Chapter 92
Hero.
A chosen one selected by a god or a god’s proxy.
One entrusted with sealing the Demon Realm and saving the world.
Though nowadays, they were instead marching into the Demon Realm to expand their territory.
In the past, there were times when merely holding back the monsters pouring out of the Demon Realm was already a struggle, so heroes were sometimes classified as the nation’s most important strategic asset.
Since even the first saint blessed by the Holy Sword, and the first hero chosen by her, were not immortal beings.
Usually, only the top talent who demonstrated the best skill at the Hero Academy became reserve heroes, and it was customary for them to be appointed when the previous hero retired and passed down the Holy Sword.
Up to now, there had been a total of eight Holy Swords confirmed to exist in history.
Two of them vanished along with the heroes who lost all trace inside the Demon Realm, leaving six swords effectively protecting the world.
That had been true until just now.
But now.
In the hands of the monstrous saint with more divine power than anyone else, yet who still had not found a holy relic suited to her—the saint without a hero.
The ninth Holy Sword had been officially confirmed.
At the same time, the Holy Sword stand was also confirmed.
“No, this is the Holy Sword?”
The stand was in a slightly poor state, to be fair.
.
.
.
The reason Roseline specifically chose Kim Yul came down to three things.
To prevent international disputes, a Holy Sword basically belongs to the country where it was found, or to the country of the first hero who wielded it.
So even if Roseline had found the Holy Sword within imperial territory, from the Church’s point of view she should have returned to the Holy Kingdom and handed it over to the hero assigned there.
However.
- I’m the one who hates that bastard, okay?
Unfortunately, the hero candidate chosen by the Holy Kingdom was absolutely not to Roseline’s liking.
So instead of handing the Holy Sword over to the Holy Kingdom, she gave it to the Empire.
That was the first reason.
And.
According to imperial law, heroes were special-category civil servants who could exercise all kinds of immunity privileges, and as strategic assets of the Empire, could remain free of all sorts of disputes.
The intention behind handing the Holy Sword to Kim Yul right here, in a place where even the emperor and the High Priest were watching, was obvious.
One, it told the Empire to take proper care of Kim Yul.
Two, it told the Holy Kingdom not to lay a finger on Kim Yul.
That was the second reason.
“No, what kind of hero am I?”
“Oh my, I heard you even submitted an application to the Hero Academy? Then shouldn’t you be a little happier?”
“…….”
The last reason was extremely trivial and personal.
From the moment she found the Holy Sword until now, no matter how she thought about it.
There simply wasn’t anyone to give it to, nor anyone she wanted to give it to.
Only one person.
Kim Yul.
* * *
“Now, please read it carefully and sign here.”
“Uh, err.”
There’s no romance in this Fantasy Land.
What, after all, is a hero?
A job where you receive a goddess’s revelation directly in your brain, sometimes communicate directly with the goddess, and eventually even with the goddess... or whatever—that’s what a hero is, right?
In any case, it ought to rest on divinity and a celebration of humanity.
But looking at the type densely filling the “Empire Hero (First) Standard Contract” in front of me, it felt like all the romance and dreams I’d built up were shattered to pieces and spilled all over the floor.
Still, Roseline hadn’t lied to me.
[Until you have adapted to hero duties, you shall not be obliged to enter the Demon Realm for three years after appointment as a hero, except for monthly training under a senior hero.]
[Whenever you wish to quit being a hero, you may do so at your own discretion. However, before quitting, you must permanently transfer ownership of the Holy Sword to the next hero.]
“Seraphin, just what are you...”
I vaguely knew that most heroes burned their lives away, driven by a sense of duty, but.
In an environment where you can toss in a resignation letter and quit anytime, you’re still diligently doing your hero duties without quitting?
Wouldn’t that kind of person be the one who truly deserves to be called a hero?
More than a half-baked amateur like me.
I was a little displeased and unconvinced, but.
Still, because Roseline had lured me in with, “Let’s just coast for a year!”
“I’ve finished signing.”
“Congratulations on completing your official hero registration, Kim Yul.”
In the end, I decided to take her hand.
Though, to be honest, I was a little nervous about going head-to-head with the High Priest and the Holy Kingdom.
How could a modern person dumped into Fantasy Land resist the temptation of becoming a hero? If I could have, I wouldn’t have applied to the Hero Academy in the first place.
Well...
A writer and a hero.
I should be able to pull double duty, right?
Seems doable.
After the contract was put away and the clerk left the room,
someone else came in as if taking their place.
A tall man with a hearty, boisterous impression no matter when you saw him.
A muscular man, despite what his name suggested.
“Wow! I can’t believe the writer would become my junior—well, strictly speaking, since you’re not my actual successor, I guess junior isn’t quite the right word? Hahaha!”
“Please feel free to call me your junior, Senior.”
Just then, Hero Seraphin, who had been taking a break at the rift leading toward the capital, came to find me in person.
