Ch.9797. What I Wanted

I worked hard, but how did I end up in this situation?

…

I never harbored ambitions beyond my station.

My origins never allowed for grand aspirations in the first place.

My hometown was an unremarkable village. A poor, tiny hamlet with no distinguishing features except for an unusually large black alder tree in the center of the village.

Since everyone around me was poor, I never felt a sense of deprivation.

And because of that poverty, maintaining self-esteem was actually easier. Despite my inadequate diet, I grew faster than others.

Unlike my brother, whose limbs had withered due to malnutrition, I had a sturdy frame and good strength. It was puzzling how I alone grew robust despite the same poor diet. Even my parents, whose backs had bent at an early age, found me peculiar.

But then luck was on my side.

A retired knight settled in that nondescript village and opened a training hall.

Though not from either of the two major knightly orders, he was practically a god in our village. He was generous enough to teach children in exchange for eggs or bundles of hay.

He rarely even charged me that meager tuition fee. He would often teach me for free, even feeding me in the process.

The words my aging master told me then still remain in my memory.

“Erick. If you can wield a sword well, you can live a respected life. You could even reach Expert level.”

It was true. I reached Expert level during my second year at the Academy.

Though some had reached that level before me, I always emerged victorious in duels. Despite never having access to elixirs in my youth, I had never lost to a swordsman of my age. Not once.

I experienced hardships due to my exceptional skills despite my humble origins, but I was never lonely. As my master said, the Empire was quite generous to talented individuals.

“If you join either of the two knightly orders, especially the Royal Order, even titled nobles won’t be able to ignore you. In fact, many will try to curry your favor.”

This too was true.

After joining the knightly order, I had to spend several months each year outside the imperial capital, but long-term missions weren’t necessarily bad. I could receive generous hospitality from the local lord, or at least the village chief. Many women would also make advances.

Honestly, it didn’t feel bad.

“Once you succeed, your family can escape poverty too.”

The most appealing words. Unfortunately, this alone wasn’t realized. My family all died before I could succeed.

Both my parents collapsed while working and breathed their last. I couldn’t determine the exact cause. It was a year with a severe salt shortage, and I could only guess that might have been related.

After my parents’ deaths, my siblings scattered in search of their own paths. I wanted to help them, but it wasn’t possible. They all disappeared without a trace and eventually died.

Even after experiencing all this, I never resented the world. I would just cry briefly before returning to the training ground to swing my sword.

It was the fear that without swordsmanship, I too would die meaninglessly like my parents and siblings. I wanted to survive somehow and live comfortably.

I was simply doing my best to protect what I had and survive.

Leaving the knightly order,

Capturing and killing Gwon Heejin,

Inadvertently protecting the Empire, all of it.

At some point I felt the responsibility had grown beyond what I could handle… but that wasn’t my fault.

To think this is the result of living so diligently with all my might.

For the first time in my life, I felt the world was being cruel to me.

***

Strange. Even in my dazed state, I could clearly hear people’s voices.

“I will bring the Holy Sword. I will deliver it as soon as the Hero composes himself.”

“Isn’t this too harsh on Lord Wellesley?”

“Of course it’s harsh. But is there any way to reverse it?”

“Why would the Goddess…”

“I’ve told you repeatedly, Elder Priest. Don’t trust the Goddess… At least this time we can glimpse traces of her anguish.”

“Hmm.”

“Right now, there’s no hope except for the Hero… Damn it, there’s no hope!”

The voices of clergy members.

Coincidentally, both were from the Hero pursuit team.

Elder Priest Edin and Bishop Rowan.

The former presided over the College of Cardinals despite being an ordinary priest, while the latter was being discussed as the next Pope, surpassing all the cardinals. Both possessed holy power on par with a Saintess.

‘How kind of them to pity me.’

I felt my heart lighten just a little.

However.

“Your Majesty. I’m deeply concerned about the aftereffects of the Hero lottery.”

“Count Necker. Is now the time to discuss that?”

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. The final tally shows nearly 400,000 participants.”

“Wait… what? 400,000?”

“When I explained the situation to the Merchants’ Guild, they said it falls under option 4… that is, ‘all other cases.’ A woman was summoned but isn’t the Hero, and a Hero in their 20s was born but not through summoning.”

“This is driving me cra— hurk.”

“Your Majesty!”

