I Became the 101st Hero

〈 Chapter 218 〉 The Truth

*

What’s the problem?

Her suddenly serious expression.

But I couldn’t think of what the problem was.

I had simply asked her about Freira.

Of course, I had heard from Freira that the two of them were close. That’s why I asked her about it.

So if she heard about Freira, it would naturally be sad for her.

However, if it was a problem…

Her emotions didn’t seem to be sadness.

Rather…

She was afraid of something.

She was conflicted.

‘Violet.’

I reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Eek…!”

She almost dropped the Crystal Ball.

“W-what’s wrong?”

‘I asked you a question. Did you not hear it properly?’

“N-no, I heard it.”

‘Then is it perhaps difficult for you to answer?’

“Well…”

She lowered her head.

But after a moment’s hesitation, she struggled to open her mouth.

“She was a good person. In the early days when the Demon Kings started gathering, she always brightened the atmosphere and listened to our worries.”

Her voice trembled somewhere.

“Without a common goal like the destruction of the world, she was the one who kept us focused on our individual objectives. Whenever a Demon King left first, she would be the saddest.”

I realized.

That trembling was the tremor of sadness.

Certainly, earlier she seemed to show other emotions more than sadness, but when it came to talking about Freira, the sadness seemed to have overtaken her.

“It was like that for her… but for some time, she started saying it habitually.”

‘Does that mean she said she wanted to die?’

“No, that’s a later story. It’s after she became disheartened due to some incident and willingly walked into the church.”

‘Then…’

“She wanted to have a child.”

Definitely.

Her desire to have a disciple was an extension of wanting to have a child.

‘But she…’

Couldn’t have a child.

That was the conclusion I knew about her.

At least, that’s what Violet would deny before.

“No, it’s different from what you think. She actually succeeded in getting pregnant. It’s just that she eventually lost the child.”

‘That still means in the end, she…’

“Yes. That child was indeed dead when born – the heart had stopped, and the body was already cold. But that child is alive now.”

What?

My mind went blank.

What the hell did I just hear?

‘Violet.’

If that’s a joke, it’s a terrible one.

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have had any reason to obsess over me, her disciple.

If she hadn’t been obsessed with me, she wouldn’t have died either.

But Violet had a more serious expression than ever.

There was no trace of fear or sadness visible.

“Allen Pleuk. There’s actually a truth you don’t know.”

‘I don’t know the truth?’

“But knowing this won’t help your current situation. In fact, it might be better not to hear it, especially in a moment as crucial as this.”

She was warning me.

Just like Luel hiding the truth of the world from me.

That truth was extremely dangerous.

But the difference between then and now was that she was sure that hearing it wouldn’t help at all.

‘Then it might be better not to hear it.’

Yeah, I would have thought so under normal circumstances.

But things were a little different now.

‘Is that truth related to Freira?’

That was what mattered.

For some reason, the existence of Freira had been digging into my heart even after death.

If it’s a truth about her, whatever it was, I had to confront it.

“Yes.”

Then…

‘Please tell me. What is that truth?’

“If you truly insist… I will.”

I swallowed hard.

To prepare for whatever truth.

Of course, I wondered if it would be as shocking as the truth I heard from Luel about the world, but perhaps I just didn’t know.

However, if that truth turned out to be nothing special, I would smack Violet on the head right away.

So speak quickly…

“That child is you.”

Huh?

“At Basil’s inn. She buried the child, thinking it was dead. She didn’t know the child’s heart had started beating again.”

It was hard to take it at face value.

If I hadn’t heard the innkeeper’s testimony, I would have dismissed it as a bad joke.

But I already knew from his testimony that I had been buried in the ground.

‘Freira is my mother?’

“That’s right. And she found out just before heading to Hailen.”

Everything was falling into place.

Why she had been so devoted to me.

Why… she could smile like that, even as she was dying.

“So that’s why…”

Of course, it wasn’t automatic to love at that level just because she was my mother.

But conversely, it wouldn’t explain that love unless she was my mother.

So perhaps my subconscious had guessed it.

She is my mother.

That’s why it hurt like this.

Every time I heard her name, my heart ached.

‘Now I understand.’

All the emotions I was tangled up in her about started to make sense.

And at the same time…

I stood up.

“Allen? Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay. My heart feels like it’s about to collapse. But… as you said, knowing this truth won’t change anything.”

After all, the tasks ahead remain the same.

“I will kill the High Priest.”

So now I just had to endure it.

I didn’t even want to waste tears.

“Thank you. For letting me know.”

I was just grateful.

Once I fully understood my emotions, I finally felt my head clearing up.

The only thing left was to move forward using these emotions as fuel.

Just as I was about to thank Violet and leave the room…

I heard Violet’s voice in my head.

“The death of Freira… was indeed not meaningless.”

Yeah, but it was still too soon to say that.

At least, I could wait until everything was over.

To do that, I left her room, holding back my tears.

And then, I said casually to my comrades.

“Then let’s go right away.”

To the next destination.

*

Thud, thud.

The Ice Valley wasn’t that far from the Demon King’s Castle.

So instead of exerting ourselves, we chose to just walk there.

