After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

It's like a criminal constantly apologizing, compensating, and trying to obtain a letter of forgiveness from the victim in order to receive a lighter sentence. It's simply a consideration of self-interest.

This made Aize feel sick.

So, when Heidi apologized last night, he interrupted her impatiently.

But today is different.

Although Aize had laid bare the kidnapping details to her, the matter itself was still confusing and Heidi was not aware of the details.

In this case, if Heidi just wants to gain Aize's forgiveness and keep things vague, the right choice is to make a big deal out of a small matter.

But she took the initiative to tell the story, and did not avoid the important issues.

This surprised Aize.

But despite the unexpectedness, the core question I raised last night has still not been answered.

And on this issue, Aize has no intention of giving in.

"You can talk to her about this later. And what? Don't you want to talk about what happened last night? Then don't beat around the bush. I still have the same question. If you just want to save the residents of the royal capital, why don't you abdicate?"

The same question made Heidi's heart tremble again.

But this time, she didn't look away like she did last night, nor did she fall into silence like she did last night.

Instead, he shook his head and answered in the loudest voice he had in the past few days:

"Because I can't abdicate! At least not now! Absolutely not!"

As these words came out of my mouth, everything I had seen and heard in the past few days came flooding back to my mind.

Surprise, humiliation, regret, all kinds of emotions mixed together and turned into pure anger.

Her Highness clenched her fists until they crackled.

"Aize, you should know that the kingdom's predecessor was a knightly order. Four hundred years ago, they drove out the magical beasts, demons, and the tyrannical slave owners who once ruled this land. As a result, they won the support of the liberated civilians and became the current royal family and nobles."

Aize nodded - there was no way he didn't know this basic knowledge.

"Nobility and commoners, power and obligation, dignity and honor, should complement each other, but what the hell are these bastards doing now!?"

"Aize, I... I've seen and heard a lot along the way. I know there's only so much more I haven't seen or heard. The kingdom's nobility is rotten!"

Aize knows better than anyone else the bad things done by the local nobles.

So even if Heidi didn't explain it in detail, he could probably imagine what was going on.

But what he was more curious about was Heidi's transformation.

He had told Heidi about the overall corruption of the aristocracy and the bad things they had done before, and he didn't even know how many times he had told her about it.

But Heidi never took it seriously.

They even turned the tables, thinking that Aize, a commoner from another world, was slandering them out of jealousy.

Therefore, Aize has even given up hope in this regard.

Unexpectedly, after leaving the team, Heidi actually figured this out on her own?

How do you say that?

People cannot learn by teaching others, but people can learn by things.

What our ancestors said still makes sense.

"These bastards are so ruthless as to collude with each other and organize the slave trade! Aize, tell me, if I abdicate and let these guys take over, what will happen to the kingdom? What will happen to the kingdom's residents!?"

"I know that in this situation, the royal family... no, I also have an unshirkable responsibility. I will be punished, but before that, I must make up for my mistakes! I must fulfill my responsibilities! So I must stand in this position and make them pay the price!"

Heidi said these words subconsciously without thinking.

Rather than talking to Aize, it seemed more like he was simply venting his own emotions.

After venting most of her anger, Heidi finally came to her senses.

I realized that I should have been apologizing, but I was actually cursing and complaining.

His face turned pale in an instant, he quickly shook his head and changed his words:

"I'm sorry, Aize, I shouldn't have told you this. I... you've clearly told me all this before, but I... hehe, why am I still saying this now?"

"In short, please, please help me! I must make up for my mistakes, to the country, to the people, and... to you, to Miss Vivian, so... please help me, give me a chance to make up for my mistakes... please..."

After saying this, Her Highness the Princess bowed her head deeply with a nervous expression.

I didn't dare look into Aize's eyes again.

Rather than an apology, Aize was more interested in Heidi's subconscious statement just now.

In his original expectation, Heidi's reason for not abdicating would be something rational, such as "abdication will trigger civil war."

I didn't expect it to be such a pure emotional output, and even my overall view of the nobility was turned upside down.

This is quite interesting and exceeded expectations in a good way.

Then the original plan would have to be modified accordingly.

So Aize didn't rush to answer, but quickly started thinking.

The living room fell into silence for a moment.

The modern-style clock on the wall ticks forward second by second, and the ticking sound is clearly audible.

This means that only a few seconds have passed.

But these few seconds were extremely difficult for Heidi.

Cold sweat appeared and slid down his forehead at a speed visible to the naked eye. His whole body was aching slightly, and his stomach was cramping like a twisted towel.

