I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

55 – 55. Chain of Choice

The next night.

Returning to the manor, Clen slowly recovered her physical strength and was able to walk alone.

Even though she must have been exhausted already, instead of resting right away, she went straight to the manor.

– Hurry up and move the wounded and dead to the castle, and then arrange a place to accommodate those who lost their homes. The castle is good, and the rooms in the inn are spare. I’ll take care of the cost here.-

It is said that Alfred is helping to repair collapsed buildings and castles, but even considering that, the manor was being restored step by step at a really fast pace.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the victims come back.

Since the settlement of the territory is the first thing now, Clen hasn’t revealed the exact cause of the disaster yet, but some demons must have already guessed what the cause was.

Asmodians will remember this.

And if you meet a human without ever forgetting it, you will bring back the memories and emotions of that time.

Furthermore, regarding the acquisition of the holy sword, it was also found out that the demons were paid money to disguised humans and covered up suspicious things.

Clen’s discovery of the holy sword was thanks to someone’s tip.

Of course, she asked to see if there was anything suspicious or problematic, but she said that she paid quite a lot of money for those things.

-Covering up the wrongs is not something we need to do right now. However, that’s not something that can be forgiven.-

Of course, Clen was very angry.

In the first place, the fact that a large number of humans were able to infiltrate the territory was possible because of internal cooperation.

The demons were taken deep underground in the castle.

There was no news of them after that.

You probably never have a good time.

“…Maybe it’s human fault after all.”

Arcel, who was quietly writing in her journal alone, sighed deeply, holding her forehead between her eyes.

-If you are truly a warrior, why are you trying to get in my way? Wasn’t the hero the one who protects humans from demons?

I am the one who fought for peace.

I am the one who fought against the demon king for peace.

This is the person who wanted to protect humans for the sake of peace.

But, is protecting humans really for the sake of peace?

Just looking at this incident, it was like that.

There was no reason for the human side to provoke Clen and commit a terrorism close to her declaration of war.

Perhaps Arcel didn’t notice, but at least whatever the reason, this was an absolutely unforgivable terrible thing.

“Ah, heh…”

Looking up at the moon outside the window, he lowered his head as he had no face to look at the moon.

What on earth did this happen for?

Besides, it’s a shame that Alfred showed up at the right time. If he hadn’t, the Hermod kingdom and all humans might have suffered damage that was close to destruction.

Clen’s power was so great that it was impossible to ignore, and it was also questionable how Alfred had blocked it.

It was partly because he was so far away, and Arcel, who was not in good physical condition, did not know how Alfred had stopped Clen.

Does Alfred have the same level of power as the demon lord?

That’s probably not the case.

The Alfred I saw in the past had a mysterious feel to it, but it didn’t feel like a monster like the Demon King.

If there are two such terrible powers in the world, it means that the world managed to survive and not perish.

Besides, I couldn’t imagine seeing Alfred turn into a monster like the Demon King.

Even thinking about it now, the demon king was really terrible.

Alfred was far from that terrible.

Even Clen, who had transformed into such a monster, felt much more gentle both in appearance and personality compared to the demon king.

Even when I was so angry with humans, I never felt any malice.

That was more like legitimate anger.

‘In my head, it’s not organized.’

Arcel put down the pen while holding his throbbing head.

I tried to organize my thoughts while writing a journal, but there is a limit to that as well.

It must be because I took in too much information at once because I was exhausted and fell asleep on the way back to the manor.

“Ha…”

It is a troublesome day in many ways.

For the sake of peace, humans were protected, but now humans have reached the point of disturbing that peace.

Until now, the demon king always triumphed over the hero and the situation did not improve. Even if the hero defeated the demon king, the next demon king appeared and the situation remained the same.

It was always the humans who were invaded.

But this time, humans invaded first.

A city of peaceful demons who didn’t go to war or raise an army.

But from a different point of view, humans have been invaded by demons for thousands of years.

‘What should I do?’

The resulting chain of hatred has been connected deeply and firmly to the point that it will never be broken, and from the standpoint of being invaded so far, this incident will be nothing.

Simplely considering the concept of revenge, humans could be seen as justified in their own way.

The demons annihilated all the children in small rural villages without exception.

Even if it was an order from the Demon King.

