Hero Punishment - Chapter 2

It’s said that the Demon King Phenomenon was first observed in the far west, deep in the mountains of the pioneer region.

Demon King Phenomenon No. 1, named “Uwabami”.

This name meant and originated from rumours of people from the pioneer village seeing “a crazy big snake”.

The appearance of that big snake was the start of everything getting messed up.

It wasn’t just humans who were targeted.

The trees in the forest were twisted, small animals and insects became monsters, and the land began to rot. A human bitten by a snake got up again and attacked the village at the foot of the mountain.

At first, it was dismissed as a ghost story, or idle talk from rural folk.

Even in the newspaper published by the Verkle Pioneer Public Corporation, it was treated as only something like that.

Rumours that some villages had been destroyed were treated as exaggerations.

There was talk floating around of the Holy Knights being dispatched and having no choice but to detonate the entire mountain using the Scorched Earth Seal, but it was, of course, laughed off as ridiculous.

When it turned out that everything was in fact true, it was already too late.

In many different places, Demon King Phenomena began and expanded in a blink of an eye.

As a result, to this day, humanity has lost half of our habitable land.

◆

In the depths of the darkness, I see something like a shadow bouncing around.

A giant frog the size of a large dog — a kind of creature called a “Fuath”.

Fae produced from influence of the Demon King Phenomenon.

Common to all Fae is a their ferocity, indiscriminately attacking other life forms.

Nobody knows the reason.

According to the Church Scholars, they are something like the ‘nightmares of a living thing’, or so I heard.

It’s a useless explanation, but it’s true that these guys mostly do look and live like things that would exist in nightmares.

Therefore, we can only exterminate them as soon as possible.

“Dotta.”

I pulled out a knife from my waist belt.

Holding it with my left hand, the Sacred Seal on my palm heats up. Power flows into the blade.

“Spot the direction and distance.”

“Eh, already? Asking for a fight?”

“Asking.”

Dotta looked a little scared, but it didn’t matter.

I’ve decided how I’m going to fight.

When it comes to covering retreats, it won’t be complete without a flashy diversion.

This kind of beast-type Fae doesn’t have good brains.

The Fuath are particularly stupid, they can only attack objects that move by reflex.

If the Holy Knights have a decent Commander, they’ll notice the commotion we’re creating here and likely speed up their escape.

“Ten o’clock, heading about one finger closer to nine o’clock.”

Dotta held a finger to his forehead as he said with a groan.

“Distance is thirty seven steps. The most concentrated group.”

Dotta has naturally good night vision, but this trick isn’t just about eyesight.

Would it be right to say he’s got a strange intuition?

Although only for living things, because of his cowardice, he’s extremely sensitive to the presence of others. It’s unbelievable how accurate he is in estimating distances.

“Okay. Number?”

“Many… so many. But I don’t think it’s the whole herd.”

“That pitiful individual, he too seems to have excellent eyes.”

The [Goddess] bluntly said exactly what she thought about Dotta.

Then she moved forward in front of me.

“Then, my Knight. I request you escort me. What kind of battle strategy will you be employing?”

“Zyro…”

“Ah, no……”

Dotta looked at me in confusion, and I’m troubled at how to reply.

Seriously troubled. The other person is a [Goddess]. I must be careful with how I say it.

“For just these bunch of guys… yes …”

The way you deal with them is important. You shouldn’t carelessly use the power of the [Goddess].

That was something I knew very well.

“Great [Goddess]… It will be discourteous to borrow your great power. Wait there and uh do that. Watch over us.”

“Well, you have said something adorable.”

The [Goddess] clearly looked happy.

“Certainly, it is also the role of the [Goddess] to allow their own Knight to prove themself… but you are not required to hesitate. Then, immediately rely on me.”

“No, I’m not hesitating–“

I try searching for words that would let me more clearly refuse.

But the situation doesn’t allow it.

“Zyro, ‘danger’, I said.”

This time, Dotta called my name with a frightened voice.

“Some guys have noticed us!”

“Shit.”

I cursed. We have no choice but to act.

If they’ve noticed us, then we need to take the initiative while they’re still far away, we need to do what we can.

“What to do, Zyro?”

“No problem.”

I held my knife, bent my arm and threw.

It flies straight, like an arrow.

You might be able to hear the sound of it splitting the air — but you can definitely hear the impact that follows.

