114 – Hero King (2)
As he dropped Commander Noksius of the 5th Corps off the cliff, the Hero King once again sat at the top, feeling the murky emotions crawling up his mind, making it dizzy.
“…”
His sharp eyes gazed up at the sky.
The sky was crimson.
Not the verdant sky with a Milky Way that she had seen in the middle realm, but a strange and mysterious crimson sky.
As the Hero King stared blankly at it, the murky emotions that were creeping up due to Noksius’ remark began to disturb his memories from the past.
“…Ah.”
The Hero King let out a faint sigh and thought.
He wanted to stop thinking.
But the current of emotions that had already started pulled out memories from the past, despite the resistance of his rationality.
And the first memory he pulled out was when they first met.
At that time, the Hero King was, in fact, a mere existence compared to her reputation.
She had been chosen by the world to become a hero, but she couldn’t do anything properly and had even less combat power than an ordinary hero.
…No, to be honest, she had less skill than a mercenary.
Even though she was a hero, she couldn’t fight better than a mercenary.
In other words, she was a useless human.
A human who became a hero, yet deemed useless.
Despite being a hero, a pitiful soul forced to live day by day.
Of course, she had always lived with the hope that her talent might lie in something other than combat, but unfortunately, she never found it.
Whether as a blacksmith.
As a wizard.
Dealing with books.
Cooking.
Being a carpenter, a hunter, a scout, a merchant, practicing alchemy—no matter what she tried, she couldn’t discover any heroic talent within herself.
As if she never had such talent from the beginning.
And just when she was on the verge of despair, realizing her lack of talent in everything, she met him, and in him, she found a glimmer of light.
Living a life ignored even by mercenaries, a hero king who was used to being disregarded wherever he went, he told her that she had talent.
Ironically, even before meeting him, a few lords had uttered such words to her.
Lords who wanted her as an accessory to accompany them or to create items for nighttime entertainment.
So, she didn’t believe those words, but her doubts disappeared in less than three hours.
Because the lord who claimed she had talent managed to unlock the talent she had been unable to find all this time in just three hours.
A talent capable of extracting artifacts containing special magic or skills, stored at a level beyond a certain grade, with efficiency far surpassing that of other heroes.
From that moment on,
The useless human became a hero recognized by everyone.
…Beyond becoming a hero, she became a great hero acknowledged by everyone.
It all happened after he found her talent.
“…Sigh.”
She was happy.
Beyond being a hero, she became a great hero, earning the title of Hero King, and became powerful enough to rival any strong figure on the continent.
…But, that became a problem.
At some point, she felt the irrationality of it.
The irrationality, oddly enough, came from the one who found her talent and raised her until now, the Hero King.
Around him were many heroes.
There were as many as four heroes who could sit at the ‘Round Table’ similar to her, and the lord was always busy taking care of them.
Of course, it’s not that the lord didn’t take care of her.
Rather, he took care of her just like the other heroes.
The problem was that he took care of her ‘equally’ as the other heroes, making her feel the irrationality.
Certainly, there was no irrationality in the lord’s actions.
On the contrary, the Hero King knew that it was rational.
However, despite that, she felt the irrationality and anger.
At least, she wanted to be a special existence to the lord.
More special than any other hero.
That’s why she openly showed her dissatisfaction.
When he gave gifts, she demanded something more expensive than the other heroes.
When he spent time with other heroes, she forced him to spend time equal to that, if not more.
Of course, he often appeared quite distressed, but in the mind of the Hero King, who wished to be more special than other heroes, that was sometimes perceived as a positive signal.
In the end, the Hero King saw it as a positive sign that he was being treated specially, even amidst his distress.
…Well, at least until he left.
“…Huh.”
The Hero King gazed at the crimson sky with a bitter look, then absentmindedly took out an old tobacco case from his embrace.
Staring at the only cigarette left inside, which he learned from mercenaries during a time when she was still useless, the Hero King, who had been considering smoking, soon put it in his mouth and ignited it with an artifact he pulled out from the pocket of nothingness.
Sizzle— accompanied by the sound, the lit cigarette burned, scattering a refreshing mint scent at the top as it followed the Hero King’s breath.
“…”
Thinking about it, she didn’t believe it at first.
