A Tombstone in the Heart of Hero City
Hero City had facilities specially prepared for this purpose.
Not every country had them, but the regions managed by Hero City and the Hero Association served as mourning grounds for families of those who died at the hands of villains or monsters.
Hero City was so vast it might as well be its own nation, yet it averaged around a thousand victims each year.
That was comparable to traffic accident deaths in similarly sized countries, and still on the lower side by international standards.
Of course, it was relatively low.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Yeah, take care, unnie.”
Because of that, the entire floor had been turned into a living space for citizens who lost their homes to monsters or villains, or for orphans with no parents left to care for them.
[Next stop is Floor R, Floor R.]
The ride took some time, but I went there once a month.
Elena wanted to come along too, but she still wasn’t fully recovered from her latest flare-up, so I couldn’t take her out just yet.
Honestly, this job was annoying.
After all, they weren’t my real parents, and I’d barely exchanged a word with them before saying goodbye forever.
I arrived at the family mausoleum where Elena’s parents were laid to rest.
It was a large structure, impressive in scale.
Here, multiple A-rank awakeners took turns standing guard, and the annual visits by heroes made it clear that the victims’ stories were known to the public.
For the family I held most precious.
For the friends as precious as family.
A place for the one who failed to protect them to atone.
I thought of it that way.
“I’m here. I’m a complete stranger to your parents.”
Even the original Capella used to visit this place every month.
Despite being labeled a villain and receiving a warrant after a certain point, she still slipped into Hero City every month to visit her family.
I, who didn’t even remember the face of Capella’s parents, lacked the nerve for such a thing.
Right now it was less about honoring them and more about fulfilling Elena’s longing for them—something I could do since she was too ill to come herself.
“Elena is doing well. This month she even walked in the park in front of the hospital. There’s still a long road ahead, but I’ll find a way to treat her.”
The memory of nearly sacrificing my life to retrieve the bodies of her parents and their former home surfaced.
That location was now a conflict zone, so I had suffered quite a bit.
Back then, when Elena’s condition deteriorated rapidly and I had no idea how to save her, a fortune-teller had told me that bringing the parents’ remains and honoring their memory might improve things.
Who in their right mind would believe such talk, yet in this world, almost everything a fortune-teller said turned out to be true…
With the sky full of flying creatures and monsters living in the sea, even a fortune-teller’s words were barely an exaggeration.
In fact, my body had stabilized.
“This side is always like this. I didn’t die this year either. Since even sword or gun wounds to the belly or chest heal with just a short rest, it’s hard to call me unhealthy.”
The fact that injuries left no scars was truly convenient.
If they had, I’d have had to wear long sleeves even in summer, with every inch of my body marked.
Because I did dangerous work, I had to be careful, yet I still ended up taking knife or bullet wounds to the belly or chest on a daily basis, or sometimes even got hit by a monster’s claw. My body would never be whole.
The pain I could just endure, but if it left visible marks, Elena would worry too much.
“And it’s going to get noisy soon, so bear with me. Burying the dead here is illegal unless you’re a hero, so I can’t. Bringing them outside the city would mean Elena couldn’t visit, so that’s the only option.”
If they were my parents, they’d understand.
Today was December 31st.
The last day of the year, the day the Titanic incident and the subsequent body recovery were completed.
Several days had passed since Christmas, and by afternoon the area would be swarming with grieving families, heroes, and reporters.
“…Next time I’ll come with Elena.”
I stepped outside the mausoleum with my cap pulled low.
The staff were already moving busily, probably due to the incoming crowd.
Though it was a joke, in this world they said that if you opened a funeral parlor you never went hungry.
In my opinion, the hospital was likely the busiest spot next to this place.
“Yeah, just got back. If you want lunch, the money I left on the table can be used for delivery.”
It was almost lunchtime, so I called Elena.
She said she was fine with just hospital food.
Since I had errands nearby today, we couldn’t eat together anyway, but she was managing hospital meals remarkably well for her age.
“Mm-hm. After lunch, make sure to take the nutrient supplements and vitamins I bought.”
Looking at it, I had become quite the nag.
Back when I didn’t understand why I was worried about a newborn baby who wasn’t even related to me, but now I was stressed over whether I might accidentally cut my finger.
Probably what Capella wanted.
Given that she had given up her own body to protect her sister, whether I liked it or not, I was going to shield her as much as possible.
At the very least, I had to prepare her to stand on her own.
Today’s errand here was also to find a way to treat Elena.
†††
Floor R had a high flow of people.
Only a tiny fraction of them even knew about the office hidden there.
Not even the Hero Association, villains, or any intelligence agencies could sense its existence.
It was only natural.
Precisely, at the current moment, only I knew of it.
Knock knock knock knock knock.
From the back entrance of a rundown old building, a specific knocking pattern.
Then I concentrated a certain amount of mana in my palm and turned the doorknob.
After all that hassle, a small, dangerous office appeared somewhere that shouldn’t exist.
A European medieval-themed office that didn’t match the era.
The sound of a classical music box played, and the air was always thick with the scent of tea leaves. There, the person I was looking for waited.
“Who is it?”
A burly man with a thick frame stepped forward.
The man wearing the grinning skull mask was the owner of Märchen’s Paradise, the only completely unknown figure in this world to me, with zero accurate information.
“It’s me.”
“Oh, Capella! My VIP client! What brings you to my paradise?”