In the end, they were divided into the concept of demons and humans, and were bound under the chain of unforgettable hatred.

“…Which chain should I choose?”

There, Arcel was agonizing about which chain he should pull.

If it’s just for humans, the decision is simple.

It is enough to pull the chains of humans and squeeze the demons bound by the chains.

Even if a human called himself a traitor and fired arrows, as long as he could fulfill his duty as a warrior, it didn’t matter if a sword was stabbed into his body.

That was courtesy to his departed comrades.

However, he fought not for humans, but to keep peace.

Fighting for peace is like a child’s dream, but it was very difficult to achieve peace despite such a childish dream.

“I don’t know…”

I couldn’t even pull the chain on the demon side.

It might be more convenient if I forgot everything.

If you let go of the holy sword and give up being a hero, you will be able to live without these worries.

But I didn’t have the face to face my comrades who had left, so I didn’t know which of the two forks to choose.

“Don’t know what?”

“Alfred?!”

At that time, Alfred sticks his head out from the ceiling.

At first, only his head is visible, but gradually it descends from his neck to his toes.

The appearance was so bizarre that even Arsel, who had gone through all sorts of battles, was startled and almost fell backwards.

Although Alfred did not fall right away by grabbing his hand.

“Are you okay? Aren’t you hurt?”

“No, it’s okay thanks to you, but…”

If you just knock and confirm that it is Alfred, he will open it right away, and if he had come in through the window, he wouldn’t have been as surprised as he was just now.

I already knew about Alfred’s taste, why he had to appear that way from the ceiling, but it seems it’s still too early to adapt.

“But aren’t you sleeping yet? What were you doing?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Arsel hurriedly hid the note.

There were also contents that were embarrassing to show to others.

I even used magic to set the note to burn if someone else opened it.

“But what did you come for? You seem to have been helping to restore the city…”

“Anyway, it’s the damage caused by my mother’s magic, so I’ll have to clean up that much.”

Alfred pointed his finger out the window.

There, you can see several skeletons bringing materials from somewhere to repair a collapsed house.

The speed of work is probably due to the large number of skeletons working tirelessly.

Certainly, Alfred used necromantic techniques often before, so that level must be nothing.

“I think you are so great, if you were a hero, even the Demon King could not have ignored you.”

“Ah, how do I openly call myself Hogu, like a warrior? Would only the natural hogu be able to do that?”

As usual, Alfred smiled broadly and at the same time seemed to drive a dagger into Arcel’s chest with his mouth.

“…Is your nature a hukou?”

“Yes, of course risking your life to fight the demon king just because you are a hero. You don’t even get minimum wage and you have to work 24/7, but who the hell is going to do that?”

It’s a sad reality that I can’t bear to refute that statement.

You don’t even get the minimum wage.

It’s 24 hours.

There is no such thing as a day off.

As I heard those three sentences one after another, it took a considerable blow to my mind as well as my heart.

“hahahahaha, you don’t have to take such a severe blow. To be honest, I was half exaggerating.”

Alfred said it was an exaggeration, but from the hero’s point of view, if you think about it slowly, you can see that he didn’t exaggerate in the slightest.

Honestly, I wonder why he is going through such a hard time doing something like a warrior.

I didn’t have much choice because I was chosen, but since I sincerely wanted to be a warrior from the middle, I couldn’t help but feel that much desolation.

“Anyway, I’m here to pay for my past work. Could it be that you haven’t forgotten?”

“Ah… Come to think of it-“

Alfred came to get the price for stopping Clen.

Arsel was curious about what Alfred would ask for, rather than worrying about it.

Alfred can do almost anything he wants if he wants to.

Even so, he even wrote a grandiose word for himself, and the only things he actually asked for were things that were too embarrassing to pay.

“This time it won’t be as simple as before, I had a little trouble stopping Grandma Clen too.”

Challenge!

At that time, Alfred closed the curtains by the window.

“Alfred…?”

Then I picked Arsel up and put him on the bed.

I didn’t know what to do with the curtains drawn, this time I even came closer and put my hand on Arcel’s skirt.

“I’m sorry if I’m tired, but this time you’ll have to stay up all night, so you better be prepared.”

“What are you trying to do?!”

Alfred’s hand starts at the hem of his skirt and ends at his thigh.

