The Pure White Knight Awakens
"I'm talking about Maxime of the 8 Heroes. Ah… you've been asleep this whole time, so I suppose you wouldn't know."
Then he realized Serenghetti had been unconscious all along, and amended himself.
Serenghetti had remained asleep ever since the Great Expedition into the Demon Realm. She had woken once, briefly, but even then she had known nothing of the situation as it stood now.
A chill of unease ran through her, and she asked,
"Don't tell me this whole 'hero' business only started after the Great Expedition ended?"
"That's right."
"Not the Unique Hero Wilhelm — you're saying there are eight of them?"
"…One of the 8 Heroes is Knight King Wilhelm. Maxime is another."
"What? That doesn't make any sense. Maxime fled the moment the Great Expedition was over. He abandoned every last mercenary who'd followed him just to save his own skin. He's garbage."
"…Wait. Is that true?"
Waiser Marquis's eyes went wide. Maxime of the 8 Heroes — a runaway? He had heard something roughly to that effect, but he had never been certain it was real.
But Serenghetti was his daughter. No one knew better than the Marquis how thoroughly she despised lies. So it had to be true.
Serenghetti shot him a sidelong glance and pressed on.
"The only one who reached the Demon King at the far end of the Demon Realm was Lord Wilhelm. Maxime is a cowardly deserter who ran the instant he set foot at the entrance."
"And the other 8 Heroes?"
"…Who even are they? Eight heroes?"
Waiser Marquis swallowed hard and recited the remaining names. The moment the roll call finished, Serenghetti's entire body began to tremble with rage.
"Shameless, honorless scum…! Two of them never even set foot in the Great Expedition. How dare they?"
"Who didn't participate?"
"Gracia, and Master. Those two never joined at all. And the rest of the names belong to people who have nothing whatsoever to do with being heroes."
"…If that's truly the case, this is… an enormous problem."
Waiser Marquis grasped the gravity of it at last. Every one of the 8 Heroes except Wilhelm — Maxime included — was a fraud. Fakes, acting as if they were the real thing. The entire continent believed them to be true heroes.
Everyone who could expose the lie was dead. Everyone except one. Everyone except Serenghetti.
"It must be set right."
"No one will believe you."
"…Successor."
"And you still haven't fully broken free of the curse."
"Doesn't it make you furious?"
Furious?
I shrugged.
"What do you think is going to happen from here?"
"…Ah."
Only then did Serenghetti take a moment to draw a breath. Then she laughed softly.
"…They really are complete idiots."
They were idiots — because they had made an enemy of someone they should never have crossed.
Serenghetti knew Wilhelm better than anyone alive. The most honorable man in the world was also a man who always got whatever he wanted. Anyone who stood in his path, he eliminated by any means necessary. The most terrifying, the strongest — and to those who became his enemies, he showed not an inch of mercy.
Come to think of it, there was nothing to worry about.
"Get up. Hudson healed your body."
"What do you mean…?"
Serenghetti hurriedly reached under the blanket and looked. Her two perfectly intact legs came into view.
"…How?"
"Hudson treated you with a highest-grade elixir."
I was the one who had handed over the elixir, but Hudson had done the healing, so it wasn't a lie. Hudson looked at me with an expression of pure, overwhelming gratitude. His face was going to burn a hole straight through me.
"Hudson. You did this for me…?"
"The elixir was something the Successor obtained for us. All I did was apply it drop by drop."
"Even so, you must have barely slept…"
"I did it for you. As long as you're all right, I don't care if I die."
"Ah, Hudson!"
"Serenghetti!"
They threw their arms around each other with everything they had. …Waiser Marquis could only watch the two of them with a still-bewildered look.
"I understand this is a moving reunion, but Serenghetti. There's something I need you to do for me."
Thud!
In that instant, Serenghetti's body snapped straight as a rod. Her posture locked into perfect form, just as it had in her knight days. Rising from her seat, she raised her right hand, clenched it into a fist, and set it over her left breast.
