Awakening
The sensation was familiar to Dain. It was the same feeling he had experienced in the Underground Cemetery, when Ceres had vanished from his sight and his body had moved on its own, slicing through the monsters. There was nothing stopping the sword he had raised from striking down at Hans. In that moment, he truly wished for the boy’s death.
“Aaaagh! No!”
But in that single instant, Hans looked up at him, raising his hands. The face of his childhood friend from the village—the boy he had grown up with—made Dain’s movement freeze for the briefest moment.
With a loud clatter, Hans, who hadn’t even had time to pull up his pants properly, scrambled past the Mayor and bolted out of the chapel.
“T-that…!”
The Mayor, who had been watching the two of them in a panic, saw the Hero’s raised sword slip from his grasp and fall to the floor with a dull thud.
“D-Dain.”
“…”
With a clatter, Dain tossed the sword aside and moved to the side of the sleeping Ceres. He straightened her disheveled clothes and covered her with his own cloak.
“I-I’ll go catch Hans. Ahem!”
Whether the Mayor left or not didn’t matter to him. Dain let out a sigh mixed with a low groan, then quietly took the sleeping Saintess into his arms.
When Gerta returned, she took one look at Dain’s face and knew something had happened, but she didn’t ask a single question about it.
“H-Hero. Shall we begin?”
“…Yes.”
Gerta drew an additional barrier around Ceres’s bed, then unfolded the scroll the curse specialist had given her and began to recite the magical incantation. A sacred light gathered around the bed and Ceres, warmly enveloping both the Saintess and the Hero who held her in his arms.
“…Here, Hero.”
Gerta handed him the small blue vial she had brought. Dain accepted it, pulled out the cork, and watched the blue liquid inside swirl gently. Will this work? Will Ceres wake up? Once I see her blue eyes again, will I be able to forget what I just saw?
If you would just open your eyes, I could forget it all.
The Hero gripped his trembling hand and carefully poured the liquid from the vial between the Saintess’s slightly parted lips.
Please, Ceres.
There was no swallowing motion. The blue liquid trickled down her cheek from between her lips, which had been gently opened by the Hero’s hand. After a long silence, Dain believed he had failed once again to break the curse.
“…Ceres… haa…”
“…Mm.”
“…Huh?”
It looked like Ceres’s face had moved slightly. Dain glanced at Gerta, whose eyes had widened as if she had seen the same thing, then called out the Saintess’s name.
“C-Ceres.”
“…”
“Ceres…”
“…”
“Ceres!”
When he felt a faint movement in the pale hand he was holding, tears somehow welled up in the Hero’s eyes.
“…Mmm… mmm…”
Her eyelids fluttered weakly. The moment those long-desired blue eyes appeared beneath them, the Hero instinctively pulled the Saintess into his embrace.
“…D-Dain…”
“Yes. Yes, Ceres.”
“…Huh…? Where… are we…?”
“The Hero’s Village.”
“Was I… sleeping?”
“…Yes.”
Still half-asleep, Ceres reached out and gently wiped away the tears in Dain’s eyes, which she had never seen before.
“Don’t cry.”
“…Okay.”
The atmosphere felt as if only the Hero and the Saintess existed in the world. Gerta cleared her throat awkwardly and stepped in.
“Ahem. Um, Saintess.”
“Y-Yes?”
“I’m sorry to ask right after you’ve woken up, but how much do you remember?”
“I… um…”
It didn’t take long for Ceres’s face to harden as she sorted through her memories. The same happened to Dain. The moment just before Zarco had placed the curse on her—both of them recalled memories they desperately wished to forget.
“Gerta!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Just from the sight of the Saintess turning deathly pale and breathing raggedly, both of them understood exactly how much she remembered.
“It’s okay.”
“…”
“It’s okay, Ceres. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“…Yes.”
Quietly held in the Hero’s arms, the Saintess’s breathing gradually steadied.
“Then… I’ll head back to the main army now.”
“Are you sure you don’t need us to come with you?”
“Yes. Hero… please stay with the Saintess.”
Gerta gave a small, gentle smile and quickly left the chapel.
It was the moment she had dreamed of. From now on, only happiness seemed to await them. Zarco, Yujin, Hans. Those two nameless soldiers too. Now that Ceres had awakened from her long sleep and was by his side, it felt like none of that past would matter anymore.
“Huff… huff…”
At the windmill on the outskirts of the village, a little ways away. The owner had left long ago, but the windmill and the small wooden house beside it remained, serving as the secret hideout for the village children all this time.
“Hans, you’re in here, right?”
There was no answer, but it was obvious.
“I came alone. It’s safe to come out.”
“M-M-M-Mayor, sir.”
Even though only a few dozen minutes had passed, Hans’s face—having stood before the Hero’s sword—had turned as pale as a corpse.
“…You idiot. I warned you so many times.”
“J-Just one last time… I only wanted to do it one last time…”
“It’s all been exposed. What does it matter now? Sigh.”
“W-What should I do, Mayor? C-Can I… survive this?”
