After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

But Aize shook his head, swallowed his saliva, moved closer, and asked in a lower voice:

"No, I'm not asking about work. I'm asking...how's her mental state? Have you heard any, uh, rumors about her?"

The captain of the guards scratched the back of his head, frowning and looking very troubled.

But after hesitating for a while, he still said in the smallest voice:

"Well... uh, it's not nice to gossip in our line of work, but..."

"but?"

"I have a childhood friend who's a new member of the Knights. He told me over a few drinks that... there are strange noises coming from Lady Chris's room every night."

"Strange noise?"

"Yeah, there were some wailing noises. They say the knights on night duty went to check and heard things like smashing things and scratching the floor, but when they knocked on the door, nothing happened. People are still talking about it, saying, 'Lady Chris, do you have nightmares?'"

"Tsk——"

Aize, who had already guessed most of the answer, pressed his forehead speechlessly.

But he didn't say much, just patted the captain of the guards on the shoulder and whispered:

"Don't tell anyone else about this, understand?"

"Yes!"

"Well, you go ahead."

"Yes! Thank you very much!"

The captain waved his hand and the guards stood at attention again.

Amidst the gazes of the crowd and the applause and cheers of the people along the way, Aize's carriage awkwardly passed through the doorway and entered Tafia.

Aize sighed as he returned to the carriage.

"It turned out like this after all."

Villian, who was sitting opposite him, was lifting the curtain beside the bed and admiring the scene outside welcoming the hero's return with great interest.

After Aize said this, she was very confused:

"What? What do you mean? The scene outside? It's nothing strange, isn't it? Not only did you save Tafia from the orcs and preserve the town, you also saved the capital from the vampires and prevented civil war. It's hard not to be admired."

There is no need to say much about the orcs.

The blood plague incident was essentially a self-directed and self-acted performance by the royal family. It was a systematic massacre of its own people that was close to genocide.

Once this truth is revealed, the legitimacy of the royal family will instantly disappear.

Even Heidi would be dragged down from the throne by the angry people who rushed into the palace and sent to the guillotine as a tribute to Louis XVI.

Once this happens, the kingdom will inevitably fall into great chaos, or even civil war.

So, at least for now, the truth must not be made public.

After discussion, they had no choice but to let Charlotte, the vampire who was ostensibly their enemy, take the blame.

Charlotte herself didn't care.

Anyway, apart from Aize, she didn't think much of humans, so it didn't matter if she had more human enemies.

But to Heidi, the throne was like shit-tasting chocolate, disgusting to the extreme.

But for the sake of the overall situation, we still have to sit back and wait.

That's why she made up her mind to reveal the truth after settling all matters, and then abdicate.

Of course, none of this inside information matters.

To the people of Tafia and even the entire kingdom at this moment, Aize is undoubtedly a hero, and the series of titles he has obtained, including the regent, are also without any exaggeration.

That's why Violet enjoyed this scene so much.

Because in her opinion, this was the treatment that matched what Aize had done.

This is long overdue.

However, Aize didn't think so.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"What kind of hero are you? You're talking as if I defeated the orc army and solved the problem of the royal capital all by myself."

Miss Witch is puzzled:

"Is not it?"

"Of course not! Take you for example. Whether it's the orc army or the incident in the royal capital, could it have been resolved so easily without you?"

During the siege of Tafia, Villian's simultaneous bombing and missile strikes killed a large number of middle and high-level commanders of the orc army in one wave, causing the enemy to misjudge their own strength and fall into massive chaos.

This is why they were easily defeated by the Knights.

During the Royal Capital Incident, Violet first used the puppet to clear out a large quarantine area, then almost cracked the contents of the ancient ritual, and finally found the location of the workshop.

This prevented Arthur's plan from being completed.

Without Vivian, the incident could have been resolved through other means, but it certainly wouldn't have been as beautiful as it is now.

"No, that's... uh..."

Violet didn't know how to react to such a sudden statement.

As for Aize, he lifted the curtain by the window and looked at the street scene outside.

He continued:

"And besides us, the same goes for everyone else. From me, to every member of the Knights and Guards, to every civilian in this town and the capital, everyone has done their utmost to achieve that ultimate outcome, and the sacrifices made have been countless."

During the Siege of Tafia, it was the Knights, the Guards, and the conscripted militia, not Aze or Villian, who stopped the surging orc army.

During the Royal Capital Incident, the defense of the safe zone and the fierce battle with more than 100,000 blood slaves for more than a month were all maintained. It was the Royal Knights, the mobilized adventurers, and all other armed forces that kept the defense line from collapsing.

When the previous king was killed and the incident finally came to an end, the defenders of the royal capital had lost 70% of their personnel, and only one in ten of the elite royal knights remained.

Even the adventurers who were paid to do the job lost half of their personnel.

