The Main Heroines are Trying to Kill Me

“Stop.”

As Aishi raised her hand and spoke, the advancing Demon King’s Army came to an abrupt halt.

“We’ve arrived”

She murmured, looking at the red-tinged barrier surrounding the academy.

“They’re here… for real…”

“What do we do…?”

“Uh, uh…”

The former Hero Party and some students who had set up tents at the edge of the barrier to get news faster stared at the Demon King’s army and Aishi, who had once been their comrade, with despairing expressions.

“A-Are we all going to die…?”

“I-I want to surrender… I can’t do this…”

There were also female students hiding in the main building or dormitory of the academy, crying in fear at the killing intent of the Demon King’s Army surrounding them.

Some were considering changing their minds about fighting to the death, intimidated by the deadly aura emanating from the army.

- The barrier you set up and waited behind implies that everyone here wishes to face me.

Aishi, enjoying the chaotic scene before her, began to send a telepathic message to the students inside the barrier.

- Truly an impressive display of courage.

With a snap of her fingers, the body of Frey, who had been tied to the trembling Vener’s back, floated into the air.

- Your hero has already died so miserably.

As she said, Frey’s corpse was in a severely damaged state after being dragged on the ground for hours.

“Ugh…”

“Blegh…”

Some students, watching from a distance, bent over and vomited at the sight.

“Frey!!!”

“The Hero…”

“Oh my god.”

Even those who managed to hold back their disgust were mentally affected. Seeing their last hope, Frey, dead and being paraded by the Demon King, was a severe blow to their morale.

“No…”

“It’s over…”

Most students sat down in despair or hugged each other and cried.

“”…””

The student council members, who had been decorating the academy with banners to welcome the Hero if he returned, were left speechless.

The disciplinary committee tried to control the students, and the head of the committee, who wanted to apologize to Frey for her past mistakes, hung their heads in silence.

Members of the Hero Party, who already know Frey’s condition, wept at the sight of his corpse.

“Excellent… Such pure emotions.”

Aishi muttered with satisfaction, licking her lips as she watched them plunge into the depths of despair.

“…But that useless woman is still causing trouble.”

She murmured, looking displeased in the direction of the imperial palace.

“I intended to collect energy before the siege.”

Aishi had planned to gather energy from the negative emotions of the people using the power of Eclipse, a deity who could convert emotions into energy, before the siege.

However, when she visited Eclipse recently, she found herself reduced to a mortal, having lost her divinity.

- Tremble…

“If I could have absorbed that energy, everything would have been so easy.”

The original owner of her body had been resisting, preventing her from fighting at full strength. This meant that breaking through the ancient magic barrier protecting the academy with brute force would diminish her power and authority as the Demon King.

- My, my lord… I’ve attempted to control the ancient magic, but… it seems impossible…

“What?”

- I’ve prepared as you asked, but the souls I have are insufficient… I’m terribly sorry…!

To make matters worse, the artifact’s power, which Ruby used in the past cycle to deactivate the academy’s defenses, had been diverted elsewhere.

“Hmm…”

She could order the dragons flying above the Empire to attack the barrier, but doing so might reveal her incomplete state to them.

The dragons, already forced into a war they didn’t want, would likely turn on her at the first sign of weakness.

“…There’s only one way left.”

With a sigh, Aishi stepped down from her carriage and walked confidently towards the red barrier.

- Crackle… Crackle…

Students inside the academy tensed and stepped back as she approached, her eyes turning black again as she reached out to touch the barrier.

Unauthorized access detected!

Barrier collision!

Conditions not met…

Conditions not…

“What an annoying system.”

she grumbled, gripping the barrier tightly.

???, welcome.

Object: ‘Ancient Magic Barrier’ Do you want to delete it?

“…Yes.”

She smiled as she nodded, watching the message that appeared before her.

Permission not granted!

“What?”

Protected by

“…Ha.”

Frowning, she summoned tentacles around her.

No permissions!

No permissions!

No permissions!

She struck the barrier with her tentacles, but only the same frustrating messages greeted her.

Unauthorized access detected!

Please enter the correct deactivation conditions!

“Always complicating things… It will all be pointless in the end.”

After a long standoff, she fused dark energy into the barrier, mumbling to herself as she snapped her fingers.

Deactivation code initiated…

A noble trial of ancient magic

Conditions set by the First Hero .

Mysterious characters began to appear all over the barrier.

- I will give you a choice.

The students, staring at the characters in bewilderment, heard Aishi’s telepathic message again.

- Will you stay and fight to the end, or will you deactivate the barrier to save your lives?

At the same time, familiar words appeared in the air.

Will you defend the academy against the invaders?

Yes/No

If ‘Yes’ exceeds the majority, the barrier will remain, and the ‘fight to the death’ mode will be activated.

