Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Senior Fake Hero - 3
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For a moment, it felt like my breath had stopped.
Padania crossed her arms as if urging him to go on.
Defir continued in a somewhat excited tone.
“To begin with, wasn’t even the Withering Demon King created by Idria?”
What? What did that bastard just say?
“To turn you into the hero, that is.”
“......”
“Just to be sure, I’ll ask: from the First to the Third Demon Kings, were they all...”
“That’s not true.”
Padania simply shook her head.
“On the contrary, it was the three generations of Demon Kings that inspired Lady Idria. The descent of a Demon King brings forth a hero. Humanity trusts and follows the hero above all else.”
“......”
“But what if that hero is a fake? Wouldn’t that complete the most perfect and colossal lie in the world?”
“......”
“It’s a strategy to swallow that lie and grow stronger. She’s someone with a vessel far beyond what scum like me could imagine.”
A chill ran through my entire body.
The Withering Demon King was a fake Demon King?
In other words, Padania Brook was Kaild Wake’s “prototype”?
[No way. Does that mean Idria, that bastard, has been preparing her plan for over 200 years?]
‘That’s how it looks from the situation.’
[But Padania thought it was a divine oracle. A heavenly god giving an oracle to a fake hero... Ah.]
Trail seemed to realize it himself.
[The oracle from 200 years ago was also Idria’s fake.]
That’s right.
From that point on, the heavenly god had been giving Idria what you might call “passive cooperation.”
By not issuing a real oracle.
The troublemaker Idria planned to create a fake world and move there.
The heavenly god approved of that plan.
Whether they’d ever spoken directly or not, the heavenly god must have decided their goals aligned and provided covert help.
[......Even after the Withering Demon King, I appeared in the world several times to kill Idria.]
‘Trail.’
[How ridiculous I must have looked to her. Clowning around as the heavenly god’s fool without knowing a thing.]
‘......’
[Now I finally understand a little why Idria always looked at me with such pity.]
He fell silent, sounding a bit depressed.
Comforting him now wouldn’t reach him.
I turned my thoughts elsewhere.
The core of the First Demon King was in the Baharma Mountains.
The Second Demon King’s core was liquid.
By the Third Demon King, it didn’t even have a fixed form.
In other words...
‘The Fourth is too ordinary. Just a jewel.’
Moreover, Demon Kings are said to descend when a specific “calamity” is overflowing.
But the “calamities” of the previous three Demon Kings were all caused by humans.
Destruction through great wars.
Endless greed.
Even the fall into losing one’s humanity.
All born from humans.
But Withering wasn’t caused by humans.
‘It was the time of the great famine, but no one caused it. On the contrary, they tried to stop it.’
[Hmm.]
‘Looking at it this way, the Withering Demon King does stand out a bit differently. Even so, no way...’
To think it was a manufactured Demon King.
Wait. Then why did Idria fail back then?
Padania had sinned against 129 million people.
A number on par with Kaild.
Current humanity knows Padania unquestioningly as a hero.
Idria’s lie was already complete.
At that moment, Padania on the screen answered my question.
“But that wasn’t enough.”
“Pardon?”
“For Lady Idria’s true purpose, that level of lie isn’t sufficient. There needs to be ‘one more’ lie of at least that scale.”
“......”
“Achieving her goal is still far off. That’s why I gave you the Withering Jewel.”
He leaned back on the sofa and continued.
“Lady Idria will be busy from now on, collecting more lies bit by bit. The Withering Jewel will likely play a part in that work too.”
“......”
“So we need to refine it enough that embedding it in a human body won’t cause issues.”
“The refinement is already complete.”
“Round and round we go. Then show me the results right here.”
“Indeed, it’s going in circles. This time, Neril will surely be fooled without a doubt.”
Click.
The screen cut off there.
‘Crazy.’
So in the end, Padania handed over the Withering Jewel for refinement.
And Defir succeeded.
Which is why...
‘It could slumber inside the Martial King’s disguise without rampaging.’
[Yeah.]
‘She could’ve done the refinement herself.’
[Probably around that time, I was off killing Idria.]
‘Busy dying and resurrecting?’
[That’s accurate, but I’m not sure if that’s how to put it.]
I scratched my head wildly.
Padania said there needs to be “one more” lie of similar scale.
And the one tapped for that “one more” is none other than Kaild.
This distant old tale finally connected to me.
[This is no joke.]
‘Yeah. But let’s put this worry off for later.’
[Huh?]
‘I’ve got more realistic and urgent concerns.’
Sobiers knows the secret of the headband.
He knows my Hero’s Mark was inscribed thanks to the headband.
‘In other words...’
The reason he asked for a duel tournament.
[To cut the headband during the duel?]
‘Exactly. To erase the mark in front of all the territory’s people.’
[If that’s the plan, wouldn’t it be better to just ask you to take it off now? If you refuse, he could make a fuss about it.]
‘That wouldn’t make for good theater.’
Bickering over taking off a headband with no solid proof is too low-class for a hero.
Better to “accidentally” slice off the headband during the duel and have the mark vanish. That looks far more convincing.
[What if you acknowledge it?]
‘Facts are facts.’
[Then you should refuse the duel.]
