Chapter 15

As promised, Hiaquin’s soul was safely guided to the Divine God.

The Divine God could only marvel at the fact that Hiaquin had actually completed his assigned duty successfully and returned.

“You weren’t even afraid of being torn apart and killed by the Demonkin……? Just a few years ago, you were throwing a fit because you didn’t want to die.”

“What are you talking about? It’s nothing. I didn’t even feel any pain, so it was totally doable. And my next life is guaranteed, so what’s there to be afraid of?”

Faced with Hiaquin’s shamelessly confident attitude, the Divine God was rendered speechless.

“Haah…… Forget it. I shouldn’t even bother talking. Whenever I argue with you, I’m the only one who loses.”

Hiaquin’s soul sparkled brightly as he impatiently urged the god to fulfill their contract.

“Come on, hurry up! Hurry!”

“Don’t rush me. I’m choosing a suitable family for you right now……”

The Divine God searched through the entire continent before finally finding an appropriate family.

“The Robaire ducal family of the Empire of Genua seems like a suitable place for your reincarnation.”

“The Robaire ducal family of the Empire of Genua? Where’s that?”

“Genua is an empire located in the southwestern part of the continent, across the sea from the Kingdom of Elia. The emperor currently ruling Genua is a wise and benevolent monarch. There will be no major troubles there for the next hundred years, making it one of the best places on the continent to live.”

“Hmmm…… Then what about the Robaire ducal family? Are they really trustworthy?”

Even though Hiaquin’s soul had no eyes, the Divine God somehow felt as though he was being scrutinized suspiciously.

A bead of imaginary sweat seemed to trickle down his forehead.

“How dare you doubt your god? A god never breaks a contract made in his own name. If I did, I would suffer the penalty of losing my divinity.”

“Oh, so should I understand it as being demoted to a lower-ranking god? Like going from a department head down to an assistant manager?”

“Something…… like that…… Phew.”

The Divine God was already exhausted from talking to Hiaquin and wanted to send him off to the Empire of Genua as quickly as possible.

Thus, his explanation became even faster and more concise than before.

“The Robaire ducal family is one of the founding families of Genua and the wealthiest family in the empire. Unlike most human aristocratic families, they are extremely close-knit and have even earned the nickname ‘The Robaires of Love.’”

“Then what about the people who’ll become my parents and my siblings—”

The Divine God snapped shut the enormous book containing the names of every person in the world and answered perfunctorily.

“They are all good people, so rest assured. They are warm-hearted people who will never betray or hate you for your entire life, and they will shower you with the love you’ve always wanted.”

At the god’s emphasis on the word love, Hiaquin’s soul stiffened.

“I-I never asked for all that, though? I only asked to be reborn as the youngest son of a rich family who doesn’t have to work……”

“You’re happy about it inside, so don’t pretend otherwise. You can’t deceive a god.”

With that, the Divine God casually threw Hiaquin’s soul straight at the continent itself—or rather, what looked like a miniature model of the entire continent.

“W-WAAAAAAAH—!”

“Your wish has been fulfilled exactly as promised. Thus, the contract is complete.”

Whoosh!

As Hiaquin plummeted downward, he watched the glowing contract bearing his and the Divine God’s names burn away without leaving even a trace of ash.

“WAAAAAAH—! How can you just throw someone like that?! AAH! I have a fear of heights—!”

Hiaquin’s soul shot downward like a missile.

Then, at some point, he found himself enclosed somewhere warm and comfortable.

Where am I? It’s dark…… I want to get outside already!

Hiaquin struggled desperately, pushing himself toward the tiny light beneath him.

Then he heard the piercing scream of a woman.

At the same time, another woman’s voice—probably that of an older woman—reached his ears.

“Just a little more, Your Grace! Please hold on! The baby will be born soon!”

“Ugh……!”

The Duchess? A baby?

So my soul really has settled into the body that was prepared for me.

Overjoyed, Hiaquin hurriedly wriggled his head and tried to push his way outside.

How much time had passed?

“Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!”

(AAAAH! Being born was exhausting!)

“Congratulations, Your Grace the Duchess. It’s a very healthy baby boy.”

The midwife carried baby Hiaquin directly to his mother, the Duchess of Robaire, Julia.

Julia cradled baby Hiaquin in her arms, tears of emotion streaming down her face.

“My baby…… Mommy’s here……”

“Waaah…….”

(Mommy.)

“Congratulations on being born into this world, my baby. Thank you so much for safely coming to us, your mommy and daddy.”

At that moment, Hiaquin’s chest tightened.

An overwhelming wave of sorrow washed over him.

“WAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH—!!!”

(WAAAAAH! SOB! SOBBBBB!)

“Oh my. Why is the baby crying so much? He was so quiet just moments ago.”

“Indeed. Baby, are you hungry? Or is the way I’m holding you uncomfortable?”

No. I don’t need anything, and you didn’t do anything wrong, Mom.

It’s just……

I’m so happy.

After leaving his painful days behind and finally arriving at a real home where he could truly feel safe, baby Hiaquin cried at the top of his lungs for quite some time, his cries echoing throughout the entire ducal residence.

Meanwhile, the heroes who had watched Hiaquin die before their very eyes had almost lost their minds.

“Hiaquin…… Hiaquin……”

“He…… died……”

“N-No……”

“This can’t be happening……!”

It wasn’t simply because they had lost the Saint who served as their healer and priest.

By now, all four of them had come to love Hiaquin himself.

And that was why losing him hurt so unbearably much.

“Hiaquin……”

Originally, Hiaquin’s death had only been supposed to leave the heroes with a brief moment of grief.