"Whatever it is, give the order and I will see it done."
"I need you for my next trial."
Main Quest 6. I needed Serenghetti for its exclusive run. Her ability — the transcendent authority she had gained from the Star.
Light kindled in Serenghetti's eyes.
"You need me?"
"…Yes."
"Understood. When do we depart?"
"Just keep that in mind for now. I'll inform you of the schedule later."
Judging by how overflowing her stamina and drive were, her recovery seemed complete. Besides, this was a moving reunion. I had no intention of interrupting that.
But Serenghetti apparently thought otherwise.
"Why waste time? If it's about crushing those bastards, I'll take the lead myself. We must cut down those laughable traitors and fools, cast their heads into the Abyss so they are cursed for all eternity. We must restore the honor that has been trampled and make every person in the world know who the true hero is — so there is not a single second to hesitate in executing those liars with nothing but big mouths—"
All preparations were complete.
It came back to me. Every time I talked to Serenghetti, I remembered spending the whole day just mashing Enter. The amount of dialogue script she hogged all by herself was absurd. At first I had paid close attention, thinking there might be hints about hidden quests buried in her monologues — but there was jack shit. And apparently Wilhelm had been the same.
…This is giving me PTSD.
A memory brought up by the Star. When Serenghetti got excited, she talked a lot. Whether it was the aftereffect of silent training from childhood, swinging nothing but a sword — once her mouth opened, no one could stop her. This was her after correction.
"This is… hmm."
Waiser Marquis blinked, looking back and forth between me and Serenghetti. He had only just learned his daughter was such a chatterbox, and my attitude toward her was far too familiar for a first meeting. To avoid suspicion, I shrugged as casually as I could.
"It was written in the Knight King's memoirs. If you don't cut her off at the right moment, she can easily talk for a full hour."
"…My daughter?"
"Did you by any chance put her through silent training as a child?"
Silent training usually meant refraining from unnecessary speech, but true silent training meant not speaking a single word at all. Waiser Marquis wore a complicated expression and nodded.
"…It's all my fault."
"It doesn't seem to happen with just anyone, so don't concern yourself."
He seemed to treat her talkativeness like some kind of disease. Well, a knight family's daughter being chatty was a fatal weakness in many ways. Of course, there were only two people in the world who made Serenghetti talkative. One was Hudson. The other was Wilhelm.
Was that why? Hudson was looking at me with a peculiar expression — as if he had never expected Serenghetti to show this side of herself to anyone but him.
"…………Ahem. Forgive me. I misspoke."
Between them, Serenghetti realized her mistake and briefly bowed her head. She had misinterpreted my need for help with my trial as I need your sword to execute the traitors. She wasn't wrong — but Main Quest 6 was more important right now. Besides, the so-called 8 Heroes other than me were nothing more than dominos on a sandcastle.
They're overconfident that they have every player under perfect control.
Their current behavior made that clear. Watching them ramble excuses in reality, I got the feeling it wouldn't be long now. Those people I had thought of as Named NPCs, living in seclusion — if they truly were players, there were plenty who would not be pushed around by the 8 Heroes. They were simply acting from the shadows because they did not want to be exposed.
Once the tipping point is crossed, they'll move.
The moment they crossed that threshold, they would stand against the 8 Heroes. Before long, Earth would become a battleground of chaos. Perhaps in that process, even the fact that Dimension Warriors were really just game addicts would come to light. If the Warriors' prestige and reputation cracked, would the people of the world still trust and follow them completely? Once doubt took root, it only grew. Even if not right now, there were many ways to bring them down. It was only a question of which was most efficient.
"Talk among yourselves."
I left before any unnecessary suspicion could take root. Conveniently, I also had somewhere to be.
Outside, Isaac was waiting for me with a faintly worried expression.
"You look like you have a lot to say."
"Truth is… I'm anxious."
"Worried someone will come hunting you?"
