I Finished Saving the World, But Then I Picked Up a Girl With Amnesia - Chapter 31

How wretched can love truly be?

It was an accident amidst the chaos of battle.

Though she and the Hero had crossed blades countless times, this was the first time they were face-to-face, away from the main battlefield, separated from their companions, just the two of them.

By that point, the Hero must have understood the nature of Liliamila’s magic. He had started relentlessly targeting her, determined to crush her entirely, knowing she could revive other monsters on the battlefield.

Liliamila rarely fought on the front lines. She typically left combat to the other Four Heavenly Kings and the resurrected creatures under her control, staying safely in the rear. For the Hero, this moment was the perfect opportunity.

She remembered the rain pouring down heavily.

────Prepare yourself.

She was taken down easily, pushed to the ground by the Hero.

Her mouth filled with gravel.

Her entire body was soaked, cold, and she desperately wanted a hot shower.

As the furious expression of the Hero loomed over her, Liliamila felt detached, like the rain falling around them. A strange sense of calm washed over her.

Perhaps it was this indifference that finally snapped something inside the Hero. Liliamila distinctly heard the sound of something breaking within him.

────If only, if only… you weren’t here!

The heat of the Hero’s body, straddling hers as he leveled his sword at her, radiated through her skin.

It felt warm, she thought.

────I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you… I swear I’ll kill you.

Spewing his dark, twisted emotions, the Hero plunged his sword into the necromancer’s body over and over.

He stabbed her arm.

He stabbed her leg.

He stabbed her head.

He pierced her heart.

And yet, Liliamila could not die. The Hero could not kill her.

Eventually, the Hero dropped his sword.

────If only, if only…

Gripping the frail woman’s slender neck with his bare hands, the Hero spoke.

────If only I could kill you… If only you were on my side, everyone wouldn’t have had to die…!

Tears.

Liliamila saw them.

Through the rage, hatred, sadness, and every other emotion swirling together, she saw tears. Within them, she glimpsed the truth of what it meant to save the world. More importantly, she saw what she had been longing for.

With this kind of hatred, surely this man would eventually kill her. Surely, he would bring her end.

And so—

────Shall I join your side, then?

She wanted to see the moment that hatred flipped on its head.

As he tightened his grip on her neck, she quietly forced the words out. The look on the Hero’s face when he heard them was something Liliamila Guildenstern would never forget.

Because it was the most beautiful face she had ever seen.

────What’s the condition?

The Hero’s trembling voice asked.

In those eyes, she thought, perhaps she could die. She thought so. She truly believed it.

────It’s simple. Someday, please kill me.

The necromancer answered.

That was all it took. Just that, and their contract—shared only between the two of them—was sealed.

—

That’s why she couldn’t allow anyone else to kill him.

Because the one to kill her must be him.

When her work was done and she returned to the Hero, she found him sitting in a chair, gazing out at the sea. The red-haired girl seemed to have tired herself out and was slumped over the table, fast asleep.

“May I sit beside you?”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you.”

Liliamila quietly took the seat next to him.

“Is your work finished?”

“Yes. Without any issues.”

“About earlier.”

“Earlier?”

“…That thing about jealousy.”

“Oh, please forget about it. It was nothing but the ramblings of a foolish woman.”

“I won’t forget.”

Liliamila turned her gaze back to him.

Clink. The ice in his glass cracked and shattered.

“Since that day, I’ve never once forgotten the promise I made with you.”

The Hero glanced at Liliamila out of the corner of his eye.

That cold profile—Liliamila knew it. It was a face only she had seen.

“So, don’t worry.”

The Hero reassured her.

That low voice—Liliamila knew it. It was a voice only she had heard.

Neither Shana, nor Aria, nor Mumu—no one else knew it. This expression, this voice, this heart of his—Liliamila alone knew them.

“…Ufufu.”

Ah, yes.

This was hers. This emotion, more than anything, was directed solely at her.

So, she would never let anyone else have it.

“Hero-sama.”

“Hm?”

She stood from her chair, stretched her back, spread her arms, and turned to face him.

With the melting sunset at her back, Liliamila Guildenstern smiled.

“I truly do love you, Hero-sama.”

Hearing him call her “Mila-san” made her feel a bit shy.

Love is not always gentle and warm. Sometimes, love is cold, cruel, and capable of killing. Perhaps such love isn’t the right kind of love.

Even so, if hatred for others and the desire to destroy the world can carry any truth, Liliamila knew no one as sincere as the Hero in carrying out these emotions.

And so, she chose to love him. Until the day he finally ended her, she would pour the same passionate, glass-like emotions into her love for him.

“Kill me,” he had once said.

She had been unable to kill him.

Thus, she fell into the path of darkness.

“Kill me,” she had said.

And he had vowed to do so.

Thus, she became his support in saving the world.

The one promise they shared, devoid of lies or deceit, could not be denied by anyone.

How wretched can love truly be?

That’s what she used to think. But not anymore.

She loved the Hero who saved the world.

She knew many others harbored feelings for him.

Even so, Liliamila Guildenstern believed:

────My love is the most beautiful.

—

TL Note: In 紫天の死霊術師 (The Purple Sky Necromancer), the term 紫天 (Shiten), meaning “Purple Heaven,” is a wordplay on 四天 (Shiten) from 四天王 (Shitennou), or “Four Heavenly Kings.” This references Liliamila’s former role as the Second Seat of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings.

Why “Sky” instead of “Heaven”, then? Considering her role in the story (e.g., her flying ship or her practical use of necromancy), “Purple Sky Necromancer” works better.

“Purple Sky” can also symbolize an approaching storm. Well, in her case, it might be a horde of flying undead beast armies.