Taking a Break, Hero.
Taking a Break, Hero.
Alicia headed straight through the portal toward the Blue Tower Master's office.
It wasn't just once.
Since Magic Towers were originally composed of colors symbolizing magic, there were over seven Tower Masters alone.
Excluding the Red Tower, which specialized in destruction and incineration magic like fire, there were six other Tower Masters.
Chijijijik-!
Therefore, Alicia created six portals.
It was no problem for heroes, but for an ordinary person, it was a door that would require all their mental strength just to cross, and she crossed it six times.
If she couldn't make the one child she adopted happy, what was the use of the status of a hero or the position of a Tower Master?
"It's meaningless."
Therefore, even though it was difficult, Alicia didn't feel it was difficult.
She only felt guilty that she was only now doing what she should have done.
"Heo-eok-, heo-eok-."
With long white hair and a long white beard.
The Tower Masters, who differed only in the color of the robes they wore, were sweating and breathing roughly.
Alicia looked at the giants of the magic world gathered together and parted her lips.
"I'm going to quit the Tower. I thought it would be more convenient to bring you all here than to visit you one by one. Please understand."
"... W-what...?! You shove us into a portal, and the first thing you say is that you're quitting the Tower?!"
The Blue Tower Master, who had recognized the talent of Alicia when she was an orphan on the street, frowned.
She forced all the Tower Masters into a portal, and the first thing she says is that she's quitting?
She was the only 12-Circle Archmage, and compared to them, who were just waiting for the day they'd die of old age, she had achieved feats in a fleeting moment.
Literally, the hope of the magic world was going to leave the Tower!
"Didn't I always tell you? With great power comes great responsibility...."
"Did you forget my personality? I don't say things twice."
"No, I mean why! Why, why, why! Why are you doing this, you ask!"
Although he was in a position similar to a mentor, Alicia glared at him as if nothing was wrong.
"Because Kael is pitiful. I can't even take care of my own child, so are you asking me to leisurely teach magic to old people like you?"
Alicia had been saved by the Blue Tower Master; her life had been rescued.
She had thought they were close enough to keep the absurd order to kill the Demon King.
The Blue Tower Master even spat while shouting loudly.
"... No, he's a child born to a stranger, not even of your blood!"
It was an unfair situation for him as well.
Alicia had been the third person in human history to engrave the 10th Circle into her heart.
And not even a few months later, she created the 11th Circle-.
By the time she killed the Demon King, she had transcended the limits of a 'human' and became a 12-Circle Archmage.
Alicia was the one who broke through everything with her innate talent, something all the magicians in the world couldn't do even after racking their brains and begging for a way.
To the question of why such an Archmage was retiring, the answer that it was merely to raise an adopted son.
For the Tower Masters who had staked their lives on magic, it was an answer that made no sense.
"He'll grow up on his own if you leave him be, just like you did, so why on earth...!"
It was the moment the Blue Tower Master shouted again.
Hwareuk-.
Flames rose up.
The Blue Tower Master's beard and hair burned away in an instant.
A large hole appeared in the wall of the Red Tower's office-.
A storm-like wind began to rush into the wall of the towering Magic Tower.
In Alicia's red eyes, anger was boiling.
"... I came to notify you, but you seem to think I came to have a conversation?"
"... Alicia, logically speaking, your talent belongs to the Magic Society. You know there are far more valuable things to do than raising a child!"
Because of his position as the Blue Tower Master, the old man was still shouting.
But in fact, he was no different from an animal puffing itself up because it couldn't hide its fear.
Alicia looked at the old man, sneered, and then.
"... Kael loves me. That's enough. If you even loiter near my house, or if you hurt Kael."
She opened a portal, turned her body, and showed a final smile.
"I'll show you a meteor like the one I dropped when I killed the Demon King crashing onto the Tower."
Pajijik-!
Watching Alicia cross the portal, the Blue Tower Master wiped his sweat.
He still coveted Alicia's unparalleled talent, which could create a portal with a single gesture that even he couldn't create alone.
But knowing that what she said was true, he just let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.
"... Huu. I'll have to bring him back later, even if it means making the child a magician."
At the same time, a similar thing was happening at the Church's Papal Palace.
The only difference was that, unlike the Blue Tower Master, the look in their eyes was one of pity.
"... You really have no intention of changing your mind, Aria?"
"Yes."
"... You could raise the child after your work as a Saintess is done."
"... Our Father in Heaven told me."
