The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 10: Who is the evil one (complete)

The princess watched Edmund leave with a complicated expression.

People protested Edmund’s death sentence, and the Royal Guard and the Paladins of the Great Crusade were sweating hard to prevent them from advancing towards the altar.

“Your Highness the Princess! Stop those unscrupulous people!”

“Please save Edmund!”

Meanwhile, some people were pleading with the princess. In fact, the princess was also in a situation where she could be criticized.

Because Auguste foolishly sold the name of her princess, and did not dispute the outcome of this trial.

However, because of her position as the princess, her commoners could not recklessly accuse her and only pleaded with her.

“Your Highness, what will you do? At this rate, Edmund will really be burned at the stake.”

Count Raul Perry, unable to see this, asked the princess.

The princess still couldn’t make up her mind.

That he is dangerous has been clearly proven today. He succeeded in virtually destroying her saintess. Only the final blow remains.

What particularly bothered the princess was that he accomplished what she had failed before. Even in the most unfavorable environment for him.

Thus, the princess’ concerns only grew. If Edmund puts his mind to it, he can swallow the Solus Empire at once.

He was too powerful to keep alive, and he was no longer a figure she could control.

But when Edmund was sentenced to death, her princess weakened her heart. Still, I liked him once.

Because she knows that he is being sentenced to death unjustly.

Here, the fact that Edmund did not tell her that he had been helped by her until the end also deepened her concerns.

She had convincing reasons to kill him and save him, so the princess suffered from a headache.

And here’s another question.

‘Why did Edmund accept the death sentence?’

No matter how much you think about it, Edmund would have known for sure that this would happen. He is not a naive person who expected the church to judge fairly.

When he was actually sentenced to death, he reacted as if he expected everything.

Then what was Edmund thinking? The princess thought of two possibilities.

Either you really wanted death, or you planned to fake it.

I think it would be the latter for Edmund, but the problem was that the princess couldn’t quite understand how that would be possible. How can she even make a fake body? Even if she tried, how would she escape from the eyes of so many people?

Even the saintess was worried that Edmund would escape, so she must be fully prepared?

“Your Highness the Princess!”

“Huh?”

“What would you like to do? I don’t have much time.”

Earl Perry asked the princess again.

As he said, the Etoiles must be hastening the execution. If I delayed any longer, Edmund would be in danger of running away.

In fact, they were prepared to execute the execution at the stake even before the trial began.

“The burning has begun!”

At that time, someone shouted from far away.

After hearing those words, the crowd went out of the Grand Sanctuary like a swarm of bees. Most of the tens of thousands of people in the central hall disappeared in an instant.

As she watched them disappear, the princess spoke in a trembling voice.

“You don’t have to go. It was Edmund’s own choice. I want to respect his judgment.”

At the words of her princess, Count Perry looked at her for a moment.

“I understand the room. Then go away. By the way, what will the saintess do?”

“… Well. Now I’m having a headache too. Let’s go back and discuss it.”

“Okay.”

The princess was escorted by the royal guards and she slipped out of the great sanctuary.

“Please go to the execution site now and make sure Edmund is really dead.”

The princess, who had something on her mind, gave her orders to one of her wizards who escorted her.

I wanted to know a little more about what Edmund was thinking with that.

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“Edmund’s execution was finished a little while ago.”

After a while. When the princess returned to the palace just after her death, she received a report from the sorceress who had been watching Edmund’s death.

“Is he dead?”

“Yes. It’s hard to recognize because of the flames, but it looks like Edmund’s body is right. Orcus inspected Edmund’s body himself.”

“Has there been anything else unusual?”

“The execution was almost hindered by the crowd’s backlash, but nothing else.”

“Okay.”

The princess immediately ended her communication. She closed her eyes for a moment and was lost in her thoughts.

Which one? Was she willing to die the death she wanted, or did her last plan fail?

If that’s not the case, did she escape by faking her death in an extraordinary way?

‘He must be dead.’

When she looked at the circumstances, she was right. It was a good thing. If Edmund had been alive, he could have been a real threat to the Empire in the future. It could completely shake the empire’s system.

And she doesn’t have to feel guilty. The process was strange, but didn’t she put the criminal to death anyway? She did the right thing And, Edmund also chose this.

Concluding this, the princess tried to find peace in her heart.

But she still felt uncomfortable in a part of her heart.

***

Immediately after leaving the central hall, I was taken to the backyard of the Great Temple of Etoile.

There was a flame magic circle prepared in advance. He probably decided that killing me with magic fire would be a surer way. Because it can kill me faster.

I was not surprised because I had already expected this far.

“Save Edmund!”

“This death penalty is invalid!!”

Some of the already angry mob were following the backyard to defy the execution.

“Stop them!”

The saintess immediately gave an order to her paladins and the mages of the Noir Mage Tower. They held back the advance of the crowd. But it seemed to me that they wouldn’t last long.

“… Enter the magic circle!”

