001.
It felt as if my heart would burst.
The fishy stench of blood filled my mouth, and every breath I drew sent the sensation of my lungs being torn apart hammering through my entire body.
I lifted my head. Before my eyes stood the Demon King, sneering. The holy sword in my hand had already lost its edge, reduced to little more than a lump of scrap metal.
‘So this is as far as I go.’
Just as I thought everything was over and was about to close my eyes—
“Hero Sian.”
The goddess appeared amid a blinding radiance.
The voices of my companions screaming behind me grew distant.
An illusion visible only to me. The goddess smiled benevolently and caressed my cheek.
“Pour all the energy of the good deeds you have accumulated until now into the holy sword. End everything with a single blow.”
She lightly kissed my forehead. A warm heat flowed into me through every blood vessel in my body. My empty mana circuits swelled as if they would burst.
I wrung out even the last of my life force and swung the holy sword.
A white radiance bright enough to blind pierced the Demon King’s chest. A terrible silence descended, and at last, the world stopped.
***
...And a few days later.
It was time to lay down this damned duty. A sacred land where the light of the goddess seeped in all year round. Once I returned the holy sword here, I would no longer be the hero.
“You’ve worked hard all this time. Get some rest now.”
I drove the holy sword, which had lost so much of its edge that it barely retained the shape of a sword, deep into the sacred earth.
I was about to turn away with a light heart and leave.
—Hey, are you insane? Who are you trying to erase?!
I looked back, but all I could see was the empty ground and the holy sword I had just planted there.
Thinking I must have misheard, I was about to take another step when a clearer, more irritated shout drove itself into my mind.
—Hey!! Where do you think you’re going?! Hurry up and pull me back out!!
‘Noisy, aren’t you.’
I went back to the holy sword stuck in the ground. After pulling it out as requested, I swung it straight down at the earth.
Kwaaang—!
—Are you crazy? I’ll break!!
A scream rang inside my head. I gripped the sword hilt tightly.
“Shut up. If you scream in my head one more time, I’ll snap you clean in two. Got it?”
—O-okay! Sorry! I said I’m sorry!!
The warning seemed to work; her spirit was thoroughly crushed.
“Good. You should’ve come out like that from the start. What are you?”
—I’m... the holy sword...
“I know that. I’m asking why you called me.”
—My name is Ria. I’m the being who maintains and protects this holy sword. Because you drained every bit of power to defeat the Demon King, the energy inside the holy sword hit rock bottom, and that’s what made me wake up.
“So?”
—What do you mean, so?! If you’re the hero, you have to take responsibility until the end! You’re supposed to return the holy sword in a complete state! It’s essential for the sake of the next generation’s hero. All the heroes before you did the same!
She seemed to be trying to instill some sense of duty in me, but it had nothing to do with me. I’d lopped off the Demon King’s head. That was the end of it.
“What, do I just smear some holy water on you or something?”
At my indifferent response, Ria flared up.
—Ha! What do you take me for, some low-grade demonic sword that stuffs itself with mana stones? I’m a holy sword, a holy sword! I need a very special kind of energy, something on a completely different level!
Special energy. Just hearing the words made me tired. The instincts of a mercenary who had been through every hardship under the sun were warning me. This was the kind of quest that would be a pain in the ass the moment I got involved.
“Ah, what a bother. Just have someone else do it.”
I was about to shove the holy sword back into the ground.
Flash.
Light burst out, and the holy sword transformed into a silver cross necklace that dropped into my palm.
—N-no! Don’t stick me in there!!
Ria’s urgent scream struck my mind again.
—My energy is at rock bottom right now, so it has to be you! Connecting to someone new requires an enormous amount of energy, and if I try to link with someone else in this state, I’ll vanish!
At the desperate cry echoing in my head, I decided to hear her out for now.
“So you’re saying I only need to fill you with enough energy that I can pass you on to someone else?”
—Huh? Uh, yes.
“Fine. I can do that much. So what do I have to do?”
Let’s think positively. I might need to ask the goddess for a favor someday. Besides, it would probably be over quickly.
—Well... you need to have a bit of physical contact with women.
“What?”
—Ah, it absolutely can’t be just any woman! There are women who resonate with you...
I let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded. Not mana stones, not holy water, but physical contact with women. For a holy sword, her tastes were quite vulgar.
“How am I supposed to know that? Do they walk around with it written on their foreheads?”
—I-I’ll tell you that... If you get close, I’ll know.
I furrowed my brow sharply.
“So you’re saying I have to walk around and find them one by one. What a hassle.”
—......I’m sorry.
Her voice was completely dispirited. Since she even apologized, it felt ridiculous to press her any further.
“Fine. Like you said earlier, I just need to build up enough energy to hand you off to someone else, right?”
—Yeah...
I put the silver cross necklace around my neck.
There was no reason to delay any longer. Without lingering, I left the goddess’s land behind.
**
As I walked along the forest path with the goddess’s land at my back, I sank into thought.
Deep communion with women, huh.
