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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Chapter 236: Let’s Go Home

Having disposed of the bothersome Shudo, I stored away his magical organ in my inventory for future analysis and returned to Iris and the others, who had been watching us closely.

“Is it over, Is?”

“Yes. I just casually tossed him outside the castle, so there’s no need to worry anymore.”

“I see.”

Sharueina said that with a heartfelt sigh of relief, then gazed at the greatsword that marked Rogurando’s grave before looking back at me.

“Thank you for protecting my uncle’s sword.”

“Don’t mention it. I actually thought his way of dying was quite admirable personally. So admirable, it makes me envious.”

I’d seen many people die, but his seemed to leave him content as he fulfilled his role and was saved from the worst outcome by his niece, Sharueina.

Such a death made me envious, and that’s why I couldn’t forgive that jerk’s actions, which desecrated his death—something I hold dear above all.

“Um, it was really cool.”

“Thank you very much.”

“By the way, if it’s okay with you…”

“Lady Lewis!”

Sharueina, blushing and flustered, was about to say something when Iris interrupted her, causing her to slump down like a wet puppy.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Your Highness Sharueina. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Haha. Don’t worry about it. After twice, I can handle it. Hahaha.”

Feeling somewhat sorry for her, it didn’t seem like a significant discussion anyway, so I decided to let Iris speak first this time.

“What’s wrong?”

“Um…”

However, Iris hesitated, faltering as she searched for the right words.

“Lord Lewis, if it’s not too much trouble, may I speak instead?”

“Go ahead.”

“Then…”

Miria suddenly dropped to her knees and bowed her head, speaking as if she were a sinner confessing her crimes.

“While I have Lord Lewis as my master, I acted as a mere follower behind others. No matter the reason, it was unacceptable behavior for one who serves you, Lord Lewis. Please, punish me.”

“I—I did something treacherous against Lord Lewis too! I won’t make excuses or explain myself! Please, punish me as well!”

“Hmm. Punishments, huh?”

“Please!”

“Please!”

Kneeling beside Miria, Iris echoed her plea, both of them requesting punishment, but I felt nothing seeing them in such a state.

“Honestly, it’s fine. Punishments are usually for breaking laws or betraying promises, right? But I never had any expectations from the start, so there’s no punishment needed.”

“…Huh?”

“What do you mean by that…”

Upon hearing my words, they looked at me as if they didn’t understand, but this wasn’t strange; it had nothing to do with the current situation. So, I explained in a way they could understand.

“You seem to misunderstand, but I’ve never expected anything from anyone, nor have I trusted them. When that guy got involved, I could already foresee this outcome. And it’s not just limited to you two—Your Highness Sharueina is the same, along with Fiera, who’s not here, and regular people I’ve never met either. So I don’t think of you two as having betrayed me, and I don’t see a need to punish you.”

My words held no lies or deceit.

I undoubtedly had an interest in their growth and actions, but to say I expected something from them would be an emphatic no.

Through past experiences, I learned more than enough how pointless it is to trust others. Since I’m bound to return from death, there’s no need to force relationships or friendships in this world.

As long as I maintain the bare minimum of connections like my parents, I think I’m good. I can’t count how many times I’ve thought of them as I do Iris and the others.

“So, I’m sorry, but I have no reason to punish you. You don’t need to feel guilty about this matter either. Rather, I’m more interested in how you managed to regain your self-awareness from that brainwashing. Could you share that with me?”

I squatted down to meet their gaze, smiling as I aligned my fingers in front of my face, asking them to share their reasons.

I could sense hesitation, sadness, and a bit of despair as they looked at me, but perhaps because I’d asked, they began to share everything that had happened.

(Those girls that resembled us with their eyes covered from the mental realm?)

At first, I thought the girls they mentioned might have some connection to Aurience, but judging by how the girls looked and felt, it seemed likely those two were actually them.

While it sounded ridiculous at first, considering that I was rewinding from death, the existence of the goddess, and the fact that Sephiria had taught Aurience past events, it didn’t seem completely outlandish.

