The Verdict and the Companion
The underground prison echoed with a soft, lingering voice.
“Hero. Hero… What was your world like, Hero?”
“Hm? Out of nowhere?”
“Just because. I’ve seen it through the magic circle, but… I still want to hear it from you. I want to know what kind of place you lived in.”
Hwian, sitting in a corner of the cell, tilted his head with an awkward expression at the sudden question. When he looked down, he saw Serena resting her head on his thigh. He gently stroked her hair as she blinked sleepily, then spoke in a quiet voice.
“…It wasn’t that interesting. The environment was bad, and there were way too many people crammed together for no reason.”
“It must have been a lively place.”
“It was, but that didn’t make it all good. Corruption wasn’t much different from here, you know? Security was probably better, though.”
He continued speaking in a casual, offhand manner and lifted his gaze. Beyond the dim stone ceiling, faint memories of his distant homeland flickered in his mind. The smell of car exhaust mixed with spring breeze. Neatly lined street trees and noisy students chattering away. The bright glow of LED signs blooming at night. A bustling modern city. A place completely different from this one.
Yet ironically, he hadn’t particularly liked his homeland. The exhaust fumes that clogged his nose, the drunkards in the back alleys shouting and cursing. The dizzying smell of fresh paint on apartment buildings and the school auditorium that had been under construction for years. He hadn’t liked any of it.
But even so.
“…Still, it’s a place I want to return to.”
It was a longing that cut deep into his bones. The single muttered sentence carried an intense heat. He locked the burning desire behind his eyelids and let out a low breath.
To him, it had been six years. Six long years without being able to go home. Whether he liked it or hated it, who wouldn’t miss their hometown? From the past to the present, there was only one thing he truly wanted.
Return to his original world. That was all.
“I have friends there. And family. Specifically, two parents and an older sister.”
“…”
“I have to go back, no matter what. …They’ll be waiting for me.”
Serena, still lying on his leg, quietly closed her eyes at the sound of his voice. What rose within her was guilt. A deep-rooted guilt for having summoned someone so desperately longing for home into this world.
“……You must have been loved by your family.”
“Just a normal family. My parents are healthy, and my sister is annoying.”
“…You’ll have to defeat the Demon King, then.”
“…”
Rustle. Rustle.
Serena shifted from her lying position to look straight at Hwian’s face. Staring directly into his eyes, which still held traces of sorrow and anger, she asked.
“Hey, Hero.”
“What?”
“…On your journey, can I come with you?”
A small wish. A selfish request.
Hwian looked momentarily stunned, as if caught off guard. Then a faint, bitter smile crossed his face as he spoke.
“A little kid like you would just get yourself killed if you followed me.”
It was a gentle refusal. At the soft yet firm tone of his voice, Serena turned her head away again, looking either sad or sulky.
“…I’m not little. I may not look it, but I’m a proper adult.”
“Adult by this world’s standards, you mean. And age doesn’t matter anyway. No. With that small body, what could you even do? Without equipment, skills, or resolve, you’d just end up as a monster’s meal.”
Hwian’s large hand gently brushed Serena’s bangs. In the already dark underground, he softly covered her eyes and whispered soothingly.
“For now, just sleep. You’ll be up all night at this rate.”
“…”
Sleepiness washed over her. There were still so many things she wanted to say, but her already exhausted body couldn’t resist the overwhelming drowsiness and slowly drifted away from consciousness.
‘Hero… sir…’
Don’t you hate me? What will you do first once you leave the palace? Do you have a concrete plan for how you’ll move? …If I meet the right conditions, would you take me with you?
“…”
In the now-quiet underground prison, only the sound of two people breathing lingered. Hwian checked Serena, who had fallen asleep first on his lap, then leaned his head against the hard stone wall and tried to sleep. And so the night deepened.
“…Mmm.”
A faint ray of sunlight tapped at his eyelids. When he opened his eyes in a daze, he saw a sunlit stone wall.
“Huh… So sunlight does reach here.”
He glanced down at his lap half-consciously, but Serena was already gone. She must have woken up first and left. A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
‘I hope she doesn’t dwell on what I said yesterday.’
“Good morning, Hero.”
“Oh, Roy.”
As he stretched his body, a boy’s voice reached his ears. When he looked up, he saw the Royal Guard adjutant clad in golden armor.
“You’re working hard from the crack of dawn too.”
