I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

143. End of the story (3)

I fell asleep.

Consciousness sinks below the surface.

Consciousness grows further and further into the deep sea where not a single ray of light shines.

It reaches out its hands to swim upward, throws out its legs, and rises to the surface, craving light.

But the more I did it, the more my body went down.

The chains around my ankles were pulling my body down until I reached the bottom of the deep sea.

I’m out of breath.

As the light disappears, the self left behind also disappears.

As I reach the bottom of the deep sea, I feel like I am becoming more and more blurred, and if I continue like this, the concept of ‘me’ will be scattered and disappear in this deep sea.

In the end, I fall asleep like that.

I fall into a sleep that I will never wake up from.

And I dream.

A dream of someone reaching out to me in this deep sea.

This is such a welcome hand.

I extend my hand before all remaining consciousness disappears.

I believed that if I just held that hand, I would be able to get out of this ocean.

Phew!

However, he stabbed the man who held out his hand.

Whether he wanted it or not, the hand holding the holy sword pierced his chest.

No, no, no, I shout out to myself over and over again, but I crawl forward to walk in front of the fallen man.

And I tried to fulfill the oath I had never even made.

He ends up creating an ending he never wanted: he lifts the holy sword and cuts off his head.

†

“I had a dream…? It’s a truly terrifying nightmare just imagining it. “It’s not the first time I’ve experienced the loss of my body, but every time I see something like that, I feel like it hurts for no reason.”

But when I opened my eyes, the world was different.

Away from the endless deep sea, I woke up in a garden that seemed like God’s resting place.

Wide green meadows and flower fields that give a sense of stability.

There, Arcel was enjoying the wind wearing only a white dress.

“But rest assured, this is a special service. If you’re going to fall into a dream, wouldn’t it be better in a green garden like this than in the dark depths?”

And he was also in this garden.

To be exact, he was the one who watched everything that had the same appearance.

At the same time, it can be said that it is the same concept, but is the same yet different being divided into individuals.

“…Have I fallen asleep?”

“Yes, it’s a pity, but it can’t be helped. She’s been creating a switch in your body since time immemorial. She kind of turns it on and off. “No matter how much superhuman mental strength you have, it’s not something you can endure.”

“No… That happened because of my shortcomings. “You should have known that the Queen was aiming for that in the first place.”

“Don’t worry too much. Basically, humans can’t be perfect. Instead, I fill in other things to make up for the lack.”

However, humans also constantly strive to get closer to perfection.

Because you know your shortcomings, you fill in what you lack.

If you can’t make up for what’s missing, add something else to smooth out the deep hole.

Don’t be ashamed of moving forward to make up for what you lack.

Little Alfred said so.

“That dream just happened… In reality…”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that either. It’s just an illusion. It’s an illusion. “That was the worst dream you never wanted to wake up from.”

“…I see, I’m glad.”

Arcel was grateful that what he had seen a moment ago was not reality.

If I had done that, I would have really collapsed this time.

I couldn’t bear the thought of directly harming the person who trusted me, loved me, and warmly embraced me again.

Maybe he had bad intentions.

I feel that there is no longer any need to remain in a world where only such tragedies occur.

“So, would you like some tea? Or sweet cake?”

Little Alfred invited us to join him at the table placed in the garden.

Arsel walked across the lawn and joined us.

“You don’t have to worry about what’s going on outside anymore, you’ve worked hard enough so far. “I’ll take care of the rest, so it’s okay to just fall asleep and look back on the memories until everything is over.”

Little Alfred smiled as he drank his tea.

If you look at that smile, it is clearly Alfred, but there is a slight difference from the Alfred that Arcel knew.

I’m not sure what the difference is.

“…Are you really Alfred? Or did he take on the appearance of Alfred because I wanted him?”

In the end, Arcel asked the question he was most curious about.

I thought he would probably answer now.

“Alfred, a being created by a witch to trouble the so-called god. Should I say it’s some kind of prison? Or would it be better to call it a shell?”

“What does that mean?”

I gave an answer, but honestly, it was difficult to understand.

She couldn’t help but ask question after question.

First of all, I knew that the witch he was talking about was the Witch of Cinder, Alfred’s mother.

“There was a child who was forcibly put into his body by the elves. As the child became inhabited by a god, she was able to predict the future of the world, and in order to avoid the future she predicted, she decided to escape her fate by becoming a witch.”

“If we talk about the future…”

“It’s you, the last warrior of this era. Originally, you were going to defeat the Demon King and become a hero, but then the Queen’s plan failed so badly that you were going to end up destroying the world.”

Originally, the queen wanted to create eternal peace this time, so she awakened Arcel into a demon king who would only follow her orders and placed the entire world under Hermod’s rule.

However, because Arcel’s power was stronger than she thought, her comrades did not die and her heart was not broken at that time, so the queen’s brainwashing was activated half-heartedly.

He has become the Demon King, but the problem is that he has become a Demon King who does not follow the Queen’s orders.

In the end, the last demon king born that way would kill all of his former companions, annihilate all living things, and ultimately face the end of himself along with the world.

The witch did not want this world to end like that.

The memories of God contained within him and the world he looked at with an elf were so beautiful.

“You didn’t know that I would be fooled? “At first, I liked it because it created a body that I could freely use, but I never thought it would attack me by force and put me back into its body.”

