Chapter 111 – Stagnant Water Puddle (4)

The hero’s party stood atop a land that was dyed black with the blood of Demons and Mana.  They were confronting a girl, who had once been a member of the hero’s party

“I cannot accept it.”

“Calm down, Vadinet.  I want you to look straight at me.”

“I am looking straight at you!  Only you!  Not the hero, but you!”

The city of Lihazeta had preserved its sanctity for several hundred years.  However, the city had fallen at the hands of the Demons and the hero’s party.   As intended, the hero’s party had stopped the horrific machinations of the Demon King’s army, but the only person capable of reversing the situation had fallen.  She had made her own decision to corrupt herself.

“How come you’re not the hero? Why!  Why!”

“Why does it matter who is the hero! We all have to help Maetel in defeating the Demon King!  That is our goal!”

“No, that isn’t my goal…. I’ve been patient, but I can no longer be patient!”

The fallen holy priestess raised her staff, and her eyes were dyed red.

“I cannot accept this reality······  I cannot accept the fact that you’re not the hero.”

“Vadinet······.”

“Stop looking at me with those eyes!”

The hero was trying to persuade the holy priestess by any means possible.  However, the hero was tired from the battle.  Her tired eyes were read as her looking down at the holy priestess.

The hero gritted her teeth.  She knew her entire existence was being denied by the holy priestess. The thief stepped forward instead of her.

“Vadinet, we worked together to defeat the Demons….  We defeated the corrupt temple.  We also rebuffed the Demon King’s ambition for the human realm…..   We worked hard to minimize bloodshed, and we were somehow able to stop them.  So why are you doing this?”

“This isn’t the dream I had….  I didn’t go through all the strenuous training, so I can become the maid of honor!”

“Pathetic!”

The warrior rebuked her, but his words weren’t registered in the holy priestess’ ears.

“Yes, now I can see why the temple cooperated with them.  There is a difference between what they learned and what they wanted to protect.  Surely, they became sick and tired of the difference.  It is the same with me.  The goal of my life has been shattered into pieces.  Yes.  I’m sick and tired of it too!  As it stands, I don’t like any of this!”

“They were merely dancing to the Four Heavenly King’s tune.  We exposed their conspiracy!  We even sacrificed the capital to stop their plot.  Please, Vadinet!”

“Pffft, hoo-hoo-hooht.”

The holy priestess laughed.

“No, their plan hasn’t ended yet.”

“What?”

“You should know about this by now?  I’m the one that leaked their secret to you.  I’m the one that led you by the nose to bring about this situation.”

“Vadinet······?”

The hero felt something was wrong.  She was taken aback as she unsheathed her sword.  Unfortunately, the situation had reached the precipice where nothing could be done.

“All of Lihazeta was made by incorporating magic circles.  When needed, it can be compressed to function for a single purpose.  It is possible to change its shape.  Moreover, the magic circle is more than optimized thanks to the mayhem caused by the Demons.  Yes, the plan was a success.  ……it was a success only for me.”

All the black Mana in the region was focused solely on her.  In a flash, her energy was amplified.  The energy was headed towards a direction that shouldn’t be traversed.  The energy was endless, and there was no limit to it.

In the end, the overwhelming Mana altered the existence called the holy priestess.

“Vadinet, you…..”

“I hate my position as the holy priestess.  I also hate the fact that Maetel is the hero.  However, I cannot change Maetel.  That is why I have no choice but to change myself.”

“Everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve…….!”

The thief, Silpennon, yelled out loud.  The woman, who used to be a holy priestess, snickered when she saw him.  Her eyes were completely dyed red, and demonic wings shot out from her shoulder blades.  It was proof that she had lost her holiness.

“Silpennon, my love.  This is the only way for us.”

They couldn’t believe what was occuring in front of their eyes, but they had no choice.  In the end, they had to accept it.

They always believed that the priestess would protect them from their side.  However, she had fallen as a human to become a Demon.

Maetel kept crying as she apologized.  However, it took a little bit of time before Artpe was able to console Maetel.  When he made sure that the Record Divide was completely canceled, he took a deep breath as he carefully approached Maetel.  He hugged her.

“Hee-ggoohk.  I’m sorry..

“It’s all right.  I was just a little bit surprised.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes yes.”

Maetel had been crying like a child, and she was barely able to calm down after Artpe hugged her.   He hadn’t approached her for a while, so she had been afraid that Artpe’s displeasure towards her was absolute.   When Artpe consoled her, she was finally able to relax.

“Artpe, you really aren’t mad?”

She was nestled within his hug.  Maetel looked up with tearful eyes as she asked him a question.  Artpe let out a bitter laugh as he wiped away the tears near her eyes.

“I’m not mad.”

“I’m sorry.  From now on, I won’t kiss you when you say you don’t like it.”

“In truth, it isn’t as if I hate it.”

“Then I can continue to kiss you when you are asleep?”

“······.”

Artpe stared at Maetel as he asked her a question.

“How many times did you do that?”

“Ooooh-mmmmm······.”

