Beyond the Hero’s Death – 23 | Sousaku – 創作

Episode 23: A small miscellaneous afterword-like note of Chapter 2

Thank you for reading this far, I am the author.
A few small miscellaneous notes, similar to an afterword to chapter 2……
Chapter 2 was also a re-edited version of the short story, but now proceeds from Raoul's and Falty's perspectives. The main story remains the same, but Raoul's mental damage has become more severe.

・Luqur
The tragic figure who met a tragic end, just as in the short version.
I was able to continue writing about her relationship with Raoul, which I didn't really explore in the short version, so it made it even more painful. She was probably the most virtuous person in the story, and she had no blame in regard to her death. Even people who have done nothing wrong in this world can lose their lives in a cruel way if they are targeted by someone with malicious intent.
On the inside, she was a kind and considerate mature woman, but she also had the strength of character to support Raoul wholeheartedly. After killing Janice with his own hands, Raoul was able to fight through the battle without going insane, thanks in no small part to the support of Luqur.
As it was an event that had happened just when everyone was thinking that they should be paired up quickly because they were both in love with each other and it was making things awkward for everyone around them, it ended up casting a shadow not only over Raoul but also over the hearts of the people around him.
Raoul also had feelings of guilt and regret about Janice, and he just couldn't accept Luqur's feelings, but he did like her as a woman.
This means that Raoul has lost the woman he loved twice.

If we talk about what might have been, if she had survived, it would have been a happy ending instead of a tragic bad ending. A turning point, a game-like event where the route diverges.
If Luqur had not died and had been reunited with Raoul, she would have cheered him on and helped him get back on his feet, and they would have entered a route where they would have saved the apocalyptic world once again, not as heroes but as champions, with the evil sword and the celestial sword in their hands.
There are several conditions to reach that point (some of them were hinted at in the story) and it's like a secret route that only appears if you fulfill those conditions, so I think you'd have to play through the game a second time to reach it.
In that case, it would have become an isekai harem story, including Raoul's relationship with the devil, and it wouldn't have been as gruesome as the current main story. ……However, this did not happen.

Devil
Unlike the short version, the inclusion of Raoul's perspective has made her even more mysterious. Why they could create such a dangerous thing as an evil sword... that will become evident in time.
She is very attached to Celestial Knight and likes him a lot, so she will continue to help him from the sidelines whenever she can to make his story more interesting.

・People of the Principality
The war criminals of this time. They had been having small-scale skirmishes even before the Demon King appeared, as they had their eyes on the fertile land of the Elven Kingdom, but once the Demon King appeared, things calmed down.
Although they have a large number of soldiers because they have a large number of citizens, they have little magical power and the equipment they can produce in their own country is poor, so they were only able to defeat the Demon King's army with the support of the Elven Kingdom.
The reason the crown prince is arrogant and ungrateful is because he is a relative of the Empire. And with the promise of imperial support, they once again began their invasion of the Elven Kingdom, and the result was, well……
The king was talented in domestic affairs, so he allowed his pride to grow. The children also inherited this arrogance.
As for the actions of the third son, originally the instructions given by his father were to capture Luqur, but due to various circumstances, he ran off to “have fun” and as a result, he caused the war to explode, rather than expanding it. He is to blame for almost everything. We will touch on these issues in later chapters.
They are three brothers, but the second son died in battle without appearing anywhere in the text. The second and third sons each had ambitions to succeed to the throne, but while the eldest son looked down on his younger brothers, the relationship between the second and third sons was good.
There was also a scene from the perspective of the princess of the Principality, where the second son dies in a state worse than being minced by Falty's arrows along with the rabble, but I decided to leave it out as it would have changed the perspective too much.
After the third son died a horrible death, I thought I'd write an event where the second son, who had gone off to take revenge on his brother's killer, returned with only his left leg (it was still attached to the stirrup of the horse he was riding), but it was just too gruesome, and even if I didn't write it, the Principality would still end up perishing in a horrible way, so it was ultimately rejected when I rewrote it as a longer story.
The eldest son was the type who wanted to stay in a safe place and only enjoy delicious food, so he never went to war, and so he survived until the country fell, but in the end it was just a matter of whether he died early or late.
The princess died after making a hysterical fuss, but as a princess she was neither particularly good nor bad, and if anything she was a bit of a brat, so I think that's why she ended up hating Falty. I think that if I had included the perspective of the princess of the Principality, it would have provided some justification for the more exaggerated depictions……
In the end, they were manipulated by the empire and ended up being destroyed.

Chapters 3 and beyond are new chapters that do not appear in the short story, so I hope you will continue reading.

Thank you for your likes, support and comments, which help to keep me motivated. I haven't been able to respond to your comments, but I have been reading them. I will gradually fix the typos……!
So, I hope you will read the next chapter and beyond, and thank you for your support.