This Is It (3)
This was it. The kind of coincidence that felt like fate. Or fate disguised as coincidence—there was a saying like that. In this very moment, Wilhelm felt those words in his bones.
“What did you just say? The academy is under attack?”
“Yes, Your Highness. This report just came in.”
Of all the damn times. That was the first thought that crossed Wilhelm’s mind.
It just so happened that the Grand General had left the academy over some family matter. Arhen had even granted him that brief leave. It just so happened that the court mage from Kasen was away as well, having accepted an invitation from his disciple, the Empire’s chief palace mage.
‘I’m not entirely sure where the Holy Knight Commander is, but it’s certain she’s not at the academy right now.’
It was all too perfectly timed. As if someone had written a script. All the greatest powers were absent from the academy at once. And the enemy had struck at precisely this moment.
“So it really is the demons?”
“We’re not entirely certain yet, but—”
The door opened again, and another attendant rushed in.
“Your Highness! Another urgent message from the academy! It’s demons! Demons have appeared inside the academy!”
The moment he heard those words, Wilhelm clutched his forehead.
Stay calm. Calm down. I’m not Cain.
He took a deep breath, but in the end, he exploded.
“Aaaaaargh!!”
He simply couldn’t hold back the roar of fury.
“What the hell were the border troops doing?! They said they could protect it! That it wouldn’t be breached! And those damn Holy Kingdom bastards! They swore they could detect the demons in advance! I was so worried, but they kept insisting we trust them—and now they’ve let demons into the academy?!”
Although the alliance had built the academy together, its location was ultimately inside the Empire. If anything went wrong, the blame would fall squarely on the Empire. Talk of harmony? Nothing but ridiculous nonsense.
As victory drew near, they were recalculating. Since the Empire held the greatest influence, now was the time to cut it down. Only then could they shake the Empire-centered order.
“Useless pieces of shit!”
He wanted to storm over to the Holy Kingdom right now and curse them out. They had pushed him to trust them despite his concerns, only to allow demons in after barely a month. Was this intentional? Were they trying to humiliate the Empire?
“Maybe those so-called people from the Holy Kingdom are actually in league with the demons?!”
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Prince Wilhelm!! Please! If someone hears this, it’ll be a disaster!”
“Let them hear! In this situation, what words can’t I say?!”
Thanks to Cain, most of his trash prince tendencies had been beaten out of him. But in exchange, a different kind of madness had seeped in. He would say what needed to be said. He would do what needed to be done. And if the other party wasn’t Cain, there was no need to watch his tongue!
“Send reinforcements to the academy immediately! And select a diplomatic envoy to send to the Holy Kingdom! I need to lodge a formal protest with these idiots! What? You said we could relax because there were priests and holy knights? That they could spot demons before they got close? Are you telling me your god only picks blind idiots as his servants?!”
At Wilhelm’s outburst, everyone around him held their breath. Before Cain appeared, he had been the trash prince. The people around him still remembered his temper well.
“Haaaa…”
But Cain had thoroughly corrected that temperament. For three days and nights, he had hammered his soul until he became a new man. Having suppressed his rage, Wilhelm did what needed to be done.
He immediately summoned the Grand General and Kasen’s court mage. Since both Arhen and Prinz were at the academy, they would drop everything and rush over the moment they heard the news.
As for the Holy Knight Commander, he decided to pressure the cardinal. The cardinal had not yet returned to the Holy Kingdom. He claimed there were still matters to attend to, but Wilhelm knew the real reason. He wanted to further increase the Holy Kingdom’s influence inside the Empire.
“Um, Your Highness.”
“What.”
“What should we do about Cain…”
That guy? Wilhelm snorted.
“Don’t worry about him.”
“Pardon? But he’s—”
“He’ll show up on his own without us telling him. If I send someone to ask what he’s doing, he’ll just grumble about why I’m bothering him.”
If he only grumbled with words, that would be fortunate. The problem was that his grumbling often came with fists.
No need to worry about that bastard. He’ll appear when the time is right.
Cain had an instinctive sense for anything involving demons. He would come running like the mad dog he was and intervene. He had also heard that the Special Task Force had moved just yesterday. They were probably hunting demons together with him right now.
Anything related to demons was to be reported after the fact. It was a new clause created specifically for Cain.
