Prologue: The Hero's Banishment
"What? Are you seriously saying that right now? You're stripping me of my title as Hero?"
I was hearing something I could not believe.
I had just returned to the Empire after a brutal, blood-soaked battle with the Demon King — and this was what they had to say to me?
Far from offering congratulations or even a scrap of gratitude to the Hero who had fought until body and soul were both in tatters, the Empire was spouting nonsense about banishing me.
I couldn't help the rough words that came out of my mouth. Because this was nowhere close to how you treated a Hero who had given everything he had.
"Are you people joking? What happened to all that begging when you were on your knees pleading with someone who didn't even want the job?"
I wasn't even from this world to begin with.
The place I was born was a blue planet called Earth — a world completely different from this one, this planet called Altena.
The only reason I was here at all was because the Empire had summoned me without so much as asking. They yanked me out of a peaceful life on Earth, dropped me here, and immediately demanded I become their Hero.
Naturally, I wanted nothing to do with it. Become a Hero in some place I didn't even understand? Why should I risk my life protecting a world that wasn't mine? I had neither the obligation nor the duty.
But they begged me every single day without fail, and eventually I accepted the role.
It had only been a year since they'd been on their knees, wailing that the Empire would fall without me, pleading for me to save them just once.
"And now you want to banish me? Do you people even have a conscience?"
But here we were. One year after my summoning, the Empire had decided it was time to throw me out.
Of course I was furious. I was so floored I could barely get the words out.
Had these people all lost their minds?
"Do not raise your voice. Hero… no. Lee Hansu. Do you truly not understand why the Empire seeks to banish you? You were defeated by the Demon King. A Hero, defeated by the Demon King — is that not reason enough?"
"What kind of garbage is that?"
And then I heard something even more absurd.
That I had been defeated by the Demon King. A claim so ridiculous it didn't just fall flat — it shattered on impact.
I lost to the Demon King? That never happened.
"Who said that? Who's claiming I lost to the Demon King? I never lost. The fight just isn't finished yet."
This was blatant fabrication and propaganda.
I had absolutely not been defeated by the Demon King. Yes, I had set out to kill her and come back without succeeding — but failing to finish the job was not the same as losing. It was a draw. Nothing more.
"That is a defeat."
"What the hell are you talking about?! How does a draw count as a loss?!"
"It is a defeat in all but name. Every Hero before you slew the Demon King in a single stroke. A Demon King is something a Hero is simply expected to defeat, is it not? One might even say you have tarnished the name of every Hero who came before you."
So that was their line. I had "effectively" lost, because the Heroes of old had always finished the Demon King in one go.
A Hero fighting the Demon King to a standstill was unprecedented, and that was why they were calling it a de facto defeat.
What kind of garbage logic was that?
Had any of them ever actually fought the Demon King?
"Then the Demon Kings those past Heroes fought must have been pushovers."
Past Heroes, my ass.
Even if those guys crawled out of their graves and showed up here, I would bet everything they couldn't take down the Demon King I faced. Hell, if they all ganged up on her at once, she'd wipe the entire lot of them out without breaking a sweat.
"If I'd been up against an ordinary Demon King, I'd have put her down ages ago. The one I fought is on a completely different level."
The power of the Demon King I had faced defied all reason. A monster among monsters. The only reason this place was still standing was because I had been holding her back.
I guarantee it — if I disappeared, this Empire would collapse in an instant. That was how far beyond anyone's ability to handle the Demon King truly was.
"Know your place, failed Hero. Do not insult those who came before you."
"Hah. What would some soft bastard living it up in the safe, comfortable capital know about any of this?"
But no matter what I said, the people standing in front of me simply could not hear it. It felt like talking to a wall.
And these were the people running the Empire…
I sighed. Maybe they needed to actually face annihilation before anything got through their thick skulls.
"Hey. One of you say something. I'm about to lose my mind here."
In the end, I turned to my party members. In a situation this suffocating, they were the only ones I could still trust. I was sure they would help set the record straight.
You all know how much I've done for you, right?
"How pathetic, Hero."
What did this bitch just say?
The first of my party to open her mouth was the Saintess, Ayla. She looked at me and clicked her tongue.
"Ayla, are you done talking? You're calling me pathetic? This isn't the time for jokes."
Ayla and I had never gotten along particularly well. As the Saintess of the Goddess Church, she had endlessly tried to convert me — and I was not a religious man. That alone had been a constant source of friction between us.
But even so, this was not the kind of thing you said right now.
"Are you still sulking because I'm not a follower of the Goddess Church? Hey. After everything I've done for you, you don't get to talk to me like that. Not in this situation."
We had still been party members who had shared hardship and triumph alike. We hadn't always seen eye to eye, but after missions we'd eat good food together, talk, and live like actual comrades.
And now she was saying this. The betrayal cut far deeper than any lecture from some ignorant chancellor. Getting stabbed by the axe you trusted hurt a hell of a lot more.
"I merely called a pathetic thing what it is. You failed in a way no Hero should, and now you insult every Hero who came before you. I always knew you were pathetic, but I never imagined you would sink this low… Well. Perhaps this is for the best. The next Hero can be chosen from among the faithful of the Goddess Church."
"You little—"
So the old saying was right — never take in a black-haired beast. Kindness was wasted on her.
Even if we had bickered constantly, I had elevated a mere Saintess candidate into a full Saintess, taught her advanced skills, and helped her gain real influence within the Goddess Church. And this was how she repaid me?
How could a person be this revolting? And this was the woman who, of all people, was supposed to lead the Goddess Church as its Saintess.
She was no better than the Empire that was casting me out.
"Hey. The rest of you got nothing to say? Don't tell me you agree with Ayla."
Surely the others would stand up for me. I looked at the remaining party members, certain that even if Ayla had turned on me, they would still believe in me.
"Uh… well…"
Hah. So that was how it was going to be.
The others were no different. Aside from Ayla, the rest of my party just glanced around uneasily, not one of them stepping forward to help me.
"Hero… I don't dislike you."
"Right. Luna. At least you know. You know how strong I am."
"You are strong, Hero, that's true… but…"
Luna, the one I was closest to in the party, stammered as she tried to throw me a line. But even she couldn't bring herself to fully back me.
Was I actually weak for a Hero? Even Luna didn't seem convinced I was stronger than the Heroes of the past.
As if those past Heroes and I were even comparable.
"Hah. I can't even prove it. This is insane."
Part of me wanted to drag every last one of those dead "legendary Heroes" back with necromancy and beat them into the dirt myself. Maybe then people would finally understand how strong I was.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
"Fine. Fine. You all want me gone, is that it? I'll leave."
Why should I have to prove anything to them anyway?
I was already thoroughly sick of the Empire. If we couldn't stand the sight of each other, the cleanest solution was for me to walk away.
"I don't feel like playing Hero for the Empire anymore either."
After everything I had poured into this place, not a single person in the Empire tried to stop me. Even the last shred of warmth I had left for them vanished without a trace.
"But don't you dare regret this. Even if you come crawling back later, crying and begging — I will never be your Hero again."
Even if they found me and groveled for forgiveness, I would never absolve them. I had given them everything I had, and they were the ones who threw me away.
Even if the Demon King brought the Empire to the brink of annihilation, I would not save them.
I wasn't the Hero anymore.
And so I left the Empire.
Just like that, my year-long journey as a Hero came to an end.