I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

122. True Lies

When the world was silent, there was someone who chased a fantasy down a dead-end alley.

It was the same as having the foolishness of having no choice but to chase after something even though you knew it was fake, and having vain hopes even though you knew it couldn’t possibly be true.

Phew!

“Oh no, I stabbed you in the stomach!”

“…”

“Oh my gosh, I’m dying! “If anyone can help me, please save me!”

“…”

“…Okay, are you tired of this now? Anyway, is this the 153rd? Congratulations, you’ve already taken care of 1/10th of it!”

When Morian didn’t react at all, the illusion reacted as if it knew that would happen.

I don’t know if it’s really 1 in 10.

Illusions increase in number as needed, rendering the efforts of those who pursue them meaningless.

“Just try 10 times as hard as you do now, and if you’re lucky, you might be able to find the real thing somewhere along the way.”

Alfred’s fantasy hugged Morian tightly as if he was proud of him with a sword stuck in his stomach.

His embrace is warm and kind, but Morian already knows that this favor is absolutely not favor.

Soon, light emanated from the illusion.

Quang-!!!

The shock of the explosion is felt before the roar.

The reason Alfred’s illusion hugged Morrían was to make it impossible for her to escape from the explosion.

In the first place, it would be normal for the body to leave no trace after just doing that.

“…It’s warm.”

Morian, who seemed strangely fine, expressed regret as he recalled the warmth from just before.

Even though it was just an illusion, it was a very warm and nostalgic feeling.

“Where is the real thing?”

I look up at the sky with a blank face.

With this, the 153rd time, I chased and eliminated the illusions scattered in various places for several hours, but there was still a long way to go.

To find the main body, we need to do more searching than we do now.

Illusions themselves are not easy to chase, but among the thousands of illusions, there is only one that is real.

I think that the real body may already be no longer in the Kingdom of Hermod, and if it has run away that far, it is not a good situation to chase it until the end.

Of course, things will go according to the queen’s plan, but for the individual Morian, it is a trend that he does not want.

Morian felt like looking at Alfred’s face and talking to her more.

This is a strange thing.

It’s definitely been a while since I’ve seen Alfred, but I feel a sense of familiarity, as if I’ve known him for a long time, and it’s just disturbing.

Unfortunately, Alfred doesn’t seem to be like that.

On the contrary, she was openly showing hostility towards Morrigan, as if she had hated him for a long time.

I couldn’t figure out why.

“Honestly, if you get hit that hard, shouldn’t you at least show signs of pain? “I feel like this doesn’t even tickle.”

“…Is it a fantasy again?”

Morian turned her head at the voice she heard.

Alfred was standing behind him.

I didn’t pursue it right away, thinking it was probably just an illusion, but it was still surprising that Alfred came to me first.

Maybe we have changed our strategy.

Rather than buying time by making the illusion run away, rather use the illusion to lure Morrian.

It is still unclear what the purpose of the inducement was.

But it doesn’t change what she has to do anyway.

Morrían raises her sword and swings her waves of light.

The illusion will definitely approach you while facing the wave of light head-on, and will attempt a suicide attack like before.

“Wow, even orcs and their ancestors are probably less ignorant than you. Your brain is small, but why do you do the things you do? “Is it worth it?”

“…?”

But something strange happened.

Alfred dodged Morian’s attack and appeared in front of her, laughing at his opponent as usual.

Until now, when the illusions are caught up, they have not avoided the attack and have only self-destructed, which is truly unexpected.

“Besides, we look alike again, which makes me feel bad. Next time, at least wear this.”

“…??”

Alfred suddenly puts a paper bag over Morian’s face.

Although Alfred is no different from usual, it is strange that the illusion acts like that.

More than anything, the illusions all said the same thing.

As if he was mocking the other person, he talked about how many times he destroyed the illusion, and the explosions with a flash of light were the illusions of Alfred that Morrían had seen so far.

But that wasn’t the case this time.

What that means is:

“Aha, it’s true.”

Morian’s eyes come to life.

The emotions that are heightened by excitement come up violently.

The reason is unknown.

Without her knowledge, Morian instinctively felt that she wanted to ‘own’ Alfred.

“Have you decided to stop joking around now?”

Alfred did not answer.

The paper bag wrapped around Morrían burned due to the magical power swirling around him.

†††

“Alfred!”

Arsel called Alfred’s name one last time, but his voice never reached him.

When I reached out and tried to grab Alfred, his appearance had already disappeared and a sight I had never seen before appeared.

“…This place is like that. “I guess this is the basement of Hermod’s royal castle that Alfred mentioned.”

A cold and chilly wind blew.

The scale of the basement seems to be much larger than expected, and the only light you can rely on is the light of the magic stone hanging on the wall.

Because the basement was very dark, it was not a good environment for securing visibility.

‘Alfred seems to have already reached the center of the underground.’

Arsel felt the flow of the wind and determined his current location.

The wind contains the smell, warmth, and magic of the earth, and each time it blows underground, its lingering scent gradually becomes lighter.

We have already reached quite deep underground.

‘Then there’s only one thing left, and it’s not that difficult. Even though it is hindered by the magic stone, my magic power is sufficient to detect and track it.’

Now I am looking for another version of myself.

If her queen really had five years worth of her magic stored in one place, she would have put up a barrier to hide the existence of her magic.

However, it is impossible to hide all of the hero’s vast magical power.

It was surprising how she had stored up all that enormous magical energy, so even someone like Alfred could sense her own magical energy.

‘I feel the same magical power as me from beyond.’

And finally, he found the same magical power as himself.

I was able to find that all the familiar magic power was gathered in one place beyond the dark maze-like corridor.

It seems like there is quite a distance, but if you follow the signposts, you will be able to reach the source of the magic power within the time provided by Alfred.

