Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 189

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Chapter 189 – The Real Demon King

As I had been told, the destination was a church dedicated to Ria located in the northeast of the fourth district.

As expected, although I had heard that it would be crowded in the afternoon, the church dedicated to the goddess of sin was empty.

There was only one old man sitting on a long bench, staring blankly at an ugly statue of a god, so I asked him if I could kneel in front of it.

Then,

“It’s okay now.”

As if they knew I was coming, I immediately heard the usual words.

No matter what happens, I’ve gotten used to these soul journeys.

It feels like visiting the divine realm is as natural as going to the mall in my neighborhood.

When I opened my eyes… Huh?

“Um, thank you, everyone.

“Thank you for helping us avoid war.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“…..”

The usual arrangement was slightly different.

One person seemed grumpy, but today, it was the three of them: Ria, Alicia, and Feeril.

“What an unusual combination today. I came to thank you and to report, but is everything okay?”

“Of course!”

“Please, have a seat.”

A white desk and white chairs that I recognized.

I was staring at them intently, trying to figure out the magic trick that made them appear just by touching the air when the sullen girl next to me spoke.

“Are you okay?”

“I didn’t expect the priest’s report to be like this, but I think I’ll be okay. The king looked like he was going to die when he heard Ria’s message.”

“Yes.”

“With that level of fear, I don’t think the discrimination against demi-humans will continue. It doesn’t seem like they were discriminating out of hatred to begin with.”

That’s right.

A perspective that becomes clear when a solution is in sight.

At first, I was frustrated with this country for discriminating against me and treating me like a scapegoat in times of crisis. But now that I know the country’s history, how the current king defied the ban on entering the forbidden land, and that this place has been judged in the past, it’s only natural to want to protect the country with all my might to prevent another judgment.

After all, it is “God” that they fear.

I don’t think it was possible to draw a clear line between what was acceptable and what would result in punishment.

However, abandoning the country and the land at this point, with a city of this size, is completely unrealistic.

In that case, the only option is to maintain the status quo, which is what I would do.

Considering the fact that the current methods have not been punished so far, I now feel that the only option is to continue to follow them in order to protect the country, the people, and everyone’s way of life.

That’s probably why the old woman used the word “curse.”

“Indeed—the king’s way of thinking is completely opposite now, so it seems like things will be okay.”

“Oh, by the way, there were statues of all of them, but are they the same as the ones in the church?”

“It looks like that. Normally, they don’t put statues of gods anywhere but in churches.”

“They must be very religious.”

“Ah… They’re so afraid of Ria’s ‘divine punishment’ that they naturally did it.”

When I looked at Ria, she quickly looked away.

“Hmm… I thought this method could prevent all wars that hinder the development of civilization, but maybe it’s not that simple?”

“It is difficult. It wouldn’t be as effective in countries where faith is weak, and we can’t make this a regular practice because it interferes with the lower world.”

“There are probably many settlements and tribes of demi-humans that don’t have churches, right?”

“This time is special because it’s caused by the past ‘divine punishment.'”

“I see.”

If this method works everywhere, then it should be possible to stop wars between reincarnated beings and wars involving others.

But if their faith is weak, threats won’t stop them – that’s probably what it means.

Ria probably doesn’t understand this yet, but if she did, would she use Divine Punishment on the reincarnated beings rumored to be causing trouble?

Thinking about it, I’m curious why the “Magic Kingdom of Primus” mentioned by the old woman was subjected to Divine Punishment.

“Hey, in the story, what was the reason why the Magic Kingdom of Primus was subjected to Divine Punishment?”

“Hmm… Primus killed many long-lived species. They captured them and experimented on them?”

“Many long-lived demi-humans and ancient races became extinct after that era.”

“If they had been left alone, all races other than humans might have been wiped out from this world.”

Ugh… The extinction of many races is worse than I imagined.

I see, so that’s the measure of divine punishment.

It makes sense that the gods would intervene in such a situation.

“It seems to have been passed down in different ways in the lower world, but in the end, Primus was the one who was truly evil.”

As soon as I muttered that, the other three chimed in.

“Is that more or less true?”

“Hmm?”

“The trigger was Primus unilaterally labeling demi-humans as monsters and exterminating them. However, the existence of mages who killed many humans in retaliation was also a reason why the ‘Divine Punishment’ had to be unleashed.”

“Both demi-humans and humans were decimated back then, weren’t they?”

“If the target of the retribution was the humans, does that mean that the mages were on the side of the demi-humans?”

“Yes. He was supposed to be the leader of the demon race. He was also a famous mage who could use the Spatial Magic that Loki wants.”

“If we look into their memories, it seems that most humans at that time recognized him as the ‘Demon King.'”

“He was so strong that Rigal mentioned wanting to fight him.”

“A demon king strong enough for Ril to acknowledge…”

This is a powerful word that RPG and MMO fans cannot resist.

I thought it was just a term used in creative works, but I was a little moved to learn that there are actually people in this world who are called that, even if it’s a little inappropriate.

“It seems that it was just a term used by humans to mock them, based on the trend at the time that demi-humans were monsters.”

“It’s probably because the demon race was the most powerful among the demi-humans at that time.”

“That’s why there’s a legend about humans and demi-humans fighting each other.”

“We didn’t realize the extent of the damage until the end of the conflict, so we don’t know the details. But the battle between the mages—or more specifically, the demon race and Primus—was too destructive.”

“So I had no choice but to strike at the center of the conflict with a ‘Divine Punishment’ to end it.”

When Ria finally murmurs under her breath that it’s not her fault, I agree, but I can’t help but think about it.

From both perspectives, the remaining legends are correct.

And as expected, the goddesses’ intervention came at the very end.

Instead of watching the situation unfold for a long time, they suddenly realized its gravity and rushed into action.

“Hey, if you had known more about the lower world back then, do you think you could have intervened sooner or reduced the damage?”

Alicia’s face twisted as if she was aware of the implications of this question.

This is… I can’t deny it. Ever since Loki came to this world, I’ve been feeling that way more and more.”

“Churches are only in cities where humans live, so we didn’t have a clear understanding of where demi-humans lived… If we had known, we might have noticed the changes sooner.”

“It’s safer to know about dangerous magical tools and suspicious experiments in advance.”

“I see…”

In that case, it is important.

I don’t think it will cover everything, and there will be problems with freshness, but…

Still, the most reliable source of information right now is still books.

If the goddesses were serious, they could check everyone’s memories, but from what I’ve heard, that would only give them biased information from humans.

I realize once again how necessary this is, both for me and for the goddesses.

“Okay, I understand. Then I will negotiate with the old lady in charge tomorrow…”

“””…..”””

“Tell Felin and probably Ril as well. Tell them to start reading the books and studying as much as they can.”

Then, as if they heard the voice directly, two agonizing screams echoed from above.

With a wry smile, I returned my consciousness to the church.

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