Aria was a woman blessed by God with divine power superior to anyone else.
As she said that with a smile, the Pope just looked at Aria and smiled.
"... To take good care of Kael. He said that was my destiny."
"If the Father said so, there is nothing I can do."
He knew it was a lie, but because he noticed how much she had suffered since she was young.
The Pope could not scold her.
"... May I visit often? If the child needs a mother, he must need a grandfather too."
Instead, he just made a joke, grateful for her dedication.
Of course, in Aria's eyes, the Church was the one that had made her commit evil deeds when she knew nothing.
It was a simple gesture of goodwill, but she shook her head.
Although she had shown a benevolent voice, appearance, and smile as a Saintess for several years.
Her pupils narrowed, and coldness settled in her voice.
"Your Holiness, are you joking?"
Only when Aria quit being a Saintess did she finally reveal some of the feelings she had harbored against the Church.
"... Do not come near Kael."
And so, the Saintess also left the Church.
"... Perhaps, keep an eye on the child named Kael, as he might dream of becoming a cleric."
"Understood."
Although the Red Tower Master and the Saintess had stepped down from their duties, there were almost no people pointing fingers at them.
It was because the reason that they were trying to fulfill their duties as parents was also heroic.
And it was because people had already realized how much they had dedicated themselves.
"... Huu."
"Your Holiness, do you have any worries?"
"I'm thinking of the Prophecy."
"... There won't be any problems. How could the Great Sage predict something 10 years in the future?"
"... I wish that were the case.... It would be better if the Great Sage's Prophecy didn't come true."
The Pope stroked his beard, watching Aria turn and leave.
...
Silence flowed in the bedroom where Kael was lying asleep.
They might be able to act recklessly toward big shots like the Pope or the Blue Tower Master, but they couldn't do that to a mere six-year-old child.
They quit everything just because they wanted to be with him.
But what on earth should they do, and how should they live?
At least for the heroes, it was a more difficult dilemma than killing anyone.
Furthermore, this was the first time everyone had gathered in one place since Kael's 6th birthday.
Even though they were once close comrades who had shared life and death, standing in front of the sleeping Kael and facing each other as 'mothers' felt awkward.
Alicia and Aria were both wary of Laika, who had been taking care of Kael all this time.
Because they couldn't rashly pretend to know about Kael.
"... Did you wrap things up well?"
When Laika spoke the first words, the Archmage and the Saintess were startled.
"... Hikeuk."
The Saintess hiccuped without realizing it, and Alicia, forgetting that she was a leader.
Cheoeok-, she placed her hand on her chest and nodded.
At least when it came to child-rearing, Laika was the leader.
"... I, I quit. I'm going to live as Kael's mom from now on, so you don't have to worry."
"What about Aria?"
"... Same here."
"Good. Then let's have a proper talk."
Laika walked to the table and sat down.
She sat at the table with a serious expression, clasped her hands, and looked at them with a grave posture, so the other two couldn't help but move.
"Who here had proper parents?"
"... I was an orphan."
"... Me too."
"My parents died when I was 6. In human terms, about 1 year old."
Laika let out a deep sigh.
"... You know, I've felt this while living with him for a year. Kael is kind in a way that isn't like a child. He's desperate in a way that isn't like a child. Look closely."
Laika drew a round magic circle on the table and poured mana into it.
Then, various items popped out based on the magic circle.
A drawing that looked like it depicted Laika, Alicia, and Aria.
Stationery that was crooked, but had clearly been cried over, erased, and rewritten many times.
Flower crowns made by cutting paper.
"... These are the things Kael gave me while you guys were distant."
For Kael, these were items made with all his heart, hoping they would be happy....
But now, they were nothing more than items containing the desperation of a child who had grown up too quickly.
The expressions of the three women grew noticeably darker.
"... I don't know what to do to make Kael happy. Instead of making things like this, he should be leaning on his mom a bit more. Acting spoiled. Isn't a normal family one where he sometimes yells that he hates his mom? What do we need to do?"
"... Alicia, do you have any operations or plans this time?"
"Child-rearing is different from subjugating the Demon King; where would there be a plan?"
A brief silence flowed.
Because they were heroes who had grown up in unfortunate environments, they had no idea what they should do.
"... H, how about we try making him do the things we did when we were young?"
"For example...?"
"I prayed for sixteen hours a day. To build up my divine power...."
"I learned magic from the age of six. I created new spells and made contracts with spirits."
