I Became the Hero Who Banished the Protagonist chapter 54

54. Protagonist and Saint (4)

It rained all the way to the north. Isis was watching the rain water run down the wall of the wagon. Rainwater flowed slowly. It didn’t rain much when it rained once, but the rain continued to fall. Mud formed and the wheels of the wagons were covered with mud. When the sun rises and the ground dries up, the mud on the wheels hardens and becomes a headache.

“It was delayed by a day or two, but I think it will arrive sooner or later. It doesn’t stop raining.”

The coachman opened the window and said so. Isis nodded and the coachman closed the window. Raindrops falling incessantly were pounding on the roof. Isis looked out the window. Arjen was riding his horse with a pensive expression all the way to the north. Arjen’s black raincoat was already wet.

“The relief efforts in Baktins were not pointless.”

The brown-haired nun who was sitting across from Isis opened her mouth. She was a nursing nun who accompanied the priests as an attendant.

“Many people have been saved by the saintess. In particular, the local governor was very happy that he was able to save many seriously ill patients. They would have gotten so bad that they would have been sitting there waiting for them to die, with no way to treat them.”

The nun calmly spoke of death. Isis looked at the nun, feeling her stomach bloat. She worked harder than the priests by going around the field and treating patients.

“… Why are you saying that?”

The nun gently swept the rosary down.

“Because the saintess didn’t look good all the way.”

As befits the nun’s answer, Isis’s voice was lifeless. I’ve seen a lot in a few weeks. The scenery haunted Isis even in her dreams. A man bleeding from his head, the wheezing breath of a dying man. The shapeless face and crushed limbs.

Those whom Isis treated before meeting the hero were transferred patients. Isis gave healing magic to those who came, and they thanked Isis. Isis felt fulfilled in their gratitude and was able to have a sense of mission.

Before leaving the party, Georg, Arjen, and Illroy, who were receiving treatment, tolerated the pain very well. No matter how badly they were hurt, they didn’t show any signs of pain.

However, at the site, the patients in the ruins of Baktins and the messy makeshift village never showed a genuinely happy expression even after their bodies were healed. He left without worrying about other patients or thanking Isis with empty eyes and voice. That was something Isis had never experienced before. The saintess who got out of the fence of the Puritan Church and the warrior party was too immature and young.

“I also heard the word. He said he didn’t want to leave Bakhtins until the end.”

The nun said it proudly, but Isis couldn’t take it as a compliment. Doubts toward himself, and guilt continued to rear their heads.

At that time, Arjen’s choice could be said to be the best. Fighting with a win rate converging to 0 was not good for them, for the soldiers, or for the residents of Baktins.

Really, really, was that the best thing to do? Was it really the best option to prevent the destruction of the world by obtaining the possibility with a certain amount of sacrifice as collateral?

“I never thought that even after being kicked out of the hero’s party, he would take the initiative in repairing the damage. I didn’t think you were chosen as a saint for nothing.”

“No.”

Isis said that reflexively. The praise pierced Isis’ heart as sharp as a knife. that’s not it I, I.

“… A saint?”

Looking at Isis, who suddenly denied the compliment and shook her head with a bluish face, the nun tilted her head strangely. Isis shook her shoulders like that, then let out a quick sigh. Someone please teach me At that time, did we make the right choice or did we go against the hero’s choice?

“I… .”

Isis said that as if at a loss for words, then looked out the window as if seeking an answer. Arjen appeared again. Arjen, of course, was kind to Isis even now. I knew how to take care of my colleagues, and if there was an attack by a monster, I would step in and clean it up. The usual, usual Arjen. If I ask him what he thinks of Isis right now, how will he answer? would you be angry If not, would you nod your head in understanding?

“sorry.”

After Isis said that, she inhaled and exhaled deeply. My mind was never quite clear. In fact, over the past few months it has only gotten more and more disorganized.

“If you have any concerns, please tell me without trying to hold them.”

said the nun sweetly. Isis nodded. Probably, she will never confess her troubles. Even Isis herself couldn’t explain everything.

The raindrops were thinning. The sound of the forest, buried in the sound of rain, slowly began to revive. There was a chilly air. In the north, the weather starts to cool from mid-August. When it rained, the temperature dropped further. After three days, the rain finally stopped and the day cleared, and the saintess and her party reached the edge of the forest.