‘No way.’
I organized my thoughts and spoke.
“Fine. Let’s do it that way.”
“You’re serious?”
“It’s not a pretty sight, us bickering like kids, but if that’s how we reveal the true hero, I’ll cooperate fully.”
“......Understood, Lord Kaild.”
Sobiers bowed his head and stepped back, as if his role was done.
Kaild quickly picked up.
“Count. Please hold the duel tournament. Invite all the territory’s people.”
“Hmm. Very well.”
“Call us as soon as the date is set. We’re staying at the inn.”
“Lord Maide is at the same inn?”
Our party and Kaild’s both grimaced at the same time.
Above all, the count sighed deeply now that he had a firm answer.
Then he muttered in a very small voice.
He probably believed no one could hear, but my hearing caught it easily.
“The empire’s future looks bleak.”
Back at the inn, we gathered together.
Jenia spoke first.
“About that man Sobiers.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s not an ordinary human, right? Or more precisely... not human at all?”
I nodded.
Then Adwin spoke up.
“That’s exactly what I wanted to say. His soul was uncomfortable in his own body.”
“Yeah. Same case as Ophelia or Hiren.”
“Finger of Lies.”
“Not your average guy.”
Serein chimed in.
“But have we ever dealt with an average guy so far?”
Instead of answering, I just shrugged.
Sure enough, Ophelia and Hiren were monsters in the literal sense.
But the First Finger has a special ability.
Far more terrifying than handling bugs or turning into poison gas.
No need to lower the party’s morale by mentioning it here, though.
“Well, he’s still below Idria herself or the heavenly god in stature.”
“You’re casually treating the heavenly god as an enemy now too. Not that it’s surprising.”
“Anyway, we need to stay plenty cautious. Even against him.”
“Speaking of which, why did you accept the duel with Sobiers?”
“To expose his true identity to the world.”
Then Offense spoke up with a serious expression.
“Is he connected to one of our party members again?”
“Yeah.”
I said that and looked at Neril.
She tilted her head and asked.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. But the others will recognize his real name too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Padania Brook. The Fourth Hero is the First Finger.”
A shock incomparable to before swept over the party.
“Listen calmly.”
I relayed everything I’d learned from the Eye of Omniscience to my comrades without holding back.
Why Padania gave the Withering Jewel to Defir.
That 200 years ago, the work on “Kaild’s previous version” was already underway.
That a fake world requires “one more” lie on the same scale.
Everyone’s faces darkened noticeably.
With a sigh, I continued.
“You’ve probably guessed by now, but he knows the headband is how the mark was inscribed.”
“......”
“He’ll probably cut it during the tournament and erase the mark. To expose it to everyone.”
“B-but is it okay to be so calm about that?”
“Yeah. Asking for the tournament was Sobiers’s mistake. I’ll shatter his helmet.”
Breathing even stopped for a moment.
Offense asked.
“I get the intent. You’ll reveal in front of everyone that he’s Padania Brook.”
“Yeah.”
“But will he even have Padania’s face?”
“......?”
“Idria turned Ophelia into an old woman and vaporized Hiren entirely. There’s no guarantee it’ll be Padania’s exact face.”
A sharp point.
Serein asked with genuine surprise.
“Why’d you suddenly get so wise?”
“No idea how to answer that.”
“Maide, Offense is right. If we break the helmet and it’s a completely different face, it’ll backfire.”
“Hmm.”
“And even if Padania’s face is revealed, that alone doesn’t prove his connection to Idria.”
Fair point.
But I shrugged lightly.
“My explanation isn’t over yet.”
“Huh?”
“Breaking the helmet is just the start. More specifically...”
That’s when it happened.
Tap. A screen appeared.
It was glowing red.
‘Idria! Watching again?’
[Not Idria.]
‘Huh?’
[The feel is a bit different. Though it’s the same authority—someone’s watching us.]
‘......’
[Right after the oracle, it showed a red screen too, remember? Felt off then, but now the second time, I’m sure.]
Come to think of it, yeah, he’d said that.
Suddenly, Sobiers came to mind.
Can he use Idria’s space authority?
Does that mean Idria has some reason she can’t step forward herself?
‘Wait.’
This could be useful.
I signaled Adwin.
Thanks to the Atrium territory incident, Adwin quickly chanted the spell.
Soon, we could communicate secretly through our souls.
Neril said boredly.
[That peeping tom’s at it again. Idria.]
[Seems more like Sobiers.]
[Huh?]
[Trail said so. He’s the most sensitive to Idria’s presence, so it’s gotta be right.]
[What’s up with her? Weakened from faking the oracle?]
Neril probably said it offhand, but my gut told me she was spot on.
Makes sense—impersonating an oracle felt by the entire continent at once must’ve been exhausting.
[Feels right.]
[I was just guessing.]
[Your guesses turn out true pretty often.]
[Maide.]
[Anyway, Sobiers won’t notice our secret chat. Let’s pretend we’re just having normal talk out loud.]
Everyone nodded lightly.
Soon, we chattered idly with our voices.
Mostly trash-talking Kaild, which would seem “plausible” to Sobiers.
Through our souls, I said.
[Thanks for watching. He’s helping us.]