“From now on, until the situation at the academy is resolved, report any news from there as top priority.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
“Understood, Your Highness!”
“Everyone, get out quickly.”
All those present hurriedly left the office. Left alone, Wilhelm let out a deep sigh.
“This is exactly why I opposed it so strongly…”
It was true that the demon war was nearing victory. But it wasn’t completely won. It wasn’t over. And yet they had decided to build the Continental Academy in such a situation? It was practically begging the demons to strike here.
Demons were not mere beasts driven by instinct. They were more cunning and intelligent than humans. Thanks to the traitors, they could appear anywhere. At one point, there had even been a contractor inside this very imperial palace.
The reason I lived that pathetic life had a lot to do with them.
When someone he trusted and followed turned out to be a contractor—a traitor feeding information about the imperial palace to the demons—Wilhelm had completely lost faith in people.
Yes. Looking back now, it had been foolish. To have lived for years as the trash prince for that reason. But what might be ‘nothing much’ to someone else could be the worst possible thing for the person experiencing it.
…
That was why, even though he feared and felt awkward around Cain, he also felt gratitude. The process and methods had been incredibly rough, but in the end, Cain had turned him from a beast back into a human.
He’s definitely going to nag me if I say anything…
Should he just drop it? After thinking for a long time, Wilhelm made up his mind. He activated the communication artifact that was in the office.
A moment later, a member of the Special Task Force appeared beyond the orb.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You’re next to Cain, right? Tell him I have something to say.”
After a brief silence, Cain took the artifact.
“Speak, Your Highness.”
At least he showed basic courtesy since others were listening. Wilhelm smiled inwardly and informed him of the current situation.
“Demons have invaded the academy.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s not just an attack on the outskirts. They’ve entered the interior.”
“I see.”
…?
What the hell? His reaction was way too calm. Normally, the mere mention of demons would make him rampage like a mad dog. For that guy to be making such a gentle face…
“Hey, wait a second. What the hell are you planning to do?”
“I haven’t done anything yet?”
Liar. Right now, that bastard Cain was smiling. Cain was smiling? This was a disaster in more ways than one!
“Wilhelm.”
What? What is it? Stop dragging it out and just say it.
“How much of the academy am I allowed to destroy?”
The artifact in his hand began to tremble violently. Wilhelm was trembling along with it.
“Haaaaap!!—”
“Kraak!”
Another demon fell to Sion’s sword. That made seven kills already. He had sustained minor injuries, but he healed them with holy power.
“Huuup!!”
Normally, he would have been breathing heavily by now. But today was completely different. He was perfectly fine.
Strange. Why does it feel like I’m fighting better than before?
It wasn’t as if he had trained any harder. The only thing he had done was get beaten by Cain.
“…Ah.”
That was it. Sion let out a small chuckle.
It was because he had been beaten. Beaten half to death by Cain. He would get beaten until he was on the verge of death, call a priest to heal him, and the moment he was fine again, the beating would start from the beginning. This cycle repeated endlessly. At the same time, Cain had constantly poured out mental re-education.
“Remember this. You are the hero. The one who carries everyone’s expectations. Therefore, you must fulfill your duty. You are not someone who sacrifices for your own happiness, but for the happiness of others.”
Thud!
“If you hate that fate, then quit. Go cry and beg, saying you don’t want to be the hero anymore. They might just take the title back, wondering why they chose such an idiot as the hero in the first place.”
Crunch!
“But if you’re not going to do that—if you truly want to live as the hero—then become a real hero, Sion. And if you ever stray from the path of the hero, I will personally correct you. You already know how, so I’ll skip the details.”
Crack!!
Everything in between had been the sound of bones breaking. In the end, Sion had chosen both his pride and his survival instinct. He wasn’t going to give up the title of hero now. So he would become the real hero that Cain spoke of.
…Because if he said he wouldn’t, he would probably get beaten to death for real.
Desperate will. A sword with a clear purpose. That was what was raising the combat power of hero Sion.
“Kihihihit!!”
“Kill that human first!”
“Human men don’t taste good, but we’ll kill him anyway!”
As Sion achieved awakening as a hero, the hostility the demons felt toward him grew even stronger.
“There’s that annoying human!!”
“Kraaak! That irritating light is all over him!”