But the existence of the current Hiaquin had long since twisted the original storyline beyond recognition.

Muteric, Ciel, Garret, and Pesar wiped away their constantly flowing tears as they looked at the barriers and Sanctuary that remained even after Hiaquin’s death.

“We can’t let Hiaquin’s death be in vain……”

Ciel gritted his teeth and squeezed every last bit of magical power from himself.

Using it, he pulled the comrades who had been swept away by the moat’s current back to shore and brought them before the Demonkin.

The Four Dukes were already struggling under the effects of the Sanctuary.

With Hiaquin’s divine barriers added on top of it, their suffering became even more unbearable.

“AAARGH!”

“It’s burning! My skin!”

“We have to escape first……!”

“Shouldn’t we…… run……?”

They looked at the remaining heroes as though begging to be spared.

But the heroes had no mercy left to give.

Muteric, Garret, and Pesar, surrounded by a murderous aura, raised their weapons toward the Demonkin.

“Go to hell.”

<NO!>

Whoosh!

The heroes had been strengthened by the Sanctuary.

Even their ordinary weapons now carried an effect equivalent to firing concentrated divine power.

As they gazed upon the divine aura burning as vividly blue as Hiaquin’s eye, the heroes felt an unbearable wave of regret.

Hiaquin, I’m so sorry we couldn’t save you…….

“This ends here! Four Dukes!”

A divine-flame-coated sword, multiple arrows, an axe, and razor-sharp cutting magic shot toward Asmodeus, Mammon, Leviathan, and Belphegor.

<No! I don’t want to! No, NOOO—!>

Slash.

With a sound like a blade cutting through ice, the heads of the Four Dukes rolled across the ground.

Realizing there was absolutely no possibility of resurrection, Asmodeus shouted at the heroes.

“You’ll regret this! You will regret it! As punishment for doing this to us, you’ll become food for His Majesty the Demon King! He’ll chew you up and swallow you!”

The heroes simply stared at him expressionlessly.

“A dying Demonkin has an awful lot to say. It’ll be your Demon King who ends up that way.”

A chill ran through Asmodeus.

<What is with those eyes……?>

Unlike heroes who normally proclaimed justice, each of them was overflowing with such murderous intent that even the severed head of the dying Demonkin felt a shiver of fear.

As his body burned away and disappeared, Asmodeus, with only his head remaining, suddenly remembered something he had noticed through Ciel.

“You…… You were all in love with that Saint who just died, weren’t you?”

“……?!”

“I am Asmodeus, the Demonkin who governs lust. Of course I can tell…… You all harbored secret feelings for that Saint that you could never bring yourselves to speak of.”

The heroes’ expressions twisted with shock and confusion.

Seeing their reactions, Asmodeus—half his face already burned away—laughed and mocked them.

“You wanted to hold that child, didn’t you? You wanted to touch him? That’s why you want to crush and crush us, the ones who killed him, isn’t it?”

“Shut up……!”

Muteric thrust his sword toward Asmodeus’s mouth as though he intended to tear it apart.

But the dying Demonkin didn’t care.

Unlike humans, Demonkin could still speak even with their mouths torn apart.

“I…… am Asmodeus of Lust…… I shall curse you heroes who dared to kill us and even seek to slay His Majesty the Demon King……”

Ciel shouted at Muteric.

“Don’t! He’s trying to cast a curse! Stop him!”

Muteric split the remaining skull of Asmodeus apart.

But the Demonkin was faster.

He had already uttered his curse like a final testament.

“You shall never desire anyone else with lustful eyes except that dead child. Forever yearn for the Saint who no longer exists, staining every memory of him with lust and suffering because of it!”

After Asmodeus, Leviathan, Mammon, and Belphegor each used the last of their strength to unleash their own curses before disappearing.

“You will all love that dead Saint, and become jealous of one another because of him! You will never again be able to trust or rely on each other!”

“Keep searching for every trace of that dead child. Crave it, and crave it again! Until eventually, unable to bear your longing, you trespass into forbidden territory and fall into corruption!”

“As for you…… I’m the Demonkin who governs sloth, so what should I wish for……? Ah, yes. Even if that child comes back to life someday, you won’t recognize him immediately. You will doubt him and doubt him again, tearing apart the heart of the Saint you love just as thoroughly as his corpse was torn apart.”

“SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UP!”

Muteric, Ciel, Garret, and Pesar each took on one of the Demonkin.

They crushed their heads and obliterated them.

But the curses they had left behind remained.

And those words continued to echo inside the heroes’ minds.

Especially Asmodeus’s curse.

We…… looked at Hiaquin that way?

Without thinking, they glanced down at the front of their trousers.

Then all four immediately grimaced as though they had seen something filthy.

We can’t sully Hiaquin, who sacrificed himself for us, like that. This must all be because of Asmodeus’s curse.

All four of them violently struck themselves over the front of their trousers before walking toward Eryl Castle as though they couldn’t feel the pain.

They walked.

And walked.

“Demon King…… Even if it costs us our lives, we will erase you from this world.”

Thin trails of bloody tears flowed from their eyes.

They were tears of mourning for their precious companion, who hadn’t even left behind a proper corpse.

The only one who watched everything unfold from beginning to end was the Divine God.

And he could only feel pity for them.

“Poor children. They fell in love with Hiaquin, contrary to their original fate……”

The Divine God sighed.

“But then again, there is a time difference between the divine realm and the human realm. Hiaquin won’t be reincarnated until eighty years after this point……”

“How am I supposed to handle this?”

The Divine God’s worry only grew deeper.