The Sleeping Flower
Inside the cathedral, at the very center of a barrier woven from prayers, the sleeping Saintess lay upon a sacred relic covered with bedding.
“Ceres.”
Dain slowly stroked Ceres’s hair. It struck him anew how breathtakingly beautiful the woman lying there truly was. Long lashes, a straight nose, snow-white skin, petal-pink lips. Even her long, lustrous platinum-blonde hair—every detail was perfect.
Yet the Saintess gave no answer, no reaction at all to the true Hero’s call.
…
His clenched fists were on the verge of drawing blood. He hated the bastard who had ruined everything between him and Ceres. He wanted to cut the man’s throat right then and there, but lifting the curse on the Saintess had to come first.
“I’ll be back.”
Leaving the sleeping Saintess behind, Dain strode out of the cathedral with heavy steps.
“Then I’ll leave her in your care, Mayor.”
“Yes, don’t worry… haa.”
…
The fake Hero Zarco had stolen a large share of the Hero’s power and turned into a demon. Saintess Ceres had been cast into an eternal slumber by his curse. After Gardan, Dolan, and Gerta somehow brought the unprecedented crisis under control, Dain had entrusted the sleeping Saintess to the Hero’s Village through a teleportation circle.
“Zarco… haa. Still, it’s a relief that we have you, Dain.”
“I’ll return soon.”
“Good. Don’t worry about Ceres.”
The mayor of the Hero’s Village nodded and gave Dain’s shoulder a light pat. With the kingdom’s entire combat force stationed at the border, everyone had agreed that the Hero’s Village was the safest place for the sleeping Saintess. It was far from the front lines, most of the village men had completed combat training, and the cathedral where she had received her priestess powers would provide the first line of defense against demons.
They could not be certain whether Zarco’s claim that he would “definitely come to take her” was mere bluster, so to be safe, nearly all the women in the village had already been evacuated.
“Hey, Hero.”
“Hans…”
Hans’s face, unseen for so long, wore a forced smile. The sword and armor he carried looked strangely out of place on him.
“Hang in there. We’ll protect her no matter what.”
“…Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
Like everyone else in the village, Hans had always believed Dain was the one best suited to be the Hero. Yet now that Dain had become the Hero, the shadow on his face refused to lift.
“Come back soon, Sir Hero.”
“…Gerta.”
Gerta, who had already drawn the teleportation circle from the outpost to the Hero’s Village, looked utterly exhausted. Still, she silently inscribed another circle linked to a distant province rumored to house a curse breaker.
“Yes, it’s ready.”
“Then… please.”
“Of course.”
To Hans, who clenched his fist in a show of reassurance, Dain forced a short, strained smile and nodded. Then he vanished into the magic circle as if swallowed by it.
“Huff… huff.”
He arrived at an unfamiliar highway.
“Are you all right, Gerta?”
“Yes, I’m just… a little tired.”
“Rest today. Head to the capital tomorrow.”
“What about you, Sir Hero?”
“I have to find the curse breaker.”
“…Understood. Good luck, Sir Hero.”
After watching Gerta walk slowly toward the distant village, Dain began his journey to lift the curse on the Saintess.
“Just wait a little longer, Ceres.”
A month passed.
He traveled from province to province, meeting countless people and mages, but he found no information that could break Ceres’s curse. Dain’s heart grew more desperate with every passing day.
One month. That was the limit the kingdom had granted him after meetings with the royal army—the only time he could move freely for the Saintess’s sake. In the current situation, the Hero’s absence from the front lines and the outpost was too great a loss for the kingdom to allow anything more.
Of course, Gerta and the others must be working hard too.
With Ceres asleep, he could not bear to sit idle.
At the very last moment, Dain climbed toward the place indicated by the hard-won information, his heart filled with desperate hope.
“Who’s there?”
It was a remote, ramshackle house with a door barely hanging on its hinges. An old man with white eyebrows that drooped to his cheekbones stared out from eyes so deeply shadowed that no pupils were visible.
“Are you the curse breaker?”
“Hehe, so there are still people who remember me.”
Even with the old man’s answer, Dain could not relax. He had already visited more than a few curse breakers, and none had found a way to lift the curse on Ceres.
“I am Hero Dain. The Saintess has been cursed by a demon. I beg for your help.”
“Hehe, what sort of curse?”
“…She will not wake from sleep.”
“Hoo.”
The old man scratched his eyebrow.
“For a demon, that’s a rather human curse.”
“Do you know how to break it?”
“Hmm. Wait a moment.”
