I Became the Hero Who Banished the Protagonist chapter 33

33. House Strop (1)

I took a rope from the corner of the storage room and tied myself to it. The hands that handle the rope were clumsy, so they couldn’t be tied tightly, but somehow they were tied enough to keep them from collapsing to the floor. I twisted my body around to see if the string would come undone. When I finished such a strange thing, the holy sword spoke in a hesitant voice.

“[You, your appearance is very… .]”

“Okay, isn’t it funny? I know.”

I said that and tightened the knot even more. done. That way, even if you suddenly fall down, you won’t bang your head on the floor. If, during the crown test, he could not stand it again and lost consciousness, there was no guarantee that the crown would come off his head as luckily as the last time. If, by any chance, you fell to the ground while wearing the crown of thorns, the skin on your head would be torn to shreds.

“[No, I don’t mean that… . done. Do as you please.]”

“What, if you’re going to talk, tell me properly.”

“[It is nothing! Put a crown on your head quickly.]”

The Holy Sword spoke again hesitantly, but then sighed in his head as if he had given up. What on earth did you want to say? I shook my head and pulled out the wooden box. The crown of thorns quietly lurking in it has a terrible visual whenever you see it.

“I know you’re strong, but I mean.”

It’s a holy relic that’s enough to knock me out at once. I think there are very few artifacts in the world that have such powerful mana. The problem was that there was no information at all about what the purpose of this crown was and what kind of strength it would receive when it passed the ordeal.

“[That’s on your mind, Illroy. But I can’t tell you what this crown is for.]”

Well, I didn’t think it would be so easy to find out. Because the only power I had was the information given by the few lines I read before falling into this world.

I picked up the crown from the wooden box, holding on to the part where the thorns did not grow. A subtle magical power ran from the crown to my fingertips and penetrated my body.

“Call me if you think I’m going to lose consciousness. I’ll try to hold on somehow.”

“[I get it. Don’t be lazy.]”

Without further hesitation, I took the crown to my head. A crown of thorns rested upon my hair. What kind of trials are you trying to give me this time? I tensed up and took a deep breath.

“till now… .”

Also, the mouth is a problem. The moment I spoke, the magic of the crown rode through my head again. Okay, yes. What the hell are you trying to do with me this time? Judging from the fact that the body isn’t hurting, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to inflict physical pain… .

At that time, my vision suddenly turned black. Are your eyes clearly open? I shook my head from side to side in bewilderment, but I couldn’t see anything. Maybe my eyes had gotten used to seeing the sun always rise, and I wasn’t used to the darkness.

“[Illroy? I don’t think he lost consciousness for now.]”

The Holy Sword’s voice was still audible. I wanted to answer with my mouth open, but no voice came out. And suddenly, the wind started blowing from a very far distance.

“[It’s still okay… .]”

The Holy Sword’s voice gradually faded. I shook my head, wondering if my consciousness was clouding. It wasn’t that his consciousness was clouded. I could tell that the feeling of space was still awake. As the wind blew strong again, I was standing alone in the field at some point.

“… What is this?”

A feeling of being wet and cold in the ankles. The field was a field of snow. I blinked and lifted my head up. The world in my senses seemed to have split the sky and the earth in two and dyed it black and white. Is the crown showing me this kind of scenery right now? I frowned and searched for the holy sword in my head, then groped my waist like a habit. But the answer I always heard was not heard now.

“Overcome alone. What could it be?”

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Naturally, the holy sword was not dangling. I smiled bitterly and looked around the snowy field again. I didn’t notice it because it was completely covered in white, but now here I was doing a terrain that I had seen a lot somewhere.

“Come on, this.”

I frowned. Yeah, didn’t I just pass by this place a few days ago? On the way to Evernode, there was a vast field that was spread out. The ground, which had been covered in green with short grass, was dyed pure white, so it was unrecognizable.

“… But, nothing happens.”

I narrowed my brows and clenched my fists with both hands, then opened them. My body was intact, I could move according to my will. Of course, I didn’t feel the pulsation of mana that should normally be pounding in my heart along with my heart. After licking my lips, I tried to move my legs.

