I Became the Hero Who Banished the Protagonist chapter 72

72. in memory (1)

I changed my torn clothes and met Arn with an awkward appearance. I haven’t slept a wink all night, but I haven’t felt tired yet. Arjen was sitting on a chair in the backyard of the church, waiting for me, just as he was when he went to catch the evil spirit worshippers. The sun was rising through the morning sky.

“What story do you want to tell?”

I looked at Arjen and asked right away. It wasn’t like we were chatting or chatting comfortably.

“I saved you.”

Arjen said so without context. I frowned and scratched my head. I didn’t want to get into a fight here by adding back and forth explanations.

“Yeah, because I was able to save it.”

“You weren’t originally a guy who could speak so simply and intuitively.”

Arjen looked at me. When he saw me, he always frowned or looked at me sideways, but now he wasn’t looking at me straight-on.

“I don’t know if you have changed.”

“Maybe it has changed. How could I say that with my own mouth?”

I answered bluntly. Arjen lowered his head toward the grass in the garden, as if he wasn’t very interested in my tone. The wind blew over the hills, blowing Arjen’s unkempt black hair.

“There were a few things I wanted to ask you.”

“any amount.”

Have you been fixing the questions while glaring at me inwardly? I went to a bench away from Arjen’s and sat down. From a distance, it will look like a scene where the two men are sitting far apart, looking away and having a conversation.

“How did you stop it?”

“What do you mean?”

Is it his characteristic that he cuts back and forth and then adds additional explanations? Arjen raised his head again and looked at me. Those eyes seemed to be arguing that if you said this, you should understand it. Oh, Illoi before I was possessed was also Illoi, but Arjen also needs to fix his speech.

“Apocalypse worshippers. How did you stop so many people by yourself?”

Arjen’s voice had a cool vibe somewhere. It was distrust and confusion. Arjen’s eyes flashed through his hair and caught me. I don’t know if he’s looking for an answer or if he’s trying to trap me. I wondered if I should tell the truth about what had happened.

“… The residents are more interested in the hero than I thought.”

What would you do if it were you I narrowed my eyes and looked at Arjen. What would have happened to this village if the child had been killed? Perhaps the father of the child, even the man who was sane, would have gone mad. The fact that an outsider killed a villager would have crossed the river of no return with the people here. Of course, with that guy’s ability, even if that was the case, he would have easily caught the demon worshipers, but the sacrifice would have been inevitable.

And, in the end, the ending would have been as bad as trying to cure the child.

“I heard you were interested in warriors. Did you step out and get people’s attention?”

“It’s okay if you know that. It wasn’t anything to be proud of. I don’t even want to go into detail.”

Arjen turned his head away from me and stared into the air for a while without speaking.

“There may be resentments. However, I don’t think that the warrior party at that time deserved resentment. Postwar handling was the responsibility of the kingdom, but the kingdom suffered a major blow from the Kraken War.”

cook. Arjen’s toes dug into the grass.

“In order to prepare for the next catastrophe, we should have saved the energy we were going to pour into this place and put it into Evernode. In that respect, the kingdom did its best. Even now, restoration is progressing little by little.”

The voice he spoke was cold.

“I am not obligated to accept their resentment. It was up to them to choose the downfall of doomsday worship instead of moving the land.”

It was mechanical and rational to the point of feeling sorry for him. I wasn’t outraged by that, though. The story I know is the story of the mercenary Arjen. Because I knew very well why he was doing that. But just because I wasn’t angry didn’t mean I agreed with that statement.

“If the way to save these people is to accept their resentment, I am willing. Well, it wasn’t me who saved people, but Isis.”

I deliberately intervened minimally in this matter. I don’t know how people would react if I showed up, and if I installed it for nothing, I might have only gotten backlash. All I could do was listen to their complaints.

“It probably wasn’t that there wasn’t a way to turn your grudge against me.”

“Do you think I would do such a childish thing?”

I answered Arjen’s words with a grumbling voice.

“Salvation is such a sweet word.”

said Arjen in a bitter, hollow voice.

“I thought it was an exit from the darkness, but if you realize that it is an illusion, people will despair in an instant. and realize Such convenient words do not exist.”

“Until that time comes, I will save it. Even if you know that one day that time will come. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Arjen put his hands on his head and looked down at the ground. I looked up at the sky and watched the passing clouds. Clouds were drifting like pieces in the high sky.

“… After all, I’m no match for you.”

“I see.”

There was no anger in Arn’s voice. I slowly lowered my gaze from the sky to see Arjen bowing his head.

“The only thing that matters to me is my people. Most people think that protecting their world is enough. The inhabitants of this place also fall for doomsday worshipers, praying to evil spirits while waiting for the day when the world will perish. Their world would have ended then.”

Arjen turned his head to look at the church, the downhill beyond the church, and the view of the village at the end of the downhill.

