Chapter 112 - Who Are You? (2)

"That bastard Asgarian!" Marvin fumed as he shouted and the wrapped double-bladed saber that was hung on his back seemed to be shaking because of the boy's anger. 

In order to light a fire, you need fuel.  In order to do something, you need a push and it seemed that Hecathe was an expert when it came to pushing people. 

Hecathe smirked in satisfaction as he nodded to himself after hearing the name that fell out of Marvin's mouth. 

Asgarian... There was no doubt about it. Hecathe had certainly read this name before somewhere. 

Asgarian was one of the three willows of spring. 

Just as Hecathe had expected, the three willows of spring really turned out to be his direct enemies. 

Hecathe chuckled as he suddenly commented a quote that had once been used against him "Death shall be avenged with death. Fairness shall see no title. With the three willows of spring, this land will not forgive sinners."

Marvin clenched his fist tightly and punched the wall to his side, using enough strength to leave a cracked dent on the wall. 

"You're a believer of it as well, aren't you?" Hecathe asked with a smirk, "Whether it be your friend who had killed your father or may it be one of three willows of spring... Death shall always be avenged with death and fairness shall see no title." 

This was a quote that was specially made by the three willows of spring and it was indirectly made to target Alphius but who could have ever predicted that the saying would be used in such a manner against the ones who created it? 

"So have you made up your mind?" Hecathe titled his head as he asked. He already knew what Marvin's answer was going to be but he still wanted to hear the boy say it with his own mouth. 

"I'm going to kill him..." Marvin gritted out and Hecathe seemed to be satisfied with the revengeful hunger that could be noticed glinting on his eyes. 

"That's it," Hecathe nodded as he responded, "You chose the right option. Your rage is not wrong, it is justified and you must not let it die down. You must let it burn. Let it burn till it burns down the one who caused that rage." 

Hecathe stretched his palm out forward as if trying to shake hands with the boy as he spoke, "Let's work together. We both might have different motivations but our goal is one and the same." 

Marvin looked down at Hecathe's hand for a solid minute and this time, the boy looked to be a little reluctant. 

"Don't worry, once I am done helping you get your revenge, I would be leaving," Hecathe added with a small smile. 

Marvin gulped as he hesitantly grabbed Hecathe's hand and agreed to work together with the man. 

Hecathe's smile widened as he saw this and he mentally sighed in relief. 

He had been successful. 

Since running and avoiding the Hero was impossible, he wanted to side with the hero and in order to do that, he needed to make the Hero change sides, and now, it seemed that he had completed that goal. 

Hecathe and Marvin were finally after the same goal and now Hecathe no longer needed to worry about being killed by this rude boy. 

"Then... Let me ask you a question," Marvin suddenly spoke as he retrieved his hand. 

"Hmm?" 

"Who are you?" 

"Eh?" Hecathe blinked in surprise.

"You're not Alphius... And if you're not him then who are you and why are you inside his body?" Marvin questioned with a frown and Hecathe gulped. 

Finally, this boy was using his brain and asking the most important questions. 

"Um... Are you sure you want to hear the answer to that?" Hecathe questioned back without straightforwardly answering the boy. 

Marvin nodded his head firmly as he stated, "If you want me to trust you, I need to first know who you are. If you don't trust me then I also have no reason to trust you and in the future, I might end up betraying you. As you have said before, I'm an idiot who betrayed his own friends because he didn't trust them enough so I can do the same to you as well." 

"..." 

Hecathe didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this. It seemed that he had celebrated a bit too soon. 

With a sigh, Hecathe rubbed his forehead as he took a minute to answer, "Don't be too shocked when I say it." 

Marvin nodded his head in understanding and waited for the man to continue. 

"I'm Hecathe." 

Marvin's eyebrows creased together in confusion as he heard this and at first, the boy found it a bit hard to digest this truth, however, when he heard Hecathe continue, he slowly started to believe the man. 

"But I'm not the Hecathe you know," Hecathe added as he truthfully answered the boy's question, "I'm the Hecathe that Alphius summoned." 

"..." 

If Hecathe wanted to earn the trust of this stupid hero, he first needed to confess the truth, cause if he didn't, there would come a day when Marvin would find out the truth by himself and when that happens, the boy would eventually lose his trust in Hecathe. 

"You know your friend is really special and tricky as well," Hecathe sighed as he added, "He has a lot of abilities and after thinking about it a lot, I think I figured out how he ended up calling me here." 

Marvin gulped as he heard this and attentively listened to Hecathe. 

"When people die, they get a final wish," Hecathe, himself, felt as if he sounded ridiculous at this moment, but at the same time, this was the only theory that he had in mind so he openly voiced it out, "I think it was something like that. He knew he was dying but he wanted someone to save him. He needed someone to help him so he decided to summon that someone." 

Hecathe sighed as he continued, "And that unfortunate someone was me." 

"H-how...?!" 

"He said he needed a favor," Hecathe couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle as he spoke, remembering the final moments that he had spent in his world, "Like an idiot, I mistook him for someone else and agreed without even questioning what the favor was." 

Hecathe paused and took a deep breath in as he remembered the very last message that he had received from the non-existent unknown number, "He told me to die in his stead... Ridiculous, isn't it?" 

This was the first time Hecathe was telling someone this story and for some reason, he had no idea what reaction he was going to receive from Marvin. 

"Then..." Marvin gulped and there seemed to be cold sweat forming on his forehead as he hesitantly questioned, "You died... For him...?" 

Hecathe pursed his lips into a thin smile and nodded his head as he confirmed it, "Since I agreed to help him, I went ahead and died in his stead." 

"..." 

"Well, If you look on the bright side, you can see that I didn't really die," Hecathe tried to make the situation sound less depressing as he commented, "In the end, he was the one dying. I think it was wrong of him to tell me to die in his stead. Seeing as how I'm living inside his body at the moment, I think 'living instead of him' would have sounded more accurate." 

"So when Alphius died, you died as well and your soul came to bring Alphius back to life...?" Marvin asked with a sense of confusion. 

Hecathe nodded his head once as he heard this, "By doing that, My real body died instead of Alphius's body and my soul lived instead of his as well." 

"Hecathe..." Marvin suddenly muttered the man's name as he raised his eyebrows and muttered, questioning, "I wonder... Why did he call you here...?" 

Hecathe chuckled as he replied, "I'm sorry but he didn't give me a job description when he summoned me here. I'm just as clueless as you." 

"..." 

"But I do think he wanted me to correct the mistakes he made," Hecathe shrugged his shoulder as he added, "He had acted ignorant for far too long and it had soiled his name. I'm sure he would have wanted me to clear his name. After all... The boy did dream of becoming a hero one day." 

It was not a lie... And that was the sad part. 

Although Alphius did some questionable things and made some equally questionable decisions in his life, the boy still hoped that someday he would be the hero. 

The righteous hero who was respected by everyone just like his father, however, sadly enough... The future that was waiting for him was not something that he could have ever imagined. 

"You're... Probably right," Marvin suddenly sighed in disbelief as he agreed to Hecathe's theory. 

If Alphius had really got a final wish before his death, then there was only one thing he could have wished for.

He would have wanted to be remembered as a hero.