Chapter 153
Translator: penny
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Refugees - 8
Something in the landowner's words from the south made me feign surprise.
Thirty years was enough time for mountains to change.
To think he'd been waiting all that time to repay the favor my father had done him.
And that meant giving up land in the south, where prices were skyrocketing through the roof.
'To think a man overflowing with loyalty like this exists in this world.'
I couldn't help but marvel at my father's reputation and the character of the man standing before me.
"That's the end of my story."
Dennis, my father's old friend, stared straight into my eyes.
"You're the adopted son of the Hero of Light, Ian de Saizer?"
"Yes. I'm Sian. I didn't inherit my father's family name as his adopted son, but I did receive his name and his legacy."
At my response, Dennis trembled faintly before asking in a low voice,
"If it's not too rude, what did the Hero of Light say in the end?"
"He told me to build a family, unlike himself."
"I see. So he did regret it after all."
Suddenly, the old man began to shed tears. I said nothing, waiting silently for him to compose himself.
"...Was the Hero happy in the end? Or did he grieve his fate?"
"I can't say for sure if he was happy or heartbroken. The father I knew was the man who gazed endlessly at the night sky. But there's one thing I can say with certainty."
I recalled what the Village Chief had told me about my father and shared it with his old friend.
"I am the answer to the life my father lived."
"Is that so... Thank you for granting this old man's wish."
"Not at all. As his son, it was only natural. But may I ask one thing?"
"Ask anything. You have every right."
"Why did my father commit blasphemy against the gods? Why did he give up his position as the Hero of Light?"
I finally voiced the question that had long puzzled me to my father's friend.
The Hero of Light.
Just as I had been chosen by Hestia, the goddess of home and love, my father had been chosen by Sunna, the goddess of sun and justice.
Unlike Hestia's inscrutable conditions, Sunna's were said to be strict, and the Saizer family had spared no expense over generations to produce a Hero of Light.
So what had my father been trying to do, abandoning that hard-earned position?
"Didn't the Hero tell you?"
"No, he never shared his past with me, his son."
"I suppose he couldn't. It must have been a blemish even he couldn't easily reveal to his son."
Dennis sent away the servants he'd brought before scanning the surroundings.
What kind of secret requires such caution?
Once he was sure no one was around, Dennis took a deep breath and steeled his expression.
"The Hero tried to expose the truth about the gods."
"The truth about the gods... You mean the twelve gods who watch over humanity?"
"Yes. While cross-referencing scriptures with the Light Church and the Holy Kingdom, he uncovered something strange."
"What was it?"
"...Unfortunately, even he didn't tell me the details. Looking back now, I think he kept it from me to protect me from harm."
It seemed the outsider like me wouldn't get the full story. I should investigate it myself if the chance arises.
"But I suspect it was something the gods couldn't let humans know. Otherwise, they wouldn't have put the righteous Hero, closer to the goddess than anyone, and his faithful Saintess on trial for heresy."
"Saintess? Who was she?"
"The woman born in the filthiest place who became the purest being—and the Hero's fiancée. Even the playful Hero turned into a lovestruck boy around her."
"I can't imagine my father acting all flustered, so she must have been that beautiful."
"To me, she wasn't beautiful so much as pure. Her innocent smile before the Hero left him utterly at a loss, even now in my memory."
Dennis, lost in nostalgia, soon filled with rage.
"The gods trampled those two mercilessly. All for uncovering the truth about them."
"What happened to them?"
"As you know, the Hero was branded a criminal and became a fugitive. The Saintess... she was burned at the stake. Even though she was pregnant with the Hero's child at the time."
The horrific past left me speechless.
Could my father smile so brightly at me, never showing a hint of such a history?
"After that, I lost faith in the gods. If they exist, how could such good people suffer like that?"
Seeing Dennis deny the gods before a hero like me, I cautiously asked,
"Is that why you came to find me? To ask me to uncover the gods' secrets?"
"No, that's not my intent. How could a mere human challenge divine authority? I hope the divine punishment that fell on the Hero doesn't fall on you, his adopted son. I'm sure he'd wish the same. All I want is to repay the favor he did me."
"Thank you. But I'll just accept your kind intentions. My father surely wouldn't want me dwelling on the past either."
"The Hero would say that. But my family and I are alive today because of him. If we don't repay that grace, we can't call ourselves human."
Dennis, insistent about repaying my father's favor, showed me the wagon he'd brought.
"Please accept all of this. It's everything I've received over thirty years, with interest."
"Is it really okay to give so much? Just transporting it here must have cost a fortune."
"It's not much. Just half of half our harvest this year."
"This is?"
The absurd amount of crops left me dumbfounded.
This quantity could sustain Lugeron Village comfortably for years.
"The south flows with milk and honey. And the land the Hero entrusted to me is the best grade even there."
"I'm happy to take it, but are you sure? You have a family too, old man. Don't you need assets to pass to your children?"
As I tried to refuse his continued generosity, Dennis stubbornly grabbed my hand.
"My children are all married with families of their own—and grandchildren now. Thanks to the Hero's grace, they've had better circumstances and food than most. If they refused to repay it now, they wouldn't be my children."
"If you put it that way, refusing further would be rude."
I couldn't overcome Dennis's stubbornness and had to accept his gifts.
'Even in death, Father is still helping me.'
Then I showed Dennis the cabin where he'd lived with my father, his few personal effects, and his grave.
Watching him sob at my father's graveside tugged at my heartstrings too.
And before leaving the village, Dennis made a promise with me.
"I'll come every harvest season."
"You're not as young as you used to be. Please don't overdo it."
"I'm just waiting for death now. The rest of my life is yours."
"Then as my repayment, I'll develop the village my father sacrificed to protect until the end into something more beautiful than anywhere else."
Pleased with my answer, Dennis departed with a bright smile.
"Gregor, escort him safely."
"Understood, Your Grace."
Unlike Dennis's light steps as he left, the villagers began murmuring over the crops he'd left behind.
'What to do with all this first?'
"Is this southern crop?"
"Seems three or four times bigger than ours."
"Wonder how good bread from this would taste?"
"Mom, I want rye bread."
"Just wait a bit, dear."
The villagers waited for my orders like meerkats.
'Let's distribute it all for now.'
Managing this much grain was a hassle anyway, and with his promise to deliver this much every year, there was no need to hoard.
"Everyone, take what you need. It's a gift from my father, Ian, to all of you!"
This was all I could do for my late father.
To honor his name and ensure no one forgot his sacrifice.
That was the greatest filial piety I could offer now.
'No, there's one more.'
Uncovering the truth about the gods that my father had tried to expose.
'Father might not want it, but I can't leave beings who toy with the world as they please alone.'
Dennis had chosen the word "authority" for the gods.
He might be right to some extent.
Outer gods that moved on instinct like beasts.
To claim the seats of gods, this world's deities had sacrificed countless humans as living offerings to gain their power.
Excepting cases like Hestia, who became a goddess through her own power, most "gods" were merely humans lucky enough to wield divinity.
They called themselves gods and received worship from fellow humans—and likely would continue to do so.
'If what Father saw was the gods' ugly truth...'
Titans were beasts that could hunt such gods.
And I was a Titan.
The only being in this world who could judge the gods.
'I'll devour them. That's the only way to protect my family.'