Return to How You Were
Hero…?
“Return to how you were.”
Rina, head maid of the Termin family, placed her hand upon Gid’s knee and spoke.
Power rode every word that left her lips—the power to force reality itself to obey what she uttered.
The world called it Word Command.
A radiant orange radiance bloomed from her fingertips and, in the next breath, banished the night that had swallowed the land.
Fwaaaash—!!!
The light was bright enough that any ordinary person would have squeezed their eyes shut on pure reflex. Eve and Gid, however, were the Hero and the warrior of the Hero’s party. Even a brilliance that rivaled the sun itself could not make them blink.
And so they saw it clearly: the endless carpet of beast corpses stretching almost to the horizon was swallowed by the light, dissolved into glittering motes, and drawn together into a single stream. Every last particle of that essence poured straight into the empty space beneath Gid’s knees.
A moment later the warm radiance faded and the world reclaimed its ordinary colors. Only two things had changed.
First, the tens of thousands of monster corpses that had filled their vision were gone without a trace.
“……Ah.”
Second, the solid, powerful legs that had once belonged there now stood whole and strong beneath Gid’s empty knees.
Unable to believe his eyes, Gid first wriggled his toes. They moved exactly as he willed. He set his feet on the ground. The rough grit of soil and sand, the dry hardness of the earth itself, came flooding back through his soles with perfect clarity.
Only then did he truly understand what had happened.
The legs that had been severed were restored.
“U-ugh……”
Eve felt tears well up at the sight of her brother standing there, utterly lost. Right after they had crawled out of the Abyss of Despair, Gid—barely clinging to life—had told her it was all right. That it was something that would have happened someday. That he had lived ready for it. That maybe being able to rest was even a good thing.
A man whose warrior’s life had ended with the loss of his legs had said those things just to comfort his uninjured older sister. Hearing them had torn Eve’s heart to shreds, because she had known every word was a lie. She had watched her little brother grow up; she could spot his falsehoods at a glance. He had only been putting on a brave face for her sake. Inside, he had been just as shattered as she was.
And yet that day she had been unable to comfort him. She herself had been completely broken, unable even to look after her own soul. From the moment of their return until this very night, the two of them had lived with their spirits crushed.
Tonight they finally witnessed it.
“G-Gid……”
A miracle as brilliant as the sun itself.
“Well then, now that we’ve become true friends, I have a small favor to ask of the two of you……”
While they were still overwhelmed by the miracle unfolding before their eyes, a gentle voice drifted from behind Eve. Its owner was the head of the Termin family—Offen.
“Heh-heh-heh.”
Offen looked at Eve and Gid and laughed with pure satisfaction. The words “true friends,” the mention of a favor, and that thoroughly scheming smile all combined into the perfect image of a loan shark come to collect.
The two of them trembled as they faced that villainous figure.
“Offen hyung! Thank you! Really, thank you! Truth is…… when I lost my legs my heart broke. I couldn’t even sleep properly, thinking I’d never again pick up a shield and protect people at my sister’s side. But you saved me, Offen hyung! You let me live as humanity’s shield again! This debt—I’ll spend my whole life repaying it!”
“O-Offen Baron! Th-th-thank, hngh, th-thank you……! Th-thank you for healing my brother’s legs. Thank you for saving us, thank youuu…… hngh!”
Right now Offen’s eyes glittered with naked greed for talent. Yet to Eve and Gid even that look was something to be grateful for. He was their benefactor—the man who had worked a miracle and healed a wound no one else could touch. A lifelong benefactor. Eve’s tears simply would not stop.
“Ahaha, not at all. There’s no need to thank me so much. This was a transaction from the start, wasn’t it?”
Gid’s treatment had not been free. It had been a proper deal. Therefore Offen intended to wring every last drop of value out of the two of them.
“Even so, you’re still my benefactor, Offen hyung. No—wait. Calling a lifelong benefactor just ‘hyung’ feels wrong. From now on I’ll call you Offen hyungnim. You’re older than me anyway, so it fits just fine.”
“Th-that’s right. *sniff!* E-even if you took payment, O-Offen Baron is still our benefactor. Th-thank you again, thank you…… h-hngh.”
Still they kept pouring out gratitude. After all, he had restored legs that no price in the world could have mended.
“Offen hyungnim! Just give the order! Whatever you want, this Gid will do it all!”
Gid thumped his broad chest with a massive fist. The youthful vigor of a twenty-three-year-old made twenty-five-year-old Offen laugh heartily as he stepped closer.
“Is that so? Then I’ll ask freely as well, Gid.”
“Mm!”
“But first I need to put our hard-working Rina to bed.”
“Huh?! Wh-when did she collapse?!”
“W-what? Head Maid?!”
Only at Offen’s words did the two of them notice Rina lying unconscious on the ground. They had been so busy rejoicing over Gid’s restored legs and pouring out heartfelt thanks that they had completely forgotten the person who had actually performed the healing.
