The torrential rain hadn’t even lasted half a day.

Yet the capital was already a mess.

If even the capital, with its well-developed waterways, was in this state, I didn’t even want to imagine how things must look in the more backward territories.

‘I hope my hometown is safe.’

Prisons, being underground, were especially dangerous.

I wished the Lord of Hasphil would at least let my mother out for a while.

I was thinking that when…

“Hero.”

The Emperor called me in a low voice.

That’s right.

The moment we arrived in the capital, we had requested an audience with the Emperor.

The meeting with the ruler of the Empire had been arranged in less than five minutes.

I spoke gently.

“To still call me a Hero even after hearing that oracle, thank you.”

“No. There aren’t many on this continent who have witnessed your majesty as closely as I have. To me, the word ‘Hero’ refers to you.”

“……”

“The situation is urgent, so let’s get straight to the point.”

He cleared his throat lightly.

“It’s been not even four hours since the rain began. But already, a considerable number of lords are pressing me.”

“What kind of pressure?”

“They demand I immediately proclaim by imperial decree that Mide Mohan is a fraud.”

“There are still territories like that, I see.”

“Territories that haven’t seen you firsthand. Roughly a third, I would say.”

I needed to do more.

Neril interjected.

“In other words, the territories that have seen Mide are staying silent?”

“That’s right.”

“Even at the risk of divine punishment?”

“Yes.”

The Emperor answered simply, then gave a gentle smile.

“Just as I remain unshaken.”

Our companions’ faces filled with indescribable emotions.

We had already confirmed last time that, after that discriminatory oracle, the territories I passed through did not waver.

That alone had been moving enough, but now, something else was at stake.

Their very lives.

Even under the threat of death, they believed in me as the Hero without hesitation.

[That’s why your fame hasn’t dropped too much yet.] Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel⁂fire.net

I was truly grateful, truly happy.

But…

I spoke quietly.

“But that’s only because it’s been four hours since the punishment began.”

“……”

“What about after four days? After forty? By then, everyone on the continent will turn their backs on me.”

“Hmm.”

“And that’s nothing to blame them for, nor anything to resent. Which is why we must act before it’s too late.”

The Emperor shifted in his seat.

“What action do you mean to take?”

“Please give an order to all the lords.”

“It will be useless. As you said, this concerns life itself. No matter what orders the lords give…”

“No. That’s not what I’m asking of them.”

His eyes widened.

I went on.

“What I ask is this: have each territory install a communication orb linked directly to Your Majesty.”

“……”

“And then place an amplification spell on it so that all the territory’s people can hear the voice coming through.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes. I will give a speech through the orbs.”

The Emperor looked as if he had forgotten to breathe.

“A speech… directly to the people.”

“Passing words down through lords is no longer an answer. The people themselves must truly accept what I ask from the bottom of their hearts. Only then can we stop the rain.”

“Hmm. What kind of speech do you plan to give? What is it you ultimately seek?”

I steadied my breath.

And then I spoke the most heretical words on this continent.

“I will make everyone deny the Celestial God.”

A feat like addressing the entire continent at once was no easy matter.

The Emperor asked for one night to think.

During that time, we worked to minimize damage to the capital, at least.

“Neril, the Gem of Desolation, please.”

“Mm. Here.”

Xenia and Serein grasped the jewel together.

I asked,

“You’re planning to cover the entire capital with a barrier spell? Is that possible?”

“Of course it is.”

Their lips moved in unison.

Now it wasn’t prayer to draw on the Celestial God’s power, but rather the work of converting their own holy power into spell.

Vrrrm.

Soon a barrier spread over the entire capital.

The deluge that had seemed set to pierce the earth stopped.

I looked up at the sky.

Rain, striking the barrier, slid down its surface and poured away outside the capital.

It was a truly bizarre sight.

“W-what? The rain stopped?”

“Look! The sky!”

“What is that?”

“Idiot. We are in the capital, where the Holy Knights of Light are. That’s a barrier spell.”

“As if I had ever seen one before…”

“Who on earth could cast a spell that massive?”

Normally, I would step up and say we did, but now wasn’t the time or mood.

Clack.

Xenia and Serein lifted their hands from the gem.

I asked,

“So now you’re skipping the prayer entirely?”

“Mm. Serein and I talked it over.”

Xenia smoothed her hair and explained.

“I think holy power is just another kind of energy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like stamina or mana. Reciting prayers is like forming hand signs in magic.”

“……!”

“Adin isn’t giving us holy power as unbelievers. It just naturally replenishes once it’s depleted.”

A plausible theory.

Then… even if Adin fell from godhood, their combat strength wouldn’t diminish?

Just then Xenia added,

“So don’t worry about us. Just make sure to crush Adin.”

“You’re really starting to sound like Serein.”

“……”

“Don’t glare at me like that.”

“Wait. What’s that supposed to mean?”

I ignored Serein’s protest and changed the subject.

“Anyway, good work. Let’s head back.”

“Yes. The spell will last a full day. I will recast it at this time tomorrow.”

“Good. Hopefully, by then, the rain will already have stopped. Thanks to my speech.”

“Heh. Let’s hope so.”

Xenia’s smile looked a little forced.

So did Serein’s, standing beside her.

Offense tilted his head and asked,

“What’s wrong? You look as though you skipped lunch.”

“Please use a physically possible comparison, Offense.”

“It is possible…”

“It’s just… we feel sorry.”

I couldn’t understand what she meant.

“Sorry? For what?”

“If I had ‘resolved myself,’ I could have done this without any gem.”

