Chapter 114 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: The Cowardly Hero
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'Do you believe this world is worth saving?'
'What do you mean by that?'
'Exactly what I said.'
Elsie stared directly at Leo with a blank expression.
'Is there any reason for this world to continue to exist?'
'Well…'
Kyle scratched his head.
'Isn't that something we can think about after we save it?'
***
He recalled an event from the distant past.
By the time Kyle first met Elsie, the Erebos subjugation party had already taken the form people remembered.
After Lisinas dragged Kyle into what seemed an impossible journey.
Luna, Ar-on, and Dweno joined one by one, completing the party now known to the world as the 'Great Heroes.'
Not long after, the group encountered Elsie.
The Great Hero party had three members with the aptitude of a summoner.
Kyle, Lisinas, and Luna.
Among them, Luna had no talent as a spiritmancer.
Kyle could handle both phantom beasts and spirits, but he was no match for Lisinas.
So they all expected Elsie to form a contract with Lisinas.
Besides, as a black dragon, Lisinas should have been the perfect contractor for Elsie, a shadow spirit.
But shattering everyone's expectations, the one Elsie chose was Kyle.
'I never did hear why she asked that question before the contract, or why she chose me.'
Kyle and Elsie's contract didn't last long.
Because not long after, Elsie was annihilated in the battle against the Necro King, Hell Kaiser.
"Black Rabbit! What are you doing just standing there?"
Ar approached and asked with a puzzled look.
"Oh, it's nothing."
'I'll have to talk to her slowly later.'
This wasn't the right situation to talk with Elsie.
Besides, Kyle was supposed to meet Elsie a year from now.
And Leo wasn't even Kyle.
The oldest-looking elf girl handed them bowls of porridge, which Leo and Ar accepted.
"Could you give us one more bowl?"
"Pardon?"
"I think that man needs to eat something, too."
"Yes!"
At his words, the elf girl smiled brightly and handed over another bowl.
As Ar scooped some of her portion into it, Leo added some from his own bowl for Agon.
"Mister. You should eat, too!"
Ar approached Agon and offered him the bowl.
At that, Agon looked back and forth between the bowl and Ar.
"What is it?"
Seeing Ar's slight confusion, Agon gave a bitter smile.
"It's nothing."
Taking the bowl, Agon found a spot in a corner of the clearing and sat down. Leo and Ar sat down in front of him.
"You two, you're from the outside."
At his words, Ar flinched for a moment.
'To be precise, we're from the future.'
Since she couldn't just say that, Ar simply nodded her head.
"Yes."
"In that case, you should leave this city quickly."
"Excuse me?"
Ar's eyes widened at the sudden remark.
"I know you're not simple refugees. With your level of skill at your age, you'd be treated well anywhere you go."
Agon, who had seen through Leo and Ar's abilities, wore a grim expression.
"There are still many places besides this city that will value your skills."
During the Age of Calamity, there was a desperate need for talented individuals with greater power than now.
It was inevitable, as strong forces were essential to defend against Tartaros's attacks.
"We can't do that."
"And why not?"
"I told you. Ar-on sent us here."
Watching Leo speak while eating his porridge, Ar perked up her ears and tail.
"Right, you said Ar-on sent you here? Where is that fellow now?"
"You don't know where Ar-on is either?"
"I do not. That foolish disciple of mine. It's been half a year with no word."
Agon's words made Ar's eyes go wide.
'Disciple?'
To Ar, Agon's statement was a shock.
Only a hero's achievements were recorded in the Hero Record.
Thus, very little was known about the Great Heroes' pasts.
Since all the Great Heroes were figures from 5,000 years ago, documents regarding their previous deeds were also hard to find.
Therefore, the fact that Agon was Ar-on's master was enough to excite Ar.
It was a moment of discovering a new, unknown piece of history.
"Mister! You were Sir Ar-on's master?"
Watching Ar ask with sparkling eyes, Agon let out a deep sigh.
