Final chapter – Hey, you, could you please die for me? Volume 3 Chapter 8
“Do you work.”
“I *am* doing my work.”
“You’ve been playing chess with Marlin!!”
“Care for elderly also falls under work, after all.”
“Who are you calling elderly?! I am still 13,800 years… Uhhh”
“See? Not even knowing one’s age just shows you’re elderly. Also, you’ll get checkmate in 5 moves.”
“Hm?…. Kuuu, I lost agaiiin!!”
Even though there is no way you can win with sensei, who can even go against a hundred thousand grand masters…
‘No, if Marlin diligently studied for 1 trillion and 3000 million years, he would have a chance to beat the current me.’
1 trillion, eh… that’s long.
I wonder if space itself will remain till then….
By the way, what about the chances of beating sensei after 1 trillion and 3000 million years?
‘0%’
So he can’t catch up at all then, can he?
Good luck, grandpa. Put on the acceleration device. You must accelerate your mind.
“Karl! Do your job already!!”
“Like I said, I am properly doing my work, you know? Now that the kingdom’s mutual enemy, Demon King Charlemagne is gone, it is extremely difficult to gather the 12 clans’ sympathy. And so I am handing my heart over to a demon to show how tough the job is to the king, Arthur-kun.”
It is easy to start a war. Also not hard to end one either.
The tough part is to continue striving to not let a war break out.
And so, I will turn into a demon and keep depressing Marlin grandpa!!
“Stop it with the official stance!”
“I understand. Then I shall show him how hard it is without doing that. Also, it is so hilarious to look at.”
“Guuunuununuunu!!”
“Fuhahahahahaha!!”
Seriously, Arthur-kun really is worth teasing.
Although that is exactly why he was able to accept the Demon King Charlemagne love for 13,800 years.
The real monster Charlemagne–being a monster, was not loved by anyone.
The only who accepted it was Arthur-kun.
Demon King Charlemagne’s only friend was Arthur-kun.
Even though it was a very one-sided friendship.
There is a limit to being tsundere.
But I still gave him a cruel, merciless death and trampled all over that friendship.
There are probably a lot of people who hold hatred towards him atrocious deeds.
But I, without having a bit of that hatred, without even a bit of motive for revenge, gave him a merciless, cruel death and trampled all over his soul’s dignity.
Demon King Charlemagne was the victim and I was the perpetrator.
Just because he would be a hindrance to peace in the future, I crushed him with such a selfish reason.
“By the way, I will be heading out on a trip now. I will head towards where the wind goes, towards where I want to go.”
“What?!”
“Whaat?!”
“I mean, I am Pendragon, aren’t I? And so, I can’t be tied and can fly in the skies as I wish with the dragons. I also have this promise with a friend. After about 2, 3 years-no, maybe even more? I will be back depending on the wind’s direction, probably.”
Seriously, what a bothersome promise.
Well, it was a quite convenient promise, though.
“You’re the sub-king of Highland kingdom, you know?!”
“It is inelegant to tie down the Pendragon, you know? Ah, I will remove Arthur-kun, though. Please stay captive in a huge demon fountain old woman’s curse.”
“Noooooooo!! I will throw away this sword!! I will throw it away! But it still comes back!!”
After waking up, he found the sword he had thrown away next to his pillow. That’s scary. It’s cursed, isn’t it?
Have fun living with the two cursed swords caliban and excalibar.
“Well then, Karl, let’s play one last game.”
“Got it. Elder Marlin, I shall be your opponent.”
Result: 500 games, all loss. Yep, I had known it wouldn’t be only one game.
Pure white Marlin gramps, all worn out. I wonder how many years it would take for him to get back to politics.
It would be nice if you were to recover soon and help him out, huh, Arthur-kun?
“Marlin! Wake up, Marlin! You’re the only one I can count on!! Please wakee upppp!!!”
Nope, not happening. I mean, his soul is probably living his body–he’s that white… He’s not at his deathbed, is he?
“Hahhahaha, Your Majesty, Laurin. Please live with your king-like dignity and your chest held high.”
“I-I don’t a drop of royal….”
“Haha, I have been quite rude without knowing that you were a relative of the royal family.”
A person who was a general of a fortress, an underling noble. That was Sir Laurin.
