Chapter 218: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (3)
「“The hero……!?”
Far up north.
A place that could only be reached by going north from the Imperial territory, so far that it seemed impossible.
A magic castle that could only be reached by crossing the extreme lands where no human could set foot, beyond the glaciers of darkness.
According to the legends of the continent, there was a mysterious land overflowing with all kinds of resources, including gold, in the north of the world.
But all that was there were jet-black ice and the ‘Sorcerer King’ who was sadly guarding the castle alone.
“John Doe, how did you…….”
One of the members of the former hero’s party, said to have turned his heart to ice.
The Sorcerer King, who always bickered with the sage, the king of magic who never aged.
His face was now wrinkled.
No, rather, it was the wrinkles that were originally invisible, but which were now clearly visible as his mouth hung open in surprise.
“I clearly saw your tombstone on the Reminiscence plains!?”
The Sorcerer King walks.
A jet-black robe moves softly, supporting his steps. And the man reflected in his jet-black eyes smiled brightly.
“That’s how it turned out.”
“No, how can a person come back to life?”
“But aren’t I a hero?”
“A he… hero he may be.”
The Sorcerer King did not continue his words.
One whom God did not care for.
A savior who was dragged into this world without a name and stopped the end of the world.
And a hunting dog abandoned when the Demon King’s hunt was over.
The Sorcerer King knew full well that this was what was meant by the hero.
“I, the sage, and the saintess all confirmed that you were dead.”
He would never be wrong even if he was alone, but there were three of them.
Unlike the other temporary members, if the three who were always together as official party members came to the same conclusion, then it was certain.
The hero was dead.
The lost child of this world, who called himself ‘John Doe’, could not return to his own world and was buried in the ground.
But now he is in front of him.
The Sorcerer King’s eyes narrowed for a moment.
“You. What are you?”
He did not look at the outward appearance of a person.
What was important to him, who had reached the highest level, was the inner self and essence.
Energy, momentum, and so on.
He sees that something that his soul naturally embraces.
“Who are you?”
The Sorcerer King raised his hands.
Surely the soul was that of John Doe, whom he had seen so much of and had been scattered throughout the world. But not the aging John Doe in his memory.
A young man who hasn’t even reached the age of twenty.
A boy with a soft impression and weak blonde hair that seemed like he would collapse if hit.
“Hero, John Doe.”
John Doe smiles.
The Sorcerer King stepped back and shook his head violently.
“What the hell is this, what have you done!”
Even the Sorcerer King, who had attained the status of a demigod by realizing all the mysteries and secrets of the world, could not understand John Doe’s miracle.
Even the sage wouldn’t know.
Even the saintess wouldn’t know about the hero’s resurrection.
“I want to take revenge on God.”
John Doe didn’t bother explaining.
They wouldn’t be able to interfere, but it wasn’t his style to create the possibility, however small.
Only his silver eyes twinkled.
“I want to be a sharp blade to the god who called me to this world without permission, used me as he pleased, and chewed me up like a used hunting dog.”
“You’re crazy. God no longer exists!”
The Sorcerer King roared.
The moment John Doe arrived was the end of God. After that, God could no longer remain in his place.
Everyone knew that, but he couldn’t understand what John Doe was saying.
“God is not gone.”
John Doe brought his hands together very slightly.
“In the past, He was so small that He could come to our world.”
Fwooosh━!
Then, he drew as large a circle as possible with both arms in an instant. Even after that ridiculous act, John Doe’s eyes were cold.
“He has become so vast along with this ever-expanding universe that He can no longer be in our world.”
“Yes. That’s what it means to be gone. How are you going to kill someone whose existence itself has become extremely faint?”
John Doe smiled.
The Sorcerer King was right, as he thought.
Obviously, he would stop himself from stabbing God, but more than that, it was curiosity.
The hero, who knew them so well, opened his mouth.
“First of all, why don’t you make this easier?”
John Doe reached out into the air.
Shimmer.
Suddenly, space wriggled and he took something out of the 【inventory】, one of the hero’s powers that God himself had engraved on John Doe.
“Pureum?”
The Sorcerer King recognized it at once.
One was a grass that was treated as a weed in the past continent, but now it has become a spice because John Doe said he ate it in his world.
“……You madman.”
The Sorcerer King cursed as he saw the next thing.
It was the head of a woman.
He felt that she was a witch from the remaining traces.
Witches no longer appeared in their era.
They were no longer necessary after the Demon King had died, as they had been created as scapegoats to help this world survive a moderate end, or to decide whether or not to bring about the end.
But the fact that the witch reappeared meant that.
The countdown to the end had begun.
“Don’t tell me you…….”
The Sorcerer King knew it was impossible.
Since the Four Seasons Demon Kings had already passed, and he knew that no Demon King could appear until at least the next season approached.
Nevertheless, the appearance of a witch meant that a Demon King had appeared who would bring about a complete end.
“Are you saying that you have become the Demon King?”
If there is no Demon King, one will be made.
As long as he has the ‘qualification of the Demon King’.
If this world thinks that someone is the one to lead the end, the world will consider him the Demon King.