“If you pass this forest, it is really quick to reach Evernode. Are there any inconveniences… .”

The coachman looked at Isis and asked, and Isis immediately shook her head. smart. I could hear the sound of the blades of grass dropping raindrops, and the sound of the flowing stream. After passing the last tree of the forest, vast northern fields opened up.

“The fortress you can see over that hill is the Evernode.”

The coachman tipped off to Isis. Isis nodded and stuck her face out of the carriage. The strange thing about the coachman’s horse just now is that he hasn’t noticed yet.

“Isn’t it magnificent? It is said to be the largest single castle in the kingdom.”

Climbing the hill to Evernode, the coachman said as if explaining a tourist destination. The closer I could see the citadel, the more Isis’ pupils began to tremble.

The citadel was very, very fine.

Of course, it’s something to be happy about, but still remembering the ruins of Baktins, where the disaster swept away, Isis held on to the window frame of the carriage and let out a shattering breath at the incongruity between perception and reality.

‘If you want to kill everyone in Baktins, do it.’

‘Let’s say we land the Kraken like that, tie it to the land, and defeat the calamity. So what will the rest of us do? Who will be responsible for the victims of that landing?’

As the warrior said, there was no one to take responsibility for the dead. There was no one to take care of the injured until he left the party and went to Baktins at the order of the hero. The power drained from Isis’ body. When I turned my head and looked outside, Arjen was staring at Evernode’s citadel without speaking.

“… This.”

Uncharacteristically for Arjen, he was showing agitation. In the agitation, Isis felt the trust she held on to begin to crumble.

“Ah, they are coming to meet you from Evernode over there.”

The castle gates opened, and knights dressed in armor with Evernode designs approached the Isis group. Isis got off the carriage and greeted the approaching knights.

“Nice to meet you, Lady. My name is Rhys Swanson, the Commander-in-Chief of the Evernode Knights. I heard that you came all the way here from Baktins, but you have done a lot.”

“… My name is the saintess, Isis Plume.”

Unlike the governor of Baktins, the face of the commander-in-chief of Evernode was not pensive. Isis couldn’t open her mouth to ask what had happened. The moment I checked him, I really felt like something inside me was about to end.

“You defeated the fourth plague.”

Arjen then opened his mouth first. Rhys looked up, met Arjen’s eyes, and asked in a slightly stiff voice.

“Yes. Thanks to the hero, I was able to defeat the fourth disaster. you are… .”

“Now I am Arjen Elmion, who is in charge of escorting the saintess.”

There was a kind of impatience in Arjen’s voice. Rhys looked at Arjen and slightly narrowed his brows.

“By any chance, are you a mercenary who belonged to the warrior party before?”

Arjen frowned as if he didn’t know what the question meant, then nodded hesitantly.

“… Is that so. Well, that must have had its own circumstances.”

Reese shrugged casually and climbed back onto the horse to lead the way.

“Tell me.”

Arjen’s voice caught Reese’s steps back. Reese turned his head to look at Arjen. Arjen was confused, and he looked like he was angry.

“A really brave man, did he defeat the fourth plague?”

“Yes. The hero defended the citadel of Evernode, fighting the fourth plague, the giant, and cutting him down alone in the hell where everything called the limit line was frozen.”

Reese said as if to listen carefully. The saintess closed her eyes as she saw Reese’s strong support for the hero. The more Arjen tried to ask, the more the testimony came out of Reese’s mouth, the more the cracks in Isis’ head grew in size.

Reese turned his head and faced Arjen.

“Look, I don’t know what kind of conflict you had with our hero, and I don’t know what you think of him.”

A very subtle hostility. The Commander-in-Chief of the Gun Knights grabbed the reins and warned in a cool voice.

“Here, at Evernode, you’d better watch your mouth.”

Reese said and shrugged.

“If you don’t want to be stoned anywhere.”

Reese’s words dazed the party as if a bomb had been dropped. The entourage, who knew that the hero’s reputation was not very good, could not hide their surprise when they saw Reese leading the way.

“What really happened?”

“That blunt and silent hero… .”

