I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

22 – 22. The Red Forest

“Captain, are you really okay? Anyway, this is the forest where the spring of Hylas is located. If I did something wrong, wouldn’t I be incurring the wrath of the nymphs…”

A knight spoke to Karkal with a worried heart.

A large group of knights and soldiers came to a forest.

They seemed to have come here after something they were running from, and they stopped in front of a fence that divided the forest from the outside.

“This is His Majesty’s order. We must catch and eliminate all the elves in this forest. Even if it was a colleague in the past.”

“But…”

“I can’t help it. Didn’t you also see The burned home of the elves. The terrible hell that kills and kills each other cannot be reproduced even in our human land.”

He said so, but even at this moment, Karcal is agonizing over whether what he is trying to do is right.

The land of the elves turned into hell.

Compared to that place, the Demon King’s Forest looks like a paradise.

The sight of elves famous for being beautiful and noble killing each other brutally and even biting their necks is no different from a monster.

When I first saw it, I doubted whether it could really be called a rebellion.

“Think of the family waiting for you to come back. Do you want your family to go through that too?”

“That’s… no.”

That’s how I got closer to the disease.

A disease that curses all living things.

The only reason it cursed the elves was because they were alive, and the only reason elves were cursed was because they were alive.

And there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t curse humans either.

There have already been hundreds of reports of some elves going crazy and attacking people around them, including their families.

‘I thought peace would come to the world if only the demon lord was defeated.’

Oddly enough, the world seemed to be getting more messed up.

An unknown rebellion and epidemic broke out in the elves’ hometown, and the hero, who was once a symbol of our peace, killed his comrades and entrusted himself to the demons.

I couldn’t believe it at first, but when I saw that I was with the vicious demon called Satan, I had no excuses.

That demon was clearly evil.

Among the tens of millions of people sacrificed by the demon king’s army, the demon’s share was quite large, and in particular, the church judged him to be more dangerous than the demon king.

But the hero is with such a demon?

The hero, who witnessed the terrible act of the devil right in front of his eyes, couldn’t understand it all the more.

In addition, in the final battle, even though the hero had a chance to defeat the demon, he let it go alive.

Despite the dissuades of his comrades, the hero did not kill the satan with only arbitrary judgment.

‘…Can peace ever come to the world?’

There was no excuse.

It’s not even worth listening to.

As Her Majesty said, it must be said that the hero had no intention of subjugating all the demons from the beginning.

But even so…

‘Is this really the only way?’

Karkal asked himself.

I know that this is the best for them.

But even so, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was really the only way.

Of course, he is the sword that protects the kingdom.

“…Set a fire.”

“Yes!”

Still, I didn’t want the situation to get any worse than this.

If you miss the elves here, you’ll have to draw your sword and cut their throats.

I never wanted to have the blood of my former comrades on my hands.

“The evacuation of nearby residents is over! Fire quickly!”

Soldiers come with torches and set fire to the forest.

With the addition of the wizards’ special magic circles, the flames grew in an instant, and ominous black smoke soared high into the sky.

“…God, what sins did we commit to make us suffer like this?”

Karkal looked up at the sky resentfully.

‘Please burn away along with the cursed forest, since that’s the only way to protect the honor of the elves.’

Nothing changed even if I prayed to God.

Above all, the question is whether God really exists.

If there really is a god in the world, if he has omnipotent power, isn’t it reasonable to prevent this from happening in the first place?

Why did you allow such a tragedy to happen?

If that’s not the case… What the hell does God want to cause such horrors?

As a mere human, there is no way to know the will of God.

The ideal of a powerless human being, the only thing that could be done was to go according to God’s will.

†††

“Be careful when getting off, most of the water has been drained out, but it is still slippery.”

“I think it’s still a long way to go.”

“Yes, it is really deep.”

With Arsel in his arms, Alfred slowly descended into the deepest part of the well.

I had to go down for almost 10 minutes even considering going down slowly using the flying magic.

That’s how deep the fountain was.

If you tried to hold your breath while descending from a place like this, it would be more realistic to jump high and head towards the moon in the sky.

Still, the end exists.

