Chapter 12: Why Am I Not a Hero?

Chapter 12: Why Am I Not a Hero?

Ah.

Yes, only such an exclamation could barely break the silence.

The building.

As if it never existed in the first place, the massive building disappeared without a trace, leaving only its foundation.

Aaaahhhhh!

And then, screams erupted amidst it all.

I only realized when I finally came to my senses that only one person, who had just come up from the basement and was outside the range of another inexplicable phenomenon, had barely survived.

What, what?! What the hell happened?! Where are where are the others? Cough!

But before he could fully grasp the situation, she somehow closed the distance and began to look down on him.

Person.

The survivor.

Facing the sole survivor of the completely vanished criminal organization, she smiled in front of him.

Hehe, yes, yes. For now, we need someone to ask.

What what are you? Dont dont come closer huh?

Blood spurted from his flailing hand.

His eyes trembled as he saw the empty space, and a dazed breath escaped his mouth.

My my hand where where did it go?

As if he couldnt feel the pain despite his hand being gone, he was just staring blankly at the empty space.

There, you see.

But she gave no quarters.

Even now, seeming unable to control her emotions, she breathed heavily and pointed her finger elsewhere.

My research, you took it, right? My research, where is it?

What what is? Aaah!

My research, my research

With each mention of research, a limb disappeared.

Next, the side, then the shoulder

Where is my research?

And then, the moment her finger pointed at his head.

Aaah! Stop stop it! The.. the stolen stuff is in the underground, so stop now!

The survivor, left with only his chest and head, screamed in terror.

Is it even appropriate to call him alive now?

With only his mouth remaining open, hes soon to be no different from the corpses in that puddle.

So, i-its in the basement?

She, looking down at the man in such a ghastly state, retracted her interest from the spot with a bitter smile on her lips.

So if I go there, its done, so youre useless now?

What what?

Splash!

As soon as her finger snapped, his head vanished.

The remaining body collapsed with a thud, and soon only silence pervaded the area.

That was the end.

The headquarters of Blood River and all its members

Failed to even become a river of blood, as their name implied, completely erased from this world.

Woah.

She was the only one left in the now empty scene.

Woo Hyo-sung, right? Thats your name, Housekeeper.

Although she mentioned my name, I couldnt grasp the reality of the situation.

Even as I felt my heart beating and the rain from the sky drenching my body.

Sorry, Im not good at remembering peoples names All these guys here looked like bugs to me.

Bugs

Compared to the woman in front of me, I was nothing but a bug.

There was only one difference between me and the still-twitching corpses.

Whether I was remembered by her or not.

Hehehehe. Strange, isnt it? That the name of the Housekeeper sticks in my memory like this

Just that one difference.

It felt so incredibly surreal to me that this one difference could decide life or death in this tragedy that she committed so nonchalantly.

Yeah. Now that its all over lets just take what we need and go back.

I couldnt even process the idea of going back

Right, going back, do I even have such a place to return to?

Stronger than me, countless others died of a phenomenon I couldnt comprehend; was I really allowed to live alone in this place?

Why are you shaking so much?

It was something so indescribable.

Perhaps the emotion known as fear was dominating me, and a realization came through the voice that reached my ears.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

W-wait!

My mouth opened before such a farewell was uttered.

Just a moment. Wait! Please, Vivian.

Even though it might provoke her to the point of taking my life, I wanted to say something to her.

Unable to pick up the money pouch dropped on the ground or flee from the spot

N-next time.

I wanted to convey to her words that could not be postponed.

If, towards the walking disaster that a normal human couldnt dare to understand

If, by some chance, I were to encounter her again

If theres a chance next time, could I could I clean your room again?

If a day comes when I, insignificant as I am, could truly stay by her side

Yeah, if theres a chance.

Responding to my words, Vivian moved her hand in the air without looking back at me.

With a voice chilled by the continuing rain

If theres a chance later, lets meet again.

With a promise lacking any concrete assurance, she disappeared from my sight, vanishing without a trace.

That was the end.

I had survived once again.

From a disaster more terrifying than any monster I had faced before, known as a witch.

Disaster?

As these thoughts filled my mind, I grasped my face in a sudden return to rationality, shaking my head.

No, its not a disaster. Just

Before I found out her true nature, she was someone I even wanted to be with.

After that, I felt joy in being someone she could rely on, needing support.

Even after she left, I was willing to pause my steps, not caring about my own life.

Shes just a person, after all.

Because she was one of the few who remembered me and showed kindness towards me.

The desire to stay by the side of such a person remained in a corner of my heart, even now that I knew her true nature.

But I

I just felt a sense of regret.

Because at this moment, I realized how powerless I was as a human.

Why am I?

Simply because of bad luck.

Because I felt disillusioned with this pitiful situation, where I could only feel relief for surviving.

Why am I not a hero?

In a world where you couldnt even muster the courage to speak to a woman you like if you were powerless.

Isnt that truly the worst?

-

The Mage Tower.

A place where all the knowledge humanity in this world had achieved was recorded, and the culmination of research based on it was accumulated.

Entering there was the secret wish of all mages and scholars, and such a perception had even spread beyond these times of humanitys existential crisis.

Indeed, they themselves must be humanitys hope. Thus, to become that hope, they believed anything was permissible.

Among those with such thoughts, even the idea that anyone who hindered them, even if they were the Emperor of the Empire, deserved to disappear existed.

Aaah

However, there was one being that even the leader of such individuals dared not defy.

A woman who had entered the Mage Tower just three minutes ago, destroyed all defense systems, and erased from existence the heads of all the guards she encountered.

Literally erased them.

Not cut, not burned to ashes, but isolated from this world forever.

Tower Master.

Had he not previously retreated from all the defense forces and confronted her himself, the casualties wouldnt have been minimal.

Realizing this while observing the bodies strewn across the towers plaza, his gaze turned to the woman standing amidst the twitching corpses.

Toward the woman looking up at him, standing on the stairs with a pointed hat, like a witch from a fairy tale.

I heard the culprit who ordered the theft of my research is here.

But the words that came from her mouth were anything but kind.

Like a fruit laced with poison, the beginning was not even sweetly deceptive showing that a real-life witch was not a vague entity like in fairy tales.

Speak now.

Vivian Platonis.

The only surviving descendant of the witch hunts from when humanity thrived, and considered the last hope invited by the Mage Tower in the face of humanitys impending doom.

If you dont speak before I find it, Ill erase everything I encounter from now on.

If her demands were not met, humanity would face extinction.

At the hands of a living disaster known as a witch.

Or perhaps by thwarting the salvation, she could bring through humanitys own doing.