I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

43 – 43. The passing starlight

It was only after dozens of meetings before that Arcel had a proper conversation with Alfred.

At first, at the burning magic school.

The second one happened on the side of the road one day.

The third is in the chapel of the church.

Especially in the chapel of the church, Alfred was taking a nap in the arms of an angel statue.

It wasn’t that he was actually asleep, but he said he took a break because he was tired while passing by.

Anyway, there were several encounters after that, but each time, she could not help but be hostile to Alfred.

It is because Alfred was a demon and the highest official of the demon king’s army, and Arsel was a warrior who was officially hostile to the demon king.

But if you keep running into him, you’ll end up hating him.

That was the story of one day when Arcel got lost in the woods alone.

While searching for the missing villagers, she herself got lost in the forest, and because she was separated from her colleagues, she kept wandering around the same place.

“…I hadn’t heard of a place like this before.”

An ancient civilization that is unknown who made it and for what reason.

The enigmatic ruins nestled in the forest made those who entered go round and round as if they were trapped in a maze.

No matter how excellent a warrior is, it is not possible to cope with such a sudden situation.

‘Let’s rest for a while. Even if I keep walking in a straight line, I only return to the same place.’

In the end, Arcel felt tired from wandering around the ruins and wanted to take a break.

Just like that, there was shade and a suitable rock to lean on, so I was going to sit down.

‘What is that?’

There was something like white hair sticking out from the back of the rock.

‘Is this a monster that lives here?’

Perhaps there was a beast or a monster, so Arcel approached with caution so that he could pull out his sword at any time.

Usually, in such an ancient civilization, there were many cases where dangerous monsters who lived at the same time remained.

Even though it is a cute white rabbit, it also means that it is a terrible monster that eats people’s heads.

“…Ha ha.”

But that wasn’t the case.

Arsel confirmed the identity of what was behind the rock, and at first he was going to pull out the holy sword and cut it in two with the rock, but he soon gave up his thoughts and sighed.

“Huh, are you a warrior? What are you doing here?”

At first, I didn’t know what kind of monster it was, so I sharpened my nerves, but what was there was not a monster, but a young man.

It was Alfred, a half-demon and the highest officer in the Demon King’s army.

Alfred smiled and waved his hand as if he were just meeting someone he knew on the side of the road.

“Why are you here again?”

I didn’t even think about pulling out the holy sword anymore.

-Huh, are you a warrior? Did you eat a snack?-

Already in the past, whenever I ran into Alfred and pulled out the Holy Sword, Alfred always kept a safe distance of 5m and continued the conversation as if to tease him.

I don’t know if it’s once or twice, but since it’s repeated more than ten times, Arcel has no choice but to lose his motivation.

“I came here to avoid the demon lord’s eyes and run errands.

The reason I met Alfred today was that I was very excited.

One side said that she herself got lost while looking for the missing villagers, and the other side said that she ran out of her workplace because her boss’s errands were annoying.

Who would believe that those two are the warriors who will save the world from the demon lord and the right hand of such a demon lord?

“Why doesn’t the demon king deal with you like that? If you had been a knight, he would have been ashamed right away.”

“It’s me, thank you if you do, because I’m falling under the vice president who doesn’t have employee welfare because I couldn’t leave the company.”

Alfred shook his head, saying that the demon king was going to rule him until he was 88 years old.

He is an old man by human standards, but not too old by demon standards.

“I submitted 10 resignations, but all were rejected. What kind of vicious boss won’t let you even leave the company? Even if I didn’t go to work, they’re going to catch me and lock me up at the company?”

Of course, Alfred is full of desire to retire.

It was not a company I entered because I wanted to in the first place, and since I was forcibly dragged into it since I was young, it may be a natural reaction.

“What the hell is the demon army doing?”

Arsel heard similar complaints from Alfred whenever he met him.

The unfortunate thing is that each time we met, it was the same that we wanted to leave the company, but the content of our grievances was always different.

It seemed to be full of complaints.

“That’s why today’s strike, I’m not the Demon Lord’s army now, so I don’t have to fight the hero. So, I should take it easy and enjoy my rest until the demon king finds me.”

“…I see.”

Arsel finally took the holy sword.

If Alfred had no intention of fighting, neither he himself nor he had any desire to be hostile.

It would be a big deal if the villagers who might be somewhere get caught up in a fight with him here.

I never abandoned my duty as a warrior.

“Even so, it is questionable why he is here at all. Could it be that you were also involved in this matter?”

So make sure to correct what needs to be done.

Even if Alfred didn’t want to fight him, if Alfred was the culprit, he couldn’t ignore it.

“This day? Uh… Did you just run away ignoring what the demon king wanted to do to take the princesses for a walk?”

