Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 152

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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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Part 2, Chapter 19

 

A name suddenly came to mind.

 

Even if the Dreamcatcher was just a coincidence, could Elderly Former Hunter also be a coincidence?

 

Could coincidences really pile up this much?

 

I was about to turn around to tell Adam and ask for his opinion.

 

Once suspicion had sprouted, it didn’t easily disappear. It would be more accurate to say I didn’t want to believe it.

 

“…!”

 

Tap.

 

At that moment, a cane blocked my steps.

 

“What business do you have?”

 

I slowly raised my head, which had been lowered in complex thought, and spoke.

 

There was only one person in this village who used a cane.

 

When I raised my head, I saw Lindel.

 

“You’re the Hero’s lover, aren’t you?”

 

That again.

 

That ridiculous rumor had really spread everywhere.

 

Had the people of Dainil Village heard it too?

 

I thought of Violet, who had tried to stop me when I first said I was going to the Hero.

 

She had casually asked if I perhaps liked the Hero.

 

I remembered scoffing inwardly when I heard that question.

 

Back then, I had no idea things would turn out like this.

 

Violet, I’m sorry.

 

But I didn’t spread this rumor!

 

“There’s only one reason you’d return to the village.”

 

Lindel said with a small sigh.

 

“He came looking for you.”

 

“…?”

 

I frowned and examined his intentions.

 

“Are you talking about Adam?”

 

And if it was someone he’d be looking for me about, it could only be Adam.

 

Hadn’t he just called me the ‘Hero’s lover’?

 

Even though the villagers would be more familiar calling me by name.

 

He spoke familiarly as if he knew the Hero.

 

“Didn’t you also come because you wanted to hear the story?”

 

“Come to think of it, back then you were also acting like someone was chasing you. If someone would chase you, who had connections to Adam and was a nobleman….”

 

Surely the same person came to both our minds simultaneously.

 

The Emperor.

 

Someone who was now dead and gone.

 

Because of that, Lindel’s situation had become much freer.

 

Was that why? Lindel looked more relieved than before. Should I say he seemed a bit brighter? Even so, his pessimistic nature hadn’t gone anywhere and still remained in his expression.

 

“If you want to hear it, follow me.”

 

Did he know something?

 

I fidgeted with the relic hanging around my neck.

 

Anyway, he was a patient with severe injuries.

 

If necessary, I could easily subdue him with divine power.

 

Lindel limped as he led the way.

 

It wasn’t particularly fast walking, so after a moment’s consideration, I was able to catch up with him.

 

The mansion on the hill could overlook the entire village.

 

As evening came, the villagers were lighting their house lamps one by one.

 

The only place without lights was Elderly Former Hunter’s house.

 

I stood quietly watching that scene, then entered his house.

 

I fidgeted with the teacup he offered me and said.

 

“What conversation did you have with Adam?”

 

“…About that day.”

 

Lindel said in a low voice.

 

Lindel’s hands were trembling as he recalled the past.

 

“I told him about the day His Majesty the Former Emperor, the Hero’s father, died.”

 

“Could you explain it to me as well?”

 

Lindel, who surprisingly nodded readily, opened his mouth.

 

At first he seemed to struggle even to speak, but he wore a much more comfortable expression as if remembering again that the Emperor was dead.

 

“The public was told he suddenly passed from illness, but I know. He suddenly died spitting black blood. I lost my eyes and legs to monsters but escaped….”

 

Black blood, and monsters….

 

After hearing Lindel’s explanation, I said urgently.

 

“You’re saying monsters appeared in the Imperial Palace? Monsters don’t attack people of their own will in the first place.”

 

“But it’s true. All my wounds are the monsters’ doing.”

 

Indeed, I could feel faint demonic energy from his wounds.

 

I looked at him with a slight frown.

 

An intelligent monster voluntarily entering the Imperial Palace, a human domain? That was impossible.

 

Someone had ordered it.