Like John Doe.
He lightly shook his head.
“Even if the world calls me that, I am me.”
The Sorcerer King recalled all the conversations he had with John Doe on his last heroic journey. He checked all his memories in the blink of an eye and let out an empty laugh.
“I must have had something in my eye. Now that I think about it, your intentions were so obvious.”
John Doe began to walk through the ice palace without losing his gentle smile.
It was spacious, though there wasn’t a single person.
Lights constantly blazed by the Sorcerer King’s magic, illuminating the space, but they couldn’t fill his empty heart.
As he walked, John Doe said,
“That’s how humans are. They only see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.”
“……I guess I’m human after all.”
“The moment you struggle not to be human is when you become human.”
The Sorcerer King glared at John Doe.
The words he had just said were a great insult to him. The ‘John Doe’ of the past would have avoided saying such things, but the ‘John Doe’ of the present says them without a moment’s hesitation.
He is a different person.
Yet he is the same person.
John Doe felt the Sorcerer King’s ghostly quick realization and held out his hands.
One was ‘pureum’.
The other was the ‘witch’s head’.
“So what are you asking me to make with this?”
The Sorcerer King frowned.
“Combine the two and create freedom.”
John Doe smiled brightly.
“Freedom…… What is it that you want to achieve with such an ambiguous thing?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m going to be a blade to stab God.”
The Sorcerer King couldn’t keep up with John Doe’s thoughts.
How do you stab God in a world where God has already disappeared from his place?
As long as the entire world did not deny the existence of God, who existed, he did not think it would be possible.]
🔹🔹🔹
Nicholas grabbed the railing, leaned out, and looked up.
“The hero!?”
He was wearing a cloth over his face, but it was definitely the hero he had seen before. How in the world did he get in here so casually and cut off the most important artery!
He was so ashamed that he wanted to die, thinking about himself a few hours ago, when he had guaranteed Purple’s safety.
And Purple looked up too.
He also knew Cain’s overall appearance, and since there was only one person who would come forward like this, he knew who it was even though his face was covered with a cloth.
“Huh. The fact that you can’t even show your face is truly the bare face of the old system.”
Mocking and sarcastic remarks followed.
“Hahahaha━!”
Those who had been completely absorbed in Purple’s words all began to sneer.
Amidst the ridicule of tens of thousands, Cain raised his hand.
Rip.
He tore off the black cloth that was covering his face and opened his mouth.
“It’s the hero.”
Overwhelming weight.
Of all the people living in this world, there was no one who didn’t know the story of the hero and the Demon King.
Even if they hadn’t heard the story when they were young, there was no way they wouldn’t know about the hero that the Holy See cherished so much, whether he lived or died.
The only boy who could influence the political situation of the continent.
“It’s Cain, the hero.”
He had the name Ethelred and the surname Walker, but here, Cain was just Cain.
At the sudden appearance of the hero, people began to murmur. He couldn’t hear each and every one of them because so many people were talking, but one thing was for sure: they were starting to get agitated.
Purple clicked his tongue inwardly.
He didn’t know that Cain would reveal his identity in such a disadvantageous and stressful place.
“The hero…… Then does the hero believe in the old system? In this time when the common people are groaning and dying without a chance, while the well-fed nobles live in luxury?”
Purple lightly threw a jab.
However, it would be quite a blow if he didn’t deal with it properly.
Just as the battle slaves in this Colosseum had fought in front of the spectators in the old days, now Purple and Cain were clashing with their words.
“Are you any different?”
A short but heavy defense.
All eyes turned to Cain.
Even in front of tens of thousands of pairs of eyes, Cain straightened his back without hesitation and said,
“If status oppresses you, doesn’t money oppress you?”
“It seems the hero doesn’t understand at all. You have to be born with status, but anyone can earn money!”
Purple raised his voice, thinking that, as expected, the hero was naive and short-sighted.
“That’s right!”
“That stupid thing.”
“Well, of course he would say that, since he’s never earned money with his own hands.”
The neo-aristocrats begin to ridicule Cain one after another.
The others are no different.
Cain brushed his hair back and said,
“Not everyone can make money. You have to be born with that too.”
“…….”
“If your parents are rich, their children will be rich without doing anything. Of course, it’s not as solid as status, but in the end, the context is the same.”
Are you born a noble?
Are you born rich?
Cain’s point was that they were essentially the same, only the form was slightly different. Purple shook his head.
“This is a matter of opportunity. We will give everyone equal opportunities. Not like now, where people are stuck living ordinary lives because of their status! We will allow them to study and work as they please and achieve what they want!”
“Studying is not free. You can only study if you have the environment to do so.”
What Cain was talking about was a practical problem, and what Purple was talking about was an idealistic wish.
Two eyes of the same color met.
As more and more people began to see the reality of Cain’s words, and others were captivated by Purple’s claims of a future, the public opinion in the auction house slowly began to divide.
*Scapegoat: someone who is blamed for the wrongdoings of others.
**John Doe: an English name used to refer to an unknown or unidentified person. In Korea, it is equivalent to Hong Gil-dong or Amugae.
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