"You Are Our Hero"
"Phew..."
Once the trial was finally over and we stepped out into the plaza, the tension in my shoulders naturally melted away.
"I can't decide whether to call you incredible or reckless."
At Sister Miriam's words, spoken with a cigarette hanging from her lips, a hollow chuckle escaped me.
"Reckless. I honestly didn't think it would work this well."
I had bluffed confidently in front of the Pope, but looking back on it now, it had truly been absurdly reckless.
Children living in the Holy Kingdom under false identities.
But these children could not possibly be the only ones who had escaped the reformation center.
Discarded nobles dragged in from various regions.
People entangled in corruption.
Those who had seen things they never should have seen.
Among them, there were surely others sharpening their blades within the Holy Kingdom just like these people.
That was the entire foundation of my plan—a fragmented guess.
It worked out in the end, but it had essentially been a gamble.
"I sent word around, but I never expected every single one of them to actually come."
Miriam chuckled as she looked back at the thirty witnesses standing behind her.
"That just means they had a lot bottled up inside."
She spoke while looking at the witnesses who had accompanied her.
"And then you went and lit the fuse."
"Haha."
Unlike me, who had the protection of a ducal house, these people were ordinary citizens with no shield whatsoever.
Even hiding from the Order wasn't enough for them—yet they had openly exposed themselves like this.
It was practically suicide.
Now that they had testified about the human experiments, they had become the Holy Kingdom's shame and weakness.
There would be no shortage of people who wanted them dead.
"Young Master Klein."
While I was thinking that, a broad-shouldered man called out to me.
It was the mercenary named Yoon Gerdan, the one who had raised his voice during the trial.
"The last time I saw you was from afar eight years ago. You've grown so much I barely recognized you."
As he spoke, he extended his hand toward me.
I didn't remember any of them.
But even after eight years, they still remembered me.
Their eyes shimmered with moisture.
"Thank you for answering such a sudden request."
As I shook his hand, I looked over the people approaching me.
Some were smiling brightly, while others hunched nervously as though unable to relax.
"Please, don't say that."
"If anything, we're the ones who should be grateful."
Yoon pounded his chest heavily as he spoke.
"I spent eight years hiding after escaping the reformation center, but now I finally feel relieved!"
The moment he said that with a confident grin—
"You were making such a huge fuss before entering the tribunal. What happened to all that bravado?"
The woman who had introduced herself as Lily Mayan jabbed him in the side with her elbow as she teased him.
"W-what?! When did I ever do that...?!"
Yoon hurriedly waved his hands in denial, but the others who had been listening quietly immediately chimed in.
"You were panicking, saying the Holy Knights wouldn't let us off afterward."
"If Sir Checker hadn't stopped you, you were planning to run away!"
"Hahahahaha—!"
Laughter bloomed naturally among their joking exchanges.
But beneath those smiles, I could still glimpse the anxiety they were desperately trying to hide.
'They're afraid. And yet they still chose to stand against it.'
Not knowing fear is not courage—it is arrogance.
It is not conviction—it is stubborn delusion.
A truly courageous person is someone who understands fear.
Someone who feels fear, yet still refuses to avoid it and stands proudly to face it head-on.
'Which means I have a responsibility to answer their resolve.'
Chivalry. Justice. I knew nothing about such things.
What I possessed was merely the sense of responsibility of a necromancer.
Now that they had joined my plan, it was my duty to protect them.
"Young Master Klein."
"Ah, yes?"
The one who pulled me from my thoughts was the middle-aged man named Checker.
"The reason we participated in the trial as witnesses was not simply for revenge against the Order."
Seeing the grave expression on his face, my own expression grew serious as well.
'As expected, a letter alone wouldn't be enough for them to trust us.'
After being protected by Miriam and the regional dioceses, these people were supposed to relocate to the Duchy of Leinrant.
The knights dispatched from my family estate were likely already on their way to the Holy Kingdom.
But with Holy Knights scattered everywhere, trusting my promises so easily would naturally be difficult.
"You don't need to worry about your safety. Preparations have already—"
I had just opened my mouth to reassure them when—
"No. That isn't it."
The man interrupted me with a wave of his hand.
"Hm?"
"The true reason we attended as witnesses."
Placing a hand over his chest, the man slowly began to speak.
"There were words we couldn't say eight years ago. We wanted to say them to you."
Speaking in a solemn voice, the man slowly knelt on one knee before me.
"N-no, wait. What are you—"
Just as I tried to stop him in confusion—
"On behalf of all the comrades who died in the reformation center..."
Checker raised his head and met my eyes.
"Klein Leinrant. You are our hero."
And for a moment, that single sentence robbed me of words.
"...What did you just say?"
It wasn't only him.
Every single witness bowed respectfully toward me.
"You saved us."
"If it weren't for you back then, Young Master, none of us would still be here!"
"You saved our lives."
For a brief moment, I repeated the title they had called me in my head.
Hero.
One who saves the weak, destroys evil, and brings light into the world.
The title once given to Berkel—the man who drove a sword through my heart.
A name reserved for the one person who halted my march of rage and madness.
"...."
I felt warmth spreading somewhere deep inside my chest.
It was a feeling I had experienced once before.
The same overwhelming emotion I had felt at Laiya Fortress, when a child handed me a flower.
"Even if the Order calls you a demon. Even if the entire continent speaks of you as the source of calamity."
Nameless people, each with different appearances and lives.
"We will still call you that."
Yet the words they spoke to me carried the weight of a vow.
***
"Coo! Coo-coo—!"
"Oh, for the love of—let me sleep already..."
