The Fake Hero (6)
The First Prince has appeared?”
“Since His Highness Damian has already proven his qualification as the Hero, whatever His Highness Theon does now is meaningless.”
“Is he suddenly greedy for the throne? He can’t even support his younger brother according to imperial tradition. How unsightly.”
“Hmm. This is getting interesting.”
The hall stirred with murmurs.
The First Prince, who had only shown up at the very end, cutting off Benedict’s words.
The Second Prince, who had successfully completed the Hero verification despite some suspicious parts.
The countless nobles of the empire who had attended the ceremony were busy calculating in their heads which side they should attach themselves to.
‘Theon…! Just what are you thinking?’
Theon’s fiancée, Irene Anatol, was also deeply confused.
Should she be relieved that he hadn’t let it slide?
Or should she be worried about her childhood friend’s seemingly reckless behavior?
The first to react was the Second Prince, Damian.
“Oh, if it isn’t Brother Theon? I’m sorry you came all this way, but the Hero verification ceremony is already over.”
Damian smirked as he lightly swung the Holy Sword back and forth.
“Indeed, Your Highness the First Prince. It’s admirable that you appeared so boldly, but refusing to accept the result doesn’t look very good, does it?”
Helena also chimed in slyly, steering the atmosphere of the hall.
The entire place was noisy.
Theon found this spectacle truly displeasing.
“Silence.”
He spoke low, infusing his voice with mana.
In an instant, the hall fell deathly quiet.
“Let me say it again. I do not recognize the church.”
Another bombshell from Theon dropped into the center of that silence.
For words spoken by the empire’s First Prince, they carried far too many problems.
Especially since they disregarded even the imperial family’s tradition as the Hero’s bloodline.
“…Are you denying the authority of the church?”
Benedict muttered in a low voice.
“This is blasphemy!”
“Your Eminence! There’s no need to see more. He deserves to have his Hero qualification revoked.”
The opposition from the crowd grew louder by the second.
‘With the First Prince acting like that, he’s finished.’
‘So the Second Prince is the Hero… I wonder what will become of the empire’s future.’
The tide of public opinion had already shifted toward the Second Prince. Even those not in his faction could not carelessly voice their opinions.
“You will have to take responsibility for that statement just now.”
“That’s not bad. Kellion! Record everything that happens from now on with magic.”
At Theon’s call, a spatial rift tore open in the air, and Kellion sprang out from within.
It was the result of Kellion’s research into the Hero’s ruins over the past few days.
Though it came with various restrictions, it was unmistakably a portal—the essence of spatial magic.
“You called, Your Highness. I see quite a few familiar faces here.”
Kellion unfolded a massive magic circle that enveloped the entire temple. Before long, the circle dissolved into the air and scattered away.
“Kellion, have you still not come to your senses?”
The Blue Tower Master in the observation seats glared at him.
“Well, it is not for this old man to judge. Your Highness, the preparations are complete.”
Kellion bowed toward Theon.
Theon gave a single nod and spoke calmly to Benedict.
His demeanor, as if stating an obvious truth from a position far above everyone else, was like the sun itself.
“Archbishop Benedict, are you saying that I have insulted the church?”
“That is correct. Your Highness the First Prince has insulted both the church and the Goddess.”
Benedict answered without meeting his eyes.
“No, I have not insulted the Goddess. On the contrary, I would like to ask you something. Archbishop Benedict. Why have you and the church mocked the Goddess?”
“…!”
For a moment, panic flashed across Benedict’s face.
It quickly returned to normal, but Theon did not miss it.
“Your face has fallen apart, Benedict.”
“I feel no need to answer that. The Hero verification ceremony is over. Please stop spreading baseless, trivial rumors. The Hero of this generation is His Highness Damian Asteris, the Second Prince.”
Benedict turned his body and headed straight for the temple exit. Damian remained silent, merely watching the situation.
“Then why did you forge the light of the Holy Sword? I cannot understand where the Goddess’s will lies in any of this.”
Benedict’s steps halted.
“Once again, the Hero verification ceremony is over. There will be no opportunity given to you, who dared to insult the church by invoking the Goddess’s name. The church will remember this incident.”
“Well, showing it directly is probably the fastest way.”
Whoosh—
A blaze erupted from Theon’s hand.
