Hero's Coffin Chapter 69

Chapter 69

At his sudden action, other believers blocked the door with their arms and shouted.

"What is this in a sacred space...!"

"Stop!"

Their eyes towards him were filled with intense condemnation. It was a rebuke for causing a disturbance at an event held on the meaningful day of the Holy Festival, and in a place where everyone was longing for the hero with earnest hearts.

Well, it's not like he came here voluntarily; he was dragged here forcibly. He indifferently nodded his head and tried to slip away to the side, but another believer came and blocked that way too. All exits were sealed off.

"Go back and apologize to the believer...!"

"I said move."

He stared at the man blocking his way and spoke. The man flinched at his low tone but shook his head vigorously as if he couldn't yield to a being wearing a black robe in this sacred space. It was quite a solemn gesture.

He had endured twice even in his tired state, and finally, when the man reached out his hand towards him.

"If you don't comply, I'll call security...!"

Whoosh, black-purple energy spread like mist. The energy that flowed to the walls extinguished the lanterns with a hiss, and as the interior darkened, people screamed.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

"Th-there's a suspicious person here...!"

"G-guards! Call the guards!"

People cried out in shock, and some rushed to escape the space. In the process, even the items in the venue shook, making it even more chaotic, and the confusion was further amplified as people pushed past the believers blocking the entrance to get out.

In the space that had instantly turned into pandemonium, his arm was suddenly grabbed.

"Are you in your right mind?"

Harenir, who had quickly approached, led him towards the outside. He burrowed through the gaps between people to escape the venue and moved swiftly to avoid the guards who were soon rushing in.

As if he knew all the complex alleyways, Harenir set the direction without a moment's hesitation. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, the scenery changed dizzily.

Only after several minutes, when he confirmed there were no signs of pursuit, did Harenir release his arm with a thud. The gesture of throwing it away was quite fierce. In the dark alley where no one was around, he rebuked in a coldly subdued voice.

"To try to use necromancy in a place where people are gathered, you're really crazy."

"I didn't summon any undead though...?"

"How many beings in the Holy Empire use such a wicked energy? Rumors will spread in an instant now. Did you want to be discovered? To be caught by the guards–"

"You'll need me for the next Encroachment Zone anyway."

It was close to a non sequitur, but Harenir seemed to grasp the meaning as he furrowed his brow.

In a situation where Harenir had clearly realized the usefulness of his necromancy, he wouldn't abandon him, so he had committed this act believing that Harenir wouldn't let him be caught by the guards. It was trust based on his ability as collateral. Fortunately, he seemed to know all the streets of this city too, and luckily, that guess had been correct.

And to explain, he wasn't able to summon undead anyway. He had only released energy due to lack of strength, and that alone had caused a big commotion in the venue. Well, it probably became more chaotic because it occurred in a space believed to be absolutely peaceful.

There was also an optimistic aspect that he wouldn't be immediately suspected of being Isaph since he hadn't summoned undead, but in fact, it wouldn't matter even if they found out. They would soon leave this city, and as long as he was with Harenir, he wouldn't be discovered. Even if he had left grounds for pursuit, well, even the hero had sloppily faked his death.

"Hoo..."

He felt dizzy just from using this much power. As he was swallowing back nausea with his sleeve covering his mouth, Harenir stared at him intently. He examined various parts of his face with eyes that couldn't understand at all.

"Why on earth did you do such a thing?"

"...I just didn't want to write it. What letter should I write to the hero."

He answered indifferently. In that place, they had treated him like a social misfit just for wearing a black robe, and now for just not writing a letter. Somehow, he didn't want to meet Harenir's blue eyes directly and avoided his gaze here and there.

He pressed again in a much calmer voice.

"There was no need to cause such a commotion."

"Well, maybe I felt wronged because everyone was venerating the hero. I became a notorious criminal who stole the holy sword because of that hero and even got a top-class warrant."

"..."

