episode_0023

The orphanage director, Hainel Glesman, was a devout priest.

His family had served the Goddess of Light, Freyana, for generations, with even the lowest-ranking priests in his lineage holding the position of priestly leader.

Hainel had believed that he, too, would rise to a high position befitting the esteemed Glesman name.

However, reality proved to be cruel.

Among all the figures in the Glesman family history, Hainel was the weakest in terms of holiness.

Confronted with his own lack of holiness, he initially did not falter.

He practically lived in the chapel, feeling that his faith in the Goddess was lacking.

He prayed diligently, believing that someday the Goddess would acknowledge his faith.

“Why is this happening…?”

Yet, as years passed, Hainel’s holiness did not grow at the same rate.

While his peers were already showing promise, he was only capable of basic healing.

Rumors began to circulate around Hainel, questioning his actions towards the Goddess.

Was he disrespecting the Goddess unknowingly?

Could he be harboring impure thoughts towards Freyana?

There were even suspicions of collusion with heretics.

These rumors haunted Hainel like a shadow.

From that day on, in an effort to prove his faith, Hainel not only prayed but also inflicted wounds upon himself with a whip.

Despite committing no wrong, he hoped that his suffering would prove his devotion.

Yet, the Goddess did not answer his prayers.

As time passed, Hainel aged, his beard grew long, and wrinkles lined his face.

He was now considered a disgrace to the Glesman name, shunned by his entire family.

While most of his peers held high positions, Hainel remained a mere priest.

At this point, it would not have been strange for him to give up and choose a different path, but he persisted.

Hainel believed he was undergoing trials sent by Freyana herself.

He woke up early to pray, inflicted wounds upon himself frequently, and prayed for 30 minutes even as his food grew cold.

He helped the less fortunate around him and cared for the children in the orphanage with sincerity.

Living with these small moments of happiness, one day, Hainel faced injustice.

A young boy who had recently arrived at the orphanage possessed a holiness far greater than Hainel’s, despite his young age.

A typical orphanage director would have nurtured the boy into a great priest.

But Hainel could not bring himself to do so.

After 30 years of suffering, to see a boy much younger than himself with greater holiness was unbearable.

Unable to accept this fact, Hainel tore at his own skin, accepting even more pain.

Viewing jealousy as a sin, Hainel tried to control his emotions through suffering.

However, despite his room being in disarray from his frenzy, he could not contain his jealousy.

Slowly succumbing to madness, Hainel ultimately called the exceptional boy into his room.

After beating the boy unconscious with a whip, he strangled him to death.

As he completed the act of murder, waves of guilt washed over him.

In Hainel’s hands remained the boy’s holiness, and upon realizing this, he felt exhilarated.

“I didn’t kill him…! I sent him to be by the Goddess’s side!”

Unlike mana, holiness cannot be shared with others.

The blessing that allowed Hainel to defy this common knowledge had been bestowed upon him since birth.

Due to being born with the blessing of the goddess, Hyneel realized too late that his own divine power was weak, leading him to interpret the significance of his newly discovered abilities in a different way.

“Now I understand! Sending the children who will suffer in this dirty world to the side of the goddess early on was my mission! Hahaha!”

Distorted by his newfound realization, Hyneel began to operate the orphanage in a different manner from that day on.

Using the affection of a nun who liked him, he manipulated her into becoming an accomplice and instructed her to abandon the bodies.

The extracted divine power from the children was carefully stored in the basement, gradually increasing in quantity as the days passed.

During this time, a bishop who visited the orphanage uncovered the truth, but instead of condemning Hyneel for his immense amount of divine power, he proposed something else.

Just as demons manipulate mana, wouldn’t the Holy Kingdom also need beings with divine power? he suggested.

Agreeing to this proposal, Hyneel led the secret project to create artificial divine beasts in the orphanage.

“There’s not much time left…”

Using the extracted divine power from the children, Hyneel began creating homunculi.

Although the monsters created were far from divine, they appeared lovely in his eyes.

Treating the homunculi as his own children, Hyneel soon displayed a crazed smile.

As the completion of the artificial divine beasts approached, he performed the final ritual.

“Let’s begin.”

“Yes.”

Hyneel took out a vessel containing the divine power extracted from the children over the past five years.

The nun raised a small homunculus and placed it inside the vessel, closing the lid.

Soon, the vessel shattered, releasing a vast amount of divine power that engulfed the orphanage in light.

***

At the time when Alaina collided with me at the corner.

With a mouthful of black cloth, she seemed like a madwoman, but she had her own reasons.

Alaina possessed a large amount of divine power, making her shine brightly even to the eyes of ordinary people.

The black cloth served as a disguise to prevent this glow, and unless one looked closely, it was impossible to recognize her as Alaina.

