Ch.9Chapter 9 – Hero of Justice, Verdandi Astraia (2)

I didn’t set any specific weaknesses for Verdandi.

I had established her as an outwardly perfect hero of justice. The complete opposite of being utterly rotten inside.

She was strong enough to kill people even with a kitchen knife like that, and later she would become even stronger by drawing her Holy Sword and Holy Armor.

‘…The situation isn’t good.’

I thought while biting my lower lip. The problem was that there was one critically injured person with a knife stabbed in their abdomen, bleeding, with their intestines protruding.

‘Verdandi’s mother, Aila Astraia, is critically injured. Moreover, we only have one mage who can heal.’

I thought I had prevented the worst-case scenario by sobering up the Golden Tower Master Wolfram and having her cast defensive magic.

I thought I could suppress them with superior force by bringing Bi-wol, the final boss of <Diamond Fist King>, along.

Because of this, I thought I had met the minimum conditions to request dialogue with Verdandi.

The final boss of my novel had gone insane much earlier than I thought.

To think she would stab a knife into her own mother.

“You said you came to take me as your disciple? You must be out of your mind!”

Verdandi laughed while pointing the blood-stained kitchen knife at me. Her blue eyes were shining without the slightest tremor.

“Yes, I came to guide you onto the right path. If you come with me, there will be no more suffering. You won’t be buried in the position of hero, and you can live an ordinary life…”

I calmly stepped forward. To show that I had no intention of harming my opponent, I spread both hands to show I had no weapons.

“Ha, hahaha! You’re already far too late!”

Then Verdandi laughed like a madwoman and raised the kitchen knife high. It looked like she was going to stab the already fallen Aila again.

“Even beasts cherish their own young, but I was nearly murdered by my mother when I was just a baby!”

Verdandi screamed at the top of her lungs while shedding tears. It seemed like emotions she had been suppressing all this time had exploded.

Of course they would. I was the one who set up Verdandi’s story.

She was a character abandoned by the villagers, abandoned by her own mother, and even abandoned by the companions who had gathered to defeat the Demon King together.

It was all because of my petty thoughts.

I thought it was okay to melt my past experiences into writing, doing something a writer should never do.

‘A writer should speak through their writing.’

I thought while looking at the people standing behind me.

Bi-wol would leave the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect and enjoy an ordinary life under me, and Wolfram would find the Philosopher’s Stone and become an alchemist who truly creates gold.

I didn’t need to fill the story with unhappy narratives. I should have competed with the completeness of the story.

“…Bi-wol, Wolfram. Please.”

I nodded slightly and sent them a signal to save Verdandi’s mother.

“As you wish, Master.”

“Got it!”

Bi-wol immediately stomped hard on the ground.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art, First Form. Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Step.

Just from her putting strength into her legs, the wooden floor shattered into countless pieces with a crack, and a thunderous roar echoed.

At a speed that seemed to tear through space, everything except Bi-wol appeared to move in slow motion.

“O mountain of gold that encompasses all things, raise a shield made of gold coins to help breathe new life into this pitiful soul.”

Taking advantage of Verdandi’s surprise, Wolfram also began chanting. She layered multiple magic circles on her staff, creating a thick three-dimensional shape like a coin.

“…Aegis of Gold!”

As she spoke the spell aloud, the golden three-dimensional magic circle became a shield surrounding Aila.

“……?!!”

Seeing the wound slowly healing inside, Verdandi immediately tried to break Wolfram’s magic with the kitchen knife she was holding.

It was a crude method, but it wasn’t impossible with her strength. If you give a strong enough physical shock, even magic will be affected.

Right now, this world was a mix of martial arts and fantasy, so the logic of force worked everywhere.

“I would never want to serve such a villain as my master, even if I died!”

When Bi-wol approached to save Aila, Verdandi immediately rushed at her with the kitchen knife in response.

She had reacted to the speed of Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Step. Bi-wol flinched in surprise, and at this rate, she would be hit by the blade.

“Where do you think you’re going? Your opponent is me.”

I immediately assumed the second stance of the Ice-White Divine Art. I drew up all the internal energy in my body to the maximum.

The innate constitution called Extreme Yin Body.

I felt intense pain as my heart was squeezed, and the sensation of all my blood vessels flowing backward,

‘Ice-White Divine Art, Second Form, Ice Shadow Wall.’

Right now, this was the only way to save Aila. I had to create an opening so Bi-wol could safely escape with her.

Crack crack crack crack crack—!

When I extended my palm between Aila and Verdandi, a wall of ice was created from thin air, separating the two.

“…An ice wall? Are you all mages?”

Verdandi looked at me incredulously at the suddenly created ice wall. Since she had only lived in this village, she probably didn’t even know there was another continent to the east.

“Master, I’ve secured the injured person’s safety.”

Bang! Bi-wol rescued Aila in that gap and returned to my side. Aila was gasping as if her breath might stop at any moment.

Verdandi’s mother was killed by her in the original work, but she was supposed to be the very last person to die.

“Go outside with the Golden Tower Master and stop the bleeding from the neck wound. I’ll handle this place.”

Verdandi would stab her own mother to death with the Holy Sword on top of a mountain of corpses where countless villains had died.

Originally, she was a character who would sacrifice herself while stopping the completely corrupted hero, leaving behind words of love.

Bearing the sin of patricide, she would finally earn the title of ‘villain’ and realize her crimes.

Because blind justice, blind blades, only led to destroying oneself.

The hero who tried to kill all life would end her own life with suicide.

The protagonist, another hero, would look at her corpse in vain, cremate her, and pray that she would be born as someone more loved in the next life.

‘That was the ending I had envisioned for Verdandi, the end of <I Need To Kill The Hero>.’

An ending I couldn’t write because I stopped serializing.

