89. I hate warriors like this
“······This doesn’t seem like a topic to talk about in a place like this.”
Perhaps knowing that Cream had no will to fight anymore, Arkhan perfectly stood up his body leaning on his sword.
No matter how much I and the holy sword clamored, Cream didn’t move. She tends to listen to me, but once she starts to get her headstrong, she has a hard time getting her back.
“Akan! Are you okay?”
“What did you mean? Unless you’re a hero…”
As soon as he learned that the battle was over, Arkhan’s followers and fellow members of the expedition flocked to him. However, Akan bit them with a light gesture.
“I will explain everything later. So now.”
In fact, by the time Akan didn’t deny Cream’s words, his ugly bare face had already been exposed. Yet people were still listening to him.
Of course, not everyone is like that. Magnetun is essentially a city of mercenaries and adventurers who live on battle and bloodshed. There were plenty of tough fighters who didn’t follow him.
“What are you talking about! Impersonating a hero, do you know how big of a sin that is?”
“Catch him! You have to hand it over to the temple!”
But when Cream’s eerie gaze turned to them, they too had to back away with a squeak. No matter how pretty your face is, what are you doing, one eye is completely ripped out.
In the end, the momentum of their first step was colorless and they curled up like 10,000 tails. Cream snorted lightly and scattered the divine power of his source toward Arkhan.
“Are you okay, where are you?”
“Please follow me.”
The wounds on Akan’s body covered in light healed one by one. Not all of his injuries were healed, but enough to stop his bleeding and provide first aid.
Realizing that it didn’t work, I stopped whining and, with his holy sword tucked into my waist belt, Cream quietly followed Arkhan. The place he guided was a building on the outskirts of the city.
Despite its shabby appearance, I could sense all sorts of magical devices surrounding this building. Perhaps this was Arkansas stronghold, and there were all sorts of strange things inside.
Precious reagents and stuffed animals that can only be obtained in the Sunset Mountains. However, Cream and Akan went deeper without paying attention to the monster.
“This way.”
After going through several hallways, the last room we arrived at was the library. The room, smaller than Choco’s kennel, was filled with old books that gave off a musty smell.
After pushing them into a corner, Akan pulled out a table and chair from another room. Seeing that my share of chairs were dusty, Cream frowned.
“Ugh.”
As she lightly stretched out her hand, a faint shimmer of cold air whizzed past her chair. Cream sat down on the chair, which had become much cleaner, with a somewhat relaxed face.
Of course, Cream wouldn’t get a drop of blood on it even if she sat on a mountain of monster corpses instead of on a dusty chair like that, but I thought it was an emotional problem.
[Now, let’s talk.]
I was in pain because I couldn’t taste the strong man’s soul, so I shot at him. However, even though he must have sensed the source of the mental wave, Arkhan did not look at me.
“Hero.”
Cream didn’t answer, as was his original personality. I just watched what Akan would say with a sullen face as usual. As if taking it as her unspoken permission, Akan opened one of her books.
Written in the old language, which is now dead, most of the contents are obscured by the wear and tear of the book. However, as an outstanding adventurer in my previous life, I was able to read some of the contents.
“Hero, what do you think a hero is?”
[Ha, does a mere mortal dare to discuss the dictionary definition of a hero?]
“Aries.”
As if that remark touched the heart of her holy sword, she fired a sharp shot, but was soon silenced by Cream. After turning the pages for a while, Arkan pointed to a single page.
“This is a record from before the beginning of time. It won’t be the original, but it will be a copy of a manuscript.”
Even so, it was an absurdly old book. The stationery was already worn to the point of wear and tear, and it was no different than a bunch of graffiti, but Cream nodded weakly as to what he saw in it.
Akan then brought out the new history books from ancient times to the present. The year and the kingdoms compiled were various, but if there was one thing in common, all of these were books related to heroes.
From the first hero, the hero of the covenant, to the warrior of goodness, the former warrior of the cream. The obsession with the hero that this warrior soldier showed was really creepy.
“For a long time, the title of warrior meant the adversary of the Demon King.”
That’s right. Isn’t the title that the holy sword calls itself ‘the first companion of the hero’ and ‘the sword that cut the necks of the most demon kings’? He was talking about something very obvious.
As I was slowly running out of patience and was about to tell Cream one more time to kill him, what he said next grabbed my attention.
“But, even before the first demon king appeared, there were heroes.”
[What?]
The Holy Sword, who must have known the hero the most, let out a questioning exclamation. As such, what Akan spewed out was absurd.
“It was decades after the end of the creation of the gods that the hero of the covenant and the first demon king began their activities. Maybe there are some records I haven’t been able to find… At least the time when the first demon king appeared is clear beyond dispute.”