"And then hearing people cursing me as trash there, I got upset..."

After attaching various reasons, he finally found himself ridiculous and closed his mouth. A subtle silence fell in the alley.

Right, that's correct. Even if he didn't want to write the letter, if he had just scribbled anything and left, no, if he had left a curse and folded it neatly, the believers wouldn't have bothered to check. Seeing that they mentioned a reflection paper, they might have opened it, but there were plenty of other ways to leave quietly.

Yet he had deliberately caused a commotion. He had openly created problems in front of Harenir, even though he had warned him to behave. Even if he had trusted in his collateral as an efficient means, it was quite a reckless action. To begin with, wasn't it a relationship where trust was difficult to establish?

He didn't know why he had done it either. It had nothing to do with him whether Isaph was cursed or not, but had he gotten upset? He had become this assimilated with the character. So had he imitated the guy who used necromancy freely even while being pointed at as unrighteous in the Holy Empire?

Unable to find a suitable answer, he raised his head and his gaze directly entangled with Harenir's. He was still staring at him intently.

"..."

He had no desire to know Harenir.

From his previous life, he had always wanted to stay away from complicated circumstances, and he was too overwhelmed with taking care of himself to care about others. So to him, Harenir should have remained just a being like the protagonist of a game.

But was it because this terrible game was unnecessarily realistic, or because he had ended up peeking at Harenir's nightmares even though he didn't want to know? Was it because he had learned that he was a being with only half-baked recovery ability...

...No, he couldn't blame that anymore. What excuse could he find after directly investigating him?

So he, just.

"...You didn't seem particularly eager to return to the holy city either."

As soon as he blurted out the words, he moved his gaze as if fleeing. Was it perhaps an expression of apology for once shallowly envying this hero, saying he enjoyed everything he wanted and that the whole world revolved around him? Although it seemed to have made his head hurt even more by taking the form of causing a scene at the venue...

After saying it, he felt extremely embarrassed, as if he had meddled needlessly. As he stubbornly stared at the wall beside him, he heard a small laugh. Ha, it sounded like it was exhaled like a sigh, but the trembling breath that followed was clearly laughter.

Startled, he turned to see Harenir burying his face in his hands. He had tried to swallow his laughter, but as if he couldn't hold it back in the end, he chuckled. He watched in bewilderment as Harenir's shoulders shook.

Why, why was he laughing?

He thought he might be laughing at his meddling, but he was confused because Harenir's laughter sounded too joyful. As he looked around suspiciously, wondering if it was an evil spirit acting like at the inn, Harenir raised his head.

His blue eyes, full of mirth, sparkled clearly under the moonlight.

"If I don't return to the holy city, you won't be able to go to the uninhabited island."

"...?"

"Ah, was that perhaps why you caused a commotion at the venue? You actually didn't want to go to the uninhabited island? After all, an uninhabited island would be inconvenient to live on, so you tried to reduce the power of prayers even a little by ruining the event wishing for the hero's return."

"This is really absurd."

It was his turn to let out an exasperated sigh at the sudden words. Why are you suddenly returning to the uninhabited island talk? Come to think of it, wasn't this the reason they were dragged to the venue?

Was this perhaps a strategy of responding to nonsense with nonsense?

Right, he quickly felt regret for doing such a needless thing. There was no way the hero would feel burdened by such flower scents, and he was just destined to do hard labor tied to a collar and then be exiled to an uninhabited island in the end...

Feeling extremely tired suddenly, he let out a long sigh. It was probably a sigh filled with frustration. He shook his head and said in a tired voice,

"Alright. For now, I'd like to go to the lodgings instead of the uninhabited island..."

He had come out curious about the festival and ended up experiencing all sorts of things. As he reflected that he shouldn't have unnecessary curiosity in the future, he turned his gaze away from Harenir's face, which was somehow smiling even more joyfully at his words.

It had been a festival night where too many things had happened.