Meanwhile, following the instructions of the paladin behind me, I slowly walked to the center of the magic circle.

At the same time, Orcus cast a restraining spell on me as if he had been waiting.

Worst-case scenario. The ropes that bound me loosened at some point, but I was bound before I could use magic.

Thanks to that, the escape was many times more difficult than I had originally planned.

“I don’t know what kind of trick you prepared, but not as good as today.”

The saintess said a word to me who was unable to move.

Have you decided to reveal your true colors now? Or did she think it was all over or was she liberated?

Seeing her mean smile, I realized it all over again.

Even if the saintess was lax about other things, she wasn’t lax at all about killing me. I prepared this one properly.

‘I admit it. This time, I did a good job.’

I smiled bitterly.

Soon after, another wizard next to Orcus activated a magic circle, and at the same time I was engulfed in flames.

“… Keugh!”

Did you say that the greatest pain that humans can feel is burning pain? Indeed, the pain was beyond imaginable.

With this much pain, it wouldn’t be strange if he died a long time ago. However, in preparation for such a situation, I drew several magic circles all over my body that block flames and reduce pain.

Because the most likely method of execution would be to burn at the stake, they were fully prepared.

But if there’s a problem, it’s a lot more painful than I expected. At this rate, it won’t last long.

Fortunately, the rope that bound me was shattered by the flames. Thanks to this, I was able to use magic in a limited way, and was able to break the binding magic.

But forcibly breaking the binding spell was the last resort. If I break this, Orcus will find out that I’ve escaped. Then all of this becomes crap.

If I want to fake death completely, I have to create a situation where Orcus has no choice but to break the magic circle on its own.

And fortunately. That situation was created soon before I lost consciousness.

“Damn it! Somebody stop them! If so, can I just kill it? What are you waiting for!”

“You mean to massacre the citizens of Solaum now?”

“Then is it okay for Edmund to run away like this?”

The firepower of the angry mob was much more than I expected. They began to break through the paladins and wizards little by little.

Suddenly, they even disturbed Orcus’ concentration.

Here comes another variable.

“No slaughter! Even putting Edmund to death is already against the will of the people, but if they see blood, the people will forever leave Etoile.”

“Is public sentiment important now? Anyway, you don’t have to kill aliens!”

It was an internal division. The quarrel between Archduke Charles and Orcus began, and the more it started, the more Orcus’ concentration was disturbed. Meanwhile, the resistance of the crowd grew stronger.

And no matter how mage-level wizards are, if their concentration is disturbed like this, they will eventually make mistakes.

A very brief moment. Orcus’ binding magic was broken. I didn’t miss the chance and summoned my corpse that I had made in advance in the subspace.

At the same time, I activated the magic circle drawn on my palm.

It was the crow transformation magic I had taught Rachel before. To be precise, it was the magic of transforming into a single bird from there.

And the magic circle was drawn so that even the stealth magic would be activated together.

Pooong!!

Immediately after transforming into an invisible crow, Orcus belatedly cast the binding spell again.

However, his bondage magic hit my cloned body. Just as I was under the illusion that he had cast a bondage spell on me again, I spread my wings toward the crowd as quickly as I could.

Perhaps it was because he had burns all over his body, and every time he flapped his wings, he felt pain as if his entire body would tear apart and disintegrate. Even so, her practice was not in vain, and she somehow succeeded in getting out of the hellish flames.

Fortunately, Orcus still mistook me for being inside the magic circle and cast a restraining spell. After confirming that appearance, I was slightly relieved and then flew towards the sky.

And then, with his battered body, he flew towards the hiding place.

When it was judged that he had moved away from the great battle to some extent, he focused on canceling the stealth magic and activating the magic that relieved the pain on its own.

‘Was it too much….’

However, there were limitations. No matter how much protection I had, now I have burns all over my body. Furthermore, flying was not a familiar magic at all.

Thanks to that, I had to continue my flight, as if I was going to crash at any moment.

Nevertheless, I squeezed my stamina as much as I could and made my way to the hideout, holding on with my mental strength.

It’s stupid, but it’s the strategy I chose. I blamed myself in the past and endured with evil.

“… Lived.”

And finally I reached the alley where the hideout was. And I ran into Mina who was waiting nearby.

At the same time, my whole body felt weak and I fell. Fortunately, Mina identified me and held me safely.

“Wow… It’s very messy.”

Mina looked down at me, who fell on her hands, she said. From the crow’s point of view, the short Mina looked like a giant.

But I didn’t have the energy to express my feelings, nor the energy to talk back to her.

She, too, grasped the seriousness of the situation and took me to the shelter as quickly as possible.

“I brought you.”

After arriving inside the hideout, I unlocked the transformation magic. No, to be precise, it seems to have been released automatically.

Around that time, my consciousness is fuzzy, so my memory is fuzzy.

The last thing I remember was Rafaela’s face, horrified at the sight of me.