“Rather than thinking it’s impossible and shutting down, I’d rather consider it a theory. Thank you both. This is incredibly helpful.”

“Y-yes.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Now then, I’m done with everything here and we should head back. But I have one more thing to do, so you three could leave first?”

“What is it you have to do?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s a secret. Don’t worry, it’s nothing major, and I’ll follow right after.”

“…Alright. Let’s go, you two.”

Sharueina seemed to think for a moment but, sensing I wouldn’t answer further questions, took Iris with her, still looking gloomy, and left the throne room.

With a smile, I waved them goodbye and cast multiple layers of soundproofing, awareness inhibition, presence detection blocking, and magical power detection blocking spells before sitting upon the throne where Rogurando had once been.

“Alright. Now that the annoying ones are gone, let’s start the final discussion. Fūshiru, and you too, Mr. Demon.”

As I called out in the empty room, Fūshiru appeared from nowhere, and from the shadow of a pillar, a demon man emerged.

“Looks like it’s done.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good to hear. By the way, who is this demon next to you?”

“Didn’t I mention? There are those who need frozen people besides just you guys. These are the demon folk. And this guy is… what was your name again?”

Looking sideways at the demon guy standing casually next to Fūshiru, I realized I hadn’t caught his name either, so I decided to ask him first.

“Now that you mention it, I have been observing but have not introduced myself. My name is Wilhelm. I look forward to working with you.”

“Wilhelm, huh? Remember that. And, next to me is Fūshiru from the Dragon Kin. Well, you probably already know that if you’ve been keeping an eye on me.”

“Yes. I know. The Fūshiru who boasted loudly and eagerly challenged you, only to become a regrettable lizard after being defeated.”

“What did you say? A gloomy demon like you can mock me?!”

“What are you saying? That’s just objective fact, isn’t it?”

“I’ll kill you!”

“You think you’re capable of killing me?”

“Alright now, that’s enough. If you don’t quiet down, I’ll be the one to kill you, got it?”

“…Huh?”

“…Ugh…”

As the magical power I had left dwindled, I kindly spoke to them while releasing my fighting spirit, causing both to break into cold sweat and quiet down.

“I know your people don’t get along, but stop the bickering here. It’s a hassle.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

The demon folk and the dragon kin have always been in conflict, with the demon king and the dragon emperor at the top. This bickering was a given whenever they shared the same space, but now that time was precious and weariness was setting in, I decided such matters could be dealt with later.

“Now then, I’m going to keep this brief regarding why I called you here. First, about this country called Saramāju, as promised, you can do as you like with it. However, the thirteen thousand or so humans turned into ice statues can be used to revive the demon king and the dragon emperor, but keep your hands off the others. For the resurrection of the demon king, human souls are required, and for the resurrection of the dragon emperor, you need blood from two hundred thousand humans, right? How’s the demon king’s side looking?”

“We have enough souls for the demon king with this batch. We also have what we were gathering ourselves, so combining it all is not an issue.”

“Okay.”

“What about the dragon emperor? Do you have any plans?”

According to Wilhelm, they had enough human souls for the demon king, but they still needed seven thousand humans’ blood for the dragon emperor, so he was asking what to do about that.

“We’re fine on that front. Initially, we planned to gather information on criminals and collect a bit by bit, but we came across some good intel.”

I said as I pulled a piece of paper from my storage and used wind magic to hand it over to Fūshiru.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the plan Rogurando was thinking about.”

“…No way, is this really happening?”

“Yeah. Well, more accurately, it was planned to happen.”

The contents of the paper detailed Rogurando’s plan to take the Ruzenia Empire, along with the names of everyone involved.

“About next summer, a civil war will erupt in the Empire. The instigator is the third prince of the Ruzenia Empire, who will kill all his brothers and family to seize the throne. While the country is worn down, Rogurando and others will simultaneously wage war to topple the Empire. Afterward, Rogurando planned to use the power of demons to make kings of various countries his puppets to rule the continent.”