“great.”

It bothered me that the feeling of my feet digging into the snow was too sharp, but when I turned around, I saw a snow-covered fir forest. The flowing stream seems to have completely frozen over. I had a hunch that I would have to go to Evernode. I moved my steps slowly, re-imagining the road to Evernode in my head. Only my footprints were left on the snow.

… How far was the road to get there?

There was no horse to carry me, no mana to lighten my body, so walking through the snow was cumbersome. Snow began to fall slowly from the sky. Even when I looked up, there was nothing that could be called the sky, only black darkness.

walked

Evernode didn’t come out no matter how many times I walked, and when I wondered if it was this ordeal that I had to walk until it came out, the Evernode’s fort appeared in a dim light towards the hill.

“… .”

However, I couldn’t go straight to the fort with happy steps. Ominous. It was because an ominous feeling like a certain certainty was piercing my nerves. There is something. Turn your steps right now, ignore them and walk away. Instinct whispered so. If you cross the gates of Evernode, there must be something waiting for you prepared by the crown.

“… F*ck you.”

If you only act according to your instincts, are you a child of a beast or a person?

I started climbing uphill. As they approached the citadel, the chill was getting stronger. Upon closer inspection, the door to the citadel was open. It doesn’t feel popular at all. I snooped all over Evernode, looking for something, but there were only empty buildings and snow-covered streets, nothing that could be called an ordeal.

So, where the hell does this intrusive sensation come from?

I looked outside the northern outer castle, towards the forest in the northern part of Evernode where the patrols were out patrolling. I had a hunch that I would have to go there to end the ordeal, but at the same time I had a hunch that I shouldn’t go there.

“What a great thing they prepared… .”

I sighed nervously as I looked at the empty doorway of the outer castle. Steam was pouring out of his mouth. The falling snow starts pouring with too violent momentum to be called heavy snow. Snowflakes pile up on the bridge of the nose. I let the snow accumulate on my body and walked towards the doorway of the outer castle as if possessed.

“… .”

its sillent. I can’t even hear the sound of the wind blowing in my ears. The pouring snow turned into a blizzard and swept the ground, the trees shook and dropped their twigs, all I could hear was my breathing. Against my will, I lifted my head with the sound of my breathing becoming more and more rough.

Something is coming.

My eyesight trembled. Beyond the forest, something was approaching very slowly. I habitually tried to rummage around my waist and raise mana, but now I was just a helpless human being. The legs stopped moving. I felt the ground start to beat like a giant drum.

thud. thud.

At its gesture, huge trees broke like matchsticks, and mountains crushed like sand dunes.

thud. thud.

extraction? what did i see what’s moving?

The world is collapsing. But I couldn’t help but stare blankly at the scene. The white curtain of annihilation ate up even the horizon and quietly but quickly approached the Evernode. I stood between the citadel and it and waited. The overwhelming fear paralyzed me.

thud.

The drumming stopped. The forest in front of me collapsed. I realized that it was someone’s foot that had completely crushed the forest. The wind that would uproot a tree cuts my flesh. I raised my head in pain as my whole body was being torn apart by the wind, and ‘it’ looked down at me as well, then slowly raised its feet.

thud.

.

.

.

“[…] Illroy.]”

My body trembled. His head was bent and swayed like a clock pendulum. I blinked my eyes and raised my head.

“What happened?”

“[The magic power of the crown showed you something like a dream. Perhaps that is the ordeal the crown has given you this time. If I wanted to get involved, I could have done it, but if I did, that relic wouldn’t have been able to withstand my power and would have been broken.]”

The crown of thorns I was wearing on my head seemed to have fallen to the floor while my head was bent. I carefully picked up the crown and opened the wooden box.

“[Sorry for not being helpful.]”

“no. I should have overcome it on my own anyway.”

I shook my head and closed the lid of the wooden box.

“Have you seen what the crown shows me?”

