Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Passing the Crossroads
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How much time had passed?
"That's the gist of it."
Even though I'd only shared a tiny fraction, the sheer volume of it all made it feel like an hour or two had gone by.
Of course, with no changes around me, there was no way to confirm. Still, that's just how it felt.
Meanwhile, the god gave a faint smile.
『A hero, you say...』
"No way to prove it, though."
『Is that so?』
No helping it.
Everything I'd had, I'd left behind in that other world.
At that moment, the god pointed a finger at my back.
『Looks like you've got proof right there.』
"Huh?"
I turned at the sudden gesture.
"Ah."
Behind me, where the god was pointing.
There was a single sword.
I stood and drew it.
"Long time no see. You too."
A familiar sensation spread through my hand.
This was no illusion. It was my real sword.
It should have vanished, but I'd never imagined seeing it here like this.
Maybe because this was the spirit world or something.
Anyway, I was a little glad to see it again.
It had been my sole companion through that otherworldly ordeal.
『What's that?』
"My Moonlight Sword."
Moonlight Sword.
The Hero of the Moon's one and only weapon.
A blade forged from moonlight itself.
An all-purpose weapon that could become anything.
And...
The symbol of my weakness.
『That sword represents your weakness?』
"Yes."
It wasn't strange at all.
It really was a sword I'd gained because I was so weak.
"Back then, I was truly pathetic."
No one to help me, my cries lost in the pitch-black night, wandering only to scatter into the void.
As the encroaching malice tightened around my throat, I begged desperately one last time. Begged and begged.
Toward the moon hidden by the night sky, invisible to me.
Please, I just want to live.
Give me strength, even if just a little.
Looking back, it was laughable and utterly pathetic—clinging to a distant moon I couldn't see or touch.
In fact, all those who'd come to kill me openly mocked my pleas.
Pathetic last words, they sneered.
Who the hell are you begging for your life from?
Too pitiful to watch anymore.
But.
The moon didn't mock me, not even a little.
"I was the weakest of all."
It simply answered in silence.
Faint moonlight settled on my bloodied, wounded hand. Gradually, it took the form of a single blade.
Literally, a sword forged from moonlight.
The moon's first and final gift to my weak self.
"That's how I got the Moonlight Sword."
That was the Moonlight Sword.
『So, after getting the Moonlight Sword, you became a hero?』
"No."
I shook my head.
"Truth is, I wasn't a hero from the start."
Getting the Moonlight Sword didn't instantly make me the Hero of the Moon.
But the god denied my words.
『Hmm. Even so, with that Moonlight Sword and everything else, it really makes me think you're a hero. Am I the only one?』
"Huh?"
『Take a look beside you.』
Instead, the god pointed to the side.
I turned my head slightly, and suddenly, a massive circle filled my vision.
"Ah."
『Isn't that your hero's power?』
"...Yeah."
『Probably what they call mana or magic power or something like that.』
The wounds from before had fully healed; it floated there as a pristine, spotless white orb.
But it wasn't a perfect circle.
『By the way, it's all bound up.』
Chained tightly, that's why.
"I did that."
『Why?』
I paused for a moment, then moved my lips.
"I didn't want to die."
『Was there a problem?』
"I used an extreme measure."
In that final battle, driven by nothing but the will to win, I'd resorted to my last resort.
『Did you really have to use that extreme measure?』
"Yes, no choice."
It was an all-or-nothing gamble with no backup plan. Without it, I definitely couldn't have killed that bastard at the end.
Instead, I'd have died.
Dead before the backlash even hit, as the price of that extreme measure.
『So, to sum up, the backlash from that extreme measure would kill you, so you bound it like this?』
"Exactly."
I didn't want to die.
Even a wretched life—I wanted just a bit more of it.
So I'd sealed it in this form.
『For something like that, you seem pretty shocked.』
"I thought it was gone."
Honestly, when I couldn't sense even a scrap of mana, I figured it had completely vanished.
Mana, Moonlight Sword, all of it.
『Well, if it's sealed, it should still be there, right? Nothing to be that surprised about.』
"The extreme measure... its price is total annihilation."
『Mana and your life too?』
"Yes. I did it in a half-mad frenzy just to save my skin."
Naturally, I never expected it to end up sealed like this.
『Still, it's more beautiful than I imagined. Like the moon itself. Yeah, with this, I can believe you're a hero.』
"I'll agree it looks like the moon, but beautiful? No. And this alone doesn't make me a hero."
『Why think that?』
"Because."
This wasn't proper power.
Not a gift from a divine being, not gained through some mystical encounter, not awakened through love and friendship.
"It wasn't obtained the right way."
A blood-soaked power, earned alone amid countless deaths, losses, and calamities.
『You think that because it was built by killing others and surviving?』
"Yes."
Back then, I wasn't a hero.
Just a maniac driven by the obsession to live, swinging my blade without hesitation, butchering people day and night—a murderous demon.
That's all I was.
『But if you hadn't done that, you'd have died several times over. Looks like self-defense to me.』
"Still can't call someone like that a hero."
It was a hero's power, sure.
It was mine, after all, and no one else's.
But that didn't make me a hero.
『If you weren't a hero from the start, how'd you end up as the Hero of the Moon?』
"When I met a certain little girl."
