Pain gives one a feeling of forgiveness.

Dismas, who often acted out arbitrarily, was frequently scolded by the emperor. But even such a trait of his was defended by others, since he was well known for his good nature and not being able to hurt people easily.

To Dismas, battle was nothing more than a fun game and it was very rare to see his battles getting bloody. It was even rarer to see someone dying. Even if any of the enemies lost their lives under his command, he treated them as honorable warriors and held a polite funeral for them.

There were mixed evaluations about Dismas—some said that he was not suitable to be the ruler in charge of one of the corners of the empire, while some said that they wanted to be ruled by such a generous leader.

Yet none of that really mattered to Dismas. The only person he admired and looked up to with a simple and upright mind was the emperor.

But then, Dismas lost the only person who could scold him. It was even when he was wrestling with the Giant King Helgrim for fun and had gotten drunk after the battle. Dismas had never once imagined the emperor could be defeated or killed by someone.

Dismas suffered greatly from guilt and regret, but there was no one left to forgive him now. Pain made him feel like he was being forgiven. It didn't take long before he constantly started inflicting self-harm. The most basic ability of the essence given by the emperor was the ability to regenerate one’s body, and this ability...