We also needed to be cautious since the apostles would start gathering in the Ice Valley soon.

Just then, as we were walking aimlessly outside the barrier…

“By the way, you were in there for quite a while. What did you talk about?”

Elsie asked suspiciously.

She seemed to be in inspection mode.

“I didn’t really talk about much.”

“Really?”

“What’s certain is that it’s not what you think.”

It might have felt a little frustrating to her, but it was true that it was my fault.

For some reason, there seemed to be a tendency for women to increase around me.

“Hmm, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now.”

But thinking back, I feel a bit wronged this time.

“The time I spent in the room was only about 5 minutes, right?”

“That’s right?”

“In 5 minutes, what could I possibly do…”

“Do you not remember how you charmed a woman in the Leim Kingdom in just 1 minute?”

That was also an injustice.

“No, that wasn’t my fault. I just reached out because they looked a bit distressed.”

“It’s not that you were wrong. Your excessive kindness is also attractive. But that means I have to always be on my guard.”

“That’s…”

At that moment, Luel spoke up, as if agreeing with Elsie’s opinion.

“Certainly, Elsie has had a hard time because of that.”

She was still on my back.

Even though it seemed that Sara or Elsie might be stronger, I was more comfortable carrying her due to my build.

But when Elsie carried me, it was kind of like she was partially fallen on Luel.

‘But still…’

The one who said that, Luel, was the biggest worry for Elsie lately.

I didn’t know why, but she seemed to suspect that Luel had feelings for me.

But I couldn’t directly ask Luel about it either.

So the decision I made was simple.

‘Oh, whatever will happen, will happen.’

This wasn’t the crucial situation.

Even if Luel had feelings for me, I wouldn’t bring it up right now.

She also knew well about the situation at hand.

No, but really, I didn’t know.

No matter how I thought about it, I felt like Elsie and Albert were overreacting.

There really wasn’t any basis…

“By the way, what was that talk about the reincarnator earlier?”

Gwen suddenly asked me.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t revealed to anyone except Luel and Lucy that I had memories of Divine Seat.

Of course, I could have revealed it if I wanted, but it had been difficult to find the right time to explain it.

‘I guess it’s about time I start revealing it.’

But I thought it was a bit strange to say that I had been watching their every move as a Divine Seat.

Moreover, telling them who had less understanding of dimensions than Luel that the world was just a game in another world could also lead to discomfort.

It seemed that “reincarnator” was a suitable term.

I had never thought of using “reincarnator” as an excuse, but thanks to Luel, I found out about it.

In reality, I was indeed closer to being a reincarnator.

“Yes, I am a reincarnator.”

Of course, this statement took quite a bit of courage.

I couldn’t predict what kind of emotion they would have about this alien existence.

But fortunately, it seemed they didn’t have any particular aversion.

“That makes sense. I guess some of the questions we had about you are being cleared up.”

Questions like how she knew I would come to the village and how she knew about the Reedval Family’s circumstances despite not being part of it.

“Oh, right. I had some questions about that too! That makes sense…”

“I understand now!”

“I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but you’re quite impressive.”

It seemed like Sara didn’t quite get it, but generally, the atmosphere was like they were brushing it off.

This actually left me feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“Is it okay? I’ve been hiding this from you all along. And doesn’t it feel a bit cowardly? You only had one chance, after all. But I…”

“No, honestly, if it were ten chances, I’d think that was a bit shameless. But a hundred times is different. I’ve been thinking about this, but what kind of mental structure do you have?”

Hearing that made me feel weird.

Even if I claimed I was reincarnated and didn’t remember those hundred attempts, I had actually lived through a hundred tries in the second trial.

Moreover, Elsie chimed in too.

“To be honest… I was surprised. I thought you would be a bit stronger after going through a hundred tries. Of course, you’ve gotten quite strong now.”

She hit the nail on the head.

“I don’t know!”

“Neither do I. Anyway, I think you’re quite amazing.”

Even Sara and Miss Weiss didn’t contribute much.

It seems there’s only one person to rely on.

The Water Sage.

“Luel, can you say just one word…”

But she betrayed me too.

“Honestly, everyone already seems to know you well. I didn’t think there was a need to announce that you were a reincarnator.”

“But still, isn’t everyone being too harsh…”

“What’s wrong? Thanks to everyone, we’re all smiling. And you too.”

I finally realized.

I had been smiling all along.

“That’s right.”

“You looked gloomy ever since you came out of Violet’s room. You looked like you were about to cry.”

Now that I thought about it, that was probably true.

“Elsie probably spoke to you because of that.”

“I see.”

Finally, I looked at Elsie, but she turned her head away shyly.

Yeah, it was definitely a situation where I should feel gloomy.

But that didn’t mean I could worry my comrades.

And maintaining a depressed mood wouldn’t do me any good.

Thinking again, I was grateful for having my comrades.

“Thank you all…”

Just then Luel spoke.

“The cliff ahead. There will be a trial between those two.”

It seemed we had arrived at our destination.

The trial.

“But weren’t you going to say something earlier?”

“No, it was nothing.”

Saying it again was a bit embarrassing.

It seemed everyone had heard most of it already.

*