Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 78

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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 78

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Adam, who had arrived at Dainil Village, ran straight to the inn without even catching his breath.

And he discovered an Elderly Man sitting collapsed behind it.

‘A survivor?’

Adam immediately knelt down and checked the elderly man’s condition.

Fortunately, only his clothes and face were scorched, with no other visible external injuries.

“What happened? Why did the fire start?”

The elderly man, who had been staring blankly at the inn burning, saw Adam’s silver hair and instantly his eyes came alive.

“Why did you come only now! No, that’s not right. Hero, it’s fortunate you came even now. Come quickly and look.”

The elderly man smiled foolishly and grabbed his arm.

Adam hesitated and stepped back.

However, since the elderly man before him was the only one who could resolve his questions, Adam asked while feigning composure.

“Were there people inside by any chance?”

Probably nothing serious happened, seeing how he’s smiling like that.

Dainil Village, which Iberis often spoke of, was full of kind and gentle people.

Surely he wouldn’t be smiling like that if villagers were still trapped inside.

However, at Adam’s question, the elderly man stopped with the same smiling expression and tilted his head.

“They’re probably all dead, aren’t they? Ah, Hero! I killed them. I did well, didn’t I?”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“I killed that Demon King and the Demon King’s minion! I’ll surely be praised for doing well when I die and meet my family, right? Sob, Mother, Father…”

Adam couldn’t understand what he was talking about at all.

He was a senile old man.

The elderly man, whose hair had turned completely white from weathering life’s storms to the point where his original mind was nowhere to be found, was looking for his parents.

He clung to Adam while searching for them, who were surely dead.

Adam tried to shake him off, but somehow he couldn’t dismiss the senile old man’s words carelessly.

“What kind of situation are you talking about? Are you saying the Demon King and his minion were inside the inn?”

“That’s right! I killed them in place of you, Hero!”

“No, they wouldn’t die from a fire like this. Rather, if that were true, we should put out the fire first and then deal with them.”

Adam spoke in a gentle voice as if trying to reason with the elderly man.

He wanted to abandon the old man immediately. However, the word “Demon King” coming from his mouth made Adam anxious.

To think the Demon King had entered the inn where Iberis would be.

It was a bigger problem than the fire.

‘…The Demon King didn’t die after all.’

The elderly man who had been laughing suddenly burst into tears and blamed Adam.

“You’re the problem. Hero, because of you… No, if you had properly killed the Demon King, nothing like this would have happened! There would have been no need for innocent people to be sacrificed.”

Adam, who had been quietly listening to the incoherent blame, widened his eyes at the old man’s following words.

“Don’t tell me… there are people inside?”

“To kill the Demon King, small sacrifices are inevitable. That’s why you went into danger alone, Hero. Pitifully, without anyone to help you…”

“…Iberis.”

He wasn’t in his right mind. The elderly man was insane enough to deserve being called crazy, crying then laughing, blaming him then looking at him with eyes that revered a hero.

However, even in the madman’s words, there was information to be gleaned.

There were people inside.

Probably… Iberis.

Everything he cherished always ended up dying.

It was to avoid this situation that he had coldly pushed her away.

Fearing the Emperor might kill her, fearing she might return to him as a cold corpse like a gift the Emperor sent.

“Where are you trying to go? Don’t tell me you’re going to save the Demon King?”

Fingers thin as tree branches grabbed him as he tried to enter inside.

“Hero, you must be virtuous to all citizens of the Empire. Don’t get angry carelessly, and be careful with your conduct. That will help with future matters.”

The Elderly High Priest’s voice overlapped with the old man’s words.

What detestable people.

These humans, restless because they couldn’t use him, were truly sickeningly tiresome.

“Let go. Eve!”

Adam, shaking off the binding murmur, struck away the old man’s arm and leaped into the flames.

He had ignored being insulted to his face, and it was fine when he had to walk alone into danger.

But if Iberis was trapped in those flames.

‘Could I forgive this old man who set the fire?’

Adam’s steps running into the inn slowly came to a stop.

Something was boiling up from within.

“Huk… Urgh…”

“Hero, isn’t it because of you!”

The old man’s resentful voice buzzed in his ears.

Adam clutched his chest as it felt stuffy and caught his breath.

However, his breathing became rapid as if his breath was blocked.

‘Damn it, at a time like this…’

Voices hummed in his ears.

He needed to come to his senses.

He seemed to see pools of blood at his feet where there should clearly be nothing.

“Everyone died because of you.”

Black heat haze slowly rose from Adam’s body and began to cover him.

The elderly man who had rushed in to grab him was startled by the aura he had once seen from the Demon King and doubted his own eyes.

“What Hero! You’re Satan!”

With a scream, the old man who had fallen flat on the ground pointed at Adam and shouted.

When the Hero, who was supposed to be weak and kind, muttered incomprehensible words eerily, he even stammered in surprise.

Where had all his confident and pleading attitude from before gone?

If he responded even slightly sharply, they would call him an ungrateful person.

Saying that a commoner who might die rolling around somewhere had become a Hero through tremendous luck, yet dared to act arrogantly without knowing his place.

The elderly man must have been thinking the same thing as he suddenly shouted.

Adam quietly looked at him while gripping his chest even tighter.

His insides felt stuffy.

“Get away… if you don’t want to die by that Satan…”

Adam gritted his teeth and spoke in a strained voice.

At the mention of killing, the old man trembled like an aspen leaf.

The person who set fire to kill people – was his own life that precious?

“Eek! Save me! There are… there are people inside!”

Inside? People?

‘…Do I really need to save them?’

Everything seemed unnecessary.

Wouldn’t it be fine if all the troublesome people just died?

After all, the people here wanted a Hero they could manipulate to their liking.

A scarecrow that could guarantee their safety and be easily discarded.

Should he risk his life for such people?

Was there anyone worth saving?

Instead of entering the burning inn, he instinctively wanted to shut the noisy old man’s mouth.

“Why, why are you coming toward me? You said you were going to save that Iberis!”

The elderly man shouted in his final struggle.

At that moment, his mind cleared as if cold water had been poured on his head.

‘Ah… Iberis.’

Goosebumps rose all over his body.

I remembered what I had been thinking, and it made me nauseous.

‘Eve is inside. Of course, of course I have to save her…’

With the obstacle gone, Adam entered the building engulfed in flames.

Wasn’t she one of the few people who saw me not as a useful Hero, but as a human being?

I didn’t want to see her die because of me.

I didn’t want to face her as a cold corpse like the countless deaths of comrades I had witnessed.

If Iberis were to die…

‘Then… should I start over again?’

Adam shook his head vigorously.

Let’s not think about it anymore.

I really felt like it would turn out just as the Demon King’s final words had predicted, so I had to desperately comfort myself.

It truly couldn’t be anything but disgusting.

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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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