“However, Master…! Aren’t you unwell?! The opponent is strong enough to react even to my techniques!”

Bi-wol cried out while looking at me bleeding from my eyes, nose, mouth, and even ears. She clung to my arm as if she didn’t want to leave my side.

“That a master is stronger than his disciple is a fact known to everyone in this world.”

I gently stroked her head as I always did while looking at Bi-wol. Softly and kindly, so that unspoken emotions would be conveyed.

If Bi-wol didn’t help the Golden Tower Master now, I would be quickly captured even if I fought Verdandi.

“I may not be the greatest in the unorthodox sects, as you said. Of course, I’m not the greatest under heaven either. Much less the greatest of all time.”

Thump, thump. With my heart pounding, I opened my mouth while glaring at the opponent before me.

“But I am a master with many disciples. I am an ordinary person loved by ten thousand people rather than a strong person in name only.”

I spoke while thinking of my disciples at the Ice Dragon Fate Sect and the students I had in reality.

Children who smiled, learned new things, and rejoiced because of my existence. My life was able to realize many things because of them.

“Therefore, I must do something my disciples can be proud of. So that you can step on your master’s shadow and surpass it, achieving greatness someday.”

After meeting Bi-wol, I thought my life wasn’t wrong. The life I thought was a failure as a web novel writer was breathing, living, and moving like this.

“You’re all talk! Even so, the fact that you’re a villain doesn’t change!”

Verdandi shouted loudly at me. Her neck was bulging with veins, and her eyes were bloodshot red.

“In the first place, why do you think I’m a villain?”

“That’s obviously because I’m a hero…”

“…What if you’re actually not a hero? Have you ever considered the assumption that you’re an ordinary person?”

I slowly stepped toward Verdandi. The distance gradually closed as I walked into range where her blade could reach.

“What exactly are you trying to say?!”

“The abilities you have are <Eyes that Know Truth> and <The Scales of Justice>. Each has two flaws.”

Crack, I grabbed the kitchen knife Verdandi was pointing at me with one hand. No blood flowed out. It had frozen into a lump of ice.

“The flaw of <Eyes that Know Truth> is that if the speaker doesn’t know they’re lying, it appears as truth.”

“……?!”

Verdandi struggled to pull her hand away, but she couldn’t escape from the ice chunk that had frozen solid and become one with her hand.

“The flaw of <The Scales of Justice> is that if something with an enormous difference in good or evil deeds occurs, the result can change at any time.”

I stomped my foot once. Then with a cracking sound, Verdandi’s lower body froze.

I bound her hands and feet so she couldn’t resist at all.

“Look again with those eyes and see clearly whether I, standing before you, am truly a villain.”

“…This doesn’t make sense.”

Verdandi blinked and sighed in disbelief. The information she saw would certainly ‘initially’ correctly show me as a villain.

I was also the culprit who destroyed this world by stopping serialization.

However,

“Are you really saying… you’re a good person?”

I tried not to run away from that responsibility. I worked hard to the point of overexerting my body to save Bi-wol, save Wolfram, and treat Aila.

Those good deeds seemed to have finally been settled belatedly.

“Yes, now will you stop trusting your abilities and trust this master a little?”

Blood trickled from my mouth. It was a side effect of my blood vessels getting twisted from emitting too much yin energy.

“I came here after receiving a command to save you. From a god-like being.”

What the single reader who possessed me into this world wanted would have been to see the ending of the story to the very end.

To a writer, readers are like gods.

Without them, writers cannot exist either.

“It’s the truth… How can this be…”

So these words aren’t lies. It was truly the same principle as receiving an oracle from a god.

“You will now learn the emotion called love-hate from me, and you will also realize the contradictory emotion where sadness and joy coexist. Just as your mother did.”

“My mother… you mean?”

Verdandi’s breathing quickened. She seemed willing to listen to some extent while looking at me through her abilities.

“Yes, your mother had an unwanted pregnancy from a robber who attacked the house. What she did in strangling you is certainly absolutely unforgivable.”

“……”

“But her love for her child was stronger. Even while saying that, she was so ashamed and humiliated that it probably registered as a lie to your abilities.”

“Are you… an apostle of the gods?”

Verdandi’s voice trembled, her eyes widened, and soon tears were falling drop by drop.

“No, I’m an ordinary human. Like you, an ordinary person who fears dozens of times a day that people won’t understand my true heart.”

I gently stroked Verdandi’s head. I felt a different, rougher sensation than with Bi-wol.

“You don’t need to worry about how the villagers treated you poorly. Those people were originally like snakes coiled together, entangled with each other through evil deeds.”

“Is that… really true? Are you saying I’m really a good child?”

“Yes, you are a good child. Although I couldn’t find you earlier and made mistakes because I was foolish and immature, it can still be corrected.”

I spoke while gently embracing Verdandi. This would probably be her first time experiencing such a warm embrace.

Aila was a character who simultaneously held guilt, love, and disgust toward Verdandi, so I knew she didn’t express affection this actively.

“Huh, huuuung…”

Verdandi cried, shedding tears and snot.

“I was incredibly lonely. Mother registered as evil, and even her words of love registered as lies…”

“Yes, yes.”

“Knowing that she tried to strangle me to death when I was a baby, I was even afraid to sleep beside my mother… Every day felt like I was suffocating to death.”

“It must have been hard.”

I comforted her while patting her. It was probably too much for a young girl to accept.

“The villagers hated me, secretly put bugs in my food, and even spread rumors that I enjoyed a promiscuous lifestyle like my mother…”

“My disciples and I will solve everything. So don’t worry too much. Now there will be no one under this sky who will curse you.”

Verdandi continued crying in my arms. Until all the 15 years of torment that had plagued her became lighter.