A conversation between the Minister of Justice and the Emperor. The Emperor was suffering from nausea, probably due to the pressure.

400,000. The problem was that among those 400,000 were people who had invested capital by drawing on their very souls.

Some of them were here in the Papal Palace.

Burko’s faction, who had bet heavily on a male Hero in his 20s or a female Hero. Especially those who bet on a female Hero would have been reveling in dreams of a 6.3x payout until just moments ago.

‘…Come to think of it, I bet on option 4. I got it right.’

The amount I bet wasn’t particularly large by my standards. Just over 90 million Lyra.

I don’t remember exactly, but I think the odds were quite high…

Thankfully, Count Necker provided that answer as well. Though his conversation partner had changed from the Emperor to the Finance Minister.

“The final odds for option 4 were 22.7 to 1. The odds were adjusted as more money flowed into options 2 and 3.”

“Minister of Justice, how did you…”

“I placed a bet too. Given my circumstances, not a large sum.”

“My goodness, after experiencing that pain with Cordana, you gambled again!?”

“I didn’t bet to make money. While talking with the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard, we both bet on option 4, hoping the Hero wouldn’t come. Option 4 would apply even if the Hero summoning failed completely.”

“Sigh. But you won money anyway.”

22.7 times. It seems I made money again.

I wasn’t sure about the commission, but I’d probably receive around 2 billion.

My 2 billion wasn’t the issue. The backlash from those who bet on other options and lost their money was the real problem. There would be quite a few who had bet their entire lives, and even their family’s future.

Would those who lost everything easily accept this?

Of course not.

Although the official name was “Hero Lottery” and the betting tickets said so, some might insist option 3 was correct. Even more would argue for invalidating the entire lottery. But those who bet on option 4 and hit the jackpot wouldn’t allow that.

The aftermath of this gambling would likely end in a purge.

The targets would be Count Burko and the twenty nobles who opened the gambling house.

Their thoughtless actions had once again turned the Empire into a gambling den. Those who had tasted (or witnessed) the 22.7x odds would find it hard to return to normal life.

‘I can’t leave this alone. I’ll probably have to clean this up myself.’

Count Burko alone was a major noble of a completely different caliber from the minor lords I had dealt with before. He ruled a domain twice the size of mine.

But if I decided to remove him, nothing would stop me.

Yes, I could do anything now. Having become the Hero.

Some might envy such a life.

Guardian of humanity’s safety, an irreplaceable existence, and not just a Hero who fights demons and monsters, but one who could wield power. After many years, people across the continent might look up to me.

‘The problem is, this isn’t the responsibility I wanted.’

It would be normal to feel exhausted at this point, but the Hero’s blessing I had just received wouldn’t even allow that.

Honestly, I felt like I could dismantle a fortress with just a warhammer right now. Reducing a statue of the Goddess to dust with my bare hands would be trivial.

Unlike my body, which had transcended human limitations, my mind wasn’t yet composed, but this wasn’t the time to seek peace of mind. It was obvious that peace would never come to me, regardless of my duties as the Hero.

Unless I was going to bury my head and die, I had no choice but to face reality.

I raised my head.

And at that moment—

“AAAAARGH!”

A piercing scream assaulted my ears.

A middle-aged man writhing madly while lying down. He was screaming while repeatedly smashing the back of his head against the floor.

It was because the Papal State had let Burko’s faction in to reveal the truth.

The other gamblers weren’t in their right minds either.

John Burko was staring at the empty summoning circle with bloodshot eyes, perhaps from burst capillaries due to stress, and another man was mumbling something while sitting on the floor before staggering toward the “Saintess.”

The latter was naturally restrained, but the Saintess from another world already had a terrified expression.

A look that seemed to say, “What kind of crazy bastards are these?” It was unfortunate that she was so shocked.

In the midst of this chaos, the Holy Sword awaited me.

“Hero, please.”

Clergy members lined up behind the Holy Sword.

Not just clergy, but several members of the imperial family including the Crown Prince were among them. Every face looked desperate. When our eyes met, the Crown Prince raised the corners of his mouth in a sorrowful smile before bowing his head deeply.

I gazed at them with mixed emotions before finally grasping the sword hilt. The Holy Sword was immediately enveloped in brilliant radiance.

A light that unnecessarily confirmed I was the Hero of this broken world.