A Sweet Dream, Shattered by Fists
He had a sweet dream where everyone was treated without discrimination. In the dream, Sion was strolling through the South. There were no demons.
It looked exactly as beautiful as it once had. Warm sunlight sparkled and scattered. The scent of the sea rode in on the breeze. Then Sion turned his head to the side.
“Hero.”
It was Estelle. An angel stood beside him. Such a breathtakingly beautiful person smiled at him. She called his name with that smile. This was the one. She was undoubtedly his fated half. Sion gripped Estelle’s hand with all his strength. It was soft and warm. The touch of an angel.
He had never cared about anything except fighting demons. But the moment he had faced Estelle earlier, interest had ignited. An overwhelmingly large interest.
“Hero.” Estelle called to him with loving sweetness. He wanted to answer. He wanted to convey his true feelings. He wanted to speak her name—Estelle. The approaching Estelle smiled sweetly. The sight was so beautiful it brought tears to his eyes. She slowly parted her lips to whisper her love—
“Hey.”
Hey?
“Wake up.”
Ah. Sion shot upright. Where was Estelle? Ah. Right. It had been a dream. Of course. There was no way the South had no demons. They had been miserably defeated, but that was from the perspective of the entire alliance. From the South’s viewpoint, the situation remained unchanged.
Even though it was a dream, Estelle was truly beautiful. He had only seen her once, yet even in his dreams he longed to stay by her side. At this rate, was he going to come down with lovesickness?
He had never liked the title of Hero. But when he thought of Estelle, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Still… did I mishear something in the dream? Estelle saying “hey,” or “wake up”…
“Hey.”
Huh. That voice. Yes. It was definitely that voice. He rose and searched for the source. Soon his eyes met a man’s with perfect precision.
“…”
“…”
A brief exchange of gazes. An instant of assessment. It might have been too short even for a knight, but—
“Huh.”
Sion the Hero was far better at it than most.
Wait. What the hell?
It was his first time seeing the man, yet he felt strangely familiar. Had they met before? No. Then what was this familiarity?
As Sion mulled it over, the answer came to him. It was the trace of demons’ blood and resentment bound together. The man’s hands were thick with it. Not just one or two—countless traces, too many to count.
…No way.
There weren’t many people in the world who carried such traces in their grasp. The Empire’s Grand General. The Holy Kingdom’s Holy Knight Commander. The Cassan Court Mage. A few others existed, but this presence was completely different from all of them.
If so, only one name remained in his mind.
“…Cain?”
“Oh.”
“You’re that Cain, right?”
Awe and fear. Trust and distrust—all of it mixed together. Questions starting from whether a commoner could truly be so powerful, suspicions that he had simply survived by luck, even doubts that he might have stolen the achievements of the dead.
“Hahaha…!”
The situation in the South was similar to the alliance’s. Why wouldn’t someone so incredible come to the South? Why couldn’t they see the man who swept demons away?
It must be a lie. Just a fictional character. A drastic measure to raise morale. Since even a lowly commoner was achieving such feats, it was a message telling the nobles to work harder.
“You have good eyes. As expected of the Hero, I suppose?”
In truth, there was only one reason Cain had never gone to the South. Demons to kill were scattered everywhere, so there had been no need to travel that far. The strong ones were pushing north and were close by.
In the South, where the subjugation was finished, only remnants remained. So Cain had never spared the South a glance. Stronger demons. More demons. That was all that mattered.
“Hmm.”
Looking at Sion the Hero, Cain fell into thought. Would this guy also start with the whole “commoner” speech the moment he saw him? He really was a commoner, but people dismissed him far too easily.
Kid, that’s not commoner—that’s serf. No, slave. If I go back, I’ll have to grab him by the hair and fix that attitude.
Whether he could even return was uncertain. Ah. Before that, he would catch all the demons anyway.
“I’ve heard so many stories about you!”
Huh?
