Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 108

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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 108

Erwin woke up after Iselda came to find them.

Unlike her usual neat appearance, she looked quite disheveled.

Her breathing was rough, as if she had run here at full speed.

When she first faced Erwin, she stopped her labored breathing.

It seemed like she was tracing the remnants of someone dear to her on his face.

“Is your mother’s name perhaps… Delmin?”

“Do you know my mother?”

Erwin nodded slightly.

“Are you really Delmin’s child?”

Iselda grasped his small shoulders and asked again.

Her eyes were filled with joy.

“Yes…”

Erwin was extremely tense at the appearance of this unfamiliar person.

However, he was soon able to relax in the warmth of her embrace.

“Thank goodness. You really were alive. Where did your mother go? After contact was cut off 8 years ago, I couldn’t find her no matter how hard I tried.”

“To the… Imperial Palace…”

Erwin sobbed and couldn’t continue his words.

Iselda finished his sentence as if she understood everything.

“Yes, she went to the Imperial Palace to receive a mission. But when I tried to find her whereabouts, all I got back was that it was already a completed mission.”

Delmin, who had been her nanny, suddenly disappeared.

When she vanished after leaving for what seemed like her usual mercenary work, Iselda had apparently been tracking her whereabouts with her own power.

But it had been a full 8 years.

Though she could have forgotten by now, she had come running at just one letter containing information about Erwin.

“Mom’s job was taking care of strange people.”

Erwin, who had been hesitating, opened his mouth. He seemed to instinctively realize that she was someone he could trust.

“Her role was to monitor people who were neither dead nor alive… She couldn’t even leave that place, but she was secretly raising me and got caught…”

Erwin, who had been sobbing, couldn’t continue as grief overwhelmed him.

“Is mom still alive? She stayed there alone to help me escape…”

Iselda pulled the crying Erwin into a tight embrace.

Erwin, who had been sniffling and holding back tears, wailed in her arms.

Finally, his blocked tear ducts seemed to burst as he soaked her embrace.

“I’m glad at least you’re alive. So you don’t need to feel guilty.”

Iselda said while hugging Erwin even tighter.

Iselda, who picked up Erwin after he fell asleep from exhaustion, bowed deeply to us.

“I’m always receiving favors. If there’s anything mercenaries can help with, tell me. I’ll run anywhere.”

At Iselda’s words, I smiled broadly.

Even if we hadn’t been able to find Erwin, she wasn’t the type of person who wouldn’t grant a favor.

However, from a mercenary’s perspective who calculated gains and losses thoroughly, she probably thought the debt was only growing one-sidedly.

“Then please let us know if Erwin remembers anything about what happened at the Imperial Palace. It’s important to us too.”

If the Emperor was researching the Hero as Adam suspected, he might have learned about the Demon King’s curse too.

Even the Mage Tower might be unknowingly participating.

Recalling the look in the Emperor’s eyes when he looked at Adam, it seemed certain he knew something.

Given his nature of desperately pursuing anything related to Adam, it wasn’t impossible.

He was already engaging in illegal activities without hesitation. It wouldn’t be surprising if he did something even worse.

“Understood.”

Iselda bowed again to show her gratitude.

It was thanks for saving the child of someone who had been her caretaker.

This time I didn’t decline and accepted her grateful greeting.

“If I learn any information, I’ll come right away. This time I’ll visit the Demon King’s Castle directly.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Iselda left as quickly as she had come.

Now Erwin would grow up safely within Iselda’s protection.

He wouldn’t have to wake up at dawn trembling in fear of falling into the Emperor’s grasp.

Finally feeling relieved, I sighed.

Then Adam, who had been watching us with a strange look, approached.

“Why are you sighing like that?”

“I was worried about Erwin.”

The fortunate thing was that Iselda took him.

If Iselda hadn’t been there either, Erwin would have…

I sighed softly.

Then I felt warmth on my cheek.

At the hot sensation, I startled as if touched by fire and looked up.

In his eyes that always smiled gently when they met mine, worry was swirling.

At a slow pace so as not to startle me, the back of his hand touched my face.

Though it was clearly a considerate touch, my growing feelings made me startled even at small movements.

However, the person himself spoke words of concern with an oblivious face.

“Eve, your face is pale.”

“Ah… I guess I was a bit tense.”

I awkwardly rubbed the cheek his hand had touched.

Even though I knew Adam was coming, it had been a moment when I was so tense that my palms were sweating.

I survived thanks to Adam arriving on time, but what would have happened to me if he had gotten hurt because of me?

‘If I hadn’t been there, Adam wouldn’t have had to face such danger.’

If I had failed to properly recognize the forged letter and Adam had gotten hurt, I really wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.

But even if the same situation came again, I would have made the same choice for Erwin.

Because I remembered his heart that kept checking on Erwin’s wellbeing despite pretending to be annoyed.

“Let me borrow your hand for a moment.”

Adam took my hand.

Ah, I was still clenching my fist tightly due to tension.

This wasn’t because I was scared of the Mercenary Captain.

Rather, it was because of Adam in front of me…

When Adam gently rubbed as if to reassure me, my fingers slowly opened.

He pressed my hand like a massage. Each finger delicately.

I felt like I would suffocate from his tenderness. I subtly pushed with my other hand to remove his hand.

“Ah, I think that’s enough now. The tension seems… to be gone.”

Then Adam looked at me with only his eyes raised.

His vivid golden eyes were filled entirely with me.

At that moment, when our gazes met, I widened my eyes.

‘No, no no!’

Stress – 31%

I had been constantly wondering why Adam’s stress level wouldn’t drop.

What was the stress level in the first place?

It went up when Adam was happy and down when he was unhappy, but who decided those numbers?

‘…God? Or someone similar?’

However, outside the game, I was the only one who had played God’s role for Adam.

At that time, there were no numbers floating above Adam’s head like stress or anything.

It seemed like someone had artificially created it to help my understanding.

Along with the Quest asking me to help Adam.

‘If this isn’t an objective measure… couldn’t someone’s subjectivity be involved?’

Until now, Adam’s stress had risen even when he seemed fine, and the numbers maintained even when he lived normally.

The stress index had fluctuated rapidly when I thought I was dead.

And now.

The stress index, which had shown strangely little progress, had disappeared like a mirage.

Both situations seemed to be connected to me, but I couldn’t understand his intentions at all.

‘Was he that happy that I came back alive?’

What’s going on all of a sudden?

I was flustered by what was happening without understanding why.

Even though Adam was acting strangely today, he didn’t seem different from usual.

I kept glancing up to examine the area above Adam’s head.

As if my eyes weren’t mistaken, the numbers had significantly decreased.

Normally, the index would only drop by 1 when he ate his favorite food or when I stayed by his side all day…

“Iberis, what are you looking at?”

Adam leaned his head closer, making me almost hiccup.

The tension that had just been released wrapped around my body tightly again. It was a different kind of tension from before. The fingers we held together felt ticklish.

I wanted to pull my hand away, but somehow knowing this, his previously gentle grip would tighten around my hand.

With his fingers interlaced between mine, he smiled and asked.

“Eve, are you trying to run away again?”

“I… have never run away though?”

At my answer, Adam simply smiled beautifully.

Not knowing his true feelings, I smiled back ambiguously while trailing off my words.

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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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