"That really took me by surprise. I mean, I'd been under the impression that Olgou-sama was gentle and reserved, like Terra-sama," Zana said with a slight hint of surprise in her voice after Olgou-sama once again split into the five goddesses.
I had thought so too, but upon further consideration, Fluga-sama and Turbo-sama's strong-mindedness must have also come from her with them being parts of her, so Olgou-sama having such a bold side to her was only natural, I guess.
"Well, not that it matters, 'aight? What's important is we won. Now we just have to make that old man apologize for what he did and… wait, he's gone?! H-hey, Exa?! That old man's gone?!" Ophir, having manifested in her clone form with a blaze, jumped in surprise.
"Yeah," I nodded and said, "I saw him using movement magic as we were talking, probably running off somewhere."
"No, why're ya so calm?! I bet that old man is up to no good again?!" Ophir raised her voice while pointing to where Elysium had been a while ago.
But I calmly nodded, "Don't worry," and said, "I sensed where he was headed. It was—the oni village."
◇
"…What a persistent bunch," Elysium sighed in amazement with his back leaning against a large tree in the middle of the ruins of the oni village.
Contrary to Ophir's worry, Elysium seemed to have already admitted defeat as he showed no intentions of fighting or running away when came in front of him in Susanoo Kamui form.
However…
"Your body… It looks like you won't last for long."
"I suppose."
As Shiva-san pointed out, Elysium's body was gradually weathering; clearly, he didn't have much time left.
I said to Elysium, "I can heal you. If you promise me that you will atone for your sins from now onwards, I will heal you."
"H-huh?! Y-you, are you being serious?!" Elma looked at me like she couldn't believe what she had just heard.
After reassuring her with a smile, I continued, "How about it? Being a saint, you should be able to help a lot of people."
"…You want me to help humans? Don't make me laugh. Do you really believe I'll accept such a ridiculous proposal?"
"Not really, you'll never accept it."
"Why ask such a meaningless question, then? Is it just to make fun of this pathetic loser?" Elysium smiled self-deprecatingly.
"No," I shook my head again and said, "I just wanted to know why you hate humans so much. What did you want to achieve by exterminating humans and demi-humans?"
"…What will you do after hearing that?"
"I'll do everything in my power to prevent someone like you from ever appearing again."
"I see. Spoken like a true savior. It's so wonderful that it makes me want to throw up."
Kuku, after a chuckle, Elysium suddenly looked up at the sky and said, "…It's nothing grand, really. I just wanted to live quietly in a world free of the threats that took the lives of my family."
A world free of the threats that took the lives of his family, huh…
"…What happened to your family?"
"Killed, by you humans. I can't and will never forgive you humans. Not when you humans made monsters eat my kindhearted wife just because the baby she was carrying had the blood of a demi-human. So, I took revenge."
"The result is as you can see," said Elysium, looking at the ruined village. "They were the ones who planted the seed of grudge, yet when I took out some of them, they retaliated by not only going after me but also the innocent oni. Peace will never come to a world where such people, humans, dominate. That's why I wanted to exterminate all humans; I wanted to create an ideal world where only we, demi-humans, exist. That's it."
『...』Listening to Elysium's story, all of us were at a loss for words.
We had heard a similar story from the female grave keeper a while ago. It seemed that the story was telling about Elysium's past.
At first, he had only been targeting humans, but because demi-humans had helped us, he lost faith in them and changed his objective to wipe off humans and demi-humans from this world.
Such a sad story.
"What you did is absolutely unforgivable. But, I painfully understand your feelings."
"…What did you say?"
"I have a pregnant wife, too. If she—no, not only her. If the people I treasure suffered similar experiences, I probably would kill the culprits and everyone involved without mercy."
"Hou, you, the Savior, would?"
"Yeah, I, the Savior, would." I nodded and continued, "That's why I won't condemn you for taking revenge on the ones who caused your wife and child to die. I'd say you did a good job, in fact. But, don't you think it's too far for you to extend your revenge on other people? By going after the innocents, you were doing the same thing as the humans you hate did, you know?"
"Shut up! Even so, I…" Elysium gritted his teeth with a vengeful look on his face—it was at that time…
"—I'm sorry for interrupting but can you give me some time to talk with that man?"
『!』
With that announcement, a woman appeared, and all of us turned our eyes toward her.
Standing there was Leuke-san, the 'one-horned' oni and also the grave keeper whom we had met at the oni's graveyard previously.