Chapter 644
Ludwig's anxiety was, in fact, meaningless.
His anxiety stemmed from the fear that the Demon King or other forces might approach Scarlett, but at the moment Ludwig arrived, the Demon King was already with Scarlett.
When Scarlett asked for time, Ludwig had merely said that he could wait for a few hours at most.
At Scarlett's request to be alone, Ludwig told her to gather her thoughts while he went for a walk and left for somewhere.
Scarlett didn't know that Ludwig had gone to the Temple Magic University.
Ludwig had changed strangely at some point.
She knew the truth, but she couldn't know what the Demon King had been doing and where he had been all this time.
Ultimately, both were frightening to Scarlett.
She trusted both, but she couldn't help but fear them now.
She managed to return to her dormitory room.
"What... what happened?"
The cat had transformed back into the Demon King, and Scarlett demanded an explanation from him.
Though she was afraid, she had to know how the situation was unfolding.
The Demon King cautiously peered out the window.
He was checking if Ludwig was nearby, possibly watching Scarlett's movements.
With no eavesdroppers nearby, the Demon King began to speak.
"Do you remember the strange army we saw during the last Wallen battle?"
"Yes, clearly..."
Everyone had witnessed the peculiar army's might.
They all had some idea that it was the true power the Empire had been hiding all along.
"To explain it properly, it's a bit gruesome, but that army was actually similar to golems."
"Golems... you say?"
"Yes."
Reinhardt nodded quietly.
"Golems made from corpses."
At those words, Scarlett couldn't help but gasp for breath.
Just as Ludwig didn't intend to give Scarlett much time, the Demon King also didn't have much time to explain things to her.
What power the Empire had tapped into, who those revived people were.
And who were responsible for those experiments.
Hearing all these stories in such a short time left Scarlett dumbfounded.
There were too many horrifying revelations.
And the ones responsible for those experiments all along had been Christina, Louis, and Anna, who had been calmly conversing with her.
"Recently, Ludwig received one of those arms as a transplant."
"Ludwig... underwent a chimera procedure?"
"Yes, what else could it be?"
At the Demon King's question of whether there could be any other magic capable of that, Scarlett had no words.
War made too many things possible.
Scarlett couldn't help but feel her heart sink at the thought that Ludwig wanted to return to the battlefield so much that he needed such magic.
But at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder.
It was a brutal and horrific army, but in the end, it was a necessary one.
As an army created to end the war, wasn't it an immediately needed force?
"But... why would I be important if I can neutralize that army?"
Before she could finish her sentence, Scarlett naturally realized.
After the Gate incident.
The Demon King was talking about what would come next.
Someone might try to use her, Ludwig had said.
"After the Gate Incident is over… Do you want me to eliminate that army for you…?"
It was not only the strongest force in human history but also the most powerful in all of history.
Scarlett could easily neutralize that army with her abilities.
Just as she had turned the golems into scrap metal in an instant, she could do the same to that army. The most powerful force in history would be rendered powerless with ease.
"Yes."
The Demon King nodded his head.
"Ludwig is right."
With no intention to deny, the Demon King spoke.
"Ludwig really came back to protect you, and I intend to use you."
There was no point in excuses or rationalizations.
No matter how suspicious it appeared, Ludwig's words about protecting Scarlett were true.
No matter how well disguised, the Demon King's reality was that he had to use Scarlett.
Ludwig had hurried back to the temple to protect Scarlett from the Demon King's grasp, and the Demon King had arrived even earlier for the purpose of using her.
Unable to help herself, Scarlett trembled at the Demon King's candid admission.
"Do we… really have to fight?"
"…"
"We don't have to, do we? You… never wanted this. You're not the kind of person who wants this."
"…"
"Many people have already died or been injured because of the Gate Incident, and now, even before it's over, we have to think about the next battle?"
At Scarlett's desperate plea, the Demon King leaned silently against the wall.
"Yeah, maybe we don't have to fight. Who knows?"
"Then, after everything is settled, can't we just live in our own places? If there's no battle, the army has no meaning."
"That's true, definitely."
No matter how powerful an army, it holds no meaning outside the battlefield.
In this vast land, where most of it had become empty from countless people dying, shouldn't they be able to live in their own places?
Scarlett couldn't understand why they needed to prepare for the next battle right after one had ended.
"The situation has changed too much from before."
"Changed… how?"
"Do you even know the situation in the Empire? You know even less about the situation of the allied forces."
Scarlett had been away from the Empire for a long time and therefore didn't know how it functioned.
She naturally didn't know the atmosphere of the allied forces either, as she wasn't in a position to make such decisions.
"We've come too far to stop now. We've done too much to just call it quits and live separately in our own places."
This wasn't a toy that could easily be reset after having enough fun.
The world was too big to play with.
That's why things remained as they were once set in motion.
Not everything could be nullified.
"I don't know. In the end, my actions might cause even bigger problems this time. It's possible."
Just as all the actions taken to prevent the Gate Incident ultimately completed it, a similar outcome might be in store this time.
But at least, Scarlett knew that the events unfolding in the world were not part of the Demon King's conspiracy.
This was not the Demon King's conspiracy, but his failure.
Even after experiencing that miserable failure, the Demon King had built something once again.
"It might be a selfish act. My attempt to do something again after failing once might seem repulsive to someone, even unforgivable. And there are indeed people who feel that way."
"..."
"But I've come too far to stop now. I don't know what kind of outcome my actions will lead to, but stopping now, as if nothing ever happened, would be the biggest mistake I could make."