 

Someone with a Subjugation Stone.

 

‘Back then….’

 

It was right after Adam was born.

 

Hadn’t Adam’s father died of illness?

 

“…I hadn’t heard any talk of a monster attack.”

 

“Only I, who was small and young, survived, so there’s no way anyone would know. And I was too afraid of when I might die at the Emperor’s hands to speak of it.”

 

He said he had spent years after escaping, mulling it over and thinking.

 

Since he was someone who witnessed the Former Emperor’s death up close, he might have seen something suspicious about his death.

 

I frowned slightly.

 

The collusive relationship between the Demon King and the Emperor.

 

Then Lindel would have told Adam about this after finding him.

 

Did Adam feel betrayed?

 

Was that why he moved up the rebellion right after that?

 

“What did Adam say when he heard this story?”

 

“He asked if I hadn’t seen strange black smoke from His Majesty the Former Emperor back then. I answered that thinking about it, it seemed like I had.”

 

Black smoke?

 

I suddenly thought of the black smoke I had occasionally seen from Adam.

 

That black smoke, which felt ominous just by its existence, was definitely demonic energy.

 

‘Did he pass away from demonic energy poisoning?’

 

Ordinary people are affected even by small amounts of demonic energy.

 

People with divine power could endure it to some extent, but for just an ordinary person, even that would have been sufficient poison.

 

“Come to think of it, there was someone behind the 2nd Prince, no, the Emperor back then.”

 

Lindel said as if just remembering.

 

His single remaining eye narrowed as if recalling the situation from that day.

 

He muttered as if talking to himself while sketching that day in the air.

 

“Red eyes that glowed bright red even in the dark night, and long black hair… A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties.”

 

“…!”

 

…It was the Demon King.

 

When he described exactly the same appearance as the Demon King from the illustrations I remembered, my eyes widened.

 

I remembered clearly.

 

It was the appearance of the Demon King that the Hero would face at the very end after countless attempts.

 

I opened my mouth slightly.

 

Could it be that the person the Emperor joined hands with wasn’t a demon?

 

In the end, did he awaken not just demons but even the Demon King?

 

No, there’s no way a human would commit such evil acts…

 

There are lines that humans must not cross.

 

If the Demon King is revived, thousands, tens of thousands of lives will be lost.

 

Eventually, if there’s no Hero willing to sacrifice their life to defeat him, even the Empire will fall entirely into the Demon King’s grasp.

 

But the Emperor who rules the Empire would do such a thing?

 

However, I felt an uneasy feeling that my speculation might be correct.

 

Especially since I knew the Emperor’s actions well.

 

Rather, there was no guarantee that the Emperor wouldn’t do such a thing.

 

Hadn’t the Demon King’s revival cycle become strange from the time the current Emperor ascended to the throne?

 

Coveting the throne, he revived the Demon King.

 

And then to kill Adam, he revived him again, which caused…

 

The Demon King to be revived differently than other times.

 

Lindel frowned with one eyebrow as if recalling memories and said.

 

“The strange thing is… he suddenly blinked and changed his appearance to that of a child. Like a young child playing a prank.”

 

“He changed his appearance?”

 

I asked back while muttering.

 

If I made the Demon King I’d only seen in illustrations look younger, wouldn’t he somehow resemble someone?

 

“Ugh…”

 

At that moment, I hurriedly covered my ears at the ringing tinnitus.

 

“It’s the Demon King, it was the Demon King…!”

 

Elderly Former Hunter’s desperate cry about seeing the Demon King flashed through my mind.

 

Suspicion turned into certainty.

 

“If there was an outsider that Elderly Former Hunter could mistake for the Demon King back then…”

 

I slowly removed my hands covering my ears and muttered quietly.

 

There’s only one person, isn’t there?

 

…Aphene was the Demon King.

 

He had been this close all along.

 

Deceiving me and toying with the Hero.

 

He had been revived once again.

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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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