Arcel immediately tried to run after his magic power.

“Going forward blindly is not a good choice. My body regenerates well no matter how many times it is torn and burned, but your body is only mortal, no matter how much of a warrior you are. “Why don’t you respect your own body a little?”

Then, a voice was heard grabbing Arcel.

However, Arcel did not show any signs of surprise.

This is also because he already instinctively had a feeling that he would meet him if he came here.

“…We meet again.”

“Yes, we met again.”

This is Alfred in the form of a child.

“I don’t know if it’s Queen Hermod’s hobby, or the hobby of the person who designed this underground, but there are a lot of quite dangerous traps here. For example, if you step on the floor below here by mistake-“

Boom!

When little Alfred pressed the stick on the floor, the floor suddenly rose up and reached the ceiling, completely shattering the stick.

“…”

“It happens like this, of course, you have a strong body, so the only thing that gets smashed is the ceiling or the floor. Or maybe it was both.”

When the floor slowly came down again, if the stick had been a human bone, it would have been in a state worse than a comminuted fracture.

Definitely, as little Alfred said, that level is something that can be easily endured with just one’s strength.

However, there are various types of traps.

You may fall to the floor instead of the ceiling, or if you have anything to do with magic, you may be expelled from the Kingdom of Hermod.

That would take much longer, and it’s not like Alfred can buy time indefinitely.

Even if he could buy infinite time, Arcel did not want Alfred to continue dealing with such dangerous things.

“Then let’s go carefully. I will let you know if there are any dangerous traps, so go slowly and calmly. “If people are too hasty, they end up doing things they can do wrong.”

“…Who on earth are you?”

For that reason, Arcel was thought to be more certain than he should have been.

Arsel pulled out the holy sword before moving forward.

“Huh? Why are you suddenly asking that? “I am me?”

“I know you are Alfred. But… Something feels different from the Alfred I know. Even when I think about it myself, I know that this statement is contradictory. But even though you are Alfred, you are not Alfred.”

Even if you think about it, it sounds strange.

“If Alfred was going to help me here in the first place, he would have already spoken first. But Alfred didn’t say anything and then you showed up. “If I think about it, it was always like that when you showed up.”

“Oh, is that what happens?”

Although the thing in front of me was Alfred, strangely enough, I had the feeling that it was not Alfred.

Contradictory words that even one cannot understand.

However, since Alfred’s existence itself was not normal, I thought that maybe he was like that.

“That’s a difficult question, because proving it’s me is surprisingly annoying. And judging by your reaction, you probably won’t believe me even if I prove it.”

Little Alfred approached Arcel with a bright smile.

“So let’s do it this way.”

“What?”

“I am the one who helps you, and the reason I am here in the first place is to help you. So, until I become useless, I want you to think of me as me. “Maybe it will be mutually beneficial.”

“…”

Little Alfred finally said that he was Alfred and that he was here to help Arcel.

That statement certainly doesn’t seem to be false.

Little Alfred always showed up when he was having a hard time and helped him just like Alfred himself, and thanks to that, he was able to get his mind together and move forward.

“And the only thing you can trust more than friends or family is someone with the same goal. “I currently have the same goals as you.”

“…Are you saying that because you think I have some purpose?”

Thank you for that.

This is something that can never be denied.

Still, it was necessary to make it clear.

If these two Alfreds are not the same person, it would be a betrayal for him to have the same feelings for them.

I don’t want any more betrayals.

Even if it’s something you didn’t want.

“Do you have any other purpose besides living happily in a peaceful world?”

“…”

Arsel did not answer.

Silence is positivity.

As always, little Alfred accurately pointed out Arcel’s true feelings this time as well.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, so you can rest assured. So let’s hurry now. Because time is always limited. If you have something to talk about, let’s do it as we go. How is it?”

“…I understand. “I hope what you say is true.”

“I don’t lie, and there’s no need to lie.”

Little Alfred took the lead and walked down the dark path.

There were many traps in the long hallway, but fortunately, if you noticed them in advance and responded in advance, you could easily overcome them.

†††

In the distant past, a prophet said:

The prophet’s predictions always came true as he said, and many people were able to avoid a dark and painful future thanks to the prophet.

-This world is on the verge of destruction! The world itself is heading towards destruction, and if we do not act according to God’s will, all of these worlds will be destroyed!

However, the new words that the prophet said were something that even those who received the help of the prophecy could not readily believe.

-The world is on the path to its own destruction! We in that world will also become companions!

In the first place, the prophecy itself was vague.

He was a prophet who always gave accurate and detailed prophecies, but this time he did not even detail the exact time or cause of the prophecy.

Thanks to this, everyone living around the world dismissed the prophecy as nonsense and thought it was funny.

Only those with long ears set out on a journey to find an area where they could avoid destruction, while the rest spent their days ignoring the prophet’s words.

Every day passed without anything special happening.

In the end, people dismissed the prophet’s prophecy as clearly wrong this time, and whenever the prophet spoke of a future of destruction, they always ignored it and did not take it seriously.

But one person could not do that.

This man also thought that the prophet’s future was wrong, but one day something happened that made him realize that the prophecy of doom was true.

-This world is doomed to destruction, so you must stop the world from falling into destruction.-

God appeared right in front of that human being.

God repeated exactly what the prophet said and gave humans a sword.

That was the first holy sword, the hero’s sword first chosen by a god unknown to later generations.

“…If the late king were alive, he would probably have shouted loudly.”

The queen looked down at the picture of the warrior she had torn down.

The decorated picture was fake anyway, so it was okay to tear it up, but on the back page of the picture, there was a scene where a hero was receiving the holy sword.

Of course, the queen also tore the painting to pieces.