Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 27

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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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Episode 27

To be honest, I hadn’t expected it to be this magnificent.

How sacred could a stone statue really be?

Having grown up as an ordinary person who had never actually felt divinity made me think this even more.

‘Now I understand what it means to feel sacred.’

Since humans dare not carve the face of a god, it was sculpted with a veil instead, and it was so exquisite that it was hard to believe it was carved from stone.

At first glance, the god wearing what looked like a real cloth veil with flowing waves gave Iberis a new sense of awe.

‘I wonder if Adam imagined the god who gave him the oracle like this.’

He was just a hardcore user of a dead game.

The priest beside him explained that the reason for prohibiting detailed carving of the god’s face was to prevent confusion when the god descends to the mortal world.

Listening to the priest’s explanation, Iberis nodded.

‘I suppose that’s fortunate for me. Since I possessed an extra character in the game.’

Especially without any particular abilities.

It would have been nice if I had at least brought back the ability to give revelations to Adam.

While listening to the explanation, Iberis shifted his gaze to the red cushion beneath the pure white statue.

“That thing down there…”

The Elderly High Priest began explaining calmly as if he had expected the question.

“It’s something left behind by someone who appeared suddenly when the Empire was founded, and it’s called a Sacred Relic. Ordinary people can’t even touch it, so we use it to select Heroes who have received divine oracles.”

“Are there people who impersonate Heroes?”

When the surprised Iberis asked, the Elderly High Priest chuckled and said.

“Yes, of course. Especially during peaceful times before a new Demon King appears, there are many more people who impersonate Heroes. However, if they can’t touch the Sacred Relic, it means they haven’t received God’s selection or awakened as a Hero. So we can easily filter out fake Heroes.”

“I see.”

Since Adam was a chosen Hero, the Sacred Relic had never once rejected him.

‘But why did they bring the Sacred Relic back to the Temple?’

The one and only Sacred Relic belonged to the Hero while he was alive, and when he died, the priests would later retrieve it.

Why did Adam, who was perfectly alive, give up his rights to the Sacred Relic?

“You can look at it up close.”

“Really?”

Perhaps feeling sorry for Iberis who was standing on tiptoes and straining to see from afar, one of the priests readily gave permission.

“It can’t be stolen anyway, so we always keep the doors open.”

‘How interesting.’

Even though the Sacred Relic couldn’t be touched by those who weren’t chosen, it was still a symbolic object of the Temple, so no one would complain even if they hid it away completely.

Iberis was climbing the steps to look at the Sacred Relic when he suddenly turned around.

Adam seemed busy talking with the Elderly High Priest. The slyly smiling Elderly High Priest and the tired-looking Adam.

It seemed like a continuation of what the Elderly High Priest had proposed yesterday.

‘Is the Elderly High Priest someone who wants to kill the Hero?’

He shook his head to dismiss the rising thoughts.

What lay on the red cushion was a small ring.

The small silver ring, seemingly for a woman, looked somehow familiar.

There was an inscription in small letters on the inside of the ring.

Iberis squinted and took a step closer to see it better.

“Huh…?”

At that moment, Iberis made a stupid sound.

Perhaps because it was a sacred object, the ring rose into the air by itself.

When the self-floating ring reached her eye level.

Iberis called to the priest below the platform.

“Does this normally move by itself-“

Then, a flash of light struck her in an instant like lightning.

Adam noticed when she, engulfed in the flash, disappeared without a trace.

“Damn it, Eve!”

With an urgent cry, Adam rushed toward her. But he was bounced back by an invisible barrier.

“…!”

Panicked, he raised his hand and felt the air. It was clearly an ordinary empty space, yet something was blocking it.

Adam’s eyes sharpened.

He even drew the holy sword he hadn’t used since killing the Demon King and tried to cut through something, but it didn’t work as intended.

“Eve!”

Adam bit his lip.

The holy sword was blocked by something and bounced back. That meant it wasn’t a power with evil energy.

