Chapter 243 – After the War (1)

When the Demon King’s body disappeared, fortunately, all the powerful evil energy he had created also vanished.

Although not all the undead in the dungeon returned to being corpses, it wasn’t difficult to reach the surface.

After clearing the ordinary(?) undead that remained in the dungeon and climbing to the surface, contrary to our expectations, there weren’t many undead around.

This was because the gate created by the Demon King had closed.

The undead that had crossed over to Ea had all left the ravine, and with the gate closed, no new undead could enter, so few remained in the ravine.

Moreover, the remaining undead were all skeletons and zombies that weren’t under the control of the Demon King or his subordinates.

There were no undead left to block our passage.

We left the ravine, crossed the wasteland, and after a while, met up with the allied forces that had retreated.

Fortunately, the allied forces hadn’t collapsed.

Many people had died, but the army hadn’t fallen apart because the Demon King’s powerful evil energy had disappeared before that could happen.

Furthermore, the Demon King’s army, which had been pursuing the allied forces along with the evil energy, scattered in all directions after the Demon King was destroyed and the evil energy vanished, breaking free from control.

Even after the Demon King’s disappearance, his subordinates like liches and death knights should have commanded the undead army, but they all returned to being corpses the moment the Demon King was destroyed.

Unlike ordinary undead, they were undead directly created by the Demon King.

The allied forces didn’t pursue the undead that were scattering in all directions.

Regrouping the surviving allied forces was the priority, but more than that, there were people they needed to meet first.

Those people were the hero’s party who had headed to the dungeon. That was us.

As we crossed the wasteland and approached within sight of them, the Sword Masters, command staff, and nobles all rushed over at once.

“What happened?”

“Did you defeat the Demon King?”

“He didn’t escape again, did he?”

Questions shouted in unison from the Imperial Chancellor to the Sword Masters and nobles.

What they wanted from us was confirmation.

“The Demon King has been destroyed! We confirmed it multiple times!”

At my answer, the gathered people checked all my party members and then shouted loudly.

“Hurrah!”

“We won!”

“The hero has defeated the Demon King!”

“We are victorious!”

Nobles and the Chancellor raised both hands high and shouted, while Sword Masters infused their voices with mana so the entire allied forces could hear.

And the people’s cheers spread far and wide.

“Long live the hero!”

“Long live the Imperial Army!”

“Long live the Allied Forces!”

The surviving soldiers embraced each other, rejoicing that the battle was over,

And the nobles and Sword Masters breathed sighs of relief.

The Sword Masters also ran over to embrace me and my party members in celebration, and many soldiers and knights excitedly poured out alcohol they had secretly hidden.

Afterward, the regrouped allied forces, instead of pursuing the scattered undead, entered the ravine and searched the dungeon.

They couldn’t leave any room for doubt.

Having been deceived by the Demon King’s traps many times before, they weren’t reassured even by our confirmation.

After more than a week of checking the dungeon and examining the surroundings with magic and divine power, the allied forces finally reached a definitive conclusion.

That the Demon King had been destroyed and the war was over.

Of course, scattered undead still remained, but the Chancellor, along with the nobles, declared the war over.

And leaving only a portion of the forces behind, the allied forces began their return march.

And we moved with them.

To the Empire.

Many things happened during our return to the Imperial capital. But there’s no need to record those events separately now.

The tremendous welcome and celebratory parade after arriving at the Imperial capital are well-known stories,

As are the various celebration events, receptions, and parties that followed.

However, there are a few stories from that time that need to be preserved.

One of them:

After arriving at the Imperial capital, I headed to the temple with my party members and one knight.

And I made the priests, who had rushed out joyfully, drop their jaws in shock.

They couldn’t help but be surprised.

“I wish to relinquish my position as hero.”

Because the hero was trying to throw away his responsibility.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Yes. How could you say such blasphemous words?”

“Blasphemy aside, such a thing can’t possibly be allowed.”

The priests, who had fallen into panic, soon regained their composure and became furiously angry, but I ignored the angry priests and entered the temple.

The prayer hall filled with divine power, just like before.

The statues of Ea’s gods lined up at the front, just like before.

“Holy Maiden, please say something. What is the hero talking about?”

“The gods will be angry!”

The priests’ shouts could be heard even inside.

But no priests followed me into the temple.

No, they couldn’t enter.

Because the moment I entered, this temple interior was isolated from the outside.

And a goddess’s voice was heard from the front.

[Are you really going to give up your position as hero?]

There was no need to explain separately to the gods.

If I wasn’t here to report that I had defeated the Demon King, there was only one reason to visit this temple.

I nodded at the goddess’s question.

“Yes.”

[Throughout Ea’s history, no one has ever relinquished the position of hero. Why not continue as the hero?]

The goddess asked again despite my answer.

Her voice sounded regretful and sad, but my mind remained unchanged.

“No. Please keep your promise.”