It deserves to be described with that word, “impact”.

In an instant, a flash of light runs out from the darkness.

Then a roar.

A tremendous amount of heat is emitted, trees, soil, rocks, the bodies of the Fuath explode and scatter away. The wind from the blastwave can be felt all the way from here.

This was even with the power controlled.

Not the knife, the mechanism of the Seal on my palm.

A tool of my previous trade.

When sentenced to the Hero Punishment, most of my Seals were restricted, only two remain usable. This is one of them.

The product name of this Seal is “Satte Finde”.

It means “big candy” in the language of the Old Kingdom – a Sacred Seal of Heat and Light.

One of the weapons against the Demon King phenomena, and probably can be considered cutting edge. It imbues the ‘Blessing’ of the Sacred Seal into an object, turning it into a destructive weapon.

It’s like a flashy, throwable firecracker.

“Got their attention. So far, all according to plan.”

I pretended to be calm and say.

It’s because if things go wild, Dotta will be the first to turn and run. It’ll be fatal here if our fighting force is reduced by one person.

“R, really according to plan?”

“Really.”

You can see that the bombed Fuath in turmoil. Suddenly attacked, they can’t yet measure how much threat we pose.

If not for that, that herd would have already aimed for us like an avalanche.

“Dotta, for now just fire at will. Gun and run. Don’t slow down.”

In response to my words, Dotta pulled out a short stick from his belt. He holds it to eye level.

“I feel like vomiting…”

While complaining, he exerted more strength into the hand gripping the stick.

The stick is engraved with a Sacred Seal. This kind of weapon is called a thunderstick.

Product name “Hilke”. An old thing developed a long time ago by the Verkle Pioneer Public Cooperation.

From the Sacred Seal, lightning is released.

A ranged weapon difficult to defend against and escape from — that was how it was marketed.

It’s a little better than a crossbow because it doesn’t take as much skill to get a line of sight or zero the weapon.

But Dotta isn’t a master at using the thunderstick.

Even though he has good eyesight and is sensitive to the presence of others, he lacks the senses needed for operating the Sacred Seal.

Despite this, it’s a different matter dealing with the Demon King Phenomenon. Because those guys always come attacking in ridiculous hordes.

“–I hit.”

Dotta said happily.

The tip of the thunderstick released a bolt of lightning, the sound of crackling metal echoed.

At the same time, one of the Fuath burst into disintegrated pieces of meat. Some of them became alert and slowed down. However, more attention is drawn to us.

“Zyro, I hit it!”

“With that number, it’d be harder to miss. Time to move.”

Run through the trees in the forest.

I find a path that is slightly better than a wild animal’s trail. It’s probably a road the Pioneer Public Corporation constructed a long time ago.

The place where I set the trap is right there.

Engaging the enemy there will likely considerably reduce their numbers. If that happens, their reinforcements will also have their focus attracted here.

Even if there are somewhat intelligent Fae among them, they wouldn’t think there would be a diversion that only consists of two people.

After that, it’ll be a battle where we whittle down their numbers through traps — while we run away.

I’m pretty confident about this. Especially with the expert Dotta.

Then, while we make a big commotion here, get the Holy Knights to withdraw during that gap.

This is the plan where both us and the Holy Knights will have the highest chances to survive. Or so it was supposed to be.

But–

“–Are you escaping?”

Sure enough, the [Goddess] asked in disatisfiation.

“As my Knight, this is unbecoming conduct. Entrust this to me. With the standards of these filthy Fae, I will deliver them with one attempt.”

“No, no, that…”

I try to find a reason.

Using the power of the [Goddess] will be very bad.

There’s still time. We can still secretly return her to the Holy Knights. If we end up using her power, then it can’t be undone.

Even if it’s a sloppy one, I must find a reason.

“Zyro, another one!”

Repeatedly shooting the thunderstick, Dotta hurried to run next to me.

“The big one from earlier, I hit him!”

“Ah, shit. I heard you.”

We’re already being completely chased by the Fuath.

Dotta’s shitty shooting is too poor to keep them at bay. Though my remaining knives are limited, I’ll probably have to use the Sacred Seal a few more times.

“[Goddess], anyway for now, it’s alright here! We’ll handle this some–“

While calming down the [Goddess], I tried to pull out another knife.

At that time, another problem came.