"Yes, I am the master of that worthless fellow."
"Sir Ar-on is so amazing!"
"What?"
Seeing Ar's shining eyes, this time it was Agon who was taken aback.
"The noble, great, and courageous Brave Hero… to call the one who raised such a person 'worthless'… too much humility is a bad thing."
As Ar praised Ar-on with a bright smile, Agon looked dumbfounded, and Leo covered his face with his hands.
"Young lady, I believe you are mistaken."
"Pardon?"
"My disciple is not noble. Nor is he great or brave."
Ar's mouth fell open.
"Of course, he possesses a great power unfitting for his age."
Agon let out a deep sigh.
"But he's a coward, unworthy of that power. The reason Ar-on left Reysar was because he was afraid of fighting."
Faced with the harsh reality, Ar said in bewilderment.
"Ah, I get it! The Sir Ar-on I know and your disciple must be different people!"
Ar hurriedly pulled out a picture of Ar-on from her pocket.
"Your disciple doesn't look like this, right?"
Agon looked at the picture and said.
"No, that's definitely my disciple."
"You're lying."
"What did you say?"
Ar took a step back.
"Th-that can't be. It can't be! Sir Ar-on! There's no way Sir Ar-on is a coward!"
Wailing, Ar dashed away. Watching her go, Agon asked.
"What's wrong with your friend?"
"She has a certain fantasy about Ar-on."
'Then again, I suppose it's shocking enough.'
For thousands of years, Ar-on had been a figure of pride and self-respect for the beastkin race.
To the beastkin, Ar-on was a great Brave Hero and a symbol of courage.
He was so revered that there was a tradition of praying to him when risking one's life in battle.
To hear that such a figure was a coward in actual history must have been a tremendous shock for Ar, who was still dreaming of becoming a hero.
Moreover, the World of Heroes was history itself.
Knowing that fact all too well, she had run away in denial.
"A fantasy about Ar-on, you say. How unusual."
"He saved her. Your disciple did."
"What?"
"And it's not just her."
Leo put down his porridge bowl and stared intently at Agon.
"Of course, Ar-on is a coward. I know that better than anyone."
He remembered his friend trembling before a fight.
"But he saved many people in places you don't know about. I'm one of the people he saved. So you can be proud of your disciple."
Although from Agon's perspective, it was a story from the distant future.
Ar-on had saved the world.
"That kid… he grew that much in the last six months?"
Agon was astonished.
A look of pride appeared on his face.
Despite his harsh words, to Agon, Ar-on was like a son.
Hearing his son being praised, he couldn't help but be happy.
"It seems like we can't just leave her like that, so I'll go get her."
Leo stood up to retrieve Ar.
A short distance from the clearing, Ar was staring at Ar-on's picture and muttering to herself.
"I can't believe Sir Ar-on was a coward. Something must be wrong."
"Would it be so bad if Ar-on were a coward?"
"Gah!"
Leaping up like a startled cat, Ar landed and shouted.
"Y-you scared me!"
"No need to be that surprised."
"Black Rabbit! Don't you feel anything, hearing that Sir Ar-on was a coward?"
"Not at all. It's possible."
For a beastkin, being called a coward was like an insult.
To call a deified Brave Hero a coward was tantamount to insulting the entire beastkin race.
Even if history said so, people were bound to get angry when they heard something that contradicted their beliefs.
But Ar's reaction was strange.
She looked deeply disappointed, as if she had lost her way.
The once-confident Ar now seemed somehow diminished.
"Is the fact that Ar-on was a coward that shocking?"
"Because Sir Ar-on's story gave me courage."
With her tail drooping, Ar looked at Ar-on's picture.
And with a somewhat melancholic voice, she said.
"When I was young, I was an incredibly timid coward."
"That doesn't suit you at all."
"Don't rain on my parade when I'm getting sentimental!"
