Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 102

“Is there any reason you need to go out of your way to receive a title?”

That was none other than Adam.

While others were desperate to receive such a title, Adam seemed uninterested. Rather, he acted as if they were trying to burden him with a troublesome position.

“It’s something you achieved yourself, Hero! Of course you should accept it.”

“Hmm.”

Adam still seemed to be contemplating.

“Let’s just accept it for now, and if you don’t like it, you can return it later?”

Kyrillos had a talent for making serious matters sound light.

I held my head in my hands.

After going through all the trouble of spreading rumors to create this situation, he wanted to return the noble title right after receiving it?

‘I’d be in favor if we wanted to see the Emperor’s head spin…’

Kyrillos still didn’t seem to know much about the Emperor.

Even though assassins had been sent, he seemed confused about whether it was really the Emperor’s doing or the independent action of a loyal assassin.

“What if the Emperor’s side moves again? There’s no need to step on a cornered rat.”

“Puhaha!”

Then someone suddenly burst into laughter.

“I thought as much, but Hero, you have quite a fierce personality, don’t you?”

The one who burst into laughter was none other than Kyrillos.

He covered his mouth with his hand and trembled, then finally couldn’t hold back and burst into loud laughter.

“I think the same way. But… it looks fun, so I want to support it?”

Adam’s gaze turned toward me.

“Because it looks fun…”

Adam, who had been quietly muttering Kyrillos’s words, lowered his head and met my gaze.

I met his golden eyes.

A moment passed where it felt like I couldn’t even blink.

“Iberis might become endangered.”

“I’m fine.”

I said with a bright smile.

“Adam will save me, right?”

“…If I can’t.”

Adam seemed to doubt his own abilities.

But I knew well.

He was the one and only Hero.

He was even the one who had killed the Demon King single-handedly.

He could be a little more proud of his abilities.

“I don’t want to become Adam’s weakness. Why are you putting shackles on yourself?”

“I’m satisfied with life in a cage.”

I didn’t want to hold Adam back.

He was someone who could go higher, yet willingly stepped down for those below him.

How far down would he be able to go?

“Then Hero, will you take revenge for me if I get hurt?”

Adam had no answer.

“If Eve wants it, then yes.”

But in the end, Adam gave in.

‘Did he hesitate a little…’

Based on my words, Kyrillos began secretly spreading rumors through his people.

Just as the rumors about the Hero’s attitude were dying down, people who received new fuel began gossiping one after another.

And the rumors spread and spread…

“You know what? The reason the Hero is living in that Demon King’s Castle… it’s because the nobles prevented a mere commoner Hero from coming to the capital!”

This is how it changed.

It all happened in just three days.

* * *

“I knew our family’s cunning fox would make a move.”

Kyrillos said with a sly smile, using both derogatory and honorific terms inappropriately.

It seemed the rumors spread throughout the capital had reached the nobles’ ears as well.

Kyrillos giggled as he spoke ill of his grandfather.

Or was it praise?

He said that upon hearing the rumors, his grandfather immediately rode to the Imperial Palace.

He made a joke that wasn’t really a joke about how the old man over eighty was still so vigorous.

“You mean Earl Evant.”

“Oh, so the Hero knows him too? That strict old man, no. Ahem. Let me correct myself. My grandfather values appearances tremendously.”

He shuddered as if disgusted.

It wasn’t an attitude befitting someone mentioning their grandfather.

However, there was also a hint of pride on Kyrillos’s face.

He really does love his grandfather.

Could he be someone with Kyrillos’s personality but more concentrated?

Kyrillos’s personality was already formidable, so what kind of person was his grandfather?

Not knowing I was thinking such thoughts, Kyrillos said with a smile.

“Ah! Miss Maid, those cookies are delicious, aren’t they?”

“Yes. But don’t you have anything to do, Kyrillos?”

“To ask so directly! Don’t tell me you dislike me visiting so often?”

“Yes.”

Since he came to visit every day, the Demon King’s Castle was beyond bustling—it was noisy.