Early in the morning,
Aul pecked relentlessly at my forehead until I had no choice but to wake from my pleasant sleep.
"How is this thing incapable of letting its owner rest in peace?"
Still half asleep, I rubbed my eyes and sat up.
"Mnnn..."
"Potato... I want potato soup..."
Leaving the children, who still hadn't woken up, behind me, I lazily gathered my clothes and got dressed.
Simple traveling clothes instead of priestly robes, and a field cloak bearing the crest of House Leinrant.
They were items the information network of the main house had delivered in advance to the orphanage.
"Been a while since I saw these guys too."
When I untied the bundle hidden beneath the bed, two swords resting in their sheaths greeted me.
Nordvind, Berkel's sword taken from the Sword Mausoleum.
And the crystal sword forged from the legendary Frost Crystal of the Ice Castle.
Shiiing—!
The moment I drew the blade, the well-maintained edge gleamed white and transparent.
Clack!
By the time I finished checking my belongings and preparing to head out—
"A sword made of glass? Now that's one bizarre thing to see."
Miriam stepped out of her room holding a whiskey bottle in one hand.
"Wait... did you empty an entire crate already?"
I asked while staring at Miriam's room, which was practically overflowing with empty liquor bottles.
"Hm?"
Seeing the bizarre expression on her face—as though she genuinely didn't understand what the problem was—I no longer had the energy to say anything else.
"Hyung, aren't you eating?"
It was breakfast time now that all the children were awake.
A chubby little boy asked me the question.
The name on his tag read 'Levin.'
He was the kid who had previously held an in-depth philosophical discussion about potatoes.
"Why? Need more?"
I tried handing him one of the potatoes sitting on the table, but—
"No. Don't give it to me. I'm sick of potatoes."
Levin raised his hand with a hardened expression and stopped me.
"I'm sick of potato soup. Sick of potato pancakes."
"And I'm sick of this new potato bread too."
"But most of all, I'm sick of our lives being completely covered in potatoes."
With an unusually serious face, he was just about to begin a philosophical debate with the friend sitting next to him—
"Levin's being picky about side dishes again~!"
"I-I'm not—!"
His tiny rebellion was once again crushed beneath the overwhelming wall known as "being picky with food."
Ah yes, oppression and violence are what kill philosophers.
How easily the beautiful flower of intellect is trampled beneath reality.
...I was starting to enjoy the nonsense running through my head a little too much.
Maybe I still wasn't fully awake.
Knock knock.
I was absentmindedly chewing on potato bread that somehow tasted like corn when the sound of knocking from outside the door snapped me back to reality.
"Looks like the time's come."
I rose from my seat with a hint of caution.
The Primordial Brazier located in the far east of Felician.
The Pilgrimage of the Sun Road—the ritual of lighting the flame there.
But I never once believed this pilgrimage would proceed smoothly.
'Starting with the conditions the Order placed on me.'
The Order had imposed two conditions on me after granting me the status of Pilgrim.
'You will only use routes designated by the Order.'
'You will travel accompanied by one clergy member assigned by the Order.'
In other words, they intended to restrict my movements and keep me under surveillance twenty-four hours a day.
'The one knocking right now is probably the companion the Order assigned me.'
One of the Pope's hands and feet, tasked with constantly monitoring a dangerous individual like me.
"There'll probably be countless assassination attempts too... maybe I should look for a chance to eliminate them..."
Just as I was pondering future countermeasures—
Creak.
The wooden door slowly opened, and a figure revealed herself.
"Young Master Klein Leinrant."
The voice that came from beyond the door belonged to a young woman.
When I looked toward the source of the voice, a woman around my age stood there.
Her black bob-cut hair, which reached her shoulders, shimmered blue whenever it caught the light.
And black eyes carrying the same hue calmly observed me.
"My name is Stella, the nun who will accompany you on the Pilgrimage of the Sun Road."
A calm voice carrying an intellectual atmosphere.
Her doll-like expressionless face made it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
'...No, wait.'
A terrible premonition flashed through my mind, and my head instinctively turned.
'That voice sounds familiar...?'
The moment my eyes met those of the nun named Stella—
"Ah."
The two of us simultaneously let out the same stupid noise as we recognized each other.
"The one I met in the underground prison beneath the cathedral..."
"The nameless brother?"
The finger I pointed at her began trembling.
No.
No, this can't be right!
Why would they assign someone like this as my companion?!
"Ohhh!"
"It's Sister Stella!"
While Stella and I stared blankly at each other,
the children eating breakfast greeted her cheerfully.
'Wait, they know each other?'
Their attitude was that of children welcoming an old friend.
"You've all been doing well."
The nun greeted them calmly, still wearing the exact same expressionless face.
"How long are you staying this time? Did you bring something tasty?"
"I'm only stopping by briefly. And as for money..."
As she awkwardly responded to the children—
"Sister—! Stella unnie is here—!"
At the little girl's shout calling for Miriam, Stella's expressionless face cracked slightly.
And the next moment—
Smack—!
The boiled potato Miriam had previously thrown at the Holy Knights came flying directly toward Stella's head.
Not a warning shot this time.
A combat throw.
The potato flew in a straight line and smashed directly against the nun's forehead before exploding into pieces.
"Who did you say came~?"
Miriam stepped out of the kitchen carrying a red-hot frying pan that was literally steaming.
"I-I'm back..."
Stella awkwardly tried to say something, but—
"When was the last damn time I told you to show your face around here, you rude little brat?! And now you finally crawl back?!"
Together with the thick stream of profanity, another potato from Miriam launched straight toward Stella's head once again.