After glaring at Leo, Ar once again sank into reminiscence.
"When I was young, I was an incredibly timid coward."
'Is she starting over from there?'
Leo let out a chuckle watching Ar try to recapture the mood.
"My father always emphasized to me."
'You must become the best! My daughter, Ar!'
"Every day was a series of terribly difficult days."
He recalled the incredibly muscular cat-like beastkin he had briefly met.
"That guy definitely seems like he would have been strict."
"I told you not to rain on my parade!"
The fur on her tail and ears stood on end before Ar let out a deep sigh.
"I always wanted to give up. Whenever I did, my father would tell me. That my name was taken from the Brave Hero, Sir Ar-on."
A name taken from the greatest of heroes.
"Hearing that, for some reason, gave me courage. So I tried to become like Sir Ar-on."
So as not to bring shame to the name of the Brave Hero.
"To be noble, great, and brave… to be like the dignified Sir Ar-on, who never faltered in any situation."
The image of Ar-on the young girl knew was only what she had seen in fairy tales.
Recalling the old days, Ar's tail began to wag gently again.
"But to think that Sir Ar-on was a coward…"
Watching Ar's tail droop again, Leo smirked.
"It's simple."
"What's simple! This is a complicated issue for a teenage girl!"
As Ar hissed, Leo spoke.
"That coward saved the world."
"...!"
"He might be different from the storybooks. But I don't think that's a reason to be disappointed."
Leo spoke of the Ar-on he had seen.
"That cowardly fellow showed the most courage when everyone else had fallen into despair. That's why the gods call him the Brave Hero."
Leo smiled.
"If anything, shouldn't you respect him even more?"
Ar's eyes widened as she looked at Ar-on's picture.
The gallant figure in the photo was clearly an image created by later generations.
But the fact that Ar-on was the Brave Hero, the fact that he had accomplished great deeds, remained unchanged.
Ar's ears twitched, and her tail began to sway.
"You know, hearing that makes me like Sir Ar-on even more!"
As Ar shouted with a flushed face, Leo clicked his tongue.
"You're so gullible."
"I told you not to rain on a girl's sentimental parade!"
Leaving the shrieking Ar behind, Leo returned to the clearing.
In the clearing, the children were cleaning up.
Seeing them, Leo's expression darkened slightly.
'Come to think of it, are all these children going to die from the plague?'
The clearing Leo remembered was a massive graveyard.
All the children Agon was caring for had lost their lives to a plague by the time Kyle's party arrived.
For Leo, who knew history, it was painful to see this place.
As Leo wore a bitter expression, he suddenly felt something was amiss.
'Wait a minute. A plague?'
In terms of the timeline, Kyle, Lisinas, and Luna would arrive in Reysar in a month.
'By the time we arrived in Reysar, everyone living in the district, except for the Guardian of the Azure Sky, had already died from the plague.'
No matter how virulent the plague, it was strange for this many children to die within a month.
Thinking that far, Leo recalled a past event.
'Aren't you going to try to persuade the Guardian of the Azure Sky anymore?'
'No. His will is already broken.'
'A will can be restored, can't it? It's a shame to leave such a great person behind.'
'Luna. As you said, a broken will can be restored. But…'
Lisinas's expression darkened.
'Someone who harbors hatred cannot save the world. Let's find someone else.'
After that, they met Ar-on, and Agon blessed the subjugation party's path.
So he had simply let those words pass at the time.
'Don't tell me… is there something more to this?'
Just as Leo's expression hardened.
"My, my. This place is as filthy as ever."
A voice, somehow arrogant, was heard.
Leo turned his head.
And seeing the face there, he scowled.
It was a person Leo knew as well.
The man who had refused the subjugation party's request for help before their battle with Tartaros in the distant future.
But when the party achieved victory after victory, he joined them as if nothing had happened, coveting their achievements and parading around as a hero—a piece of trash.
The lord of Reysar.
'Levaiten.'
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