Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 60

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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 60

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem like we need anything. It’s fine, so please take them back.”

“Still, just buy one! If I can’t even sell this, things will really get tough.”

“…No-“

“Right, Eve. How about this one?”

An arm suddenly appeared beside me as I was about to get up from my seat as if there was nothing worth looking at, and picked up the item at the very front of what Aphene had laid out.

It was the most worthless-looking thing among what he had.

The object that looked like a dreamcatcher with several nets woven with thread inside a round ring appeared excessively black.

Whose taste was it – it looked exactly like the Demon King’s pitch-black castle.

Both Aphene and the color were suspicious, so I shook my head, but Ben was already paying for it.

“No, Ben!”

I tried to stop him, but seeing Aphene finally getting up and dusting himself off, I eventually swallowed my words.

So there was one more person besides Adam who would give his heart and soul to a peddler.

They say the enemy is right beside you, and it perfectly fit my situation.

But I couldn’t scream at him to return something he’d already bought.

I eventually let out a sigh.

“I’ll go hang this in the Hero’s room!”

“Be careful going and coming back. He might be sleeping.”

“Got it, such a worrywart.”

I’m feeling uneasy after just seeing you get completely fooled by that peddler.

Ben left the reception room almost at a run.

I slowly got up from the sofa.

“It would be best not to think about going to strange places again.”

When I recited advice mixed with warning, Abracxas showed kindness that didn’t suit him.

“Aren’t your words too harsh?”

Why has he been acting like this since earlier?

Like a dog that needs to relieve itself, he whined while examining Aphene’s face.

Aphene had scoffed at the claim that his beauty could enchant countless humans.

Could it be that face actually worked on demons?

“Hmm…”

Just then, Aphene’s eyes slowly closed and he swayed before collapsing back onto the sofa.

It was a pathetic act.

I looked at the collapsed Aphene with disbelief.

“No, even if you pretend to faint again, I won’t let you stay.”

“…! Human, if you’re that annoying, I’ll leave him outside.”

“You can’t even go outside the castle gates.”

I glanced over at Abracxas.

Abracxas quickly tucked the collapsed Aphene under his arm and smiled awkwardly as if asking if that was good enough.

“If I leave him in front of the gates with a warning, would he be crazy enough to enter the Demon King’s Castle again? He’d run away with his tail between his legs begging for his life.”

Right, a sane person wouldn’t come in.

But looking at Aphene, I could see how scary someone obsessed and clinging to one goal could be.

‘Isn’t he doing this to see Adam?’

Even if it was for another reason, any obsession strong enough to enter the Demon King’s Castle late at night couldn’t be for a good reason.

“Anyway, this kind of menial work is my job. Let me handle it.”

“Well, I’d be grateful, but…”

Abracxas winked one eye, telling me to trust only him.

His overly enthusiastic appearance amplified my anxiety.

However, since Abracxas spoke so confidently, and Ben’s behavior had seemed strange since earlier, I wanted to quickly confirm the reason.

I had no choice but to nod and send them off before going back inside.

I happened to run into Ben coming out of the door.

“Oh, you startled me… When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

Ben said with a bright smile.

I asked while climbing the stairs with him.

“But why did you specifically buy that? The other things looked better.”

At that question, Ben smiled as if it was obvious.

“Well, the Hero can’t sleep well because of the curse, right? So I bought it to help him sleep well!”

“…Curse?”

What is he talking about?

It was when I grabbed Ben’s shoulder at these words I was hearing for the first time.

What curse has Adam been afflicted with…

“Ah, that stings!”

At that moment, Ben trembled as if a strong static shock had passed through him.

I bewilderedly removed my hand from him.

Then Ben looked back at me and tilted his head.

“Huh? Why am I here?”

Ben scratched the back of his head vigorously.

Seeing that, I let out an incredulous laugh.

Since he was talking while drowsy, he must have been muttering strange stories about curses and such.

“Were you dozing off while standing?”

“No… I definitely saw a ghost and was definitely holding something…”

“Anyone can see you were dozing. Where was there a ghost?”

“Right. What about the Hero? I was trying to come quickly, but mother held me back so I came too late. I wanted to greet him, but is he already sleeping?”

There had been plenty of time to greet Adam just a moment ago.

He could have left me to entertain Aphene and gone to Adam.

Ben, who had been sticking right next to me even when I told him to go away, suddenly said something different.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you were going to put that dreamcatcher you bought in his room? Wasn’t he there then?”

“Huh? What? Hmm… Ah, come to think of it, that might have happened… Why do I remember it so hazily?”

“If you’re tired, you should go in and sleep too.”

“I should. My whole body feels drowsy… My head really hurts too.”

The fact that his head hurt didn’t seem to be a lie as he frowned and pressed his forehead.

Since it seemed like the same symptoms I used to have, I told him to go to his room and then went outside.

‘Those herbs back then…’

I found the place where the herbs had been and dug up a few roots.

When I suddenly looked up and peered into the Demon King’s Castle, Adam’s room had its lights off.

Fortunately, it seemed he had fallen asleep early today.

* * *

It was an ordinary day.

Iberis had permeated into his life so much that he no longer felt any unfamiliarity.

His decision to hire that bold maid had truly been impulsive.

“Write a contract!”

That child’s voice and,

“I would like you to write a contract.”

It overlapped with his own past.

When Iberis had been at the Demon King’s Castle for only a few days.

The headache that always followed him completely filled his head.

‘Why is there light only there…’

Whether it was the Demon King’s taste, all the halls with large windows had been covered with thick black curtains.

However, light shines even brighter in darkness.

Toward the only place where light entered, Adam unconsciously moved his steps.

Adam moved his steps diligently even though he knew the answer.

A small uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared.

She was someone he had grown accustomed to now.

He stopped walking and quietly gazed at the small figure.

“….”

Her hair, braided in a single strand, was sticking out here and there as if she had tossed and turned in her sleep.

Her pale eyelashes trembled softly as they met the sunlight.

Adam muttered quietly.

“What exactly are you….”

Somehow he felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu. It was definitely a face he was seeing for the first time. She said she was a girl from a village he had saved, but the villages he had saved weren’t just one or two. He couldn’t remember every village resident individually.

He was too exhausted to do anything productive.

But why had he accepted this uninvited guest.

Had it really been purely impulsive.

‘Or….’

Was there another reason.

As Adam thought about her, he chuckled softly while recalling what had happened this morning.

Iberis had woven together small wildflowers she must have picked from the forest and placed a small flower crown on Potato’s head.

The size was so small compared to Potato’s head that it could be called pitiful, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

Potato seemed thoroughly sulky about it and shook his head to drop the flower crown.

He strangely couldn’t take his eyes off her face as she picked up the flower crown Potato had dropped and asked if it was pretty.

Adam let out a soft chuckle as he recalled her small face carefully weaving what she thought was a flower crown but was actually a bracelet around her own wrist with a serious expression.

Then, realizing that he had laughed, Adam awkwardly rubbed his lips.

Even trivial things made him laugh.

This inexplicable small change stirred strange emotions in him.

‘It’s like I’m an ordinary person.’

From the moment he could remember, he had been raised his entire life as a Hero who would kill the Demon King.

It felt like he was finally experiencing the ordinary daily life he had once wished for.

While he liked this change, a strange anxiety intensified.

He left a small light on and went to sleep.

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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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