Chapter 40 - Exposure

"Meuyayang."

As if the heavy rain from last night had been a lie, a clear morning without a single cloud arrived.

I was stretching Daisy's cheeks while facing the somewhat chilly wind when someone knocked on the door and called for me.

"Master Damian. Liana has come to visit."

"Tell her to come in."

"Yes."

After giving permission, soon Liana and a woman wearing a robe entered the lodgings.

I looked at the woman beside Liana, wondering who she was.

A woman with some body parts as large as her head took off her robe and greeted me.

"Nice to see you again, Master Damian. Have you been well?"

Saintess Ruen, with her long golden hair that had a sun-like glow, looked at me somewhat shyly as if she wasn't used to greeting me.

I returned Ruen's greeting and silently looked at Liana, who seemed to feel guilty for bringing Ruen without notice and hurriedly explained the reason.

"...It seems Archbishop Mikhail's side has noticed something. They've placed an enormous number of troops to prevent Dale from escaping after the hero appointment ceremony."

They might have noticed something after meeting openly several times, or they might be preparing for any possible danger in case the Northern laboratory was raided.

Whatever it was, the fact that it interfered with what I was trying to do hadn't changed, so Liana spoke to me with a worried expression, "So if we proceed with the plan as it is, Dale might die, so I came urgently to discuss this."

I looked at Saintess Ruen, who was nodding her head quickly beside Liana, and fell into thought for a moment.

It would be better to save him.

Because of the things only the original protagonist could do, I had even made a soul contract with him, so it would be a waste to let him die now.

Deciding to try to save him as much as possible, I told Liana a way to save Dale.

"After the announcement, if we make him escape and then turn him into a woman, we might be able to save him."

At those words, Liana looked at me with a somewhat bitter expression and said, "I suppose that's true..."

"So we just need to prepare an escape route and clothes separately."

"Hmm. Then I should go ahead and deliver the message and place the items."

Feeling that this alone wasn't enough, I came up with one more interesting method.

When I told Liana about this method, she nodded her head, looking very flustered.

"Will that be okay...?"

"Maybe?"

"..."

"Anyway, tell this to Dale too. If he succeeds, it could eliminate all problems."

"Yes."

Thinking it would be good to leave soon now, I was about to step out when Ruen, who was beside me, showed some conflict before speaking to me.

"Sir Damian... I'm very sorry to ask this, but are you really going to have Dale make that announcement?"

When I nodded, Ruen pressed her chest as if it was aching and said to me, "The repercussions could be too great."

"It's okay. That's why I'm having him do it."

"Ah... I see. I'm a bit weak-hearted, so I'm a little scared of sudden changes... But since you say you'll do it, I'll trust you, Sir Damian."

Looking at Ruen smiling awkwardly, I told her not to worry, then I lifted Siren, who was curled up on the sofa like a cat, and immediately headed to the place where the hero appointment ceremony was being held.

***

The more unhappy the world was, the more people wanted heroes.

Whether it was to forget the unreasonable reality or to find hope as a driving force, I didn't know.

One thing for sure was that the existence known as “Hero” was yearned for more by commoners than the upper class.

Therefore, the hero appointment ceremony was a festival for commoners.

Of course, this festival was an artificial festival created by the upper class, but at least for the commoners, it would feel like a festival announcing the beginning of change.

"It's so white. My eyes hurt."

"Meuyayang."

I nodded at Siren and Daisy's comments beside me and looked ahead.

As befitting a commoner's festival, there were a lot of people at the hero appointment ceremony.

Because of that, the surrounding scenery, which was much more lively and noisy than usual, caught my eye at once.

Seeing this sight, I looked at the design and buildings that seemed to have a lot of the church's power in them, and as I entered the building, a quite interesting sight caught my eye.

It's white as Siren said.

Whether it was to emphasize the hero recognized by the goddess, or because they wanted to show that the church's power was more involved in appointing the hero, I wasn’t sure, but the church's characteristic white and antique design items were placed everywhere.

Just as I was admiring the place that seemed to express purity with pure white,

Suddenly, I noticed the figures of those sitting above, looking down.

Perhaps to prevent their faces from being seen, their figures were blurred, hidden in shadows.

Just as I was thinking that this contrasted with the pure white church, the butler called me and guided the way.

"Young Master Damian, please come this way."

