Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Hero's Heir (2)
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"Let me ask you one more time. Without your companions or the holy sword, what meaning do you have?"
The holy sword's master was clearly hesitating to answer.
As if he had never even dared to imagine such a thing.
The fairy showed no particular disappointment at this.
Disappointment, after all, stemmed from expectation.
The fairy already knew.
That the man wouldn't easily answer her question.
And furthermore—
"As you said, without them, I'm nothing."
That after agonizing, he would give that kind of response.
"But. I do have my companions and holy sword. If I don't change, they'll stay by my side until the end—"
That he would deliver that evasive answer with a humility as if it contained some profound realization.
"Does that count as a sufficient answer?"
As the holy sword's master spoke, his companions took their places beside him.
Their expressions as they looked at the hero.
It was as if the unbreakable bond between them was laid bare on the surface.
Just as the hero had said, they clearly seemed ready to stand by his side until the end if he didn't change.
"..."
The fairy gazed quietly down at them.
The way they relied on and trusted each other was truly the epitome of a 'party'.
"Ha!"
The fairy formed a cheerful smile.
She said,
"Yes, that's a sufficient answer."
"Then—"
"You have no qualification to take his place."
"...!"
Why?
The fairy didn't bother responding one by one to the hero and his companions' expressions of deep doubt.
"How could someone so spineless possibly take his place?"
She simply spat it out, exasperated and incredulous.
The hero and his companions argued fervently, but it didn't reach the fairy's ears.
She wore a sharp yet somehow precarious smile.
"See... What did I say... Someone who could replace you... There's no such thing... So don't say that to me... Don't tell me to help some new person... Someone to replace you..."
The fairy felt something sticky churning within her.
She thought it was mere emotional turmoil, but it wasn't.
It was malice with form.
The seed of malice that had taken root in her without her knowledge was gradually corrupting her.
"Why... Why did you give me this painful role... Why..."
It grew by feeding on impure emotions.
Thus, it gazed upon impure emotions and stirred them up.
"I... Now I... For something like this..."
The fairy recognized that she had changed.
Captured by negative emotions, forcing them on others.
It was ugly beyond mere incompetence.
It was something her former self would never have tolerated.
But.
The fairy felt no particular doubt about her current self.
The sense of loss from parting. The cracks it caused.
-Aren't you sad?
-Aren't you angry?
-Is that all the love you had for him?
The malice cleverly wormed into those gaps.
"Kill them..."
The fairy, listening to the voice within, was horrified by the venom spewing from her own mouth.
The hero and his companions covered their ears.
The fairy screamed and writhed.
Finally, she swung her hand with force.
Exiling the uninvited guests.
"No!!!"
The hero and companions realized her abnormality and tried to help, but their voices didn't reach.
The last fragment of reason in the fairy cried out.
'Send them away now!!! If they stay longer, you'll end up harming them...!'
And.
That noble cry was soon overlaid by another voice.
-How dare those things try to replace him... I absolutely cannot allow it... Right?
Tears streaming, the fairy shouted.
"Disappear... And never appear before me again... Things like you... replacing him... I absolutely cannot accept it..."
"This is ridiculous!!!"
The holy sword's master, oblivious to his place, claiming to be 'that person's' heir and barging in here.
An uninvited guest despite the invitation.
Fairy Shuyen anticipated the moment when she would make them realize just how inadequate they were to call themselves 'heroes'.
Through him, her belief would be proven correct.
That no one could replace the original hero.
That no such being existed to succeed that great hero.
That was why Shuyen was irritably snapping for no reason.
The holy sword's master who had appeared before her.
Far from bolstering her 'stubbornness', his very existence directly denied it.
He needed to say that without companions, he was nothing.
That without the holy sword, he was nothing.
Yet now, he had neither companions nor holy sword.
He had passed all the trials and reached this place through his own power alone.
'That's possible!?'
Such courage. Such will.
Such strength!
Shuyen couldn't accept that the man before her possessed all of it.
As far as she knew, only 'that person' had ever had all of it.
"Let me ask you one more time!"
Shuyen straightened her attitude.
Gazing down at him again, she completed the unfinished words from before.
"Answer me!"
