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Chapter 95

“Just what...”

The person standing at the very front was a familiar face.

Were they the vice-captain of the Iron Blood Knight Order?

Well, they would be the captain now.

Hector called to him and explained the situation.

“The high priest and a vice-cult leader, and the descent of a demon lord... Young master, is this all true?”

“I’ve only told you what I have heard and seen.”

“Hoh... I never expected something like this to happen within House Bednicker’s territory...”

The vice-captain seemed to find it hard to believe, but ultimately, he chose to believe Hector’s words.

Is he putting on an act?

That didn’t seem to be the case.

That meant that this disgusting plan of Bednicker’s had been kept totally secret, hidden even from the vice-captain of the Iron Blood Knight Order.

One of the knights approached me. He spoke to me while stopping my arm from bleeding out.

“It’ll hurt a little. Do you know where the severed arm is?”

“Why? Are you going to reattach it?”

I immediately regretted saying that, but this knight seemed a little younger than the others, so it was probably fine.

He looked about my age.

“We’ll have to see its state, but that is what we will attempt.”

“If it’s not around here, it probably got eaten by a demon.”

“...I see. That’s unfortunate.”

I then heard Hector’s voice.

“Did you perhaps see the other young heroes?”

With a heavy voice, the vice-captain responded, “The ones we were able to rescue are at the campgrounds, but not many of them are fine.”

“...I see.”

“Please follow me for now.”

We followed the vice-captain to the campgrounds.

We arrived at the camp in just a few minutes, and what we saw there looked like a battlefield.

“It hurts... Uh, ugh...”

“G-Gilbert...? You’re lying.”

“We’re running out of potions! Does anyone have any more?”

“...”

The instructor\'s lodge was filled with injured patients. The knights and other helpers were moving about feverishly.

In comparison, it was quiet around the young hero’s lodge. It seemed that most of the corpses were being stored there.

At this point, I noticed a familiar face among the injured group.

“Sharyl.”

“...Ah.”

Sharyl looked to be in a daze as she turned to look at me.

“What happened?”

“...It’s...”

Her voice was on the verge of breaking.

It was the first time I’d seen Sharyl like this.

I felt something was off as I took a look around.

Bazil, Eddy, Sinbar, and Zeros, who had all joined our group later, were in the area as well.

Thankfully, none of them seemed to have suffered any grave injuries...

But there was one person I couldn’t find.

“What about Mir?”

No matter how small she was, she had bright blue hair that was easy to pick out of any crowd.

It shouldn’t have been difficult to find her even with a dark forest in the background.

“Mir protected us...” Sharyl said, still looking a little out of it.

I noticed that Sharyl’s eyes were fixed in a certain direction.

Only then did I find Mir.

Among where the corpses were laid, I saw a uniquely small body.

“Saying that... protecting the weak... is what a hero is... in my stead...”

“...”

In that moment, I remembered the last words I’d said to Mir.

—You’ll have to protect them.

—A hero protects the weak.

It was a lighthearted joke I’d said to ease Mir’s nerves, but it seemed she hadn’t taken it as a joke.

To fulfill the words I’d said in passing, Mir had fought.

With all her might.

“...I... am not qualified to be a hero,” Sharyl said, her voice quivering.

I couldn’t say anything in response.

***

As I came back to my senses, I felt something smooth and cozy surrounding my body.

Thanks to that, I realized that I was lying on a bed even before I opened my eyes.

...I passed out.

It wasn’t too unexpected since my condition had been so terrible for so long.

“Ugh...”

Even sitting up was difficult, and it wasn’t just because of the side effects of White Flame.

“You’re awake.”

I heard a very welcome voice from next to me.

It was Kayan.

“...How long was I asleep?”

“Today is the fourth day.”

“Looks like I was passed out for a while.”

“Is your body...”

All right? That’s probably what he wanted to ask me.

Kayan couldn’t finish his words and closed his mouth. His gaze was stuck on my still-missing right arm.

“...The house is looking for a high-ranking priest. It’s said that the Council of Elders is actively pursuing the matter, so you can await good news.”

“Sure.”

I gave a bland response as I got up.

My body was still screaming in pain, but I wanted to move.

“I will help you.”

“No. It’s fine.”

I refused Kayan’s support and moved by myself.

Simple stretches would be helpful for my recovery.

After looking at me silently for a while, Kayan said, “The Council of Elders has summoned you.”

“What’s with those old-timers?”

“I cannot say. But if it is still difficult for you to move, please rest a little longer. I will try to appease them.”

I shook my head.

“It’s fine. When should I be there?”