He destroyed a swarm of dark praying mantis by himself–doing which he himself was the most surprised.
And he also saved the people from Frank kingdom’s oppression and became a patriot hero.
All those wonderful achievements were accepted with high praise and reverence from the people of Harpsubark kingdom.
“Don’t say ‘watashi’ (I), say something like ‘ware’ (I) or ‘you’ (I). It would suit you better, Your Highness.” (TLN: Basically more majestic ways of saying ‘I’.)
All the retainers around the room nodded altogether. What a farce.
However, no matter what is going on with the Majesty Laurin, this country needs hope.
As expected, their hatred and disgust towards the Frank kingdom who invaded and occupied the country still remained.
More than 80% of the dwellers returned to their motherland.
There are two types of people who are left–one which looks at a half filled glass of water as half full and another which looks at it as half empty.
However, we are talking about humans here and not water.
Then, what happens when it’s not water?
There were 5 brothers. All of them were taken as slaves but only 4 returned safely.
Can any of them think that ‘we still have 4 of us remaining’?
I saved 83.7% of the people. And couldn’t save the remaining 16.3%.
Living a life being a slave, most of them got scarred for life.
That is what I am guilty of in this country.
And so, this country needs a hero, even if it’s just gilding, it needs a shining hero.
Someone somewhere went destroying people’s cultural symbol, their foundation of the heart.
Destroying historically important cultural property is an act of extreme crime.
There is no mistaking that it was that Maximillion guy. He was the one who showed the effective structure targets so all responsibility lies with him.
“You (I)…. Wa-ware (I).. w-will officially… sign the treaty from t-the.. Alps United Kingdom?”
Stammering like that… Lacking all dignity.
Your Majesty Laurin, please don’t peel off your mask in front of the masses, alright?
Grose kingdom did promise that market but it was setback by Proisen kingdom’s riot.
Alps United Kingdom is occupying that territory base, the west Harpsubark kingdom’s domain.
They had also declared war once and the animosity is firmly rooted now.
They clearly stated in paper the unofficial supply of salt and food provisions and tried to reconcile to remove the animosity.
I also told Maximillion himself to go but as expected, he didn’t want to end it with bloodshed.
Don’t you have the spirit to take down the king of treason, Maximillion and make your mask as the hero even thicker?!
“Yes, then, I will take your sign on the official conditions. Also, from now on, other messengers will probably come so please try to behave as a dignified king.”
Now that I think about it, my deep memories started from this place.
The first one being killing the dragon slayer.
The next one was Saint Pierre cathedral. Also Bould Fool Plaza.
It isn’t like there wasn’t any people there.
Just that around those places, people are weak.
Also the guards who desperately defended the gate from Frank empire’s invasion.
I killed them with fire.
And then the gate broke, letting the Frank empire’s army in and although it was less, tragic events did happen.
This land marks my first strong memory.
The wyvern’s elder brother offered his own life so feeling guilt towards it would be rude.
“Hiruhiru, I am heading out on a journey. Please don’t come searching for me.”
“What are you saying, so suddenly?! That is irresponsible as the father of the child in my stomach!!”
Hiruhiru’s abdomen was slightly starting to show the bulge.
“At least, decide on a name before you leave. It is your duty as the father, right?”
“Hmm, then, let’s go with Charlemange”
Ouch. Got hit with the fist.
That is weird… it is Karl der Große in German, though.
I thought it was a nice name, resembling mine.
“Then, if it’s a boy, let’s name him Karl and if it’s a girl, Charlotte.”
“Karl is fine but Charlotte is your sister’s name, isn’t it? Mmmm, well, I guess it does make sense.”
“Right?”
I requested sensei to provide medical service to the mother and child automatically if something were to happen.
“That journey… it is necessary?”
“Yes, it is for a promise with a friend. It is also a necessary journey for me as well.”
“It is okay… for me to wait, right? I won’t forgive you if you don’t come to see your child’s face, you know?”
I slowly nodded.
“Then, I will be waiting… You’d better come back, alright?”
With a heavy heart and lots of love, I left the Frank kingdom behind me.
Hiruhiru really is a woman too good for me… She loves and understands me too well.
I also have memories with this land.
I trampled all over the demon king’s one-sided friendship and dignity and kill him.
I took away the means of battle from 150,000 soldiers, threw them in front of a group of avengers and killed them.
