Ch.139Chapter 139 – Knock, and It Shall Be Abundant (6)

Alan, a citizen of the Gelebrio Empire, was a man who received countless romantic advances from women thanks to his incomparably luscious hair and natural good looks.

His hair was so soft and fine that many people came to ask about his secret, but none ever received an answer.

With his natural good looks, beautiful hair, and abundant locks, he enjoyed romantic relationships far more easily than other men.

This earned him the resentment of many men, but anyone who dared speak ill of him risked being buried by his female followers.

So those who disliked him, unable to do anything about his appearance, fervently prayed that at least his hair would disappear.

Perhaps those prayers reached heaven?

In the year he turned twenty-five, ominous signs began to appear on Alan’s head.

“Huh? What? Why is my hair…?”

The hair he had meticulously cared for over many years began falling out, strand by strand.

It was inevitable to lose a strand or two while washing to maintain cleanliness.

But it was problematic when hair fell out in clumps just from casually running a comb through it.

Alan tried everything possible to preserve his abundant hair.

He sought out and consumed every food said to be good for hair, and tried every remedy rumored to maintain hair quality.

Despite Alan’s efforts, he couldn’t stop his hair from falling out.

As Alan’s hair continued to fall out, the women who had followed him gradually began to disappear as well.

Several years later, Alan’s crown was completely bare, with hair remaining only around the edges.

Now he faced only two choices: becoming completely bald or preserving what little hair remained.

Alan chose to protect his remaining hair.

He would have looked better if he had just shaved it all off, but because of the remaining hair, his appearance became even more unsightly.

“Alan, do you realize how ugly you’ve become lately?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just shave off all the remaining hair?”

People close to Alan offered sincere advice, but he ignored their suggestions.

No. He pretended to ignore them.

For Alan, his hair was his pride and his life.

“I’d rather die than give up my hair!”

After this declaration, no one dared offer him any more advice about his hair.

They had realized how precious hair was to him and how obsessed he had become with it.

Alan continued living with his awkward baldness that revealed a barren scalp.

Then one day, someone approached him with a proposal.

“I understand the pain you’re going through. I’ll give you an opportunity. If you just attend a demonstration in a few days… I’ll help you regain your former glory.”

“Is that really true?”

“Of course. In fact, there’s someone who was in your situation and has recovered.”

“I’ll do it! I’ll definitely do it!”

Upon hearing that he only needed to attend a demonstration, Alan nodded and accepted the proposal.

He wasn’t being asked to do anything special. He just needed to attend a demonstration.

“This is the demonstration venue. Come here on this day with this.”

The man handed Alan a map and an admission ticket.

The map had only one thing written on it:

‘Count Pathos Severio’s Demonstration Venue’

Alan went to the demonstration venue with both doubt and hope deep in his heart.

The imposing sight of the massive circular tent arena made Alan feel intimidated.

“May I see your admission ticket?”

“Y-yes, here it is.”

The venue was guarded by imperial knights wearing armor emblazoned with the imperial crest.

It was a place where only verified individuals among the empire’s elite could enter.

Seeing such knights guarding the demonstration venue, Alan became convinced of one thing:

Perhaps today, he would witness something extraordinary here.

And before his eyes, a miracle appeared.

“I will strike Marquis Gentrium’s head three times with this hammer.”

“Go ahead and try.”

Striking someone’s head three times with a hammer—an act that might sound insane to some.

The man who appeared to be the protagonist of this demonstration swung his hammer toward the bald marquis who was in a similar situation to Alan.

Then, with a faint glow of light, Alan clearly saw hair growing back.

‘H-hair is growing back?’

Hair was growing back.

The dream of all balding people was unfolding before his very eyes.

“Wooooow!”

When Alan saw the hair fully grown back, he involuntarily let out a cheer.

Hair could grow back!

He could return to those abundant days of the past!

No more worrying about how to hide his baldness!

Moreover, the person who went up to the stage was someone who had been sitting in a designated seat just like him.

After the first person returned to his seat, one by one, names were called, and people went up to the stage.

Those who went on stage regained their formerly lush hair.

Their faces, which had been gloomy and depressed when they were hairless, were now filled with happiness after regaining their hair.

Finally, Alan was the last to go on stage, and the hammer came down on his head.

—Tap, tap, tap.

Three plain hammer sounds.

But as soon as the hammering ended, he felt a tickling sensation on his head, and something was growing rapidly.

Alan reached out to touch his crown, and the sensation under his hand was not smoothness.

He could feel the soft, naturally flowing texture of hair.

“Ah, aah, uwaaaaah…”

Alan couldn’t hide his joy at the fact that his hair had returned.

It might look unseemly for a grown man to cry on stage, but who cares?

All men knew how terrifying baldness was and what kind of mental suffering it caused.

That’s why they didn’t laugh at Alan crying on stage but instead felt relieved and genuinely happy for him.

On this day, Alan made a resolution.

The old Alan, who was ill-mannered and overly proud, was dead.

Today, he was reborn.

At the same time, the idea of starting a business for people suffering the same pain as him came to his mind.

This was the beginning of “Alan de Carval,” a wig company that would later become a sanctuary for many balding people.

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The demonstration was a huge success.

“Wooooow!”

“Thank you, Count Severio! Long live the great Emperor! Long, long live the Emperor!”

People below the stage applauded and celebrated, while those who came up on stage expressed their gratitude to me and the Emperor.

The Emperor and the Chancellor, sitting in the special viewing seats, smiled with satisfaction and applauded.

“That person is not the Demon Sword Destroyer! He is the Baldness Destroyer!”

“Baldness Destroyer! Baldness Destroyer!”

“Demon swords are nothing compared to baldness!”

“Strike! And it shall become abundant!”

People’s reactions were even more passionate than when I destroyed the demon sword.

Well, the destruction of the demon sword probably didn’t feel as relevant to their lives.

But baldness is different.

With just a little inquiry, one would find that their neighbor or friend was suffering from it.

And I am the person who can liberate them from such suffering.

The fear of baldness is greater than the fear of demon swords.

“Baldness Destroyer! Baldness Destroyer!”

“Heh heh heh. Truly a nickname I like.”

After the demonstration ended, people continuously started calling me the Baldness Destroyer.

“Strike! And it shall become abundant! It is the will of the Great Goddess!”

Some priest even made the strange claim that all this was the will of the Great Goddess, saying that striking would make it abundant, before being struck by lightning from a clear sky and taken to the hospital.

And many people who saw this started shouting, “As expected of the Baldness Destroyer! This time he destroyed heresy too!”

“Heresy Destroyer! Heresy Destroyer!”

“Hahahahaha. Your nicknames keep multiplying.”

“I find it quite serious as the person concerned…”

After Baldness Destroyer, now Heresy Destroyer.

Where would it end?

Anyway, the eventful demonstration finally concluded.

“Greetings, Count Pathos Severio. I am an envoy sent by the Emperor who rules the far Eastern Continent.”

And as soon as the demonstration ended, an envoy sent by the Emperor of the ‘Liu’ Empire, which ruled the Eastern Continent, came to see me.

“The Emperor has asked: Can you cure my baldness as well?”

It seemed I might need to visit the Eastern Continent soon.

But before that, there was somewhere else I needed to go.

“Let’s go. To where the World Tree is.”

I had to follow Shureka, the High Elf Elder, to the land of the elves where the World Tree stood.

I needed to fix the World Tree as soon as possible, before it withered any further.

And so I headed toward the elven lands where the World Tree stood.