Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 94

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 94

Adam chuckled softly as he quickly made a sandwich for me.

I took a big bite of the sandwich.

“Adam. I felt this before too, but you really are good at cooking.”

“Is that so?”

Adam was always in charge of cooking whenever we camped.

Usually, we could just eat whatever we found, but while the Mercenary Queen was fine with that, Kyrillos was the problem.

The delicately raised noble young master got a stomachache from eating raw vegetables, and after that, Adam silently took care of cooking our food.

‘Even if he can’t remember, it seems he was always good at cooking.’

Once my hunger was somewhat relieved, Adam handed me a warm cup of cocoa.

“So Adam. What is it that you know?”

I said while fidgeting with the mug.

“Do you have any idea what Erwin saw?”

“To be honest, I don’t know for certain either. However… I have some idea.”

Adam said, frowning as if deep in thought.

“You said Hero… didn’t you. Since there’s never more than one Hero born per generation, it probably means the previous Hero.”

“The previous Hero?”

“You must have heard the famous story about how the previous Hero lost his lover, fell into despair, and disappeared.”

I nodded readily.

Adam continued.

“Yes. The 6th Hero before me, Laurence Evant. After killing the Demon King, he returned to the capital and was supposed to be a groom having his wedding ceremony.”

I had heard his story many times, even when I didn’t want to.

Kyrillos had mentioned it directly too.

He said Laurence was something like his uncle.

“On the wedding day, the bride was brutally murdered and he also disappeared, but.”

What Adam was saying was also content I already knew.

If he’s suddenly bringing up Laurence’s story, then perhaps…

“So you’re saying he didn’t disappear on his own, but the Emperor took him?”

“No, my thoughts are a bit different.”

Adam slowly opened his mouth.

“If the 6th Hero was also under a similar curse as me, then the one who killed his bride was probably Laurence himself.”

“…”

In the end, Laurence couldn’t overcome the Demon King’s curse and went berserk.

“Even after being consumed by demonic energy and regaining consciousness, it would have been difficult to maintain his sanity. The sensation and memory of killing his lover would remain. After that, whether by his own will or someone else’s, he would have left somewhere. So that he wouldn’t harm another person again…”

“So you’re saying that Laurence is now in the Imperial Palace dungeons?”

“If what Erwin said is true, then yes. And he’s probably thinking of silencing Erwin by killing him after he saw that.”

“Then should I go?”

“…!”

A small head that had suddenly appeared was hanging down gloomily.

I looked at the round, small head.

When did Erwin arrive?

Erwin couldn’t even meet our eyes and muttered with his head down.

“I don’t want to go…”

“Don’t worry, Erwin. If you don’t want to, I won’t send you.”

I patted his small shoulders.

Erwin’s eyes trembled mercilessly.

“It would be dangerous to keep him in the Demon King’s Castle.”

Even at Adam’s insensitive words, Erwin startled like a rabbit.

“Then how about entrusting him to the mercenaries?”

They who took care of various tasks seemed like they would wholeheartedly care for a child suddenly entrusted to them.

Then Erwin, who had been quietly watching, suddenly lifted his head.

“My mom is also a mercenary…! She said she even personally raised a really amazing mercenary!”

Perhaps because familiar words came up, Erwin’s pale cheeks turned crimson.

He clutched his head to spill out everything he knew.

“I thought if I went to that person, they would protect me, but I had no way to get there, so I touched my sister’s money… I’m sorry.”

“Who is that person? If I can find them, I’ll definitely help you.”

“…Iselda.”

Erwin opened his mouth in a small voice.

But he spoke again with a confident face.

“I heard it was Lady Iselda.”

To think the Mercenary Queen’s name would come up here.

I looked up at Adam with surprised eyes.

He also had a considerably surprised face.

There wouldn’t be anyone in the Empire who would dare impersonate the Mercenary Queen’s name.

Then this child’s mother, who is a mercenary, really does know Iselda.

Soon Adam took out a white messenger bird from its cage and brought it over.

Standing beside him, I said what had been bothering me.