In other words, I just had to get in the mood with some woman I hit it off with and sleep with her. Thinking of it that way, it actually sounded like it might be fun.
‘Come to think of it... I’ve been here before.’
If I remembered correctly, there was a small village just beyond this forest. There had also been an inn I’d stayed at back when I was an adventurer. Since I needed a place to sleep right away, heading there first seemed best.
How long had it been since I changed direction and started walking?
Grrrr...
The bushes rustled, and a starving demonic wolf with madness in its eyes crawled out into the middle of the path. Sticky drool dripped from its maw, and it looked ready to tear into the nape of my neck at any moment.
“What a nuisance.”
Out of habit, I reached for my waist, but the sword hilt that had always been there was gone.
‘Oh, right.’
Remembering that the sword I was looking for was hanging around my neck, I reluctantly picked up a suitable branch lying on the ground.
This was enough to deal with a mangy mutt like this. When I flowed a faint amount of mana into the branch, it became a fairly sturdy, sharp weapon.
Kaaang—!
The beast kicked off the ground and lunged at me with its jaws wide open. I lightly twisted my upper body to avoid its charge and, at the same time, mercilessly drove the mana-clad branch into its throat.
Thuk—!
Without even managing a proper death cry, the beast spurted blood and collapsed limply to the ground.
“Ugh, now there’s blood on me.”
I brushed off my clothes and was about to set out again.
“Hey, friend.”
From the other side of the thicket, three mercenaries in tattered leather armor came sauntering out.
“That prey’s something we had our eyes on first. It’s bad manners to stick your spoon into a meal that’s already served, isn’t it?”
A scarred man who seemed to be the leader shook a hand axe as he picked a fight. The prey was just an excuse; it was obvious they were looking to squeeze some money out of me. As I stared at them with indifferent eyes, Ria’s voice, quiet until now, sounded.
—Don’t waste your strength on trash. Don’t kill for no reason. Let’s just ignore them and go.
“Sure.”
Without even casting a glance at the mercenaries, I simply continued along my way.
“Hey!! This bastard’s ignoring us?!”
Behind me came an enraged shout and the sound of weapons being drawn. Only then did I look at the mercenaries.
“You lot. Are you mercenaries, or are you bandits?”
“W-what did you say, you bastard?”
“If you’re mercenaries, quietly take your prey and get lost. Unless you want to see blood.”
At my warning, the man’s face flushed red and blue.
“This crazy son of a bitch, just because he’s got a mouth—!”
The man raised his hand axe as if he would rush me at any second. Just then, one of the underlings standing beside him hurriedly grabbed his boss by the arm.
“B-boss! Wait a second!”
“What’s with you? Let go, bastard!”
“That man is barehanded!”
“So what the hell about it?!”
“He pierced a demonic wolf’s neck with nothing but a branch, without even using a weapon! Nothing good will come of getting tangled up with him. Let’s just take the prey and go, yeah?”
Only then did the leader seem to grasp the situation. His gaze moved back and forth between my empty hands and the wolf carcass sprawled on the ground. After confirming the sight of the branch embedded in its skull, his complexion hardened in an instant.
“......”
He clamped his mouth shut and quietly lowered his eyes. Then he gave a single dry cough and began inching toward the wolf carcass.
Seeing that, I turned away without any lingering attachment.
**
Before long, the entrance to Subeu Village came into view.
The guard standing at the entrance looked me up and down. I took two copper coins from my pouch, dropped them into his hand, and said,
“Which way is Mari’s Lantern Inn?”
After pocketing the coins, a friendly smile spread across the guard’s lips.
“Turn right at the central crossroads and you’ll see it right away.”
As I stepped into the village, the smell of earth and the simple scenery, not much different from five years ago, unfolded before my eyes.
—How do you remember the name of an inn in a backwater village like this?
“The inn’s name is simple. The landlady’s name is Marina, and her daughter’s name is Mari.”
—Aha, so Mari’s Lantern?
“Yeah. It’s also a place I stayed at back when I was an adventurer.”
When I opened the wooden door and stepped inside, the sweet smell of stew and the warm scent of wood from my memories rushed over me.
As if five years had meant nothing, the interior of the inn looked exactly as I remembered it. And so did the woman who lifted her head from behind the counter, wearing an apron.
“Welcome! This is Mari’s Lantern.”
Auntie Marina greeted her guest with a bright smile. Her richly tied-up brown hair and the sensual curves that even her apron couldn’t hide had not changed at all.
—Oh... There’s a woman like that in a backwater village like this? That auntie must get hit on a lot.
‘There were guys confessing to her back then too.’
I approached the counter and lowered my head slightly.
“It’s been a long time, Auntie Marina.”
“Yes? Oh my... Oh my goodness! Sian? Good heavens, is that you, Sian?!”
At first, the auntie tilted her head, but her eyes widened in an instant. She recognized a face she had not seen in five years at once and was so delighted she could hardly close her mouth.
—Huh?! It’s this woman!