I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

147. Afterword (1)

“Whoa… I’m exhausted, I’m exhausted. Just one light jog feels like I ran a national marathon. Honestly, that queen was so lame. So what about you? Arcel.”

Alfred flew through the sky and went down to the castle wall and sat down as if he was exhausted.

“Well… I guess it’s good for now.”

“Now that I think about it, what did you do with the holy sword? “I saw it sent high up in the sky earlier.”

The holy sword flew towards the sky on its own.

After the Holy Sword flew away, life grew on the ruined land.

“I just returned it to its original owner.”

“Aren’t you the owner of the holy sword?”

“No, I just borrowed the holy sword for a while. “There is someone else who made the holy sword.”

“I see, it’s a little disappointing. “I was curious about what structure and principles it was made of.”

“Perhaps if you want to make a holy sword, you too can make it.”

Arcel looked at Alfred and smiled at her.

Considering Alfred’s identity, he could easily create a holy sword if he wanted to.

“Me? “I watched the blacksmith work when I was bored, but I think it would be difficult to make such a fraudulent sword…”

“I’m sure you can do it.”

“It can be done, but it will take a long time.”

We enter the castle while talking about the Holy Sword.

Arcel converts the broken armor back into magical power and looks out his window in light clothing.

Where her eyes were directed, there was the kingdom of Hermod.

The Kingdom of Hermod, which suffered damage from the collapse of its capital city, will no longer reign as a powerful nation like before.

Of course, the remaining forces are still large, but now that the Demon King is gone, as the Queen said, there will be those who will look over Hermod and not even let small or large disputes arise.

“If you wanted to do it, why didn’t you just do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Queen of the kingdom. At least, I think you would be better suited to the position of queen than the existing queen. Plus, it would have made it easier for you to do the things you wanted to do.”

What would she do if she became queen?

It’s not that I haven’t thought about it.

Not only would we be able to restore our lost honor, but we would also be able to move forward for peace and extend more hands to those who suffered from the war.

“…You can do that without having to become queen. And to be honest, I don’t fit in with society or politics. “He probably became a strong scarecrow.”

“Why are you so worried? I have it. “I can make you not a scarecrow, but a high-quality doll filled with the efforts of a craftsman.”

Alfred said, taking out a doll resembling Arcel from her pocket.

This is a handmade doll made by Alfred himself, which contains the characteristics of Arcel, but is expressed cutely as a doll.

“When was this made again? “Well done.”

“I made it while flying all the way here. “My body was tired, but my brain was fine, so I made it to clear my thoughts.”

“…As expected, it is you.”

Arcel seemed to like the doll, hugged it tightly, and placed it neatly by her window.

Now it would not be Arcel who would look at Hermod, but her doll.

He said he would feel relieved only then and turned away from the window.

“I need to take a shower. “I’m sorry, but could you prepare some bath water?”

“Oh, yes. Are you tired? “I’ll prepare something warm, so just wait a moment.”

Alfred goes to the bathroom and takes a bath.

Warmth flows from the statue of a woman pouring water.

Soon after, Alfred told her that her bath was ready and that she could wash, and Arcel looked up at the ceiling as she soaked her tired body in the water.

There was a mural painted on the ceiling showing a warrior holding a holy sword defeating the devil.

Washing here is definitely something I did often, but seeing it now made me laugh a little.

Until now, I couldn’t even afford to look up at the ceiling above the bathtub, but now I can observe the world around me with peace of mind.

“Alfred? “Is it outside?”

“Yes, I connected the bathroom door and the door. You can go to sleep right after washing. “I’m sure you’re tired, too.”

Arcel said with a smile that everything went well.

“What do you think about fate in life?”

“Fate? Oh, a certain life or something like that? “It’s not bad, because you don’t have to think about anything else and just follow the given path.”

“Is that so?”

“But, it’s not all bad. It’s not fun to only follow a certain path. It’s safe, but there’s nothing more boring. “Sometimes it’s good to pave the way.”

So Alfred also tried to pioneer a new path.

Originally, the hero had no choice but to be defeated by the Demon King even if he had to settle for his own good or barely win.

But I decided to leave everything to the warrior.

The result was obvious anyway, but it was an attempt to have the hero face the devil and clash with each other’s beliefs.

Then, by a miracle beyond a miracle, the hero won against the devil, and all of this led to the present.

“Sometimes interesting things like this happen when you take a path no one has taken.”

“Is this fun for you?”

“Beyond fun, it’s fun! It’s exhilarating! “It gave a whole new stimulus to my once boring life!”

