The Dawning Light
I opened my eyes.
How much time had passed? Days, or perhaps weeks? I couldn't tell.
When I tried to move, the sharp clank of metal jarred against my limbs, checking my motion. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim gloom. Chains bound my arms. No, not just my arms—heavy iron shackles pinned all four limbs. I had been left kneeling, arms hoisted painfully above my head. Realizing the posture made it feel suddenly, intensely uncomfortable.
Unable to move my limbs, I checked the rest of my body instead.
"Ah... ah."
Deprived of water for God knows how long, my voice rasped like rusted iron scraping stone. It didn't matter. At the very least, I could still speak, and I could still hear.
Having verified my senses, I began piecing together my situation. Let's see. I marched out to war, swung my blade at Grandis, and the Holy Sword shattered. Right after that, my body mutated out of control, and I blacked out. ...Does that mean Grandis took me prisoner?
Hmm. Dying and looping back would probably be the cleanest solution. Better to die quickly and reset than drag things out here, especially considering how badly I'd messed up this run. But just as the thought formed, I remembered: the Holy Sword was shattered.
I could no longer die to turn back time.
And the moment that truth settled in, an unexpected surge of exhilaration reared its head from the deepest recess of my chest.
I'm not the Hero anymore? I don't have to die anymore? I don't have to endure endless deaths and dragged-out butcheries for the sake of justice and peace?
My facial muscles twitched—a sensation entirely distinct from the agony of torture. The corners of my mouth curled upward. I could feel myself grinning ear to ear.
Sure, being held captive by Grandis wasn't an ideal predicament, but none of that mattered. Even if I died here, the thought that I would never again be dragged through that meaningless cycle made death feel like a welcome gift.
"I'm not the Hero anymore," I blurted aloud.
"That's right. You're no Hero anymore."
A familiar voice cut through the dark. It was Peria—my comrade and the Archmage of Azure.
"And you're no champion, either."
Yet the tone was unlike anything I normally heard from her. It was bitterly, mercilessly cold. I tilted my head. I'd heard her speak like that once or twice before, but never toward me.
So Grandis hadn't captured me after all. Had my own party thrown me in chains? I hadn't left any obvious blunders for them to pick at. Bewildered, I asked:
"What do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean? Did you really think we wouldn't find out? How shameless."
"No, seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about."
She let out a dry, scornful scoff.
"To think a traitor colluding with the demons could be so brazen."
Colluding with demons? What kind of nonsense was this? My groggy mind struggled to keep up with the sudden twist.
"Conspiring with Grandis, letting that wretched demoness get away on purpose... Quite the pair you two made, didn't you?"
"Wait, letting Grandis go was—"
"Shut your mouth. The moment the Holy Sword shattered, your corruption was proven beyond doubt."
My defense was cut off before it could even begin. Then again, even to my own ears, there wasn't much I could say to dispute it.
"On top of that, look at everything else you did behind the scenes. Oppressing the people, tax evasion... murder. The list never ends. And to think I..."
While I had a guess about what she meant by murder, the rest was utter gibberish to me. Tax evasion? Where did that even come from? Yet she spoke with such unwavering certainty that evidence had clearly been manufactured. And then it hit me.
Ah. I've been discarded.
Now that I was no longer the Hero, I held no value to them. So they turned me into the scapegoat for this defeat, using me as their shield. Having been thrown away by the powerful more times than I could count, the pattern was all too familiar. A laugh slipped out.
"You're laughing right now?" Peria demanded, her sapphire eyes glaring down at me like cold, dark jewels.
"No, just chuckling at how absurd my life is."
"Is that so? How amusing." She narrowed her eyes. "Come to think of it... were you ever truly the Hero at all?"
Now even the life I'd spent as the Hero was being denied. In the distant past, such words might have cut me to the core. But now? I felt astonishingly numb. In fact, I felt weightless, as if an anchor had been cut loose. I kept my mouth shut and simply waited to see what else she would say.
"It was bizarre from the start. You're not even a citizen of the Empire, you have zero natural talent, and you don't possess a single inherent Authority like every other Hero in history. A Hero? Looking back, it never made sense."