“Cain! The man who makes those detestable demons tremble!”
“…??”
What was with this guy? He was definitely the Hero, right? The guy who occupied one of the male lead positions. The guy who had sent his comrades to their deaths to save Estelle.
He should have possessed the average intelligence of any romance fantasy male lead. So why wasn’t he sneering “How dare a mere commoner!” but instead sparkling with excitement like “Wow! It’s Cain!!”?
“To think I’d get to meet you like this!”
“Hey.”
“I’ve heard so many stories. The Demon Slayer. God’s Right Hand. I never imagined I’d see you at the academy. Are you perhaps planning to teach something here?”
“Wait a second.”
He roughly remembered the male leads’ settings. Their personalities, positions, and nationalities were all different, but two things were identical, as if stamped from the same mold.
One was that they would unconditionally fall in love with Estelle. The other was that they were all nobles or higher.
He had already cross-verified the Hero. In addition to his own memories, he had heard Wilhelm’s explanation.
“The Hero acknowledged by the Holy Kingdom. His name is Sion. He comes from a prestigious family of a kingdom that once dominated the South, though it’s all ruined now.”
A noble who wouldn’t lose out anywhere he went. Nobles who treated commoners like beasts. Even though Cain had killed so many demons, many nobles still looked down on him. They believed the class system was an order created by God.
If I’d known it would be like this, I should have educated the kid a little. If he went back, he would definitely tell him to fix it. Here, his status wasn’t commoner—it was slave class. The nobles in fantasy novels treated commoners badly, so that was probably why the settings were written that way.
Anyway. Sion was one of those nobles. Cain had expected him to behave like the rest.
“To be able to see you like this… I can hardly believe it.”
But Sion didn’t talk about commoners at all. Instead, his eyes shone with genuine wonder.
“Sion from the South. The Hero acknowledged by the Holy Kingdom.”
“That’s correct. You know quite a lot about me?”
“Just by chance.”
He had planned to treat everyone without discrimination. Starting with Arhen, he was going to go around reforming them all. He never expected the Hero to turn out like this. A noble who didn’t spout commoner nonsense. He gave off a rather cheerful vibe.
How had such a decent guy ended up like that?
Splitting his forces in half to save Estelle. Sacrificing his united comrades just to save Estelle and then failing.
As expected, it was Estelle. The cause of every male lead’s intelligence drop. This wasn’t a problem unique to romance fantasy. In reality, men were creatures particularly weak when it came to women. How foolish could a man in love become? Reality was often worse than novels or movies.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
In that sense, there was something he needed to confirm.
“Sion. Have you met a woman named Estelle by any chance?”
If he hadn’t met her yet, things would be easier. It was faster to persuade someone who hadn’t taken the drug than to tell someone already addicted to stop. That was why he had ended it with just one hit before.
“I saw her a little while ago, but… why are you suddenly asking…”
“I see.”
So it was already too late. Damn this fate. In the end, every male lead got entangled with her. He had wanted to do something—anything—before they met.
Cain grabbed the shoulder of Sion standing beside him.
“What did you think the moment you saw Estelle?”
“Pardon?”
“Not ‘pardon.’ I’d appreciate an honest answer.”
At the sudden question, Sion grew slightly wary. He needed a plausible reason. A reason.
“We’re both in the business of killing demons, aren’t we?”
“…?”
What did that have to do with anything? Sion wondered, but he answered anyway.
“She was an incredibly beautiful lady.”
“Go on.”
“I want to see her again.”
“Again?”
Again? What else was there? Sion thought. Cain, watching him, spoke.
“Is it first love?”
First love. So that was it. This was first love. A faint smile rose to Sion’s lips.
“Just thinking about her makes you happy, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s so overwhelming it’s hard to put into words, right?”
“That’s right.”
As expected of a fellow man. He knew far too much about first love.
“Are you perhaps going to give me advice about first love?”