‘And this seems just like that time…’

Adam knew this situation very well.

Long ago, before he awakened as a Hero.

* * *

“Hero, can’t you see me?”

A pure white light had burst in front, and when I opened my eyes, this was the situation.

Iberis reached out and groped through the air. Something was definitely there to touch. However, the sensation wasn’t transmitted to anyone outside.

I placed my hand on the barrier that Adam had struck with his fist.

I couldn’t feel the touch of his hand at all, nor was any warmth transmitted.

As if the worlds were completely cut off with just a sheet of paper between them…

“Adam, you idiot.”

She muttered in a small voice.

Still, no response came back.

“Hmm, I guess he really can’t hear me.”

Adam and the priests were shouting at each other and making a fuss as if they couldn’t see her.

I could hear them just fine from inside, though it was a bit muffled like being underwater.

‘More importantly, this is what matters.’

Iberis looked at the window that appeared before her eyes, that is, the message window for ‘divine oracles.’

Synchronization of the ‘Window Connecting Two Worlds’ is beginning. To cancel, please say ‘cancel.’

Synchronization is starting…

The Sacred Relic that had been in her hand had disappeared at some point.

Iberis searched all over her body like a raccoon that had washed cotton candy in water, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Synchronization complete.

It seemed that when the ‘Window Connecting Two Worlds’ was created, the Sacred Relic acting as a medium had disappeared.

Ah, my head was already starting to ache thinking about what I’d have to explain when I got out of here.

The Temple’s Sacred Relic disappeared with a flash of light? It was the perfect excuse to be branded a thief.

“This is really hopeless.”

It was when she muttered without realizing it.

Your one true god deeply laments their situation.

“…God?”

Adam’s struggling outside stopped.

The priests who heard Adam’s muttering couldn’t hide their amazement.

“Oh! Hero! Have you received a divine oracle!”

“Was that light from earlier something significant?”

“Did the Sacred Relic shine because a divine oracle descended!”

“Please be quiet!”

Adam shouted angrily.

The surroundings quickly became quiet at his unprecedented anger.

However, Adam couldn’t focus on such trivial matters.

He didn’t know when his connection with that person might be severed.

He wanted to talk as much as possible. Even if this was the last time, please.

“Can you hear my voice?”

‘Uh… I can hear you. Very clearly.’

Well, of course, since we’re close enough that one step would bring us together.

Your one and only god answers that this is so.

‘I haven’t answered yet?!’

Your one and only god retracts the previous statement.

‘W-wait!’

Is this reflecting my thoughts in real time? You need to add some filtering before sending them out.

‘Disconnect synchronization! Disconnect!’

Synchronization is being disconnected.

While Iberis worried about how to handle the messages that had been sent on their own, Adam became somewhat calmer, unlike her.

His tense shoulders relaxed with a thud.

That’s how my god should be.

Unlike the perfect and benevolent gods of the past documented in records, his god was somehow different.

[Your one and only god apologizes for taking the wrong path.]

Neither perfect,

[Your one and only god says it’s only proper to collect spoils after catching bandits.]

Nor benevolent.

Only then did the fog in Adam’s mind clear.

He could view the situation more calmly than before.

The Sacred Relic’s inexplicable rampage, with Iberis caught up in it.

Seeing how flustered the High Priests were, it probably wasn’t a trap set by hostile forces.

‘Then there really is some problem with the Sacred Relic…’

Was the divine oracle he briefly heard also an aftereffect of that?

Adam slowly retraced his memories.

The Sacred Relic, which had been still, suddenly began emitting light when… Iberis approached it.

And the moment she touched it, a strange barrier separated her from them.

At a glance, it resembled the day he awakened as the Hero.

Adam unconsciously grabbed his left arm out of habit.

The indiscriminate violence pouring down on his young self, and the gap that instantly opened between them and him.

Though his parents shouted from outside, that moment when they couldn’t inflict any harm on him.

[Your one and only god gives you a choice.]

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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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