Maetel had gone into her docile mode of behavior.  She thought long and hard before she shook her head from side to side.  However, the words that came out of her mouth was quite the spectacle.

“Artpe, do you remember the number of times you ate bread······?”

“Get away from me.  We’ll definitely sleep in different rooms from now on.”

“Ah-oooooh.  I’m sorry!  I’m sorrrrrry!  Anything but that!”

It felt as if she had fallen in a trap that she couldn’t escape from.  He turned passive as he let out a big sigh, and he mussed her hair.

“I know you didn’t do it on purpose.  Still, you shouldn’t see my memories without my permission.”

“Yes, I won’t see it.  I’ll only see the ones that Artpe shows me.”

“······all right.  That is enough.”

At times, he got the feeling that her words were incongruous with her normal self.  The current situation was like that.  However, when Artpe saw Maetel’s innocent eyes, he shook off such uneasy feelings.

“You didn’t see much, right?”

“Yes.  Arpte reacted so fast that I didn’t see anything.  I also canceled the skill really fast.  I did well, right?”

“Yes, you did well.”

“Hoo-hee.”

When Maetel was completely sure that Artpe was no longer mad, she was able to ask him the question.  She continued to hold his hand tight.

“That means Artpe’s spell was strengthened too?”

“Yes.  That damned sunbae-nim didn’t say a single word about the blessing……”

Over a year ago, they had visited a temple where the Ancient Kraken was sealed by the previous hero.  They were able to absorb a skill book and a spell book that had been prepared by him.

Sunbae-nim had been firm in his words that the items would strengthen their Unique skill and spell.  However, their Unique skill and spell hadn’t been strengthened, and it had caused them much confusion.  The strengthening happened today!

Of course, it only occurred after a massive amount of Mana from an outside source was injected into them.  From the beginning, maybe it was intended to be completed through the blessing.  As the possessor of the Read All Creation ability, Artpe was unsure if that was true.  However, the process had been too seamless, so it was possible.

If he could make one guess, the sunbae-nim might have thought the receiving of the blessing from  Paladia was a given.  It had been the same with the sunbae-nim’s grave.  He had expected the next generation’s hero to find it.

“That damned sunbae-nim.  I’ll find everything he left behind, so I can look down on him.”

“Even when Artpe moves with shady intentions, he is cool.”

Artpe tried to manifest a single Mana String as a test.  He didn’t even need conscious thought to bring it out, and the Mana String was of similar thickness as his previous ones.  However, the amount of Mana within it was in a state of flux.  It felt as if it was an extension of Mana.

‘The Mana String becomes a spell, and the energy of the spell is released again to be made into a Mana String. It’s possible to do this?’

He didn’t have to manifest it as a simple thread.  The current Mana String was pushing the boundary of freedom given to Mana.  He could imbue physical characteristics over the magical energy, and he could manufacture it into any shape.  Even after manufacturing Mana into a shape, it could be changed into a spell.

‘This is no longer the Mana String······ I see.’

As always, Maetel had been staring at Artpe.  His eyes met hers.  Artpe’s figure was contained within her clear green eyes.

[Artpe]

[Human]

[Hero]

[Level : 283]

[Strength : 619 Agility : 581 Stamina : 708 Magical Energy : 2,674]

[Hero’s Aura Lv1]

[Materialization Lv1]

“I became Initialized again!”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

He had thought it was a simple matter of his spell being strengthened.  It seemed there was a name change, and he had to start over from level 1!  Of course, the Record of his spells up to now was still there, so his spell was a level 1 spell that wasn’t a level 1 spell. Still, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit dejected by it.

‘Materialization?  What do I materialize?  Do I materialize my imagination?  Ideal?  Do I get to materialize whatever I want?  If so, this is the terminal end of magic!’

Of course, there wasn’t anything Artpe couldn’t do with his original Mana String.  He wasn’t just merely using a spell.  He embodied the spell as a whole, and in that aspect, there wasn’t much difference between the hero and the Demon King!  No, when he thought about it in this term, they seemed very similar!

‘Still, there are a lot of restrictions……’

If there weren’t any restrictions, he could basically conclude the tale of the hero.  Of course, there were restrictions.  If he tried to materialize a spell that wasn’t in the form of a thread, he would have to consume Mana to an abnormal degree.  Even with Artpe’s massive reservoir of Mana, he couldn’t add elaborate conditions to the Materialization spell.

‘All right.  I’ll gradually research this.  On the other hand, I have a newly acquired skill called the Hero’s Aura.’

It was a congruous skill between those that possessed the matching tattoo on their shoulder blade. Even if they tried to use the skill, the only benefit that would come from it was an emission of golden light.  Other functions would probably be added when the skill level rose. Of course, the hero from his previous life didn’t possess this skill….

Lastly, their status had risen.

Artpe was a hero.  He possessed high strength and agility stats.  It was so high that he couldn’t be compared to other magicians.

However, he had received an overwhelming amount of Mana and the Record within the holy relic.  As his magical energy increased, his strength, agility and stamina increased alongside it.  Even if he didn’t have magic, he could credibly mimic high rank Warrior over level 200.

