The Former Hero Begins to be Re-evaluated

‘Really… this doesn’t make sense.’

I had been active as a hero in the Empire for the past year.

Naturally, I had to frequently interact with key figures of the Empire, and each time, there was one thing I felt.

The Empire has an absurdly small number of talented people.

Compared to the size of the Empire, there were far too few people who could be called truly talented.

They were all incompetent, just all talk and no action. There wasn’t a single proper person.

What could be the reason for this?

I had doubts at the time, but I was too busy to think about it.

But now I know for sure.

Looking at the spectacle of selecting Alex as the hero, the answer is clear.

‘Are there no people who use their brains in the Empire?’

It just means the higher-ups have no discernment at all.

How could they think of selecting Alex as the hero?

Anyone with even a little discernment would never make such a judgment.

Even if I concede a hundred times and say I understand Herald, Alex is absolutely not it.

Even if they both have a 0% chance of defeating the Demon Lord, the feeling itself is different.

Appointing such a person as hero was like praying for the Empire’s downfall.

‘This guy is much weaker than Herald.’

In my assessment, Alex was much weaker than Herald.

On the surface, Alex, who is in his prime, might look stronger than Herald.

Perhaps Alex might be stronger than Herald in strength or agility.

But in the end, that’s all there was to it.

In duels between Alex and Herald, at least in my memory, I had never seen Herald lose.

The experience that comes from Herald’s long career should never be ignored.

He’s much stronger than a greenhorn knight like Alex who only relies on strength.

Of course, he’s still far inferior compared to the Demon Lord or me…

Alex is not even close to being able to challenge Herald.

‘He doesn’t even have loyalty to the Empire.’

Moreover, and this is the biggest problem, Alex doesn’t really care for the Empire.

The Alex I saw in the past was a man with an extremely self-centered way of thinking.

When I talked with him before, it felt like he became a knight for his own advancement rather than to protect the Empire.

Of course, one’s own advancement is important too. How can a person have no ambition?

I can’t say that’s wrong.

But still, as a knight, there should be basic principles.

From that perspective, in my view, Alex fell far short of those basic principles.

The quality of the person is quite bad.

The Empire has entrusted such a person with the weighty position of hero, not just any other position.

I don’t know about other positions, but at least the hero position should never have been given to him.

The power and justification that a hero holds are truly immense.

If he has ambition, it wouldn’t be strange if a coup d’état occurs.

In that respect, Alex is a man who raises many suspicions.

‘Wow… how did it come to this in just a month?’

Honestly, I thought the Empire’s national power had declined at the point when I left, but I didn’t know it would collapse this quickly.

It’s been just about a month, right? It’s not easy to collapse like this in a month.

At this rate, it’s certain that it will collapse within a year.

They say even a rich man can last three years, how can the Empire not even last a year…

‘Let’s not care about it.’

The more I thought about it, the more angry I felt.

It really feels like I’m the fool for working myself to death for a year to protect such a country.

Should I say it’s frustrating?

It’s not that I’m sympathizing with the Empire that abandoned me, but it does seem too much.

I finally closed the newspaper.

I had finished my meal, and I didn’t want to spend more time looking at the Empire’s foolish actions.

‘I should start looking soon.’

Because I’m busy too.

I came here partly to send Ria to the Kingdom of Artes, but I also had my original purpose.

Now I should start doing what I need to do.

I stood up from my seat.

#

Alex, who was the knight commander, became the hero.

Of course, that process was not easy at all.

When it was said that Alex would be appointed as the hero, not all the officials of the Empire agreed.

Well, they had also seen Alex losing to Herald in duels.

Moreover, the Empire’s officials who knew Alex’s usual conduct opposed Alex’s appointment as hero.

They explained to the prime minister that Alex was not fit to be a hero.

There were even suggestions to call Han Soo back.

Or to summon a hero from another world like Han Soo.

“Please believe in me, Prime Minister. I will certainly defeat the Demon Lord.”

But the prime minister pushed through with Alex’s appointment as hero.

Alex asked the prime minister to give him a chance too, and the prime minister, looking at Alex, decided to give him a chance.

It was true that Alex was lacking compared to Herald.

Because the experiential aspect cannot be ignored, Alex probably never won against Herald.

But looking at it differently, if they had fought properly, Alex might have won.

The pattern was always Herald using tricks to win against Alex.

If they fought fair and square, the result of the match was unknown.

Rather, looking at pure qualities alone, there were many evaluations that Alex was superior to Herald.

That’s why the prime minister appointed Alex as the hero.

It could work out well.

‘Hehe. Now I’m the hero.’

And Alex had his own confidence.

Alex himself was somewhat aware that he couldn’t beat Herald.

But that doesn’t mean he was weaker than Herald.

Even if he lost the matches, there was never a time when he was weaker than Herald.

He wanted to prove that by beating Herald someday, but it was regrettable that Herald had already died.

But it didn’t matter much. Because he’s the hero now.

It’s a problem that can be solved by killing the Demon Lord that Herald couldn’t defeat.

‘And while proving it, let’s try becoming the emperor too.’

Moreover, Alex wasn’t satisfied with just that.

Alex wanted to succeed not only as a hero, but beyond that.

If he becomes a hero and achieves the feat of defeating the Demon Lord, isn’t it okay for him to take over the Empire?

Basically, the prime minister runs the state affairs in the Empire, but there’s clearly a princess behind that.

People don’t know because she doesn’t show herself.

Alex plans to marry the princess after completing this task. And he plans to become the emperor and rule the Empire.

Of course, it’s uncertain whether the princess will view marriage to him favorably.

But there were ways.

“Hello, Sir Alex. We are the party members who traveled with Sir Herald.”

While Alex was thinking about various things about the future where he defeated the Demon Lord, there were people who came to see him.

Women with slightly depressed expressions, the hero party members who went to subjugate the Demon Lord with Herald.

They greeted Alex while slightly watching his reaction.

The party members had no choice but to be cautious. Because they were failed party members.

Although it wasn’t their fault, they were party members who had failed twice.

If Alex doesn’t want to take them along…

Of course, they don’t think that will happen, but they couldn’t help but worry because of the slight possibility.

“Hello. I’m Alex. Knight Commander of the Red Dragon Knights… no, now I’m Hero Alex.”

Contrary to such worries, Alex was friendly to the party members.

Upon seeing the party members, Alex greeted them politely.

Seeing Alex like that, the party members breathed a sigh of relief.

The worry they had didn’t come true.

“I’ve heard the story. Former Hero Herald died… regrettably…”

Moreover, that wasn’t all.

Alex comforted the party members.

“But don’t worry. I will defeat the Demon Lord. Just believe in me. I’m different.”

He gave courage and hope to the party members.

He declared that unlike the other two heroes, he would definitely defeat the Demon Lord.

“We will believe in you, Sir Alex. Please defeat the Demon Lord. We will do our best to help you.”

Seeing this, the party members decided to follow Alex.

They thought that this time, a really good person had become the hero.

Yeah… with this person, we might really be able to defeat the Demon Lord this time. The party members’ hearts were filled with expectation.

But that thought had to disappear quickly.

“Haha. Thank you. But I’m curious about something, party members… perhaps…”

Alex spoke to the party members, subtly probing.

What he said next was a very dangerous statement.

“Are you interested in overthrowing the Empire and establishing a new country?”

“… What?”

Is the hero now asking them to conspire in a rebellion?

The party members were all flustered at Alex’s statement.