A brilliant radiance that could fill the entire temple and still have plenty left over. After the light passed, what remained was a single sword with faint residual heat lingering on it.
The moment they saw it, everyone realized at once.
That was the true Holy Sword of legend.
The light of the sun that illuminated darkness and ushered in the dawn.
“This is the light of the Holy Sword Solarion.”
It was the moment Theon was recognized by all as the Hero.
“This is wrong!”
Damian screamed, half-mad, spittle flying from his mouth.
“Another Holy Sword all of a sudden! And Solarion, of all things? Doesn’t everyone feel that something is off?”
Damian was in full passionate denial.
Even he knew his words would not work, but too much was riding on this incident for him to back down.
He looked toward the observation seats expecting support, but the reactions that came back were ice-cold.
It seemed the nobles’ mental abacuses had already finished their calculations. Even the nobles of the Second Prince’s faction were busy avoiding eye contact.
“Damian, you’ve been grating on my nerves for a while now. If you’re so confident, why don’t you show us the light of the Holy Sword with your own hands? Without the church’s help this time.”
Damian could no longer continue speaking. By then, every eye in the hall was fixed solely on him.
Damian’s gaze slowly drifted downward. The hand gripping the Holy Sword Calidox trembled violently. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
.
..
...
“How long do you intend to keep us waiting?”
Even now, Damian remained frozen, staring only at the Holy Sword Calidox in his hand.
“As expected—you cannot do it.”
Theon closed his eyes. His tone was flat.
To Damian, that appearance felt like mockery.
The whispering, whispering sounds coming from all directions seemed to be mocking him as well.
So Damian ended up making the worst possible move—one he would never have made under normal circumstances.
If he had simply done nothing, he might have at least been able to offer some trivial excuse.
“…I can do it, can’t I?”
Just because one was not the Hero did not mean one lacked divine power. On the contrary, the Second Prince’s body also carried the Hero’s bloodline, and even after possession, he had made an effort to increase both his divine power and mana.
It would fall short of Theon’s Solarion, but replicating the earlier sleight of hand was possible.
That was why Damian misjudged that it was worth trying.
Flash—
Light once again poured from Calidox, brightly illuminating the surroundings.
It was a perfect reproduction without the slightest error, but—
“Hmm… seeing it again, it really is quite lacking.”
“Is that truly the Hero?”
“At this point, isn’t it just the Second Prince’s own light rather than the Holy Sword? The sword itself didn’t react at all.”
Everyone had already witnessed the true light of the Holy Sword long ago. A lantern before the sun could only be swallowed whole.
The faded Holy Sword lay dormant in the hands of one who was not its true master.
The conclusion was Damian’s downfall.
Only then did regret flash across Damian’s face, but it was far too late.
“Archbishop Benedict, as the First Prince of the empire and the Hero of this era, I ask you once more. Why do you dare claim the Goddess’s will while mocking her? Are you a demon?”
Theon glanced briefly at the completely frozen Damian before speaking to Benedict.
“….”
Benedict remained silent.
“You refuse to answer this time as well.”
Theon raised divine power within his body.
His blue eyes blazed with golden light.
An immense heat condensed within the Holy Sword Solarion.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Benedict’s body began to writhe grotesquely.
Dark red bubbles boiled up from beneath his high priest robes. Then, with a bursting explosion, a goat-faced demon tore through the human shell and burst forth. Behind it, two pairs of bat-like wings spread violently.
A high-ranking goat-faced demon disguised as Archbishop Benedict had been exposed. Two pairs of bat-like wings spread wide as it tore free from its human vessel.
[MeeeeeEEEEEEEEE—!]
Benedict charged straight at him after turning.
“Hmph. So you finally reveal your true colors at the very end.”
In his previous life, during the Hero verification ceremony, Theon had been too inexperienced and had let it slide with mere suspicion. He had regretted that decision for a long time.
This time, he would not miss it.
Slash.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!
A straight white line was drawn across the demon that had shed Benedict’s shell.
Nothing remained where the trajectory had passed.
“Damian, you will have to take full responsibility for this incident.”
In the silence where everyone had lost their words from shock, Theon spoke to the stupefied Damian with lofty dignity.
And every single scene that had unfolded during the Hero verification ceremony was being recorded without omission by Kellion’s magic.