The Returnee Wants Peace

There was no emotion on Cedric’s neat face. Absolutely nothing.

‘…Cedric was holding back too.’

Rosha understood his feelings.

Without doing this, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for cooperating with Count Nigel in any way.

However, she firmly grabbed Cedric’s arm as he was about to enter the green smoke laced with poison.

“Brother, wait a moment.”

“Rosha. I’m the most suitable person here. I have some debts to settle with the Count.”

“I’m not trying to stop you.”

Crackle-

A small electric current flowed from Rosha’s hand gripping Cedric’s arm.

It was the body enhancement magic she had used once before.

The current flowing into his body circulated rapidly, extremely boosting his reflexes and speed.

“This is…”

“I’ll trust you.”

Feeling something had changed, Cedric clenched and unclenched his hand before smiling. Then he strode forward holding Cassis’s sword.

Into the green smoke.

“Oh my…”

Along with a low voice, the green smoke thickened. To the point where one couldn’t see ahead.

Although it was a deadly poison that would be fatal just from skin contact, Cedric’s pace neither slowed nor quickened.

Count Nigel’s face contorted as he realized the poison didn’t affect him.

“…So the aide was hiding something too. To defend against such a deadly poison… Is it an ability?”

“Weren’t you hiding things as well, Count?”

“No one is completely without secrets. I just possessed a few more secrets than others…”

The Count’s words quickened as he saw Cedric raise his sword.

Words about the aide not knowing everything, that his thoughts would change if he listened, could be heard, but Cedric didn’t waver.

Perhaps because it was an A-class sacred relic, even if in the form of a broken sword.

Cassis’s sword still gleamed even in the mist of deadly poison melting the floor.

‘At first he tried to melt us with deadly poison, and when that didn’t work, he tried to persuade us.’

What would be next?

“…I thought the aide would understand my words.”

Cedric’s perfect thrust.

Although there was some awkwardness as he wasn’t used to handling a sword, the fast speed and accurate striking point compensated for this. The tip of the broken blade mercilessly dug into the Count’s body.

But at that moment.

Swoosh-

The Count’s presence swelled exponentially like a balloon. His body had turned into gas and dispersed.

At the same time, voices could be heard from all directions.

-To not recognize the value of that ability. There could have been a good path for both of us.

He was clearly speaking after seeing Rosha’s golden eyes.

‘A troublesome type.’

Cedric is immune to abilities, but he can’t inflict physical damage on the Count. The same goes for Cassis.

Of course, it wasn’t that there was absolutely no way to deal with the Count in this state.

“It seems worth trying… What do you think?”

Froy asked, pushing away the green smoke with an invisible wall.

Listening to his brief whispered explanation, she could understand what he was thinking.

“Sounds good.”

Rosha nodded. It was almost identical to her plan.

The problem was, sensing their intentions, the color of the gas began to change rapidly.

Starting from green with strong toxicity.

White containing sleep gas components, yellow obscuring friend-foe distinction, to light purple causing mental confusion.

“All sorts of effects, huh.”

Cedric, who heard the explanation about the poisons along with notifications of nullification, muttered while relaying the information.

The gas tried desperately to penetrate the curtain, but thanks to Froy’s measures, there was no significant damage.

Then, for the fifth time.

Amidst black fog settling all around, white dots twinkled like stars.

The dots emitted a faint light, drawing indecipherable patterns as if they were constellations.

“This… I’m not sure what it’s doing.”

Cedric muttered softly.

At that moment, Froy gave her a look.

Hurriedly checking her surroundings, she saw Nox trembling.

“Sir Nox.”

He was tied with a rope that prevented him from using magic.

Although he could easily break the rope with just his strength, he seemed unwilling to do so, tightly gripping his hands tied behind his back.

He had gripped so hard that blood was dripping from where his nails dug in.

“Sir Nox!”

“…”

He looked at Rosha with teary eyes.

His eyes, alternating between blurry and clear, eventually became sharp with willpower. At that moment, she seemed to understand the purpose of the pattern the Count was creating.

“Don’t look at that.”

“Okay.”

Seeing Nox immediately closing his eyes, the Count muttered as if dumbfounded.

-The initialization doesn’t work. What did you do to make him like that?

“I just agreed to be friends with Sir Nox.”

-Friends? Such nonsense.

“Why is it nonsense? It seems to make much more sense than the plan to sacrifice the imperial capital as an offering for paradise.”

A moment of silence followed.

Of course, it wasn’t silence due to Rosha’s informal speech.

-…So you knew about paradise. You know and still act like this?

“Yes. This is a pointless act.”

She was sincere.

Setting aside the fact that the Count considered human lives as available resources.

Is entering an immortal life through such means truly living as a human?

‘He… doesn’t understand at all.’

How meaningless an immortal life is.

In fact, even without this, there was much he didn’t know. That the exit was already blocked. That he would certainly die here.

“Rosha.”

Froy quickly signaled with his eyes. It meant preparations were complete and they could move to the next stage.

Confirming this, Rosha slowly drew up her magical power and declared:

“Count, you will die here. For certain.”

-Ha.

Count Nigel sighed. Then, as if deciding to retreat for now, he backed away.

But the exit was already blocked by an invisible wall.

-…

A slight tremor in the air could be felt. He seemed to be hurriedly searching for another way out, but Froy had already taken care of everything.

The reason Froy had been concentrating without saying a word until now was solely for this moment.

-Wh-what are you trying to do?

“I told you. The Count will die here.”

The only way to completely eliminate gas is to perfectly seal off the space and burn everything in it.

It was a tricky condition, but as luck would have it, there were people here with the necessary abilities.

‘I put up with all that nonsense until now for this.’

Rosha’s golden eyes could see the magical particles beyond the transparent wall. As she concentrated for a moment, the air heated up and a very small fire ignited.

Feeling the spark spreading through the air, the Count shouted:

-Wh-what is this! Stop it right now!

“Talk of paradise or whatever doesn’t change the fact that you did terrible things to our family.”

-You don’t know anything. Nothing at all!

“Why wouldn’t I know? I know quite a lot.”

She had been to another world, seen the old era directly, and even conversed with people from that time. She had even viewed the world from a god’s perspective by borrowing the sight of the Guide God.

Of course, she wouldn’t tell him that.

‘Why bother?’

The Count struggled as if trying to get at grandfather, but it was useless.

All passages were blocked. There was nowhere to escape.

“Now then… burn away to nothing.”

Just like how our parents passed away.

No, like I thought they did. I hope you disappear without a trace like that.

Rosha muttered softly.

* * *

Count Nigel died. Vanishing in his gaseous state, he didn’t even leave a handful of ashes in this world.

It was a pitiful end for someone who dreamed of immortality.

“If used well, it could have been a very tricky ability.”

“He probably never properly fought. He must have thought it was an ability only suitable for research.”

Well, when people can collapse from just one paralytic poison, he probably never needed to fight.

Shaking her head, Rosha diligently climbed the stairs.

To say it now, after burning down the research lab completely, they were in the process of chasing the sniper who had been with Count Nigel.

‘Ugh, I want to rest…’

Although the physical or magical consumption wasn’t great, she was mentally exhausted. She wanted to immerse herself in hot water right away.

As she climbed the stairs with a gloomy face, Froy rummaged through his chest and handed something over. It was a super-premium fatigue recovery potion occasionally sold in secret shops.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was lying around in the research lab we visited earlier. So I picked up a few.”

After opening the lid and gulping it down, she definitely felt her head clearing up.

Just then.

“Cough, cough.”

Grandfather, who had been carried on Cassis’s back, seemed to have woken up and slowly raised his head.