He was like a hidden gimmick in the game.
Think of the wandering merchant that always appeared in medieval fantasy games, and you’d get the idea—someone who could provide rare items or information from the game Hero Maker.
“Need weapons? Medicine? As long as you pay the price, I can provide anything at Märchen’s Paradise.”
Of course, you had to pay the corresponding price.
“Skip the sales pitch. The information you asked me to look into last time—how did it go?”
“Hoho, you mean the treatment method for Mana Incompatible?”
Unfortunately, that is a condition that has no cure even for the price of nothing.
Yes, I already knew that.
It wasn’t even a disease you could call it in the first place.
Thinking about it simply, it made sense.
Even the residents of this world, when forced to choose between being an awakener or a normal person, would obviously pick the latter.
Awakeners who could punch through buildings, fly through the sky with their bare bodies, and regrow severed limbs were abnormal, and of course abnormal power was the strangeness.
So when an abnormal element invaded a normal person, it was only logical that their body would fail to hold and collapse.
“But there is a way to treat it.”
“…Impressive. As expected, Capella who found my shop in one go!”
The skull mask let out a hearty laugh with a surprised expression.
“Well, since the conversation is getting long, why don’t you sit down? If you haven’t eaten lunch yet, would you like to join me?”
“No need. I already ate something simple.”
“I see. Then please wait a moment. I’ll bring out some tea.”
Soon, a warm herbal tea appeared on the table.
I wasn’t particularly interested in anything from here, but this tea had the effect of slightly raising maximum mana in the game.
I had no idea how it was made or what it contained, but if it worked in the game, I might as well drink it.
“Hmm. To answer directly, there is still no treatment method for Mana Incompatibility. Even Märchen’s Paradise can’t find what doesn’t exist.”
The important part here was that it still didn’t exist.
I didn’t think I could treat Elena’s body today or tomorrow either.
If it were that simple, there wouldn’t be so many people dying from it.
“Instead, I’ve found a way to make the body heal very faintly and reduce the patient’s pain.”
“What is it?”
Even if it just reduced pain, it was fine.
When Elena’s mana accumulated past a certain point, she suffered from high fever and chills.
The helplessness of being able to do nothing except hold her hand at those times was quite tormenting.
“Before that, first…”
The skull mask’s hand closed into a circle.
This meant you had to pay the price before receiving the information you wanted.
I sighed and pulled out a small box from my bag.
He opened it with an expectant expression.
“Th-this is…! The Bomb Fiend’s right hand! The preservation treatment was perfect—it’s completely undamaged!”
The box contained Dimer’s right hand.
The skull mask carefully examined the pale hand from every angle.
It was an eccentric hobby, but he liked collecting body parts of famous awakeners.
That was the price he spoke of.
The higher the level and power of a famous awakener, the greater the value, and an A-rank villain’s body part could be worth a fortune.
“I only managed to get it after bribing the exchange. I’d love to pay more if possible.”
“With a hand of this caliber, the price is all yours! I’m not a cheapskate either.”
Before that, was he even human?
Even if he were an alien, I’d believe it.
“First, since the price is too high compared to the information, I’ll give you some new items that just arrived.”
“What are these?”
A revolver and a small blue gemstone appeared on the table.
“This gun fires special bullets that can pierce an S-rank awakeners body. The weight and size make it easy to carry.”
“…Crap.”
“No, how can you speak that way?!”
Being able to pierce an S-rank awakener’s body was good.
The problem was that S-rank awakeners had the ability to dodge or block bullets with their eyes closed, so even if the gun was powerful, it might not hit.
“But how about this? The material of this necklace is a gemstone that literally fell from space. They said it was a lunar gem.”
The skull mask, who had been disappointed and despairing, picked up the gem with smug confidence.
“Lunar gem?”
Lunar gem.
A rare item given in the game.
Its ability granted three extra lives.
A healing-type awakeners power processed into gem form.
It was a pretty good item, but surprisingly lacking in practicality.
Think about it: if you’ve already died once, is there a guarantee you won’t die twice or three times?
For example, even if you burn to death in a fire and come back to life, you’re just waiting for another fire hell.
In some cases it could simply prolong suffering.
“Are you really not going to take them? Capella, given your abilities, these two items could be very valuable insurance, no?”
“…The ability I’ve never told anyone else about, you talk about it like you already know it.”
“Capella-nim is an A-rank awakener, isn’t she? At Märchen’s Paradise, we know everything about our VIP clients.”
Awakeners gain unique abilities from A-rank onward.
Abilities unique to themselves, which no one else has.
There might be similar abilities, but completely identical ones do not exist in this world.
“Creepy bastard.”
“Meaning our products are creepy-good. Thank you very much.”
For example, Dimer could etch bombs anywhere he touched, Mirzam could control monsters.
The Golden Witch, being S-rank, sat one level higher in both scale and rarity.
But Capella’s abilities I never wanted to use.
“I also know that Capella-nim would do anything for the sake of your younger sister.”
However, that was true.
In some situations, the time might come when I had to use it, but that power was also the reason the original Capella became a drug addict.
But for Elena’s sake…
“Enough of the useless talk. Let’s get to the main point. So… what is the method?”
The skull mask smiled as if he had been waiting for my question.
“Do you know the method to turn normal people into awakeners?”
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Exact method to convert normal humans into A-rank awakeners with unique abilities (if possible)