If left alone, he would chatter enough stories for 100 people by himself.

For Adam and me, who needed time alone, the more we got to know him, the more distant we felt.

“Ugh. That hurts. I bring delicious desserts every day because I want to become friends with Miss Maid, but our maid is still like a cat showing her claws to me.”

Isn’t Adam the cat?

Though now he’s changed to the point where he comes running when I call his name.

Thinking of Adam with cat ears, I almost burst into laughter and quickly covered my mouth.

Thinking I was laughing at him, Kyrillos clutched his chest as if hurt.

“Now you’re even laughing at my efforts…!”

“You’re doing well.”

Adam said while brushing crumbs from the corner of my mouth.

The cookies were as fluffy as Kyrillos boasted, so I hadn’t noticed the crumbs on my lips.

I quickly licked around my lips with my tongue.

Ah, something salty and soft touched me, and I looked up in surprise to find Adam’s finger that he hadn’t pulled away in time.

Adam’s eyes widened in surprise.

And he immediately stepped backward.

Wow, even the Hero’s backward steps are graceful.

While I was admiring this inwardly, Adam blushed as if his purity had been stolen.

“What’s wrong?”

Was he hurt somewhere? I approached him and placed my hand on his forehead.

“…It’s nothing.”

Kyrillos, who had been quietly watching this scene, spoke teasingly with a smiling face.

“Miss Maid is… truly frightening.”

“Why am I?”

“The fact that you know nothing…”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Anyway, my grandfather is a difficult person, but he bites everyone regardless of whether they’re ally or enemy, so he’s really useful at times like this.”

“That’s quite a harsh assessment.”

Kyrillos smiled with his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

“If you met our grandfather, you’d think the same thing within an hour,” he laughed, then changed his expression and spoke seriously.

“If grandfather is on our side…”

Kyrillos held up only his index and middle fingers.

“Two days should be enough now.”

* * *

“Hero, come out and receive the Emperor’s edict!”

“It seems like Kyrillos should be laying out a mat rather than playing knight.”

“Kyrillos’s grandfather, the former duke, has a difficult personality. He’s probably lying sprawled out in the Imperial Palace Gardens.”

“Indeed, Kyrillos’s grandfather…”

He seemed to be as difficult a person as Kyrillos had described.

It was the proud posture of a mongoose hunting a vicious viper.

If he could manipulate that Emperor and produce results in just two days, how thoroughly must he have grilled him?

“Is it okay to treat the Emperor like that?”

“That’s because he disapproves of the current Emperor’s ascension to the throne. However, there’s no one else to take the imperial position. He’s a nobleman who wants House of Leonhardt to survive.”

House of Leonhardt?

It was a name I’d heard somewhere. In the not-so-distant past…

‘Since it’s the Imperial Family’s surname, did I hear it when I met the Emperor?’

But even beyond that, it seemed like there was something memorable about it from somewhere.

However, no matter how much I wracked my brain and pondered, no clear memory came to mind.

Adam roughly straightened his shirt and went out to meet the messenger.

I looked down at the scene from the 2nd floor window.

Since it was an edict personally issued by the Emperor, Adam was kneeling on one knee with his head bowed before his representative.

I didn’t like seeing him in that position and made a displeased expression.

The messenger slowly unrolled the edict and began reciting its contents aloud.

After finishing the reading, he rolled up the edict again and handed it over to Adam.

Adam took the edict with both hands and stood up.

The messenger said something to Adam, then went to mount his horse and left.

Seeing him spit on the ground before leaving, he was clearly someone who disliked Adam.

He was probably dissatisfied that Adam had gained noble status.

Since he was a messenger delivering the Emperor’s command, they surely sent someone who disliked Adam.

“Ah.”

At that moment, I let out an involuntary exclamation.

Adam, casually holding the edict the Emperor had given him, raised his other hand and waved it precisely toward where I was positioned.

Somehow my heart started pounding, so I ducked down below the window.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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