CHAPTER 50: 50. A HERO WHO SEEKS REVENGE

"Oh, cut the crap!" came a voice from the angry crowd.

The voice came from a man whose house Elias had destroyed when he first attacked the Titan. "Does it even matter now that he destroyed my home? And even killed all my chickens!?"

"The worst part is that asshole almost killed my family?"

"Your crazy attack brought down three buildings!" another villager yelled. "You didn’t care who got hurt as long as you got to be a hero!"

"I saved you!" Elias snarled, and even though he was hurt, he was still arrogant. "If I hadn’t, that Titan would have killed everyone—"

"Everything got worse because of you!" The young woman who had been celebrating earlier cut in. "We had it under control until you came and blew everything up!"

"We didn’t have anything under control," Kael said in a low voice but honestly. "The Titan would have gotten through eventually."

"But he didn’t help," Denna said in a loud voice. "He just made things worse and got his ass kicked by that shadow thing. Some Rank S adventurer he is."

Elias’s face turned red with shame and anger. "I’m Rank S, and I’ve killed more monsters and cleared more dungeons than all of you put together!"

"One bad fight doesn’t—"

"One bad fight?" Marina’s voice was as cold as ice. "You were willing to destroy this whole village just to get rid of those last three Titans."

"You said it yourself about collateral damage not mattering as long as you won."

"That’s a strategy!" Elias denied it. "You have to make hard choices sometimes!"

The old healer laughed. "Hard choices?"

"Who does it really affect? Not you, sheltered by your power. It’s us, the ones who would perish because of your ’tactical’ decisions."

Elias’s voice got louder as he said, "You don’t get it."

"You have to think bigger when you’re as powerful as I am. Individual lives can’t be as important as—"

"What about your ego?" Ryn cut in, and her usual polite demeanor was gone. "Wasn’t that the point of this?"

"Not saving people, but showing that you are the strongest. Being the hero that everyone loves in your own delusional dreams!"

"Shut the fuck up," Elias said in a scary way. "You don’t know anything about me."

Kael said, "We know you didn’t care that you destroyed people’s homes."

"We know that the shadow figure completely defeated you while you pretended to be invincible." We know you didn’t do what you needed to do when it mattered."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Elias’s face went through many different emotions before settling on cold rage.

"Okay," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "This is how it is."

"The Crimson Falcons and their pet blacksmith are looking down on me. Judging me like I’m some kind of piece of trash."

Greg finally managed to stand up with Marina’s help and said, "We’re not judging."

"We’re just saying that the way you did things hurt people for no reason. If you had been more careful—"

"Careful?" Elias laughed, but it was a harsh, bitter sound. "You want me to be careful? Like you?"

"Making useless tools instead of weapons, and even protecting instead of conquering? That flaw got you killed in your last life, Greyson."

"Did you forget that your ’Ultimate Sword of Eternity’ blew up and killed you?"

Elias’s words, which revealed a secret he believed buried in his past, jolted Greg with shock. The square fell silent, as if even the wind had paused in response to the tension.

"How the fuck do you even know that?" Greg asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"I have my sources," Elias said with a cruel grin. "Do you really think you’re the only reincarnator who can get information?"

"I know all about the great Warhammer Saint, the famous blacksmith who spent forty years making weapons that could kill a lot of people."

"You’re not a peaceful blacksmith, Greyson. You’re a hypocrite who acts like you’re better than you are."

Greg said quietly, "I’m not pretending to be anything."

"In fact, I’m working on being better than I was before. That’s the whole idea of my second life."

"And look where it got you," Elias said, pointing to Greg’s bruised and battered body. "Almost dead, weak, and pathetic."

"I’m still alive and strong. That’s what makes us different. I accept who I am while you act like a pussy who hides from it."

Greg suddenly changed the subject and said, "I can fix the buildings."

"The ones you broke."

"I can create tools that will repair them even better than they were originally."

