Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 55

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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 55

In a world where only darkness was visible, Adam slowly closed and opened his eyes.

And he returned again…

“Hero. To kill the Demon King—”

He had returned to when he was eighteen, during his coming-of-age ceremony.

After finishing the coming-of-age ceremony, naturally the Elderly High Priest came to find him and gave him preliminary knowledge for killing the Demon King.

Something was strange…

Something felt off.

However, Adam didn’t know why he suddenly felt that way.

He had just awakened as the Hero and stopped by the Temple to complete his proof as the Hero.

He would soon have to go kill the Demon King.

The Sacred Relic he held in his hand was proof of that.

But somehow the sacred object felt unsettling, so Adam placed the ring on the table.

Rather, it was the Elderly High Priest who found his behavior strange.

“Hero? What’s wrong?”

“…No. I just suddenly felt dazed.”

Adam smiled and shook his head.

Immediately, the Elderly High Priest said he had worked hard to bring someone for him and guided him to a room with a hearty laugh.

There was someone looking around in admiration, as if fascinated by the interior of the Temple.

“Ah, to value my abilities so highly, thank you! I will definitely atone for all the sins I’ve accumulated through this subjugation.”

The man who introduced himself as Declern had apparently come to assassinate a High Priest but was caught.

However, he soon wrote about his unfortunate past and a pledge never to do assassination work again, and after his outstanding skills were recognized, the Elderly High Priest spared his life.

“His background is a bit troubling, but his skills are exceptional. Hero, he will be a good companion.”

“…Yes.”

In his dream, he was sure he had been with someone called the Mercenary Queen, but this time was different.

His close friend Kyrillos was the same, but a skilled assassin had joined them.

Something felt discordant, but it was his god’s chosen arrangement.

Adam didn’t particularly refuse and accepted him as a companion.

And…

“Ugh… Why…”

A poisoned sword pierced through her abdomen.

Meriel’s body collapsed with a thud.

She who had been helping him from behind was struck by someone’s surprise attack and fell to the floor spitting blood.

At Meriel’s death cry, Adam forgot even his confrontation with the Demon King and turned around, doubting his own eyes.

His companion, his trusted companion had betrayed him.

“Honestly, I prefer this side.”

Shaking off the dagger stained with Meriel’s blood, Declern smiled thickly.

“If I submit to the Demon King, he said he’d give me the same power as those demons! I’m sick of associating with worthless people like you!”

Stab—

It was probably the first time, or perhaps the nth betrayal he couldn’t remember.

And how many times had it been…

“Do you think everything will end smoothly even if you kill me? Hehehehe… Foolish one. You will be cursed!”

With the Demon King’s voice, forgotten memories surfaced.

“You will end up killing your beloved companions, friends, and even lovers.”

Cold corpses, and himself covered in cold, congealed blood.

The corpses before him had faces he knew well.

Sometimes they were his companions, sometimes just people who cheered him on, and sometimes close friends.

Adam was startled and dropped his blood-stained sword.

I made them die.

I killed them.

It was a symbol of sin that couldn’t be washed away no matter how much he tried.

These were people who would have lived happy lives without dying if only they hadn’t met him.

If only he weren’t alive.

His trembling hand reached for the sword that had fallen to the ground.

At that moment, warm body heat enveloped him.

The one I had truly been waiting and waiting for…

* * *

‘What on earth is this.’

Adam, who had seemed fine after taking medicine, walked to his room on his own feet after returning to the Demon King’s Castle.

When I went in with medicinal herbs to treat his wounds, how shocked I was to see Adam groaning in pain.

‘I didn’t know even though I had synchronization turned on.’

Your Hero is recalling the past.

It wasn’t particularly special content, so I didn’t think much of it.

I had left him alone to rest, and this was his condition. I could hear his groaning even from outside the door.

I put down the basin and towel I had brought and rushed to him.

Worried that something might be wrong with his wound, I approached the bed and immediately knelt down to examine him.

“Hero? Hero. Are you alright? Please wake up.”

I couldn’t shake the patient Adam’s body and only tapped his shoulder trying to wake him.

However, Adam only made groaning sounds.

He seemed to be struggling, twitching his body but unable to break free.

I felt something strange and put more force into shaking him.

“Adam!”

It was when I finally called out his name.

‘Oh, my goodness.’

When I called his name, Adam sat up convulsively just like last time.

Thanks to that, I was so startled I almost fell backward.

Adam hurriedly looked around with a face that wasn’t properly awake.

Adam, who was breathing irregularly, asked urgently in a voice that sounded breathless.

“Wasn’t there someone else here?”

“No. As you can see, there was only me.”

“Ah… I see. Of course, naturally…”

Adam rarely showed his disappointment.

He looked a bit dejected.

His muttering “that can’t be” somehow made me feel guilty.

Adam, who was wiping the cold sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, kept touching his eyes.

Coming to my senses, I spoke to him.

“Is your wound alright? I’ll change your bandages.”

Adam unwrapped his own bandages.

Dark red blood was dried and stuck to the bandages.

As if it didn’t hurt, Adam didn’t even frown.

When all the bandages were unwrapped, his well-balanced abs were visible.

I wrung out the lukewarm wet towel I had brought and wiped around his wound.

Dried blood immediately came off.

After wiping his body with a dry towel, I took out bandages and wrapped them around his abdomen.

While wrapping the bandages, my upper body naturally leaned forward.

When I got close to him, I could clearly hear his steady breathing.

I deliberately started talking to avoid being conscious of it.

“You must have had a bad dream.”

“Yes… It was just a common nightmare.”

When I asked subtly, Adam replied as if it was nothing significant.

Nevertheless, he looked somewhat dazed and didn’t seem to be in good condition, but I assumed it was because he had a fever from his wounds and let it pass.

“You have a fever.”

I reached out and placed my hand on his forehead.

Adam didn’t avoid the contact.

Hot warmth was transmitted through my hand.

Adam’s hot breath hitting my wrist looked precarious.

“I’ll bring medicine and a towel to bring down your fever. Please wait a moment.”

Leaving Adam behind, I went outside and headed to my room.

As I dutifully gathered fever reducers made from herbs I had planted with Abracxas and various emergency medicines, I recalled the scene I had witnessed earlier.

‘What was that?’

If what I saw just before waking Adam wasn’t a mistake…

It looked like black heat haze.

The black vapor was flowing out of Adam’s body like a snake.

It disappeared as soon as I unconsciously called out Adam’s name in my panic.

‘If I didn’t see it wrong… what on earth was that?’

At least I could tell without knowing its identity that it wasn’t having a good influence on Adam.

Because goosebumps covered my entire body the moment I saw that rippling black vapor.

Hum- Huuuum-

I fidgeted with my ring.

The moment that black current seemed to grow large enough to devour Adam, the Sacred Relic resonated as if trying to protect him.

Thanks to that, or perhaps because Adam woke up, when I returned, the ominous energy that had been surrounding him had almost disappeared.

However, the goosebumps on my arms were telling me that the sensation I felt wasn’t a mistake.

‘What on earth… is it?’

Could such a disturbing feeling from a Hero chosen by God actually be possible?

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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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