Suddenly, the holy sword reached a point where it could be reached with just an outstretched hand, not just visually, but spatially as well.

“Holy Sword…”

Arsel stared at the sword in silence.

The holy sword was still beautiful.

Unlike the faded self, the holy sword always shined alone and remained noble and beautiful.

There is a saying that a sword resembles its owner, but the holy sword seemed to be an exception.

“Wait, I want to draw first.”

Alfred interrupted Arcel when he tried to pull out the holy sword.

“…Why?”

“There is a holy sword in front of you that only warriors can hold, and that sword is also embedded in a rock! Anyone who sees a sword like this would want to pull it out at least once, right?”

“Yeah, yeah… Try it out.”

I couldn’t bear to say no because I was looking at the Holy Sword with sparkling eyes like a child.

I know there’s no way I’ll be chosen anyway.

Many people have already tried to pull out the holy sword and failed, leaving their dream of becoming a hero frustrated.

Alfred seemed to be doing this just for fun, but there was really no way the holy sword would be pulled out.

“Then, where to go…!”

Kikkik!

“What?!”

But momentarily, a clicking sound came from the holy sword.

At first, he was surprised that the Holy Sword could not be pulled out, but soon Arcel remembered what he had forgotten.

“Huh? Do you think this will be picked?”

“Wait a minute, Alfred Come to think of it, I forgot to tell you something!”

“Why, I think you will be chosen by me now- Huh…?”

Alfred thought that the holy sword would be pulled out and tried to put more strength into his hand, but he soon had no choice but to let go of the sword.

Flame!

“What?! What kind of holy sword is this?!”

A blue flame rose from Alfred’s hand.

A startled Alfred looks for water to put out the fire, but most of the water has already been drained outside himself.

“Ugh… I guess it will be charcoal grilled after this…”

In the end, Alfred took his hands off the fire himself.

As if Alfred didn’t like being burned, he threw his burning hand far away.

“The holy sword has the power to purify demons. Since you are of mixed blood, the effect seems rather weak, but if you are an ordinary demon, your body will turn to ashes just by getting close.”

Arsel furrowed his forehead as he watched the scene.

Of course, it was his own fault for forgetting it because he had been away from the Holy Sword for a long time, but Alfred was also foolish for thinking that even if the demons held the Holy Sword, he would be safe in the first place.

Either demons or monsters cut by the blade burn and melt away, but how could they be fine?

“What kind of sword symbolizes peace? The sword the demon king used was not so simple and ignorant.”

“I don’t have anything to say about that part, but I think you were a bit careless too.”

Leaving Alfred examining the regenerated hand behind him, Arcel reached out for the holy sword.

“…It’s been a while, Mistel.”

At one time, the warrior’s sword that I relied on most than anything else.

However, his own sword made the people he depended on the most leave forever.

As she held the sword in her hand again, Arcel felt complicated in many ways.

“I’m sorry I left you alone for so long.”

The holy sword, Mistel, shone a blue light as if answering Arcel’s words.

The light that flowed from the sword gradually passed through Arcel’s body, and soon a vast amount of mana was condensed in one place.

“…No matter how great the holy sword is, it seems that it can’t lift the curse on your body. Even when I had the holy sword in the first place, it seems to have been affected by the curse.”

Alfred looked at the Holy Sword and reacted with a bit of regret.

He must have thought that if Arcel got the holy sword back, he would be able to curse it.

Of course, even if you know that the probability is slim, if there is even a 1% chance, it is worth looking forward to.

Because that’s the closest thing to the word miracle.

“Still, this could cure Stella, right?”

“Yes, as I said before, the disease is not just a disease, it is more like a curse. Since you were a hero, you don’t seem to be directly affected by the holy sword, but the dwarves are different.”

Arsel seemed relieved by Alfred’s words.

With this, Stella can be saved.

She was delighted that she could prevent her from losing her time.

“Let’s see, at this rate, you must have regained about 1% of your strength when you were subjugating the demon lord? Do you feel a little different?”

“I will try it.”

Arsel looked at the ceiling of the cave.

