The Third Hero (12)
"Gyaaah... Gyaaaaaah...!!!!"
Alex's own severed legs swam into his vision.
And only then did the pain finally hit him.
It was a pain beyond anything he could have imagined — so vast, so absolute, that for a long stretch all he could do was scream. Thought itself was impossible. He needed time simply to grow accustomed to the agony.
"How noisy..."
But the Demon King had no intention of waiting for him. There was no reason she should. If anything, she had every reason to kill him — he had been wailing on and on with that grating, unpleasant voice.
"Hhk... hhk... hhuk..."
At her words, Alex had no choice but to choke back his sobs. The pain had not gone anywhere. Unbearable, hideous agony still flooded every inch of his body — but a greater force had taken hold of him: terror.
He had to live. The moment he crossed the Demon King before him, he was dead. So Alex stopped crying.
"Please spare me. I was wrong. Please, just spare me."
He had to survive somehow. He wanted so desperately to live. Alex began to beg the Demon King in the most pathetic way imaginable — groveling like a dog, his face twisted with regret that he had ever dared to stand against a being like her.
"Please spare me. I'm begging you. Please, just let me live. I'll do anything."
He prayed she would show mercy. If it meant keeping his life, there was nothing he wouldn't do.
"Hmm... Anything, you say?"
Watching him, the Demon King asked again, slowly. Was that the truth?
"Yes. It is."
Alex lifted his head with a surge of hope. Maybe — just maybe — she was going to let him live.
"And if We commanded you to betray the Empire? Would you do even that?"
"Yes. Without question. Please, just spare my life."
There was nothing to hesitate over. If she would only let him live, he would betray the Empire a hundred times over. Alex poured every ounce of desperate will into the words, trying to win her favor — trying, by any means, to cling to his life.
"Haa. How pathetic. Truly..."
But everything Alex did had the opposite effect. He had sworn his loyalty, and yet the Demon King's expression only grew colder — the look one might give a worm.
"Uh... uhk...!"
Alex never even understood why she wore that face before she killed him. His throat was cut, and he could live no longer. Leaving his corpse behind, the Demon King returned to the chamber she had come from.
"Do not anger Us further."
Her face as she walked back was deeply displeased. That that thing had been a Hero... Even the fact that she had wasted emotion, however briefly, on a creature less than an insect made her feel unclean.
"Haa... Why does that Hero not come?"
After dealing with a Hero who was no Hero at all, the emptiness inside her only deepened. She had hoped for Lee Hansu — and instead of anyone who could even stand beside him, she had been sent something lower than a bug. The disappointment was crushing.
"Does the Empire take Us for a fool?"
And that disappointment slowly curdled into rage. The result was already written. The so-called Hero who was no Hero had died by the Demon King's hand. Why did the Empire keep sending her trash like this?
Ever since meeting Lee Hansu, she had waited for the day he would return. But the Empire never sent him. They sent only Heroes far beneath him — and that was a clear act of contempt. Whether they knew it or not, those who slighted the Demon King would not be forgiven. The urge to sweep the arrogant humans away right then and there surged through her.
"We shall wait one last time."
But a Demon King had dignity to maintain. She forced the fury from her twisted expression. A sovereign who bore the name of Demon King was, as ever, obliged to grant a chance. So she would grant one final opportunity.
But if... even after that chance was given, they still did not send Lee Hansu — then truly terrible things might come to pass.
The elves' elixir should be more than valuable enough for Alex.
The hero's party had decided to wait for Alex in the Empire. They meant to prepare negotiations with him once he returned from the Demon Realm — and to rejoin the hero's party. So they had been thorough in their preparations, drafting every question and answer in advance, mapping out exactly how they would win Alex over. Nearly everything was ready.
Karne intended to offer him the elves' treasure: an elixir. Brewed by secret elven methods and passed down through their people, it was something Alex would surely covet. With that in hand, they could steer the talks smoothly in their favor.
"Mmm... He's not coming."
But the one person who mattered — Alex — was nowhere to be found. Karne, the elf of the hero's party, sighed as she waited. A great deal of time had already passed with no word of him at all. Judging by when he had set out for the Demon Realm, he should have arrived long ago. So why hadn't he?
There was nothing they could do but sit with their mounting frustration.
"Th... This is bad."
And then they were hit with a devastating truth.
"They say Hero Alex is dead..."
Nafira, the beastman of the hero's party, came running in a panic and delivered the news.
"What...? Is that true?"
"Yeah. I heard it from a reliable source. It's certain..."
It was almost impossible to believe — and yet it couldn't be false. Nafira's information was almost never wrong. Alex really must have died.
For them, this was completely beyond anything they had expected.
"What do we do now..."
Until this moment they had been preparing for Alex's triumphant return after slaying the Demon King. Every plan had just gone up in smoke. Did this mean they could never rejoin the hero's party? Anxiety clawed through Karne's mind. If that happened, the World Tree could not be saved — and then the elves would...
"Maybe this is actually for the best?"
While Karne was drowning in dread, one person wore a perfectly calm expression. The Saintess, Ayla. She said Alex's death didn't particularly matter to her.
"It is unexpected, but from our perspective, Alex not coming back alive might actually be better."
Ayla hadn't predicted he would die either. But hadn't it worked out well in the end? She had never much cared for Alex.
"A new Hero will be chosen anyway."
When the next Hero was named, the party could simply make their request of that one instead. It would be far simpler, and far fewer complications would arise. She had no idea who would be chosen — but anyone would be better than Alex.
"Mmm... You think so?"
Put that way, it did make a certain sense. Karne found herself agreeing with Ayla. The Empire would appoint another Hero, and if they asked that Hero for help, there was nothing they couldn't accomplish. It wasn't a problem worth taking so hard.
"Good. Then let's move. Quickly... They'll be choosing the next Hero around now."
The hero's party prepared to depart at once — already expecting that this time, they would meet a proper Hero.
"Like this?"
"Yeah. Good."
She was improving faster than I'd expected.
I kept sending Aji out to kill monsters, and my job through it all was correction. I fixed whatever needed fixing in her movements, then threw her into the next fight, then repeated the whole cycle again and again. The result was that Aji had grown a great deal. She really did have talent.
Watching her filled me with a solid sense of pride — and made me want to train her even harder.
"That's enough. It's getting late. Shall we head back for now?"
"Okay."
But the sun had already set, and further training would be difficult. Better to stop here for today and get some proper rest. The moment I told her to come back, Aji returned at once. I took her with me into the city and found a decent inn.
"Order whatever you want."
"Whoa...!"
She'd worked hard. Letting her eat a lot wouldn't kill me. Aji lit up with pure delight and started ordering one dish after another. Watching her pile on everything she wanted, she looked as happy as if she owned the whole world.
I, of course, did not. That was all money... Honestly, it stung a little. Taking Aji around with me wasn't even profitable to begin with — and now she was ordering this much food. For a second I wondered if I should snatch it all back.
But I let it go. Once Aji finished a commission, I'd squeeze every coin back out of her twice over. That would settle it.
"Hm...?"
While I was entertaining those worthless thoughts, something caught my eye by chance.
"Huh... A newspaper?"
It was a newspaper — and a fairly recent one at that.
"Been a while. Might as well take a look."
It had been quite some time since I'd last read a paper, back in the Artes Kingdom. Plenty must have happened in the meantime, and it would all be in here. Just how much of a mess had the Empire made of things while I was gone?
With the same feeling as cracking open a novel whose sequel I'd been dying to read, I unfolded the newspaper.