The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression

I stiffened in response to those unexpected words.

In the meantime, she ripped out the blade stuck in her shoulder and retreated instantly.

I lacked the will to chase her and stood in place dumbly.

The heavy rain snuffed the flame of my emotions into embers.

With my mind in such a mess, it took my all to ask a question.

“What- are you talking about?”

“I’m not as good a hero as you think I am.”

She confessed.

She seemed a little more refreshed when she did so.

Her clothes were soaked with blood from the wound on her shoulder, but she appeared unbothered.

She spoke without feeling any pain.

“I’ll put it bluntly, this world is helplessly ugly… so much so it couldn’t help but perish.”

“Wha…”

I was at a loss for words.

I staggered and almost slipped on the mud beneath me.

Although I managed to regain my balance, the same couldn’t be said for the frenzied state of my feelings.

She stared at me.

“Are you that surprised? You must have never imagined that I had this sort of idea.”

“Since when did you have such thoughts?”

“Since before I began my journey with you.”

Her answer gave me a shock that fundamentally distorted the core of my memories.

It was an unexpected truth.

It was a side of the hero that I didn’t know about.

Even though I had traveled with her for such a long time, I never knew.

It could be said that I was oblivious, but she also concealed it skillfully.

“I’m sure I’m more disappointed in the world more than anyone else. And while understanding that, I wanted to become a symbol of hope.”

“…Why is that?”

“Without such resolve, I would have wanted to destroy everything.”

She spoke in a tone that brokered no falsities.

For a moment there, I saw a dark glow in her eyes.

It was horrifying.

But it disappeared quickly.

She said with her arms spread open.

“Even in such a world, people still sought for justice. I wanted to bring out the goodness in people through the role of a hero.”

It was undoubtedly her true intentions.

The hero of salvation had left many anecdotes throughout her journey.

She helped many people in various places and rose in fame.

Despite being disappointed in the world, she took the lead in reaching out to help.

“When we were executed in the Valley of the Dead, I thought about the future of the world. Once the Demon Lord and the hero disappeared, conflict between humans would surely arise. Sure enough, it ended up like that.”

“Do you wish for humanity to self-destruct?”

When I asked, she shook her head and vehemently denied it.

The rain fell heavier.

Even as her voice seemingly drowned out, she continued to confess.

“I expected the world to purify itself on its own. The people wounded by the war would end up respecting and acknowledging each other after all the hardship. Only in an era that did not depend on the Demon Lord and hero, could true peace be formed.”

“But failure in self-purification would mean self-destruction.”

“If it happened, then it was meant to be. I do think it is natural for the world to be destroyed.”

She gave a radical answer with a smile.

I knew she wasn’t joking considering her personality.

In fact, I could see she wasn’t lying from her eyes.

After defeating the Demon Lord, she would tolerate the world’s destruction.

“Hero-sama, you…”

I almost fell to my knees and stabbed my sword into the ground to hold myself up.

The mental shock was too great.

I also felt intense discomfort.

If I had a human body instead, I would have likely vomited the contents of my stomach out.

“You gave up on humanity's goodness and chose to thoroughly maintain the world. I believed in humanity's goodness and chose to tolerate the world’s destruction. Although both of us wished for peace, that is the decisive difference between us.”

After saying that, she stepped forward.

She then swung her sword in a wide arc above.

The slash cut through the sodden clouds above and stopped the rain.

However, the rain soon resumed as the cloud reformed itself.

As she stared up at the cloudy sky, she then looked back at me.

“If we refer to your actions as the ‘evil of salvation,’ then I guess mine would be the ‘justice of destruction.’ It sure is ironic.”