The place where the holy sword was embedded was at the bottom, but as it went deeper, the gap between the outer walls got smaller and smaller.

“Whoa…!”

One deep breath.

After that, Arcel steps on her outer wall and jumps toward the ceiling.

As he kicked up the wall at high speed, Alfred smiled heartily.

“Ah-“

Of course, there was no big difference from when I just pulled out the holy sword.

Arcel seemed to climb up with great energy, but in the middle, her legs gave out and she slipped.

“It’s better not to overdo it yet, if you get the Holy Sword back, you’ll be able to recover some power, if not completely. Take your time and wait slowly.”

“Oh, I see…”

Alfred chases after Arcel in an instant and supports him.

Then Arcel blushed slightly and avoided her gaze.

She must have been embarrassed that she was so excited by herself just because she got her holy sword back.

In the end, as before, Alfred hugged Arcel to get out of the cave.

The aisle had collapsed, so we had no choice but to get out through a hole in the ceiling.

“By the way, is it okay to leave Sam like that? Originally, that place must have been the source of the water this forest had…”

“I’ve already taken care of that, so don’t worry. It’s because I made a little hole as I went up earlier. Maybe when the water fills up, it will flow out into the gorge outside. You don’t have to worry about the water in the forest drying up.”

In the place Alfred pointed to, spring water was flowing down into the canyon like a ravine.

In the meantime, the cave was filled with water again.

“I see, that’s a relief.”

At least when did he take that step? Arsel felt that Alfred was amazing.

I thought it was a very dangerous and troublesome demon when I had it as an enemy, but I couldn’t feel this trustworthy when I put it nearby.

It was to the point where he felt jealous of the king of the demons who ate Alfred as he pleased.

From the point of view of Arcel, Alfred did not seem to be an innate villain.

It’s just a bit overly pure.

If the person next to him hadn’t been the king of demons, he wouldn’t have been nicknamed Satan.

“Let’s go back to the castle now, and I’ve poured water from the spring for her grandmother. I got your holy sword back. All you have to do now is go back and heal your friend and you’re done.”

“I see, I feel really grateful to you.”

“Thank you, would you like to change your pajamas? I want to dress you in clothes similar to the ones the devil wears to the princesses.”

“Oh, no… That’s a bit.”

Arsel shook his head hastily.

It’s because I saw the clothes they were wearing while rescuing the princesses after defeating the demon king.

“Sorry, I thought it would suit you well.”

“First of all, it’s not pajamas. You don’t seem to know much about it, but it wasn’t originally intended for that purpose.”

“Is that so? Unexpectedly, among the demons, the one who knew the human culture best was the demon king. He must have been more wrong than he thought.”

“It’s hard to say that it’s completely wrong, but first of all, it’s not for pajamas.”

That’s how you get out of the world of nymphs.

Arsel smiled at the thought of being able to talk to Stella again.

“…?”

However, that smile soon turned to amazement.

The biggest surprise that caused the smile to turn into shock was probably because the surroundings were so hot that it was difficult to even breathe.

Originally, a similar forest had to come out of Nymph’s Forest.

But the forest was dyed red.

The forest used to be green, green and beautiful.

But now the forest was engulfed in flames, the sky darkened and the trees burning red.

“What the hell is going on here…”

“I have to put out the fire first. If we leave it like this, even those cute monsters will be caught in the flames.”

Alfred smiled and shot a ray of magic toward the sky.

Soon there will be heavy rain with thunder and lightning.

That was enough rain to extinguish the fire in the entire forest.

Strangely, the flames did not die out at all.

“Wait, Alfred. Something is strange. The flames don’t go out! Even though it’s raining so hard-“

Arsel noticed that the fire was no ordinary fire and turned to Alfred.

But what was there…

“Alfred…?”

It was Alfred with a very displeased face.

Emotions were not particularly revealed on the expression.

Still, Arsel could confirm that he was very hostile towards the flames.

Unlike the flames that are so hot that it is difficult to breathe, Alfred has cold eyes that are colder than ice.

I don’t know why.

“…Dare I use this magic.”

Alfred just muttered something with the word ‘mother’ on his lips.