Chapter 101

〈 Chapter 102 〉 Freira (3)

*

“Did Freira die happily…?”

That question was hard to comprehend.

“What do you mean?”

“No need to hide it. The suggestion Freira made to you is clear.”

A suggestion, huh?

Is that the same suggestion I’m thinking about?

Still, I wasn’t sure.

“Didn’t she ask you to kill her?”

That was spot on.

How on earth does he know that?

I’m not sure, but it was clear he was mistaken about something.

“Yes, she did make such a suggestion.”

“Just as I thought. Then she must have died happily…”

“But I didn’t kill her.”

I could see his eyes widen.

“You didn’t kill her? Didn’t she tell you? That she’s a Demon King?”

Actually, she did.

No, she deceived me.

I wasn’t fooled, though.

“Well, she is a Demon King…”

But is it okay to tell that to Sigritt?

Of course, he wasn’t openly declaring she’s a Demon King, nor was he denying it.

But still…

“Is she not a Demon King? Do you believe that too?”

Now it was my turn to be surprised.

Even though optical modulation would hide my expression.

“Do you believe she’s not a Demon King, Professor?”

“I have no proof. It might even be a foolish belief. But at least, that’s what I believe.”

By now, I was starting to wonder about Sigritt and Freira’s relationship.

He knew Freira was a Demon King and that she wanted to die. Furthermore, he even believed she wasn’t a Demon King.

Then, their relationship must not be just that of ordinary co-workers.

“Sigritt, what’s your relationship with Freira?”

“My relationship with Freira…”

He paused for a moment in thought.

Then he finally spoke.

“To me, Freira is a benefactor, a mentor, and a colleague. Since you already know her true identity, I can share that with you. But explaining might take a while. Is that alright?”

Of course, I needed to hear it.

I never would have expected someone who knew Freira’s past to be around.

Maybe his story would give me hints about Freira’s task.

“I want to hear it.”

He began his story, as if recalling the past.

*

I first met her due to the reckless adventurous spirit I had as a child. There were many urban legends surrounding the underground passages of Saint City Hailen. I used to sneak into those passages every day, regardless of being scolded by adults.

Of course, most urban legends were just fabrications by someone. But among them, sometimes there were real ones. One of those was the rumor about a witch in the underground, and I eventually succeeded in meeting her while exploring the underground.

If I hadn’t met her that day, I would have been dead for sure. The place she was trapped in was deep underground, and I fell in after missing my footing. I ended up injuring my leg badly.

She used ropes and sticks to bandage my leg and splint it. It was basic first aid, but it saved my life. I had to wait until the guardian, who came once a month, showed up while eating the preserved food she had.

One day while living with her, she asked me about my life’s goals. At that time, I was young and didn’t really have any goals. So I answered rather vaguely that I wanted to become a Hero.

Then she asked me if I’d be interested in learning swordsmanship. I didn’t take the suggestion seriously, but since the guardian’s visit timing was uncertain and I was bored anyway, I decided to accept.

With a shabby stick in hand and one leg limping, I learned swordsmanship from her. At that time, I had no idea how outstanding that swordsmanship was. I was just playing around with her to pass the time.

As time passed, the day the guardian was supposed to come drew near. That day, while learning swordsmanship and getting ready for bed, she spoke to me.

“Could you kill me?”

When I asked why she would request such a thing, she answered that she had no purpose in living. Having lived for so long without a goal, she no longer wanted to live. Naturally, that was something a kid with so little life experience could not comprehend.

I was scared. The kind woman who healed my leg and taught me swordsmanship was asking me to kill her. So I desperately pretended to be asleep. Then I actually fell asleep, and when I was woken up by the guardian the next day, she was nowhere to be seen.

After that, I couldn’t see her again. But I never forgot the swordsmanship she taught me, and based on that surprisingly strong swordsmanship, I enrolled in the Hero Academy and became a Hero. And during that time, I stopped recalling the hazy memories of the girl I met in my childhood.

Becoming a Hero led to a continuous struggle due to that Hero Ranking. Trying to rise even a bit higher, I kept hunting Chaos Beasts. While that ranking could be achieved by catching just one Demon King, I, an ordinary guy with only swordsmanship to rely on, had to take down hundreds of Chaos Beasts to achieve it.

In the end, through countless hunts of Chaos Beasts, I reached the realm of a high-ranking Hero, but that was my limit. I had already reached the retirement age for Heroes. Just when I was about to retire after failing to become a high-ranking Hero, I received the offer to be a professor at the Hero Academy.

At first, I didn’t want to take it. I doubted whether the talented students at the Hero Academy would respect someone like me, who was merely an ordinary guy, not a high-ranking Hero. My worries cleared when I visited the Hero Academy. There, I met her, who had started teaching a bit earlier than me.

