episode_0272

Beyond a small hill, looking down below, a village is visible not too far away.

The sight of many people coming and going, and new buildings being constructed, is quite impressive.

Looking down at this village, Baekryun began to speak.

“Um, this is the place….”

“Yes. It’s the hometown of the hero Leon.”

The last stop of my adventure. It was Leon’s hometown.

However, it’s a little different from the small, unimpressive village that remained in Leon’s memory.

Of course, it couldn’t be called as big as a metropolis, but quite a few buildings had been built.

I guess that after the hero Leon subjugated the monsters around the village and became a global hero, the Prune Kingdom provided funds for development here, in Leon’s hometown.

Lucie looked down at the village from beside me, then turned to look at me.

“So, what are you going to do? Hero. Are you going to return to your hometown?”

“You already know everything, so what hometown. I have… a place to visit. You guys can go down to the village as it is. Or you can wait.”

“….”

Instead of answering my words, everyone looked at each other in turn, then smiled brightly and said.

“We’ll wait here.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing much to do in the village anyway…. I don’t think there’s anything particularly interesting in that small village.”

Seollin shrugged her shoulders and said.

The others seemed to generally agree with Seollin’s opinion.

“It won’t take long. I’ll be right back.”

* * *

Leon’s house isn’t in the village.

It’s on the outskirts of the village, almost at the very end, in a very old wooden house.

That’s Leon’s house.

Relying on Leon’s memory, I headed there at a slow pace.

Noren said that Piria was holed up in Leon’s house, not eating well, living like a broken doll.

If she hasn’t starved to death…, she’s probably here.

It didn’t take long to reach Leon’s house.

I don’t know if Noren did it, or Piria did it, or other villagers did it, but it’s been slightly repaired.

Knock knock knock

I knocked on the door, but there was no sound or answer.

“I heard she was here.”

I can feel a commotion inside at my voice.

And soon the door opened and Piria appeared inside.

“Le, Leon!…. Leon, you’ve come!….”

“….”

She was much thinner than I remembered.

Her hair is dry and brittle. You could tell at a glance that she wasn’t in good condition.

“We, welcome!…. Ah, no. This is Leon’s house, so….”

“I came to talk for a bit. It won’t take long.”

“!!”

Piria’s body trembled at my words.

She was probably thinking all sorts of things in her head about what I was going to say.

I took out an old, thin book from my inventory.

Then I handed it to Piria.

“…Le, Leon? What’s this?….”

“A will.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s a will. Leon’s will.”

At my words, Piria looked at me in confusion, as if asking what I was talking about.

I didn’t avoid her gaze and continued to speak.

“I don’t know if you remember when we met in the Holy Kingdom before. At that time, I clearly said that the Leon you knew was dead. That’s not just a metaphor.”

“Huh?….”

“Leon is really dead. And I’m just a ‘substitute’ who borrowed Leon’s body to carry on the will of the dead Leon, to fulfill the duties of a hero that he couldn’t do because he was crazy. If you don’t believe me, take a look at that.”

What I gave Piria was the notebook that Leon left behind when I first came to this world.

It’s a note left so that someone who suddenly possesses his body wouldn’t be flustered.

“Le, Leon’s handwriting….”

And everything about his ‘death’ is written there.

“No, it’s a lie….”

“It’s not a lie.”

“!”

I cut off her denial with a single word.

“Leon despaired. So he gave up his own life. That’s the result of your…, your choice. I came to make that clear.”

“….”

As if she didn’t even have the strength to stand anymore, Piria collapsed to the ground.

Looking down at her, I said one last word.

“Theresa is dead. Marie too. Noren…, I guess she’ll probably be imprisoned in the Holy Kingdom for the rest of her life as the price for joining hands with the ‘Demon King’.”

“?!”

“You’re the only one left. However…, the reason I bothered to tell you this story is because you were Leon’s favorite.”

“!!!”

Completely broken by my one word, she burst into tears.

It’s not much to say, but she burst into tears so sadly, so sadly.

“I don’t care if you starve to death or not…, but Leon wouldn’t want you to die in vain.”

“Leon…, Leon…, Leon!!….”

“….”

* * *

A few days later.

“Have you made your choice?”

“Yes, I have chosen.”

I faced the goddess who had descended on Levia’s body once again.

“Then will you stay here? Or….”

Not only Baekryun and Seollin, but also Lucie, Levia, Baekho, and even the Pope were around me.

They were all looking at me, waiting for my choice.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so much attention focused on me, except when I was doing a presentation in high school….

“I’m going back.”

“…Are you going back?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask why?”

The reason….

“Because these aren’t the things I should have obtained in the first place.”

“….”

“Originally, it was the glory and life that Leon should have obtained. It doesn’t feel good for me to enjoy it.”

“I see. I understand.”

The goddess flicks her fingers.

Then, a pure white gate opens behind the goddess.