The sound of the attendants whispering. However, their words did not properly reach Isis’ ears. As if possessed, the saintess and the others followed Reese and entered Evernode. Reese quietly looked back at the attendants who had followed him and smiled lightly.

“Welcome to Evernode, saintess.”

There was a ripple in Isis’ eyes. Isis walking down the street had to hold onto the nun next to her so as not to stumble.

There was no apparent damage.

The screams, groans, and wails of the makeshift village of Baktins were not heard.

People were roaming the alleyways with smiles on their faces. The sound of children shouting loudly, the sound of merchants soliciting customers, the sound of carriages rolling. Evernode was the same.

My head is dizzy. I felt sick to my stomach. The smell of rotting wounds and the smell of medicine that made my head hurt that I had smelled at Bactins came up.

The air of Evernode smelled of grass and trees.

“Thanks to the warrior, the fortress was able to be fully protected. Residents were also able to return home safely. It is thanks to the Grand Duke and the hero who risked their lives to prevent the giant from entering the fortress.”

‘Don’t let that monster come to the shore. The wide sea, of course, will not work. We have to face him in the narrow strait. It is possible by utilizing the islands placed between the straits.’

“Is that possible?”

Arjen’s words trembled a little.

“Such a reckless thing… .”

“The result of that recklessness, as you can see, is this.”

Reese cut off Arjen’s self-talk and came in and said that.

“I heard that the damage situation in Baktins is quite serious.”

Reese turned his head and looked at the scenery of Evernode for a while.

“… The hero must have had the inability to protect that place in his heart all along.”

“When you arbitrarily followed that mercenary and left the party, the hero did not bother to find you. Instead, they hoped to support postwar recovery and care for the wounded.”

Why did Bishop Andre’s words come to mind now?

“Maybe that’s why we fought more desperately here.”

duty. mission. Justice.

The words that Isis believed in were dismantled one by one into words and meaningless lines. What was duty, what was mission, and what was justice. The broken, suffering figure of Bakhtins? And to catch the catastrophe in a ‘sure’ and ‘safe’ way? Otherwise… .

“The Grand Duke is waiting for you.”

Before I knew it, Isis arrived in front of the Straw family’s mansion. Isis walked up the stairs and reached the Grand Duke’s office with her eyes unfocused and her body numb.

smart smart

Reese knocked on the door and opened the door to the office. In the middle of the office, the Archduke of the North, Quenore Strop, was sitting. Arjen made a wary expression at that mighty presence, and Isis took a short breath. Reese, who guided the party, approached the Grand Duke and said something in his ear.

“Confident. To think that Illroy and the others would arrive two days later.”

The Grand Duke of Quenore stared at the saintess and company standing at the doorway with blue eyes, then stood up.

“Welcome to Evernode, saint.”

The Archduke stood in front of them, crossed his arms, and spoke in a low voice.

“So, why did you guys come all the way here?”

“The post-war recovery… , I am here to help.”

Can they really help with recovery? The voice of Isis, who had come to help, became small as if it was crawling through a rat hole. Looking at Isis like that, Archduke Quenore sighed.

“The restoration of the wall will be finished within this month. The collapsed house has also been reconstructed, and none of the residents are injured enough to need your care, saintess. If you were really needed, would it be enough to treat the wounded after the war? Even those who are in a very critical situation have passed the hurdle.”

Archduke Quenore’s voice was calm. Unlike the Bakhtins, they were not very welcome. The Grand Duke tapped his fingers on his folded arms before opening his mouth.

“No, it was Illroy who needed your help more than anyone else.”

Isis’s pupils vibrated once more.

“Illroy, who returned to the castle after the battle, was half-corpse. If it wasn’t for his strong spirit, there are also wounds so deep that I couldn’t have endured.”

The Archduke’s blue eyes were staring at Isis.

“If Illroy had still stayed in the castle, he would have asked you to treat him right away, but that would be pointless now.”

The Archduke of Quenore said that and then untied his arms.

“Nevertheless, there must be a reason why you and Illroy fell apart.”

The Archduke held out his hand.

“I will end the story here. It will be a short time, but please take good care of me, saintess.”

Isis held out her trembling hand and grabbed the hand of the Archduke of Quenore. Already, realizing that something inside her had begun to break.