The Hanged Former Hero — Aftermath
Rain had been falling since early morning.
Ssshhhhhh—
It poured as if someone had punched a hole straight through the sky, the sound of it anything but ordinary.
"Nngh…"
Muni stirred at the rain drumming beside her pillow. Outside the window, dark clouds had settled low, and the rain beat against the glass with a vicious, relentless force.
She pushed herself up from the nest of grimoires she had fallen asleep among.
Thud. Thud.
She walked to the window, stepping on the spellbooks scattered across the floor. Once, she had cherished each volume, carefully shelving them one by one. She no longer bothered.
Those grimoires had been everything to her. The magic Kyle had once praised…
Now they were nothing but useless trash. Nowhere in them was a spell to turn back time, or a spell to bring someone back to life. All they did now was get in the way of her feet.
"…"
Rattle.
She opened the window. A heavy dampness rolled in, thick with the smell of rain. It had been falling for a full week already. Was someone up there in those clouds mourning him? Or hoping someone else would?
Rainwater spilled into the room and soaked the books. She watched it happen without expression.
"…I should get going."
Today was Kyle's funeral. She could not afford to be late.
She changed into mourning clothes and finished preparing to leave. Umbrella in hand, she stepped out of the magic tower and headed straight for the Empire's capital, where the funeral was to be held.
"We'll need to check your identification. Just a moment—"
"Muni. First-class Mage of the Magic Association."
She held out the medal that served as a mage's credentials.
"Forgive the inconvenience. You may pass."
Once cleared, she moved quietly through the checkpoint and into the city streets, taking in her surroundings as she walked.
"…"
A full week had passed since Kyle took his own life. The continent was still reeling. Newspapers ran banner headlines about him day after day, and his name never left the streets. Even now, a week later, she could hear passersby talking about him.
"Come to think of it, it's already been a week since Hero Kyle died."
On her way to the funeral, Muni stopped for a moment and listened.
"I still can't believe it. Who ever thought the Hero Kyle would end up like this?"
"Tell me about it. I was reading the paper and spit my coffee clean across the table."
There was no real mourning in their voices. Most people just sounded shocked and unsettled. Plenty of Heroes had died over the years—but never by suicide. This was a first. And even so, people still looked at him with contempt.
"I hear he'll be buried with the Heroes of old."
"What!? Are you out of your mind? Bury a man who betrayed humanity alongside actual heroes?"
"Still, he did take down every last Demon King officer, and he beat the Demon King himself, so…"
"Ha! You actually believe that? Like some demon collaborator would ever do the real thing! The whole lot of them staged it together—pure theater."
"Yeah, well. Fair point."
The man was practically spitting as he ranted. Before long, even the citizens walking past were nodding along. Muni's fists clenched tight.
She wanted to grab him by the collar right then and there. She wanted to tell them the truth—that Kyle had never been guilty of anything. That the guilt belonged to them, not him. That the record had to be set straight, even now.
"…"
But she didn't. She simply started walking again.
When she arrived at the funeral, almost no one was there. Three cemetery workers to lower the coffin—and Muni. That was all. The moment the workers finished their job, they left at once, as if they could not bear to stay a second longer. Attending a traitor's funeral was a sure way to be painted with the same brush. Muni herself was only allowed to remain on the thin pretext of having been his companion.
In the end, she was left alone. For a Hero's final farewell, it was a pitifully bare scene.
"I wish the others had come…"
Alice had wanted to attend. No—she had wanted to guide Kyle on his last journey herself. But the day after he died, the Pope and the clergy came for her. Their purpose was simple: to take her back to the Holy Kingdom.
P-please! Your Holiness!!
Alice had dropped to her knees before the Pope, rubbing her palms together in desperate entreaty.
Please, just let me see the Hero's face one more time!! I'm begging you. Please!
Had anyone ever seen her plead like that? The Pope and the clergy alike had been at a loss. But they could not grant her request. Hero Kyle was, for all practical purposes, a traitor to humanity. Allowing the Saintess to attend his funeral would deal a catastrophic blow to her public image—that much was obvious.
The Pope closed his eyes and gave the order.
What are you waiting for. Escort her at once.
…Forgive us, Saintess.
N-no! I don't want to—please! Let go of me! Your Holiness! Please! Pleeease!!
Her screams had echoed without pause until she was dragged from the city, and so she had been taken back to the Holy Kingdom. She would not be coming today either. That much was certain.
Jain, for her part, had locked herself in her room ever since she saw Kyle's body. Knocking brought no response at all. People who passed her door sometimes heard a sound that might have been screaming, or might have been sobbing—no one could tell which.
"I really thought Emilia would come, though…"
And then there was Emilia. No one knew where she was. The day Kyle died, she had seen his body and vanished completely. Soldiers searched everywhere and found nothing. Just the other day, elves from her homeland had arrived and joined the hunt. Still, not a single person had laid eyes on her.