[Ah… how unfortunate.]

[What a fool.]

[We promised, so there’s no choice.]

The voices of other gods were heard from the other statues.

Voices of all kinds.

But perhaps because they had promised, none of the gods were angry.

After the gods’ voices were heard, the statue of the goddess moved.

The statue bowed its head to me.

[Thank you. You’ve worked hard.]

The goddess’s gratitude was heard.

Whoosh.

The divine power leaving my body along with her gratitude.

One sacred and immense power departed from my body.

Though a massive power had left in an instant, I didn’t feel weak or awkward.

This was partly because two other divine powers still remained in my body, but there was something else that remained as well.

“Huh? But my body remains the same.”

Even though the divine power given by Ea’s gods had disappeared, my body, which had changed when I became a hero, remained unchanged.

It wasn’t because other divine powers remained.

[Unfortunately, your body has already changed, so we cannot return it to how it was before.]

At the goddess’s answer, I shrugged my shoulders.

“It can’t be helped.”

There was no reason to complain about my body remaining as it was.

This body was several times stronger and sturdier than before I became a hero.

Moreover, it was an absurd body that healed most wounds on its own after a short time, even without divine power.

Naturally, this could only be good… If it weren’t for the responsibility of being a hero, I wouldn’t have refused even if the divine power had remained.

After checking my body, I asked the goddess.

“Now, should I send in the person who will become the hero?”

[Yes. That was our promise.]

“Then I’ll leave it to you. I hope you won’t call for me again.”

[This is a first. No hero, no human has ever spoken to the gods like that.]

“If you don’t like it, then let’s not see each other again.”

Seeing each other again would mean going through this hardship again.

I had no intention of going through such hardship again.

I opened the temple door and went outside.

The priests who saw me come out of the temple opened their eyes wide.

They too had noticed.

That Ea’s divine power had disappeared from me.

Although the divine powers from the other two dimensions still remained, those divine powers were different from the divine power of the priests lined up in front.

Ignoring the surprised priests, I patted the shoulder of the knight who was standing with my party members.

“It’s your turn. Go in.”

“Is this really okay?”

Albert, the former hero who had only recently been recognized as a knight, made a troubled expression at my words.

Seeing his expression, the Holy Maiden of Ea, who was standing nearby, quickly snapped:

“What are you doing! The hero, no, Sir Egger is telling you! Move quickly!”

“Oh, oh, right.”

Albert entered the temple, startled by the princess’s words, stumbling as he went.

Watching him, the princess sighed.

“So frustrating. He doesn’t even understand what Sir Egger has given up. I wish he were at least half like Sir Egger.”

Unlike before, Princess Meliya now spoke her mind freely and with satisfaction.

Of course, she only spoke like this when she was with us.

And only when Yerim was beside her, like now.

“Well, the comparison is unfair. For his age, Hero Albert is quite admirable.”

“That’s why I’m working so hard.”

“You’re going through a lot, Princess.”

It seemed the princess had been heavily influenced by Yerim.

While the two holy maidens were whispering to each other, the priests were frowning as they looked at me.

The priests didn’t protest or get angry with me like before.

It seemed that while I was inside, my party members had told the priests that a new hero would be appointed in my place.

Because of this, there were no priests directly saying anything to me, but they were all looking at me with dissatisfied eyes.

The reason they were still dissatisfied, even though they were allowed to appoint a new hero, was for no other reason than:

The knight of Ea still possessed divine powers from other dimensions even after giving up his position as Ea’s hero.

‘They’re probably upset that someone who gave up being Ea’s hero is still a hero of other worlds.’

While I understood their dissatisfaction, it didn’t please me, but it didn’t matter anyway.

That dissatisfaction would disappear right here, right now.

After looking at the priests, I turned my head and asked two people:

“Now, as promised, please.”

At my words, Zahina and Yerim nodded.

“Understood.”

“I’ll do it.”

The two holy maidens placed me in front of them and began to pray.

“O God, please take back the power you blessed this hero with, as you promised.”

With Yerim’s prayer, Earth’s divine power began to leave my body.

And likewise, the Divine Tree’s divine power also flowed out of my body and into Zahina’s wooden ring.

Thus, the divine powers from the other two dimensions also completely left my body.

When all the divine power was gone, I felt extremely empty.

My changed body remained the same, and my mana was still there, so it was fine, but if not for that, it might have been quite painful.

‘Albert must have had a really hard time.’

Seeing how quickly he followed when I told him to become a hero again, my thoughts seemed correct.

In any case, I had now discarded the divine powers of all three dimensions here in front of the Great Temple of the Imperial capital.

I was no longer a hero.

Having thrown away the position of hero publicly like this, no one would think of me as a hero anymore.

That’s why I had acted so openly.

Now that I had also given up the position of hero, there was only one thing left to do.

To become a lord.

It was time to fulfill my dream.