lowered her gaze.
"But Clay, you already know."
She didn't pretend to ignore her own attitude.
"People aren't perfect."
She confessed that humans were beings who lived by embracing contradictions.
"There are times when we don't know where to place our faith."
"Tia."
A deep, surging abyss filled Clay's eyes.
"But you shouldn't have been like that."
It didn't matter if it was a delusion.
He didn't care if it made no sense.
"You just had to believe."
If she had just held on to that one thread of faith despite all the unreasonableness, Clay might not have regretted his life.
"But that's enough."
The Hero was already dead.
His accomplishments were ignored, and not even a shred of that faith was buried with him in his grave; he was simply abandoned in the darkness.
So Clay could now ignore even this feeling.
It belonged only to the dead Hero.
"Tia, you have invaded the Demon Realm."
A Saintess, of all people, had set foot in the Demon Realm.
As the Demon King, this was something he absolutely could not overlook.
"I can take this as a declaration of war from the Holy State Alliance, including Iser."
"!"
"If you don't wish to go to war immediately, retreat."
He couldn't just let Tia, now revealed as a Saintess, go, but since this was his first encounter with a Saintess, Clay had no other options he could immediately choose from.
"Clay, I am here to…"
"I said I won't talk."
Clay's eyes glowed red.
"Leave this place."
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, a spinning sword flew from a distance and plunged into the ground in front of Tia.
"This is?!"
As Tia's eyes widened, a black magi from the sword, Shiltnaro, shot out like lightning, traveling across the ground.
CRACK!
The ground cracked along the path of the lightning, spewing out dust.
"Ack!"
Tia stumbled back and shouted.
"Rotundura!"
Immediately, a circular curtain of light appeared, pushing away the dust.
As her vision cleared quickly, Tia no longer saw Shiltnaro.
No, she saw it.
The demonic sword was now plunged into the ground in front of Clay.
SHING.
Clay pulled the demonic sword from the ground, as if he were its master.
"Clay…!"
Only then did Tia truly realize.
He hadn't just come back to life.
Clay had truly become the leader who commanded all demons.
'If the previous Demon King's sword has chosen to follow him...!'
It meant he had already become a focal point, and the demon forces were beginning to gather around him.
Tia clenched her fist, but then, feeling another presence, she quickly turned her head and moved.
BOOM!
An ice sword plunged into the exact spot where she had been standing.
"...!"
Surprised, Tia's eyes followed the sword's owner and fell upon Selbaro's sister, Selimia.
"I wondered how the Empress of Iser came all this way alone."
Selimia created a new ice sword and held it in her hand.
"Turns out you've become a Saintess, a being I thought only existed in legends?"
"Selimia."
"Surely you haven't forgotten me, have you? I think we met a few times at the Hanumeyer palace."
As the two talked, Clay looked down at Shiltnaro.
Before Tia arrived, Shiltnaro and Selimia had been fighting each other.
『We've decided to face a common enemy for now.』
"A common enemy?"
『Yes, because the Saintess is the Demon King's enemy.』
It was reasonable for Shiltnaro to think that way.
However, Clay knew well that Selimia chose Tia as her first target not because she was cooperating with Shiltnaro.
'Did she realize how strong Tia is?'
Otherwise, there would be no reason for Selimia, who wanted to be alone with Clay in the world, to form a united front.
Tia was clearly a being so powerful that even an incomprehensible existence like Selimia would have to point her sword at her first.
SQUEEZE.
His fists naturally clenched harder.
Even with such power, Tia had not believed in her childhood friend.
She hadn't believed and had not used that power for him personally.
Clay had told her that was the right thing to do.
But as Tia had said, people weren't perfect.
Clay didn't deny that, in that moment, he had wished the "individual" had come before the "great cause."
'It's all in the past.'
Even so, such sentiments were a thing of the past.
Unlike Yuru, who had destroyed Marpein and become an enemy of humanity, there was no room to utilize Tia.
Moreover, a Saintess, by her very existence, would create animosity among demons.
She could never be brought into his fold.
'In the end, you've become my complete enemy.'
Despite the easy conclusion, his heart was not easily settled.
Suppressing his tumultuous emotions, Clay gritted his teeth.
"Shiltnaro."
『Yes, my Demon King.』
"We cannot fight a Saintess whose full power we do not know."
Furthermore, she wouldn't have come here alone.