I threw the country in disorder which was unified because of Charlemagne and made them kill each other.
After the war, I stole their food provisions during all the confusion and killed them from hunger.
All of them are deep memories, are people I killed.
“Yo, Lauro cardinal, have you been well?”
“…..Demon king. Is it you? Let me correct you–I am just Lauro now, not a cardinal.”
“Hmm? Is that so? Ah, that reminds me, Vatican Pope country–even though it has Pope in the name, I haven’t really seen him. Why is that?”
“Ah, one call only call themselves the Pope if they have more than three high-grade divine protection so it was a vacant post.”
“I see.”
It might’ve been interesting if I were to toss in brother Leonhart in there.
Probably had like four high-grade divine protection.
“…..Demon king. I am grateful to you. By experiencing it myself, I got to know the pain of it. While suffering from the pain of hunger, I got to know the honorable poverty. And then, I went to ask for forgiveness from the former slaves.”
“To be grateful for robbery, you’re quite the unusual person, Lauro-kun.”
There are times when hope can also kill a person.
The demi-humans were given hope–Alps United Kingdom.
As a result, a great number of demi-humans clung onto that hope and died, losing their chance to escape.
“Even with my divine protection of foresight, I couldn’t foresee this future at all. Even though I just wanted to see everyone smile… Where did I go wrong?”
“Isn’t it because you didn’t tell them properly? ‘Love your neighbors’. That’s what your religion teaches, right? They are neighbors who came from the neighboring world, you know?”
Although the real meaning is something like ‘Forgive, even if they are your enemy’.
Seems like Lauro-kun deeply agreed to what I said.
“Demon king… No, Karl-sama. Are you God’s messenger or something?”
I couldn’t help but laugh in response to Lauro-kun’s question.
What am I, The Angel of Massacre? Seems like a title brother Siegfried would like.
“No, I am just a mass murderer. A mere demon king, that’s all.”
I also have memories with this land.
Destroying wonderful buildings, stealing food, and killing them with the cold and hunger.
Dropping demi-human supremacists here and killing them by the hands of former-slaves.
Knowing that people are going through poverty, letting them steal, and then killing them.
Making the people who still shout about human supremacy the target of the crowd’s anger, I killed them.
All of them are deep memories, are people I killed.
Long, long ago, a comedy king said this in a movie.
It was more then 12,000 years ago.
‘If you kill a person, you’re a murderer. But if you kill 1,000,000, you’re a hero. Depending on the numbers, a murderer can be sanctified.’
But I am still not sanctified. Were the numbers too low?
No, there were about 1,500,000 holy knights I made Hiruhiru kill.
They are also people I killed.
Even after killing, and killing, no matter how many corpses I have piled up behind me, I was not sanctified, Chaplin.
I saw a dream.
About how a heroic soldier died after going up against a dragon.
About how people surrounding a cultural structure were burned alive.
About how soldiers protecting a gate of their motherland with their lives were burned alive.
About how people taken as slaves died with the anguish they felt.
About how magicians, whose means of battle and eyes were taken away, were mercilessly killed.
About how the demon king Charlemange died a cruel death by the hand of a disgraceful being.
About how the holy soldiers fought among themselves and killed each other after being exposed to a gas which made them go crazy.
About how a ton of people died from hunger.
About how too many, much too many people died because of my instigation.
A mother, holding her dead baby, pointed her finger.
In front of which, there was a warm, peaceful world, overflowing with light.
“Why.. did you not let us in that?”
“Why? Hey, tell us, why?”
Pointing towards the warm, peaceful world I aimed for all along, countless and countless of the deceased asked.
“Why? Why did you not let us into that warm, peaceful world?”
I did not have any answer. I did not possess the words to answer.
Just tears came pouring out and jumped awake.
On top of the bed, I clung to Maria and Hilda who were sleeping beside.
I clung on to that warmth, so that that dream’s continuation wouldn’t come chasing me.
I clung on, tightly, like a child, fearing that something dreadful is coming.
The girls just tenderly rubbed my head and back…..
Would it have been better if I went around asking?
For a thousand years of peace from now, would it have been better if I went asking that ‘Hey, you, could you please die for me?’?
Ahahahahahahahahahahhaahhaah!!
A nice joke, if I were to say so myself!!