“Putting it back into the body…”

“…I was eaten.”

So, in order to trouble the god who took over her body as she pleased, and to change the path of her destined fate, she created a demonic child containing a being called god.

In the end, it is said that God was trapped by the child in the witch’s womb, and that was Alfred.

It was not a normal body, and even the essence of the soul contained within it was not normal.

Alfred’s strange body that cannot be explained in words appears to have been congenital.

“So I was trapped inside, becoming one with ‘Alfred’ for a long time. “Although Alfred is my age, the years are different… Should I say it’s like looking at myself when I was young?”

This one looks like a kid, but surprisingly, he seems to be older in terms of mental age.

When I thought about it, compared to Alfred, little Alfred was more mature and I felt like he had an adult side to him that wasn’t there before.

“In the first place, I was the one who played the role of father when I was young. Because all of his memories were sealed, Alfred was completely in the state of a newborn, and in the end, another body was created using the witch’s remaining consciousness, and I raised him myself?”

It seems like you have a pretty complicated family situation.

In other words, Alfred’s father is Alfred, and Alfred’s father is also Alfred.

It is even said that Alfred was originally inside his mother, but was forcibly separated for the future.

So, he had no choice but to take on the role of his own father and raise himself…

“That’s unfortunate, that’s what happened.”

“Honestly, you didn’t understand a thing, right?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m from a bean flour family, so it’s been a long time since I stopped thinking.”

Arcel tried to understand, but it was still too much.

“But, if that’s what you said, shouldn’t you still be trapped in Alfred’s body? “When I asked Alfred, he said that his father disappeared at some point.”

And one more curious thing is that, according to the above explanation, he still had to be trapped in Alfred’s body.

But at some point, little Alfred appeared next to Arcel and gave him advice and eased his mind.

Furthermore, Alfred himself didn’t seem to know clearly about the existence of Little Alfred, so that’s something I’m curious about.

“I couldn’t help it, because her witch was feeling unwell and couldn’t keep me around any longer. And it was thanks to you that I was able to be liberated. “Would you like to take a look at this?”

Little Alfred took out a crystal that showed memories.

-Roaring!-

-What?! What kind of holy sword is this?!

-Ugh… If I keep doing this, I’m going to end up with a charcoal grill…-

“That is definitely the time when we retrieve the holy sword-“

What the crystal reflects is the scene when Arcel retrieved the holy sword and when Alfred held the holy sword for fun.

At that time, Alfred’s hand caught fire and he looked for water, but there was none. In the end, he took off his hand that was on fire and threw it all away.

The hand removed like that flies far away and absorbs the fire that purifies the demons contained in the holy sword.

-Wow, this works?!-

Little Alfred, who seemed very surprised himself, was regenerated from his hand.

Now that we think about it, little Alfred has been appearing before Arcel’s eyes since then.

“I was lucky. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to happen, but fortunately, the witch was able to purify only the demonic part of me and allow me to remain as myself. Are you saying that I can’t actually get involved in the world myself? But thanks to you, I have this freedom, so I can do all kinds of things.”

Of course, I always watched Arcel’s journey.

“The best I could do was make a few holy swords and throw them, but I heard it’s easier to have a body.”

The devil has already been defeated, but Arcel’s journey is not over yet.

Knowing that, I kept watching to see what path Arcel was taking, and whenever I couldn’t follow her path, she would sneak up and lead her forward.

“…Thank you.”

Arsel only said thank you without saying anything else.

The conclusion is that Alfred was born to avoid his own tragic fate, and because of this, even his benefactor had to be trapped in one place for a long time.

“Thanks to you, I was able to be where I am today.”

There was nothing I could do other than say thank you.

He sacrificed so much for me, but I felt powerless to say anything but thank you.

“Well, I’m satisfied because I got some good things to see, and besides, your journey was really cool and enjoyable. “If possible, I would like to publish your journey in a book and spread the word about it.”

Little Alfred smiled brightly and raised his thumb.

If you see him doing that, he is also Alfred.

To be exact, Alfred is also him.

“So let’s get some rest now, and we’ll finish the rest outside. “Now you just have to wait for it to be over.”

Little Alfred got down from his chair and lay down on the lawn.

But Arcel couldn’t do that.

Even though he got up from his seat, he was standing firmly on his two legs and looking at little Alfred.

“…I’ll guess what you say next. “Maybe you have something to ask me for?”

In the end, little Alfred smiled and stood up again.

I had a rough idea of what Arcel would ask for.

If you think about the path she has walked so far…

“That’s right. I want to get out of here. “It’s good to dream, but that happens only when my journey is complete.”

“If this is the case, the destination is right in front of us, do we really need to do it so sincerely?”

“If the destination is right in front of you, you will take even one step further without stopping. “Because that’s the path I’ve taken.”

Obviously, we have no choice but to make that choice.

Little Alfred relaxes slightly, saying that there is nothing he can do.

“It’s going to be quite difficult, but are you okay? “Swimming in the cold sea is lonely and sad.”

“It’s okay. “When you go out to sea, warm sunlight will be waiting for you.”

It felt like a bother, but that feeling disappeared after hearing Arcel’s answer.

“Yes, you should come out like that.”

Maybe he was waiting for an answer like that.