Alfred did his somersault, floating on the floor.

“hahahaha, I’m glad you had so much fun. If you were happy, I was happy too. Yes, this will probably become an irreplaceable and precious memory in my life.”

Because he could guess what Alfred was doing just by hearing the sound, Arcel imagined it and laughed as if it was fun.

“It’s good to cherish memories, but don’t cherish them too much. “I have so many memories to make in the future, but can I just be satisfied with that?”

“Are you telling me to be greedy? “I have been told since I was young that a warrior must have integrity?”

“This isn’t greed, it’s about taking care of what you can take care of. If you can’t take care of what you can take care of, you will be criticized? In fact, being a warrior has no choice but to be born a hero.”

“…I’m sorry for being such a pushover.”

Arsel’s lips stick out in a mischievous tone.

“Still, I get lucky because I have a person like you. “The world also needs hukou.”

Still, Alfred said it was good and left himself on the bed.

How long does it take to relieve fatigue in bed like this?

No, it may be the first time in my life.

From the moment Alfred was born, he did not feel alive.

The endlessly regenerating body dulled the pain and soon even dulled the feeling of being alive.

After the death of my parents, whom I had affection for, living under the control of the devil was fun at first, but it soon became boring.

Even if he followed the devil’s orders, he felt no sense of accomplishment.

But it was different after meeting a warrior.

Being with her made her feel that she was alive.

Whether she was angry, laughing happily, or being sad, all the moments I spent with her made me feel that I, too, was a living being.

No matter how much I felt or felt this, I never got tired of it.

Alfred lay down on the bed, stretching and closing his eyes.

I felt like I would definitely be able to sleep soundly if I slept like this.

But-

“…Alfred.”

“Huh? Why are you calling me? But why do I suddenly have chills?”

After a while, Arcel, who came out after washing his body, felt something strange in the atmosphere and instinctively sensed a crisis.

It is an unknown sense of crisis.

This was more than when Arcel was brainwashed and manipulated by the Queen, and although she could not explain it, she felt a crisis worse than the threat of her life being taken away.

“Are you very tired?”

“P, aren’t you tired? But why?”

Arcel emerged from her bathroom, covering her body with only a wet towel.

It was hard to believe that he was a warrior who had only held a sword his entire life, but only a towel could not cover the outline of his body.

“Then you can just stay still. “Because I can still move.”

“Huh…?”

Soak.

And her wet towel fell to the floor.

Only after Alfred saw that scene was he able to realize the sense of crisis he was feeling.

It was already too late to run away.

There is only one last chance left.

Alfred gathered the remaining magical power in his body to the ground and prepared a spell to escape from this place.

Sparkle!

“I will not allow you to run away.”

But Arcel cut the magic even without the holy sword.

“…Why did I decorate the wall with a sword?”

“Why are you doing that? “I like it.”

“It’s okay if you like it, but…”

I pulled out the decorative sword hanging on the wall and cut down all the magic that Alfred had desperately prepared, including teleportation and shields.

Hot!

Arsel grabbed both hands of Alfred, who was lying on the bed, and pressed them with his legs to prevent him from escaping no matter what he did.

Alfred realized that he could no longer run away and eventually decided to give up.

“…Will you be gentle?”

Alfred blushes like a girl and speaks shyly.

“I like it. “Don’t worry, I’ll just hold your hand and sleep.”

Arcel kissed Alfred and began to tear off his clothes.

†††

Approximately 24 hours later.

“What if it’s not even here? “Where on earth did you go…”

The moment Stella was able to move her body, she ran straight to Alfred’s castle.

Looking at the situation, it was clear that she had taken care of the queen, but she couldn’t find any traces of Arcel, so she ended up coming here.

Squeak! Squeak-!

Then I heard the sound of a bed creaking in one room.

‘Ah, that’s a relief. ‘You were here.’

Saying that she could feel at ease now, Stella headed to the room where Arcel was presumed to be.

But what causes such a loud noise?

The sound was a bit strange, even though I was just sleeping.

‘It seems like he’s saying something.’

As I got closer to the room, I could hear conversation.

It was probably presumed to be Arcel and Alfred.

‘Are you doing some exercise inside?’

Arsel’s voice seems to be breathing heavily.

Alfred’s helpless moans were also mixed in there.

‘What are you saying…’

And Stella peeked into the room out of curiosity.

“…Huh?”

But she soon came to regret doing that.

Stella’s face immediately turned red, and she squatted in front of the door, blinking like a broken doll.

The two did not come out even when the sun rose and set again.

In the meantime, Stella glanced around the room and repeated.