The Third Hero (11)
The criterion by which the Guild assigned an S-Rank commission was remarkably simple.
How much was the reward? That single measure determined a request's grade.
By that standard, the commission the Hero's party had posted—to find the Hero Lee Hansu—was nothing short of extraordinary.
They had poured nearly every last coin the party still possessed into it, all for the sake of finding him.
Their reason for going so far was just as simple.
They wanted to find Lee Hansu as quickly as possible.
Every guild in every city would post the S-Rank request at once, and thousands upon tens of thousands of adventurers would see it at least once.
They had been certain they would find him in no time at all.
If things went well, someone might even report a sighting within a few hours.
"Ugh… I've been waiting and waiting, and still nothing."
"Still no word at all?"
"No… unfortunately not."
But nothing of the sort happened.
A considerable stretch of time had passed since they filed the S-Rank commission, and yet nowhere was there any news that Lee Hansu had been found.
They could do nothing but wait in mounting impatience for word that never came.
Just where in the world was Lee Hansu?
The party members could no longer hide how stifled they felt.
"Let's just give up. We're clearly not going to find him anyway."
Unable to endure it any longer, Ayla shot to her feet and spoke into that suffocating frustration.
Searching for Lee Hansu was pointless, she said. They should simply abandon the whole thing.
From the very beginning, Ayla had opposed looking for him.
With no other options available, she had gone along with Luna's plan—but she had never liked it.
Even so, she had followed Luna's lead and waited for Lee Hansu. Waiting had produced nothing.
There was no telling when—or if—he would turn up. They could not sit here forever.
"…"
The rest of the party agreed with her.
They were already in an unprecedented crisis, cast out of the Hero's party.
In a situation like that, they could not afford to waste time clinging to an uncertain hope.
Every minute, every second, demanded swift action.
"Ugh… Then what do we do?"
Luna understood how the others felt perfectly well.
She had believed Lee Hansu was their hope. She had persuaded the others who refused to believe it and even posted the guild commission—but if they could not actually find him, none of it meant a thing.
If an S-Rank request still failed to bring him out of hiding, there was nothing left to try.
So what now?
She asked Ayla whether she had any proper plan.
"For now… we go back to the Empire."
Of course Ayla had no real solution either.
Cut loose from the Hero's party, there was precious little they could still do—and their position was dire.
Even so, returning to the Empire was the best move available to them now.
"We wait for him there. And then we talk."
They would return to the Empire and wait for Alex.
Assuming he came back, he would not stage a rebellion the moment he arrived.
He would need at least some period of preparation before he tried anything—rebellion or otherwise.
In that window, Ayla intended to speak with him, negotiate, and drag out whatever common ground she could.
"Ayla… but are you all right with that? Will you give him the baptism?"
"…I can't do that. We'll have to persuade him some other way."
Of course, Alex might demand the Saintess's baptism again.
Even if it came to that, Ayla had no intention of yielding on the baptism.
It was a matter bound up with her own convictions.
But she was prepared to offer plenty of other things she could give up.
She did not know what Alex would want—but she meant to do everything in her power to bring him around.
She would try. She could only hope things went well.
"And if… it doesn't work?"
They also had to consider the possibility that it would not.
Karne, the elf, still looking uneasy, put the question to Ayla.
If they failed to reach any agreement and Alex cast them aside—if they never returned to the Hero's party and never achieved what they wanted—then what?
"Then we side with the Empire."
There would be no other choice.
Ayla spoke the words carefully.
The party fell silent, each of them absorbing what she had said.
In plain terms, Ayla was talking about going to war.
"For now, we head back to the Empire."
Well… there was no need to wrestle with the hard problems ahead of time.
The party members rose from their seats.
For the moment, they meant to return to the Empire.
So this is what it means to face the Demon King?
Entering the Demon King's Castle and coming face-to-face with her had not felt anything like what he had imagined.
Because of that, he had found himself relaxing without meaning to—but he could not afford to.
No matter how absurd she looked, the one standing before him was still the Demon King.
She was not a being to take lightly.
I don't know why, but she looks thoroughly furious.
Moreover, the Demon King's expression upon seeing him was far from pleasant.
She looked as though the mere sight of Alex had ignited a deep, simmering rage.
She did not bother to put it into words, yet the aura rolling off her was unmistakable.
Why was she already this angry?
He had no idea—but one thing was certain: he could not let his guard down for a second.