“[no. The meaning of the ordeal could be overshadowed just by my watching you, so I didn’t do that on purpose. What did you see this time?]”

I rubbed the wooden box after hearing the holy sword’s question.

“giant.”

“[…] Right.]”

“I couldn’t really do anything because I didn’t have magic or a holy sword. I just waited for it to crush me.”

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I frowned and cut the ropes that bound my torso.

“[How was it?]”

“… I wondered, that must be how those who face the seven disasters without anything feel.”

I laughed bitterly and got up from my seat. I don’t know how long I was tied to the pole with my knees bent, but my legs went numb like crazy.

“Is the crown a test of my will?”

“[All relics are like that. They never settle for someone’s physical strength.]”

“… you,”

no. I was about to ask the holy sword, but kept my mouth shut. The Holy Sword also did not ask about my words. I staggered through the blackout and looked out the window. There was no snow falling through the bright sun shining through.

—

I was getting used to the patrol duty that came out once every two days. No matter how much the Archduke of Quenore requested it, the knights and soldiers in the north continued to look suspiciously until they went on patrol with me. Well, that meant that after going on patrol with me, everyone changed their attitude.

“I didn’t know about it on my last patrol, but Miss Daphne is an amazing wizard.”

Daphne’s performance was effective in this patrol. As befits a magician who will become the only 8th Circle in this world, her magic changes and advances every time she goes on patrol. This time, she cast the same protective spell on all the patrol members as she did on me. Thanks to this, the patrol members were able to avoid even minor injuries in battles with monsters.

“A wizard from the 5th circle. It’s awesome enough.”

said Georg proudly, and I smiled at him. Daphne’s protective magic was, of course, a great help to Georg, a heavy warrior who was on the front line. Well, Daphne, who is not accustomed to compliments, sneaks up on me habitually, embarrassed by the compliments from the patrolmen. Seeing her like that, the patrol officers laughed happily.

As I kept my horse in the stable, I noticed that the atmosphere of the fort was subtly noisy. It was a little questionable that it was not a fuss in a negative sense, but a bustle similar to the fuss before welcoming guests. Looking back at the patrolmen, they were making faces as if recalling memories, saying, “Oh, today was the day.”

“Is something going on today?”

At my words, one of the soldiers smiled and nodded.

“Yes. Today is the day that ‘Iron-Blooded Princess’ will return to Evernode.”

‘Iron-Blooded Princess’? I tilted my head at the first nickname I heard. No such character has ever appeared in the novel. Is he someone related to the North? At my questionable expression, one of the knights shrugged with a smile similar to that of a soldier.

“You will find out soon.”

iron-blooded princess When you hear only the nickname, it sounds like the nickname of a noble knight, but if such a distinctive person existed in Evernode, there is no way that he would not have appeared in the original work.

“Ah, the Grand Duke is over there. Let’s go.”

A tone that seems to be urging something. I narrowed my brows and looked at Georg, who knew a lot about the north, but Georg just shook his head as if he didn’t understand.

“What, haven’t you heard of it too?”

“I don’t know. I had never heard of it at least 10 years ago.”

Well, you’ll know when you see it yourself.

A carriage stopped in front of the Archduke of Quenore. The Archduke pulled us back from patrol and stood together in front of the wagon. Without knowing our English, we were led and lined up by the hands of the Grand Duke of Quenore. Before I could ask the Duke of Quenore what was going on, the carriage door opened and a beautiful middle-aged woman got out.

“honey.”

The Archduke of Quenore embraced his wife, dripping honey from his eyes. Following the Grand Duchess, two more people got out of the carriage.

“father.”

A tall young man who took out the Archduke of Quenore and put it on. He is the eldest son of the Archduke of Quenore, whom you may have heard of in the original work.

“Here, the Iron-Blooded Princess is coming down.”

The knight patted me on the shoulder from behind and whispered. And a girl who seemed to be about nine years old, with a somewhat solemn expression, followed the young man.

“… Iron-Blooded Princess?”

And when I turned my head with a questionable expression, the knights and soldiers smiled and nodded as if in chorus.