The Heroes Who Executed Me Are Obsessed With Me

Whoooosh...

The heavy rain poured down through the pitch-black night as Clay stood there, dazed.

“What... what just happened?”

He brought a hand to his neck. There should’ve been rope burns, at the very least. But no matter how much he felt around, he couldn’t find a single trace.

The fact that his broken neck had somehow healed was already beyond strange.

“Did I really come back to life?”

For a moment, he wondered if this was the afterlife, but one look around told him otherwise.

This was Ezer territory.

Sigh.

Realizing he was truly alive didn’t fill him with joy. If anything, it weighed him down even more.

Even if I’m alive, does it really matter anymore?

He had lived as a Hero, only to be executed in disgrace. Just because he was alive again didn’t mean that disgrace was erased.

“Hm.”

For now, he had no idea how he had been revived, and standing in the pouring rain wasn’t going to help.

He got to his feet and began walking across the wet ground.

His destination…

“I guess… that’s the only place I can go for now.”

It was the one place he could go without worrying about running into people.

And so, Clay trudged forward through the rain.

“…Huh?”

Back at the place where Clay had been buried, Yelena stood silently in the rain. She had come all the way from the tavern after drinking alone.

“What… is this?”

There was a small pit where Clay’s body should have been. Rainwater pooled at the edge and drained into it, like it had found an open sewer.

“Someone…”

She hadn’t been sure she could even bear to look at his corpse. It was forbidden to retrieve the body of an executed criminal, after all.

And yet, overwhelmed by guilt, she had come here intending to move his body somewhere else.

“Who took him…?”

But someone had already taken Clay’s body. Criminals were buried in secret, their locations never revealed, and it had taken her considerable effort to uncover this spot.

“Who on earth…?”

Yelena collapsed to the ground. Then, she started digging with her hands.

“Did the ground collapse from the inside?”

Still drunk, her face pale, she scooped away the mud with hollow eyes.

CRAAACK!

A peal of thunder shook her sensitive elven ears. She clutched her head and curled up.

“No… no…”

She muttered, her voice broken.

“I didn’t mean to… I swear… I didn’t know it would turn out like this… I really didn’t…”

After digging and finding nothing, she fell into the mud.

“Clay… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please come back. Please, come back…”

But her desperate plea faded into the rain, unheard.

“Good. It’s still here.”

Near the wastelands, at what used to be a demon stronghold.

Clay and his party had cleared it out long ago, so no demons remained. The only building still standing was half-collapsed and battered.

Still, it was good enough to keep out the rain. As he stripped off his wet clothes and wrung them out, Clay noticed something on his body—the Sealing Circles were still there.

“Guess these didn’t vanish.”

His injuries had healed completely, but the seals remained. He sighed. With those still active, he wouldn’t be able to use his full power.

“I can still… feel some magic.”

He could at least use minor spells. Clay conjured a spark and lit a small campfire. He gathered some sticks and propped them up as a makeshift rack to dry his clothes.

Crackle crackle.

The flames flickered warmly, quickly drying his clothes. Exhausted, Clay closed his eyes. He had technically rested plenty after dying, but fatigue still clung to him.

Just a short nap…

He woke up to the sound of voices.

“!”

Still groggy, Clay snapped awake. In a panic, he extinguished the fire, grabbed his clothes, and hid behind a pillar.

As he quickly dressed and peeked around, a group of people entered the ruined space where he’d been.

“Damn, what’s with this rain?”

“Seriously, why today of all days? Of course it had to pour during our patrol.”

Grumbling voices.

They were soldiers—from Ezer.

“Are we even allowed in here? I thought this place was off-limits.”

“Who cares? The Demon King’s dead. The demons that were here are long gone.”

“Hmm?”

One of them raised a question.

“Hey, looks like someone’s been here.”

He had spotted traces of the campfire Clay had made.

“There was definitely a fire.”

“You think someone’s still here?”

Clay held his breath.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like they were taking the situation seriously.

“Probably just a homeless guy passing through.”

“And what’s he gonna do? We’re elite Ezer troops.”

“Exactly.”

The soldiers laughed and dismissed it. Clay silently exhaled in relief, then leaned in as the conversation continued.

“Speaking of Her Majesty…”

They began talking about Tia.

“Ever since that hero was executed, she’s been in really bad shape.”

“Really? Didn’t she attend that banquet a while ago?”

“Didn’t you hear? She nearly collapsed multiple times.”

They said Tia hadn’t been eating, and her condition was visibly deteriorating. Hearing that, Clay let out a dry laugh.

You’re the one who passed the sentence.

They had grown up together—childhood friends.

They’d promised to always believe in each other.

Even if it had been a childish promise, Clay had believed in her.

If their roles had been reversed, he wouldn’t have let her die. He wouldn’t have been able to sit there and sentence her himself.

His fists clenched tightly.

“Damn, is it that late already?”

“Let’s go. We’re gonna get chewed out if we’re late again.”

“Saying we got caught in the rain won’t help… Actually, they’ll just yell harder.”

Eventually, the soldiers prepared to leave and exited the building.

Clay stepped out from behind the pillar and let out a deep breath.

Back from the dead, and still unwelcome. I’m a sorry sight.

Once he was sure the soldiers were gone, he took a few steps before sitting heavily on the ground.

I need to deal with these Sealing Circles first.

They were physically exhausting him. Likely because they suppressed his natural abilities.

But there was no way he could ask a priest for help.

“Wait… maybe…”

His eyes caught a brand—used by demons—inside the temple ruins.

It looked like a torture tool, but when burned and pressed onto certain body parts, it became a demonic stigmata that could erase holy magic circles, like those drawn by priests.

It won’t remove everything completely… but it should weaken the seals.

Hissss.

Clay rekindled the fire and heated the brand until it glowed.

“Whew…”

He braced himself. The pain would be intense, but nothing compared to dying.

He grabbed the red-hot brand and pressed it firmly to his skin.

“Ghhh!”

CRACK!

Lightning split the sky, illuminating the darkness.

The brand of the Demon Realm—a mark a Hero should never bear—was now seared clearly into his body.

“This is the place, Your Majesty.”

A few days later.

Tia had discovered that Clay’s body had vanished and ordered the royal guards to investigate.

Now, the Royal Guard had collected testimony from soldiers who’d found signs that someone had been at the burial site.

“Are you sure this is it?”

Tia turned her cold eyes on the soldiers who had reported the incident.

The malice in her voice made them shrink back nervously.

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”

“There was definitely a fire here!”

But contrary to their claims, there were no visible traces of a fire at the temple ruins.

“Your Majesty.”

The Royal Guard Captain stepped forward.

“It’s true the traces were cleaned up, but someone was definitely here.”

“Evidence?”

“We recovered a demonic brand—used to create corrupted stigmata.”

The captain handed her the object, retrieved by one of the knights. It was unmistakably a brand from a demonic temple.

“It hasn’t been long since it was used.”

Hearing this, Tia clenched her small fist tightly.

“How far do you think they’ve gone?”

“Likely not far. Between the heavy rain and the burden of carrying a corpse, they must have struggled.”

“I see.”

Tia bit her lip and issued an order.

“Find them.”

“Shall we kill them?”

“No. Bring them back alive.”

They need to learn what happens when you steal something you should never touch.

(End of Chapter)