The Hero's Confession
"I came because I missed Sirmiia so much." Sirmiia stared at me, utterly bewildered, as if she couldn't fathom what I was saying. Honestly, that expression was adorable too. Far better than watching her cry and beg for forgiveness. A million times better. So I made a silent vow: I won't let you cry anymore. I'll save both you and the Julius you want to protect—with my own hands.
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Shrrrng. I drew the holy sword from its scabbard. This time, I had no intention of ending things as easily as I had at the cathedral. Back then, I'd avoided magic out of concern for the city, relying solely on my blade. But this place was on the outskirts, far from any inhabited areas. So things were going to be very different.
Holy Sword La Pucelle. True Name Release.
A blinding radiance erupted from the blade. Angelica and Sirmiia shielded their eyes, but the light was too brilliant for mere hands to block.
"I'll finish this quickly. I need to preserve at least some stamina before facing the demon in the Erebor Kingdom tomorrow."
Solid Shield. Strong Barrier.
Five steel shields materialized and floated around Sirmiia, followed by a massive wall that encased her completely. This should be enough. She was already outside my attack range, and I'd layered the two highest-grade defensive spells. She wouldn't be harmed, no matter what.
I exhaled slowly, gripping the hilt with both hands at shoulder height, the tip aimed at the dragon's legs. Sensing danger, the dragon tried to open a pocket dimension—but it was too late.
Holy Sword Activation Technique: Heaven-Piercing Light Ray.
A colossal beam of light surged from the sword, hurtling toward Angelica. She raised her blade in desperation, but the massive weapon was useless against the radiance. She was swept away along with the light and vanished.
BOOOOOOM.
"Haa..." Once the beam faded, I lowered the sword. Using the technique after so long left me exhausted. The area the holy sword's activation had ravaged was a scene of utter devastation. A small warehouse roughly eighteen pyeong in size was half-destroyed, and every building in a straight line beyond it had been erased without a trace.
But the dragon wouldn't die from something like this. I didn't know why, yet I felt certain she was still alive. And the hero's intuition proved correct.
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"Koff." Angelica coughed up dust as she shoved aside the rubble pinning her and rose to her feet. "Hm?"
Glancing around, she roughly gauged how far she'd been sent. This place was quite distant from the warehouse. About three hundred meters, I suppose.
Before the light had struck, Angelica had activated defensive spells through three rings she'd pulled from her pocket dimension. Thanks to them, her body hadn't been completely annihilated. Drip.
"Huh?" At the sudden sound, she looked down. A gaping hole in her abdomen was spilling out viscera and blood. My mana must be too low for proper regeneration. Not even enough mana left for a regeneration spell... How pitiful. Sigh... Stress was piling up fast. She'd already been overwhelmed trying to educate Sirmiia lately, and now this strange man had to interfere.
"How arrogant of you, hero, just because I played along for a bit."
Angelica retrieved four gemstones from her pocket dimension—magic stones storing her past spells. Three were top-grade, one was transcendent magic. First, she needed to change the stage. She crushed one of the gems.
Cold Weather.
Clouds began to gather across the starlit sky. The temperature dropped rapidly, and snow started to fall.
Flash—
Far away, the same brilliant light flared once more. That direction was toward the warehouse. Another holy sword beam?
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The hero sat cross-legged. He paid little mind to the sudden snowfall. Well, she's a dragon. She must have used some method to recover her mana and cast magic. He'd already expected the dragon to survive. So for now, focusing on his own body came first.
Twitch. The divine power that had lain dormant began to stir. Having never used it since receiving the baptism from the chief god, the power remained tightly sealed and refused to yield easily. But to crush the dragon, he needed its strength.
Move.
Crackle. Divine power sparked above his shoulders. Moments later, it enveloped his entire body. A physical enhancement technique using divine power that only three heroes in history had ever managed to wield—Valiant Saint Combat Art. It wasn't particularly difficult, so why had no one else used it? He pushed the question aside and sprinted toward the dragon.