The place they were in now was a space Shuyen had created.
Here, her power was granted authority beyond the norm.
Her voice was no exception.
"Without companions or holy sword, what can you claim to be!"
Thus, the question became an interrogation of his true name.
Holy sword's master.
It was another way of calling the hero, the true name for those who seized new fates through the holy sword.
Now, the fairy was demanding he reveal any true name other than that.
A practically impossible demand.
In history, the only holy sword master with a true name beyond 'holy sword's master' was that person.
Only he, with a fate transcending the holy sword, could do it.
Therefore.
The pitiful man's only possible response to that mischievous question was predetermined.
Silence.
A utterly pathetic and uncomfortable silence!
The fairy was already forming a satisfied smile.
She said,
"See? Without the holy sword, you're nothing—how could you be a true hero—"
"Mother of the World Tree."
"?"
"Gray Tower Mage, Gray Tower Swordsman, Gray Tower Priest—"
An uncomfortable silence began for entirely different reasons.
Rishir began reciting his true names(?) as demanded.
The fairy could only stand speechless, waiting for the long list to end.
In that uncomfortable silence, the fairy felt a strange sensation.
-No one can replace that person. No one can replace that person. No one can replace that person...
Was it the feeling of something that had been 'forcing' her actions and thoughts being denied?
'What... is this...?'
The fairy had believed it was her pure and intense emotions all this time.
That was why she had hidden the original hero's legacy and thoroughly rejected his heirs.
However.
Looking back now, she felt an dissonance she couldn't ignore.
'That man is different from other holy sword masters... Special... Like that person... Perhaps... He could fulfill that person's will... Carry out what that person couldn't finish...'
From the perspective of a companion who purely admired and respected that great hero, it was a situation deserving joy.
-Snap out of it!!!
-No one can replace that person!!!
-Is that all your love for him amounted to!?
But what was this.
This turmoil within.
This twisted emotion.
'Is this... my true heart...?'
The venom on her face gradually faded.
Filling the void was the emotion of fear.
The fairy began to fear her own state.
She began to doubt the emotions that had driven her until now.
'Is what I'm doing... truly... for that person's sake...?'
-Kuhahaha!!! My dear lord! Look at that dragonfly!!! What an extreme display of ugliness!!! Like a drugged-up dragonfly, at a loss before your majesty!!!
"..."
-Hm!? My lord!? What's wrong!?
"That fairy... Doesn't her condition seem off?"
-Off!? How dare she not express gratitude when you deign to claim that pathetic legacy—instead doubting you!!!
"No, not that—"
Rishir had seen many lose themselves to malevolent forces countless times.
It wasn't his imagination.
Rishir overlapped the fairy's current state with those people.
"...Hey, are you okay!?"
Rishir cautiously spoke up.
"If you need help, don't hesitate to say so!!! I might be able to assist!"
"Assist...? What do you know to be so confident...?"
The fairy continued with difficulty.
-Ignore him!!!
-No need to listen to that fake!!!
Ignoring the cries within as best she could.
"No idea!"
"...?"
"Truth is, most of the things I've resolved were like that! And somehow, they always worked out in the end! Won't it be the same for you now!?"
"..."
A smile rose to the fairy's lips.
A strange smile mixing contempt and amusement.
-Irresponsible!
-How could trash like that replace that person!?
-Not worth listening to!
The contempt stemmed from the cries within.
And the amusement—
"Wh-what's that..."
—came from the fairy's pure experience.
In him now, she saw an overlap with 'that person'.
An eccentric and extraordinary confidence hard for others to understand.
Different in basis and expression from 'that person'—
But definitely something she had never seen in anyone else.
Suddenly, the fairy thought.
What reaction would 'that person' have had seeing this man.
What reaction would their companions have had seeing this man.
"..."
A smile naturally spread across her lips.
The longing, which had long taken the form of denial, now drew a pure smile on her lips.
-Unbelievable!
-Planning to betray that person!?
-That person doesn't matter anymore!?
-You've found a 'substitute' for that person!
Thus, the dissonance from the inner cries grew fiercer.
"No..."
The fairy shook her head.
At this point, she was certain.
"This... isn't me...!"