“They wanted me to notify them as soon as you woke up.”

“Then inform them that I woke up. Before I go, I want to eat something...”

“It will be prepared immediately.”

Kayan left, and a maid soon came with some stew.

For some reason, I couldn’t taste it properly, but I ate a few bowls to sate my hunger.

As I was finishing my meal, Kayan returned.

“There is a guest who wishes to see you. In truth, they’ve been at the main house for two days now...”

“Who is it?”

“It’s Sir Doz Helvin.”

“...”

That was Evan’s father’s name.

Kayan spoke again.

“If you don’t wish to meet him—”

“No. Where is he?”

“He’s in the sitting room on the first floor.”

“Let’s go.”

I went to the sitting room with Kayan.

This damned body... Even walking wasn’t easy. In the end, I had to be supported by Kayan.

“Ah...!”

As we opened the door and entered the room, I saw the face of a haggard middle-aged man.

I’d heard that he was once a knight, but it seemed he hadn’t kept up with his training since then.

He wasn’t fat, but he had excess mass all over his body.

“I am Doz Helvin. Are you Young Master Luan?”

“I am.”

“I-I see. This is probably our first time meeting. I am Doz Helvin—”

“You already said that.”

I wasn’t in the best condition, but he didn’t seem to be having a good time either.

It looked like he hadn’t slept at all in the last few days.

Even though I obviously knew why Doz was like this and why he’d come to find me, I still asked, “Do you have business with me?”

“I-it’s just... I heard that you were in the same group as my son in the training camp.”

“...”

“Have you perhaps seen Evan recently?”

Evan Helvin had disappeared without a trace right after the demon lord disappeared.

Had Evan died?

Or had he been reborn as the vice-cult leader?

At this point, I just didn’t know.

“Not really.”

“I-I see...” He hesitated for a second before looking at me with a serious expression. “Evan’s body hasn’t been discovered. It seems he’s still missing...”

“...”

“I’ve heard that the Forest of the Butterfly is as large as even the average territory, so I was wondering if he might be hiding somewhere...”

Doz looked at me with desperation in his eyes.

“Could you perhaps use your authority, young master...? As you know, outsiders like me cannot enter the forest, so we desperately need the help of House Bednicker to—”

Kayan coughed to make his presence known.

Doz flinched in the middle of his rapid-fire sentence before lowering his head.

“P-please excuse me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll put in a word to Bednicker.”

“R-really?”

“But don’t expect too much.”

“Of course! Thank you...”

Doz repeatedly bowed his head.

If not for the difference in our status, he would’ve grabbed my hand with both of his.

After that short meeting with Doz, I immediately moved toward the Council of Elders.

On our way there, I asked Kayan, “Have you heard anything about Evan?”

“I have.” When I nodded, Kayan asked me, “Did something happen to the Young Hero Evan?”

It seemed that Hector had told the vice-captain about the vice-cult leader but not exactly who it was.

If that was the case, maybe only a small minority within House Bednicker knew Evan’s true identity.

“Maybe... By the way, where are we going?”

“Another sitting room.”

“Weren’t we on our way to the Council of Elders?”

“Yes. That is where they are right now.”

That was unexpected.

I’d assumed they were sitting pretty in the Trial Room.

“An important guest has come.”

“An important guest?”

Kayan looked at me as he replied, “The Goodsprings.”

* * * * *

* * * * *

House Goodspring.

The Great House that—with House Bednicker—formed the Two Walls.

However, they didn’t have a good relationship with House Bednicker.

To be more precise... the Goodsprings were excessively wary of Bednicker.

Due to the direction House Bednicker’s family head had chosen, most of Bednicker’s hostility was directed at the Church of Darkness.

This was different from House Goodspring.

In their heyday, Goodspring had held as much authority as the imperial palace.

As a house that valued authority above all else, they treated House Bednicker, which had grown explosively in the last few decades, as a thorn in their side.

“Who from Goodspring?”

“Sandria Goodspring.”

It was a name I hadn’t heard before.

Kayan seemed to notice my confusion as he explained, “She is the current elder of House Goodspring, and she was one of the most powerful spiritualists in The Empire back in the day.”

Why had such a powerful person came to Bednicker?

And why had I been called to meet her?

I suppressed those questions and opened the door to the sitting room.

Of course, Kayan didn’t enter with me.

“Luan Bednicker, you’re here.”

“...”

The room was about ten times bigger than the sitting room Doz had been in, but there weren’t that many people here.

In all, just three people were present.

First was Agenor Bednicker, chairman of the Council of Elders and proxy for the family head whenever the Lord of Blood and Iron vacated his position.

