Chapter 75

Epilogue After resurrecting the masochistic tavern owner and his companions in the underground facility and chucking them out into a nearby field, Shinichi stretched toward the blue sky. “It’s finally over.” He’d been summoned by the Demon King. His daily life had turned into fighting the immortal heroes, but that had finally come to an end. Shinichi felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The Demon King bowed his head. “Shinichi, I thank you again. Having you as my advisor has been a stroke of luck. Almost as great as Regina and Rino being a part of my life.” “You’re going to make me blush,” said Shinichi with a pleased smile. There was no greater flattery from the Blue Demon King, who dearly loved his wife and daughter. Regina smiled and interrupted their conversation. “Don’t get embarrassed. You’ve done something that we’ll owe you for the rest of our lives. Hey! How about I let you marry Rino to show our thanks?!” “What?! I’ll never allow that, even if it is Shinichi!” bellowed the Demon King, his gratitude flipping immediately to shock. Regina admonished him with an icy expression. “But he beat the wretch that defeated you. That means he’s stronger than you—and qualified to be Rino’s husband.” Her argument wasn’t quite correct, but it was the demon’s way to say that a loser was simply making excuses if they claimed an opponent cheated. The winner was seen as the strongest. “Urgh, no, but…” The Demon King was indebted to Shinichi. While he acknowledged Shinichi’s strength, he couldn’t easily agree to letting his daughter be a bride, leaving him in distress. “Ha-ha-ha, these parents are trouble.” “……” Shinichi laughed and brushed off the conversation, then looked at Rino, but she didn’t seem like she’d been listening. Instead she was glumly staring at the ground. “Do you regret not being able to save Elazo—I mean, Elen?” “Yes. I know it’s selfish of me…” Rino quickly acknowledged he was right and pressed her hand over her pained heart. It was the sad truth that there were people in that world that couldn’t be reasoned with, making violence the only option to resolve the situation. Though Rino was young and innocent, she understood that, but still wished she could have saved the lonely woman who had continued hating in order to hide her own tears. “Would I have been able to be friends with Elen if I were older?” “No, I think it was impossible.” Shinichi shook his head. Elen had died when her memories as a human were erased, giving birth to the vengeful spirit called Elazonia. It was too late to try and extend a friendly hand to her. Even if her memories had remained, she probably wouldn’t have been able to change her ways. “It sounds nice to say you’ll use words to persuade someone instead of violence, but really that’s just a way to make brainwashing sound nice,” said Shinichi. “That’s not…” Rino tried to argue but didn’t make a peep after that. Sanctina had been a devout member of the church. She’d done a one-eighty and turned into a pervert in love with Rino, and it was hard to argue that couldn’t be attributed to brainwashing. “The difference between persuasion and brainwashing is only a matter of the degree. It’s not necessarily verbal abuse, but manipulating someone’s thoughts can be crueler than some lesser violence.” “I guess so…” Rino realized she might have been the most violent person because she was so against physical violence. Shinichi gently stroked her head. “I like your way of thinking. It’s just that that idiot of a woman had her own way. It’s arrogant to try and change that. That’s all I’m trying to say.” Just like that dumbass girl who had stuck to her principles of being kind, even when people around her called her out on it. Elen had enough pride to stick to her own ways, too. It would be an insult to her memory to claim that her life was wrong, even if they had to eliminate her for being in their way. “That’s why, if there’s one thing you can do, it’s to remember her.” “Remember her?” “Yes. They say, ‘the only one more pitiful than the deceased is a person forgotten.’ You should try to think about her every once in a while.” Just like Shinichi would never forget Nozomi, that was the best thing she could offer to the departed. “Well, that’s probably not something I should say, since I ruined Elazonia’s good name and turned her into an evil god.” “Classic ‘look who’s talking’ moment,” said Celes as he backtracked. Rino’s smile settled back on her face. “Heh-heh, Shinichi, you’re so kind.” “But that is not a reason she should marry you!” snarled the Demon King. “Let’s move away from this topic,” said Shinichi, treating her father with caution as he stalked him like an angry tiger. “Hmph…” Rino pouted when Shinichi seemed like he wasn’t interested. Arian saw her reaction, realized things could get ugly, and decided to change the subject. “Anyway, now we have peace!” With the Goddess defeated, the immortal heroes had disappeared. Arian was happy about it, but Shinichi looked at her with a huge grin on his face. “That’s not true,” he said, dashing her hopes. “…What?” “Okay. The heroes are gone. The church has been weakened. The people are pent up with irritation, which is going to explode at once. Peace isn’t here to stay! It’s time for mass chaos!” Every fiber of his being seemed to enjoy the prospect, but Arian stood there flabbergasted. “First, a revolt against the church, which has oppressed the people. Any humble priests will be spared, but any corrupt ones will be a different story.” “If you don’t have the money to afford the healing, you can pay with your body.” “Don’t get behind on your regular donations if you want me to resurrect you.” Crooked priests would manipulate the people and even royalty. They didn’t serve a merciful goddess but a