“If Isis had been hurt in the process, I would have drawn my sword. And wiped out the group that hurt Isis. Just like Bishop Andrew said. Just as they lost their world, I will resent and hate them.”

Arjen and I met eyes again. I opened my mouth.

“And I probably stopped the two of you. I would have tried to stop it no matter what.”

“The kindness I give to the world is what remains after protecting my world. Because everyone lives like that.”

Arjen said in a determined voice.

“Do you think that a person who tries to protect the world of others in a situation where even the things in my hands are insecure will be able to keep the things in their hands intact? Even if it is a hero.”

Arjen shook his head.

“can not do it. I can be so sure Even if you put a knife to my throat, this answer won’t change. And Illroy, your way of looking at me was just as precarious.”

Arn continued. Little by little, those words contained Arjen’s feelings.

“If we had followed your words then, I think we could have stopped the Kraken. I can’t even deny that. But obviously, someone in our party must be dead.”

Arjen clenched his fists.

“… I couldn’t leave it like that. i am not good That’s why I clearly distinguish between my own and others’, and I want to protect my own. And I don’t think only goodness is always the right answer.”

Arjen was drawing a line in the world with himself.

“I think the moment of denying the possibility of salvation is the moment of destruction. Someone has to believe in him, and someone has to do it so we won’t be eaten in the end. Because someone has to wish and think that they want to protect everything like an idiot.”

I looked straight into Arjen’s eyes.

“There are people in the world who can’t even protect their own world as you said.”

“That is literally a stupid idea.”

visor-!!

Our swords collided at the same time. I looked at Arjen’s face through the sparks.

“I guess I can’t help you after all.”

“Because I kicked you out. It’s me who doesn’t want your help.”

Pudeudeuk. Arjen raised his eyebrows as if surprised by my improved skills, then brought them together and twisted them. Frustration, confusion. I read that feeling in Arjen’s eyes. We faced off for a while, aiming swords at each other, and Arjen spoke first.

“You didn’t defeat the fourth plague for nothing.”

“Anything in Dalian is welcome.”

Arjen ran to me again. Arjen’s sword was so fast, sophisticated, and sophisticated that it seemed like it was too much. It was heavy to block it, and if you dodge it, you would lose the initiative. I hit the tip of Arjen’s sword and crushed the attack.

“… !”

Kagak.

The swords intertwined like snakes and let out sharp cries. I was expressionless, and Arjen’s mouth was slightly twisted. I grabbed the hilt of the holy sword with both hands and drew the sword as if sweeping it down. Arjen did not resist the sword strike, rode the blade of the holy sword, lowered the sword, and aimed at my head with the tip of the hilt.

Huung.

When you bend down, the action increases. I turned to the other side and let go of Arjen’s attack. Arjen’s body was empty, but his arm, which had turned greatly, was ready to be retrieved at any time. I tried to throw Arjen off balance by thrusting my shoulders in so he couldn’t swing his arms.

“yet.”

Kwajik.

Dull pain felt in the arm. Arjen lifted his knee and took a picture of my body. but,

“-!”

It seemed that my body had become a bit stronger than Arjen’s thought to back off with that.

blank.

Arjen stumbled back and stepped back. I drew both arms, which had been bent to the right, from bottom to top. Arjen perfectly defended my attack even while he was unbalanced. And, without using aura or mana, a pure sword-to-sword fight continued.

pushed

I don’t know if it’s about slicing monsters, but I can never beat that guy in a fight with people. skill, experience, and momentary judgment. In every respect except physical strength, I was being pushed as if I was being eaten by Arjen. In the early days of equal competition, the defeat gradually began to deepen.

Kwakwang-!!

Arjen’s sword and mine collided in the air and stopped. A drop of sweat was dripping from his forehead. The distortion on Arjen’s face did not disappear. After checking my expression, Arjen relaxed his arm in the confrontation situation and put down the sword.

“… ?”

I asked with his eyes why, but Arjen arbitrarily retrieved the sword into the scabbard and ignored my gaze.

“I just thought the fact that I was fighting you was so contradictory.”

Arjen spit out and then started walking towards the church. I looked at Arjen’s back and sighed. I thought that if not now, I would bump into that guy again someday.

“[Don’t take his words to heart, Illroy.]”

The holy sword spoke to me as if to comfort me as I stood there in a daze.

“[You are not alone.]”

I nodded heavily at the Holy Sword’s words. yes, what do you have I smiled and stroked the hilt of my sword.

“[…] Even if it’s not me, isn’t it?]”

The Holy Sword spoke in a muffled voice, and I sat back down on the chair in the backyard with a bitter smile. The originality of the people, the work of Isis. Over the past two days, too many different things have happened at Evernode. I closed and opened my eyes and looked up at the sky again. I couldn’t see where the drifting flakes had gone, only the clear sky.

I had a feeling that today’s conversation with Arjen would not be forgotten for a while.