But I think I corrected it for nothing.

Alfred looked blankly at Arcel, scratching his head, as if he really didn’t know why he was here.

“No, it did.”

If you think about it in the first place, Alfred didn’t do such a thing.

Even if he didn’t do it directly and followed the orders of the demon king, the demon king always ordered Alfred to sabotage or kidnap the princesses.

This time, only the village was empty and everything else was fine.

“Rather than that, what is the point of taking the princesses you kidnapped for a walk?”

“It’s similar to what you have to do when you have a pet dog, but the owner is the devil, and he makes me do those chores. How annoying it is that the princesses cling to each other every time.”

Even if the people living in this village weren’t all princesses, the chances of Alfred kidnapping the villagers were very low.

“…Stuck?”

“You know that, right? The demon lord has a terrible face, and he hates spending the day in the same room as that guy.”

“What the heck did you kidnap the princesses-“

“I don’t know, the Demon King is surprisingly afraid of sleeping alone, contrary to what it looks like. That’s why he needs something like a doll for little kids to sleep in.”

This was an unexpected story as it is, but you shouldn’t immediately accept the interpretation based on Alfred’s standards.

In particular, Alfred’s standard for ‘safe’ was on the side of being safe as long as he didn’t die and stayed alive.

He is the one who simply says that if he is alive, he is safe, so the fact that the demon king is afraid of sleeping alone may mean something else.

“Well, in the past, he called me at night saying he had a nightmare while sleeping? Did I really have to sing a lullaby at 3 am?”

Please, it should have been.

It is uncertain whether Alfred’s words are true, but the Demon King, who is trying to rule the world and is also his nemesis, shouldn’t be such a coward.

Arcel shook his head and shook his mind away.

“So what did you come all the way here, Hero? This is an eternal ruin from which you cannot get out once you enter, a vicious labyrinth where ancient grudges catch those who enter and leave them trapped and killed.”

“What the hell is that?”

Arsel looked around at Alfred’s unusual explanation.

I don’t feel particularly magical, but the sunlight was shining brightly, but there was a strange fog.

The fog also contains an unknown magical energy.

It’s definitely not an ordinary fog.

“To sum it up, it’s free when you come in, but not when you go out. You can’t go out once you’re in here.”

Alfred threw a rock hard into the sky.

Took!

But the stone that had been flying well suddenly disappeared from sight, and then flashed back to the ground.

“Even if you fly high in the sky like this, you will come back to where you were originally, deja vu. Have you ever felt it?”

This was similar to when Arcel ran all the way in a straight line before.

It was said that it was impossible to escape these ruins even by flying in the sky.

“But why did the hero come here? I’m sure he didn’t come in because he got lost… Ah! Did you come to play junk food because you wanted to finish your job as a hero?”

Alfred clapped his hands and laughed.

Alfred said that he would not enter this place because only a few warriors lost their way.

“Isn’t it? Well, I’m fed up with it every day, but I’m tired of it. Wouldn’t it be more realistic for the demon king to buy cakes for the children in the orphanage, for a hero who has officially qualified to defeat the demon king to finally get lost and enter a place like this?”

But the truth is here.

“…”

Arcel didn’t respond, only his cheeks and ears turned red.

As Alfred said, it was true that he came here because he was genuinely lost.

“…God, did you come in here without really knowing where you were?”

Arsel nodded.

Alfred rubbed his forehead and sighed.

Perhaps that kind of thing is a hero, he seemed to be lamenting that even humans bet their fate in a very strange place.

“That, isn’t that what you say!”

Kwajik!

Arcel couldn’t hold back his shame and threw his fist at Alfred.

The outstretched fist shattered the rock Alfred was leaning on.

“Ha ha, slow.”

But Alfred twisted his head slightly to avoid it.

I just swallowed my saliva when I saw the powdered rock behind me.

It’s not sincere, it’s a fist without strength, but it’s that kind of power.

“Anyway, I can’t get out of here once I’ve entered, so even if the demon king knows where I am, he can’t easily find me.”

“That’s why you can’t get out of here either. No matter how much you hate your job, you wouldn’t want to be locked up in a place like this, right?”

But Alfred shook his head.

“I can get out easily, but you can’t. For example, I-“

“Alfred?”

At that time, Alfred’s appearance was blown away! And disappeared

There was no sign of Alfred anywhere.

“Where did you go?”

Arsel looked to see if Alfred was quickly hiding somewhere, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Is that why?

Arsel began to feel strangely uneasy.

-To sum it up, you can come in as you like, but not as you go out. You can’t go out once you’ve been in here.

Alfred said it was impossible to leave this place once he had entered.

