“I am the hero, the hero that will save humanity.”
“Don’t joke with me!”
Yet despite doing all that, the people kneeling on the ground didn’t move. It was as though they’ve all been turned into dolls. Gulland jumped up and twisted his body to smash his great sword into the hero’s head, but──
He saw a shadow jump in the way, and Gulland stopped himself at the last moment.
“──Stop.”
With her long, green hair tied back into a bun, the girl stared coldly at Gulland.
“…Liza.”
Unlike the others, this girl looked up at Gulland with strong and determined eyes. With his sin right before him, the human hero had no choice but to stop his sword.
The girl spread her arms to cover for the hero behind her, and Gulland had to stop his sword. Meanwhile, the hero sneered with emotionless eyes as he put his hand around the girl from behind and held her chin.
“Thank you, Liza.”
Apparently, that was enough to erase the will within the girl. And she nodded with a thin voice.
“Yes, hero.”
She even blushed.
A wicked smile surfaced on the hero at that, and Gulland did not miss it.
“You son of a—!!”
Gulland bit his molars so tight it seemed blood would spurt, but he could not fight back properly. The man that called himself a hero before him kept hiding behind the girl, so he couldn’t do anything.
It was because of his integrity that Gulland came to be called a hero and be lauded a holy knight, one of the greatest warriors of a distant country to the west. Alas, it was that same integrity that shackled the human hero.
Gulland did not know how, but he knew that the man before him could control people’s feelings.
There was more than enough for Gulland to make that conclusion.
“──Ah, I see, you are Gulland Rifenin.”
The black-haired hero narrowed his eyes as he peered into Gulland’s eyes. He seemed to understand something as he nodded, then the corners of his lips lifted, and he laughed.
“It seems you’re called a hero. A hero, huh. Ku ku ku ha ha ha ha!!”
The hero laughed as though he’d lost control over his emotions, but his eyes weren’t laughing at all. Those fake eyes measured Gulland.
“…Hero Gulland, won’t you go take the head of the enemy’s leader? You’re a hero, so you should be able to do it.”
The black-haired hero moved his fingers from Liza’s chin and wrapped them around her neck, and she started breathing heavily.
“You!!”
“You can’t run away. That wouldn’t be very hero-like then, right, Hero Gulland?”
With persistent malice, the black-haired hero continued to drive the human hero to the edge.
“Kka, kuhha…”
Liza repeatedly opened and closed her mouth like a fish, and tears even began to slide down her cheeks. Yet despite that, she never tried to escape from the hero’s arms.
“…If I can kill the boss of the goblins, I want you to let her go.”
“Sure, no problem.”
The hero smiled wickeldy at Gulland as he lovingly rubbed his own cheek against the girl.
As Gulland turned around, his eyes burned for the goblins up ahead.
“Now, everyone, it’s time for a counter attack! Gulland the Hero will take the lead, so just follow after him, and you will surely gain victory.”
As the hero spread his arms and called out to them, the people that have been kneeling all this time with heads bowed stood up. With eyes burning with the the will to fight, they raised their weapons and cheered.
“Now, receive the blessings of this hero. May you all be blessed with victory!”
Everyone cheered, but Gulland never turned around.
The cheers continued regardless of his lack of want for them, but Gulland ignored all the sounds and just looked straight ahead,
searching for his greatest enemies, the Demonic Children of Chaos (Goblins).
◆◆◆
In the northern ridge mountains, far beyond the human world, yelled a god with a voice that could shake the earth and split the skies.
“Who did this!? Who!?”
That god was none other than the Wingless Sky Snake (Gawain), as spoken of by the elders of the elves, or those that dwelt among thunderclouds.
As though to prick at his fury, the sky reflected his emotion with thunderclouds that dyed it black; thunders roared and lightning struck the land.
He had left to meet his nemesis with 500 of his kind in tow, but all that that awaited him at the dwelling of his nemesis was that of the corpse of a small dragon slaughtered in cold blood.
With the scattered blood and the collapsed citadel, it was all too easy to imagine what had transpired here, and that set Gawain aflame.
For 400 years, they have been fighting each other, whittling away at each other’s ether and lifespan in the hopes of their battle one day coming to an end, but now… His nemesis was dead – and by someone else’s hands.
Though his nemesis died, Gawain felt no happiness, only a fury that burned within.
“Unforgivable. Unforgivable!”
But Gawain didn’t know who it was that killed the dragons; hence, his anger could only be turned to the distant southern lands. The humans, the elves, the monsters… If he were to crush them all, then one day, he will surely find the murderer.
A tyrannical solution, yes, but it was the most convenient method as well. Sooner or later, those with great power will have no choice but to use it.
“My nemesis, my rival. Know that whoever murdered you will not be forgiven!””
As Gawain looked up at the heavens, he seemed to swear an oath to gods of the distant stars and the god of illusion. Already, there was no Ruler of the Sky; within this boundless sky, there was only he, Gawain the Wingless Sky Snake.
Oh, how vain that was.
“I never wished for this… This victory, is no victory!”
Noble and sublime, one of the gods, howled in shame.