Then there was the fact that he was capable of strengthening his body with magical energy.  If so, would he be comparable to a lvl 250 Warrior?

“Anyways, this was a boon for me.  Maetel, you also….”

“Yes, my skill….  Ooh-mmm. I think it’s called the Record Master.”

Artpe had been strengthened in totality.  It was the same for Maetel.  She had gained the Hero’s Aura like him.  All her stats were boosted, and the Record Divide had evolved.  It couldn’t be compared to before.

If she wanted, she could steal someone else’s Record.  She wouldn’t need permission.  She also could give her Record to someone else without any restrictions.

“······I made it clear that you can’t do it.”

“Artpe’s level is so high that I probably can’t even attempt it on you.  Don’t worry about it.”

Maetel didn’t want to make Artpe mad again, so she waved her hands.  Then she suddenly discovered the presence of the priests and the holy knights.  They had been there all along.  She pulled at the sleeve of Artpe’s robe.

“Artpe, they are looking at us with strange eyes.”

“It is understandable.  The heroes finally received their blessing, yet we look to be romancing each other right now.  Of course, they would look at us with such eyes.”

“R…romancing…….”

Maetel’s eyes turned starry.  Artpe realized that he had unintentionally turned on her switch.

“I meant that it looks like that on the surface.”

“I see.  From the perspective of other people, we already look like that.”

“Ah······ Yes.  I guess so.”

“Ooh-hee.  I see.”

It was hard to believe that she had been crying until a moment ago.  She had an unimaginably bright smile on her face.  Artpe was thankful that Maetel felt better, but he kept letting out a sigh.

It was at that moment that the holy priestess returned to them.  She had come back after controlling her emotions.

“Now….  The two of you will have to accompany me in the parade that is heading towards the inner city.”

“Yes.  Please watch over us.”

This was how the march towards the inner city started.  Artpe, Maetel and the holy priestess Vadinet were having different thoughts as the parade continued.  Despite this fact, they maintained a broad smile on their face.  In the eyes of the people of Lihazeta, they looked beautiful.

“Oh my.  The holy priestess is with them.  They really look great together.”

“Did you hear the news?  Two heroes received the blessing.  That is quite convenient…..”

“I wonder what the gods are painting.  I shouldn’t be having such thoughts, but I’m a bit curious as to how the war with the Demon King’s army will progress.”

“You rascal.  You shouldn’t even speculate about such things.”

It seemed the people of this country had read the ‘Words That Shouldn’t Be Spoken Unless You Want to Become a Supporting Character in Another Person’s Life Volume 2.’  The nearby civilians were talking about their perception of the proceeding, and they were mixing in some dialogue about the future.  It truly were words befitting extras!

“Hero-nim, the parade will come to an end soon.  When it ends, we’ll enter a location that is inaccessible by the other priests and holy knights.  The two hero-nim will be accompanied only by me.”

“Yes, all right.”

The proceeding was really long and drawn out.  When the holy priestess whispered to him, he schooled his expression.  He tried his best to act as if nothing was wrong.  However, there were a lot of thoughts going through his head.

‘If the same situation from my past life occurs again, it’ll become really annoying.  Will Silpennon be able to pull this off successfully? Of course, it isn’t as if there aren’t scenarios where he’ll fail.  Still, I want to get through this cleanly.  I want to change the direction of the events to completely fuck over the Demon King’s army……’

He took a peek at the holy priestess.  Her expression still contained some of the dismay she was feeling.  However, she was a priestess blessed by the gods.  This was why she had on a saintly smile on her face.  Maetel was still in her self-restraint mode, so she couldn’t poke at Artpe’s thigh like usual.

At that moment, the holy priestess suddenly spoke.

“The two of you look very close…..  I am envious.”

“You should find a good man for yourself.”

At Artpe’s apathetic response, the holy priestess let out a bitter laugh as she replied.

“My body was dedicated to the gods.  That is why I am unavailable to men.  That is how it is.  However, if the god do allow a mate for me, it would probably be a her……..”

“People of Lihazeta!  Please give your blessing to the two heroes and the holy priestess!  They will be going on a journey to defeat the Demon King!”

Before the holy priestess could finish her words, a holy knight shouted out his words.  The people of Lihazeta shouted their blessings towards the party at the same time.  There were people that had followed the parade from the start to the end.  The people gathered at the current location numbered in the tens of thousands.  Of course, Artpe couldn’t hear the holy priestess’ words.

‘What? So that’s what it was?’

However, Artpe didn’t have a screw loose like the main characters that appeared in the hero’s tale.  He possessed abilities that was completely different from them.  It didn’t matter that the civilians were yelling at him.  It didn’t matter that Maetel was glaring at him.  He could clearly read the lips of the holy priestess!

‘The holy priestess can’t meet men aside from the hero?  This bitch actually believed in such lie!’

Artpe gained an understanding.  He understood why the holy priestess had acted like a psychotic bitch in his previous life.  He also realized why she had tried to intentionally exclude Maetel from the blessing.

The holy priestess in his past life had believed in a lie, and she had lost control as she continued to work towards her goal of a marriage!

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