“Similar. It’s advice.”
“Then why are you clenching your fist…”
BANG!!—
“Urk!”
Sorry, Hero. I was too late. I should have met you before you met Estelle. Please forgive me for having no choice but to do this. Shedding tears of regret—
He wasn’t.
“W-wait a moment. Cain?! Why are you doing this?”
“This is for your future comrades who will die because of you.”
“Huh?”
Abandoning your comrades to save a woman. You’re disqualified as a Hero. Don’t even talk about being a Hero. At this rate, a hero from a post-apocalyptic story would be better. At least those guys actually fulfilled their duties.
Cain slammed his fist upward into Sion’s chin.
THUD!—
“This is for all the people who will get stress ulcers from your future idiocy.”
Kid. In this other world, being a Hero isn’t about being handsome and fighting well. It’s for those who know how to sacrifice. A noble soul in itself. That’s what the title is attached to. Not like the romance fantasy male leads.
CRACK!—
“And this! Fuck! Is for stealing my demon! My demon!!”
“What are you talking about?! Aaaargh!”
In an instant, Sion became a complete wreck. It wasn’t just his body—his mind couldn’t understand it either. Why was he doing this? Why Cain of all people? He only caught demons. And people in league with demons. But I’m on the side fighting demons? Why are you hitting me? What kind of logic is beating me up for stealing demons?!
“Why are you doing this?!”
“My high demon.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. It’s to stop your future self.”
“What does that even mean?!”
“There’s something like that.”
Communication was impossible. He had to fight back. But everything had already been seized by Cain. The initiative. The momentum. The distance. All of it belonged to him.
If this continues, I might really die!
The high demon he had fought recently was truly horrific. It had been hell itself. The personification of death. It had been the toughest opponent without question.
But right now, the ranking changed. A high demon? At least that thing had patterns. This human had none at all. An intention to thoroughly suffocate and kill. An onslaught that perfectly blocked every opening.
This… this is the Demon Slayer Cain…!
The rumors weren’t false. They weren’t exaggerated. He had known the man was strong, but to this degree!
Why was someone like this doing this to him?
Ah. Could it be? Perhaps? Was it because of that?!
“Cain! Did you also fall for Estelle at first sight?!”
Suddenly— Cain’s fist froze in midair.
At that moment, Sion became certain. This was the correct answer. He had kept asking questions. He had mentioned first love. At first Sion hadn’t understood why, but if it was the same situation, the answer was obvious.
“As expected… my prediction was right.”
Right about what? You want to get hit more?
“I wasn’t the only one who fell in love.”
He had considered going easier on him than with Arhen. One of the few nobles who didn’t talk about commoners. He had seemed like a decent person.
“But Cain! No matter what, you cannot win someone’s heart through force!”
But no. He had been wrong. As expected, a romance fantasy male lead was still a romance fantasy male lead. Why did they all act like this when entangled with the female protagonist?
“I am the Hero, Sion! In this battle for love, I stand proudly—”
Yeah. Stand proudly and take the hits.
THUD! SMACK!—
“Keek! Kaaack!”
“Clench your teeth. Mental reform begins.”
“Krrgh! No way! Even if you do this, you can’t eliminate a rival! My feelings for Estelle are no less than yours!”
“Well, well.”
The moment he switched fists from left to right—
“What the hell are you doing?!”
An old man appeared and stepped in to stop Cain. Pure white robes. The symbol denoting a servant of God. It was the cardinal visiting on behalf of the Holy Kingdom.
“He is the special brother to whom the Holy Kingdom has bestowed the name of Hero! How dare a lowly thing—!”
Right. That was the normal reaction. Sion was special.
“Sir Luciel! Stop that beast at once!”
A female knight walked out from behind the cardinal. The aura and momentum she gave off were clearly on another level. The moment Cain was reflected in her eyes—
“…!”
The corners of Luciel’s mouth began to twitch faintly.