The Incompetent Hero's Triumphant Homecoming

The road home — back to Hero Leon's homeland, the Prynn Kingdom.

With my transcendent stats, even walking straight through the night for days on end barely left a scratch on me. Meals were nothing more than a few scraps of meat scavenged along the way. For Baekryeon, though — still firmly within the realm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of ordinary humanity — three days of nonstop marching, day and night, was clearly more than she could take.

"You look completely wrecked."

"I am... fine."

She looked anything but fine. Her legs trembled, sweat poured off her in sheets, and her eyes had lost all focus — the light gone out of them entirely. A zombie would have moved with more life.

"If you're exhausted, why not rest?"

"I am... fine... truly."

"Fine? You can barely string a sentence together."

"Doryeong... seems... to be... struggling."

I sighed. Anyone with eyes could see she was the one falling apart, yet she still refused to yield. The luminous skin she'd had when I first met her was now dry and cracked. That peerless beauty had faded into something closer to a hospital patient, dark circles sunk deep beneath her eyes from three days without proper sleep. She looked half a walking corpse — and still her iron will refused to break.

A girl raised in ignorance for the sake of revenge, who had taken up the sword and polished her craft until she could stand without shame among true swordsmen. Stubborn to the bone. It suited her.

The time is...

The sun had already dipped low. The moon was rising, and a red dusk painted the sky. A perfect hour to stop, so I found a rough spot by the roadside and sat. She looked at me, puzzled, as I settled onto the dirt after hours of unbroken walking.

"I'm resting. I don't know where you're headed, but anyone who walks three days straight without stopping is clearly in a hurry. If you want to go on ahead, go."

"...Then I, too, shall... rest a moment."

Only then did Baekryeon collapse into a sit. She toppled sideways like a puppet with its strings cut, gasping for every breath she'd been holding back, and began kneading her swollen legs.

"Why are you even following me?"

"Following...? Our paths... simply happen to coincide."

"Your paths just happen to coincide for three days of nonstop pursuit?"

She had no answer for that. Baekryeon turned her gaze away in silence.

Three days ago, when I'd first met her and she'd begged to join my party, I had refused. I'd expected her to go her own way. Instead, she had simply started trailing after me.

Why are you following me?

Following? Our roads merely happen to run the same way, Doryeong. Since chance has set our paths together, walking in pleasant conversation is a charm of its own — and a benefit to us both, is it not?

Shameless beyond measure. I'd let it slide anyway. She wasn't tagging along to stab me in the back, so there was no real reason to care. I'd figured a hard enough pace would shake her off somewhere along the road. That had been two days ago. I genuinely hadn't expected her to chase me all the way to this state.

"I'm resting here for a full day."

"..."

"Just so you know."

"Doryeong is truly kind."

With that, Baekryeon staggered back to her feet somehow.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Curious, are you?"

"If you wander off in that condition and get yourself hurt, it'll leave a bad taste in my mouth."

She'd brought this on herself, sure — but her current ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠state was partly my fault too. If something went wrong now and it turned serious, that would sit even worse. If we'd had nothing to do with each other, maybe I could shrug it off. We didn't.

"The constant walking has left me... unclean. I heard water nearby, so I thought to wash. Or would you care to come along?"

"...No. I'm good."

Water, huh. I hadn't been paying attention, but now that I listened, the sound of a stream really was close. Sharp senses, that one.

"Hah. Anyway. Prynn Kingdom should be coming up soon."

At this pace I'd arrive within a few days — but factoring in Baekryeon's condition, the trip would drag out considerably. I'd wasted time clearing the labyrinth, true, but there was still room on the clock. No need to rush... under normal circumstances, a messenger should have brought news of Prynn Kingdom by now. This time, there was no messenger at all. Confirming the exact situation was going to be difficult.

"For all I know, the large-scale assault on Prynn Kingdom never even happened — the same way meeting Baekryeon never happened in the original."

Even the smallest actions were already rewriting the story I knew. From here on out, every move would need careful thought.

First — the Demon King's forces leading this attack are probably...

One of those five seats of the First Order — Elfenreto the Lich, the Deathcaller — stood gazing down upon the capital of a small kingdom.

"...Has word come from those fools?"

"No reply as yet, First Order."

"...Pitiful creatures."

Elfenreto listened to the Second Order's report, then turned his back on the capital. Countless troops encircled the city, waiting only for his order to charge. Most of them were already dead — undead. He had bound them with a Lich's power and dragged them here, and now he clicked his tongue.

"One day. In one day, if they have not surrendered, every force under my command will storm that little capital and erase it."

"And if they surrender before then?"

Elfenreto closed his mouth for a moment. He considered, then spoke.

"It changes nothing. To shatter the spirit of the Sword King's heir — Hero Leon — behead them all, and hang the corpses high."

"Understood, First Order."

An immortal army ringed the Prynn Kingdom. The reason they had suddenly begun to move was simple. A revelation had been delivered to them from the Demon King the Black Dawn Society served — the Witch, Timael.

Hero Leon. That he had become the Sword King's heir struck the First Order as unexpected — and that was all. Most of them had lived two centuries or more. They understood, viscerally, what the title of Sword King meant. Legend held that the Sword King's power rivaled even the Demon King's, and several among the First Order had tasted that power firsthand.

Had the Sword King himself stirred, they would have been on high alert. But the Sword King had fallen silent two hundred years ago and had not moved since. And now — a successor. A successor who was a Hero. That alone might have been dangerous. The problem was which Hero had inherited it.

Even if an Incompetent Hero inherits the Sword King's techniques, he is no threat to us.