"I can do it, but it will take time."

The villagers’ faces lit up with hope, but Elias just laughed.

"Of course you can."

"The strong, peaceful blacksmith who fixes everyone’s problems."

"Making yourself the hero and me the bad guy." His voice turned poisonous. "But you don’t get it, Greyson."

"Peace doesn’t get you anything in this world. It doesn’t honor shields."

"I have all the power, and you barely stand."

"Power without responsibility is just destruction," Marina said firmly. "Greg gets that. You might need to someday."

Elias said, "I know a lot." He looked at each of them in turn: the Crimson Falcons, the villagers, and Greg, who was standing with Marina’s help.

His golden eyes were full of hate and cold. "I know you all think you’re better than me."

You think badly of me for doing what I had to do. You make fun of me while praising this weakling."

He stepped back and moved his hand to his sword. Marina thought he might attack for a second, but he just shook his head.

"Okay," Elias said. "Have fun with your little party."

"And have fun with your calm blacksmith and his party tricks. But keep this in mind." He pointed to Greg. "The gods didn’t send us here to make friends and build homes."

"They brought us here to fight, to take over, and to get more power."

"When that war comes, and it will come, your shields won’t be enough."

He was about to leave, but then he stopped and looked back. "I was going to let this go, forget about it, and move on with my life."

"But you all took this personally. You made fun of me, embarrassed me, and chose him over me." His smile was mean and cold. "I’ll never forget that kind of insult."

"And I always... always pay back what I fucking owe."

He walked away, limping a little but not showing any weakness. The Guardian moved as if to stop him, but Greg raised a hand.

"Let him go," Greg said with a sigh. "That’s enough for one day."

They saw Elias walk into the woods and head back to the city he had come from. The party was over now, and there was only an uncomfortable tension.

Kael said quietly, "That sounded like a threat."

Denna said, "That was definitely a threat."

"He’s going to come back, and when he does, it won’t be pretty."

"We’ll handle it when it happens," Marina said, but she tightened her grip on the frying pan. "Right now, let’s focus on rebuilding."

But as the villagers slowly got back to work cleaning up and the Crimson Falcons started to help with repairs, Marina couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Elias didn’t just leave in defeat. He had a reason for leaving, and a plan was forming behind those golden eyes.

Greg must have known she was worried because he held her hand tightly. He said, "We’ll be fine."

"We’ve made it this far, and we can get through anything that comes next."

"I hope you’re right," Marina said, but she kept looking at the forest where Elias had gone.

A figure in silver watched the village from a distance, barely visible through the trees. And it was Elias who saw Greg being honored, saw the Guardian standing guard, and saw the bonds between the Crimson Falcons grow stronger.

Elias’s knuckles turned white as he held his sword so tightly. His face, which was already bruised and battered, twisted with rage and shame like nothing he’d ever felt before.

He had been the strongest and most esteemed Rank S adventurer, someone whom others both feared and admired. Yet, in just one day, he had fallen to a state of being beaten, ridiculed, and discarded.

Elias whispered to the wind, "Enjoy your peace while it lasts, Greyson."

"Because I’m going to take everything away from you. Your workshop, your friends, and your beloved Brotherhood of Peace."

"I’ll burn it all down and make you watch."

His sword started to glow with a golden light, but this time it had a darker color to it. Something that is hungry and angry.

"And when I’m done," Elias said with a cold, terrible smile, "everyone will remember why they should have respected me."

"Why principles don’t matter as much as power."

"Why I am the hero this world needs, even if it doesn’t want me."

He turned around and walked deeper into the woods, where shadows seemed to welcome him like an old friend. A single black feather floated down from the trees behind him, and it landed where he had been standing before and then disappeared.

As the shadow figure had said, the real battle was coming. And it wouldn’t be demons, monsters, or ancient evils that brought it.

It would be a hero who had forgotten what it meant to be a hero.