The hunched old man was nearly the same height sitting or standing. He rummaged through a filthy bookshelf, tossing books aside, and finally handed over a vial of liquid and a crumbling scroll.
“Do you have a skilled mage?”
There was Gerta, the one they called a genius.
“Yes.”
“That’s ancient script. Study it carefully.”
“W-will this really lift the curse?”
“I can’t promise anything. If this fails, I have no other answers.”
The old man sat down with a weary sigh.
“Still, the chance it will work is better than half.”
“Thank you!”
Dain dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
“Hehe, no need for that, young Hero.”
“Truly… thank you so much…”
“What will you do if it doesn’t work? Enough of this—go quickly and try it.”
“Yes, yes!”
As Dain hurried to leave, the old man called out once more.
“Young Hero.”
“Yes?”
“I may be ignorant of the world, but even I’ve heard the rumor that the fake Hero became a demon.”
“…Yes.”
“You haven’t recovered the Authority, have you?”
“That’s correct.”
“It’s an exceptionally powerful curse. Not something even a demon could wield lightly.”
“…What are you saying?”
“It’s possible the fellow used the power of Authority to cast it. In that case, even killing him may not return the Authority to you.”
…
“It’s only a possibility.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
“Hmm. Now go, young Hero.”
“Magic circle, magic circle!”
Though he cradled the bag containing the scroll and vial with utmost care, Dain’s feet flew across the ground without tiring. Fortunately, the magic circles Gerta had installed whenever she had a spare moment were scattered across the land, and one lay not far from his current location.
No matter how hard he tried to suppress his expectations, the single thread of hope made his steps faster and faster.
The question of the Authority was a problem for after Ceres woke up.
“Dain!”
“Gerta!”
Because it was the final day of his deadline, Gerta was already waiting by the magic circle. When she saw Dain’s bright smile and the bag he held up, hope bloomed across her face as well.
“Hurry!”
Gerta immediately pulled the cloth from the circle behind her. The two stepped onto it together.
“Huff… huff.”
It was the familiar sight of the Hero’s Village, yet no one was in sight.
“Where is everyone?”
“Gerta, right now we should—”
“Ah, yes! Please show me what you brought.”
Dain took out the scroll and potion bottle the old man had given him.
“He said it was written in ancient language.”
“Mm, mm.”
After examining them, Gerta seemed to understand their nature at once. She dashed toward her luggage.
“Go on ahead! I’ll prepare everything and follow!”
“Right!”
Dain sprinted toward the cathedral, the highest point in the village, right beside the mayor’s house. The sight of Ceres’s home as he passed made his heart flutter, and the corners of his mouth rose on their own.
“Dain?”
“Mayor!”
The mayor, standing on the street in front of Ceres’s house, called out to him.
“…You’re back!”
“Yes! I found something!”
The mayor breathed a sigh of relief and offered a silent prayer.
“God be praised. You’ve worked hard, Dain.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll go right now!”
“Let’s go together.”
The mayor approached with a smile, but to the impatient Dain the old man’s steps felt unbearably slow.
“Well done. Well done indeed. It must have been difficult?”
“No, no.”
Honestly, the mayor was only getting in the way. Yet he kept praising Dain without pause.
“How hard it must have been. It’s truly fortunate you found a way.”
“Yes…”
“Oh dear, I’m sorry. My legs have been so bad lately.”
“Ah.”
Dain gave vague replies, half-listening, but the moment the cathedral came into view he could endure it no longer.
“Ah, Dain!”
He heard the mayor calling after him, but nothing could stop his legs once they began to run.
“Ceres!”
Creak!
As he shoved open the cathedral’s heavy wooden door, sunlight poured into the dim interior.
Even with her eyes closed in sleep, Ceres’s face was still exquisitely beautiful—the very image that had filled his mind every time he closed his eyes for the past month.
But what matched his imagination ended there.
“D-Dain…”
All the buttons on Ceres’s clothes had been undone. Her pale breasts were completely exposed. Between her unnaturally spread legs, beneath a sparse patch of pubic hair, the Saintess’s pink-tinged mound was on full display.
Click.
From the man’s hand, still half-hidden in shadow, the belt of the trousers he was pulling up slipped and fell to the floor. The man’s member, now caught in the light, glistened wetly—as if he had just finished ejaculating.
And as if to prove it,
From between the Saintess’s thighs, where long, curly black hairs clung sparsely, thick white semen slowly leaked out.
“Ah, no. Dain.”
The man’s face slowly came into focus.
It was Hans—his childhood friend from the village, the one who had smiled and sent him off with a grin.