“Hero, the High God awaits you.”
“Sigh.”
Eight hours before Reinhild was attacked. A priest came to Xion, who was about to visit the Demon King’s castle.
Priests who pop up unannounced without so much as making an appointment…
He wanted to ignore it, but unfortunately his position was “hero blessed by the High God,” so he couldn’t.
“The god will be far more pleased to see me facing the Demon King.”
He tried to toss some pleasant-sounding nonsense into the priest’s ears and slip past, but it was no use.
“Today is an important day, Hero. The god awaits you.”
“If an oracle has descended, you can send a written notice.”
“It’s not that. Today is the day you gain the honor of hearing the god’s voice directly.”
The priest said this with a bright, innocent smile.
As if insisting that this was a privilege for the hero, an honor the whole world would envy, so he too should feel grateful and happy.
Xion forced a smile, doing his best to smooth out a face that felt about to crumple like paper.
He didn’t need any of this. He just wanted to hear Reinhild’s voice, but saying that aloud would be big trouble.
Hearing the god’s voice is both a privilege of the hero and one of the duties that must be performed. To ignore it could cost him the title of hero.
He’d never heard of a hero being stripped of the role, but then again there had never been a hero who fell in love with the Demon King and went on daily dates to the Demon King’s castle.
If he slipped up, Xion might become the first hero to be stripped of the post.
‘I have to avoid that.’
If he wasn’t the hero, it would be harder to go see Reinhild. Perhaps then Reinhild would come to find him, but for now there was no guarantee.
He couldn’t stake everything on such uncertain hope.
If he wanted to keep visiting Reinhild and spending time together like he did now, he had no choice but to go receive what was said to be the god’s favor.
“I’m truly envious, Hero. I hope that one day I too may become a high priest and gain the honor of listening to the god’s voice directly.”
Xion barely swallowed the question “Then would you go in my stead?” and simply smiled.
“Hero.”
“Welcome, Hero.”
When he arrived at the temple, the priests stood in a line and bowed their heads as if they had been waiting.
The Great Temple, radiating holy white light, and the line of priests before it looked so solemn that even an emperor would incline his head.
But Xion was a hero who would rather feel the demonic energy of the Demon King’s castle than the sanctity of the Great Temple.
Thinking that these priests might one day become Reinhild’s enemies and harm him, only made him feel displeased.
Hiding his true feelings behind a smiling face, Xion entered the temple.
“Whenever the god calls, please come to this room.”
“Yes.”
It meant they would summon him whenever needed, and he should show up promptly.
They placed the grave duty of saving the world on him regardless of his will, and then told him to come running when called.
If Reinhild saw this scene, he would ask whether he was a hero or a mutt.
“Weapons cannot be brought into the place where you reach the god.”
“This is the hero’s sword, granted directly by the god.”
“The hero’s sword is still a weapon.”
It felt a bit off to be unable to bring the god’s gift before the god, but the hero’s sword was for cutting down the Demon King. In any case, there would be no occasion to swing it.
No one but the hero could use it properly, and you couldn’t use it as loot. Who would steal such a sword?
If someone did slip into the Great Temple, elude all those priests’ eyes, and steal the hero’s sword, Xion was ready to clap and praise their skill.
Xion handed over the hero’s sword without regret.
Wearing a merciful smile, the high priest received the sword and stepped back.
“May the god bestow blessings.”
Xion entered the vast chamber empty-handed.
A room filled on all sides with immaculate white light unstained by even a speck of dust. They said the high priest came here whenever receiving an oracle.
The details weren’t known, but he had heard that time flowed a little differently here than outside. Whether time truly flowed differently, or whether the pure white space devoid of all things robbed one of any sense of time, was unknown.
‘If I stay here long, I’ll go mad.’
For Xion, who had set foot in this place that others were dying to enter, this was the entirety of his impression.
❖ ❖ ❖
He hadn’t expected much, but his first conversation with the High God proved more insipid than he’d imagined.
He thought he’d at least be scolded for dating when he’d been sent to eliminate the Demon King. The High God issued neither scolding nor command.
Continue to fulfill your responsibility as hero.