“What should we do about Lord Kyrillos?”

“Let’s not tell him. Rather than taking Erwin away, his officially assigned mission is investigating the missing children case, so that would be a lower priority. He was also thinking it was strange.”

I slowly nodded.

I felt sorry for deceiving Kyrillos, but anyway, as he said with his own mouth, he said the person giving him orders was an idiot.

Which high-ranking noble would work hard on menial tasks in the first place?

Still, in one corner of my heart, I wanted to tell Kyrillos the truth.

‘Because he was Adam’s companion.’

Adam doesn’t remember, and Kyrillos doesn’t know, but I knew.

How close friends they had been.

I let out a small sigh inwardly, feeling like I wouldn’t be able to see that scene again that I thought I’d see soon.

* * *

Tap, tap tap.

In the Emperor’s secret audience chamber where only silence lingered, only the sound of fingers tapping on the table echoed.

The Emperor was languidly lost in thought with knights in front of him who were holding their breath so as not to make even a sound.

As if he had finished thinking, the sound of tapping on the table stopped, and his gaze turned downward.

The Emperor rested his chin and looked down at the one kneeling before him as if he found him pathetic.

“You failed at the hunting tournament too-“

The Emperor’s low voice echoed through the hall.

“One fool stupidly entered Mia’s Forest and wasted time having to be extracted.”

He seemed to be indifferently listing their actions, but gradually his voice became more and more agitated.

“And on top of that, you idiots couldn’t catch one child between the two of you and let him escape!”

“That was…!”

The knight opened his mouth to make excuses as if he felt wronged, but the Emperor’s hand was faster.

He grabbed the stone box that was on the table and hurled it at him.

The knight who was hit in the forehead by the stone box clutched his bleeding forehead, then remembered whose presence he was in and straightened his posture.

The Emperor still couldn’t hide his anger and spoke while hissing.

“If we hadn’t discovered the rope in Mia’s Forest, I would have discarded you. Do you understand, Hakan?”

“Of course, Your Majesty! I am grateful that you have spared my life again this time! This time for sure, I will dedicate my body and complete Your Majesty’s command so that the name Your Majesty has newly given me will not be wasted!”

Hakan said while prostrating himself flat before the Emperor.

The identity of what was discovered at the entrance of Mia’s Forest was none other than a rope.

A rope lying near the forest that people were reluctant even to approach.

The Emperor thought it was the contributor that allowed the Hero who had entered Mia’s Forest to come out safely.

After hearing from the knight that the Hero had entered Mia’s Forest, thinking he would never see his face again and feeling briefly relieved was a mistake.

Of course, he didn’t think that damned Hero would obediently die in Mia’s Forest.

That’s why he told Hakan to properly cut off that bastard’s head and bring it back!

‘There must definitely be an accomplice.’

Could there really be someone to help a commoner Hero at a hunting tournament where only a select few nobles were invited?

Anyone among those present with even a bit of sense would know that helping the Hero would put them out of favor with the Emperor.

Then that accomplice must either be completely oblivious, or someone in a position where it doesn’t matter.

“No matter how much I think about it, I still can’t figure out the identity of that insolent one.”

Tap, tap tap.

The Emperor’s fingers continuously drummed against the armrest.

‘Could it be that maid after all?’

But he hadn’t discovered any peculiarities about the maid.

Nothing distinctively noticeable, just a maid that the Hero kept by his side.

That alone was enough for the Emperor to immediately think of her.

No matter how much the Hero pretended not to care, a beast that grew up unloved would fall for even a little affection.

If there was only a single rose on a barren wasteland, anyone would think he cherished it specially.

‘And now he even gave me a warning, as if declaring he was done being a good person.’

He had an oversensitive reaction, jumping up immediately after just one little prank.

Seeing that, who could say he didn’t allow her close to him?

Though he acted arrogant, there were still naive aspects to him.

Just like that damned brother who always looked at him with an expression of pity…

The Emperor’s face hardened as he saw the image of someone he didn’t want to remember overlapping with Adam’s face.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————