wicked evil god. The people had now received a perfect justification for fighting back, and they’d already seen what could happen when their anger exploded. “Having rocks thrown at them! Being chased around! Those will be some of the lighter treatments. The people might start burning priests at the stake to keep them from being resurrected. Ha-ha-ha!” “That’s terrible…” “Just kidding. I don’t actually think things will be that bad,” said Shinichi, rushing to retract his former statement when he saw tears welling up in Rino’s eyes. But the priests who’d committed grave acts of evil would get what they deserved. That didn’t mean all priests would be eradicated, though. “Even though they’ve fallen out of favor, the people need them to heal their wounds and illnesses.” There weren’t that many people capable of using healing magic. There were very few places like Tigris Kingdom, which had secured their own independent healers. Large countries and cities would be better off, but the small towns and villages would end up shorthanded, which meant few people would want to move there because potential earnings would be low. That was why there was a need for an organization like the church and its priests to dispatch healers to all the different locations. “On the other hand, the unaffiliated magic users and medicine users can set up shop since the church won’t chase them into hiding anymore. That means no more unethical practices!” Society would shift to one with proper market competition, but there would be massive changes in its structure. There was no way to avoid the chaos and strife that would come along with that. “And the biggest problem is that the heroes have lost their immortality, meaning the number of monsters will increase.” “Oh, that’s right!” said Arian when she realized that was true. It wouldn’t apply to her, but some heroes had relied too heavily on their immortality and neglected to maintain their training, leaving them at a significant risk of being killed by monsters. Now that they’d lost their protection from the Goddess, they wouldn’t resurrect at the nearest church. If their body was eaten by a beast, they couldn’t be resurrected, leaving them dead. “It’s the ones that went soft because of their immortality. They’ll fear death, run away, and start hunting the easy monsters.” If they left the powerful monsters, it’d result in damages to human settlements. “…Was it a problem that we defeated Elazonia?” Arian asked, looking concerned, but Shinichi shook his head. “No. The immortal heroes caused a lot of damage. I’m just saying they were useful in some ways.” There were heroes who used their immortality to stand against threats, which let them take out monsters and criminals. It was a fact that they protected the peace, but this convenient hack made their spirits rot. When those heroes started to commit evil acts, they became an unstoppable danger. Weighing the pros and cons, the cons came out on top. “But we can’t leave dangerous monsters to wreak havoc!” She felt some responsibility because her own father, the Red Dragon, was one of the sources of monsters. Shinichi cracked his usual devious smile. “That’s where we come in. What if the demons defeat monsters in place of the church’s former heroes?” “Everyone will be grateful?” “Exactly! It’s one step to turn the tables.” Rino struck the people’s hearts in the livestream, meaning there were some people who realized they may have misunderstood the demons. However, they would fear their strength since they watched the Demon King defeat even a god, meaning there would be many civilians treating them with caution. “How do you get rid of hate and make people like you? It’s simple! You show that your existence is beneficial.” If people started to associate demons with hunting monsters and removing danger, they would start to like the demons—or at least not want to destroy them. “In other words, the mass chaos will actually be a welcoming reception to help the demons set down roots on the surface! Ha-ha-ha!” “You have the dirtiest mind ever,” quipped Celes. That only made him laugh harder. He accepted her insult, turning his back on what was the grave of a woman who had tried to become a god. “We need to rebuild the Demon King’s castle and the fields, organize and manage a monster strike force, build a communication network to take requests for assistance from across the continent, and reconcile with the church. I want to talk to the people in Mouse Village again, and I promised we’d find husbands for Clarissa and her friends. There’s so much to do.” “Uh-huh!” Arian agreed. “Let’s work hard for everyone!” cried Rino. Smiles spread on their faces despite knowing their grueling schedule. “I would like to return and rest for a while,” said Celes. “Agreed. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time, but I’m beat,” admitted Regina. “We need to spend some quality time together!” added the Demon King as he lifted Rino. He was the only one of the three who seemed to have any energy left. Shinichi looked around at all of them and remembered his original goal. He couldn’t be further from a philanthropist. He was just a selfish human. That was why he’d used information to manipulate people, killed the Goddess, and thrown the world into total chaos. If historians in the future were to know the truth about his actions, they would brand him humanity’s greatest traitor. Even if that happened, Shinichi would just flash his crooked smile without a care in the world. He only wanted to live with his favorite people: the clumsy half-dragon hero, the innocent daughter of the Demon King, and the dark-elf maid of few words. “All right! Let’s create a world of fun!” called Shinichi, looking up toward the blue sky. And so they all set forward together.