Chapter 9: Hero of Justice, Verdandi Astraea (2)

I hadn't set any specific weakness for Verdandi.

I had established her as outwardly being a perfect hero of justice. The complete opposite of her thoroughly rotten interior.

She was strong enough to kill people with just a kitchen knife, and would become even stronger later when wielding the holy sword and holy armor.

'...The situation isn't good.'

I thought while biting my lower lip. The problem was having a critically injured person with a knife wound to the abdomen and exposed intestines.

'Verdandi's mother, Eila Astraea, is critically injured. Plus, we only have one mage who can heal.'

I had thought I'd prevented the worst-case scenario by having Gold Tower Master Wolfram dispel her drunkenness and wrap herself in defensive magic.

I had brought Bi Wol, the final boss from "The King of the Vajra Fist," thinking we could overwhelm her with superior force.

I thought I had met the minimum conditions to negotiate with Verdandi, but...

The final boss of my novel had gone mad earlier than I had anticipated.

To think she would stab her own mother.

"You said you came to make me your disciple? You must be insane!"

Verdandi smiled while pointing the bloodied kitchen knife at me. Her blue eyes shone without the slightest tremor.

"Yes, I came to guide you to the right path. If you come with me, there will be no more suffering. You can live a normal life without being buried by the role of hero..."

I calmly stepped forward. To show I had no intention of harming her, I spread my hands to show I had no weapons.

"Ha, hahaha! You're far too late!"

Verdandi raised the kitchen knife high, laughing like a madwoman. She looked ready to stab Eila again where she lay.

"Even beasts cherish their young, but I nearly got murdered by my mother when I was just a baby!"

Verdandi screamed at the top of her lungs while crying. It looked like all the emotions she had been suppressing had exploded.

Of course she would. I was the one who had set up Verdandi's narrative.

She was a character abandoned by the villagers, abandoned by her mother, and even abandoned by her companions who gathered to defeat the Demon King.

It was all because of my shallow thoughts.

I had done something an author shouldn't do, thinking it was okay to incorporate my past into the writing.

'An author should speak through their writing.'

I thought while looking at the people standing behind me.

Bi Wol would escape the Heavenly Demon Cult and live a normal life under me, and Wolfram would become an alchemist who truly creates gold after finding the Philosopher's Stone.

There had been no need to fill the story with unhappy narratives. I should have competed on the quality of the story itself.

"...Bi Wol, Wolfram. Please."

I gave them a slight nod, signaling them to save Verdandi's mother.

"As you wish, Master."

"Got it!"

Bi Wol immediately stomped the ground hard.

Heavenly Demon Divine Technique, First Form. Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.

Just from her putting strength into her legs, the wooden floor shattered with a crack, pieces flying up with a thunderous sound.

Her speed seemed to tear through space, making everything except Bi Wol appear to move in slow motion.

"Great mountain of gold that encompasses all, raise a shield of gold coins, help breathe new life into this pitiful being."

Taking advantage of Verdandi's surprise, Wolfram began chanting. She layered multiple magic circles above her staff, creating a thick, coin-like solid.

"...Aegis of Gold!"

When she spoke the spell, the golden solid magic circle became a shield surrounding Eila.

"......?!!"

Seeing the wounds slowly healing within, Verdandi immediately tried to break Wolfram's magic with her kitchen knife.

Though crude, it wasn't impossible with her strength. Even magic could be affected by sufficiently strong physical impacts.

Now that this world mixed martial arts and fantasy, the logic of strength worked everywhere.

"I would rather die than take such an extreme villain as my master!"

When Bi Wol approached to save Eila, Verdandi immediately rushed at her with the knife.

She had reacted to the speed of the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step. Bi Wol shrank back in surprise, about to be hit by the knife.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm your opponent."

I immediately took the second stance of the Ice White Divine Technique. I drew out my internal energy to its maximum.

The Extreme Yin Constitution, my innate condition.

Though I felt strong, constricting pain in my heart and the sensation of my meridians flowing backward throughout my body,

'Ice White Divine Technique, Second Form, Ice Shadow Wall.'

This was the only way to save Eila now. I had to create an opening so Bi Wol could safely escape with her.

KWAGAGAGAK─!

When I spread my palm between Eila and Verdandi, an ice wall formed from thin air, separating the two.

"...An ice wall? Are you mages?"

Verdandi looked at me in disbelief at the suddenly appearing ice wall. Having been born and raised only in this village, she probably didn't even know there was another continent to the east.

"Master, the injured person's safety has been secured."

Bang! Bi Wol returned to my side after rescuing Eila in that gap. Eila was gasping as if about to breathe her last.

Though Verdandi's mother was killed by her in the original work, she was supposed to be the last person to die.

"Go outside with the Gold Tower Master and stop the bleeding from her neck wound. I'll handle things here."

In the original, Verdandi would kill her mother with the holy sword atop a mountain of corpses of countless evil people she had killed.

Originally, she was a character who would sacrifice herself trying to stop the completely corrupted hero, leaving behind words of love.

Thus burdened with the sin of killing her parent, she would finally gain the title of 'Extreme Villain' and realize her sins.

Because blind justice, a blind blade, could only lead to self-destruction.

The hero who tried to kill all life would end her own life through suicide.

The protagonist, another hero, would stare emptily at her corpse, cremate her, and pray for her to be reborn as someone more loved in her next life.