The hero didn't know that even the previous hero who had reached the transcendent realm had been unable to control divine power until the brink of death. Nor did he realize how abnormal it was for someone wielding divine power for the first time to immediately employ the Valiant Saint Combat Art.
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"What the...?" Sirmiia blinked through a gap in the towering wall. She'd seen the hero mutter something, followed by the holy sword emitting light. But after that, she'd covered her face with her hands and kept her eyes shut, so she hadn't witnessed what came next. When she opened them again, the warehouse was destroyed and the area where Angelica had stood was reduced to scorched earth.
That kind of destructive power...? Honestly, she wasn't worried about Angelica. With regeneration magic, she'd be fine. Or rather, it wouldn't matter if she died right now. What intrigued her more was the technique the hero had used. Did the holy sword have that kind of ability too? The first-class archive containing records of past heroes' techniques in the demon realm required permission from the library director to enter, so she'd never known about it until today. Since the library director only obeyed Isabel, the third-ranked demon, Sirmiia—who was on bad terms with her—had never been allowed inside. But why hadn't he used that technique when fighting her? He'd nearly died because of her, so why hadn't he employed it then?
Did I look that easy to beat...? It was true she was weak, but the thought stung a little.
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"...I'm getting tired."
"Huh...? Why?" Kobi, pinned beneath Julius's feet, asked in genuine confusion.
"Of what?"
Kobi spat blood and shouted at Julius. "Why the hell did I lose to a cripple who can't even use his left hand, you bastard—koff!"
"Because you're weak." Julius drove the sword deeper into Kobi's neck as he finished speaking.
"Kehk, kek, kegek." Whether unable to accept his own weakness or simply writhing in pain, Kobi's eyes bulged as he screamed before finally dying.
Julius rummaged through the trash pile, found an intact chair, placed it at the only spot with a table, and sat down, leaning back against it.
"Haa..." Only a single day had passed. Roughly thirty-seven hours remained. After that, the demon's true body would descend. The black barrier had blocked communications, so he couldn't contact anyone, but the Vatican must have noticed something was wrong in the Erebor Kingdom by now. They weren't incompetent enough to miss it. Seeing the blackened sky, they probably understood that the demon ritual had succeeded. Normally, they would send reinforcements immediately, but Julius doubted any help would come. The Vatican was currently split between the moderate faction centered around the Saint and the papal faction led by the Pope. They were likely watching each other, desperately trying not to waste their own forces. They were probably still holding their worthless meetings even now. By the time they reached an agreement, the demon's true body would have already descended. But by then it would be too late. Not only would they fail to stop the demon, but every citizen of the kingdom—not just the capital, Libia—would be slaughtered.
So he had to stop the demon alone.
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"You've arrived, hero." Angelica sat atop the rubble, smiling at me. No matter how beautiful she looked, to the hero it was nothing but repulsive. He stared at her coldly, as if regarding filth. That smile, those actions—everything was an act. The dragon never showed emotion except when Sirmiia was present. No, even the emotions she'd displayed in front of Sirmiia might have been nothing but performance. If the dragon truly cared for Sirmiia, she wouldn't have struck her so viciously.
"Dragon. Can you do something about that tone? It's disgusting."
Angelica wiped the smile from her face. "Oh my. Aren't you the one copying Julius's manner of speech?"
"What are you talking about?"
"How foolish. You don't even realize it? Ever since you saw Sirmiia obsessing over Julius at the cathedral, you've been jealous and imitating him ever since."
Angelica grinned unpleasantly, her mouth stretching wide. "Because you value Julius more than someone like you. So you crave even a scrap of affection and copy him, you idiot hero. Clearly, Sirmiia will never feel any affection for you, not in your entire life."