"Vir, wars aren't won by one person. I just did my job. Everyone who faithfully performs their assigned tasks is a hero and is irreplaceable."

Aize doesn't hate credit and fame.

But he doesn't like others to blame all of this on him.

Emotionally, this made him feel sorry for his comrades who had fought alongside him.

Logically, this will lead to blind personality cult, which will cause many serious problems.

This kind of thinking is fundamentally different from that of the nobles—whether human or demonic—who regard glory as their life.

Therefore, at this moment, Villian once again realized that the difference between this former hero in front of her and the others around her was not just in ability.

It is a deeper, fundamental difference in the three perspectives.

And this may be the important reason why he can create so many miracles.

“…That’s why I have a headache right now.”

"what?"

Miss Witch was thinking about saying something when she saw Aize's mood suddenly drop.

He even curled up into a ball, with a look of despair on his face, and buried his real head hard between his hands.

"Uh, you mean those whispers you just had with the captain of the guard? What's wrong? What happened?"

"Of course it's Chris! That guy hasn't improved at all, and his condition seems to have worsened!"

The all-knowing, invincible former hero and current regent raised his head, his eyes full of despair.

“…Honestly, what should I do?!”

Chapter 12 How Fanatics Are Made

Before Aize left the team, his two most important subordinates, Constantine and Chris, played the roles of vanguard and adjutant respectively, and had very different personalities.

Among them, Constantine, who was a mercenary, swore allegiance to Aize after being abandoned and solved by him. His motives were relatively simple.

This is also due to his own personality and the professional characteristics of mercenaries.

But with Chris, the situation is much more complicated.

Christina Karlsade, daughter of the imperial noble Marquis Karlsade, is also the top graduate of the 103rd class of the Imperial Royal Military Academy.

Born into a noble family, she was gifted, had excellent personal combat capabilities, and had a beautiful face and figure. She was regarded as the rising star of the entire empire.

However, three years before Aize arrived, Chris, who had just graduated and was leading a battle on her own for the first time, was completely defeated by the demon army.

The elite troops they brought with them were almost completely lost, and a series of important cities on the edge of the empire also fell.

Objectively speaking, this failure was not her fault.

Rather, it was the result of a series of irreversible failures that the empire suffered across the entire front, from logistics to intelligence to tactics, and so on.

But if there is a failure, someone must always take responsibility.

At that time, Chris, who had little foundation and no connections, became the scapegoat. Even her family abandoned her and did not defend her.

As a result, Chris went from being a highly anticipated rising star with a promising future to being an ordinary grassroots soldier.

Chris herself suffered from severe PTSD because of this incident, and even felt fear when seeing demons for a long time.

Not to mention fighting.

Actually, it’s not that complicated.

A genius who was born into a wealthy family and had a smooth and promising future encountered a major setback right after entering society, and since then suffered from mental illness and could not recover - such stories are quite common in any world.

That's all.

This situation lasted for more than a year, and then Aize came.

At that time, the God-chosen heroes had just arrived in this world, and their position and power were not yet known to the nobles of this world.

Therefore, all parties are trying their best to win over these so-called "messengers of God".

It was during this process that Chris was sent to Aize as a so-called "attendant".

The so-called attendant is just a nice term.

In fact, it was nothing more than wanting to use her beautiful appearance and body to play the only remaining role after her reputation was ruined and she was useless.

Its inner motive is similar to Heidi's original marriage plan, but it is even more disgusting.

But at that time, Aize also needed to establish a cooperative relationship with the nobles, so he kept her for the time being.

Then, there was the Battle of Gerlos.

In this battle, the orc army, which had five times the strength of humans, was completely defeated by Azer's unprecedented large-scale mobile warfare. The orc tribe has never recovered since then, and the orc chieftain was also terrified, leaving him with serious psychological trauma.

This led to the subsequent Siege of Tafia.

In addition, this battle also led to two small side effects.

First, there was an inconspicuous witch named Villian, who became interested in Aize and began to collect information in order to understand him.

Secondly, after witnessing the demon army that she feared being completely destroyed as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, Chris's long-lasting heart disease was cured in an instant.

She cheered herself up at an extremely fast speed, quickly regained her former status as a talented woman and leader, and became the most reliable helper for Aize, who was suffering from torture in the team at that time.

Until now.

After hearing all this, Miss Witch nodded gently:

"Isn't this good? What's the problem?"

"Of course there's a problem! How should I put it... That guy has a mental illness. He's been cured, but not completely."

"……what?"

Aize hunched over, covering his face, almost curling up into a ball, his voice weak:

"...This may sound strange coming from me, but ever since that incident with Gerlos, that guy...even though he calls me Master, he actually worships me like a god!"

The mental illness was not cured, but it just changed from one to another with Gerlos as an opportunity.