<–Zyro! Dotta!>

I heard a shrieking in my ear.

A shriek that numbs my eardrum. Both Dotta and I know the guy who made this noise.

Dotta and I reflexively covered our ears with our hands.

We know it’s useless.

The Hero’s Sacred Seal engraved on our napes has the ability to convey voices. Long distance communication. We can’t escape from this damned connection with each other.

<It’s terrible, please listen! It turned out bad. Really bad.>

The one who said that was our ‘Commander’ in name.

A political prisoner, a scammer, and a useless bastard, Venetim Tias.

This guy also has got serious problems with his personality.

About as problematic as Dotta, things “turned out bad” around once every three days.

In most cases, the cause of the trouble is his mouth, but this time it’s different.

<It’s so terrible that everything might be finished. Zyro, can you spare some help?>

“No!”

I grabbed the knife while I spat.

The power of the Sacred Seal pours in —  look back and throw. Explosion. The flabby bodies of the Fuath are blown away.

“You hear that? Huh? You think we have help to spare?”

<I felt you didn’t. But if I hadn’t said anything, Zyro, you would have gotten angry with me later.>

“I’m angry. I’m angry with what you’re saying now! What!?”

<The Holy Knights have moved.>

“That’s good! They ran away quickly, right? If it’s that kind of report–“

<No. They’re moving towards the Demon King Phenomenon.>

I realised my face would look like I was about to cry.

I couldn’t believe my ears.

“What did you say?”

<All the Holy Knights in the forest who have recovered their strength are taking up battle formations against the Demon King Phenomenon. They are doing everything they can to hold back the forces of the Demon King Phenomenon here.>

“……why?”

<There’s no way I could understand something like that, right?>

Then, Venetim slovenly laughed.

<The two sides are about to collide…… What should I do?>

’You think I know’, I wanted to say.

Wasn’t this operation conveyed to the Holy Knights? Did they ignore it despite the message?

The Holy Knights I know will stay professional even if they rot. In such cases, the standard policy is to use the Penitent Hero Corps as sacrificial pawns, while immediately starting the retreat.

(But — no. I’ll save thinking about what’s going on for later.)

Either way, at this moment, the plan I’d thought of came crashing down.

As long as the order to cover the retreat of the Holy Knights remains standing, I don’t want them to be sitting in these woods.

That would just be a meaningless head-on confrontation with the Demon King Phenomenon herd.

At this rate, we’ll die miserably, and we won’t know what state we’ll be in when we revive. The Holy Knights will likely suffer near annihilation.

Because those guys’ trump card, the [Goddess] is here.

(What’s up with me?)

My heart feels like I’ve been inflicted with poison. Now that it’s come to this, there’s only one thing we can do.

If the Holy Knights don’t withdraw, then–

“Zyro.”

Dotta’s face looked more like he’s about to cry than mine.

“What do we do?”

“……Esteemed [Goddess].”

I put a stop to my frivolousness and looked back at the girl with the golden hair that scattered sparks.

Without strained breathing, she had followed behind me.

“Eheh, yes.”

The [Goddess] answered with a face full of smiles.

“Is this the time for our counterattack, my Knight?”

“Ah… right… that’s right. That’s right indeed, counterattacking.”

She couldn’t hear the conversation between Venetim and I.

She’s still misunderstanding.

She thinks of me as a Holy Knight — she doesn’t know who we are. In other words, I will be deceiving her.

“I would like to borrow the power of the Esteemed [Goddess].”

I said clearly.

“Change of plans, Dotta. From now on, we will be defeating the Demon King. With the power of the [Goddess], we can probably achieve that.”

“Eh? Hang on, are you saying that for real?”

“What an impolite individual. Naturally. Because I will be bestowing my powers.”

The [Goddess] bowed gracefully.

“Then, my Knight, offer consideration for the pact.”

“……I got it.”

No choice but this. I brought my right arm closer to the mouth of the [Goddess].

Cut with the knife I pulled out. Blood overflows with sharp pain. This is the method to use a [Goddess].

The Knight who is to be the user presents a part of their body.

Proof of the pact. An exclusive contract — binding until death.

Only then can the [Goddess] exert her power for the sake of humans.

“Please. We need your help.”

“Indeed.”

The [Goddess] happily put her lips on my arm.

“Received.”

This was the starting of the first steps that could never be taken back.

In this way, I once again ruined my life.