I remember it clearly even now.
A faded dress, slightly frayed here and there.
A single wilted moonflower clutched in both hands.
Choppy gray bob cut, unevenly trimmed.
Pinkish eyes gleaming with quiet desperation.
『No name?』
"Nameless orphan, she said."
That girl tearfully begged me.
『What'd she say?』
"Save me."
She was afflicted with a curse.
One that could only be lifted by slaying the Demon King.
『The Demon King cast it?』
"Seems like it. She lived in a remote village when the Demon King suddenly appeared and cursed everyone. She was the only survivor."
『Cliché, but horrific.』
It meant a death sentence for an eleven-year-old child.
Execution merely stayed for a short while.
『Why'd she ask you? You were hated by the otherworlders. No one else to turn to?』
"She did ask others."
The girl had begged others too.
A infamous but undeniably skilled mercenary captain.
A knight captain of such nobility, an inspiration to all.
The Sword King, who'd reached the pinnacle with just a single blade.
All extraordinary figures. Superhumans who'd transcended human limits.
But all turned her away.
"They all refused anyway."
Each had their excuses.
One cited the poor cost-benefit, pragmatic as ever.
Another stuck to principles: no orders, no action.
Yet another was personal: only deals with fellow swordsmen.
Bottom line, no.
『No one else?』
"One more."
Finally, the girl set out to find the last person she could beg.
Her lips chapped from not even a drop of water, shoes worn to shreds with blood and pus on her soles—a body that could drop dead any second.
『Who?』
The one fated to slay the Demon King.
The antithesis of the Demon King.
Yes.
"The hero."
The girl had sought out the "hero" and begged him.
『Hero? You said you weren't one originally.』
"Right. A different hero from me."
He wielded a radiant holy sword, adventured with a reliable hero party, praised by all—a "real hero."
『And he asked you?』
"The hero refused."
But the hero coldly shook his head despite her desperate plea.
Simple reason.
『Why?』
"Lousy reward."
What she offered truly wasn't much.
No glittering treasures, no world-shaking power, no stunning beauties to turn heads.
One moonflower.
That was all she had.
Nothing else.
So of course she was rejected.
Makes sense. Saving someone for free? That's fairy-tale fluff.
No such heroes in harsh reality.
『So why'd you accept?』
"She reminded me of myself."
The girl was just like my past self.
Like me, desperately praying to the moon with no one to rely on, she came to me as her last resort.
"Honestly, I didn't like that so-called hero either."
Personal reasons too, sure.
Some of us were busy stabbing blades into bodies daily, while others were busy sticking their dicks in hero party members.
"Heard it's to gain their abilities and get stronger, but it still pissed me off."
『That's all?』
And.
"Of course not."
The very idea of a hero disgusted me.
"A guy with everything refusing over a meager reward? Ridiculous."
I couldn't stomach someone who hesitated to help the weak calling himself a hero.
Nothing like the heroes in stories.
So the moment she asked, under the moonlight, I pinky-swore with the girl.
Your so-called hero.
The fictional kind from fairy tales.
Screw that—I'll give it a shot.
『So that's when you became a hero.』
"Started with no real intent, but she kept calling me one. Felt wrong not to own it."
Hero of the Moon was her name for me.
We promised under the moon in the night sky, so that's what she called it.
Hence, Hero of the Moon.
『For that, you sure introduced yourself boldly earlier.』
"She called me that so earnestly—feels wrong denying it now. Better to shamelessly roll with it."
『Good call. Smart.』
After that, it was nonstop running and fighting.
Memories fuzzy here.
Just killed a lot.
Demon King's minions, Four Heavenly Kings wannabes, true loyalists—whatever.
Most time spent on the path to the Demon King, rest minimal. Barely any proper breaks.
『Reckless. Overdid it.』
"No choice."
Any delay, and the girl might die. Terrifying thought.
So I pushed myself relentlessly.
Couldn't accept a hollow ending.
Wanted to be a real fairy-tale hero.
Anyway, in the end, I took the Demon King's head myself.
『Curse lifted after that, right?』
"Not sure."
Probably did lift.
Confirmed the Demon King dead multiple times.
But I never checked in person.
『Why?』
"Became public enemy number one. Had to run. Didn't want to drag her into it."
Otherworlders had tried killing me before. Raids continued en route to the Demon King.
But after slaying him, it intensified.
Word spread, bounty on my head. Raids nonstop, incomparable to before.
Wonder who started that rumor.
Still curious.
"Weird, right? I just killed the Demon King, but they kept demanding stuff from me."
『Definitely odd. You didn't touch his treasures anyway.』
"Just ate whatever to survive hunger."
Eh, ancient history now.
I'm dead anyway.
"Anyway, that's the story. Just the ramblings of a dead man now."
『You went through hell.』
The god smiled bitterly.
Feeling relieved, I spoke up.
"So, where do I go now?"
I wondered about the afterlife.
With all I'd done in that world, hell? Or heaven for my efforts?
Honestly, hoping for the latter. After all that suffering, a little reward's fair, right?
But the god's answer was neither.
『What if there's another option?』
"Where?"
『Where else.』
Not hell, not heaven—another choice.
『The present world you came from.』
The real world. Right there.