Hero’s Downfall Report

85 – Things you can only say when you look back (5)

The next morning.

The manager handed over the note. It was sent by Allen, a Royal Guard agent disguised as an art dealer. I have an appointment with Professor Osland Koch of the Department of Literary Arts in the afternoon, so don’t be late.

There was no special story about accompanying, so we discussed whether we should all go together, but in the end, Cain decided to go alone.

Already, he was being forced to say that he was ‘Anna’s research assistant.’ It was a burden in many ways to take in Lily, who attracted attention with her tall height and beauty, and Maria, who was educated at a monastery rather than an academy.

“Because I don’t know anything about academy life. “If I were to explain who I am, I would have to use a lot of military language, and that wouldn’t be any good.”

Instead, they decided to take on the challenge of deciphering William’s diary. The first half of volume 3 is the dirty content, but the second half is letters exchanged with other people.

“Maria, isn’t there too much to do?”

“I don’t have any intention of doing everything anyway. However, we will be able to find out whether the decryption code is ‘hopeful’ or not. You can check it by just changing the first letter. Do you know anything? “If we put everything together, something will come out.”

When Cain exclaimed his admiration, Mary seemed quite flattered.

“Are you okay? “I was lying down to sleep last night and it just occurred to me.”

“Maria. Are you really interested in joining the cryptography department? “I heard you have talent.”

“It’s noisy. I’m quick-witted, not smart. And if I keep doing this anymore, my life will be shortened. Still… “

Maria twitched her mouth and changed her words.

“I don’t like it anyway. When are you going to go?”

Because of that, it became difficult for Cain and Lily to ask further what that meant.

“I’m going to go early. “I looked at some materials at the library.”

* * * * *

The Southern Academy was different from the Capital Academy in many ways.

The campus area is larger, but the buildings are low. He said it was because the ground was a little soft. Perhaps because of that, I felt good about the stability of the ground hugging my feet even when I walked on the grass.

The student atmosphere is also different.

Everyone in the capital was serious and polite. It wasn’t because he was unusually calm. The guy who just bumped shoulders may be the eldest son of a count family without a castle, but he may also be the youngest son favored by the Elector.

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So, there was a strong atmosphere of being moderately friendly to each other but keeping a distance. It was also an appropriate school culture for Cain, who had strong loner tendencies.

But not here. Even the professors seemed full of energy.

Because of that, on the way up to her main library, Cain saw a professor from the literature department and her students drinking in broad daylight, with wreaths placed on wooden statues and their arms around each other’s shoulders.

Art students who don’t know whether they are drawing or drinking because they can’t look at their drawings sober.

I passed by a group of music college students who couldn’t tell if it was acting from talent or a melody from alcohol.

The most sane ones were the students in the geology department, who had been drinking heavily and were lying down sleeping. If it weren’t for the Geology Department flag fluttering alone, I wouldn’t have known where I belonged.

‘Self-proclaimed artists, steeped in bravado and bravado.’

It may seem pathetic to an old guard bureau agent. But it didn’t look that way in Cain’s eyes.

Actually, I envied their optimism.

The reason I can do immature things is because I have faith. It is the belief that just as nothing happened yesterday and today, it will happen tomorrow as well.

Cain recalled her student days. It was a time when she had no interest in anything other than studying hard and becoming successful.

Even back then, the world may have been under threat from something unknown. Someone whose name I don’t know may have gone to any lengths to protect the ordinary days of people I don’t know anything about.

He didn’t tell Bohm and Bohm or even Lily, but when he joined the Security Bureau and was given a unique nickname, and when he went on secret missions, he even felt a secret sense of pride at having become that unsung hero.

So has something changed in the world?

It did change. In a bad way.

People complained more. Politics within the empire became chaotic, and so did other countries surrounding the empire.

Chaos within the empire also increased. Security agents who were performing missions outside the empire are now focusing more effort on resolving internal problems.

Cain, who had seen, heard, and experienced many things at the Security Bureau, never thought that it was because the emperor was incompetent. Rather, he thought, since he was the emperor, he was preventing something worse from happening.

But people continued to experience disappointment after disappointment. Because what was expected from the emperor and the empire was simpler and easier than that.

‘Becoming a better tomorrow than today.’

A series of tiring, fruitless and worn-out days. The more I work, the more I get compensation claims, abusive language, and reprimands.

For a while, this is just work. I endured it, thinking it was just work.

Cain gradually became calm and insensitive. He wasn’t angry, but he didn’t smile much either. Security bureau work is ultimately something that is done within certain boundaries, so that was it.

He thought that all he had to do was not get tired until the moment he retired. But he didn’t know that he was being erased little by little in the meantime.

‘Mary called me an eagle.’

An eagle that carefully monitors the goings-on of the world, but wants to avoid getting close and getting hurt. A bird that does not come down unless it is critical.

That was correct. And I know Lily likes this side of herself.

She just looked at her indifferently, tired and worn out, but Lily believed that she was looking at it without prejudice.

Family. Appearance. Scar. She said that beyond all that, she treated her as just a ‘person’, and that the only person in her life who treated her like that was Cain.

When Cain came to his senses, too exhausted to even panic. Lily was already too close.

Her relationship with Lily crossed the line a long time ago.

Stubborn. To protest. She sometimes pretends to be fatal, wondering where on earth she learned this from, but when you get close to her she hiccups in embarrassment, even though she knows that now she only hears what she wants to hear.

