Chaos
The square was still in chaos.
Injured holy knights received treatment while the bodies of the fallen residents were collected one by one. In the middle of that mess, Kyros busily directed the cleanup, but his heart was rotting away inside, turning pitch black.
The Cardnios who appeared in Academy Useless Hero had been an absurd existence even in the game. The hero’s only mission was to rescue the students while Cardnios dueled the Four Heavenly Kings. Among players, the running joke was that Cardnios was the developer’s self-insert character—an archenemy crafted with deliberate malice. Yet facing him in reality showed that the game had understated the threat.
One swing of an axe had half-destroyed every building around the square and snapped the arm of a saintess blessed with divine protection. If someone asked whether Kyros could protect Maria from a monster capable of such feats—a creature performing Master-level feats at the Expert rank—he wouldn’t have been able to nod with any confidence.
He had begun seriously contemplating whether it might be better to persuade Maria to flee with him, world be damned, when his cloak was tugged insistently.
“Kyros, are you okay?”
“Huh? Yeah… I’m fine. What about you, Maria?”
“I’m… ugh… haha, I can’t exactly say I’m fine. A broken bone’s going to hurt for a few days.”
“I see.”
“Mm…”
For a moment, an awkward silence settled over them.
Kyros held his tongue. His mind was too tangled; blurting out an impulsive suggestion to run away would only burden her. Maria, too, merely parted her lips without producing any sound. She couldn’t embrace him like she usually did, nor offer the comforting words that everything would be all right.
Just looking at Kyros’s face made her body flinch and her hands tremble. To force her gaze—which kept drifting to his lips—back down, Maria deliberately pressed hard on her broken arm. She felt pathetic for considering the injury a blessing.
“What’s this? Did you two fight?”
The seductive low voice made Maria’s shoulders jump and Kyros’s complexion darken instantly. With a stiff creak, both heads turned in unison toward the speaker—Cardnios.
“Hah.”
Kyros let out a hollow laugh before he could stop himself. Never mind the box carried by the thugs trailing behind him. The woman nestled in Cardnios’s arms was far too familiar.
One of the mid-bosses from Academy Useless Hero. A being who should not—could not—appear at this stage was being cradled against Cardnios’s chest. The sight filled Kyros with a profound sense of injustice.
“Beau… ugh…”
Maria was suffering in her own way. The moment she saw the red-haired woman in Cardnios’s embrace, the word “jealous” nearly slipped out. She clenched her broken arm to choke it back. A sickening crack accompanied a bolt of pain so sharp her vision flashed white. Her body staggered.
What the hell am I thinking…
Maria’s body trembled with an incomprehensible sensation. Her breathing grew ragged, her heart felt squeezed tight, and her chest ached.
“Are you all right?”
Cardnios stepped closer without warning. Maria’s face flushed hot and her body went rigid. She couldn’t tear her eyes from those pale, glossy lips. His breath brushed the tip of her nose—sweet. Those golden eyes, flickering with purple light, seemed ready to swallow her whole. The hand gripping her arm gradually lost strength.
“Do you have a fever?”
His handsome face drew even nearer, as if he meant to press their foreheads together. An instinctive fear writhed inside her. Her instincts screamed.
Run. Get away. Letting him get any closer is dangerous.
Instinct overrode reason. Maria’s body moved on its own.
Bam! She slammed her head forward, smashing it into Cardnios’s nose.
Cardnios stumbled back. Maria’s scarlet eyes churned violently as she stared at him. Kyros, watching the scene, went deathly pale. Even the thugs and holy knights observing from a distance froze in shock.
“U-uh, ah… S-sorry… ugh?!”
Maria couldn’t even finish her apology. She spun on her heel and fled.
“Hey… Maria!”
Kyros chased after her. Cardnios watched their retreating figures with ice-cold eyes, the corner of his mouth curling into a crooked smirk.
“Hah. So that’s what a saintess looks like, huh?”
***
“Hey!”
Kyros finally caught up and stopped her. Maria backed away, tears streaming down her face.
“Haa… ugh… K-Kyros.”
Her scarlet eyes, locked on his blue ones, swirled with thick guilt and terror.
“Kyros. Did you… know?”
“Know what?”
“That… monster. You knew, didn’t you?”
“…”
Only now did Maria truly understand what Kyros had been afraid of all this time. Even their brief contact had been enough to shake her to the core. Cardnios was an existence that defied all logic.
Memories of the past she had never understood resurfaced one after another. Maria’s body shook uncontrollably.
“Did I… betray you?”
“…”
Kyros remained silent. With no energy to study his expression, Maria took that silence as confirmation. Her face crumpled. Tears erupted like a broken faucet.
She still remembered their first meeting. Kyros, newly chosen as the hero, had arrived at the Holy Kingdom’s main temple looking small and weighed down by worry. Back then, before she became the saintess—when she was still just a curious child not even a squire—she had approached him. Kyros had twisted his face in disgust.
It must have been hatred directed at her. Yet despite that, he had accepted her feelings with complete sincerity. He had known she would betray him one day, yet never once let it show. Meanwhile, Maria—ignorant of everything—had offered only carefree, optimistic comfort.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Please forgive me.”
Having learned what she should never have known, Maria collapsed where she stood and began to sob. The guilt crushing her heart left her unable to say anything else or even wipe her tears. She wailed like a child. Kyros pulled her into his arms, holding her tight—just as she had always done for him when he felt anxious.
“It’s okay.”
The armor their foreheads touched was cool, yet it carried warmth. The hand patting her back was clumsy, yet it brought comfort. The awkward words of consolation whispered near her ear conveyed an affection he couldn’t hide.