Final chapter – Hey, you, could you please die for me? Volume 3 Chapter 8
“Do you work.”
“I *am* doing my work.”
“You’ve been playing chess with Marlin!!”
“Care for elderly also falls under work, after all.”
“Who are you calling elderly?! I am still 13,800 years… Uhhh”
“See? Not even knowing one’s age just shows you’re elderly. Also, you’ll get checkmate in 5 moves.”
“Hm?…. Kuuu, I lost agaiiin!!”
Even though there is no way you can win with sensei, who can even go against a hundred thousand grand masters…
‘No, if Marlin diligently studied for 1 trillion and 3000 million years, he would have a chance to beat the current me.’
1 trillion, eh… that’s long.
I wonder if space itself will remain till then….
By the way, what about the chances of beating sensei after 1 trillion and 3000 million years?
‘0%’
So he can’t catch up at all then, can he?
Good luck, grandpa. Put on the acceleration device. You must accelerate your mind.
“Karl! Do your job already!!”
“Like I said, I am properly doing my work, you know? Now that the kingdom’s mutual enemy, Demon King Charlemagne is gone, it is extremely difficult to gather the 12 clans’ sympathy. And so I am handing my heart over to a demon to show how tough the job is to the king, Arthur-kun.”
It is easy to start a war. Also not hard to end one either.
The tough part is to continue striving to not let a war break out.
And so, I will turn into a demon and keep depressing Marlin grandpa!!
“Stop it with the official stance!”
“I understand. Then I shall show him how hard it is without doing that. Also, it is so hilarious to look at.”
“Guuunuununuunu!!”
“Fuhahahahahaha!!”
Seriously, Arthur-kun really is worth teasing.
Although that is exactly why he was able to accept the Demon King Charlemagne love for 13,800 years.
The real monster Charlemagne–being a monster, was not loved by anyone.
The only who accepted it was Arthur-kun.
Demon King Charlemagne’s only friend was Arthur-kun.
Even though it was a very one-sided friendship.
There is a limit to being tsundere.
But I still gave him a cruel, merciless death and trampled all over that friendship.
There are probably a lot of people who hold hatred towards him atrocious deeds.
But I, without having a bit of that hatred, without even a bit of motive for revenge, gave him a merciless, cruel death and trampled all over his soul’s dignity.
Demon King Charlemagne was the victim and I was the perpetrator.
Just because he would be a hindrance to peace in the future, I crushed him with such a selfish reason.
“By the way, I will be heading out on a trip now. I will head towards where the wind goes, towards where I want to go.”
“What?!”
“Whaat?!”
“I mean, I am Pendragon, aren’t I? And so, I can’t be tied and can fly in the skies as I wish with the dragons. I also have this promise with a friend. After about 2, 3 years-no, maybe even more? I will be back depending on the wind’s direction, probably.”
Seriously, what a bothersome promise.
Well, it was a quite convenient promise, though.
“You’re the sub-king of Highland kingdom, you know?!”
“It is inelegant to tie down the Pendragon, you know? Ah, I will remove Arthur-kun, though. Please stay captive in a huge demon fountain old woman’s curse.”
“Noooooooo!! I will throw away this sword!! I will throw it away! But it still comes back!!”
After waking up, he found the sword he had thrown away next to his pillow. That’s scary. It’s cursed, isn’t it?
Have fun living with the two cursed swords caliban and excalibar.
“Well then, Karl, let’s play one last game.”
“Got it. Elder Marlin, I shall be your opponent.”
Result: 500 games, all loss. Yep, I had known it wouldn’t be only one game.
Pure white Marlin gramps, all worn out. I wonder how many years it would take for him to get back to politics.
It would be nice if you were to recover soon and help him out, huh, Arthur-kun?
“Marlin! Wake up, Marlin! You’re the only one I can count on!! Please wakee upppp!!!”
Nope, not happening. I mean, his soul is probably living his body–he’s that white… He’s not at his deathbed, is he?
“Hahhahaha, Your Majesty, Laurin. Please live with your king-like dignity and your chest held high.”
“I-I don’t a drop of royal….”
“Haha, I have been quite rude without knowing that you were a relative of the royal family.”
A person who was a general of a fortress, an underling noble. That was Sir Laurin.