The fairy cried out with resolve in her expression and voice.
Then, an immense energy, unbelievable from her small body, began filling the space.
"Ugh...!"
Rishir involuntarily stepped back.
His mind said to approach and help with purification, but his instincts forced him back from the energy.
Rishir had no choice but to stand in place and watch her state.
"Damn it, is she okay!?"
His expression gradually filled with anxiety.
-My lord!!! That dragonfly bitch's energy!!!
Rishir's gaze was fixed on the fairy's wings.
The wings, originally transparent like glass, were dyeing a murky green like flowing poison.
Just like her originally pure energy gradually corrupting.
The malice hidden in the fairy's emotions.
The ancient curse was abandoning disguise and revealing itself.
"Ah, ah...!!!"
Amid the fairy's sharp scream, a guttural voice like sewage backflow overlapped.
-Shuyen!!! You vile creature!!! Hero's livestock!!! Remember my words—you shall suffer my curse even in death!!!
Rishir momentarily lost himself to the overwhelming presence in that voice.
"You, you're...!"
And shock appeared on the fairy's face.
The ancient great evil, destroyed by the hero, was revealing itself before her again.
"Ugh...!"
The corrupted fairy's energy began strangling her throat.
Rishir thought.
No more.
And just as he was about to act, pushed by the moment—
-My lord! Be careful!
Dangaleon's warning.
Rishir was already moving.
Something was flying from the cavity beyond where the fairy hovered.
"This is...?"
It was a mantle.
A clearly extraordinary mantle adorned with golden patterns on a pure white base.
It approached Rishir with will of its own and naturally draped around his neck.
-Holy sword's master!
The mantle addressed Rishir in a solemn voice.
-My master's companion is in crisis! Thus, I request your aid!!! Will you help me stop that great evil's return!?
"...!"
Rishir instinctively realized.
This mantle was the original hero's legacy.
"How, what should I do!?"
-First! Draw your holy sword!!! What is your holy sword!
"Yakjin! It's Yakjin!!!"
-Oh, is Sparkles here!!!
"No!"
-?
"Damn it, I left it at home!!!"
The mantle, fluttering like windblown cloth, settled limply.
As if speechless.
"Kuh...!!"
Meanwhile, the fairy's pain sharpened.
'Damn...'
Impatience crawled up his back.
Was it because of the situation.
-Rishir!!!
Rishir suddenly felt as if he heard the holy sword's nostalgic voice.
The voice grew clearer the stronger his desire became.
-Please don't forget me!!!
Finally, the voice was like a whisper right in his ear.
"..."
At this point, even Rishir didn't know what he was doing.
Just instinct. Just intuition.
He surrendered his body to something indescribable.
Extended his arm to the side.
And gripped.
Something there.
Hallucination?
'No. Not a hallucination.'
Rishir could clearly feel it gripped in his hand.
Rishir tightened his grip.
Stronger.
As if it was naturally supposed to be there.
No.
As if it had been there from the beginning.
Grip it.
And draw it.
Rishir followed the voice within.
Rishir pulled his clenched fist back with all his might.
Like drawing a sword from its sheath.
-Th-this is...!?
The hero's legacy.
Even its flustered voice didn't reach Rishir now.
All his nerves were focused on his arm—his fist, his fingertips.
Shing.
From his fingertips came the sound of a sword rubbing against its sheath.
Then, the blade emerging from the sheath.
And the radiance it emitted.
Rishir looked at his fist.
Between his fingers, a ray of light was gripped fiercely.
The light was slowly being drawn from an invisible sheath in the air.
Its form clearly etched on his retinas.
No room for doubt anymore.
Rishir grinned boldly and swung his arm wide.
Shing!
A clear metallic ring like iron resounding.
A single sword shed light and revealed itself.
Holy sword Yakjin.
The sacred blade was gripped in its master's hand.
-Rishir!?
The holy sword responded to its master's call.
Rishir let out a laugh with his surging breath.
"My god, Sparkles! This is possible too!?"
-How did you do that, Rishir!
Their voices overlapped.
"Huh?"
How.
The question came simultaneously from front and back.
The holy sword.
The original hero's legacy.
They were confused.
Did the holy sword have such an ability?