I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me

5 – [The Hero Who Captured the Demon Lord – 02]

“I should say I’m glad you opened your eyes, I thought you’d just become a corpse like that.”

“……”

Silence.

Lois was saying something, but I didn’t say anything, and Lois didn’t seem to mind my silence.

It was like how the saint Belita would talk to patients to ease their anxiety; it felt like Lois was speaking to me with the same intent.

That small gesture didn’t reach my heart, and rather, it felt like scratching at a stubbornly closed door, a burning rage threatening to turn in a direction it shouldn’t.

I was so close to taking it out on Royce, even I could tell, that I figured it was better to just stay silent.

“So, uhm, about that.”

“……”

“Could you tell me what happened?”

“What happened?”

“Yeah, I saved you, but I don’t know what happened before that. Maybe if I know what went down, I could help.”

“Then answer my question first.”

“Still so headstrong, even though I’m half your savior… well, I’m used to it. Fine, what do you want to know?”

“Why did you save me?”

“Huh?”

Royce looked at me, baffled, and I stared right back at him, equally unable to understand.

Our incomprehension mirrored each other in our eyes, creating a short silence, and Royce, after a brief, significant pause, broke it with a small sigh.

“You have no reason to save me.”

“……”

Still silence.

“That’s not something you should be saying, not the Hero, the one who has saved more people than I have, right?”

“I’m the Hero, it’s my role, my duty to save people. But not you, you’re the woman who banished me, shouldn’t you be spitting at my face?”

“Where the hell did you pick up this twisted way of thinking?”

“……I defeated the Demon King.”

“I heard. Rumor has it, you went down with the Demon Lord, they say. But even so, surely you didn’t fly all the way here from the Demon Lord’s castle. What happened?”

Was there any need to answer?

But maybe it was the wounds, or perhaps just the exhaustion of both body and mind, but at this moment, only the truth came out, without any lies or anything.

I realized that lies, or bluster, anything like that, it all takes energy.

And I didn’t have the strength for even that, not now.

I was too tired to even ponder the question, think it through, and come up with a suitable answer.

“Is the hero who defeats the Demon Lord, no different from the Demon Lord himself?”

“……”

Lois’ brow furrowed, as if slightly displeased.

I don’t know what I was thinking at that moment.

In front of someone who might be resenting me, someone I had been banished by, I was pouring my heart out, like a whining lament.

I told them everything, from taking down the Demon Lord, returning to human territory without issue, being poisoned by what they called the poison of a death god, and then having my contract with the holy sword forcibly severed, all because I wasn’t considered an absolute ally of the kingdom.

“……”

“……”

Silence followed, and I slowly raised my head to look at Lois, and Lois was clearly displeased, his brows furrowed and his leg bouncing.

I had never seen Lois angry during our travels, so I was momentarily startled.

“Lois?”

“No, forgive me. It’s not because of you. …This is just absurd, I can’t believe that’s how you treat someone who saved the world. Alex… no, I did think Alex had something close to religious faith towards the kingdom, but I didn’t expect he’d go this far.”

“……”

“Even getting permission from the king and using the Goddess’ Orb… this is, it’s bigger than I thought. This wasn’t just some accident, this was truly a cold-blooded betrayal. …Honestly, it’s disgusting.”

I stared blankly at Royce, and Royce let out a small sigh.

“Hero, listen carefully.”

“I’m listening.”

“First, the wounds are stitched, and you won’t die immediately. It’s truly miraculous that you’re alive, with a third of your head blown off and a hole through your heart. Anyway, that will heal. The problem isn’t that, it’s the Reaper’s poison.”

“……”

Royce dragged a chair over and placed it next to the bed, then sat down and continued speaking.

“Reaper’s poison is a special poison that only works on the living, a very deadly toxin that existed in the past. It’s so obscure that only those with extensive knowledge of pharmacology know about it, and even those who know can’t make it easily.”

“They made that poison to kill me?”

“Whether they made it, or obtained it from somewhere… I don’t know. Anyway, it has the effect of paralyzing the magic nerve pathways in the body. To be precise, that’s one of the effects it has.”

So it’s not just a paralyzing effect, but paralysis is *one* of the many effects.

“This, even I can’t do anything about with my power.”

“……”

“You’re a strong person, so I’ll be honest and not be considerate. …Hero, you’re on a timer. The time you have left to live is very limited. My opinion, as not an expert, might be meaningless, but at most, it’s a month.”

“I, see.”

A month.

You’re holding on longer than I thought.

“This is also considering your ridiculous vitality. With ordinary people, they would have died the moment they were poisoned. …Do you understand the situation now? I’ll tell you that you have two options.”

“Two?”

“The first is to do nothing as things are.”

When I looked at Royce, he raised a finger and said,

“Hero, no… Olivia Reinhart. If you say you’re betrayed by the very thing you gave everything to save, that you’re hurt, that you hate everything, and that you even want to give up your life, I won’t stop you.”

I just stared at Royce.

“I believe I have the right to save someone who might be murdered, but I don’t have the right to stop someone from taking their own life.”

“I see.”

“If you give up on everything, you can stay here. If it’s just for about a month, it’d be alright for you to stay with me. I’ll look after you as best as I can, and I can even make you a grave. If you don’t want that, you can go out and die somewhere no one is. The way you die is up to your preference.”

These words, if said before, would have been so rude I might have drawn my sword, but now I accepted them without any protest. I even thought it wasn’t such a bad idea.