It seemed there was a separate space that only VIPs could enter.

As I nodded and entered, I felt countless gazes gathering on me.

"The youngest son of the Carsaril family..."

"That person came here too."

"I thought he wouldn't come because of the engagement cancellation ceremony, but he came."

I could feel people whispering and looking at me around.

However, strangely, no one approached me, probably due to the influence of the Carsaril family and my delinquent attribute.

It seemed they were just watching me from afar, unable to approach easily.

Ignoring the gazes around, I looked down the window and saw a woman in the distance.

Princess Pria.

A princess of pure bloodline with pink hair and pink eyes.

Just as I was thinking that she was someone who seemed to shine just by looking at her, Liana, who had arrived without me noticing, poked my waist and said, "You'll bore a hole in the Princess's face."

"I'll be caught soon."

"Pfft. Anyway, that's not it, I delivered the plan and items to Dale."

"Well done."

As I was praising her and about to discuss this,

The choir started singing hymns, signaling the start, so I closed my mouth and watched the appointment ceremony.

"In the name of the great Goddess, we are here today to appoint Dale as a hero. Do you swear to be the sword and shield that protects everyone, leading the way no matter what hardships and adversities come?"

"Yes."

The appointment ceremony proceeded smoothly.

In fact, it would be more unusual if problems occurred, as the appointment ceremony itself was similar to a well-crafted play, so all situations that could cause problems were excluded.

Liana said that “generally” it was common sense for no problems to occur.

As I was laughing while hearing those words, Dale received the holy sword from the Pope and solemnly raised it.

As I was watching this, an unwanted voice came from behind.

"Now you have one more enemy that you can't deal with, Damian."

I turned around and saw Elisia approaching with an expressionless face.

It seemed she came to make me regret not choosing her.

"Just as you tried to kill me, Dale will also try to kill you forever."

At those words, I almost laughed as I was reminded of Dasoon's appearance, but I tried hard to hold it back and answered expressionlessly, "...I suppose so."

"Then good luck."

Elisia, satisfied after seeing my expression, was about to leave me when Dale finished the appointment ceremony and climbed onto the platform, and with a really reluctant expression, confessed the truth.

"I have one fact to report to the Goddess. Northern Grand Duchess Elisia colluded with black mages and some church people to create a rift."

The moment those words were uttered, a chilling silence fell, freezing everyone.

I looked down at the quite interesting scene with a smile and then threw a taunt at Elisia.

"But Dale doesn't seem to want to kill me?"

"..."

Elisia, seemingly struck by confusion, rushed forward urgently and looked down with wide eyes, but just as what has already happened cannot be undone, no matter how much she despaired, nothing changed.

I continued to taunt Elisia, who was biting her lips until they bled beside me.

"So what happens now? Should we retract Dale becoming a hero and announce it was a lie? Ah! We can't retract it. Then can you tell me what to do?"

"...What on earth have you done?"

"How would I know that?"

Just as I was deliberately irritating her with a sly voice, from below, gradually growing murmurs could be heard.

"Black mages…? Church? I don't know what a rift is, but it's related to black mages?"

"Grand Duchess Elisia? Isn't she the Northern princess?"

"The hero must be lying! How could this be possible!"

"But would he lie in that position?"

The murmurs that started as small voices grew uncontrollably and turned into an uproar that covered the entire building.

I looked at this scene and briefly said to Elisia, "I don't know what's going on, but it seems you're in big trouble?"

"..."

I tried to irritate her more with a sly voice, but she didn't react at all, probably because her head was already full.

I enjoyed watching her reaction and fell into thought for a moment.

By the way, the church's reaction is slow.

Some of those who participated in the artificial sun experiment could have naturally inferred that I was the one who did this, but seeing that they weren't reacting at all, it seemed that because I was holding their weakness, it was difficult for them to step forward readily.

No, maybe they're even happy about it?

Now that all eyes were on Elisia, they might think they just need to abandon Elisia.

They were likely to try to deny the whole situation by sacrificing Elisia.

As I was standing leisurely, wondering what Elisia might be thinking, I saw what looked like holy knights rushing to catch Dale below.

I turned my body, praying for Dale to survive as I watched him escape.

Looking at Elisia, who was making an expression as if she had taken on all the hardships of the world alone, I briefly said, "Then I'll see you at the engagement annulment ceremony later."