“But not here.”
“Yes. There is a word called warrior.”
From noble mtl dot com
How the hell did you read that graffiti-looking record? No, I noticed it belatedly, but the name of that record also bothers me a lot.
[Before the beginning? Before the gods create the world, nothing is normal. But is there a record of that time?]
“Think of the creation myth in detail. The three gods finally joined forces to drive out the night and open up a new sky, but there is no mention of Earth anywhere.”
Now that you think about it, is that so? I was mistaken because of the cosmic scale of the sun, moon, and stars themselves, but only the name was the creation, and the main content of the myth was to drive out the night.
“It is a theory that is not very recognized, but… There is also a story that there were intelligent beings with advanced civilizations that could leave written records even before the beginning of time.”
[No, so what does that have to do with dragon love?]
The creation and the beginning are making grandiose noises, but in the end, it is just a little over a thousand years of history. At my perverse attitude, Akan opened another book and stacked it on top of it.
“I wanted to tell you that the word hero was being used even before the beginning of time and before the first demon king appeared. Also, at that time, the word hero was used differently.”
I was able to recognize what Arkhan opened this time because it was in a very good state of preservation. This was a story about a tribal war fought between three races before a proper kingdom was proclaimed.
The three races fought each other bloodily until a continental-scale catastrophe descended and put the war to a halt. Each race under the command of a great lord who leads them.
Hero of Human Covenant. Fairy king of fairies. The beast’s head. They were originally enemies, but with the advent of the first demon king, a disaster on a continental scale, they stopped fighting and joined hands.
[······· Huh?]
The timing of describing the human monarch as the ‘hero of the covenant’ was certainly earlier than the appearance of the first demon king.
She is a great hero who received blessings and oaths from the gods, and all three of her gods favored her so much that she was afraid that the other gods would envy her.
Nevertheless, she led humans with her talent and skills beyond her species, and it is said that one day she ascended to heaven by being called by the gods and never returned to earth again.
“A long time ago, a hero was the name of one who saved the world.”
However, it is said that when night comes to the world once again, then she will return as a god of the day, not as a human being. The myth of salvation following the myth of creation.
But now it’s just an old story that might be of interest to theologians. Those who professed to believe in a day god were merely saying in a noble way that she was an atheist.
“The current hero is just the adversary of the demon king.”
A fictional god that is only used as a shield by non-believers who don’t want to be hit with a mace in a world where gods exist. The records of the warriors that Arkan brought before us were like that.
All of them are old, outdated, and even obscure records. But as he showed these things, I guessed what he was trying to say.
[So? Spinning round and round is over here, why don’t you stop revealing your true feelings now?]
Contrary to what he was delusional about, the hero up until now was by no means a savior. Daeshinjeon is so good at manipulating the media that even ignorant commoners believe it.
A diligent warrior who crosses the borders of all countries to chase the devil, a brave warrior who proclaims the king of a country as the devil king and usurps the throne, and even a hero of peace next to me.
An ordinary human who gained transcendental power overnight could not be as kind and noble as the hero in the story. And, if you are an Arkan who has a lot of interest in heroes, you will know this fact.
“You are…”
Akan’s expression, which had been as calm as a lake just a moment ago, was distorted. The bastard finally took off his mask and revealed his ugly bare face.
“Wrong.”
The ending that all warriors ultimately reach.
I am passionate about warriors, want to be like them, and want to know more. Normally, it is blocked by the information manipulation of the Great War, but if you succeed in breaking through it and peeping at the truth.
What they see is the hero’s evil deeds and atrocities hidden by the Great War. Only the brave can find the Demon King, so they are immune from all kinds of punishment.
[This blasphemous man!]
And that was also in line with the reason why most of the heroes who returned to normal lives met a terrible end after the protection of the gods disappeared.
“Really important information about the hero could not be obtained where the hands of the Daishinjeon could be reached. So I came to the Sunset Mountains. To get the old books that the owner of the peak, transcendent species who have lived for hundreds of years, must have!”
Akan jumped up from his seat. The guy who at first tried to keep his composure in his own way, now spasmed all over his face and fired his words like a rapid-fire cannon.
The rough movement caused the books in the library to collapse. However, once he built a tower of books hitting himself, Arkhan didn’t care.
“By the way, damn it! Do you know what I saw? Destroy the city with all your might without worrying about the aftermath! Accuse innocent people as the devil’s pawns and execute them! Even so, there is not even the slightest apology, let alone punishment!”
[Shut up! How can a person who dares insult even his own merits insult the shepherd of all people who are directly blessed by the gods!]
“So are you. Aries! Although he had a good soul more than anyone else, he ignored, aided, and even cooperated with their evil deeds only for the sake of his master! More will be deceived by your cunning tongue than cut by your pure blade. I was once one of them!”