In fact, even if Arcel walked all the way in a straight line, he returned to his original place, and even if Alfred threw a stone into the sky, he returned to his original place.

Of course, when he saw that Alfred had just disappeared, it wasn’t like he didn’t have a way out completely, but he wasn’t sure if he could replicate it.

“Where did you go?!”

Arsel anxiously called out to Alfred.

But he got no answer.

-Where did you go?!-

-Where did you go!-

-Where did you go-

Only his own voice returns as if it were an echo.

It is imprinted on the fact that there is no one here and that you are the only one here.

At first, it was okay when I didn’t know that this place was a place I couldn’t escape from, but after hearing Alfred’s detailed explanation, I couldn’t help but have various thoughts.

‘Could it be that I’m really alone?’

He himself is trapped in this place and cannot get out.

Alfred had been there until just a little while ago, but even that had disappeared in an instant, leaving him alone.

If there is no help from anyone like this.

If he can’t find a way out of here.

Then it became a story that I had to die here alone for the rest of my life.

There’s no food or water here, so I won’t last long and I’ll die anyway.

‘No, let’s not give up. Maybe someday I’ll find a way out.’

Arsel tries to think positively.

Alfred disappeared, but after taking a break here as planned, he decided to find a way out again.

But in one part of my head I understood.

There is no way to get out of here alone.

Even if it exists, the odds of finding it out on your own are slimmer than the odds of defeating the demon lord.

‘If I can’t go to the sky, I might be able to get out by digging.’

In order not to go crazy, he brainwashed himself to maintain his sanity.

From the knights, Arcel was taught how to remain sane in any situation.

To learn that, when I was 10 years old, I was imprisoned for a week without any food or water.

At that time, the instructors lied that a new hero had appeared, and since Arcel was no longer needed, he was put in prison to starve to death.

If it was the original education method, I should have endured for another two weeks.

-What are you doing now! Is this kind of education given to a girl who is only 10 years old!-

Then she really came close to death, but fortunately Lord Karcal returned from his mission and took her out in great rage.

If it wasn’t for Lord Karcal, he might really be dead.

Since she was young, she has been forcibly raised to be trained as a warrior. She said that one day, she was suddenly no longer needed. All.

She was relieved that she was not useless when she later learned the truth.

“…I’m sure you can get out. Because she hasn’t even found the missing villagers yet.”

Arcel tried to comfort himself and buried his head in his lap.

She ran for dozens of hours without stopping to find the villagers.

She won’t mind taking a break for a while.

How much time has passed like that.

It wasn’t that long.

Around the time the sun has set and the sky is glowing.

“…?”

It felt like something had gone by, so when she opened her eyes, there was a golden thread in front of Arcel’s eyes.

The thread was hanging down somewhere, and a small memo pad was also left along with the thread.

-You seem to be sleeping very well, so I’ll leave a note like this. If you roll this thread around with your hands, you’ll be able to get out of here. At the end, there will be a forest and a prison with missing villagers.-

“…Alfred?”

I looked around just in case, but of course Alfred was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed like I had already been there a long time ago.

-Actually, I came looking for a princess who broke her leash and ran away while taking a walk. Maybe they were possessed by a ghost and went to a strange place together.

“Hero! You came to rescue us!”

Indeed, when Arcel followed her thread, the prison in the forest where the villagers were kept came out.

Seeing that the thread hasn’t been cut yet, it looks like it will continue until I leave this prison.

At first, I was dubious and moved along the thread, but I didn’t know that I would actually find the villagers.

“…Why did you help?”

Arsel had a strange feeling.

He was a man who was difficult to treat as an enemy from the beginning, but it was strange, if not strange, that he gave such help to himself as an enemy.

He was worried that he might be leading him into a trap, but he didn’t have any traps at all.

He was really just telling me how to get out of this mysterious place.

“…”

Although Arcel had passed quite a distance, he looked at the ball of thread the size of a small baby bird.

A beautiful, fine thread that shines in gold.

I don’t know if it’s really made of gold, but I think I know very well that it’s not common by any means.

‘Come to think of it, where did this lead?’

But I suddenly noticed that the other side of the thread was connected to something.

When Arcel looked for the end of the thread, it was connected to the note behind his back.

It seems like it was attached to my back from the beginning.

In that note.

-I am a lost child warrior who got lost in the forest. If you find me, please contact Hermod Kingdom.-

These words were written along with a picture of a laughing face.

On the back of the note, there was also a landscape painting presumed to be a stray dog wandering through the forest.

Besides, I drew it much better than I thought.

Although it is a small note, it is on the same level as the famous paintings hanging in most aristocratic mansions or imperial palaces.

“…Next time we meet, I will definitely cut off that wrist.”

Arcel smiled and clenched his fists, making a promise.