"If I couldn't hit the target with a dagger or bow while in a tree, I got hit on the calves. Until I bled."
At the time, they didn't know anything and just did it, but now they knew.
"... I, Alicia, and Aria, we were all just abused since we were young."
They were people who had been thrown into the battlefield to kill the Demon King from the age when others would be attending the academy.
They had never lived like a 'child' for even a single moment, and all they knew was to solve things ignorantly with force.
How could they possibly teach a child happiness that they themselves had never experienced?
Perhaps, would they end up teaching Kael how to kill others just like them?
"... P, parents are a mirror to their children. The priests told me that...."
As soon as this thought struck them, a sense of terror encroached upon the three women's hearts.
Memories forgotten by Kael's warmth crept into their minds, wriggling.
Killing someone-, burning....
Unable to sleep comfortably, having nightmares every day-.
Murder-.
Doing things they shouldn't have done to survive-.
"I, I hate it-. N-no...."
If Kael turned out like them, paying the price for having the wrong parents....
If, by any chance, he ended up in a war just like them....
"Kael can't. If he lives like us, hikeuk-, absolutely not-."
The moment Kael's image was superimposed on those memories, the three mothers couldn't help but cry.
"Laika, I'm sorry-. I was busy, heuk-. I neglected Kael."
"I'm the most sorry. What's a Tower.... What kind of mom am I. I'm the one who doesn't deserve it-...."
"He shouldn't grow up like us-."
It was the same even when Kael woke up.
'... I must have acted too mature-.'
Kael thought they were worried because he had memories of his past life.
So, he thought, wouldn't they worry less if he acted like a child instead?
'... I had a nightmare, a nightmare.'
Kkojip-!
He pinched his own thigh hard.
Because he was in a young body, tears popped out even from a little pain.
Kael, who rose up while sobbing carefully, gasped for breath repeatedly-.
"... I, I'm scared. P-people with horns came out in my d-dream."
As if to make sure they heard, he sobbed loudly.
"Please hug me, I'm so scared I can't sleep...."
He acted spoiled.
"K, Kael-!"
The three mothers felt their hearts drop-.
Without even needing to say who, they rushed to Kael and hugged the boy in their arms.
His physique, smaller than his peers, and the tears he shed, broke their hearts too much.
"Don't cry, Kael. Hmm? You know how scary your mothers are. If people with horns come, I'll spank them. Okay?"
"Mom will scold them, Kael. So don't worry. Mom Laika is super strong, too. So, let's stop crying."
"... Yeah, I, I'll scold them!"
Kael shook his head and sniffled while held in Aria's arms.
"... They're really scary people, though.... What if Mom gets hurt too...?"
As soon as they heard his worried words, the expressions of the three women, who naturally felt deep emotion, filled with moisture.
"... Heuk-."
"... I, iik-...."
"... Ah-, Ka, Kael-...."
To the three mothers, their adopted son, trembling in fear, was hiding his emotions for fear that his mothers might get hurt by the demons in his dream-.
He just looked like a pitiful child hiding even his pain, not like a child, to protect his mothers.
"... M, mom, w, where are you going?"
In the room where not a single breeze blew, Alicia's clothes fluttered.
Red, red mana surged beyond her body, fluttering her clothes and flickering here and there.
Alicia's red eyes began to turn even redder due to the mana.
"... Aria, keep Kael safe."
A cold voice mixed with anger, heard for the first time.
"... Do you need a blessing?"
"No. It's fine."
It was the same for Laika.
Green mana intensely dyed the dagger she always carried.
"... Those Demon bastards, I'll catch and kill.... I'll go spank them. So Kael doesn't have to be scared."
?
Kael hurriedly squeezed out tears again and shouted.
"I, I'm scared-. D-don't go, please-. I, I want to sleep all together. I'm scared. I, I don't want to have nightmares."
Fortunately, the peace achieved by killing the Demon King was not stained again.
Kael spoke, spreading his two arms as if asking to be hugged with his small, soft hands.
"... R, read me a fairy tale."
Even though their young son, with a physique smaller than his peers, was sobbing, there were no parents who would leave.
Alicia and Laika sat by Kael's side and read him a fairy tale.
Kael, held in Aria's arms, slowly fell asleep while listening to the warm voices of his two mothers.
Because he was a six-year-old child, there was no other way.
However, he just thought this in his sleep.
'No talk of nightmares...'
The sight of his mothers hurting someone again, and being in pain....
Kael really didn't want to see that either.