Of course, there was no way that the holy sword would stay still even after hearing such words. As her holy sword scattered her light and went mad, naturally, her Arkan’s citadel also turned toward her.
[That, that’s…]
“Only in the name of a warrior, how many sins must be forgiven? If you are a warrior who does not get punished for any evil, what is the difference between that and the devil! I’d rather…!”
The Holy Sword stuttered her words to see if there was a corner to be stabbed. However, Cream, the main target of all the insults and criticism, did not blink an eye even after hearing that.
Cream, who had been silently listening to Akan’s shouts while blinking only one eye, opened his mouth when he huffed and shut his mouth because he had spoken too much.
“So.”
“Yes! Say something!”
“What do you want?”
Hmm, I forgot the fact that Cream is transcendently ignorant. Maybe he’s deliberately pretending not to notice.
Akan was speechless at Cream’s calm and innocent remark. After catching her breath for a moment, Akan soon regained her serenity like her lake. But the atmosphere was different from before.
Like a winter lake, the atmosphere hides the blade under the cold ice field.
“… Huh, I’m so excited. However, everything you just said is true.”
[Yes, yes. He also said that he wanted to become a hero.]
I smiled single-single and thrust a dagger at him. I screamed with excitement, but at the end my true heart came out a little. It would have been obvious if I hadn’t listened to that back story.
[Why? Do you think the warriors so far are too idiots? If you were a hero, I think you could do much better, right?]
I’m not calling warriors sick for nothing. Even death is not a cure for delusions without answers. I’ve never seen a hero, but I’ve seen a lot of warrior soldiers.
“······At least you wouldn’t use that power for nothing.”
And the repertoire they speak of is always the same. I am different. I am just If it were me, I wouldn’t use that power that way. Well? Is it really so? I don’t think so.
[As I have said, you do not have the right to define a hero.]
People change when they gain strength. The holy sword, which was silent for a moment, soon became a calm voice and scolded Akan.
[It is none other than the heavenly gods who chose the hero. The actions of the warriors are his choice, and it is also the choice of the gods who chose him.]
“Are you saying that the gods condone evil?”
[You’re young. Do you think that something that God does not tolerate can exist in this world?]
The holy sword openly laughed at Arkan. At that unconventional remark, not only Akan but also I ate a bewildered expression. Did he eat something wrong? You make openly blasphemous statements.
[I agree with that statement. The gods only gave mortals the freedom to choose good or evil for themselves. If you do it yourself and whine later… We’re also a bit perplexed.]
Muffin also added a word in a voice dripping with boredom and fatigue more than ever. Choco seems to have no interest or thought about this kind of talk, but his eyes are wide open.
[Don’t try to judge the hero with your childish thinking. Whether to do good or to do evil. Following one’s will is the most heroic thing.]
“Then, no matter what sins they commit…”
The moment Akan tried to protest something, there was a thump. A strong vibration interrupted the conversation.
It was a strong vibration that anyone would have felt, even if their senses were not particularly sensitive. Cream, who had been silent until now, finally opened her mouth.
“So, what do you mean by a hero?”
What kind of situation is this? It would have been nice if the vibration had ended once, but the thumping sound resonated nonstop. Besides, it seems to be getting closer little by little?
Considering the magnitude and source of the tremors, it felt like they were moving out of the city towards the city rather than pinning us down.
“Seeking people. A person who does not use force recklessly. That’s right?”
“······This may sound oversimplified, but yes, it is.”
As Akan nodded his head, Cream suddenly jumped out of his seat and stood up. Her hands were holding the handles of two swords before she knew it.
Are you going to kill this spoiled bastard? I let out a cheer of joy, and when Arkan involuntarily took a step backwards, Cream said with an expressionless face like never before.
“Well, look.”
“Yes?”
“You say, the hero, is this, right?”
The next moment, an incomparable seismic wave rushed in. Books from the library, which were already in disarray, poured into the central heating system, and a different voice could be heard between the sounds of the books colliding and being torn.
[One of my subordinates □ □ is □ here. I-wa-□-!]
A mental wave that sounds as if there is noise, with the pronunciation muffled here and there. However, the volume was so great that anyone in the city could hear it.
Such a distorted mental wave is a characteristic of demon contractors vaguely entangled in the boundary between reality and the other side world. Besides, this strength and fight, he is not an easy opponent to fight while playing around like Arkan.
Yang said that humans are investigators to determine the cause of the Dark Church’s destruction, and messengers to confirm the betrayal of the Elder Lich. And he couldn’t accomplish either of these by us.
Yes, since the lower ones have lost contact, it is only natural that the higher ones will come.