That was all.
‘“Continue to,” huh.’
As if to say he could just keep doing what he’d been doing.
It wasn’t possible that the god didn’t know what was going on.
That Xion visited Reinhild everyday… and why.
And that the hero had no intention of defeating the Demon King.
If the god spoke thus while knowing the situation, it was by no means approval of it.
It might well be a warning.
A warning to him and to Reinhild.
‘That’s troublesome.’
He didn’t want to dwell on the fact that fate would divide him and Reinhild under the names of hero and Demon King and never allow them to be together.
He’d rather use that time to look on Reinhild’s face one more time.
‘A waste of time.’
Harboring such impious thoughts without concern, Xion left the chamber.
Exactly eight hours had passed since he entered, but to Xion it felt like less than ten minutes.
So when he first stepped out, it didn’t occur to him that the sun would already be setting.
All he could think was that now he could go see Reinhild.
“I’d like my sword back.”
Impatient to gather his things and head for the Demon King’s castle, Xion urged the priest.
The priest hemmed and hawed, looking somewhat troubled.
“H-hero…”
“Has my sword been lost?”
“T-that… that’s not it.”
It was a relief he wouldn’t have to clap and praise some once-in-a-lifetime thief who had snuck in here and stolen the hero’s sword.
“Where is my sword?”
“The high priest is absent, so we can’t say for certain.”
“Did the high priest not store the sword separately?”
“That’s not within our power to manage…”
In short, they couldn’t give it to him because the high priest, who was keeping the sword, wasn’t present.
Xion suppressed a sigh and forced a smile.
“I’ll come back later to retrieve the sword.”
“If you wait just a little here, the high priest will return shortly.”
“I’m fine.”
He couldn’t waste time he could spend seeing Reinhild. Moving quickly, Xion headed out of the temple.
The sky was already dark, and the people of the capital were ending their day and getting ready for bed. Xion was beyond taken aback then dumbfounded, at how much time had passed.
To tell someone who had been shut in a room until the day was nearly gone to “wait a little longer,” and so blithely!
That priest would likely never in his life realize how absurd his words had been.
‘If I’m any later, it’ll be a problem.’
If he reached the Demon King’s castle, night would deepen and returning to the capital would be difficult.
Even for keen-eyed Xion, traveling dark roads at night was inconvenient, and soon the city gates would be closed; he might end up camping in the forest with home just ahead.
It was truly troublesome.
So troublesome that he had no choice but to spend the night at Reinhild’s castle and return the next morning.
Troubled in many ways yet wearing a bright expression, Xion arrived at the Demon King’s castle.
He couldn’t help but smile, imagining Reinhild’s surly face, acting gruff with a “You’re late today.”
But Xion’s buoyant mood sank the moment he reached the entrance to the secret passage that led to Reinhild’s room.
“This is…”
Inside the passage, a single corpse lay in a pitiful state.
The head and body were cleanly separated. Whether it had fallen from a great height or what, it was so mangled it was hard to tell its form, but he could vaguely guess the identity of the corpse.
It was surely one of those he had chosen as the hero’s companions.
A foreboding thought flashed through him.
“…Rein!”
Xion climbed the passage so fast he didn’t know how he did it. The door of the secret passage leading to Reinhild’s room was open.
Drops of blood ran down the open door and fell onto Xion’s cheek.
The demonic-tinged blood reacted against the holy power Xion bore, hissing as it seemed to burn away.
Without even attempting to calm his pounding heart, Xion burst into Reinhild’s room.
“Rein!”
No one was there.
“Reinhild…”
It was the first time this place had been empty when Xion came.
Had something happened?
What if he was badly hurt?
What if Reinhild… could no longer return here?
Thud.
His heart felt as if it had fallen out.
It felt like he had lost everything in the world, as if all his entire being was plunging into the abyss.
Just as Xion was about to move to go find Reinhild, he sensed a faint killing intent at his back.
At such a moment he should have drawn his sword against the one emitting that intent, but Xion turned around with a radiant smile.
Because that aura was so very familiar.
Behind Xion stood Reinhild.
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