He destroyed a swarm of dark praying mantis by himself–doing which he himself was the most surprised.
And he also saved the people from Frank kingdom’s oppression and became a patriot hero.
All those wonderful achievements were accepted with high praise and reverence from the people of Harpsubark kingdom.
“Don’t say ‘watashi’ (I), say something like ‘ware’ (I) or ‘you’ (I). It would suit you better, Your Highness.” (TLN: Basically more majestic ways of saying ‘I’.)
All the retainers around the room nodded altogether. What a farce.
However, no matter what is going on with the Majesty Laurin, this country needs hope.
As expected, their hatred and disgust towards the Frank kingdom who invaded and occupied the country still remained.
More than 80% of the dwellers returned to their motherland.
There are two types of people who are left–one which looks at a half filled glass of water as half full and another which looks at it as half empty.
However, we are talking about humans here and not water.
Then, what happens when it’s not water?
There were 5 brothers. All of them were taken as slaves but only 4 returned safely.
Can any of them think that ‘we still have 4 of us remaining’?
I saved 83.7% of the people. And couldn’t save the remaining 16.3%.
Living a life being a slave, most of them got scarred for life.
That is what I am guilty of in this country.
And so, this country needs a hero, even if it’s just gilding, it needs a shining hero.
Someone somewhere went destroying people’s cultural symbol, their foundation of the heart.
Destroying historically important cultural property is an act of extreme crime.
There is no mistaking that it was that Maximillion guy. He was the one who showed the effective structure targets so all responsibility lies with him.
“You (I)…. Wa-ware (I).. w-will officially… sign the treaty from t-the.. Alps United Kingdom?”
Stammering like that… Lacking all dignity.
Your Majesty Laurin, please don’t peel off your mask in front of the masses, alright?
Grose kingdom did promise that market but it was setback by Proisen kingdom’s riot.
Alps United Kingdom is occupying that territory base, the west Harpsubark kingdom’s domain.
They had also declared war once and the animosity is firmly rooted now.
They clearly stated in paper the unofficial supply of salt and food provisions and tried to reconcile to remove the animosity.
I also told Maximillion himself to go but as expected, he didn’t want to end it with bloodshed.
Don’t you have the spirit to take down the king of treason, Maximillion and make your mask as the hero even thicker?!
“Yes, then, I will take your sign on the official conditions. Also, from now on, other messengers will probably come so please try to behave as a dignified king.”
Now that I think about it, my deep memories started from this place.
The first one being killing the dragon slayer.
The next one was Saint Pierre cathedral. Also Bould Fool Plaza.
It isn’t like there wasn’t any people there.
Just that around those places, people are weak.
Also the guards who desperately defended the gate from Frank empire’s invasion.
I killed them with fire.
And then the gate broke, letting the Frank empire’s army in and although it was less, tragic events did happen.
This land marks my first strong memory.
The wyvern’s elder brother offered his own life so feeling guilt towards it would be rude.
“Hiruhiru, I am heading out on a journey. Please don’t come searching for me.”
“What are you saying, so suddenly?! That is irresponsible as the father of the child in my stomach!!”
Hiruhiru’s abdomen was slightly starting to show the bulge.
“At least, decide on a name before you leave. It is your duty as the father, right?”
“Hmm, then, let’s go with Charlemange”
Ouch. Got hit with the fist.
That is weird… it is Karl der Große in German, though.
I thought it was a nice name, resembling mine.
“Then, if it’s a boy, let’s name him Karl and if it’s a girl, Charlotte.”
“Karl is fine but Charlotte is your sister’s name, isn’t it? Mmmm, well, I guess it does make sense.”
“Right?”
I requested sensei to provide medical service to the mother and child automatically if something were to happen.
“That journey… it is necessary?”
“Yes, it is for a promise with a friend. It is also a necessary journey for me as well.”
“It is okay… for me to wait, right? I won’t forgive you if you don’t come to see your child’s face, you know?”
I slowly nodded.
“Then, I will be waiting… You’d better come back, alright?”
With a heavy heart and lots of love, I left the Frank kingdom behind me.
Hiruhiru really is a woman too good for me… She loves and understands me too well.
I also have memories with this land.
I trampled all over the demon king’s one-sided friendship and dignity and kill him.
I took away the means of battle from 150,000 soldiers, threw them in front of a group of avengers and killed them.
