Casino Wizard

The hero, Pierrot, never imagined that one day he would look down on the saintess like this.

Saintess Theodora, trembling in fear, seemed to be shaking.

At first…

That is, when the hero saw the saintess frantically searching for her sister in the middle of the corridor, he felt an indescribable sense of superiority.

She had acted so arrogantly, but in the end, she was abandoned even by the priests. How much we’ve grown, how sweet it is to see her like this…

It wasn’t a feeling one would expect at the age of 50, but it was truly like that.

As time passed, that superiority transformed into impatience.

Why am I the last in line to seek revenge?

He knew that Jerome and Lucy were also quite upset.

But when it came to salvation with the saintess, there was no one who had suffered more than the hero. He firmly believed that he deserved the priority.

However, that impatience slowly faded.

It was because he had witnessed the saintess being beaten like a dog.

“This is not like Hyden.”

Hyden had warned him beforehand.

The purpose of this event was purely revenge. The goal was to bring the greatest pain to the saintess. But even so, wasn’t it a bit too loud?

The hero did not suddenly feel pity for the saintess.

He still resented her, of course.

“Please, spare me.”

The original plan was to threaten her with death, make her confess to several accusations, and use that to tie up loose ends.

But the hero wanted to slightly alter the wizard’s plan. Not to lock her away in a secluded convent, but to find another way.

Above all, there was something he wanted to hear from the saintess.

“Saintess. I have no education.”

“Wha…?”

At one time, whenever he came out of a nightmare with the saintess, there had been both fear and hatred. Now, however, he wasn’t afraid, perhaps because the roles had reversed.

“But I have a sense of whether people like me or dislike me. Whether living with livestock in a hut worse than a cave or becoming the wielder of the holy sword and taking on heavy duties.”

“…?”

“I knew you hated me, Saintess. Every time I approached, you’d pinch your nose, saying I smelled like a pig.”

“That’s…”

“But Saintess, what if you had just endured a little and played your role?”

At that, the saintess stopped shaking and looked at him blankly.

She seemed to be listening.

“During the war, Lucy once tried to lighten the mood with some cute gestures, especially toward Hyden. You said she looked like a barmaid, didn’t you?”

“Ugh…”

“The poor girl became so scared after that she barely spoke anymore. That was mainly because of the scolding you kept giving her after.”

Around that time, Lucy’s skills stagnated. She had become a gold-tier adventurer in her teens.

“And Jerome. He had been slowly overcoming his blood phobia. It was because of your joke that it got worse.”

“I didn’t think it would…”

“If it weren’t for you, Jerome would have overcome his fear and kept the party safe. He has that ability, doesn’t he?”

But Jerome had only served as a human shield.

“Hyden too. He couldn’t even properly train his magic because he was too busy keeping an eye on you.”

“It wasn’t that he was keeping an eye on me. Hyden set traps so that I would be falsely accused.”

“Saintess, you falsely accused me of rape once. You keep claiming that Hyden set a trap, but it wasn’t a trap. He just figured out your scheme and acted accordingly.”

“Huh?”

“That was Hyden’s role in the party.”

To keep an eye on internal threats and prevent the party from falling apart.

It was supposed to be the hero’s job, but back then, Pierrot was too incompetent.

“I was naturally someone who tried to please others and couldn’t do anything. I did my best… and hoped that if I followed your teachings, one day you would stop hating me. I didn’t even realize that was a futile wish.”

Had he ever spoken like this without a script before?

The middle-aged hero let out a hollow laugh, feeling like he might actually have the help of the goddess.

By now, the saintess, who had stopped trembling, was looking at the middle-aged hero. She had straightened her back, and her mouth, which had been open, was now closed.

“So you’re going to kill me? With that holy sword?”

“First, I’d like you to answer my question.”

“What question?”

“What if, instead of biting us, you had just played your role?”

Instead of answering, the saintess just remained silent, her eyes trembling once more.

“I must be an incredibly useless person compared to the other three heroes… Yes, I must have had some flaws. But I wouldn’t have been excluded from the Demon King subjugation. I would have followed to the Demon Territory and made some small contribution.”

Having said that, Pierro suddenly grasped the hilt of his sword, as if to draw it.

It seemed the saintess understood the signal.

She let out a soft groan and slowly rose, still without responding.

“If that had happened… Hyden would have started a casino. Saintess, a better one, in a better setting. He would have succeeded faster.”

“A casino…?”

“Lucy would have worked at the casino, and Jerome would have gone back to a knight’s order, not the city guard.”

“What about me?”

“You would probably be serving in the capital.”

Even if the saintess had cooperated, the weakest hero party would have stayed that way, and their treatment after the Demon King subjugation wouldn’t have been great.

But they wouldn’t have been called the kingdom’s shame. The casino would have been like that too. Considering Hyden’s business acumen, he would have succeeded much faster.