Although it had been a long time since I last saw her, I recognized her instantly. She hadn’t changed a bit, as her appearance was just as I remembered. But that realization quickly turned into shock as I recognized her true identity. I had seen her a long time ago, yet she hadn’t aged a day. Such beings only existed in one form.

A Demon King. I wanted to deny that fact, but she recognized me as well and approached me, saying she wanted to hear my answer from back then. As you might have guessed, that she was a Demon King.

To be honest, I contemplated for a moment. If I killed her, I could finally place my name among high-ranking Heroes, even if it was late. But I didn’t want to kill her. Even though I had momentarily forgotten, the warm memories of her healing my leg and teaching me swordsmanship were too precious.

In the end, I chose to deny that she was a Demon King. There was no way she could be a Demon King. Even if she were, she must be different from the other Demon Kings. So I pushed her proposal aside and decided to watch over her with hope.

At first, that seemed like a good decision. After the church’s financial restriction was lifted, she chose to work as a professor, and she looked genuinely happy at that time. In hindsight, she had been smiling while teaching me all those years ago. I thought that perhaps she could lead an ordinary life.

However, that thought shattered when that guy entered her class. She suggested to him the same thing, to kill her. But he somehow declined, and now, as the second-ranked Hero, he ended up in that state.

Could it be that she lost her drive as a professor due to her second-ranked Hero student betraying her? She gradually lost her motivation. I couldn’t determine whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. It pained me to see her not looking as happy as before, but at least she stopped making the same proposal to candidates.

But one thing was certain; that couldn’t last forever. I could see her reaching her limit more and more as time went by. It felt like she was reverting to that devastated state when I first encountered her underground.

However, recently I noticed a flicker of vitality returning to her eyes. At first, I thought it was because of Elsie, but I realized during the last mock battle that wasn’t the case. Who would have thought that Allen Pleuk had entered the school while hiding his identity?

Thus, the only conclusion I could draw was this.

“It’s likely she suggested to you what she wished for herself.”

“So you assumed I would kill her?”

The story was quite lengthy, just like he said.

But it was also incredibly helpful.

His tale had more to think about than I anticipated.

‘Does he not realize the oddities in his story?’

Why did she choose to work as a professor right after the church’s financial restrictions were lifted? Surely, if she intended to work as a double agent, she had plenty of other options.

Why was her fixation on having her ‘students’ kill her? If she wanted to die, there were Heroes around, and while not a great option, there’s always suicide. Still, the ones she asked to kill her were all her students.

Listening to his story, I pondered those questions for a bit. And eventually, I figured out what I needed to do right now.

My head, which had been dizzy from the hangover, suddenly felt clear as if it had been washed clean. I finally felt like the pieces of the puzzle were coming together.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I feel I have a grasp on her task.”

“Task?”

“Yes, I told her if she truly wanted to die, to first complete her task.”

I hadn’t completely unraveled the mystery.

After all, it was a puzzle I couldn’t solve alone.

Now all that remained was to guide her toward solving her task.

“But I must mention, she is not a Demon King. I can assure you of that.”

As I heard those confident words, I started to see a warm expression appear on Sigritt’s face as I left his office.

*

“Freira! Are you in there?”

I knocked on Freira’s office door.

A small voice responded from within.

“What is it?”

“I have something to discuss regarding her task.”

“…Come in.”

As I opened the office door, Freira lay slumped on the sofa, looking utterly exhausted.

It seemed she was still struggling with a hangover.

I felt sorry for her, but I didn’t want to hesitate.

“Freira, you said you learned swordsmanship from Libero, right?”

“Yes, I did. While I can’t fully replicate his swordsmanship, most of my technique is based on his teachings.”

“Would you teach me that swordsmanship?”

The memory of the second trial vanished like a dream, and what little remained of Libero’s swordsmanship was mostly just a sensation. Nevertheless, thanks to the ‘epiphany’ I had gained, I could at least mimic his swordsmanship. However, the theoretical gaps couldn’t be filled.

So I had to do everything I could to save Libero. And I instinctively knew that once he was gone, I wouldn’t have the chance to learn his swordsmanship anymore.

However, my instinct was wrong.

“Freira, please.”

There was still one person left who would remember his swordsmanship.

“Do we have to do this now? And as I said, I can’t replicate Libero’s swordsmanship.”

I already knew that.

After all, at this point, if anyone could at least mimic Libero’s swordsmanship, it was only me, who had undergone training beyond even Libero’s level.

But right now, what I needed wasn’t replication.

“The theory will suffice. Please teach me Libero’s swordsmanship.”

“Do we really have to do it now…”

“Tomorrow or next week is fine. Just please, teach me.”

Then I uttered the key phrase that would lead to her task.

“Please, Master.”

*