Even after she had shown him such a disgraceful sight, his love remained. That only hurt her more. So she cried even harder, clinging to him like a child, wrapping her broken, misaligned arm around him as tightly as she could.
After a long while, once the storm of emotion had finally calmed, Maria pulled away. She looked up at Kyros for a moment, then spoke.
“Kyros.”
Do you want to run away?
She wanted to ask. She knew how anxious he had always been. Now that she understood what he had feared his entire life, the question burned on her tongue. But she could not say it. Kyros was the hero who had overcome all that fear and accepted his mission.
So she asked something else instead.
“Is it okay… with me?”
“What?”
“Is it all right to have someone like me by your side?”
Her heart hammered with fear. She knew he would say yes. She knew this was a selfish question, seeking validation for even this version of herself. Yet what if he hesitated, even for a second? What if the roles of hero and saintess, the years they had spent together like childhood friends, had become chains that bound him?
Kyros leaned in close, as though the question meant nothing. He gave her a light kiss, then grinned like a mischievous boy and ruffled her hair.
“Not enough?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want me to do?”
“Longer… kiss me longer.”
“And?”
“Hold me tight and tell me you love me.”
“Easy.”
Kyros pulled her close at once and kissed her deeply. One second. Two. Three. They had shared many light kisses before, but never anything this long. Their slightly parted lips met, tongues brushing clumsily, unsure where to go. Her lips stiffened at first, then began to tremble. It was awkward and unpracticed, yet she didn’t want it to end.
“I love you, Maria.”
When the kiss finally broke, Kyros smiled awkwardly. Maria gazed at him for a moment, then this time she was the one who leaned in, pressing her lips to his. She didn’t want to let go. She wanted to stay with him even more.
They kissed longer than before. When they finally parted, Maria’s face was faintly flushed. She averted her eyes slightly and murmured,
“The rest… later… when we’re alone…”
***
“Thank you so much, Sir Cardnios.”
With the help of the additional priests and city troops that had been dispatched, the holy knights had finished treating all the injured. One who appeared to be their representative approached me and offered his gratitude. Even the way he addressed me had changed from “sir” to the more respectful “Sir Cardnios.”
The awkward honorific once used for an unknown powerhouse had transformed into proper courtesy for a warrior who had rendered distinguished service. If the hero and saintess had been present, getting this close would have been nearly impossible. So in the end, all of this was thanks to the saintess who had fled and the irresponsible hero.
If Maria had been by my side, I would have been grateful enough to give her a kiss.
“So Sir Cardnios shouted, ‘All you bastards who can hear my voice, bow your heads!’ and then—boom!”
In the distance, Samson—the chatterbox holy knight—was enthusiastically recounting the recent events to the newly arrived priests and apprentice holy knights. The listeners gasped in admiration, their eyes tracing the destruction left behind by my Taishan Giant Strength Axe.
“So that horse-man really killed the black magician?”
“Y-yes, exactly. If you go look, the whole area around there is completely wrecked, just like here.”
Elsewhere, the criminals were eagerly singing my praises in an attempt to prove their own innocence. The guard captain tapped his temple in disbelief before finally turning to me.
“Excuse me for a moment. This is just a simple inquiry, so…”
I could already guess what he was about to say. A priest had already gone to check whether I was connected to the black magician. After examining the research materials the black magician had left behind, the priest’s suspicions had been cleared. Still, I had no desire to deal with more hassle, so I fished out a coin pouch and tossed it to the guard captain.
Even though it was small, the pouch was heavy. The guard captain cleared his throat theatrically, then snapped into a crisp, picture-perfect salute.
“Thanks to your noble assistance, we were able to protect the citizens of Caulose. I will be sure to report this to the lord so that you may receive a substantial reward!”
As if.
I sneered inwardly. It would be a miracle if he didn’t steal the credit for himself. Of course, I didn’t let any of that show. Instead, I smiled and answered politely.
“Wasn’t it all thanks to the brave guard captain who promptly cooperated with the relief effort?”
“Hahaha! What could I possibly have done?”
Flattering him cost me nothing, so I kept it up. Since the credit would be stolen anyway, I might as well hand it over.
“Come now, rather than a mere traveler like myself receiving a reward directly from the lord, wouldn’t it be far more meaningful for a righteous man who truly cares for Caulose to receive it?”
“Hahaha, if it’s for the development of Caulose, that would indeed be the proper choice.”
“Exactly. For instance, if someone like the guard captain were to receive it, I wouldn’t have the slightest complaint.”
“I never imagined someone like Sir Cardnios would regard a lowly man like me so highly.”
“Lowly? Nonsense. Wasn’t it all thanks to the guard captain’s keen eye? You sensed the suspicious activity and promptly requested help from an expert-level fighter.”
“Hmm?”
The guard captain finally noticed something odd in the conversation. He looked up at me with trembling eyes, as if asking, Are you serious?
I grinned. Dead serious.
His expression brightened even further. He thumped his chest with pride.
“This Agrada will do everything in his power not to disappoint you, my lord.”
“That’s very reassuring. Oh, by the way, could I ask one small favor?”
“Of course, Sir Cardnios. If it’s within my power, I’ll gladly help.”
“It’s nothing major. Being a horse-man, my reputation isn’t exactly stellar. If someone were to spread word of my good deeds, it would be a tremendous help.”
“Kuhahaha! That’s no trouble at all. Leave it to me!”
I laughed heartily along with the guard captain, having entrusted even my reputation-building to him. Gratitude surged inside me toward that idiotic duo who had thrown away their fame and accomplishments and simply run away.