I threw the country in disorder which was unified because of Charlemagne and made them kill each other.
After the war, I stole their food provisions during all the confusion and killed them from hunger.
All of them are deep memories, are people I killed.
“Yo, Lauro cardinal, have you been well?”
“…..Demon king. Is it you? Let me correct you–I am just Lauro now, not a cardinal.”
“Hmm? Is that so? Ah, that reminds me, Vatican Pope country–even though it has Pope in the name, I haven’t really seen him. Why is that?”
“Ah, one call only call themselves the Pope if they have more than three high-grade divine protection so it was a vacant post.”
“I see.”
It might’ve been interesting if I were to toss in brother Leonhart in there.
Probably had like four high-grade divine protection.
“…..Demon king. I am grateful to you. By experiencing it myself, I got to know the pain of it. While suffering from the pain of hunger, I got to know the honorable poverty. And then, I went to ask for forgiveness from the former slaves.”
“To be grateful for robbery, you’re quite the unusual person, Lauro-kun.”
There are times when hope can also kill a person.
The demi-humans were given hope–Alps United Kingdom.
As a result, a great number of demi-humans clung onto that hope and died, losing their chance to escape.
“Even with my divine protection of foresight, I couldn’t foresee this future at all. Even though I just wanted to see everyone smile… Where did I go wrong?”
“Isn’t it because you didn’t tell them properly? ‘Love your neighbors’. That’s what your religion teaches, right? They are neighbors who came from the neighboring world, you know?”
Although the real meaning is something like ‘Forgive, even if they are your enemy’.
Seems like Lauro-kun deeply agreed to what I said.
“Demon king… No, Karl-sama. Are you God’s messenger or something?”
I couldn’t help but laugh in response to Lauro-kun’s question.
What am I, The Angel of Massacre? Seems like a title brother Siegfried would like.
“No, I am just a mass murderer. A mere demon king, that’s all.”
I also have memories with this land.
Destroying wonderful buildings, stealing food, and killing them with the cold and hunger.
Dropping demi-human supremacists here and killing them by the hands of former-slaves.
Knowing that people are going through poverty, letting them steal, and then killing them.
Making the people who still shout about human supremacy the target of the crowd’s anger, I killed them.
All of them are deep memories, are people I killed.
Long, long ago, a comedy king said this in a movie.
It was more then 12,000 years ago.
‘If you kill a person, you’re a murderer. But if you kill 1,000,000, you’re a hero. Depending on the numbers, a murderer can be sanctified.’
But I am still not sanctified. Were the numbers too low?
No, there were about 1,500,000 holy knights I made Hiruhiru kill.
They are also people I killed.
Even after killing, and killing, no matter how many corpses I have piled up behind me, I was not sanctified, Chaplin.
I saw a dream.
About how a heroic soldier died after going up against a dragon.
About how people surrounding a cultural structure were burned alive.
About how soldiers protecting a gate of their motherland with their lives were burned alive.
About how people taken as slaves died with the anguish they felt.
About how magicians, whose means of battle and eyes were taken away, were mercilessly killed.
About how the demon king Charlemange died a cruel death by the hand of a disgraceful being.
About how the holy soldiers fought among themselves and killed each other after being exposed to a gas which made them go crazy.
About how a ton of people died from hunger.
About how too many, much too many people died because of my instigation.
A mother, holding her dead baby, pointed her finger.
In front of which, there was a warm, peaceful world, overflowing with light.
“Why.. did you not let us in that?”
“Why? Hey, tell us, why?”
Pointing towards the warm, peaceful world I aimed for all along, countless and countless of the deceased asked.
“Why? Why did you not let us into that warm, peaceful world?”
I did not have any answer. I did not possess the words to answer.
Just tears came pouring out and jumped awake.
On top of the bed, I clung to Maria and Hilda who were sleeping beside.
I clung on to that warmth, so that that dream’s continuation wouldn’t come chasing me.
I clung on, tightly, like a child, fearing that something dreadful is coming.
The girls just tenderly rubbed my head and back…..
Would it have been better if I went around asking?
For a thousand years of peace from now, would it have been better if I went asking that ‘Hey, you, could you please die for me?’?
Ahahahahahahahahahahhaahhaah!!
A nice joke, if I were to say so myself!!