While it seemed like a well-prepared scheme, it was something that had occurred in my past life too.

In my ninth life, around the summer of my second year, the third prince suddenly murdered his entire family to ascend the throne.

But it was stopped by Sharueina and her ally Shudo; the two of them developed romantic feelings through their shared hardships and ended up getting married.

Well, that’s not the point right now; what matters is that the past third prince rebelled according to this plan.

(Of course, I died just after hearing Shudo was taking the throne, so I don’t know what happened afterward, but maybe there was a war afterward as planned. Or maybe that guy destroyed the world as is…)

They say the dead don’t speak, but since the dead also have no eyes, I don’t know how the world turned out after death, making it hard to say. But it’s certainly possible that if he didn’t do anything, the war he planned could indeed have taken place.

“Therefore, I intend to use that civil war to present to you every single one of those involved in the rebellion.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know how many there will be, but judging by the number of nobles written in that plan, it should be quite a few. The remainder will come from capturing criminals, just as I mentioned.”

Since reading Rogurando’s plan, it appeared many nobles within the Empire had cooperated with him, so it seemed likely they chose the third prince as a puppet because he was incompetent and easier to manipulate, making it simpler to hand over to Rogurando.

“Also, that paper mentions an organization called ‘The Gathering of Demons,’ which incited Rogurando and other nobles twelve years ago to instigate a rebellion, and it writes they will take part in this operation as well. But now that Rogurando has been killed, perhaps this whole plan could fall through, and those guys might hide away.”

The Gathering of Demons is a name I hadn’t heard before, but from the name alone, it likely resembles an organization that worships demons and aims to create chaos in this world, much like a cult dedicated to the demon king or dragon emperor.

“Then that means the agreement cannot be fulfilled.”

“That’s right. So, we need those who can replace The Gathering of Demons. Wilhelm, do you have any demons who can amplify human greed?”

“Yes, but what kind of greed would you like to amplify?”

“I want something like the absolute desire to acquire what one longs for, or an obsession with standing over others.”

“In that case, it’s not a problem. However, if you want to seek their cooperation, you will need to come to the Demon Kingdom and speak to them directly.”

“That’s fine. I had initially planned to head over there due to the prior matter, so I can go anytime if invited.”

“Understood. I’ll also have them informed as such.”

“Alright, I’m counting on you. Now then, Fūshiru.”

“What is it?”

“I plan to keep my promise to you around next summer, so please come to the Ruzenia Empire during that time.”

“Got it.”

“Well then, this meeting is over. As I mentioned before, you’re free to do as you like in this country, so I’ll leave the rest to you. Just do not touch the nearby Valentine Duchy. If you do anything, I’ll erase your entire race from this world.”

As I stood up from the throne and placed my hand on the door, I left that statement behind and exited the throne room to rejoin Sharueina and the others waiting outside as we prepared to leave the country of Saramāju.

By the way, when I stopped by the inn where Nagurai was staying, I found no sign of her, just a note that said, “I hate the cold, so I’m leaving this country ahead of you.”

I don’t know how she did it, but it seems she escaped my magic and left the country ahead of me.

Also, on the way out, I spotted a young man lying unconscious on the ground, but it seemed he was being treated by many adventurers surrounding him, so there didn’t seem to be any need to worry about that.

“Ah, finally, I can enjoy my summer break. I’ll just laze around at home without stepping outside once I’m back.”

With all troubles finally resolved, I decided to lock myself in my room for a month and do absolutely nothing.

Unfortunately, though, it seems this year’s summer break is void of relaxation, and only a physically and mentally exhausting summer awaits me.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Thus concludes Lewis’s story!

Next, we will move on to Fiera’s story, but I don’t plan to write it too long, so I hope you can read it in a relaxed manner.

That said, I tend to end up increasing the word count every time!

I apologize for that.

Also, if you’re interested, please check out “The Former Hero, Becomes the Demon Emperor and Devotes the World,” which I’m simultaneously serializing!

I would greatly appreciate if anyone interested could read it at least once!

https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330663836544021

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