Chapter 224 – The Returned Hero

After creating a portal to the imperial capital, Yelena immediately closed the gate connected to Earth.  

Now, unless Yelena reopened this gate, it would remain disconnected from Earth.  

“So, there’s no immediate way for the Demon King to cross over to Ea, right?”  

“If the Demon King creates a gate himself, he might be able to, but… it’s impossible with a gate made by humans.”  

I nodded at Yelena’s answer.  

That was enough.  

Even that would buy us weeks, if not months. Now it was our turn to prepare.  

With Zahina’s help, we buried the gate underground again, then crossed the portal alongside those who had been guarding it.  

For safety, we went through the portal to the imperial capital first, followed by the knights and mages.  

As soon as we stepped through, we were surrounded by knights and mages.  

“How dare you infiltrate the imperial capital! The crime of mocking the empire must be repaid with death!”  

At the angry knight’s shout and the swirling mana of the mages, we quickly raised our hands in surrender.  

Originally, teleportation into the imperial capital was forbidden.  

Creating a portal or teleporting inside the capital meant the empire’s heart could be attacked from within.  

Naturally, the empire would never permit such a thing.  

Aside from the existing portal, creating new ones in the capital was nearly impossible, and the imperial mages monitored the capital around the clock for any unauthorized portals.  

Yet, Yelena had single-handedly created a portal in the heavily guarded capital.  

However, it seemed she hadn’t found a way to evade the mages’ surveillance, as the moment we arrived, the knights and mages surrounded us.  

“Stay alert! These are the ones who created a portal in the capital. Attack at the slightest hint of mana fluctuation!”  

Though our entire party kept their hands raised and showed no signs of aggression, the knights and mages remained wary.  

Not that I could blame them.  

From their perspective, it made sense.  

Half the empire’s territory had been turned into a wasteland by the undead, and the knights and mages originally guarding the capital had suffered near-total annihilation.  

With no remaining sword saints in the capital, their sharp reaction was understandable.  

Though, realistically, whether they were vigilant or not, they stood no chance against us if a fight broke out.  

At a glance, these weren’t proper imperial knights or mages.  

Most of the knights and mages who had gone to Earth with us had died, so it seemed new recruits had been hastily appointed as imperial knights.  

If not, they must have been drafted from other knight orders.  

Either way, most of them were faces we’d never seen before.  

“Ah, wait—could it be?”  

But there was one person who recognized us.  

A mage, exhaustion written all over his face.  

He was the spatial mage who had helped Yelena create the gate in Possen.  

Unlike the others, this surviving spatial mage had apparently been stationed in the capital to monitor portals.  

“Stop! It’s alright! These are Sir Egar and his party—the second group of heroes!”  

At his words, the knights and mages who had been ready to attack hesitated.  

Still, they didn’t immediately welcome us.  

Calling strangers “heroes” out of the blue wasn’t something they could easily believe.  

But their hesitation alone made things easier.  

Because we weren’t the only ones who had come through the portal.  

Behind us, the knights and mages who had been guarding the gate stepped through.  

They were the original imperial knights and mages.  

The knights who had been wary of us lowered their weapons upon seeing them, while the newly arrived imperial knights frowned at the ones who had surrounded us.  

“So the Capital Defense Knights have stepped in? Have the imperial knights and mages not returned yet?”  

The middle-aged knight who stepped forward as their representative spoke, and the knight who had shouted at us earlier snapped to attention before answering.  

“No. The hero, the saintess, and the survivors have all returned.”  

“All of them? Then where are they?”  

“They are guarding the imperial palace.”  

The imperial knight nodded.  

“I see. With their numbers reduced, they must be stretched thin. Understood.”  

Listening to their exchange, I reflected for a moment.  

Traveling with high-ranking figures had made me grow too accustomed to their presence.  

Now that I thought about it, the imperial knights I had taken for granted were among the most respected and elite knights on the continent, if not the entire empire.  

And I had been casually traveling alongside them…  

Alongside my regret, I also felt a sense of satisfaction.  

Truthfully, part of my desire for a manor and territory was for the comfort they would bring, but also for the power and prestige that came with them.  

Too much of it would mean getting tangled in tedious political struggles, but without that, such power and prestige were undeniably sweet.  

‘Still, once this is over, I’m done playing hero.’  

I’d been pushed around enough by these people—by the sword saints, the emperor, even the gods.  

I had no intention of continuing such hardships.  

“Let’s head to the imperial palace. We must meet the emperor.”  

After confirming with the imperial knights who had accompanied us, the knights and mages who had been watching us changed their demeanor.  

They glanced at us with curiosity as we made our way to the palace.  

Upon arriving, we were granted an audience with the emperor almost immediately.  