I found it strange that wearing the black cloth activated a concealment effect, but since its essence was darkness, I tried to understand it roughly.

In our own ways, we disguised our appearances and entered the deserted alley in the outskirts.

There, we had a quiet moment to talk once again.

“Regardless of the method, you also want to apologize to me for the past, right?”

“Yes. But, Lian? What do you mean by ‘you too’?”

“I had contact with Skaha in Andar Village. More precisely, a dragon inquired about my situation, but I think Skaha was also informed.”

“Ugh! So that dark sword was faster than me….”

“So, I’m asking, do you also plan to come back to me?”

“Yes. Because only you can handle me with your sword.”

It was a compliment, but it made me feel a bit embarrassed, so I unknowingly scratched my cheek.

Since I rarely received compliments from Alaina, it felt even more strange.

However, even if I received praise from her, it didn’t erase the past.

“I’m sorry, but whether it’s eight years ago or now, my thoughts remain the same. I have no intention of becoming a hero.”

“I’m deeply regretting forcing you to become a hero in the past. In that sense, I won’t even mention or urge you to become a hero.”

“Then what about the true hero you mentioned before? Saying that I declared myself a hero to Kinel’s people?”

“You can consider that my small gesture of respect!”

“Is that what you call respect?”

A person who never thought of becoming a hero, but was forced to take on the role of a hero, would probably enjoy it very much.

As I narrowed my eyes and openly showed my discomfort, Alaina seemed to understand my feelings and nodded.

“I may have told the people of the Holy Kingdom that Lian is a true hero, but that was only necessary for appearances.”

“Appearances?”

“Lian, do you know in detail about the privileges that a hero can have?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never really looked into what it means to be a hero.”

“Heroes in the Holy Kingdom are the only ones exempt from the law. Whether in a city, a country, or even on a continent, heroes are bound by the laws of the Holy Kingdom alone. It’s a privilege that the priests of Kinel have obtained by sending them to other countries in exchange for their sanctity.”

“So, no matter where you go, as long as you follow the laws of the Holy Kingdom, you’re good?”

“Yes, of course, the Holy Kingdom has many systems in place to accommodate heroes. So, as long as you don’t commit indiscriminate slaughter, the Holy Kingdom can cover up a certain level of crime.”

“It’s definitely an unreasonable privilege, but I don’t see why it’s a good thing.”

If a hero goes astray, the worst privilege becomes corrupted.

What if a privileged hero appears before a man and a woman who have nurtured their love by promising a future since childhood?

Just the thought of it made me want to kill the hero.

“I admit that to a certain extent. But there was a reason why such privileges had to be created. Hero abductions, seductions, and even murders. There were many despicable acts surrounding heroes from various countries, including the schemes of the demon realm.”

“Even so, can we say that someone who can withstand all that is a hero?”

“Even so, the problem was that heroes were more likely to end their lives at the gallows than on the battlefield! That’s why these privileges were created to prevent such tragedies in advance.”

“Even if that’s the case, I don’t really see how these privileges would help me.”

“I think it will definitely help you. After all, Lian, you’re a novice when it comes to politics, aren’t you?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Moreover, after defeating General Drago Newt, you’ve become a target for many demons, so it wouldn’t be strange at all if you were caught up in something.”

There was no way to refute that.

In fact, there were times when I was unfairly arrested while traveling in the Eastern Kingdom.

I don’t know if it was a demon’s scheme, but the possibility of the same thing happening again was high.

It was better to be prepared, and Alaina, who had already made contingency plans, had applied them to me promptly.

“Since the Holy Kingdom has recognized you as a hero, if you ever get into trouble in the future, as long as you declare yourself a hero, you should be able to get out of it without any problems.”

“But doesn’t that come with the condition of having to defeat demons?”

“As I said before, I have no intention of forcing anything on you anymore. I’m satisfied with traveling the world with you like we used to.”

“Is it okay with the Holy Sword?”

“It’s fine. Honestly, I think it’s better for me to travel with you in terms of righteousness or my own values.”

After hearing Alaina’s story, I began to think that it wouldn’t be so bad to accept the role of a hero, even if it was just a facade.

There are things in the world that can’t be solved with power alone.

Still, hasty judgments are unreasonable.

As radical as the hero’s privileges are, there are undoubtedly drawbacks that come with them.

“Can I think about it a little more for now?”

“Of course. Take your time to think it over and give me your answer…”

Alaina’s voice was interrupted midway, with an uneasy feeling.

Sensing the same change as her, I turned my gaze in that direction.

Without even being able to take a look around, the light around the orphanage where they had just left started to rise to the point where pillars were being formed.

Looking at Alaina, who shook her head from side to side as if denying something, he asked, “Is this what you planned?”

Something… something is happening.