“Then, I suppose I also… received money.”

A sorrowful voice leaked from the saint’s lips.

Amidst all this, money.

It seemed like she wasn’t just talking about money.

The hero Pierrot had no words and looked at Hyden.

Then, as if he had been waiting for this moment, Hyden took a step closer to the saintess. It seemed he understood what the hero was thinking.

“You would have, Theodora.”

“Ah.”

“Plentifully, too. Not as bribe money, but with a proper donation, with a purpose.”

“Really…?”

“Really. And besides the donation, your family in the secular world would have been taken care of too. Much better than the saintesses who are tied to heroes. When the time was right, you would have had capital and support to secure a position within the church.”

At these words, the saintess, nodding unsteadily, stared at her hands, as if she were recalling the lost choices in her mind.

Whether she was recalling what she had lost or mocking herself for being beaten by her former comrades, it was clear that the saintess was trembling.

Tears began to flow down her cheeks, following the dried blood on her face.

After a brief silence:

“Hero, you said you received a revelation. Was that true?”

“Yes, I did.”

“What kind?”

“It was a revelation showing that you deliberately tried to break up the party.”

“Break up?” She blinked, then began to make a pitiful confession.

“It wasn’t really about breaking up… My goal was to dissuade you, to make you go back to where you belonged.”

“Tell me more.”

“And I wanted to join another hero party, like Leandro’s or Oscar’s. After all, you weren’t particularly skilled… especially your face. What if I said I became stranded because of a responsibility-less hero?”

“You thought someone would take you in?”

“If that didn’t work, I was going to join the Crusader Order.”

Was it such a terrible mistake? I didn’t drag you into this, you know?

Pierrot looked at the saintess, who had a mocking expression.

So, she really had wanted to break up the party.

It was the moment Pierrot’s long-standing question was answered.

The saintess, who had constantly attacked him, even when there was no reason, and who attacked his comrades when they supported him, had done all that because she wanted to leave the party and join another.

“It’s unfair, isn’t it? I only made one wrong dice roll.”

“Dice?”

“No, not that I literally rolled dice… There was clearly a chance to go to another hero, but why me? Haah.”

If it had been before, just hearing this would have felt like salt on the wound.

Now, Pierrot wasn’t angry anymore.

He had seen the bottom of the saintess, who had been broken.

She had struggled for two years to escape from him, an incompetent hero, and when she failed, she ran away to the church without a word, and even after that, she couldn’t stop hating her old comrades, throwing jabs at them.

Then, in the end, she crossed over to the kingdom and was destroyed by revenge.

“But you still want to kill me. Really?”

The saintess’s downcast eyes were fixed on the holy sword the hero was lightly holding.

As if asking, now that the truth was revealed, was he going to kill her and complete his revenge?

Revenge. Yes, I will do it.

Pierrot calmly looked around.

Except for Hyden, everyone had an expression of disbelief. Did they really think he would kill the saintess?

But the hero’s plan wasn’t murder. He wasn’t going to roll the dice either.

“Saintess, I’m going to the Demon Realm now. I won’t kill you.”

“Huh?”

“At first… yes, I didn’t want to burden my comrades or be harmed by you. But now, I have another goal. I want to achieve something and clear the stigma placed on me.”

Pierro stood calmly before the saintess, feeling an odd sense of peace.

“Saintess, let’s go to the Demon Realm together.”

The saintess stared at him, dumbfounded.

Her face was a mix of relief from escaping death and confusion, wondering how she would contribute now that the Demon King was already dead.

But Pierrot wasn’t going to take back his proposal.

To make her roll around in the Demon Realm’s den, to help the person she hated, and to make her regret her past decisions.

That, he believed, was a greater revenge than locking her away.

‘I feel a bit sorry for Hyden.’

With a glance, the hero turned to Hyden, to apologize in his own way.

But the wizard had already responded.

“Theodora. Accept the hero’s proposal.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the best choice for you. At least publicly, we can say that Hero Pierrot participated in the Demon Realm expedition and that Saintess Theodora followed as a soldier. Of course, we’ll need to make an agreement beforehand.”

“The Demon Realm… it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s safer for you in the Demon Realm.”

Hyden showed her the bloody dice, and just seeing it made the saintess flinch and close her eyes tightly.

Hyden wasn’t just threatening her.

“If you help the hero devotedly and survive, there might be a reward waiting for you.”

Hyden subtly hinted at a reward.

He must have added that out of concern for the hero’s well-being in his old age. Pierrot appreciated it, but he also felt sorry for him.

“I’ll go. To the Demon Realm.”

Unable to withstand the pressure, the saintess finally conceded.

An expedition to the Demon Realm with the enemy in tow.

Some might consider it a futile act, but Pierrot felt like a long-held worry had finally been lifted.

For him, this was a greater revenge than beating her to death.