"Given she entered through the north, it's highly likely she came with Selbaro, who is looking for his sister. We must retreat before their forces increase."
『Are you giving up on the North?』
"No. They will also find it burdensome to stay here. They'll return soon enough. Time is on our side."
Having explained the situation to Shiltnaro, Clay bent his knees and adjusted his stance.
"We need to chase the Saintess away from here as quickly as possible. Can you do that?"
『As you wish.』
BOOM!
Clay pushed off the ground and lunged forward.
♧
Afterward, the knights who arrived at the scene with Selbaro witnessed an extraordinary sight.
"W-what in the world…"
The Saintess, Tia, and Selimia were tangled in a fight.
"That person…!"
As if the situation wasn't hard enough to comprehend, another being caught their eye.
"The Hero?!"
The Hero, who had been executed, was attacking Tia alongside Selimia.
The knights, whose minds were in chaos, looked at Selbaro.
Selbaro said nothing, his face serious as he watched the fighting from afar.
He then gripped his sword and began to walk.
"Y-Your Majesty!"
"It's dangerous!"
"It seems the rumors about Beatrice controlling the former Hero's corpse were true! Please, calm down!"
As the knights cried out in alarm, trying to stop him, Selbaro replied softly.
"It doesn't matter."
Selimia was among them.
Selimia was his sister.
"I will save my sister."
"Your Majesty!"
Before the knights could stop him further, Selbaro quickly rushed into the fray.
SWISH!
He turned his back to Selimia and swung his sword wide.
Instantly, the shattered frozen ground flew up, spewing out ice-mixed dust.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
Everyone at the site recoiled from the sudden intrusion.
"Brother?"
Selimia's voice was filled with surprise.
Selbaro turned his head slightly and replied.
"Selimia."
Selbaro, already seriously injured, didn't have the strength to last for long.
He planned to take her away quickly.
"Let's get out of here for now."
Just as his hand was about to grab Selimia's arm.
WHOOSH!
A sword appeared, blocking the path of his hand.
"My apologies, but Selimia is coming with me."
Clay.
He appeared, picked up Selimia, and leaped away to a distance.
Selbaro tried to chase him immediately, but several layers of ice walls had already risen to block his path.
"Selimia!"
He shouted as he broke through the ice walls, but his voice did not stop Selimia.
"Don't follow us!"
Carried away by Clay, Selimia was screaming loudly.
"I'm going with the Demon King!"
CRUNCH! CRACKLE!
Breaking through all the ice walls, Selbaro saw Selimia being carried like luggage by Clay, moving farther and farther away.
"Selimi…"
"Selbaro."
Tia approached his side.
"Don't hold on to her."
"What did you say?"
"Selimia has just escaped from you."
Escape.
That wasn't a word that should apply to the relationship between a brother and sister, so Selbaro frowned.
"We are family. This is not your place to interfere."
"Do you want to lose Selimia?"
Tia glared at Selbaro.
"Selimia came all the way here to find Clay. If you interrupt this opportunity by starting a fight, you don't know what she might do."
"So you're telling me to leave her like that?!"
Selbaro's roar tore through the air.
"She's my sister! I have to protect her!"
"..."
Tia exhaled slowly.
"Alright. I won't stop you. But don't regret it."
Regret.
That word couldn't stop Selbaro.
Selbaro immediately pushed off the ground and ran.
And in an instant, he reached Clay's group.
That was the ability of a person who had lived for decades in the frozen lands.
On the icy ground, no one could run from him.
WHOOSH!
As soon as he found a suitable place to land, Selbaro swung his sword wide.
And the one who blocked that sword was,
CLANG!
An ice sword thrust out by Selimia.
"!"
"Brother, do you want to die?"
Her pupils were filled with killing intent.
This was not an expression a sister should have.
"Selimia!"
"It's disgusting."
Selimia's coarse accent came out.
"Haven't I played the family game with you enough?"
"What…"
"I'm independent now. I don't have to pretend to be good anymore. So just get lost."
Only then did Selbaro realize.
'Ah.'
While shackled, she was merely imitating the image of his sister so that Selbaro would not perceive her as a monster.
BOOM!
Selbaro, his mind suddenly dazed, failed to see a rock in front of him and crashed to the ground, rolling over and over.
"Selimia…"
At the moment something in his chest, more painful than the physical hurt, was about to pour out but was caught in his throat,
"How unfortunate."
The single remark from the Hero who should have been dead was all that remained,