Next to him was Asad, his hair as piercing green as always.

He looked even more tired than usual.

When he saw me, he gave me a little wave, so I lowered my head back down.

And finally...

There was a middle-aged woman who had hairs of gold and silver intertwined with each other.

So this person is Sandria Goodspring.

I was reminded of why Sellen had felt lonely in her house.

This woman looked so different that I couldn’t believe they were related.

Sandria’s expression was calm and welcoming, like the owner of a bakery, but I could feel a level of inexplicable pressure as well.

I slightly lowered my head as I took my seat.

While looking at Sandria, Agenor said, “Then since the person in question is here, let’s properly begin our talk.”

“Let’s.” Sandria smiled. “The child of our house who attended your house’s event has died. I will ask this directly: how do you intend to compensate us?”

With a plain expression, Agenor responded, “Let us not engage in this boring mental battle, Elder. We have the contract personally signed by Sellen Goodspring. No matter what sort of injury she was to sustain during the training camp, even if she were to die, House Bednicker was not to be held responsible... We called you here despite that for only one reason: to avoid any annoying commotions.”

“Annoying commotions?”

“Don’t feign ignorance. We already know that House Goodspring has met with the houses of the young heroes who attended this training camp.”

“...”

“Even with the existence of the contracts, it’ll become bothersome for us if the other houses gather around House Goodspring in this matter. House Bednicker’s enemy is solely the demons and the cult following them; we do not wish to waste our efforts on anything unnecessary.”

Sandria smirked.

I could sense mockery in her smile.

“As expected of Bednicker, quite the impressive sense of duty. However, Chairman Agenor, let’s make one thing clear...”

“Go on.”

“That contract pertained to House Bednicker’s training camp. However, the daughter of my house died because she got swept up in a demon lord’s summoning ritual. Do you truly see those two scenarios as one and the same?”

“...”

“And the fact that your house couldn\'t even notice a high priest infiltrating the training camp or hinder the demon lord’s summoning ritual... To be honest, it raises a question.”

“What question?”

“Was House Bednicker truly unaware of the scheme?”

When he heard that, Agenor’s expression hardened.

“Be wary of your words, Elder. Are you suggesting that House Bednicker conspired with the cult?”

“Not at all. However, as a house most obsessed with demon hunting, perhaps you knew such a scheme was afoot and stayed quiet to kill the high priest.”

“...”

“And no matter what the situation was, it is suspicious that only the Bednicker children survived.”

At those words, Agenor directed her attention toward me.

“Luan Bednicker nearly died. You should be well aware since you can see him right now.”

Sandria’s gaze moved to my empty right sleeve.

I barely repressed a laugh as I finally realized why Agenor had called me here.

Sandria looked tired as she said, “...Well, fine. We’ll overlook that for now. Since it seems you don’t want to prolong this psychological battle, I’ll get to the point.”

“Go on.”

“There is only one thing House Goodspring wants: we want the heroes affiliated with House Bednicker within Heroes to stop their activity for one year.”

Agenor’s brow furrowed for the first time.

“...Are you in your right mind?”

“I am always in my right mind.”

When Agenor went to respond...

“We’ll accept it, sure,” Asad said, speaking for the first time. “But rather than stopping all activities, we’ll only stop the reporting of deeds and achievements.”

“By that, you mean...”

“Bednicker cannot stop hunting the cult. And since the intent of House Goodspring is to lower the public results produced by Bednicker, this change shouldn’t matter, no?”

Generally, the ranking of power among the Great Houses was influenced by the ranking and achievements made within Heroes.

Due to the activity of the Lord of Blood and Iron, House Bednicker had held the number one spot for a long time...

But if Bednicker didn’t publish their achievements for a full year, then other other houses, including House Goodspring, could catch up.

It also meant that House Bednicker’s influence among the Great Houses would decrease, and that was what Goodspring was aiming for.

As expected, Sandria gave a satisfied smile.

“Hearing the Archmage say that, I cannot refuse.”

When I saw that, I couldn’t hold back and ended up letting out a laugh.

The attention of everyone was pulled toward me, and Sandria asked, “What is so funny to the young master of House Bednicker?”

“No... If it isn’t too rude, I have something I wish to ask the elder of Goodspring.”

“Speak.”

“What was your relation to Sellen?”

Sandria blinked before replying, “I was that child’s godmother. To be precise, I was her aunt.”

I looked at the one who had called herself “aunt” as I said, “But you didn’t even ask how Sellen died. I thought that was why I was called here.”

I knew that this wasn’t a situation where someone like me could talk like this... but sitting here listening to these people talk was driving me mad.

