Chapter 19
Leaving the shrew drowning in the absence of justice, I turned my head away from the window of the receding tram.
Around noon, raindrops began to trickle down the darkening sky. As the raindrops pattered against the car window, I thought to myself.
─In this world, there is a concept called heroism.
As the name suggests, it is the belief that when the world is in crisis, a hero will appear and save the day.
At the same time, it is a little different from the case of the Holy Maiden, who heard the voice of the goddess and took up the sword.
In the case of heroism believed by people in this world, no gods are involved.
Heroes are born only by "human desire," and therefore remain strictly human heroes, not gods.
In fact, even the Goddess religion, which is accepted as a mainstream religion in this world, is bizarrely devoid of dogma and intervention in the face of heroism.
And the title of the game that makes up this world is also called "Heroic Age".
It is also set in a kingdom where heroes are born, and the "protagonist" is the one you play as.
Furthermore, the latest installment, which I pre-ordered as the Ultimate Edition without even asking, is numbered 20, as it is a long-running series that has been churning out copies like a factory.
Furthermore, the Heroic Age series is basically self-contained.
In other words, there are likely at least 20 protagonists in this world, 19 of whom have already completed their "hero's mission" and officially disappeared.
However, in a world that no longer works like a game, there is no guarantee that the protagonists of the previous games will remain as silent as they are now.
Furthermore, assuming that the protagonists are not silent, who raised them?
A hero who was born and raised in this world from the beginning? A possessed person other than me? A character I manipulated and raised?
I don't know.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the existence of
Not to mention the fact that a considerable number of their subordinates were divided and became shuttles for experience and equipment.
So, tracking their whereabouts is a good place to start.
At the same time, it's important to be cautious when following a missing hero.
Just as I am here now-
-Thud.
Just as I'm collecting my thoughts, the tram stops. The pouring rain had stopped and the sun was shining through the clouds.
A few months after I've been stranded in a strange world, possessed by a being I didn't recognize, I'm comfortable using public transportation in this world, and I have a good ear for the politics and stories of the countries on the map.
Most of all, I'm comfortable with myself as the head of the Black Snake.
"...Ah. How have you been, Brother Rain?"
One of the three kingdoms bordering the Labyrinth City, away from my work in the celestial realm.
The Duchy of Germania.
A residential area on the outskirts of a small town, in the western border area close to the empire and the labyrinth city.
As I entered the two-story house I was renting in the city, Aria greeted me, immersed in her usual role. For your information, there is no one in particular besides us. Alice is also going out. Alice is out, too.
"Are there any eyes watching us?"
I asked since I couldn't see anything but Aria didn't answer right away.
There was an awkward, cool silence.
"Well," I said, "I was just wondering."
After the silence, Aria said, her voice slurred. Her face was uncharacteristically shy, neither cold nor weak.
As I watched her, I couldn't help but think about what I should say.
So, as I was about to light a cigarette in silence, I said.
"Excuse me, sir."
Aria's voice trailed off again.
"Uh, according to the lease, you're supposed to smoke outside-"
"Ah."
With that, I tucked the cigarette back into my arm. After tucking it away, I tried to hold it in for a moment, then pulled it out and turned to walk away.
"I'm going to go out for a while."
I thought I was going to get cancer if I tried to hold it in instead of burning it.
*
"Hmph, hmph...."
In a ragged breath, the girl fixed the bloodied hilt of her sword. The hilt, which had once shone a sacred pure white, was now black and red with dirty, congealed blood.
There is no such thing as armor that gleams. Instead she was dressed as shabbily as a fugitive, a little better than a tramp.
On the edge of the Breton Empire, in the sewers of a border town that would soon lead to the Duchy of Germania.
She had spent most of her days hiding and running from the horror and fear of her pursuers in a place that never saw sunlight.
Not a day goes by that she feels safe, only desperately trying to stay alive.
'Maybe after I escape to the Duchy, things will be better.'
All the while, the weight of the man's coat on her shoulders, the uniform of the Black Snake, felt strangely trustworthy and warm.
Instead of thinking about it, Jeanne quickly brushed the blood off the hilt of her blade and shook her head as hard as she could.
The man is not here so she had to protect herself
She pictured her sword swinging without hesitation in the face of the Empire and her pursuers.
Was that possible without the man's words?
'Live.'
Was it possible to be here, free, without the words of submission that the man had carved into her?
She couldn't know. She didn't want to know.
She was disgusted with herself for mindlessly craving the man's words again.
She hated herself for wanting to be bound and chained and redeemed by his voice.
*
Her eyes opened.
"─"
Along with her awakening consciousness, she smelled a foul odor that stung her nostrils.
She realized it was the stench of a corpse, the stench of her own body.
Her body refused to move.
Struggling in terror, she lowered her head, and there it was.
A body that shouldn't have been alive, severed from the waist down, stuck back together.
"Ah, hmm. You'd better stop before your neck falls off, it's still sticking."
A man's voice called out, and the woman who had once been called the Princess of Swords, Alina the Sword Lady, spoke up desperately.
"Ze, Zerel...?"
Not herself, but the man's name.
"Zerel? Was that the name of your dead boyfriend? Oh, well."
A voice from out of sight replied calmly.
"It took a lot of effort to save you, but let's look on the bright side, you were actually a few 'parts' short."
She turned her head desperately toward the next voice and as she turned, she saw a man not the monster or the snake.
"I guess you could say you're alive in a sense, yeah, in the sense that you're living with me, hahaha."
She understood as soon as she saw his disgusting attire.
"Germa...nia?"
The black uniform of the SS, the Duchy of Germania, notorious for its military dictatorship.
And her survival among them could only mean one thing.
"What the hell did you do to me...?"
"Oh, my God. Look at me. I'm late with the introductions!"
At first glance, he's a clean-cut, single-minded man with a good-natured smile.
"I am Colonel Hydra Waltz of the 4th Division of the State Security Service of the Duchy, but everyone calls me 'Mr. Hydra,' so please call me whatever you like."
However, it is not a smile suitable for the disgusting place, with human limbs, blood, and internal organs lying all over the area.
"The Führer forbade me to touch the carcasses of game eaten by the Snake, no matter how much I wanted it."
Amt IV of the Duchy's Gestapo, the elite organization of commandos in the Duchy of Germania, also known as the Corpse Falcons.
"Still, after all, the brave get the bodies of the beautiful, don't they?"
That wasn't enough to understand the man but she knew that her future was in his hands.
*
When I finished my cigarette, I glanced at the sky and saw that the sun was already setting.
I stopped at a general store and bought six packs of cigarettes before heading back to the rental house where I was staying.
Apparently, the house had been under lease since before I was possessed by Rain Grey.
"Ho-ho, aren't you Mr. Rain?"
I was about to walk up the stairs to the second floor when a voice called out to me. It was an old woman who looked tired.
"I just baked a cherry pie," she said, "why don't you join me?"
She placed the pie she was holding on top of the drawer.
"There's your little sister, who looks so sweet, and the tomboy lady."
"...I'll go ask them in a minute."
In addition to the pie, the drawer contained a number of framed photographs, some of which looked out of place, including what appeared to be military awards.
Eerily, it depicted several hawks hovering over a corpse.