If ‘No’ exceeds the majority, the barrier will be deactivated.

“What will you choose?”

Seeing the students beginning to understand the words before them, Aishi grinned with a chilling smile.

※Students who choose ‘No’ will be guaranteed safety by the invaders, regardless of the voting result.

A fatal sentence, added in a different handwriting at the very bottom of the message, was burning black.

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Unvoted: 121

Unvoted: 106

Unvoted: 87

“Yes, make your decision after thorough discussion.”

Aishi, watching the decreasing number of unvoted students on the system screen in front of her, murmured with a relaxed expression.

Unvoted: 53

Unvoted: 37

Unvoted: 21

“But the result is already determined.”

Since everyone fully understood the meaning of the vote, the chaos that had engulfed Sunrise Academy began to subside.

In the early stages of voting, many students, gripped by the fear of death, banded together to force others to choose ‘No,’ but they realized they could only vote based on their own will.

Nevertheless, some still screamed and demanded others to vote ‘No.’

After the initial chaos, the academy calmed down and divided into two groups.

There were those who, either by reading the final sentence without hesitation or after careful consideration, chose ‘No’ and were now filled with guilt.

Similarly, there were those who chose ‘Yes’ after careful thought, anxiously looking around and those who chose ‘Yes’ quickly and appeared calm.

Of course, there were also those who were still undecided and in anguish.

The unvoted count is below 10!

Starting the tally…

Students who had been waiting for the voting to end, and the citizens gathered in the capital to watch, collectively held their breath as new text appeared on the barrier.

Counting.

Counting..

’

Counting…

As the dots indicating the counting process increased, the number of dry swallows and beads of sweat on people’s foreheads also increased.

- Crackle…

At that moment, as their mouths became dry, sparks flew, and text began to appear on the academy’s barrier.

Faculty voting ratio: 6:4

Some faculty members, who saw the text, turned away while sweating.

1st-year student voting ratio: 10:0

The voting ratio of the 1st-year students, appearing right above, brought a sudden stillness over the empire.

2nd-year student voting ratio: 5:5

Then, the voting ratio of the 2nd-year students appeared.

Most commoner students quietly raised their weapons, while most noble students took hesitant steps back.

3rd-year student voting ratio: 3:7

“What the… So what’s the outcome!?”

“Shouldn’t it show which side is in favor and which is against!?”

As the voting ratio of the 3rd-year students appeared, cries erupted across the empire.

“Pfft… I never thought all the 1st-year students would choose to surrender.”

Still maintaining a leisurely expression while listening to the outcry, Aishi prepared to issue a command to advance.

“Humans are indeed vile. I didn’t think I’d even need to see the result…”

Current total ratio: 50:50

Unvoted: 10

“…What?”

However, as a huge message displaying the total voting ratio appeared on the barrier, Aishi, for the first time since becoming the Demon King, wore a bewildered expression.

“All first-year students… chose to resist?”

“Hello, everyone.”

“…!?”

As the surrounding noise intensified several folds, Aishi’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I never thought we would also have voting rights.”

“…What is this?”

The ten commoner dorm maids who had remained silent and not voted until now stepped up to the barrier’s edge, relaying their message to those outside.

“Did you know?”

“We were once pets of the nobles just a year ago.”

The words of the two representatives sent chills through the entire empire.

Some had wandered the streets as orphans.

Others were enslaved because their parents couldn’t repay debts.

Or were kidnapped for their pretty faces and stripped of their personalities.

These girls, now coldly recounting their torturous pasts, had lived through hellish conditions.

Unbearable pain of loss.

Sleeping in pigsty-like conditions.

Receiving hard bread only once every three days.

The whippings that reached the bone.

The fear of seeing their companion being carried out in a sack.

Eventually, they lost all sense of self, reduced to basic survival instincts.

Describing a life of torment similar to a false memoir by someone unknown, they showed the scars and evidence of abuse under their maid uniforms, making no one dare to meet their eyes.

“We couldn’t even think of wanting to die. Whenever we tried to commit suicide, we always failed and faced even more horrific treatment.”

“Until one day, the Hero saved us.”

“At his birthday party a year ago. Though we were too drugged and naked to remember clearly.”

As they spoke, their tear-filled eyes turned to Frey’s battered and prostrate form in front of Aishi.

“Since then, every day has been a miracle. A life free from abuse. Clean and warm food and shelter. And most importantly, the freedom and learning opportunities we gained by becoming dorm maids.”

“The hero saved us. We were foolish not to realize it until now.”

They turned their gaze upward toward the barrier as they spoke.

Unvoted: 5

Unvoted: 3

Unvoted: 1

“Though we are inexperienced in both combat and magic,”

“We will fight to support the Hero, even if only a little.”

Unvoted: 0

“After all, it’s the life that he gave us.”

