The Demon King's Curse
Heart-shaped blackened burn scar from the Demon King's curse. The moment I saw that scar, old memories resurfaced. Pitch-black flames that incinerated even soil and ash, the acrid, choking smell of thick smoke, the crackle of burning logs and popping embers... The flood of sensory memories from that time began to invade the present bit by bit.
A human silhouette leaping into the inferno overlapped with the porter standing before me. That's right. So that's how it was.
"If there's such a thing as a next life... I'll come help you too..."
You came to keep your promise, even after forgetting everything.
"The forest will regard you as a friend forever. Even if you die and are reborn."
"What about the forest keeper, not just the forest?"
"...I consider you a friend too."
"That's great. Heh..."
The millennium promise wasn't in vain. Just as I kept my word, you kept yours too.
"From now on, call me Illina."
"Pardon?"
"It means you don't need to speak formally. You're... a friend of the forest."
You probably don't remember. But still.
"...That's a bit sudden."
"So, you don't like it?"
"No. I'm glad. Illina."
The porter chuckled awkwardly and nodded. And so, across a millennium, we became friends once more.
Once the truth dawned, I saw so much more. Thanks to an elf's keen hearing, I overheard even the secretive conversations my companions tried to hide.
"I'm the Hero, after all..."
"That's not your burden. You're just shouldering someone else's."
"..."
"Saving the world, protecting lives, defeating the Demon King—none of that's your load."
The porter didn't remember his past life as the Hero. But the influence lingered in his soul, it seemed.
"You read a book in ancient runes? You're not a mage, right?"
"Not a mage, but well-versed in languages."
"Jeez."
His uncanny knowledge of ancient magic must stem from studying it in his past life—back when it wasn't "ancient."
"Did you sacrifice your lifespan or something?"
His short remaining lifespan... that was surely the work of the Demon King's curse embedded in his soul.
'Losing another friend?' Hearing that tore at my heart. But I could endure it. '...It's okay. Death isn't the end.' That's what I told myself. Now that I knew souls persisted, we'd meet again—even if it took another millennium. The forest's blessing endures. I'd always recognize him.
"Illina. What's wrong?"
"...Just remembered something from the past."
Sitting by the campfire always brought back memories of that day. The smell of ash? The heat of the flames? Probably neither.
"I realized I owe the world a lot."
That night, the Hero's faint smile as he shoved logs into the fire—that's why I still couldn't forget you.
"Missing someone, huh."
"Maybe."
Did my casual reply bother him? The porter stared at me intently, then asked something out of the blue.
"Aren't we enough?"
"...What?"
What did he mean by that?
"...Ah, sorry. That was a weird question."
"What do you mean?"
"Sorry. Just... sometimes I feel like you're looking for someone else in us."
"..."
"When you talk to the Hero, to me, to the others... you always seem to be looking somewhere else, not at us."
Was that true? I wasn't sure, but the porter was probably right. He always observed us closely. We all trusted his judgment, knowingly or not. So he was right this time too. My reminiscing about the old Hero must have shown.
"It's not... another person."
"Huh?"
"...No. Forget it. I misspoke."
For a moment, I nearly confessed everything to the porter. That it wasn't another person. Not looking elsewhere. Not ignoring you all. That Hero was you. That you being here was because of that day's promise. I wanted to say it all. But I didn't. I couldn't.
"Heh. What? First love? You're acting suspicious trying to hide it."
"It's really nothing."
"Pfft. Fine, I'll play dumb."
If you knew, you'd feel responsible. Guilty for passing this mission to the current Hero. So, I could only tell you after the Demon King was defeated.
"...Porter."
"Yeah, Illina."
"Has carrying our burdens ever felt heavy or hard?"
"Burdens are always heavy. Shoulders ache too."
"..."
"But I've never thought it was tough. This is my load, after all..."
The porter died.
'...'
But it's okay. Sad, but this won't be our last meeting. You'll be my friend forever.
After enough time for everyone to compose themselves, they gathered in one room to talk.
"..."
"..."
It was a long talk. Everyone shared their hidden secrets and feelings. No more holding back. Sometimes emotions overflowed into tears, but they waited quietly each time. That's what the porter would have done. Remembering him was how they mourned.
"...So—"
Finally, after all the confessions, the Hero pieced together their stories.
"The porter... was the Hero's reincarnation?"
"Yes."
Illina nodded calmly.
"He had a terminal illness?"
"Yes..."
The Saintess squeezed her eyes shut in prayer.
"Every time he trained in the swordsmanship I taught him, he felt excruciating pain?"
"...Yes."
The Mage bit her lip and affirmed.
"How in the world..."
It was absurd. Too horrific for one person's tale—tears wouldn't even come. Just resentment. Resentment at a world so cruel to one soul alone. So resentful it drew a hollow laugh.
"Ha. This can't be real. If there's a god, they wouldn't be so harsh to just one person. This is... too unfair..."
Weird. The story was so gruesome it felt unreal. If this was reality, if this was true, what the hell had he been doing all this time?
"Why did the porter keep all this from us? If he'd just told us everything..."
"Because he was the Hero."
Illina said it like it was obvious. While everyone else hung their heads in grief and guilt, she alone looked straight at the Hero.
"Just like you're the Hero, he was too."
"The Hero...?"
"He probably didn't want to burden you."
The Hero. Shouldering everything alone. That's what that Hero would do. The elf explained it matter-of-factly.
"..."
But the Hero felt a sudden unease. Something was off. Like he was missing something crucial.
"...No."
"Hm?"
"That's not it, Illina."
The others' testimonies were facts confirmed directly with the porter. He humbly admitted his mana impotence, his short lifespan. But the elf's account differed. Sure, the circumstances fit logically—probably true. Yet, cross-referenced with the rest, inconsistencies remained.
"The porter hid a lot from us. And planned to reveal it after defeating the Demon King."
"..."
The testimonies lacked "causes." Because the porter hid them. The elf's filled those gaps. But how? The porter wouldn't know his past life as the Hero.
"You can't hide what you don't know."
"..."
"That he's the Hero's reincarnation is something even he didn't know. Even if it influenced him, it wasn't the truth he was hiding. That's something only you knew, Illina..."
We knew nothing about the porter. He was full of secrets. But precisely because of that, we knew he was hiding many things. That he'd hesitated to tell us many times. That he'd planned to say something after the Demon King. We knew all that.
"..."
The porter had been preparing for farewell. So surely he'd left something behind.
They pulled everything from the subspace storage. Found a single will.
The Mage tore up all her magic books.
They killed the bandits who murdered the porter. Found crumpled sheets of stationery, overwritten many times.
The fire spirit burned the forest.
They smashed into the porter's house and forced entry. Found a single diary.
The Saintess stopped praying to the goddess.
I'd thought if a god existed, they wouldn't be so cruel to one person alone. If justice existed, efforts to save the world would be rewarded.
[Sorry, Hero.]
[For lying to you all.]
No. Because a god exists, because justice exists, this world was so cruel only to the porter.
[It was fun while it lasted.]
[Thanks for letting me dream of happiness.]
Happy endings never existed from the start. The porter wasn't allowed "and they lived happily ever after." The Demon King's death. There is no "and" after that.
[You don't need to grieve for me. Or feel sorry.]
[Thanks for killing me.]
[I'm serious. This is absolutely not a lie.]
His life ended with the Demon King's death.
[I'm just an ember.]
[The ember for the Demon King's revival.]