The moment we announced our arrival at the palace gates, the head steward nearly ran to greet us, and we were ushered straight into the emperor’s office.  

There was no waiting, and for security reasons, we weren’t even asked to disarm.  

Still armed and in our travel-worn clothes, we stepped inside, where the emperor, his younger brother, and the chancellor greeted us.  

“We’ve been waiting for you. Everyone was worried when word came that you hadn’t returned. What in the world happened? The gods spoke of the world’s end, strange creatures appeared, buildings and people vanished… We truly thought the world was ending.  

If the undead hadn’t turned on each other, the empire might have fallen in that short time.”  

Though the emperor’s words sounded exaggerated, the chancellor’s nod confirmed they weren’t.  

Then again, even back on the ruined Earth, the changing world had been horrifying. Ea must have been far worse.  

And with the gods stirring chaos, any nation less powerful than the empire would have been thrown into utter disarray.  

“Some southern kingdoms even had riots where their royal palaces were overthrown,” the chancellor added, as if reading my thoughts.  

As we listened, the emperor spoke again.  

“So, what happened?”  

We had to report anyway, so I explained everything.  

The knights and mages crossing the gate, the Demon King’s spell to merge dimensions, our battle to stop him, and how Hoffman and the submarine crew sacrificed themselves to disrupt the Demon King’s magic.  

Though the story wasn’t long, the emperor and chancellor listened intently—unbecoming of their status.  

Then again, given what I’d experienced, it wasn’t an ordinary tale.  

“As expected of true heroes and their party. And to be acknowledged by a god, even if not one of ours—there’s no greater qualification for a hero.”  

The emperor and chancellor let out sighs of relief.  

Strangely, their relief didn’t seem to stem from what we’d done.  

Was it because the imperial family were descendants of heroes?  

They seemed more reassured by the fact that I had been recognized as a hero.  

“But this isn’t the time to relax. Contrary to expectations, the Demon King’s mana was godlike, and his magical prowess surpassed even an archmage… no, rivaled one.”  

I couldn’t very well praise the Demon King’s magic with Yelena, who had single-handedly created portals and gates, standing right beside me.  

So I asked her to continue, and she obliged.  

“The dimensional fusion spell has already been disrupted once, so casting it again is impossible.  

However, the Demon King can still create gates. In a few weeks or months, he will.”  

At Yelena’s explanation, the emperor and chancellor nodded gravely.  

“As I thought, time is short.”  

I couldn’t help but ask, “You knew?”  

“Not for certain, but I suspected something like this would happen.”  

The emperor’s words were followed by a sigh from the chancellor.  

“After the apocalypse was halted, we hoped you might defeat the Demon King if luck was on our side, but the gods gave no such oracle.”  

Indeed, Ea had gods who delivered oracles, so they could have easily confirmed the Demon King’s fate.  

“And the divine issues don’t end there.”  

The chancellor’s words prompted another heavy sigh from the emperor.  

Seeing the chancellor’s bitter smile, it seemed there were more problems we weren’t aware of.  

Just as we were growing puzzled, a voice called from outside the office.  

“The hero and the saintess have arrived.”  

“Good timing. I was about to summon them.”  

At the steward’s announcement, the emperor immediately called for them to enter.  

But we exchanged confused glances at the steward’s words.  

It didn’t make sense.  

‘The hero came with them?’  

Contrary to the steward’s words, the only presences I sensed outside were the saintess and a squire.  

Clack.  

Yet when the door opened, the saintess and the hero entered.  

The hero wore a dark but refreshed expression.  

I didn’t need to ask why.  

No divine power radiated from him anymore.  

All I sensed was the ordinary mana of a squire.  

“The reason I was relieved after hearing your story was because of that hero.”  

“I apologize, but I am no longer a hero.”  

At the former hero’s—now squire’s—words, the emperor nodded.  

“Ah, I see. It was because of you, the former hero stripped of your title by the gods.  

When the gods declared the world’s end and revoked your hero status, we were shocked.  

If you hadn’t become a hero, we would have been left without one.”  

The former hero, who had been bowing his head, gave a faint smile and said to me,  

“I’m truly relieved. I heard you’ve officially become a hero. I had a feeling, but it’s good to know I wasn’t stripped of my title for nothing.”  

I could understand why the emperor, chancellor, and even the former hero were relieved, but I still had to correct a misunderstanding.  

“My becoming a hero has nothing to do with this world’s gods. I’m not Ea’s hero—I’m a hero from another dimension, Earth.”  

“Huh? Then…”  

“Right now, Ea has no hero.”  

I didn’t know why the gods of this world had stripped the boy of his title, or if they even had the right to, but it wasn’t my concern.  

“B-but…!”  

At my words, the former hero’s jaw dropped, while the emperor and chancellor, now bereft of their world’s hero once more, exchanged awkward glances.