Well, she wasn't wrong about me being odd. As an outsider to the Empire, I was merely an expendable pawn to the ruling class, and my innate talent was pathetic at best. But I did have an ability. It was just an ability I could never tell anyone about. Not that it mattered anymore. An ability like that was better off rotting away forever.
"Fine. Let's say I'm an oddity, and let's pretend there's proof I oppressed people. But colluding with demons out of nowhere?"
Peria's expression turned even more disgusted.
"Do you have any idea what you look like right now?"
Well, I couldn't see myself, but I imagined I looked pretty wretched.
Peria thrust a hand mirror in front of my face. Black, corrupted patterns crept from one of my arms all the way up my neck. And my hair had turned stark, bleached white.
"You look identical to the Demon King's cultists who sold their souls. No, worse than them."
...I must have absorbed far too much of the Demon King's dark mana. I hadn't anticipated that side effect.
"Can you look at your own hideous reflection and still claim you didn't collude with them?"
Well, I could certainly say it, but I doubted anyone would believe me.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor, and several figures approached the iron bars of my cell. Sein Luderan, Lena Tirentus, and Beatrice. My comrades. Every single one wore an expression of pure revulsion.
Wow. The fallout from the defeat must have run deep. The ruling lords had clearly torn into me with every atrocity under the sun, shifting all blame onto my shoulders. Just what kind of lies had they spun to make them look at me like that?
"...Repulsive," Sein said, the very first word leaving her lips the moment she laid eyes on me.
"Looks like they tore into me pretty thoroughly," I murmured, accidentally speaking my thoughts out loud. Well, whatever. Not like it mattered anymore.
"You colluded with the enemy and led countless soldiers to their slaughter, and that is all you have to say?"
What did she expect me to say? The military strategists ignored every word of advice I gave and did whatever the hell they pleased; what was I supposed to do about it? If I still had Death Regression, I could have died, turned back time, and forced a victory somehow, but there was nothing I could do now.
Clang! Lena swung the cell door open and stepped inside. Then, she slapped me hard across the face.
"Because of you... Because of you, the royal elite were wiped out! While you were busy playing grab-ass with Grandis and stalling for time, the kingdom's finest fairy warriors were slaughtered! What were you thinking?! Was it funny to you?! Did it bring you joy listening to the royal guard scream as they died for your treason?!"
Spitting the words with venom, she spat in my face.
"I should never have trusted trash like you. Rot in hell, you filthy human bastard."
...Well, while I wasn't particularly heartbroken over those knife-ears dying, I certainly never intended for them to get annihilated. That was what I thought, at least.
Then Beatrice opened her mouth.
"...Thirty thousand." She paused, took a trembling breath, and spoke again. "That is the number of innocent lambs slaughtered because of your sins. ...Having heard of your deeds, I cannot help but question whether you were ever truly the Hero chosen by the Goddess. I cannot fathom it, but seeing the Holy Sword shatter, it is clear that whoever you are now, you are unfit to bear that title."
Beatrice bit her lip until it blanched.
"Go straight to hell."
With that, she turned, her gleaming platinum-silver hair fluttering as she vanished from my sight.
"So. What are your final words?" Sein asked.
Without a shred of hesitation, I replied, "Spare my life, if you would."
Dying right here and finding final rest wasn't a terrible prospect, but the yearning to reclaim an ordinary life—free from duty—burned far brighter.
Sein stared at me with utter incredulity, and I met her gaze without flinching.
"...If it were up to me, I would execute a traitor like you where you kneel. But the Council has decreed otherwise. Exile." She bit her lip in bitter frustration. "The moment dawn breaks, get out of the Empire."
A gentle breeze blew past. The wind that parted the softly drifting clouds caressed the grass and wildflowers like a tender hand. The scent of freedom. I drew the crisp, refreshing air deep into my lungs until they nearly burst.
After countless trials and tribulations, I had finally arrived. My journey as the Hero was over at last. The finish line for Einzel Leonhardt the Hero had transformed into a starting line, blessing the path ahead.
For an impossibly long time, I had fought, died, trained, suffered betrayal, hated, forgiven, and eventually resigned myself to fate. Memories of who I had been before taking up the Holy Sword had long scattered like flower petals swept away by a spring gust. But now, it was time to gather those fallen petals and tuck them away as bookmarks in my life.
Grateful for the chance to live as a mundane mortal, I set out on the road into exile.