Alex ran his hand along the Holy Sword at his hip and steeled himself for battle.
"So you are the Hero?"
The Demon King regarded him, let out a brief sigh, and rose from her seat.
Then she strode forward, preparing for combat even as she asked the question with open disbelief.
"I am."
"Haa. Just what is the Empire thinking…"
The Demon King tried to keep her feelings in check, but she could not hide them.
Disappointment, and the anger that rode on its heels—a tangle of emotions pressed close to the surface.
She had held certain expectations of her own.
A Hero named Herald had come for her; the next Hero would follow; and that next Hero, she had been sure, would be Lee Hansu.
But the Hero standing before her now was not Lee Hansu.
Far from it—he was a Hero of a far lower caliber even than Herald.
That was the source of the Demon King's present attitude.
"Why are you sighing?"
Of course Alex had no idea why she was behaving this way.
But it was glaringly obvious that the Demon King was looking down on him.
"Is it not obvious? Every Hero who comes to me is weaker than the last…"
"That's quite a blow to a man's pride."
The Demon King did not regard him as a Hero. She did not regard him as a rival.
She treated him as one might treat a passing ant.
He had expected the Demon King might be arrogant—but an attitude like that was more than enough to stoke his fighting spirit.
He was the Hero. If she would not treat him as one, he would simply have to make her.
"But I am different from the two who came before me."
Alex drew the sword at his waist.
The moment he raised it, the blade began to shed a pure, radiant light.
The Holy Sword—forged long ago by the fairies for the purpose of slaying the Demon King. He was its bearer.
He told the Demon King never to underestimate him.
"Oho… the Holy Sword."
At the sight of it, the Demon King's eyes changed.
Even she had no choice but to acknowledge the blade in his hand.
The sword Alex held was, without question, the genuine Holy Sword.
With a weapon like that, he might well pierce skin that ordinary steel could not so much as scratch.
For a fleeting moment, a spark of anticipation lit her gaze.
"Tsk… pathetic… Truly a pearl necklace on a pig…"
But the disappointment returned almost at once.
The Holy Sword had briefly kindled something in her—only for it to die just as quickly.
However fine the weapon, the man swinging it was hopelessly inadequate.
Why was a sword of that caliber in the hands of a man like this?
It only made the waste more galling.
"Arrogant to the end. I'll see how long you can keep that look on your face."
Of course Alex had no way of understanding the Demon King's regret.
Watching her continue to dismiss him even after seeing the Holy Sword, he tightened his grip until his knuckles went white.
"Here I come!!! Receive me, Demon King!"
And he charged—aiming straight for her throat.
"Huh…? Wha…?"
The outcome was obvious to everyone except Alex.
Catching the Holy Sword bare-handed?
The Demon King simply closed her fingers around the blade.
Without so much as a scratch…
Fall back—now—
Faced with something he could not comprehend, Alex tried to wrench himself free and retreat.
But the sword would not move.
Wh… what is this strength…
Pinned by the Demon King's grip, the blade did not budge an inch.
Even that alone was beyond anything he had imagined—but it was not the end.
Crack.
Crrrack!!!
The sound of metal shattering followed hard on its heels.
"Wh… what? The Holy Sword…?"
It broke?
Hairline fractures spidered out from where the Demon King held the blade—
and in the next instant the Holy Sword burst apart, shattering into fragments as if it had never been whole.
Staring at what no longer even resembled a sword, Alex's face went blank with emptiness.
"Nothing more than the sorrow of a Holy Sword that met the wrong master."
Where Alex stood hollowed out, the Demon King looked perfectly at ease.
Step. Step.
She began to walk toward him, unhurried.
In that moment, Alex knew.
She meant to crush him.
"Hhk… hhaah…"
Terror seized him.
Only now did he understand that something had gone terribly wrong.
That thing was a monster.
Not an enemy he could face.
He had to get out of here—immediately.
He had to run.
Alex's judgment was swift.
Screaming, he fled without so much as a glance behind him.
"Gah…!"
But perhaps he had bolted too hard, too fast.
He went sprawling.
Still—he had to get up and keep running.
He planted his hands and tried to push himself upright.
There was no time to waste.
He needed his legs under him again… but…
Something was wrong.
He tried to stand. His body would not rise.
"You do not even possess the fundamentals of a Hero."
The Demon King was already standing in front of him.
And she set something down before his eyes.
Something placed there by hands soaked a vivid red.
"AAAAAARGH!!!!"
They were his own two legs.