That was not Elfenreto's opinion alone. Every First Order mage shared it. Still — a revelation delivered by the Demon King they served could not simply be ignored. And so Lich Elfenreto, alone among them capable of commanding undead ideal for a siege, had come to this place.

"Well... if he comes himself, all the better. Hero Leon. Your despair shall be the cornerstone that paints this world black..."

A skull could not truly smile, but Elfenreto sneered toward the Incompetent Hero — the Sword King's successor, somewhere out there in the world. A Hero who failed to protect his homeland and fell into despair. How perfect.

"F-First Order!!"

"? What is it? Have those fools finally sent a messenger?"

"N-no, it's not that... We're under attack!"

"Oh? An attack. So the ones who slipped away called for reinforcements after all. Well then — who came? The Holy City is far too distant to arrive so soon."

The Second Order could not answer properly. Or rather — seemed to be wrestling with whether the answer should be spoken at all.

"Why the silence?"

"I-it's just... there are only two attackers."

"...What?"

For a moment, he was certain he had misheard. Not two thousand. Not two hundred. Not even twenty.

"Two...?"

"Y-yes! But they're so strong we can't stop them at all—"

BOOOOM!!!

The sound of combat rolled in from afar — distant, yet unmistakably clear. Two attackers. Could it be the other two Heroes? No — he had already confirmed their positions. None could reach here in time. The only Hero who might arrive relatively soon was Abel.

And before that — a Hero always traveled with a party. A Hero's party of only two people...?

"...It can't be."

In that instant, a revelation flashed through Elfenreto's mind. The same revelation he knew, that every First Order knew — the very reason he had come to this place.

"It can't be... Hero Leon...?"

"What are we to do..."

Adomos Prynn, King of the Prynn Kingdom, let out a long sigh and looked upon his ministers. None of them could readily answer. They only fidgeted, reading one another's faces. Adomos made no effort to hide the darkness settling over his features; his body trembled.

"A Hero was born to our kingdom, and all rejoiced... yet he came to be called the Incompetent Hero, a laughingstock to the entire world. And now the Demon King's army sits at our very gates, threatening us... What are we to do..."

Words closer to lament than speech. And every soul present shared them.

A Hero was no mere symbol. The overwhelming power to fell the Demon King was, in itself, a nation's military might. The Prynn Kingdom was a weak country, pressed hard by its neighbors on every side. That a Hero had been born here had filled not only the palace but every common citizen with joy.

Time passed. The other two Heroes carved out great renown in their respective domains. Hero Leon, meanwhile, earned no glory at all — only the contemptuous title of Incompetent Hero. The entire kingdom grieved. And roughly one month ago, when word reached Prynn that Hero Leon had vanished without even attending the exchange gathering, King Adomos Prynn had collapsed on the spot.

"For now, we must discuss how to answer the Demon King's forces surrounding our walls. Fortunately, a messenger was confirmed to have broken through the undead legion and escaped safely. He will have ridden hard to request aid from neighboring nations and the Holy City. We must hold the walls with everything we have until that aid arrives."

"Have you even seen the numbers outside? Defense against a force of that size? A siege advantage only holds within realistic proportions! And they are undead — without holy power, they rise again no matter how many times you cut them down!"

"Then what do you propose? Surrender? Do you truly believe those vicious Demon King's dogs will spare us if we lay down our arms?"

The chamber split between those who insisted on holding until reinforcements came, and those who argued for surrender to preserve a future. Both sides had grounds enough that neither could be dismissed lightly. As the debate grew heated, the king slammed his fist upon the round table.

BANG!

"Silence!!"

""...""

"I summoned you to deliberate what must be done — not to tear one another apart with blame and insult!!"

The defense faction and the surrender faction both bowed their heads, wordless.

Under ordinary circumstances, this was not the matter that should have occupied this chamber. Hero Leon had gone missing. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠party the kingdom had prepared for him had been absorbed by the other Heroes. Talents cultivated to support Leon — to stand at his side — had been handed over to foreign nations. Tiris, once a knight of Prynn, had at least returned home; but she had lost track of Leon's whereabouts, and the kingdom would have been debating the crime of letting its own people slip so emptily into foreign hands.

If the Demon King's army had not suddenly surrounded the capital.

The thought settled over him. The king slowly surveyed the quieted chamber, then opened his mouth.

"We will surrender."

"Your Majesty—!"

"Even if we refuse, how long can we hold? Would you have innocent subjects die meaningless deaths for nothing more than our pride?!"

"....."

There was no other way. To save as many as possible, this was the best choice. Having judged so, the king was about to call for a messenger — when a single soldier burst into the chamber.

"You there! Do you know what this place is? How dare you enter so rudely!"

"F-forgive me! But I have urgent news for His Majesty—!"

One of the nobles present rebuked the intruding soldier, yet the man pressed on through the impropriety, shouting.

"The Demon King's forces arrayed outside the capital have changed their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠movements!"

"!!"

"Surely they mean to attack!"

The soldier's words threw the room into chaos. But what he said next froze every body in place.

"At present, the Demon King's army appears to be engaged with something! Something that struck from their rear... The distance was too great for a clear identification, but the enemy is in such disarray they cannot even maintain their encirclement!!"

"!"

If it were true, this might be their chance to strike back. At the same time, it might be a trap designed to draw out a garrison wholly committed to defense. Should they open the gates, risk the possibility of a snare, and join forces with whoever was fighting the Demon King's army? Or lock the gates tight and wait in dread for whatever came next?

Once more the king stood at a crossroads. And the king chose.

"Muster every soldier who can still fight. If this is support from outside — we have a duty to receive them."