Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 33

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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 33

I demurely lowered my eyes.

‘How miserable it must be to live as a powerless commoner.’

“Don’t take your anger out on the child for no reason.”

Adam stepped in front of me, blocking the glaring stare with his broad back. The Man then began raging with fury.

“You’re making me out to be the bad guy again.”

“I suppose Your Highness the Prince thinks you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Hah… Fine, let’s say this was my fault. But why do you always look at me with those eyes over things that aren’t even my fault.”

“What can I do about how my eyes naturally look? You should ask my deceased parents about it.”

“…!”

The Man opened and closed his mouth like a fish, apparently not expecting him to bring up his parents.

Judging by the veins bulging in his neck, he seemed very angry, but he couldn’t argue further, and in his frustration, he struck an innocent pillar.

“Ugh!”

“Please conduct yourself with the dignity befitting a prince of this nation.”

“Hah…!”

The Prince clutched his injured hand and was about to shout something.

“Your Highness the Prince. What are you doing here?”

At that moment, the Elderly High Priest approached with unusually hurried steps and inserted himself between them.

“Your Highness, if you came to pay respects to the divine, you should go to the Sanctuary. Isn’t that right?”

“Ha! The Elderly High Priest always takes his side.”

“That’s because Your Highness does things that warrant it.”

“You be quiet!”

“Let’s stick to the main point.”

The Prince glared menacingly at Adam, who just shrugged his shoulders. The contrast between Adam’s reaction and the Prince’s was so stark that it made me even more irritated watching.

However, once there were witnesses, the Prince quickly regained his composure.

He walked past the Elderly High Priest and approached Adam with confident strides. Then he moved close to him. Adam seemed unable to show the same blatant disregard as before, perhaps because they were in front of the Elderly High Priest.

The Prince leaned in close and whispered to him.

“I heard something… that one is really that, right?”

The Prince raised his pinky finger and showed it to Adam. I worried that Adam might grab and break the Prince’s finger right then and there.

Looking to the side, the Elderly High Priest seemed to have the same thought, as I could hear his heart pounding from here.

“…If you’ve heard something wrong, tell the Elderly High Priest and at least receive some divine power.”

“Ah, right, right. Generous me will let it slide.”

Thinking he had gained the upper hand, the Prince smirked and returned with the High Priests.

Adam watched their retreating figures, then strode over to me.

“Eve, you’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“I thought he was just a scoundrel… but does he actually hit people?!”

“No, he doesn’t go that far either. When he can’t control his anger, he keeps breaking objects though…”

Adam’s expression, as he added ‘It’s his own hands or legs that get hurt anyway, but unfortunately he seems to lack learning ability,’ was calm but very scathingly critical.

In the end, I had to ask.

“Are you on bad terms with the Royal Court?”

“Mm, as you can see.”

Are they such bitter enemies that sworn enemies would look friendly in comparison? It seems there’s more to the Hero’s past that I don’t know about. Detailed background settings like that weren’t necessary for playing the game.

“Hero, I don’t know how to apologize for you witnessing such unpleasantness in a place you came to find peace.”

“It’s alright, Elderly High Priest.”

Adam stopped the Elderly High Priest, who was bowing repeatedly to an uncomfortable degree.

“It’s fine, so you can go attend to your guest. Who knows what the angry Prince might do to the Temple again.”

“Yes… Don’t worry, as the Hero’s residence is hidden over there.”

“Yes. I don’t want to experience a private meeting with His Highness the Prince in my lodgings a second time.”

Listening quietly to their conversation, it seems the Prince is unilaterally obsessed with Adam.

‘That kind of… it couldn’t be.’

…Could it be unrequited love after all?

That kind of love quarrel where only the people around them suffer?

“The Elderly High Priest seems to treat you well, so why do you put up such walls?”

“…”

Adam showed a slightly surprised expression, as if he hadn’t expected me to notice. Of course, the Elderly High Priest wants to do more for him and is favorable toward him, but Adam rejects it all. It didn’t look like he was refusing because it was burdensome or didn’t suit his station.

“That’s because he wants something from me. And I don’t want to fulfill it.”

“What could it be?”

“It’s nothing Eve needs to know.”

How disappointing!

I openly pouted, but Adam just wore his usual smile without any further explanation.

‘He used to readily tell me things I wasn’t even curious about…’

Rebelling just because he’s grown a little. This is why they say if you raise children wrong, you suffer in your old age. Oh my.

“I understand.”

When acting sulky didn’t work, I quickly acquiesced. Everyone has a secret or two in their heart, right? I’m just a little disappointed, hurt, and bitter, but generous me can understand perfectly.

“Anyway, sorry, but Eve. His Highness the Prince will be bothersome, so it’s better to leave while the other High Priests are keeping him occupied.”

Just then, I noticed a High Priest nearby, sweating profusely and pacing around. When our eyes met, Adam also turned to face the High Priest.

“H-Hero. The Elderly High Priest says what you requested has been prepared.”

“Thank you.”

“However, after hearing about His Highness the Prince earlier, he came out in such a hurry…”

“It’s fine. I’ll go get it myself.”

Adam graciously overlooked his mistake. The High Priest seemed impressed by his character for not holding his error against him, but to my eyes, it looked like he was quickly ending the conversation because he didn’t want to argue with him any longer.

However, I pretended not to notice anything and helped lighten Adam’s burden.

“I wanted to return quickly anyway, so it’s fine. I’ll go pack and come back!”

“Yes. The Temple said they’d lend us horses, so I’ll bring the horses while you come to the back gate. A High Priest will come with you.”

“Yes! I understand.”

I smiled as I saw Adam off, but as soon as he disappeared, my expression hardened. Then I called out to the High Priest who was about to leave.

“So what is this important item that the Hero would even ask the Elderly High Priest for?”

“Ah, th-that’s…”

The High Priest sweated profusely and looked around nervously. I pushed him further against the wall and smiled.

“As someone who serves the Hero, I couldn’t possibly not know such things. Would I do anything to harm the Hero?”

“Of course not!”

At that moment, the High Priest let out a shriek.

I’m grateful if he trusts me, but to the point where his face turns that red?

“Even we who have only observed your relationship for a single day know it well! Goodness, we wouldn’t even think such impious thoughts!”

“Uh… Well, thank you for that.”

“What the Hero requested are books. Something about the contents of past Heroes and the Demon King… The details were said to be classified.”

The already dead Demon King was mentioned again. I too saw the Hero’s sword piercing the Demon King’s heart. Adam, who killed him personally, couldn’t possibly not know that he was dead.

“Ah! He also asked about the physical appearance of the Demon King as described by past Heroes? Such things would be in the chronicles recorded by the Elderly High Priest’s scribes rather than in books, so I heard him ask to search for that.”

The Demon King’s appearance?

‘This generation’s Demon King definitely had black hair and bright red eyes.’

The owner of hair so long it reached past his waist and blacker than pitch had personally welcomed Adam into the Demon King’s Castle with a languid smile.

The image of the Demon King, who appeared to be a middle-aged man—younger than expected but not quite a peer—flashed through my mind.

What stood out even more than his splendid appearance were his eyes.

The Demon King’s eyes were a terrifyingly blood-red color, even more so than those of Abracxas or Potato.

“What did the previous Demon King look like?”

“Mm, from what I know, he was said to have jet-black hair and red eyes. Of course, aside from the Hero of that era, no one really knows much about the Demon King.”

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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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