“…Haa…”
In a situation where touching the sleeping Saintess had been caught with no room for excuses, Hans had no choices left.
“Run away.”
“Pardon?”
“If you stay here, you’ll definitely die. You have to leave the village and live somewhere far away, in a remote place.”
“B-But…”
“There’s no other way. You don’t even have time to pack. Leave right now.”
“…Ugh… ughhh…”
The Mayor had no patience left to watch a man cry.
“Stop sniveling.”
“Y-Yes, sir… hic…”
Hans wiped his tears with his sleeve, let out a long sigh, and glanced out the window to check if anyone else was around.
…Wait a moment.
Just now, the Mayor had confirmed just how incapable Hans was of controlling himself. It was hard to believe that if Hans left the village and lived outside, he wouldn’t spill what had happened today. No—in fact, the Mayor could clearly picture him sitting in a tavern, gathering people around, and bragging about how he had pressed his body against the Saintess.
If Hans were ever caught, it was only natural that he would utter the Mayor’s name. Even if the Mayor himself might already be dead by then, he had no desire to let his honor be tarnished even after death.
When his thoughts reached that point, an old rope that had been abandoned in the corner of the derelict building found its way into the Mayor’s hand.
“Sigh… Um, Mayor, sir. To my family—”
The moment the young man turned around, the thick rope wrapped around his neck in an instant. Hans, whose breath was suddenly cut off, clawed at the rope, but there was no gap between it and his throat. As Hans thrashed about, making choking sounds, the Mayor pulled the rope from behind and muttered prayers under his breath.
A short while later, beyond the small hatch at the top of the windmill, the creak of old wood echoed, and a long shadow swayed in the wind.
“Saintess! Hero!”
The ones who burst through the chapel doors were Gardan, Dolan, and Grahn.
“Just a moment, please!”
They pushed through the gathered crowd and only let out sighs of relief once they saw the Saintess resting in Dain’s arms.
“Haa… haa… Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.”
“Gardan. Uncle Dolan.”
The Saintess gently took the hand of Gardan, who was bowing his head with trembling shoulders.
“…Grahn.”
“Mm. I couldn’t just sit still… Heard you went through a lot, Dain?”
Grahn grinned widely and gave Dain’s shoulder a light, friendly smack.
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing, my ass. This guy spent a whole month running around looking for a way to break the curse.”
This was the first Ceres had heard of it since waking up.
“R-Really…?”
“He abandoned the outpost, the demons, everything.”
“Grahn, why are you telling her that…”
“What’s there to hide? Hahaha.”
Only men remained in the village, and only a small number of people had come from the outpost through the magic circle. Still, it was more than enough to celebrate the awakening of the true Hero and the Saintess who had risen from her deep slumber.
“I-Isn’t it heavy?”
“It’s fine.”
Even though she could walk, Dain insisted on carrying Ceres like a princess all the way down to her house.
“We’re here.”
“Mm.”
Ceres’s house had no candles lit. Though he hadn’t been inside since they were very young, everything was exactly as he remembered.
“There we go.”
When he gently laid her down on the bed, the scent that had soaked into it filled the entire room. Even after Ceres wriggled under the blanket, Dain showed no sign of leaving.
“W-What? Aren’t you going?”
“No.”
“…Why?”
“I’ll leave after I watch you fall asleep.”
“…”
This wasn’t the usual playful Dain. Ceres, who had half-buried her face in the blanket, lifted one corner of it and made space for him to sit.
“…Then sit here.”
“O-Okay.”
They had only sat on opposite sides of the bed, their skin not even touching, yet both of their faces flushed slightly.
“…Th-Thank you. For breaking the curse.”
“It was nothing.”
“…”
Ceres still loved Dain, and she knew he had once liked her too. But in this situation where they were alone together, the reason their relationship couldn’t progress was because of what Dain had seen right before she was cursed. She feared that his care for her now was nothing more than friendship, that his feelings for her belonged to the past. Yet she lacked the courage to ask him directly. Ceres felt she didn’t even deserve to ask.
“…Hey, Ceres.”
The words weren’t spoken because he had read her mind. They were simply Dain’s honest feelings.
“I’m so… happy that you’ve woken up again.”
“…”
“I really am.”
“…Y-Yeah. Me too…”
Ceres paused for a moment, but she gathered her courage and continued to the end.
“Me too… I like that you’re the Hero…”
“…”
Dain’s hand lightly brushed the back of hers. Ceres turned to look at him. Taking their locked gazes as a signal, she slowly closed her eyes as his face drew closer. Even though her heart was filled with joy, tears welled up in her eyes.
They kissed.
After such a long time, their feelings for each other overlapped atop the precarious pile of past events.
Dain was a twenty-one-year-old young man. At an age full of vigor, simply holding Ceres’s hand made his blood boil, and hiding his erection with his hand in his pocket had become routine. However, though Dain himself didn’t realize it, even as he kissed the Ceres he had longed for so desperately, his heart pounding as if it would burst, the lower half of his body remained completely still.