episode_0100

─A new hero will never appear.

The words of the narration echoed incessantly in my mind.

However, the people of the kingdom were completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

After the news of the hero’s death spread from Milleia to the capital, and from the capital to the entire kingdom, nothing changed.

Some people even seemed to be happy upon hearing that the trash hero had died.

No one took this situation seriously.

The bishops believed that if they chose a new saint and found a hero, the problem would be solved.

The entire kingdom firmly believed that a “new hero” would definitely appear.

But the narration now stated that a new hero would not appear.

This fact might be the truth that only I know in this world.

The cycle of the demon king appearing, the hero emerging to defeat the demon king.

That link was broken by the death of the trash hero.

So what will happen to this world, to this kingdom?

According to the narration, the demon king’s power has once again increased.

Is there a way to defeat the demon king even without a hero?

Perhaps the fact that the hero has died means that there is no way to defeat the demon king without a hero?

“Even in a situation where no hero appears, Yunoa thought of everyone joining forces to defeat the demon king, but it was impossible.

At the current moment without a hero, there was no way for humans to defeat the demon king.”

The narration denied that possibility.

I didn’t want to believe it, but considering the situation as a whole, it seemed like the kingdom was inevitably headed towards destruction.

Watching as the demon king’s power continued to grow infinitely, and without any countermeasures, facing invasion and destruction in the future…

As usual, I arrived early at the adventurer’s guild in the morning and looked at the request board, but nothing caught my eye.

What’s the point of working hard at the guild, taking on requests, and earning money?

Knowing that this peaceful daily life will eventually come to an end, I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.

Destruction…

I sat in the guild waiting room, watching Tina and Meruru working at the reception desk.

Seeing them working hard to deal with the adventurers flooding in the morning, I felt even more bitter.

“Even if the world is going to end tomorrow, I will plant an apple tree.”

Realizing that humanity was heading towards destruction, I felt how futile those words were.

If the demon king’s power continues to grow uncontrollably and the kingdom is destroyed, what will happen to everyone?

Tina, Meruru, Aruru, Sylphy, Alcott, Milleia… and even me, will we all die?

Maybe I’ll become a wandering spirit like Shari, wandering the world.

Thinking like that, Shari looked at me with worried eyes as she fell off my head.

“What am I thinking?”

Seeing Shari like that, I felt pathetic for having such worries.

In the end, was it wrong not to throw the sword at the hero to save Milleia?

If the kingdom and humanity are destroyed like this, ultimately, Milleia and this world will be left helpless.

But no matter how much I think about it, if I were to go back to that situation, I would probably act the same way.

Choosing to not save what can be saved feels like giving up something inside me.

“Miss Yunoa?”

Lost in thought in the guild waiting room all morning, Tina, who had become free at lunchtime, approached me first.

“What’s wrong? You haven’t taken any requests today… you’ve just been sitting in the guild.”

“Do you also know that the hero has died, Tina?”

I asked, looking up at Tina as I sat still.

“Hero? Ah, yes… I heard about it.”

“Are you really okay? The hero died.”

“Well, yes, but… they’re already choosing a new hero by selecting a saint… I wonder who will become the next saint.”

Tina, who used to be a saint, expressed her complicated emotions as she reminisced about the past.

No matter how many saints they choose, a new hero won’t emerge.

The heroes in this world meet their end as trash heroes who have died.

I wanted to say this fact, but I held my tongue knowing it would be useless.

In this atmosphere, no one would believe me anyway.

I might even face criticism for hoping that no new hero emerges.

“I think I should go home today.”

I stood up from my seat.

I just didn’t feel like taking on any requests today.

* * *

As soon as I left the guild building, I ran into Sylphy.

Sylphy greeted me warmly as she ran up to me and spoke first.

“Oh, senior! Are you taking on a request today?”

With her unique mushroom-like hair, she smiled brightly as she spoke.

Sylphy probably doesn’t even dream about the world being on the brink of destruction without a means to oppose the Demon Lord.

That’s why she can maintain such a cheerful expression.

“I’m planning to rest at home today.”

“Oh, is something wrong with your health?”

“I’m just not feeling…”

“Then… how about we do something to lift your spirits together today?”

Sylphy suggested to me.

“You have things to do too.”

“If senior isn’t feeling well, I can take a day off from requests too. Besides, there’s something I want to eat.”

Due to her overly enthusiastic persuasion, I ended up accompanying Sylphy.

We sat down at a restaurant in Kubele Street and had a meal together.

It was a decently tasty restaurant with tables outside the building.

Sylphy looked very happy as she put well-cooked meat and vegetables in her mouth and smiled.

I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I roughly ate the food in front of me.

Since we were sitting outside, I could see people passing by Kubele Street during the daytime.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but cheer up, senior.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re my role model. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to handle requests properly on my own.”

Sylphy looked me straight in the eye as she spoke.

“You know, what should I say… If you knew something big was going to happen and couldn’t tell anyone, what would you do?”

I didn’t expect a meaningful answer, but I threw the question out there.

Listening to my words, Sylphy stopped eating and thought seriously before slowly speaking.

“Well, what kind of big thing is it?”

“Let’s say… if everyone in the world were to die.”

“If it’s something like that, even if it’s hard to say, shouldn’t you say it? To the person you trust the most.”

“But what if it’s such a hopeless situation that no one would believe you?”

“Hmm…”

Sylphy rolled her eyes again, deeply lost in thought.

“Then I would try my best to prevent such a thing from happening. You never know. If you keep trying, even in a situation where no one would believe you, maybe seeing someone putting in effort might make them believe.”

“But if it’s something so huge that I can’t handle it alone?”

“Still, it’s better to do something than nothing. If it really is something as huge as everyone in the world dying, then everyone important to me would die too, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Do everything you can, and if it still doesn’t work out, then you have to accept it. But why are you suddenly talking about this, senior? It’s making me feel strange.”

“I was just curious. Sometimes you get curious about trivial things that may never happen.”

I mumbled vaguely, and Sylphy tilted her head, then refocused on her meal.

It was just a casual question I threw out, but I was surprised by how seriously she answered.

It’s better to do something than nothing… Maybe it could really happen.

If I just stay still, nothing will change.

I remember the narration saying something like that at some point.

I am definitely not a hero.

But with the hero dead and no second hero appearing in this world, I couldn’t accept being destroyed by the Demon King helplessly.

“Thanks, I feel a bit better now because of you.”

“Really? I’m glad I could help my senior!”

Sylphy said with a sincere smile.

A hero and a Demon King…

I couldn’t casually talk about the facts I knew now.

The evidence of the terrible truth I knew was only in the narration that only I could hear in my head.

But at least, there might be something I could do because only I knew.

While wasting meaningless time looking for a second hero who may never appear.

I have to find a way to not be destroyed by the Demon King even without a hero, even if I’m alone.

I remembered the story of the hero and the Demon King I heard from Eldervorn, a giant mushroom sage in the Demon Realm.

Originally, there were no heroes and Demon Kings in this world.

Let’s think about it for now.

If an object breaks, you have to ask the person who made it to fix it.

So if a hero breaks… who should they ask to fix it?

…The goddess?

“Suddenly, the answer that Yunoa came up with turned out to be surprisingly correct, as the saying goes that even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

I felt absurd at the sudden answer from the narration.

Is this for real… I’m an atheist…

* * *