Ch.47There are so damn many stairs.

1.

Nahan immediately noticed.

‘That crazy old geezer, he’s chosen Hestia as his avatar.’

The reason he noticed was simple.

【The Founder of the Gardners – <Balak Gardner (SS+)> has designated <Hestia Gardner (F)> as his avatar.】

Because he could see it.

As if he wasn’t already anxious about being discovered as the Black Wolf, now Balak was making a scene like a town crier announcing “Here’s the thief!”

The one fortunate thing was,

【*However, upon contact with the avatar – <Hestia Gardner (F)>, <Balak Gardner (SS+)>’s manifestation can be dispelled.】

A solution was visible.

‘I already know the way to the roof from my previous attack, and security has been loosened after the recent assault…’

Before that crazy old man causes more commotion, I’ll sneak up there, resolve this, and come back down.

“Haah…”

Climbing stairs is such a pain.

With Tehelan’s mind likely half-gone, Nahan naturally slipped away and headed toward the rooftop where Hestia was.

2.

“Hey! You there, cold-looking child!”

A booming shout.

All eyes turned toward the excited Hestia as she made her entrance.

“That thing you just did, shoot it at me too! I’ll block anything you throw!”

Her voice was unlike her usual dignified self—supremely powerful and therefore seemingly arrogant.

Her normally gentle brown eyes were unusually full of vigor, and Balkan’s shield, which she held high, gleamed brilliantly in the light.

But what shocked people most was,

“Her legs…”

Hestia’s legs.

The mobility she had lost as a child when saving Balkan now seemed as if it had never been gone, firmly planted on the ground as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Wh-what?! What’s happening?!”

The head of the family, Tehelan, trembled with eyes wider than ever before.

“…Huh?”

Balkan, who had been rushing over to retrieve his shield, stopped in his tracks, at a loss for words.

“…Hestia?”

Even the perpetually expressionless Asha muttered in disbelief.

It was understandable.

Her legs, damaged by a special-grade magical beast’s magic, couldn’t be healed by any elixir.

The most renowned healers in the Empire and the world had examined her legs, but all had given up, unable to treat them.

Even the members of the Light Party, the strongest in the world, could only suppress the special-grade magic in her spine from spreading throughout her body.

“The Gardner shield is the best in the world!! It won’t break before any power!!”

Yet now she was clearly standing on both legs.

Because of this, the direct descendants of the Gardners and their warriors clenched their fists and asked each other:

“Has she awakened?!”

“Has she finally realized it?!”

“She protected us even with her frail body, how much stronger will she become now…!!”

They thought Hestia had finally awakened the power of the family.

That’s what awakening was.

A miraculous metamorphosis only possible for direct Gardner descendants, reconstructing the entire body and gaining supreme physical abilities.

However, the Hero Party, the Light, saw things differently.

While the Gardner members focused on her physical changes, Asha was focused on her internal changes.

‘Hestia has always been a reticent child.’

Instead of the aggressive and brave demeanor typical of the Gardner family, she was always calm, thinking several times before acting.

But Hestia’s current appearance,

“If you won’t come, I’ll go to you!!”

Was completely different from what she knew, as if she embodied the very essence of a Gardner.

Almost as if,

‘Something has been superimposed on her.’

As soon as that thought occurred to her, Asha recalled what Duke Hallorand had said.

-Four of the world’s top ten strongest have changed as if they were different people. There are many similar cases, but what’s certain is that it’s dangerous. So the Hero must also be careful.

The story that four of the world’s top ten had changed allegiance and joined an unidentified group.

Marin, whom she had met directly, added that she had glimpsed fragments of magic in them.

‘Could it be.’

Has Hestia also fallen victim to ‘something’?

‘Duke Hallorand said the unidentified group is a dangerous clan.’

Their deeds are terribly atrocious, but they’re elusive and difficult to catch.

-I hate to say this, but they appear to be the private soldiers of Emperor Kiron.

The Emperor’s private soldiers.

They were the hostile organization she had planned to capture and eliminate after dealing with the Black Wolf, as they were eating away at the Empire like the evil woman they served.

“Am I that frightening?!”

Had they extended their evil hand even to a child like Hestia?

-If the hero encounters them, it would be right to deal with them immediately. Their numbers have grown rapidly, making them difficult to check.

-Capture?

-Impossible. They’ve implanted something magical, and they explode and die the moment they’re caught. Similarly, though I’m not sure if it’s magic, they are hostile to everyone except their own kind for no reason.

Asha sighed as she recalled Duke Hallorand’s words once more.

