Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 106

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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 106

The Elderly High Priest said that he must not be taken along in case there might be the Emperor’s spies within the Temple.

“You won’t be able to come until the Temple is sorted out, but you must stay healthy until then.”

Though he was someone who didn’t properly look after him, at the same time he was the only one who treated him like a human being.

Adam grabbed his clothes with his swollen hands.

At the soft texture of the fabric he felt for the first time in his life, so different from his own rough clothes, Adam unconsciously let go of his sleeve.

And for the first time, he spoke first instead of answering.

“I don’t want to become Emperor. I’m not interested in revenge or the throne, so if you could just let me go somewhere else…”

“Your Highness!”

Strong hands gripped his bruised shoulders tightly.

He frowned reflexively at the familiar pain, but couldn’t show it.

The Elderly High Priest in front of him didn’t seem like he would give in easily over something like this.

“Why do you say such things? Don’t you feel sorry for His Majesty the Former Emperor who died unjustly?”

The Elderly High Priest didn’t look at Adam properly.

Even when their eyes met, the Elderly High Priest couldn’t see the face behind those golden eyes and only mourned his father.

“…I understand.”

Only when he finally said what the priest wanted to hear did the Elderly High Priest’s face soften.

The Elderly High Priest left Adam in hell, saying that if he used his power, his tail would be stepped on.

“So please, stay healthy until I return…”

He wasn’t very interested anymore.

Adam saw him off halfheartedly.

It seemed like even if he died someday, that person wouldn’t cry for him.

Rather, he might shed tears of regret for not being able to avenge the Former Emperor whose face he didn’t even know.

That night, Adam was beaten by his father as usual.

He endured the violence while biting his lips. However, today the man who had been drinking couldn’t control himself, and the Missing Boy could no longer bear it.

It really felt like he was going to die.

If he died like this, there would be no one to mourn his death.

That seemed sadder than dying.

Adam was staring blankly at the ceiling and about to close his eyes.

Someone’s gentle gaze, not his father’s, wrapped around his shoulders.

And surprisingly, the pain stopped.

[Your Deity gives you a choice.]

His father’s kicks that had been beating Adam disappeared.

An unfamiliar voice urged Adam to choose his life.

After Emperor, now Hero?

Does the world only treat me as roles?

But for some reason, Adam couldn’t refuse.

Just like with the Elderly High Priest, he didn’t feel angry either.

For some reason…

[Your Deity persuades you that the world needs you.]

Even though it was a command disguised as a request, that person seemed to cherish me.

In a world prepared only for him, Adam became able to make his own choices.

“I’ll do it. Whether it’s the Hero you speak of, or whatever else.”

It was the first thing Adam had chosen with his own hands.

Even when divine blessing descended, the world didn’t change.

There was no tremendous power suddenly surging from his body, nor did the world turn upside down or common sense change.

Someone was just there beside him.

Only for me.

‘Not going to others, but staying only with me.’

His heart was pounding.

With this overwhelming emotion he felt for the first time, Adam couldn’t sleep for a different reason.

The only salvation, the only light among people who used me.

[Your Deity asks if you’ve eaten.]

‘Come to think of it, Eve also kept trying to feed me.’

Adam chuckled, finding it amusing how ridiculously late he realized the similar behavior to the Deity.

Adam glanced and watched her laughing and talking with Iselda.

Gathering those who had been his companions from the beginning was also intentional.

However, seeing Iberis’s actions, she wasn’t an omnipotent deity.

Of course, this was something he knew even before she showed herself…

‘She doesn’t know everything about me. If she did, she wouldn’t have put other companions by my side.’

Adam remembered countless deaths.

He had experienced meaningless deaths before going to the Demon King’s Castle, and the times he lost his life at the Demon King’s hands were too numerous to count.

And…

“Adam, get a grip… If you’re truly chosen by the Deity, then get your act together! If you’re really the Hero, then what’s this demonic energy like the Demon King’s that I see in you? At least make an excuse!”

He also remembered his companion’s voice screaming desperately.

His vision shook due to the curse, but more importantly, this time too, no voice could be heard.

The Deity had disappeared.

“Deity…?”

It was always like this. Once the Demon King was killed, she would disappear like a mirage as if her work was done.

The remnants of the curse were rippling darkly around him.

However, Adam showed no will to overcome it.

After the Demon King’s death, he alone always received the same curse.

And Kyrillos, who discovered traces of the curse, questioned Adam.

‘But when I kill the Demon King, that person disappears.’

Kyrillos would die soon too.

As always. Adam slowly turned his head to look below the dais. How many sacrifices had to be made to kill the Demon King?

Surely if he returned to the Temple, the Elderly High Priest would welcome him with open arms.

Because that would complete his eternal penance of making him Emperor.

However, that wasn’t what Adam wanted.

If it were before meeting her, he might have been fooled by the meager affection the Elderly High Priest gave and lived as his puppet, but not the current him.

【My Hero, do you want to return?】

When he lost the will to live, another voice that always came at the last moment of life he remembered was heard.

It was a voice similar to the Deity’s, but completely different—a young voice.

Adam closed his eyes without answering.

He felt the cold touch of metal that his distrustful companion had swung at his stomach.

And like always, it started again.

‘It’s different from usual.’

She didn’t choose companions, and gave strange orders not to kill monsters.

Though she often said strange things as if to torment him, to send him alone to the Demon King’s Castle without killing monsters.

If it were a Hero’s first time subjugating the Demon King, it would have been truly shocking.

However, Adam nodded readily without any objection. If it was a life that would die meaninglessly anyway, that one life was enough. He knew the Demon King’s weaknesses well enough from hundreds of experiences.

Even mechanically piercing the Demon King’s stomach.

‘Now you’ll disappear again.’

Then I’ll have to start over again.

If you’re a deity who leaves the side of a Hero who has outlived his usefulness, then I want to keep meeting you until I outlive my usefulness.

【My Hero, do you want to return?】

It was the question that always came at the end.

However, contrary to expectations, it was heard overlapping with another voice.

[Your Deity suggests searching through the Demon King’s corpse!]

“…!”

It was a repetition of the same life. Variations appeared in a life that had been consistently boring to the point of tedium.

God had not disappeared.

…Still remaining by his side.

‘No.’

Adam answered for the first time.

‘I won’t go back.’

Adam smiled without realizing it.

Would vows work on God as well?

It was an impulsive act that started with light curiosity.

However, perhaps his greed was excessive, as she disappeared like a mirage once again.

But the voice telling him to return was not heard.

It had vanished along with the Deity. Even though they clearly seemed to be different beings.

Unable to ignore her last request, he remained in the Demon King’s Castle.

That way, it felt as if he hadn’t been abandoned.

I fell into ruin after losing you, but then Eve, you came.

I had been turning away all along because meeting new beings seemed to make me forget God’s absence.

Because I felt it was sinfully presumptuous to love anyone other than God. Because I couldn’t dare betray the one who had saved my life.

I deliberately ignored Iberis, who stirred similar emotions to her, pushed him away, and deliberately treated him harshly.

However, she did not give up on him as always.

What a beautiful person she was.

She was the only ray of light in the pitch-black darkness.

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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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