Serein followed up Xenia’s words.

“More than that. I might have covered the entire continent with a barrier spell.”

“Hah. As if that were possible.”

“Think about the feats Mide accomplished by turning fame into power.”

“……”

“Of course, it’s impossible to keep doing that forever, but temporarily covering the continent with spell should be possible. The fact that we can’t do it means…”

Both of them let out a sigh at the same time.

“It just means our resolve isn’t at that level yet.”

“There’s no need for either of you to think that way. You have already done more than enough.”

“Mr. Mide. What did retirement mean to you?”

“Huh?”

“You were always going on about retiring whenever you opened your eyes. So what does it mean to give that up?”

I scratched my cheek.

“Mercenary work splits into two types: jobs that pay, and jobs that don’t.”

“……”

“Not only the rich and nobles give commissions. There are also many who are poor and powerless and can’t afford proper compensation. I didn’t discriminate, I took those jobs too.”

“What? Then how did you end up with so much money saved?”

“The pay I didn’t receive there, I made up with the big jobs. There are plenty of people in the world for whom money is no object.”

Serein unconsciously showed an envious expression.

I went on.

“But at some point, the label ‘The Swordmaster of No Killing helps the powerless for free’ started sticking to me. Even for trivial things that didn’t need my help, people came with the intention of exploiting me without paying.”

“Being poor doesn’t mean being kind. Still, that’s a bit much.”

“Yeah. Of course I filtered those out and rejected them. But then one day, I had this thought.”

The weight of names piling up in front of me.

Speculations that followed me: if it’s the Swordmaster of No Killing, he must act this way, he must act that way.

How could I free myself from all of it?

“The answer was retirement.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. Retirement, as I saw it, wasn’t just about living comfortably. I wanted to live as a single, natural person, apart from the path I had walked and the things I had built.”

“Then giving that up means…”

“I guess I will be a hero forever. No matter where or how I hide, the world will find me, discover a use for me. And that burden will be pushed onto me.”

Everyone pressed their lips shut.

What does it mean to give up retirement?

It’s too simple.

“Does it mean serving humanity until the day you die?”

“Probably. But what exactly will happen, I don’t know.”

“Mr. Mide.”

“All I did was resolve that I would give up on retiring. So how exactly the laws of the world will shape me because of it, I don’t know.”

Everyone stayed silent.

The atmosphere had grown almost solemn.

Xenia spoke.

“So my resolve didn’t reach that far, then.”

“I told you not to worry.”

“……”

“It’s all just speculation anyway. Besides, if you look at the case of Impelium… well, no, never mind.”

Like I had told Trail last time, Impelium seemed content with his current life.

That wasn’t the kind of feeling someone should have after giving up the most important thing.

But since it wasn’t certain yet, I didn’t want to shake my companions’ hearts.

“Anyway, looks like today’s work is done. Let’s get some sleep.”

“Ah, yes.”

We returned together to the chambers the Emperor had prepared.

At that moment, Neril murmured.

“Resolve…”

The next day.

A summons came from the emperor.

He led me to the roof of the imperial palace.

The roof was densely covered with magic circles so intricate they made one dizzy just to look at.

Neril’s eyes went wide, unusually for her.

“Amazing. You have connected all the continent’s communication orbs.”

Huh?

The Emperor nodded.

“That’s right. I did what I could, meager though it may be, to aid the Hero.”

“……”

“Just having people gather in the territory’s plazas to listen isn’t enough to properly spread the Hero’s appeal.”

“So you made it so that anyone with a communication orb can hear the speech.”

“Exactly. If you give a speech atop this magic circle, every communication orb on the continent will be forcibly activated.”

Neril spoke.

“That’s not all, is it? You seem to have put effort into the sound amplification too.”

“Mm. I gave orders not only to increase the volume but also to make sure the voice spreads evenly. So that no matter where in a territory someone is, they can hear the Hero’s voice.”

To think he would go this far.

‘Wait a second.’

A memory from before my regression suddenly flashed by.

It was just before the final battle with Idria.

Suspicious of Kaeld at the time, I had secretly contacted the Emperor.

And I had asked him to spread the secrets flowing through my communication orb across the entire continent.

Thanks to that, Kaeld’s confession spread instantly across the continent, and Idria’s lie crumbled.

I hadn’t realized it then, but the greatest contributor to that plan before my regression was the Emperor.

And now, just as back then, he had prepared so my voice could reach the entire continent.

I drew a small smile.

But soon I cleared my thoughts and spoke seriously.

“Before we begin, I would like to have a brief discussion among ourselves.”

“I will give you privacy.”

“Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it.”

The Emperor stepped down as if it were only natural.

Offense said,

“Looks like the Emperor really took quite a beating from you last time, Mide.”

“We opened up to each other through some friendly conversation.”

“I knew you would say that. Anyway, let’s talk things over.”

I nodded.

The goal of this speech was to make the people of the continent deny the Celestial God.

First, we needed to clarify what this ‘denial’ meant.

“I don’t think we should just blurt out, ‘the Celestial God is actually human.’”

Xenia made a rational point.

“To all humanity, the Celestial God is an absolute being. A Hero who denies the Celestial God, there’s no precedent for that.”

“Right. I wasn’t planning to jump straight to that anyway.”

“Then should we frame the previous oracle as the Demon King’s doing?”

After all, there had been two oracles in the past as well.

Humanity had no way to tell which oracle was real.

Even if we said this oracle came from Idria, not the Celestial God, there would be no way to prove whether that was true or false.

‘But…’

I shook my head firmly.

There was a better way.

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