Grip.

Her hand tightened around the holy sword.

‘If Hestia has been compromised.’

If she has become the Emperor’s puppet and turned against them with her legion.

‘An unprecedented formidable enemy will be born.’

So if Hestia has truly been transformed by something.

‘…I must kill her.’

Because she is such an excellent strategist.

If she turns against them, she has the tactical acumen to double the casualties on their side.

‘…But I’m not certain yet.’

Balkan had said that some people’s personalities change upon awakening.

‘If it’s a change due to awakening, there shouldn’t be any magic in her body.’

Asha quickly descended to the ground to examine more closely.

She landed in the center of the banquet hall where sweet desserts were gathered.

Ignoring the commotion, she approached the blue-haired woman who was munching on cookies while surrounded by an 8th circle high-level barrier.

“Marin.”

“Oh, is it over?”

“No.”

Asha entered the barrier naturally and wiped cookie crumbs from the corner of Marin’s mouth, then pointed to Hestia on the roof and asked.

“Is there any magic remaining?”

“Hmm? Her? The smart sister?”

When Asha nodded, blue light flashed in Marin’s crimson eyes.

The childlike woman shouting excitedly, holding a brown shield that looked patched together.

Crunch!

As the sweet cookie broke in half, her gaze moved from top to bottom like a fine net, stopping near the spine.

“It’s still there.”

“Are you certain?”

“Huh? You’re asking me? Ha! Fine. Don’t believe me if you don’t want to.”

Marin puffed her cheeks like a child taking offense.

Despite the light atmosphere, Asha’s energy immediately grew heavy and sank.

Residual magic,

Inexplicable hostility,

Sudden personality change.

It was highly likely to be the result of the Emperor’s dark arts, as Duke Hallorand had mentioned.

Which meant,

‘Hestia will ultimately die.’

If subdued, the magic will explode and kill her.

But if left as is, others will die by Hestia’s hand.

“…Why.”

Asha murmured unconsciously.

-I’ll help the Hero somehow…!! Please just wait a little!!

A child who became a strategist through painful effort despite having no talent and a disability.

She had actually maintained the Empire’s balance while Asha was away and had taken charge of supporting them.

Unable to walk but smarter than anyone, she had kept her promise—an adorable and praiseworthy child.

Such a child, who had finally achieved her dream of standing on her own feet,

-If the hero encounters them, it would be right to deal with them immediately.

Must be cut down by my own hand.

Why must I

live such a life?

Dark, sticky emotions clung to her guilt, adding weight.

If she could express emotions, she might have shed tears to wash them away, but even that was not allowed for Asha.

All she could do was,

‘Help you not harm those you tried to protect with your own hands.’

For that, I must,

-Um, s-someday… If I ever become truly helpful to the Hero… c-could I call you sister then?

-…As much as you want.

-R-really?!

Kill you with my own hands.

Grind.

Her clenched molars ground fiercely as tendons bulged beneath her jaw.

Such a garbage fate should be borne by me alone.

…Why.

Her fingertips, filled with despair, slowly rose along with her still expressionless face.

The target was Hestia.

‘Child, resent me.’

It’s something all too familiar to me, so don’t blame yourself, resent me instead.

‘Hate me with all your might.’

Resent me, a hero in name only who couldn’t protect you as you bloomed brilliantly.

‘And then…’

After resenting and hating me for a very long time, if your anger subsides even a little.

Then,

‘Just once more, give me that warm gaze you showed me for just a moment.’

Crack!

Just as the fastest, strongest attack was aimed at the slender white neck behind the shield, with a trace of lingering attachment,

【Dispelling <Balak Gardner (SS+)>’s manifestation from <Hestia Gardner (F)>!】

…Rustle.

As the shabby-looking priest touched her, a green light left Hestia’s body.

“…!!”

“…”

After the two exchanged words, Hestia’s body tilted toward the priest, and she gently fell into his arms.

“…What is this?”

Subduing her at once, when she had been acting more Gardner-like than any Gardner?

Asha’s dazed murmur likely represented everyone’s feelings.

But Asha quickly regained her composure, and when the confusion in her heart disappeared, only one thought remained to fill its place.

‘Though I pushed him away fearing he might be harmed, that man saves me again.’

…Thump.

As tears welled up in Asha’s eyes at this emotion she had never felt before in her life.

The priest who had subdued Hestia in one breath looked down at the unconscious woman in his arms and muttered in a small voice.

“Ah, there are so many damn stairs. …Maybe I should invent an elevator and patent it.”

It would probably sell well.