“Up we go.”
Offen scooped the fainted Rina into a princess carry with effortless ease.
“I-is she all right? Sh-she didn’t get hurt because of us, d-did she?”
“Good heavens…… Head Maid, did fixing my legs do that to her?”
Both of them stared at Offen with eyes full of worry. They looked nothing alike, yet their mannerisms were surprisingly similar. Amused, Offen answered with a faint smile.
“No need to worry. She simply exhausted her strength and collapsed.”
“Th-thank goodness…… I-I’m so sorry. Because of us.”
“S-sorry. Because of me.”
“Haha, it’s fine. I warned Rina this would happen, and she said she was all right with it. Besides, I’ll be nursing her the whole time until she recovers.”
Before Eve and Gid had arrived, Offen had already told Rina she would be healing someone and that she might faint from exhaustion afterward. He had explained that the exhaustion would last about three days, during which she would be able to do nothing except the bare minimum of bathroom trips. Rina had answered that as long as Young Master stayed by her side and nursed her for those three days, she would be perfectly happy. Offen had laughed and agreed to his little sister’s demand, and that was how Gid’s treatment had come about.
“For now, let’s return to the mansion. I have something to discuss with you there.”
Still carrying Rina in a princess hold, Offen walked through the wide-open gates of Termin Territory.
“Y-yes!”
“Got it!”
Eve and Gid followed right behind him—standing on two legs, side by side.
Rina’s private room inside the Termin mansion.
“Good work, Rina. Thank you.”
After laying her carefully on the neatly made bed, Offen offered his gratitude. Rina’s lips curved into the faintest smile even in sleep. To smile at her master’s praise and thanks while unconscious—what a magnificent maid she was.
Chuckling softly, Offen turned to face Eve and Gid waiting behind him.
“Well then, now that Rina is settled, let’s get straight to the point. First, Gid?”
“Mm! Just say the word, hyungnim!”
“Our Termin Territory is short on people. The previous head—my father—took every adult man in the domain with him into the Great Rift subjugation force. Of course, they were all wiped out.”
“Ah…… th-that’s rough.”
“It’s all right. I only mentioned it to explain the situation; there’s no need to look so troubled. In any case, we are desperately short of labor. I would like you, Gid, to fill that gap.”
Offen bowed his head as he made the request. Gid—the warrior of the Hero’s party. The shield of all mankind who endured every blow with his sturdy shield and unbreakable legs so that everyone behind him could live. Offen was asking that extraordinary man to supply labor.
At the brazen request Gid’s mouth stretched into a broad grin.
“Offen hyungnim, how far am I allowed to go?”
“Farming, construction, security—anything that requires strength. I would be grateful if you took charge of it all.”
“Haha! Leave it to me! Hard work is my specialty!”
Gid was common-born, so he was an expert at odd jobs, and like his sister Eve he never hesitated to help others. On top of that, this was a request from his lifelong benefactor. He accepted with pure joy.
“Then I’ll take a look around the territory while I get used to these new legs!”
“Yes, I’m counting on you, Gid.”
“I’m the one counting on you, Offen hyungnim!”
Gid strode out of the room with heavy, cheerful footsteps.
“Whew…… now it’s Eve’s turn to hear my request.”
With Gid gone, Eve was next. The moment Offen’s gaze settled on her, she flinched.
I-it’s finally here.
The moment had come. The moment she would be asked to become his personal sword, to serve as his knight and his alone. The Hero of all mankind would cease to exist. From this day forward only Eve, master of the Holy Sword and knight of Offen Termin, would remain.
It went against every belief she had held as a Hero, yet she had no choice. The grace she had received from Offen Termin outweighed any creed.
R-right. Today I become Offen Baron’s sword. He’s our benefactor, so I should accept it gladly. I’ll become a blade that swings exactly as he wishes. I-I’m still scared of fighting, but still. Still, I have to. Because he’s our benefactor.
Eve was still terrified of battle. Just imagining it made her breath catch, her chest pound, and cold sweat break out. Yet her gratitude toward Offen was greater than her fear. So she swallowed the rising terror and resolved to become his sword.
“What I need to ask of you, Eve, is something only you can do. It will not be easy, and it will be very hard on you. Even so, it is absolutely necessary for me, so I have no choice but to ask.”
“H-hngh. Y-yes. I-it’s fine. A-anything. P-please ask.”
“Eve.”
Offen looked straight into her golden eyes and spoke her name in a grave voice.
“Y-yes! O-Offen Baron.”
Eve snapped to attention without thinking.
It’s really starting. Today I become Offen Baron’s sword. It’s okay. I can endure it. I’m the master of the Holy Sword. I can definitely endure it.
She forced down the surge of fear and waited for his words.
Then Offen made the request that only she could fulfill.
“While Rina is resting, would you be willing to handle the maid work for our Termin household?”
“……Hueh?”