The more he did, the more Arcel’s face turned red, and then Alfred put his hand on his waist and raised his upper body again.

I drew the curtain.

I laid down on the bed.

Now his skirt is pulled up to expose his bare legs.

At the moment, Arcel began to think of things he had only encountered in books.

“Eh…”

“Isn’t it softer than I thought? What if it was full of muscles?”

“What do you mean by that…”

Alfred commented on Arcel’s soft white legs.

The more she recalls the contents of the book, the more red her face becomes.

She had already slept with her in the same bed, but Arcel couldn’t bear to say how to react when this situation was right in front of her eyes.

It would be better to entrust her body to Alfred as it is.

“Did I tell you? The price this time will count.”

“…Okay. Do whatever you want, isn’t that what you decided to do anyway?”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

Then Alfred pulled a cloth from his pocket.

“?”

A soft and fluffy mysterious fabric.

I put one under Arsel’s leg and covered the other one over it.

I was a little puzzled because it was different from what I was thinking.

“Sometimes…”

“No, what the hell are you trying to do?”

Next, the cloth is folded by hand.

Finally, Alfred lay down on the bed, using the other Arcel’s knee as a pillow.

Unexpectedly, inexplicable emotions began to pass through Arcel’s head.

“Now you know what you used to do to that crow, why are you stroking his head with his hand?”

“No way…”

Arcel looked back at his previous memories.

A few days ago, Arcel put Stella’s sleeping head on her lap and stroked her head.

Anyway, it’s something he’s done a few times in the past when he’s on the night watch, and Stella liked Arcel stroking his hair, so he did it without much thought.

But then Alfred was glaring at Stella.

Looking at it now, it seems that Stella was jealous of Arcel lying on her lap and being petted.

“…Seriously, is this the price?”

“Yeah, what about that?”

For a moment, Arsel was at a loss for words.

He was overjoyed at Alfred asking him to do this in return, setting aside the fact that it was completely different from what he had expected.

“Maybe you have to work hard? Even if I can’t do it, I intend to stay like this until dawn. And even if you get cramps in your legs, I’ll still be there. It might be good to give you a massage beforehand.”

About 6-7 hours left until dawn.

In a way, it’s not easy to sit like this all this time, but it’s still ridiculous.

“You don’t mean to stop doing it now, do you?”

“No, not even that…”

Alfred snapped her fingers and asked to pet her right away.

Arsel blinked and stroked Alfred’s head.

“Is this how you feel? It’s quite comfortable. Isn’t it the best cushion?”

Alfred relaxed his body, satisfied.

Arcel looked down at Alfred with a blank face and continued stroking his hair with his hand.

It’s like sitting a cat on your lap and petting it.

Though the cat is rather large.

“Ah, so it seems worthwhile to stop Grandma Clen even while resurrecting her mother with her necromancy.”

“You resurrected your mother with her necromancy?!”

In the middle, I heard words that made my mind wander.

After listening to her explanation, she was quite convinced, but the idea of resurrecting one’s own parents with necromantic magic is a thought that no one has ever thought of.

“If you were alive, you would have been very angry, grabbed me and buried me alive, but you’ve been dead for a long time, haven’t you? Besides, you must have liked it because you met your friend after a long time?”

Arcel recalled that Clen had been devastated and she was down.

I think you liked it too much.

‘I’ve heard of cases where the other person’s parents were resurrected with necromancy to provoke them, but…’

Anyway, resurrecting parents with necromantic magic was an anti-human immorality that should not be tolerated.

But seeing Alfred say it casually, I felt that she was more like Alfred.

Anyway, he said that he did it with his own mouth.

“I thought it was strange that I was alone…”

Arsel sighed at the strange dejection.

He felt strange about himself feeling down, but Alfred was the strangest right now.

Originally, it was strange.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, but if it’s hard to choose one or the other, I’d rather choose both. Humans are inherently greedy creatures, right? So, if you have a choice disability, just choose both.”

Said Alfred, very pleased with the new pillow.

The smiley face is so good that I’m worried that it might melt.

“…I see, can I just choose both? It’s a very kind answer.”

At that appearance, Arcel laughed for nothing.

If it’s hard to choose, choose both.

Perhaps that would be the smartest way rather than thinking of another way.