Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 199

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

Part 2, Chapter 66

The Saint’s words seemed to truly be the end now.

The last message I saw before fainting wasn’t a lie.

THE END

It was the phrase that always appeared at the end of games.

And though it was nothing new, it was a phrase I had never seen while doing the hidden quests in 【Dragon’s Horn】.

Because that wasn’t the end.

Because the Demon King hadn’t died until then.

However, now that I had removed the Demon King’s core and killed the Demon King completely, it was different.

“Really… is this the end?”

The Saint nodded silently without a word. Her face was calm, unlike before.

Back then, even when she gave me chills, she showed various expressions.

Come to think of it, she looked more mature than she did then.

Perhaps this was how she looked just before her death.

【”You don’t look very happy.”】

“…”

At her words, I was at a loss for words.

And after hesitating, I opened my mouth.

“Do I have to receive the reward?”

【”Because that place is your world. Although I couldn’t change his tragic fate, there will be no more cycle of Heroes dying.”】

“I don’t want to go back.”

I spoke the words I had been desperately avoiding until now.

All this time, I had secretly been relieved that the quest hadn’t ended.

If the quest didn’t end, I could stay with Adam longer.

Whatever the Saint’s intentions were, this world was happy.

I never had any strong motivation to return to my original world in the first place.

At first, I deliberately acted like I was working hard on the quest to deny reality.

Because that’s how any ordinary person would behave.

My previous life was one without friends or family.

But this place was different.

There were many who wanted me to live, and there were those who were like family.

And Adam was here too.

It seemed I had accepted this strange quest because I could see clear rewards coming to me, who had lived without any goals.

Thanks to that, I had run forward vaguely without thinking about the future.

But now, I had become more greedy.

I wanted to remain in this place.

I quietly stared at the System Message that appeared before my eyes.

Reward: Return to the original world.

I turned around.

“There’s something else I want to receive as a reward.”

The Saint quietly looked at me.

I looked back at her pitch-black eyes that were staring at me without backing down.

If she could see through my heart with the system, she would know my thoughts too.

As if she had guessed correctly, the Saint looked at me quietly, then closed her eyes and said.

【”If that is your wish, then as you will.”】

It was a cool declaration of surrender.

The Saint had wanted to send me back to my original world.

Since she was the one who had forcibly brought me to this world in the first place, it must have been a faint sense of guilt.

However, the Saint gave up obediently.

And the system sparkled before my eyes and revealed itself once again.

Reward: Return to the original wor◀

Reward: Orig◀

Reward:◀

The letters blinked and were erased.

Reward: Please enter reward.

The message that was eventually created seemed to be waiting for me to write a sentence.

I had only one wish.

“I want to remain in this world with Adam.”

I murmured softly.

I want to be with Adam.

I want to envision a future with him.

As if accepting my wish, a new message appeared in the air.

Processing new reward.

Reward: A happy life in this world

Hidden Quest completion reward has arrived.

Now everything was over.

I felt my body gradually becoming faint, just like when I came to this place.

I could see the Saint’s form in the distance.

No matter how I looked at it, she had a young face.

She too had come to a strange world like me and was confused, and she looked very tired from watching the deaths of precious people by her side.

And now that the Demon King was dead, the cycle of the Saint choosing Heroes would end.

Then what about the remaining Saint?

Her will that remained even though the Demon King was dead.

I didn’t wait quietly and approached her.

The system seemed flustered as my body stopped disappearing.

If it had any conscience, it would send me back to my body anyway.

I didn’t stop walking toward the Saint.

And I took her hand.

I didn’t have enough time left to hold it tenderly.

However, I spoke straightforwardly.

The words she absolutely needed to hear.

“You’re no longer needed in this world. So you can rest now.”

【”…!”】

The Saint’s eyes widened in surprise.

These were words no one had ever said to her.

These were words I had wanted to say to her at least once while seeing her memories.

Just as I had with Adam.

Because she had done her best.

【”Ah… so that’s how it is…”】

Countless people had placed responsibility on her.

It was a heavy responsibility for a young girl who must have possessed vast divine power, and that led her to death, and in the end, even after death, she couldn’t find peace and remained as lingering attachment to watch over them.

But the Demon King was dead.

Since the need for the Saint had disappeared, there was no guilt or sense of responsibility she needed to carry.

So I decided to break the cycle for her.

The Saint was no longer needed in this world.

Because Heroes were no longer needed.

Now she could let go of her lingering attachment and rest.

Then the Saint showed a peaceful expression I had never seen before.

Her body became small and then disappeared.

The Saint’s emotions, which had been an obsessive lingering attachment, scattered and disappeared like dust.

And….

A cluster of white light enveloped me.

“Huh.”

And I opened my eyes.

“E, Eve?”

Drip. Drip drip.

My cheeks were wet.

It must have been tears flowing from the golden eyes looking down at me.

It was the first sensation that made me feel alive.

“Good morning.”

Bright light entered the ruined Demon King’s Castle.

It must have been dark when I closed my eyes.

How long had he waited?

“I’ve returned. Adam.”

Adam silently shed tears.

I reached out my hand to wipe away the tears flowing down his cheek.

“Adam, it’s okay. Everything is over.”

When I met Adam’s gentle gaze, I smiled without realizing it.

Then Adam, who had been crying, smiled back at me.

“Good morning, Eve.”

I smiled brightly as well.

The sun was already rising.

“Let’s go back, Adam. To our home.”

* * *

“…Eve?”

Adam held onto her and called out, but no answer came back.

Before his eyes, Iberis had coughed up blood and collapsed.

Her frail body couldn’t possibly withstand receiving the Demon King’s demonic energy all at once.

It wasn’t even ordinary demonic energy, but power that came from the Demon King’s core.

She had blocked with her body a tremendous force that would have left no corpse to find if it were an ordinary person.

As if to prove this, the Sacred Relic that had been with her was also shattered and rolling beside Iberis’s body.

Adam knelt before her as she lay still, reaching out to her with trembling hands.

Iberis’s last actions replayed in his mind like a panorama.

The essence of demonic energy that had struck her the moment she thrust the holy sword into the Demon King’s core.

And from that aftermath, she had collapsed while bleeding.

“Hah….”

Why, why had Eve ended up like this?

Everything he had done to prevent Iberis from ending up like this had become meaningless in an instant.

He had hoped she wouldn’t get hurt.

He had only wished for her to remain in this world and be happy.

But was this too much greed for him once again?

It was the sin of greedily reaching out for something he shouldn’t dare hope for.

Adam brought his trembling hand to Iberis’s cheek.

But there was not the slightest movement.

Iberis, who would always cover his hand with hers and smile at times like this, still lay with her eyes closed.

Yes, just like a corpse….

“No….”

That couldn’t be.

Iberis was his god.

When he couldn’t see her face, and even now when he faced her, Iberis was eternally his god.

The holy sword created to kill the Demon King had chosen Iberis instead of the Hero. It wasn’t a bad choice, given its master’s will.

In the end, the Demon King was killed according to the Saint’s wishes.

However, the Demon King’s warning was never an illusion.

Adam had been prepared for death even until encountering the Demon King.

But Iberis was different.

Iberis’s hand fell onto the cold marble.

Adam didn’t want to see that sight, so he held her hand.

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