I stood up.

“If you don’t have any further use for me, I will go now.”

Bowing my head would be the right thing to do, but I didn’t want to show any respect to these old monsters, so I immediately left the room.

Shortly afterward, as I walked through the hallways, someone blocked my path.

“Quite the temper.”

“...”

It was Asad.

I had seen him in the room not long ago, but I wasn’t surprised to see him here as well.

“Do you have something to say to me?” I asked.

“Not really.”

“Then I’ll be going. My body is in terrible condition.”

“What about you? Is there something you want to say?”

I do not.

Despite thinking that, I suddenly became curious about something.

“Where is the family head right now?”

“He’s not in the main house.”

Although the location of the Lord of Blood and Iron was a secret, I assumed that Asad was more likely to know than most people.

What he told me was probably the truth.

I nodded my head a little before heading to my room, and as I did, I heard a voice call out to me from behind.

“In any case, it’s good that you survived, Luan.”

“...”

The moment I heard that, my body completely stopped.

...It’s good that I survived?

A numbing shock went through my body as if I had just been hit on the back of the head.

***

I returned to my room.

Even though I had a bed here, I chose to lay on the ground and look up at the ceiling decorated with a gaudy chandelier.

—In any case, it’s good that you survived.

It was as he’d said.

I had survived.

Although my master had prophesied my death, I had ended up surviving and producing a different result.

Then had I succeeded?

Not at all.

Only now did I realize my condition.

I was on the verge of going insane.

Bednicker had caused the deaths of dozens of people just to kill the high priest.

Goodspring was only looking for their own gains even though their daughter had died.

I remembered the face of Doz Helvin praying for the survival of his son, and the side profile of Sharyl Rubyeta staring at Mir’s dead body.

Finally, I remembered the face of Sellen, left all alone in the forest in the middle of winter.

Survived?

Not at all.

I had just barely held on.

I hadn’t even held on to my own life, I’d just happened to be able to keep breathing.

At the very least, I was in a state where, as a martial artist, I couldn’t say I had survived.

“Just...”

I felt embarrassed by how pathetic I was.

Since returning to the past, I’d acted like I had changed from before, like I could understand every situation and control it as I wished.

This was the result of that.

It was such a pathetic result that I wanted to beat myself up.

However...

On the other hand, if I’d done my best, would anything have changed?

I wasn’t trying to make excuses. In the training camp, I’d never let my guard down.

I had maintained a level of caution while doing my best in everything in the training camp.

Even so, the wall of the high priest and the demon lord had been too high.

They weren’t opponents a fifteen-year-old Luan Bednicker could face just because he had trained for a few months.

I doubted that I could produce a different result if I was given the same chance again.

I had to hold back my laughter.

Although it might be presumptuous, I was a bit suspicious of my master’s intent as well.

If the future my master had first seen was of my death, was this result what he’d wanted from me?

A result like this?

That it was fine because I survived and the high priest died even though dozens of young heroes died?

Would the Strongest Under the Heavens, Baek Nogwang, really think that way?

Damn it...

I reunited with the Baek Nogwang of my memories.

My master was showing me a faint smile.

For some reason, it was a smile of satisfaction.

What are you so satisfied about? I asked, baffled, and the master in my memory smiled wider.

—Did you realize that doing your best is not enough?

...Yes.

—Did you obtain the desire to accomplish something at any cost?

Yes.

As I answered in my heart, even while feeling a little surprised, I could see Master in my memories.

Were these really my memories?

—Then...

—You have truly entered The World.

Suddenly, I heard a voice I couldn’t ever have imagined.

[The conditions have been fulfilled.]

“What?”

It was a voice I had heard before.

During the Blessing Ceremony, in the world beyond the mirror...

[The Blessing of Spirit Mountain has activated.]

The world shifted before my eyes.

The surrounding scene melted away like watercolor and bright light filled my vision.

I blinked.

It took a moment for me to get used to the light.

“...Ah.”

Before my vision could return, familiar air touched my lungs.

Next, my murky vision returned to normal, and I saw a familiar environment.

A mystical place covered in fog. The peak of a stone mountain where it was difficult to find even a tuft of grass.

I saw someone standing at the worn-down dwelling there.

“...Master?”

Had Baek Nogwang called me back?

After my cautiously spoken words...

[It’s the youngest.]

It was a distinctive voice. It was another voice I was familiar with.

“...Fourth Senior Brother?”

[You’re finally here.]

The fourth disciple of the Strongest Under the Heavens, Baek Nogwang...

Senior Brother Arang was looking at me.