Isaac nodded. There was only one reason he had been stuck in Cramdel for so long — to escape the pursuit of someone he had crossed.
"Don't worry. For a while, no one will spare you a thought."
They couldn't spare a thought. At least for a while. The continent would be in an uproar over Maxime and the matter of Duke Scien. Beyond that, the people Isaac had mainly crossed were Named NPCs — in other words, players. Most of them were connected to the 8 Heroes, and the 8 Heroes were run off their feet dealing with Earth. Add Maxime's problem on top of that, and virtually no one would pay attention to Isaac.
"If you keep your promise, I'll keep mine as well."
The promise that if he served for one year, I would get him a highest-grade appearance transformation potion. The promise to let him be reborn was no empty words.
"…I'll trust you."
Isaac took a deep breath. Saint Whisperer. Five-Star Power. Heir to the Knight King. He didn't know how many faces the man wore, but one thing was certain.
There's dignity in his words.
Strangely, they inspired trust. The words he had just spoken — that no one would pay attention for a while — somehow put him at ease. His anxiety vanished in an instant, as if it had been a lie. The promise to keep his word also strangely felt trustworthy. Why? Wasn't this a man who deceived those around him with multiple faces? And yet there was dignity — in his words and in his presence.
Everyone who followed him was sincere toward him. Isaac had seen countless people, but he had never met anyone who gave off such a mysterious impression and inspired such faith as the man before him. Isaac had even met those called the 8 Heroes.
Compared to them, I'd rather—
Didn't this man seem more like a hero? Looking at his deeds and his path, the word "hero" came naturally. In Cramdel he had sealed Ahram, the gatekeeper of the Demon Realm, and in Knight's Garden he had eliminated Maxime of the 8 Heroes, who had been tormenting the citizens. The process might not have been clean, but it was a perfect case of pitting one enemy against another. He had never imagined Maxime would be turned into an undead and used to kill Duke Scien. Looking at that, he wasn't a hero — and yet.
Strip away the process and look only at the results, and he is a hero.
Just what kind of man was he? The more you knew, the more you peeled back, the more he was like an onion.
Then—
"Though I am a bit concerned about the karma score."
"My karma score, you mean?"
"Mm."
He nodded. Certainly. In Cramdel it wouldn't matter, but in human cities — especially with priests — they would spot Isaac's karma score immediately. Isaac's karma score rivaled that of a proper archvillain. It was on the level of an executive in a massive criminal organization that ran several cities. At that level, even ordinary townspeople could feel oppressive pressure from him. If they were going to travel together, it was likely to become an obstacle in various ways.
"Perfect timing. Let's go erase it."
"…Excuse me?"
What was this supposed to mean? Isaac momentarily doubted his ears. Surely "erase" didn't mean the karma score…?
"Follow me."
Isaac stared at Andrew Priest with a blank expression. Andrew Priest wore an equally disbelieving face.
"Th-the Indulgence…"
Andrew Priest had definitely used all three Indulgences. All three had been given to one person. And yet — a fourth Indulgence had just appeared before their eyes.
When Andrew's hands were washed with the Holy Grail, Andrew Priest immediately realized he could issue one more Indulgence. And only for the man before him — no one else.
So that's why only priests can open the Platinum Box.
I smiled faintly. Now it made sense. The Platinum Box obtained after sealing Ahram had been restricted so that only high-ranking priests who could recite the Prayer of Praise could open it. This was the reason.
Who would have thought Indulgences could be copied.
That was why I had used the third and final Indulgence without hesitation.
Andrew Priest still spoke with a look of disbelief.
"I've been able to activate the Indulgence privilege one more time, but I don't understand how…"
"I absolve you of your sins, Isaac."
"W-wait. You can't just use it so casually…!!"
Brilliant light poured down. Karma washed clean.
I placed my hand on Isaac's head and used the Indulgence. Brilliant light washed over him, and his karma score was scrubbed clean.
I turned my head and asked—