"Haa…"
Muni looked at Kyle's grave and let out a long breath. Truthfully, she had not wanted to come either. Being here only made his death feel more real. She would have preferred to bury herself in her books and stay alone. But she had no choice. If even she failed to show, Kyle would be left completely alone.
She approached the grave with careful steps.
Splash. Splash.
"…Heh."
The sound of rainwater underfoot was strangely pleasant. It reminded her of the day she and Kyle had played in the puddles together.
Tap, taptap, tap.
Even the rain striking her umbrella felt familiar—a memory of walking side by side beneath the one he had held over her.
"Haa."
Her chest ached. Even in a moment this brief, every thought that rose was a memory of him. Maybe it would be better to forget everything. Unlike turning back time or raising the dead, magic to erase one's own memories did exist. She had nearly used it on herself. But at the last instant, she could not go through with it. The only traces of Kyle left to her were these memories. She could not bear to lose them too.
"Why did I do it."
Why had she put her name to that petition. Why, when her companions chose that path, had she not stopped them. If she had, none of this would have happened. All she felt was self-loathing and pain for never standing by him.
"Kh—hck. Hhk, hhuh…"
Tears mixed with the rain and fell onto the headstone. She was still tracing its surface, lost in longing for Kyle, when a voice came from directly behind her.
"Hey. What are you doing out here all by yourself, looking so pathetic?"
"…"
She did not need to turn around. That crude, grating voice, stripped of every scrap of manners—there was only one person like that on the entire continent. She did not even consider him worth answering.
Yuli, undeterred, sauntered up with a greasy smile and looked down at Kyle's grave.
"Well, well~ Look at that. Kyle, you bastard, you got yourself a nice plot. Real first-class send-off. Ain't that right?"
"…Why are you here."
"Cold, aren't we. We were companions once, y'know. Showing up is just basic manners, right?"
Companions? Who said so. How dare that filthy mouth even speak Kyle's name.
Muni could not hold it in any longer. She glared at him hard enough that the veins in her eyes looked ready to burst.
"Yuli. Get out of here. Right now."
"Aw, c'mon. Don't look at me like that. We traveled together and everything."
"Traveled together? And whose fault is all of this."
She finally let the rage she had been holding explode out of her.
"If you hadn't made that disgusting proposal to us—!!"
The princess's letter had been the spark. That much was true. But the plan itself had not come from the women. Writing the petition, framing the Hero, destroying his reputation—every piece of it had been Yuli's idea. If not for him, none of this would have happened. He was the root of it all. Muni believed that with absolute certainty.
"If you hadn't been there, Kyle would still be alive. Do you understand that?"
"Whoa, whoa, Muni. What are you even talking about now. You were all for my plan when it suited you. You enjoyed it too."
"I did not—!"
"C'mon. Be honest. You liked it."
Yuli took a step closer. An ugly smile spread across his face as he leaned in and whispered.
"All you did was write one little petition, and every rival just conveniently dropped out of the picture. And then Kyle started leaning on all of you. Deep down, that's why you kept quiet, isn't it?"
"…Sh-shut up."
"Otherwise you would've cleared his name ages ago. Why play the victim only after the bastard's already dead? Am I wrong?"
"Shut up! Before I actually kill you."
She could not take any more. She drew her staff. It was not an empty threat—she meant to kill him.
Yuli's eyes narrowed.
"Ha. What, you think you can?"
He casually flashed a dagger from inside his coat and flicked a sidelong glance at her throat.
"Who's faster—you finishing a chant, or me cutting that neck of yours."
"Fine. I guess we'll find out."
Muni had no intention of backing down. If anything, this was exactly what she wanted. The two of them locked eyes, neither yielding—until Yuli suddenly snickered and raised both hands.
"Heh heh heh. Kidding. Just kidding. Why would I cut your throat? All I'd get out of it is becoming a criminal. Nothing else, right?"
"…"
"Right?"
Grit.
Muni bit down on her lip. It was a warning. If she killed him, she would become a criminal who murdered a former companion—the same trap in reverse. Knowing that, all she could do was grip her staff so hard it trembled in her hands.
"So let's leave it there. If we start fighting, the Kyle buried right over there wouldn't be too happy about it either, would he?"
"You—you…!"
"Ah, right, right. That last bit was my bad. Sorry."
He shrugged. Muni barely managed to smother the urge to blast that smug face then and there. Only then did he get to the point.
"Truth is, I came here because I've got a proposal for you, Mun—"
"Get lost."
"Aw, just hear me out. It's an imperial order, okay?"
"…"
An imperial order. As a member of the Magic Association, she could not refuse. Seeing the killing intent drain from her, Yuli looked satisfied and finally stated his business.
"I found it. The Demon King's location."
"What?"
For a second she thought she had misheard. Yuli's mouth curled into a delighted grin.
"Heh. Finally found it. The hole that half-dead Demon King has been hiding in."