“Kill him! Erase him! Get rid of him right now!!”
“Ughhh!! Slow down a little, you bastards!!”
If he didn’t become a hero, Cain would beat him to death. The more of a hero he became, the more demons swarmed him. No matter how strong Sion was, this was getting a bit overwhelming.
He had the mana of a knight, holy power surpassing that of a priest, and even the unique talent of a hero. But he still hadn’t trained enough as one. It was true that he had killed a high demon recently. But he hadn’t done it with his own power alone.
He had received an enormous amount of help from those around him. That event had been the process of earning his qualifications as a hero.
Today could be called his first true trial as a hero. And the first trial was always the hardest.
“Uwaaaah! You damn demon bastards!!”
Actually, there was another reason Sion was struggling even more. Originally, he wasn’t supposed to be here. Just like the already-vanished Margrave Evan and Saint Liberio, hero Sion should have gone to rescue Estelle.
There, he would have unintentionally formed a temporary alliance with the margrave, the hero, and the saint.
—It was supposed to flow something like that.
But now? He was fighting for everyone except Estelle. There were more demons, but neither the margrave nor the saint were here. It was only natural that this trial was far more difficult than the original one.
Clang! Clang!!
“These things are disgustingly tough…!”
These were middle demons that should have gone down in just a few swings of his sword. But as time passed, it was taking longer and longer. This was bad. It was proof that his stamina was dropping significantly.
Once his stamina hit rock bottom, his concentration and senses would plummet too. Naturally, his lifeline—mana and holy power—would run out as well.
I’ve already killed ten middle demons. If I include the lower demons that are their subordinates, it’s almost thirty…
He had faced this many enemies several times before. But those had all been spread out over several days. He had never done it in less than an hour like this. Could he keep fighting? At this rate, he might really die.
“Think you’re going to die?”
Crunch!!
The image of Cain swinging his fist with an eerily calm expression flashed through his mind.
“You’re not dead yet. Unlike our precious people who were killed by demons. You. We are not dead yet. So we have to fight. We have to fight until the moment we die. As long as those demons are still breathing, we have to keep fighting.”
A man harboring an inexplicable madness toward demons. The blurry emotion visible beyond that was clearly a thirst for revenge.
“Kill them. Kill the demons. That is our reason for existence. Kill them. Kill them all. Kill, and kill, and kill again.”
He rose to his feet and swung his sword with all his might once more.
“Ah, but if a strong demon shows up, leave it to me. That one’s mine.”
Even in the middle of all that, he made sure to claim the good demons for himself. Sion laughed as he cut down yet another demon.
“Kgaaaak—!”
When would this battle finally end? Such soft thoughts no longer entered his mind. Only Cain’s words. In the way he had carved into him. He engraved the will to kill even more demons.
The moment demons tried to ambush Sion from behind—
“Get down.”
A long flash of light sliced through two demons. Sion stood up as a woman landed lightly beside him. Silver hair. A cigarette held between her lips.
“You must be… the Holy Knight Commander.”
“You recognized me right away?”
“I could feel the holy power. And powerful mana as well.”
Not to mention the rumor that she was a heavy smoker. With a bright smile, the reliable reinforcement Luciel greeted him. She had just returned after being away from the academy.
“Where on earth have you been?! Why are you only showing up now?!”
Sion asked while cutting down another demon. Luciel answered in a tone that suggested it was no big deal.
“I had some personal business.”
Since she said it was personal, Sion didn’t ask any further. For Luciel, that was incredibly fortunate. The reason she had left the academy was none other than—
Ugh. I wandered around too many places related to Lord Cain!!
She had visited every location where Cain had been active, taking in the sights. In other words, she had gone on what could only be called a ‘holy site pilgrimage.’
“You’re the hero, right?”
“You can just call me Sion! Haaap!”
“Alright. Sion. You fight quite well.”
“Thank you, Commander!”
“In that case, wouldn’t you like to serve Lord Cain as well?”
Huh? Sion made a stupid face for a moment. Serve? What the hell did that mean?
“It means fighting alongside Lord Cain.”
“Ah.”
“It is a tremendous honor for one who kills demons.”
“Hahaha.”
I’m already doing that. If I don’t kill demons, he’ll probably kill me instead.