I could tell without thinking deeply.

That my hometown is beyond that gate.

I turned my gaze to look at the group looking at me.

Baekryun and Seollin had expressions as if they expected it, and Lucie was still wearing an unreadable smile.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, I thought you would.”

“Everyone’s getting married off.”

“…Ugh.”

I scratched my cheek, groaning at Seollin’s blunt words.

Then, I made eye contact with Tamiel at the end.

“If you disappear, who will be able to handle me?”

“…I guess the people here will have to figure it out.”

“Haha, that’s right. That’s also true.”

Tamiel said that, then smiled slightly and said.

“See you again.”

“…If I can see you again.”

I walked towards the pure white gate.

My whole body’s senses become muffled as if I’m falling into water.

My mind becomes hazy, and the pure white vision becomes black at some point.

“Ah.”

And when my vision returned completely.

I was able to return to my rented room where I live.

* * *

After finishing an adventure that I couldn’t tell anyone about, nothing in my life had particularly changed.

…I wish that was the case, but in fact, a lot has changed.

“Where…. It’s not that far. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Holding the packaged delivery food from the store, I checked the address on my cell phone and focused my mind for a moment.

“…Clock.”

Everything in the world stops almost completely.

I put my cell phone in my pocket and walked leisurely towards the delivery location.

Yes, the ‘power’ that I had obtained as Leon’s body, and therefore should have disappeared when I returned to my original body, did not disappear.

“Thanks to that, I’m using it usefully for my delivery job, but….”

Most of the system remains as well.

Of course, I can’t use save and load, but…. Honestly, this is powerful enough.

Anyway, thanks to this fantasy-like power, even now, half a year after returning to the original world, I haven’t forgotten the memories of that time.

“…Tch. Should I have not come back.”

Sometimes I have such thoughts.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come back. I wonder if I made the choice to return to the original world because I got some unnecessary second-world-syndrome, but maybe I would have regretted it if I had stayed there.

It’s inconvenient there because there’s no internet.

Ding-dong

“Delivery~”

I hand over the delivery food and come down from the apartment.

After gaining this power, I actually thought about trying out sports.

With this bizarre physical ability, I could sweep up gold medals even if I just did it casually.

But I stopped because it seemed like it would be a hassle.

“Haa….”

I sat down on a park bench in the apartment complex and looked up at the sky.

I’m on leave from college, and I’m currently earning a simple living by working part-time as a delivery person, as I saw earlier.

If I use my physical abilities and pseudo-time stop through the clock, I can go anywhere in an instant, and I can do a lot of deliveries in a short amount of time because I can deliver quickly.

It’s quite useful for making money.

Most of all, I can do it freely whenever I want.

“…The me who defeated the Demon King in that world is a delivery man here….”

“Do you regret it?”

“I might regret it a little. I don’t have a girlfriend here anyway.”

“Is that so? Then that’s good.”

…Huh?

A familiar voice from behind.

It’s now buried in my faint memory, but I’ve definitely heard that voice somewhere.

At the same time, I could feel familiar ‘auras’ and ‘gazes’.

When I slowly turned my head, there were beauties gathered there who were so beautiful that they could put ordinary celebrities to shame, looking at me.

“We have finally found our young master.”

“What, he looks more ordinary than I thought. I almost didn’t recognize him if it wasn’t for the aura I felt.”

“The hero’s real appearance is like this….”

“Hello~ Hero~ No, Yoon Tae-ho~”

Baekryun, Seollin, Levia, Lucie.

Those who shouldn’t be here are here.

There’s only one person who can do such an absurd thing.

“Didn’t I say? That we’ll see each other again.”

“Tamiel!….”

Tamiel appears from behind them, smiling brightly.

Questions like how? and what method? were about to pop out, but Levia, who jumped into my arms, was faster.

“Please…, don’t go back anymore….”

“….”

She lost her mother, lost her father, and I disappeared too.

Levia must have felt a lot of sadness.

But….

“How did you find me?”

“I remembered the sensation when the goddess opened the door. I remembered it and remembered it, and I researched dimensional magic to open the door.”

Tamiel said it lightly as if it was nothing, but judging from the faint magic power I felt from her, it seems she overdid it again this time.

“Since you planted the seeds, you have to take responsibility, right?”

“…Huh?”

I was really flustered this time.

I glanced at Baekryun, Seollin, and Levia, who was in my arms, and then turned my gaze to Lucie.

“It’s not true, right?”

“It’s true. By the way, I’m pregnant too.”

“….”

The adventure as an incompetent hero was over, but that doesn’t mean the behind-the-scenes is over.

At the end of the stage, after everything is tied up, what awaits is not a new ‘Hero Leon’, but a story as the true meaning of ‘me’.

And it seems that the main character of that story is not just me alone.

“…I have to make money, right?”

I have to go get a gold medal.