She thought he wouldn’t leave her.
But as time passed, she finally realized, witnessing the slow decline of the territory right before her eyes.
He truly left.
And the moment she realized that fact, she understood what she had done.
How foolish her actions were.
…How unbelievably ridiculous the things she did to him were.
Regret, lingering feelings, embraced her.
However, she couldn’t do anything.
At the point when she realized it, it was already too late.
And after spending a year trapped in the swamp of regret upon realizing it, the Hero King set a goal.
To find the departed lord immediately.
In search of the lord, seeking forgiveness.
“…”
The Hero King, who had set his purpose, traveled across the continent and gathered numerous pieces of information, realizing one fact.
That the one he was searching for, the lord of Lartania and Hero King, was one of the “stars” that descended from the sky, existing in a higher dimension.
Realizing this, the Hero King could only despair, but even so, she did not give up and found even more ways.
For her, she had already realized that he was an existence that must not be lost, from the moment he was gone.
And then, after another year had passed, she received an offer from the Demon King through one of her artifacts.
The offer was to come to the Demon Realm, which was closer to a higher dimension where there were far more “stars” than this continent.
With the acceptance of that offer, she did not hesitate.
At least she wanted to get closer to where he was, even a little.
To get closer, and perhaps reach the dimension they called the “star” and maybe find some clues about him in the Demon Realm.
Of course, after heading to the Demon Realm, her body was no longer an ordinary elf.
Her body, invaded by magic, undoubtedly made her stronger, but as a consequence, her body was deformed and she could not return to the Middle Realm without manifesting.
But even so, it was okay.
No matter how her body was consumed by magic and turned into a demon, it was not something important to her, and in the end, what the Hero King considered important was meeting him again.
To meet again and apologize.
“Huff-“
The Hero King exhaled with a sharp gaze.
The refreshing scent of mint spread.
She had been in the Demon Realm for seven years.
And for seven years, he couldn’t find a way to transcend the crimson sky.
From Noble mtl dot com
The only thing the Hero King found upon coming here was this place closest to the crimson sky, referred to by demons as the ‘summit.’
No other clues existed.
Nothing.
“…”
The Hero King gazed at the burning wick.
The wick was already halfway consumed, and with one more sip, it would be impossible to continue.
“…Sigh.”
Looking at it, the Hero King suddenly recalled memories from the past.
Before she discovered her talent, before becoming the Great Hero.
More precisely, the stories exchanged when he bestowed the title ‘Hero King’ upon her.
“Hero King, isn’t it a bit too much? I’m not even the strongest among the heroes, and I have the taste for wicks like those mediocre mercenaries.”
“It’s okay. You have the qualifications. Besides, I think it’s quite nice that you enjoy the scent of burning wicks.”
“…Really? The scent of wicks seems a bit toxic, though.”
“It is indeed intense.”
“…Are you deliberately teasing me?”
“Well, it is intense, but it makes it easier to find you. Since you’re the only one burning mint-scented wicks in the castle.”
“Point taken.”
“Isn’t it? If I were to put it bluntly, it’s convenient to locate you, no matter where you are. You know, in your body…”
“…Sorry for being so distinctive.”
“It was supposed to be easy to find. Isn’t it a good thing for you too? If only you bloomed in the beginning, I would have easily found you. When I want to see you, I’ll come running.”
“Wow. Another weird dictionary… Did you see something about trees or wikis or something? I told you not to follow what’s there. It’s really cringe-worthy.”
“…Merilda liked it.”
“I like it because it’s Merilda.”
A conversation shared tirelessly while looking at a very small, developing territory.
“When we could still show each other a smile without any shadows-“
The Hero King exhaled as he recalled that, and at the same time, the scent of mint spread in all directions.
And then.
“…If you bloom, you said you would come.”
Thump-
“You said to bloom when you want to see me…”
Whispering to himself, the Hero King quietly buried his face in his knees as he gazed at the sky.
“…Liar.”
…Tears streamed down his angry eyes.
Sounds a lot like Elena. Had a feeling that would be the case, though the MTL confuses me a bit on whether or not the Hero King was originally a human who became an elf or she was always an elf and ‘human’ in this context just means person in general.