Almost vomiting.

After all, if she was rejected here, Heidi really didn't know what to do.

"Heidi, I don't think I've told you yet what I'm going to do after leaving the team."

After a brief silence, Aize finally spoke.

However, what was said seemed to have nothing to do with Heidi's request.

Chapter 48 A request

Faced with the sudden and incoherent question, Heidi naturally had no answer and shook her head blankly.

"You know, unlike that guy Leah, I don't like this world."

Aize exhaled and said slowly:

"When I was in the Brave Team, I worked so hard without caring about anything else, just to finish the work here quickly so that I could have a chance to go back."

"Well, I know."

The princess nodded, but her face also turned red.

Work hard to return to the original world - this is what Aize told himself very clearly when he just joined the brave team.

And I completely ignored this point.

Even until more than a month ago, I firmly believed that Aize endured the pressure 007 to the point of vomiting blood because he liked me and wanted to lick me.

It makes people laugh when they think about it.

Of course, Aize noticed Heidi's abnormality and understood why she reacted that way.

But since the conversation had already been made, there was no point in adding insult to injury, so he pretended not to notice and continued:

"But now it's different. After leaving the team, when I look back at what happened in the past two years, I realize that I had overlooked a lot of problems before."

"question?"

"The problem, or rather the irrationality. First of all, what exactly is a hero? If applying a Divine Protection can turn ordinary people into heroes, why bother pulling them from another world? Wouldn't it be better to just choose someone from this world, like you did?"

"Also, I haven't been able to use the Holy Sword since a month ago. This means my Hero's Divine Protection hasn't recovered, but has been completely destroyed. But why, even though the Divine Protection has been completely destroyed, haven't I lost my power?"

These two questions are the core of all Aize's current doubts and suspicions.

He had discussed related topics with Violet before, but of course he didn't get any valuable answers.

But even if there is no exact answer, some simple guesses can still be made.

Why do I still have power even though I don't have protection?

Two possibilities.

First, the power granted by the protection is permanent and irreversible, and it will not be lost even if the protection is damaged.

Secondly, the heroes' power had nothing to do with the protection from the very beginning, at least not directly.

If we consider another question—why we must pull people from another world instead of selecting people from this world—the second possibility is obviously more likely.

In other words, it is not about selecting people from another world and then giving them power through blessings, but about selecting people who already have power or certain qualifications and giving them blessings.

And if this is true, the third question arises.

What exactly is the Hero's Protection?

If the Hero's Protection has no direct correlation with strength, why is it granted?

Of course, Aize cannot answer this question now, but the preliminary conclusions he draws after a little thought are all creepy.

As a native of this world, Heidi had certainly never thought about such questions before.

But the unreasonable part is obvious.

So it didn't take Heidi much effort to understand what Aize meant.

After a brief thought, she figured out the connection and looked at Aize with wide eyes:

"What do you want to do?"

"Hero, the Supreme God Realm, and the so-called reincarnation, I want to find out what all this is about."

Aize said this with a blank expression and very serious tone.

"Of course, I will continue to fight against the demons. That's for sure."

If we step away from our identity as a hero and look at it from the perspective of a person from another world, Aize actually has no reason to be hostile to the demons.

However, those subordinates who followed Aize followed their original intention, which was to fight against the demons.

So, in this regard, Aize has no intention of disappointing them.

The implementation of your own plan will also be based on this.

Heidi, who had just learned this information, couldn't help but take a breath.

Aize played a bigger game than he had imagined.

If what he just said is true, developing his own power in Tafia is not just for the sake of having troops for self-reliance, but may also make him a direct enemy of the church or even the Supreme God Realm, depending on the situation.

If it were an ordinary person, Heidi would think that the other person was crazy just by revealing this meaning.

But Aize always does what she says, and she knows this better than anyone else.

The reason why he said these words to himself in the current situation is self-evident.

Of course, it was in exchange for helping her solve the problem.

Her Highness the Princess asked directly:

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to unconditionally agree to one of my requests. I can't tell you what it is right now. I'll tell you after this incident is resolved."

As he spoke, Aize paused, smiled and shrugged:

"Also, depending on the circumstances, I might one day become an enemy of the Church. You don't necessarily have to help me, but I hope you'll remember the Church's inaction in this incident."

A disaster of the magnitude of a blood plague should have been handled directly by the church.

As a result, the church colluded with the nobles while being obsessed with its own power and ignored the situation in the royal capital.

Both Aize and Heidi are well aware of this.