“This is nothing. More importantly…”
Roy approached with steady steps and opened the cell door. Beyond the iron clank of the opening door, he continued.
“His Majesty is waiting for you.”
It’s finally here, Hwian thought.
“Please follow me.”
“Always in such a hurry. …Well, whatever. There’s no harm in getting it over with quickly.”
Hwian brushed himself off and stood, then obediently followed the boy up the prison stairs. As he stepped out into the pouring sunlight, he became aware of the whispering gazes focused on him and continued climbing higher.
—The warmth Serena had left on his knee the night before still lingered.
The trial was boring. At least in his eyes, it was an utterly meaningless stretch of time.
“This man not only attacked a prestigious ducal house! He dared to draw his sword against Her Highness the Princess, and on top of that, he spread false ledgers to humiliate her…!! Along with the knights who aided him, they all deserve to have their heads severed, Your Majesty!!”
A bald nobleman standing on the princess’s side was shouting at the top of his lungs. Behind him sat Elisie with a nervous expression. Had she paid him to speak for her? Or was he simply a pawn of the noble faction hoping the princess wouldn’t fall? Either way, it didn’t matter.
Hwian stood calmly before the bloodshot gazes of the nobles, resting his chin on his hand with a relaxed air.
“Y-you scoundrel…!! How dare you act so insolently before His Majesty and Their Highnesses—”
“—Enough.”
From the deepest part of the audience chamber, King Jin Adonia’s voice rang out with majestic weight. Watching the princess and several nobles turn deathly pale in an instant, Hwian let out a short snort.
The outcome was already decided, yet they’re still struggling.
The trial was already in its final stages. Every possible argument and counterargument had already been made, and the scales had long since tipped toward Elisie’s guilt. She had prepared quite a bit in her own way—preparing false witnesses, tampering with documents, and desperately denying everything with her words. Her frantic efforts to reject her crimes were almost laughable.
But the public opinion she had barely managed to sway was overturned in a single moment when Serion Adonia appeared. Some of the ledgers and documents stored in the bandit stronghold, the results of their interrogations, circumstantial evidence and testimonies, and so on. The audience chamber froze cold at the evidence Serion had brought with a smile.
No matter how thoroughly one tried to hide it, a long tail was bound to be caught eventually. The evidence pouring in from two directions easily turned her excuses into bubbles that popped and vanished.
In the end, Elisie—who had been betrayed by both the bandits she controlled and Serion—could do nothing but tremble as she waited for Jin Adonia’s verdict.
“—I command Elisie, First Princess.”
“F-Father…”
At the voice that held not a trace of affection, the First Princess’s body shook violently. A tense silence filled the air. Cold eyes devoid of emotion.
“Reflect upon yourself in the deepest part of the royal palace. Abstain from food and drink, and weigh the gravity of your sins.”
“…Ugh! U-uuu…!”
It was essentially an order of confinement. How long she would be locked away was unknown, but the fact that she wouldn’t even be given proper meals suggested it would be quite harsh.
She’s not resisting. Unexpected.
Was she choosing to obey the king’s words after all? Watching the First Princess grit her teeth yet lower her head in acceptance, Hwian nodded with a look of mild fascination.
“Next, Hero Hwian.”
And then it was his turn. When he turned his head, Jin Adonia continued in a cold voice.
“I express my gratitude for uncovering the sins of the princess and the duke. However, that does not mean you are without fault.”
“…”
“The crime of drawing a sword against royalty. And the crime of destroying a ducal house. I hereby sentence Hero Hwian to banishment from the royal palace. Wander the world, accomplish great deeds, and raise the honor of the kingdom. Until you achieve this, you may not set foot in the royal palace. Furthermore—”
Banishment from the royal palace. A surprisingly light punishment given the severity of his crimes. A few nobles frowned, displeased with the leniency, but fortunately none dared to directly challenge the king’s verdict.
Pretty much what I expected.
Hwian met Jin Adonia’s gaze and gave a quiet nod. His life in the royal palace was finally over. Thinking back on this long yet short month, a small chuckle unconsciously slipped out. A faint sense of nostalgia crept in, but he didn’t show it.
While the remaining minor rulings continued, Hwian stroked his chin, thinking about his plans for the future. Things were going to get busy for a while. There would be dangers unlike anything he had faced before. As he let out a long breath—
“—Wait just a moment!”
A voice suddenly pierced through the silence.