If I die like this, I might be remembered by many people as the perfect hero who died alongside the Demon King.

So then.

Am I.

Going to die?

Like this?

I didn’t know what this feeling welling up in my chest for the first time was, so I just trembled.

“Next, we’re going to the World Tree in Elvenheim, the land of the elves.”

“World Tree?”

“The God of Death’s poison is a poison that can’t be cured by even an elixir. I have no idea how you got that poison, and frankly, you being alive after being poisoned by it makes me doubt if you’re even human.”

Royce let out a small sigh and then said,

“They say the sap of the World Tree in Elvenheim can cure any poison. According to books, there’s even a story clearly written down about the God of Death’s poison being cured with the sap of this World Tree.”

Looking around, I saw many books.

Beyond the bookshelves that seemed to fill the whole wall, there were many books stacked up, and in addition, the smell of herbs was stinging my nose.

“If you choose the second option, then I’ll go with you.”

“Huh?”

“Honestly, traveling to Elvenheim in about a month is going to be a really grueling journey. If you end up becoming a corpse along the way, please don’t curse me. People with strong grudges tend to leave curses behind after they die, you know. It’s scary, really.”

“……”

Her lower lip trembled.

“Why?”

“Why, you ask?”

“I’m the woman who exiled you.”

“Because I was incompetent, right?”

“That’s a lie.”

“……”

I couldn’t bring myself to look Royce in the eye, so I turned my head.

I was now realizing that Olivia Reinhardt was such a weak human.

I was having the thought that looking someone in the eye was scary for the first time in my life. I strived to be strong because I was a hero, I wanted to protect people, but maybe it was the opposite that was true. This was the moment it occurred to me.

I.

For what purpose?

“Then why?”

“Because you were a commoner… I’ve never once thought you were incompetent. Your abilities were multi-faceted, a power that could adapt to any situation. I thought being a spirit mage was amazing.”

“……”

Back when the adventure was just beginning, Royce, like a seasoned adventurer, taught me so much, and I absorbed that knowledge.

At first, I hadn’t even considered banishment. Unlike the others, Royce had tried to protect me, even taking injuries because of it.

I’d thought that, sure, this place with only weak monsters was fine, but later, that judgment could kill Royce.

And that, combined with him being a commoner, led to his banishment.

“Every hero party in history has been made up of nobles, not a single commoner. …That’s all there is to it. There might have been a few other reasons mixed in, but the main reason was that you were a commoner. We picked on something you couldn’t change, and banished you for it.”

“I see. I didn’t realize you disliked commoners that much.”

“It’s not that I dislike commoners.”

“Then what is it?”

“I just don’t like being protected by a commoner when I’m the one who should be protecting them.”

“I see. A twisted noblesse oblige, is it?”

“Maybe.”

I was starting to doubt if it really was such a noble sentiment.

At the time, I even believed I was doing it for Royce, but now I don’t know.

I was confused whether betraying someone’s heart because of something they couldn’t change, and acting on my own terms, was really the right thing to do.

“Why the hell are you trying to help me? You’re not the hero, you’re nothing. You’re a commoner who has to think about getting through each day… You don’t even have a reason to help me, unless you hold a grudge.”

“Hero-nim.”

“Or is it that you’re into me in this state?”

“……Let’s pretend you didn’t just say that.”

“……Sorry.”

I gripped my head with the only hand I had left.

I had no idea what I was saying, even though *I* was the one who said it.

My head was a mess, and whether it was the poison or not, even breathing was agony, driving me to the brink of madness.

I’d rather just live like a madman, but even that was beyond me, leaving me in a pathetic, ambiguous state of suffering.

“Do you need a reason to help?”

“Huh?”

“You exiled me, and it’s true it caused me some trouble… but that’s no reason to leave a dying person to their fate. If you were some sort of sinner bearing all the world’s sins, maybe I’d ignore you.”

Royce chuckled softly.

“Just because you did something a little bad to me, doesn’t mean I’m so depraved that I’d let you die.”

“……”

Silence.

Resentment and grudge gather, tearing down so much.

That’s why people must trust in the evil of others and prevent them from going down a bad path, no matter what.

A hero is supposed to be hope, supposed to save people, supposed not to let so many people die.

But in reality.

“You should have been the hero.”

The truth escaped from the deepest part of my chest.

To help someone without any obligation, without any compulsion, without any feelings, just to say, “It’s natural to save them, so I will,” I couldn’t.

Everything I do is because I have to, not because I want to.

In that sense, it’s no wonder the contract with the holy sword was severed and not renewed.

I didn’t deserve to wield that sword; I was only chosen by it because I had the power to kill the demon lord.

I was not a hero.

“…….”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, what should I do?”

“Alright then, let’s get going.”

“Huh?”

Royce straightened up.

“So, you’re saying you don’t know why you should live? We can think about that on the way. It’d be unfair to die near Elvenheim because of a time limit, after deciding you want to live.”

“…….”

“So, if you’re torn between living and dying, let’s just start moving for now.”

“Is, is that really okay? I know it’s weird for me to say, but is that really all it takes?”

“It’s enough.”

Royce smiled.

“You didn’t say ‘I want to die’, so that’s enough. That alone can keep a person alive. Even a hero, you’re still a person, after all.”

“…….”

I watch Royce bustle about.

I can only…

Only watch Royce.