Volume 2 - CH 10

—The story goes back to two decades ago.

At that time, the priest having the skill of [Divine Oracle] predicted the appearance of the Demon King.

A “Demon King” appears in a certain cycle.

The Pope and the bishops must have thought that a fight with the demons will surely begin, not necessarily in the near future, and thought to prepare for it. And they also must have thought, “Look, it came!” when the premonition was revealed.

As planned, they secretly sent priests who can sense the presence and voices of the spirits to various places in order to find the hero candidate.

It seems that Priest Lyell, Renas-sama’s father, was one of them.

“We are the descendants of the Fifth Hero. We were not bestowed with [Spirit Protection] but a lot of us can hear the voices of the spirits.”

The Fifth Hero. I own a complete set of the “Heroes’ Stories” so of course, I know! If I’m not mistaken, he is a young man who runs a farm. He is a little weak to persuasion, but he is a gallant young man.

“I don’t deserve to become a hero,” whether he said in a cowardly or modest manner, his strong and a little of a tsundere childhood friend replied, “If it’s you, you can do it! I will go with you, so let’s do our best for everyone!”. Thus he gave in. The Fifth Hero must have wanted to show his good side to his female childhood friend. According to the story, the Hero must have a crush on the girl.

The female childhood friend seemed to have the power to heal, thus she was always at the side of the Hero as the party’s healer.

Hero-sama, you were always in high spirits, huh? That’s why you did your best, right?

In the middle of their journey, a cliched event happened; the childhood friend was kidnapped by the demons, and a princess from somewhere interfered, however they still formed a deep bond, supported each other and defeated the Demon King. Hand in hand, they went back to their hometown and settled, and probably got married.

Renas-sama is their descendant.

By the way, the previous generation’s Hero’s bride was also his childhood friend and was also participating in the party as a healer, so some power must have been attached as an option to the childhood friend of the person chosen as the Hero. Renas-sama and Milly-sama are both childhood friends of the Hero, and they are chosen as party members.

——A strong-willed female childhood friend and a pushover young man.

At the phrase I suddenly came up with, I looked at Milly-sama and Renas-sama alternately.

At the time when Greed-sama pressured him about the bracelet, Renas-sama was weak enough to cave in. It runs in the blood, ne~.

Renas-sama continued talking without noticing that I am looking at him with lukewarm eyes.

The succeeding Hero has [Spirit Protection] without exception. In other words, those who are receiving the spirits’ protection, those who are favored by spirits, are quite possible hero candidates. In order to find such a person, one must recognize the voice and presence of the spirits. That’s why a priest is needed.

“For the sake of the safety of the hero candidate, my father was strictly commanded by the temple to not deeply engage with the hero candidate. Once he found the candidate, he can leave the place promptly—”

“Perhaps he was born with a mission bestowed by the goddess. Please raise him with care.”

Probably it was the best thing Priest Lyell-sama could say. Because he was supposed to have no contact with the parents originally.

The timing was bad. From what I understood from what Renas-sama said a while ago, the temple is quite pleased to take in the precious child who possessed [Spirit Protection]. However, for twenty years before Greed-sama was bestowed with it, the temple did not involve themselves with the person who has [Spirit Protection]. In order to avoid letting the demons know about the existence of the hero candidate.

But——Priest Lyell-sama built a small temple in the village and became its priest.

Isn’t it sufficient to say that he is deeply involved…?

Renas-sama could only smile bitterly when I voiced my doubts.

“Although Father defied them, it was decided that Greed has the potential to be a candidate but is unlikely to become the Hero because of his parents. So the temple reluctantly forgave him.”

“Because of his parents……?”

“Yes. Since Greed has become the Hero, it would sound like an anecdote, but at that time, no one thought that Greed would become the Hero after being raised by such kind of parents.”

“What?”

Maybe I’m stupid. I don’t get what Renas-sama is saying.

“Therefore, that was what the temple thought. If they are the parents of the hero, they should be given the role as ‘Parents of the Hero’. However, they lack the capabilities of a blood relative of a Hero. So they thought that Greed is probably not the Hero.”

“Huh?” I gaped.

Anecdote, you say…… I cannot laugh at all! Greed-sama was actually not the Hero?!

What is kind of preposterous idea was that?

That’s like imitating a precedent! Even if the possibility is extremely low, they should have thought to do their very best at the very least. A person’s life is on the line, okay?!

Because of those careless thoughts, Greed-sama’s life became messed up…… Too pitiful.

“Well, in the end the temple ceased to use parents as criteria, because Greed was entrusted to become the Hero.”

“Naturally!”

For sure, the temple forgot their wrong beliefs, and if I am not mistaken, they must have justified having such parents as “a trial given by the goddess to the Hero.”

A trial given to the Hero. I have never felt so annoyed at this word that often appears in the “Heroes’ Stories”. It’s just a word but it is not a light thing for the Hero who is being tested. I only understood it right now.

Even so—Why is the temple searching for hero candidates? Is it only I who thinks that the hero candidates are safe even if the temple does not do anything…..?

If a certain Hero is chosen, it is supposed to be the goddess who announces to the temple.

As soon as I said that, Renas-sama let out an awkward laugh.

“Ah— That’s what I’m going to say next…… Because this is confidential, Princess and Aria should not divulge it to anyone, okay? Actually, the oracle of the goddess descending to the Great Temple has no idea who is the hero, just the fact that the hero has been selected.”

“—What?”

The Princess and I was greatly surprised….. So that’s how it was.

What is informed by the oracle is that “the Hero appeared”. It seems that the chosen person will not be known unless his name is stated. It is impossible that the chosen Hero would just say, “Okay, let’s kill the Demon King for everyone’s sake.” And if the Hero decides that it is impossible and chose to be silent, then that’s the end. The human race will go straightforward into extinction.

Therefore, the temple must introduce the Hero. That’s the reason why they find hero candidates. It is to immediately identify as to who was chosen as by the goddess. If ever the hero hesitates, they would probably persuade him to become the Hero in order to protect the humanity.

……Ah, while I think so, my fantasy regarding the temple shattered.

……Somehow, the facts seem to be different from what I believed up until now.

Perhaps, is it true that the truth is different from what I was led to believe until now?

——Is this world really like the world I think it is?

I suddenly became uneasy about the unnatural. The foothold that I thought was firm collapsed and I suddenly felt doubtful.