If he hadn't wanted to do it, he shouldn't have done anything at all.
If something had been started, it should be seen through to the end.
Everything that had been built up would collapse the moment he gave up halfway.
The Demon King didn't know the perfect answer either.
However, he did know one thing for sure: the perfect wrong answer.
At this point, where half of the Imperial Army and half of the Allied Forces had been swallowed up.
Running away from everything, pretending as if nothing had happened.
That was the perfect wrong answer.
"I won't deny that helping me is a very risky choice. And I won't say that helping me is the right choice, either. After all, I might be wrong."
"..."
"I don't know the answer either. And I know that there are legitimate reasons for those who want to kill me, and I have no excuse for their anger towards me. Anyway, all of these things happened because of me."
Those who sought to kill the Demon King also had their own reasons, and no one could deny them.
However, the Demon King had a path he wanted to follow.
He had come too far to turn back.
Now, he had to follow that path, make it safer, and ensure its certainty.
That was the only reality, and all other options had become unavailable.
"Scarlett."
"..."
"Help me."
The Demon King looked at the red-haired girl.
"I need you."
In her life, Scarlett had never heard such a short yet sincere request.
Scarlett stared at the Demon King, her body tense.
No.
She looked at Reinhardt.
Memories from long ago brushed past her.
Memories that seemed to have been forgotten and vanished amidst wars and countless deaths.
But those memories, hidden somewhere deep in her heart, were undoubtedly resurfacing.
The Demon King.
Reinhardt was an odd fellow.
An A-Class, he was rumored to have abilities even weaker than those of B-Class mages, yet he was always getting into trouble.
Not only within the A-Class but also in the B-Class, there were rumors that he was a strange guy.
A person who shouldn't be involved with.
Reinhardt was definitely that kind of person.
But to Scarlett, Reinhardt had a slightly different meaning as a strange person.
One day.
"What's wrong with being red?"
He had said those words out of the blue when he saw her being bullied by Erich de Lafaeri.
Strong guys were the bosses, he said.
It must have been after he had won a duel against a senior.
After achieving victory through a strange miracle in what was surely a reckless fight, Reinhardt had said that.
In truth.
At that time, Scarlett had been more afraid of Reinhardt than Erich.
Their paths hadn't crossed much.
But Scarlett had always watched Reinhardt from a distance.
If only I could be like that.
If only I had that kind of courage.
To Scarlett, who had been cowering in fear of being expelled from the temple, Reinhardt had been a shocking figure in many ways.
Before she knew it,
She was always watching Reinhardt.
She wanted to be like him.
And so, Reinhardt became her idol in her heart.
In that way,
Recalling the past naturally brought other memories to mind.
As the memory of that time surfaced, Scarlett couldn't help but smile in this situation.
No, rather, she couldn't help but laugh at herself for having such thoughts in this situation.
"Do you remember the tournament?"
"Huh... suddenly?"
The Demon King nodded his head with a flustered expression at Scarlett's question.
"...I remember."
Reinhardt couldn't help but remember that moment when Scarlett, who had no connection to him, had told him that he was her idol.
Those times and events from the past had been buried in countless deaths and sorrows.
Yet, because they were so insignificant, they had become precious moments.
After all, the days when everything was peaceful and there were no problems could never return.
"I told you back then. There are people who dislike you, but there are also people who like you."
"That's right... you did say that."
Due to Reinhardt's strange personality, there were many people who disliked him.
But even then, strangely, there were people who didn't dislike Reinhardt.
Even if it wasn't Ellen or Harriet, there were quite a few people who got along well with Reinhardt.
There were many who disliked him, but there were definitely those who liked him as well.
Why would anyone like that guy? Why would anyone hang out with someone like him?
There were many people who talked behind their backs.
Seeing that, Scarlett realized.
"Just as I can't make everyone like me, I can't make everyone hate me either. I realized that by watching you."
"Right... you did say that."
Scarlett had come to that realization.
If it was impossible to be loved by everyone, then it must also be impossible to be hated by everyone.
"Strangely enough, a lot has changed... too much has changed..."
Scarlett looked at Reinhardt.
The being now called the Demon King.
"You're still in the same situation."
Just as there were people who hated Reinhardt but also those who liked him back then.
The same was true for the Demon King.
Some may hate the Demon King so much that they want to kill him, but some cannot hate him.
Or perhaps, some still love the Demon King.
Only the scale had grown from the temple to the whole world.
"…Is that how it's going to be?"
As if understanding what she was saying, the Demon King smiled bitterly.
In the temple of the past, Scarlett was one of those who had liked Reinhardt.
It was different from the others in that she liked him not as a romantic interest but with a sense of admiration.
Reinhardt, who was once her idol, had now become the accursed Demon King, whose name was hardly even mentioned.
No, he had been the Demon King from the beginning.
Such a being had sought her out across a vast expanse of time.
And he sincerely asked for her help.
To help him.
That he needed her.
What should she do?
The Demon King had his own circumstances. He said he hadn't wanted this to happen, but who among those who knew his situation could say that he deserved to stand on the blade of judgment?
But what about the opposite?
How could the cries of those who claimed that the Demon King had to die be unjust?
There was a justification for righteousness, but there was also a justification for death.
The Demon King was a contradictory existence.
Just as the Demon King had his own reasons,
Those who desired the Demon King's death and destruction have their own reasons as well.
If everyone was justified and everyone had their own reasons, then what should she choose?
"I..."
At the crossroads of choice, Scarlett slowly opened her mouth.
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