“Having received hunting dog training from Lulu, we can at least buy some time.”

Counting complete……!

As soon as those words were spoken, the voting ended.

The academy will enter an all-out fight to the death.

The barrier, which succinctly produced the result, thickened several times and radiated red energy in all directions, causing Aishi to shout with a distorted expression.

“Don’t get cocky!!”

Simultaneously, she began emitting tentacles and her eyes turned black.

“Do you think that something like this can change anything!!!”

Even the surrounding demons hesitated and stepped back at her grotesque appearance, but Aishi paid no mind and continued to scream.

“Yes… the size is the issue. The size.”

Then, she suddenly started muttering with a creepy smile.

“Playing on a small stage that can be overturned by a minor variable is no fun compared to playing on a grand scale, right? Very well!”

With that, she began to shed tears of blood while summoning a gigantic system window in the sky.

The Final Ordeal

Content: Conduct a vote among all the citizens of the empire on whether to defend or abandon the academy

If ‘Yes’ wins: After destroying the academy, I will freeze the entire Sunrise Empire, including all of you, forever.

If ‘No’ wins: I will only invade the academy and guarantee the safety of the rest of you.

Having completed the content of the ‘Final Ordeal’ in the sky, she conveyed her chilling voice throughout the empire.

“Let’s start the voting again.”

At that moment, simple system windows began to appear everywhere.

Yes / No

To the noble ladies and rural girls huddled together around the stellar mana given by the mysterious wanderer.

To the orphans sitting on the ground, crying loudly.

To the servants who were weeping over Frey’s corpse, regretting their past actions, and to Anne, who was sprawled among scattered flyers, sobbing.

To Aria, who had been quietly kneeling and bowing her head since she saw Frey’s corpse.

And to the girl who had just been rescued in the alley, smiling brightly while holding the sparkling mana in her hands.

To all the citizens of the empire.

Counting votes……

After what seemed like an eternity had passed.

“It’s a pity. If I were more familiar with the management system, I could have made the ordeal even more brutal.”

As the vote tally from across the empire began, something that had possessed Aishi expressed regret and licked her lips.

And regardless of the voting results, those who voted ‘No’ will have 1/100 of their lifespan taken as my energy.

“Well, this should suffice.”

Then, she chuckled at the tiny line written at the bottom of the giant system window floating in the sky.

“I’ve encountered similar situations in other dimensions many times. The outcome is predictable.”

With that, she walked confidently towards the barrier again.

“Humans are fundamentally vile and evil. And above all, they are selfish beings.”

Saying this, she placed her hand on the barrier.

“It’s your defeat for trying to protect such flawed fools…”

However, she stopped talking and looked up, wearing a bewildered expression for the second time today.

Vote result: 51:49

‘Yes’ side wins.

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“…Why?”

Staring at the result that had taken several hours to come out, Aishi muttered, unable to understand.

“…I can’t understand. It’s incomprehensible.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”

“…Huh?”

At that moment, someone broke through the crowd filled with cheers and screams.

“Have you ever thought about why humans feel regret?”

“Who are you…?”

“Have you ever tried to understand why humans feel negative emotions, and why those emotions are so strong?”

As Aishi looked at the person, who was wrapped in a bright light, with a puzzled expression, she raised her hand contemptuously.

“After all this, now some strange guy–”

“You never made an effort to understand but greedily devoured the tragedies before you, so this is the result.”

“…!?”

At the same time, her right hand froze.

“You’re right that humans are imperfect beings.”

“…?”

“But it’s also humans who can reflect on and learn from their mistakes and move forward.”

“Who… are you…?”

“And thus, it’s humans who can become greater than anything else.”

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the man who had drawn his sword from his waist was joined by a woman walking calmly by his side, adding to his words.

“You speak well, my gem.”

“Little kitten, I have a question.”

“…Hm?”

As everyone was shocked by the woman’s appearance, the man, who was cracking his right hand, was stopped by her question as she gently grabbed his arm.

“The vote was quite close, wasn’t it?”

“…Yes, it was.”

“What would you have done if the vote had ended the other way?”

Scratching his head for a moment at her question, the man replied with a bright voice.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

“…It’s an old principle of your family.”

“Then why wouldn’t I help those who aren’t even my enemies?”

Having said this, the man moved forward, and she shook her head with an incredulous smile.

“Value judgments aside, you really are the biggest pushover in the world.”

“Am I?”

“That’s why I like you, Frey.”

“…Haha.”

As their conversation ended,

“Glare, you can stop hiding me with the light now.”

The man’s quiet voice echoed.

- Crackle…!!!

Simultaneously, a giant magic circle was summoned in the sky.

“How… How are you… still alive…!?”

“H-Hero…!!!”

“Young Master… Frey?”

The bleak, dark empire found its light once more.