Seeing Senior Seraphin laugh heartily as she patted my shoulder and said she’d gained a comrade she could trust to have her back,
I couldn’t quite bring myself to say something as bad as, “I’m just going to slack off for three years and then quit,” out loud.
“So, what am I supposed to do now?”
Senior Seraphin grinned.
“You need to have the bearing of a hero.”
.
.
.
“Kuhk──”
“Oh dear, Writer. You said you exercised regularly, but you’re awfully frail.”
“Senior, wait—”
“Now then, shall we go again?”
“Aaaagh!”
Cancel!
Objection!
Void! Void!
* * *
When rookie hero Kim Yul was joining Seraphin’s spirited training course and getting beaten like a dog,
“Just what in the world is this?”
“What do you mean, what in the world? High Priest, I’m merely exercising my rightful authority.”
Roseline, even as she faced the High Priest’s face frozen stiff with rage, smiled sweetly.
“Roseline, Roseline. I’m sure you knew full well this wasn’t a matter for you to decide on your own.”
“How can you say something so hurtful? Isn’t it only natural for the saint to choose her hero?”
The High Priest slammed the desk.
“There’s a difference between people and people! I know well that you never liked Dmitri to begin with. But Ulysses, Kim Yul—that man is a person of concern. And it was you who was assigned to keep watch over him!”
“Hmm, as I’ve always reported, my conclusion is that Kim Yul has no suspicious points at all—just an ordinary man.”
“That line of thinking is definitely dangerous!”
As the agitated High Priest tried once again to slam the desk, Roseline reached out and gripped the desk’s corner.
Fsssh──
Krrk──
As powder scattered and the desk began to twist into a bizarre shape, the High Priest’s hand wandered in midair, unable to find a place to land.
“Think positively, High Priest. Isn’t this a chance to observe him more closely than before, and more accurately too? Whether that man truly is the prophesied man or not.”
It was an absurdly shameless thing to say.
The High Priest was momentarily at a loss for words.
Because he saw Roseline’s tongue flick out just a little.
A Holy Kingdom ghost story.
The High Priest involuntarily thought, ‘When that monstrous saint sticks out her tongue, it means she’s really angry.’
“...Just what are you, in the end— a believer of the Holy Kingdom, or a person of the Empire?”
At the High Priest’s question.
Roseline smiled.
“I serve the peace of the world.”
* * *
“That’s it for today.”
At Seraphin’s declaration of a break.
Kim Yul lay spread-eagled on the training ground, unable to even twitch a finger, and spent a while catching his breath.
Though Kim Yul had kept up a bit of basic training on his own—late-night jogs to stay healthy, or simple Kegels and squats at home—but
From the start, that hadn’t really been exercise.
It was just Technique No. 1 for living healthily.
And then he underwent hero-style training.
“Ugh, this... muscle soreness... tomorrow...”
“Muscles get stronger the more they’re torn apart, junior.”
So he had no choice but to end up as a crawling grub, trembling all over on the floor.
But Seraphin’s expression as she looked down at Kim Yul was truly delighted.
Before, she hadn’t really examined him with that much conscious attention.
Though untrained, his physical condition was almost perfect.
He was still an unpolished gem.
If he worked hard to hone it, he would surely be able to display excellent strength.
Of course, for the moment, he still fell short when compared to the top graduate of the Hero Academy.
Rumor had it he could even take down the duke’s third son with nothing but a club.
...Though that kind of thing wasn’t observed today.
Probably it would be different in actual combat sparring.
“Well, let’s set the training talk aside for now... So, does that mean you’re done writing now?”
“Of course not. I’m going to write for the rest of my life.”
“As expected.”
Senior Seraphin smiled with satisfaction.
Just because they’re heroes doesn’t mean they’d have no hobbies, and in the Demon Realm they weren’t brawling every hour anyway; if anything, they spent more time waiting.
“The Demon Realm is still a place where people live, after all. It looks like you’ll still have plenty of time to write, so I look forward to your good works in the future as well. I should have listened to the concert too!”
“Haha...”
“What’s your next work going to be about?”
“Hmm, I’m still thinking about it.”
“Come to think of it, ‘Beethoven’ also wrapped up this time, didn’t it? I still have more than ten episodes I haven’t read... By any chance, does the ending get kind of bleak again this time?”
Hearing Seraphin’s question, Kim Yul let out a sigh.
“It’ll be fine, probably.”
Seraphin grinned and patted Kim Yul on the shoulder.
After a short rest, just before parting ways.
“By any chance, do you have any mages or archers around you?”
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
Seraphin had no choice but to acknowledge once again that Kim Yul really knew nothing.
“You can’t enter the Demon Realm with just a hero and a saint. You need to properly assemble a hero party. Well, maybe not right away.”
At those words.
A momentary image of his acquaintances flashed through Kim Yul’s mind.
An elf who can’t use a bow.
A tin can majoring in illusion magic.
If neither of them counted as battle-ready.
Then the only one left was.
“...A dragon?”