'That was the ending I had envisioned for Verdandi, the end of "A Hero Must Die."'

The ending I couldn't write because I discontinued the series.

"But Master...! Your body is unwell! The opponent is strong enough to react to even my techniques!"

Bi Wol cried out while watching me bleed from my eyes, nose, mouth, and even ears. She held onto my arm as if refusing to leave my side.

"Isn't it known throughout the world that a master is stronger than their disciple?"

I stroked her head slowly as I always did. Gently and kindly, conveying emotions that words couldn't express.

After all, if Bi Wol didn't help the Gold Tower Master now, even if I fought Verdandi, I would be caught quickly.

"As you said, I might not be Number One in the Evil Path. Of course, I'm not Number One Under Heaven either. Much less Number One of All Time."

Thump, thump. With my heart pounding, I opened my mouth while glaring at my opponent.

"However, I am a master with many disciples. I'm an ordinary person loved by many rather than a strong person in name only."

I spoke while thinking of my disciples at Ice Dragon Flower Banquet and my students in reality.

Children who smiled, learned new things, and rejoiced because of my existence. My life had learned much through them.

"Therefore, I must do things that make my disciples proud. So that you can surpass your master's shadow and achieve greatness someday."

After meeting Bi Wol, I thought my life hadn't been wrong. The life I thought had failed as a web novelist was breathing and moving like this.

"You're all talk! Even so, it doesn't change the fact that you're an Extreme Villain!"

Verdandi shouted at me. Veins bulged in her neck, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Why do you think I'm an Extreme Villain in the first place?"

"Of course, because I'm a hero..."

"...What if you weren't a hero? Have you ever considered the possibility that you're just an ordinary person?"

I slowly walked toward Verdandi step by step. As the distance shortened, I entered within range of her knife.

"What are you trying to say?!"

"You have two abilities: 'Eyes That See Truth' and 'Scales of Justice.' Each has two flaws."

Crack! I grabbed the kitchen knife Verdandi was pointing at me with one hand. No blood flowed. It had frozen into ice.

"The flaw in 'Eyes That See Truth' is that if the speaker doesn't know they're lying, it shows as truth."

"......?!"

Though Verdandi struggled to pull her hand free, she couldn't escape the ice that had solidly frozen and become one with her hand.

"The flaw in 'Scales of Justice' is that if there's an event where the difference between good and evil deeds is enormous, the result can change at any time."

I stomped my foot once. With a cracking sound, Verdandi's lower body froze.

I bound her hands and feet so she couldn't resist.

"Look carefully again with those eyes, am I truly an Extreme Villain before you?"

"...This is impossible."

Verdandi blinked repeatedly and sighed in disbelief. The information she saw would surely have shown me as an Extreme Villain 'at first.'

After all, I was the culprit who had destroyed this world through discontinuing the series.

However,

"You're saying... you're truly good?"

I had tried not to run from that responsibility. I had strived until I exhausted my body to save Bi Wol, save Wolfram, and heal Eila.

It seemed those good deeds were finally being accounted for.

"Yes, now will you stop trusting your ability and trust this master instead?"

Blood trickled from my mouth. It was a side effect from releasing too much yin energy, twisting my meridians.

"I came here after receiving orders to save you. From a being like a god to me."

The one reader who had possessed me into this world probably wanted to see the story's ending.

To an author, readers are like gods.

Without them, authors cannot exist.

"It's true.... How can this be...."

So these words weren't lies. It was the same principle as truly receiving an oracle from a god.

"From me, you will learn the emotion of love-hate, and understand contradictory feelings where sadness and joy coexist. Just as your mother did."

"My mother... you say?"

Verdandi's breathing calmed. Seeing me through her ability, she seemed somewhat willing to listen.

"Yes, your mother had an unwanted pregnancy from a bandit who attacked her home. Trying to strangle you was absolutely unforgivable."

"......"

"But her love for her child was stronger. She felt so ashamed and humiliated saying it that your ability registered it as a lie."

"Are you... an apostle of the Main God...?"

Verdandi's voice trembled, her eyes widened, and tears began falling drop by drop.

"No, I'm an ordinary human. Like you, I'm just a common person who fears dozens of times a day that people won't understand my true feelings."

I gently stroked Verdandi's head. It felt different from Bi Wol, more rigid.

"Don't worry about how the villagers treated you. They're people intertwined in evil deeds, like snakes coiled together."

"Is that... true? You're saying... I am a good child?"

"Yes, you're a good child. Though I failed to find you earlier and made mistakes being clumsy and inexperienced, we can still set things right."

I spoke while gently embracing Verdandi. This must be her first time experiencing such warm embrace.

I knew Eila, who simultaneously held guilt, love, and disgust toward Verdandi, hadn't shown such active expressions of affection.

"Huu, huuuung..."

Verdandi cried, tears and mucus flowing.

"I was so lonely. Mother showed up as evil, and even her words of love showed as lies..."

"Yes, yes."

"Knowing she tried to strangle me as a baby, I was scared even to sleep near her... Every day felt like I was suffocating to death."

"It must have been hard."

I comforted her while patting her back. It was too much for a young girl to accept.

"The villagers hated me, secretly put bugs in my food, and spread rumors saying I enjoyed a promiscuous life like my mother..."

"My disciples and I will solve everything. So don't worry too much. No one under this heaven will dare insult you anymore."

Verdandi continued crying in my arms until all fifteen years of suffering that had tormented her became lighter.