The Hero's Confinement
The headquarters of the Church—Gramilia Cathedral.
Deep underground lay a specially prepared solitary cell, built to imprison apostates and heretics who refused to heed the Goddess's word.
The cell had been constructed with extraordinary care so that no one inside could escape or attempt anything strange. No matter how powerful the prisoner, the moment they stepped inside they lost all ability to use their mana. The only power that remained usable was the divine energy the Goddess herself bestowed.
Under ordinary circumstances, no one who was neither an apostate nor a heretic would ever find themselves locked in that cell.
"Hic… hic…"
Yet someone was locked inside, weeping bitterly.
"Hyeonwoo… hic… hic…"
It was Lee Hye-yeong, the Hero summoned from another world.
After she had run wild at the Frigid Grand Ducal Castle, Pope Tenesa had used the holy relic to force her into the solitary cell.
"Uwaaaaah!!"
The Hero sealed inside tried to draw up her mana and form a blade of Aura so she could break free. But even a Hero could not use mana within those walls, so she remained trapped.
All she could do was scream to be let out.
"Let me out!!!"
Outside the door, however, only a firm voice answered her pleas with refusal.
"That is not possible, Hero."
The voice belonged to Pope Tenesa—the very person who had locked her away.
"You said you would help me!!!"
The Hero could not help resenting Tenesa. The Pope had promised to help her be united with the one she loved, yet she had forcibly torn her away from him instead.
"This is how I am helping you."
From Tenesa's perspective, locking the Hero in the cell was the best choice available. She had become completely uncontrollable. Gentle persuasion had failed; the girl simply kept acting like a spoiled child determined to do whatever she pleased. Even the normally lenient Tenesa had been forced to take a hard line.
It was a course of action she had never wanted to choose. The Hero had been summoned into a strange world and burdened with the heavy duty of risking her life to slay the Demon King. Tenesa had treated her with endless gentleness, hoping she would adapt without coming to hate this world. That kindness, it seemed, had backfired.
The Hero still showed no intention of listening.
She simply kept calling the name of the Frigid family's second son, still searching for him.
"Please… let me go to Hyeonwoo… no, to Ed!"
"…"
Tenesa answered the Hero's near-pleading cries with silence alone.
Realizing that Tenesa no longer intended to reply, the Hero turned instead to someone else.
"Goddess! You're listening, aren't you? Help me!!"
"!!!"
She called upon the Goddess rather than Tenesa.
"Goddess, you promised! You said you would grant me what I desired!"
Had that cry reached Goddess Rabinus as well?
"L-Lady Rabinus?"
Tenesa could only utter the Goddess's name in confusion.
It was already unsettling enough to watch the Hero throw a tantrum and now call upon the Goddess simply because her own request had been denied. Yet the Goddess was preparing to answer the Hero through Tenesa herself.
Recalling the final oracle the Goddess had once delivered—an oracle the imperial family, the empire, and the Church all treated as the highest of secrets—one could expect the Goddess to take a keen interest in the Hero she had summoned. Still, so little time had passed since the summoning, and the Hero had not yet properly carried out her mission. Tenesa had privately assumed the Goddess would not favor this particular Hero.
Instead, the moment the Hero called, the Goddess moved at once to reply through Tenesa. That was clear proof of deep affection and favor. Tenesa could not help but feel bewildered.
Seeing Tenesa's reaction, the Hero took hope. She was certain the Goddess had given Tenesa a revelation ordering her release.
"See? The Goddess is telling you to help me, right? Let me out already!"
Her expectations were dashed.
"…The Goddess says that you, Hero, have already received the price you desired, and that you are now to slay the Demon King."
Tenesa merely relayed the message: the bargain had already been struck, so the Hero was to defeat the Demon King.
"What? I've already received the price… Ah!…"
The Hero started to argue, then suddenly understood and sank into disappointment on her own.
The wish she had asked of the Goddess had been to be sent to the world where the one she loved lived. That wish had already been granted.
At the time she had believed that seeing him even once more would be enough. But after actually meeting him, she had wanted to keep him at her side.
Was there truly no other way?
She wanted to be with Hyeonwoo… no, with Edward.
Even more bitches than on Earth were circling around him now. She wanted to kill them all and keep him beside her—right this instant, not a moment later.
And she wanted to apologize for everything that had happened before. They had been torn apart on Earth because of a misunderstanding, but in this world she wanted to tell him they should start over from the beginning.
Yet she was locked in this cell, and even the Goddess she had finally turned to for help showed no sign of offering a hand.
Tenesa still had more of the Goddess's words to convey, so she continued.
"The Goddess also said that after you have slain the Demon King… she will specially grant you one additional wish."
The expression on Tenesa's face as she delivered the message was not a pleasant one.
In the past, Heroes had been granted only a single wish. Of course, they had returned to their own worlds immediately afterward. For the Goddess to offer an extra wish beyond the original bargain meant she truly favored Lee Hye-yeong to an extraordinary degree.
Tenesa could not understand why Goddess Rabinus would dote so heavily on such a willful Hero, and her expression soured accordingly.
"Then I'll go kill the Demon King! So let me out right now!"
Hearing the Goddess's words, the Hero immediately grew eager and demanded her release.
Tenesa still had no intention of freeing her.
"We still have not the slightest information on the Demon King's location, so there is no need for you to set out on a subjugation journey at once."
Even if the Hero wanted to defeat him, no one yet knew where the Demon King was.
Even the Goddess who ruled the world and knew all things remained largely ignorant when it came to the Demon King. Had she known more, countless lives—including the dragons—would never have been driven to extinction in the past.
And even if the Hero went straight to him, there was no guarantee she could defeat him immediately.
"What are you talking about? Then why did you summon me at all?!"
The Hero naturally could not accept Tenesa's words and challenged her.
"The Goddess summoned you so that you could first grow stronger in preparation for the battle against the Demon King."
The Hero was showing remarkable growth, yet no one knew how powerful this Demon King truly was. Therefore she first needed training.
"Then I'll train! So let me out!"
The Hero shouted that she would train to become stronger and again demanded to be released from the cell.
"…I am sorry."
Tenesa refused once more.
"Why won't you let me out?!"
"I am sorry, but I cannot trust you right now, Hero."
"What…?"
"What you need at this moment is a period of self-reflection."
What the Hero needed most right now was not physical strength, magical power, or skill in wielding Aura. She had already displayed more than enough combat talent at the Frigid Grand Ducal Castle.
What remained was mental growth.
Tenesa did not even ask her to become a Hero overflowing with justice. At the very least, the girl had to break the habit of constantly acting however she pleased. And she had to adapt to this world's culture.
For that reason, Tenesa had no intention of releasing the Hero anytime soon.
"If you show me that you have changed, I will free you at once."
The Hero, of course, would never accept such treatment.
"Don't make me laugh!!!!"
"Uwaaaaaaah!!!!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Liar! Liar! You said you'd help me!!! Why are you getting in my way instead?!"
The Hero had clearly reached the limit of her patience. Even though she could neither use mana nor wrap her body in Aura, she pounded furiously on the cell door and screamed.
"Hero… please, I beg you to understand my heart…"
Tenesa tried every way she could to make the Hero understand and calm her down. She pleaded desperately for the girl to grasp the situation.
"Hyeonwoo… hwaaaang… hic… sob…"
"…"
The Hero only sobbed, calling a single name over and over.
Tenesa was left with no choice but to worry even more deeply about what she should do with the Hero from now on.