BOOM! I couldn't listen anymore. In an instant, I closed the distance and drove my fist into her solar plexus. The dragon offered no resistance. She flew backward into the building across from us, crashed into the wall, and collapsed. Rumble. The half-remaining two-story building crumbled, instantly burying the dragon beneath it. She couldn't resist at all as she was entombed in the rubble.
"Haa... haa." Insults directed at me didn't matter. But the words that followed had shattered my composure. Clearly, Sirmiia will never feel any affection for you, not in your entire life.
"Don't make me laugh." I wasn't helping her simply because I craved her affection. I had only wanted to aid her for the sake of her happiness. So it didn't matter if Sirmiia never liked me. Throb. I didn't understand. Why did the mere thought that Sirmiia might never like me hurt so much?
I'd definitely felt fond of her. But that didn't mean I liked her. I...
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"Hero, do you miss your hometown?"
Hometown... It was a sudden question. But if she was curious, I should answer honestly.
"It would be a lie to say I don't. But right now, I prefer being here."
"Is that so...?" She tilted her head, apparently surprised by my answer. "Where is Sirmiia's hometown?"
"It's quite far. A place I can't return to right away, either."
Sirmiia's expression darkened as she spoke. "Then Sirmiia and I are quite similar, aren't we?"
"What are you saying? Get lost. How dare you compare yourself to her." She made a face of genuine disgust. "Haha... My apologies. But don't you miss your hometown, Sirmiia?"
"...I don't really know. I do miss it, but... it's complicated." She sighed. "Well, perhaps it's better not to dwell on it. Since you can't return right now anyway, wouldn't it be simpler and nicer to learn to love this place instead?"
Hm... Did I talk too much? Sirmiia stared into my eyes for a long moment. Then she chuckled. "What are you saying? A pushover hero like you is giving me advice."
"If it felt that way, I'm sorry..."
"No. It was actually pretty helpful. Thanks." She smiled brightly at me. At that innocent, untainted smile, my heart skipped a beat without my realizing it.
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Do I like Sirmiia...? I'd never thought about it properly, so I didn't know. Shut up. I don't know, okay? When she got angry. Um... S-sorry, hero. You must've felt really bad, right? My words can be harsh sometimes... I'll apologize. When she apologized. Really... it's nothing.Yeah. It's fine, hero. When she put on a brave front. I'm... s-sorry... When she cried. I had never once disliked Sirmiia. On the contrary—when she was angry, I'd blamed my own foolishness; when she apologized, I'd felt guilty for making her do so; when she acted tough, I'd wanted to help her; and when she cried, I'd wanted to hold her without saying a word.
Then why was I still lying to myself? After realizing how little time I had left, had I given up on even having these feelings? I didn't know. Was I so afraid of being rejected that I never even prepared myself to like her? I didn't know... Then did that mean I felt nothing for Sirmiia at all? No. That absolutely wasn't true.
Sirmiia... from the very first time I saw her, my eyes had been drawn to her for some reason. Had I been attracted to her appearance? I wouldn't deny it. There was nothing wrong with being drawn to beauty, and it simply meant Sirmiia was that beautiful. After that, I'd been drawn to her straightforward, unpretentious personality. She often acted unlike an ordinary woman, showing a refreshingly bold side as if telling pretenses to go to hell. So I'd felt a different kind of charm from any woman I'd met before. Yet despite that personality, she frequently showed vulnerable sides, making me want to protect her. Though she appeared sharp-tongued and full of bluster, I'd realized she was actually pure and kind-hearted. Her harsh words and rough attitude toward others were because she didn't want to reveal her fragile inner self. So I'd wanted to watch over her when she was flustered. And before I knew it, I'd come to like the person named Sirmiia herself.
Yeah. Wasn't that enough? What more did I need? Maybe so. If it was an emotion I'd given up on without even trying, it would have been better not to feel it at all. But I couldn't do that. This feeling had grown too large to hide or erase. So... I should just be honest with my emotions. I should admit that I liked Sirmiia. Even if it was a love that would never be returned, I didn't think I could give her up.