Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 118

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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 118

Thinking of the two of us learning to dance together in the empty hall with Kyrillos made me burst into laughter.

“Does it please Eve?”

“Yes, very much so.”

I answered Adam’s question with a smile.

Adam seemed satisfied with my response, as a beautiful arc formed on his lips.

Strangely, it felt like he and I were thinking the same thing right now.

Wishing this moment could last forever.

But moments couldn’t be preserved as eternity, and time was still flowing even now.

It wasn’t only time that was changing.

Stress – 9%

The number floating above Adam was steadily decreasing without any particular symptoms.

That meant the Quest would be completed soon.

‘Now there’s finally not much left until the Quest succeeds.’

It felt like just yesterday that Adam looked like he was about to burst from stress and develop anger-induced illness.

Come to think of it, he seemed to always wear a smile these days.

He showed me the heart he had been deliberately hiding away.

If in the past I had to drill a hole to peek into the black box where his inner thoughts couldn’t be seen, now it felt like Adam was lifting the lid to let me see inside.

He revealed everything to me without hiding anything.

‘After completing the Quest… what will happen to us?’

My excited mood sank after thinking about the all-too-obvious future.

Behind the sense of accomplishment, an inexplicable feeling of regret remained.

‘I don’t know. Let’s be happy for now. Adam is happy anyway, right?’

But it was only for a very brief moment.

The fact that Adam had become happy made me joyful.

Yes, I don’t want to leave him, but couldn’t I enjoy this moment, even briefly?

I had always been afraid of happiness.

But with Adam, it seemed like it would be okay.

So couldn’t I be a little anxious?

Couldn’t I enjoy this kind of time for just a moment?

Before I knew it, the same smile as Adam’s was lingering on my lips.

* * *

I slowly recalled the stress level that had appeared above Adam’s head last night.

Stress – 4%

It was a precarious number that seemed like the Quest would end at any moment.

In the past, I had been anxious thinking stress would build up quickly, but it disappeared this fast.

I should definitely be happy, but I also felt regretful.

Adam had become much more affectionate, and his stress decreased proportionally.

As I thought, Adam wasn’t bad-natured but was just having a hard time.

I nodded and decided to forgive all of Adam’s past.

If things continue like this, one more week.

‘I’ve used up all the time limit.’

I looked at the Quest window floating in the upper right corner again.

Despite having a whole month left in the deadline, it seemed like the number would drop to ‘0’ at any moment.

There was only one thing that bothered me.

‘The color hasn’t changed since the stress level shot up high once.’

Usually in games, it’s an unlucky color.

No matter how much the stress level went down, only the color didn’t return to normal.

As if you had already crossed a river of no return.

Stress – 4%

Stress – 3%

The moment the number dropped again, my vision wavered.

ERROR!

A new message that suddenly appeared filled my entire field of vision.

“…Huh?”

Congr?tul?■tions¿ You have successfully completed the hidden Quest. Please sel?■t your reward.

ERROR!

ERROR!

ERROR!

Broken letters appeared sporadically. I rubbed my eyes and looked ahead again, but all I could see were consecutive error windows.

“What is this all of a sudden…”

I stared blankly into the air, bewildered.

Though I said I felt regretful, it wasn’t that I had no intention of returning.

However, the red letters overlapped several times and then disappeared along with the Quest.

I stared blankly into the air at the notification window that had acted like it would give me a reward any moment before disappearing.

The Quest that had always been in the upper right corner, obstructing my vision, was gone.

It had been one of the reasons this world hadn’t felt real until now.

That’s why I could look at Adam from a bit more distance and maintain my composure.

But now that protective barrier had shattered.

Did I succeed in the Quest?

Making that thought seem meaningless, sounds that struck my ears like hammering came one after another.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

The terrifyingly cheerful notification sounds came at me violently, as if being hammered into my ears.

Recalculating rewards.

I hadn’t expected it to be this fast, but faced with the reward that had approached so suddenly, I bit my lips.

‘It hasn’t even reached 0% yet…’

Could the reward really be starting right away?

I recalled the ‘return to the original world’ written in the hidden Quest’s reward.

Is it okay to leave like this without even saying goodbye to Adam?

Even in that brief moment, Adam’s face flashed through my mind.

But at the same time, I had a realization.

To you…

It was the moment when another proper window appeared among all the red letters.

As if contemplating the next content, new letters slowly appeared.

As a Quest completion reward, ‘■■ Quest’ is granted to you.

The notification sound that had once been familiar rang in my ears again.

As if wishing for peaceful daily life to continue was a luxury, the Quest changed in an instant.

A new ■■ Quest has arrived for you.

■■ Quest: Leave the ‘Hero’s’ side within the next 4 days. Success reward: ‘???’s survival Failure: ‘Hero’s’ regression

In that moment, my heart sank with a thud.

A Quest written in blood-red letters.

As if giving a warning, I read through the entirely red letters one by one.

Reading the content that appeared before my eyes, I doubted my eyes just like when I first received a Quest.

‘The Quest content has changed. Why…’

Regression.

The changed Quest content was talking about a restart.

What had been my death was now replaced with Adam’s restart.

Just when what Adam had was finally returning to its rightful place, a restart?

‘Could it be that it starts over from even before becoming a Hero?’

It didn’t take long for suspicion to turn into certainty.

If returning to the beginning was regression, then Adam had regressed dozens of times.

He wouldn’t remember, but I had made it so.

I rewound time until he killed the Demon King, rewound again, and kept rewinding.

Until this current cycle.

‘If I regress again, what will happen to me?’

Would I return to the original world?

Or would I go back to the past with Adam, who had forgotten everything?

If not that, then I would be left here alone…

As I thought of the last possibility, I shuddered at the chilling sensation that pierced through my body.

I crouched down on the floor just like that.

The strength left my body.

I had lived earnestly for Adam’s sake, but in the end, all that came back was a forceful command to leave his side.

‘This is supposed to be a reward…? It was strange from the start that an error appeared when the Quest wasn’t even properly completed. What is all this for?’

The Quest content that floated up emitting light sparkled brilliantly in contrast to me, who had fallen into despair after reading it, and appeared as lofty as a divine oracle.

It seemed as distant as an insurmountable tower that humans could never overcome.

‘Only four days left…’

Along with the thought of returning to the original world, a sudden realization came to mind.

Even when the final moment came, would I be able to confess the past to him?

I could tell Adam the truth and then disappear.

But how?

‘That I was your god, and I tried to take care of your welfare, but now that I’ve succeeded, I have to leave you?’

“Please don’t leave.”

Remembering Adam’s trembling voice, I contorted my face.

‘I don’t want to leave either.’

But it would be better for me to leave than for you to suffer that pain once again.

That would be better for the future too.

When I was with him, he desired nothing.

The sword aimed at the world transformed into a sword to protect the person who was there for him.

In frustration, I fiddled with the ring around my neck and asked.

“Is it because you don’t want me to stay by Adam’s side?”

The Sacred Relic remained silent.

However, if the Sacred Relic hadn’t chosen me, I wouldn’t even be able to touch it like this.

The Sacred Relic had chosen me, but at the same time, it urged me to separate from Adam.

‘Why?’

Why on earth.

God had never been on my side.

It had always been that way.

If that weren’t the case, God wouldn’t have dropped me here and then suddenly told me to disappear just as I had barely adapted to reality.

I felt like crying.

I wanted to grab anyone and pour out my resentment, asking who they thought they were to make me suffer like this.

But I couldn’t do that.

Time Limit: 95:53:12

The Quest’s time limit continued to decrease.

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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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