Like before, she couldn’t be with Lily without feeling anything.

At some point, she began to spend more days looking at Lily blankly. It wasn’t awkward having his body next to hers.

She wanted to talk to me very occasionally for no reason.

When you see round, pursed lips. When you come out after washing up and smile with a pale face. Her wet hair was tied up with her headcloth, revealing her long, white, slender neckline.

When she comes close enough to touch her chest, wearing thin clothes that fully expose her deep cleavage. When you step away in embarrassment, when you approach in a playful way.

When you cover your mouth and yawn softly. He sat next to Cain and said, ‘This happened in the past.’ When chattering.

Like a squirrel, she hides delicious food and takes it out one by one when she needs it.

I knew secretly that Maria was in that mood. She knew Lily was going in deeper, little by little. She knew everything, but Cain was becoming more and more talkative.

She is Cain, who never talked about the old man of the Eastern Alliance. Even if it had absolutely nothing to do with what she was currently doing, it was something she heard about while at work.

Cain became afraid that his guard was being relaxed and the wall was collapsing. If this continues, one side will eventually fall.

‘When Lily becomes really precious. If she makes love. ‘If she grows so big that her shadow will show me her Lily.’

Concerns that could not have been imagined when she was treated only as a combat agent gripped Cain’s heart.

So Cain became afraid.

She knows how things turn out when she gets emotional, because she has already experienced it.

* * * * *

The library was relatively quiet. Without even asking the librarian who Cain was, she handed over her book about the seven heroes. While she was re-reading Professor Osland Koch’s book, she became hungry and went to the cafeteria to mingle among her students.

It was a sandwich featuring bone-in grilled trout, grilled onions, grilled olives, and melted cheese. It had a texture that could have been crumbly, but when it was added with mustard sauce mixed with fruit juice, vinegar, and honey, the taste came together neatly.

Still, with some time left, she sat on the bench next to the fountain and thought about the contents of the book. It was a story she had already read many times, and she was able to recall it vividly because it was a copy of the material Anna had put in her mailbox for reference.

During the time of war, the Demon King arose from the barren wasteland of the northeast.

The fog of shadows spread from the northeastern wastelands to the empire. The shadows brought out the nightmares and terrible delusions in people’s minds. Monsters attacked the people who were terrified.

It is said that this is why there was confusion in the early records. He said it was because he couldn’t tell whether the stories about terrible monsters told by terrified people were delusions or real. Although they were later revealed to be ‘real monsters’.

Countries that had previously been fighting joined forces to form the Crusade. Empire. Eastern Confederacy and Southern Kingdom. The pagans of the north and west declared their own jihad, or great holy war, and raised an army to attack the devil.

However, even for an invincible veteran, it was difficult to overcome the fear in his heart. Even if I could barely suppress the fear in my heart, what followed was a long and drawn-out harassment and raid.

From the shadows where there was nothing, a human wrist, a lower body without an upper body, and flying eyeballs emerged. Because they came from the shadows, they appeared under conference tables, in corners of warehouses, and under the darkness of night.

The time when the devil’s power was strongest was the end of the year when the moon was almost completely obscured. It was said that on that day he had to stop the march and make all the camps bright as day.

The paladins, inquisitors, and priests who could perform sacred miracles collapsed from overwork.

It was as if advanced weapons, which were supposed to burn evil things with holy fire, were continually being thrown into wasteful and meaningless battles.

That too was the devil’s plan. It is said that when the main force was pushed in, they were unable to use their proper strength, and the damage continued to accumulate and grow.

However, even in the midst of all this, there were those who endured with willpower.

They became a lighthouse for people who were overcome by fear. They overcame their fears, yelled at people to come to their senses, and cheered them on that they could get through it.

He personally blew the advance trumpet, fired the bell to announce the start of the war, took the drummer’s drum, struck it, and struck the gong. Those who have strong willpower, those who have overcome fear, those who have awakened and brought others to their senses.

In particular, the bravery of seven of them was outstanding. As the morale of the crusaders was low, defeatism was rampant, and the offensive continued to be frustrated, the commanders came up with a plan to reorganize the troops.

Let’s reorganize the unit with these seven people as the vanguard.

Under the approval of the Pope and Emperor, the unit was reorganized into seven units. According to the number of seven people, each unit and warrior was given seven virtues.

Arius became an apostle of ‘temperance’ from a monk of the Two-Headed Eagle Church.

William, a former knight of the Knights of Mercy, became a knight of ‘purity’.

Lady Arianne of ‘Humility’, a Samaritan who was born between the Empire and the western pagans but was abandoned and neglected.

Roberta, a ‘kind’ woman who was a former gamekeeper, was later called ‘a woman loved by everyone.’

Quint of ‘patience’, who grew up as the illegitimate son of a duke and became a prisoner, and joined the crusade to receive forgiveness for his sins.

Hans, a ‘hard-working’ man, introduced himself as an alchemist, but was nothing more than a wandering medicine seller.

And Leonardo of ‘Charity’, who was originally a pirate of the Eastern Allied Powers but formed a mercenary group.

As the seven heroes took the lead, the soldiers driven by fear and fear followed them. Their numbers gradually decreased, the power of fear and fear grew, and the offensive became more intense, but they could not withstand the bravery of the seven heroes.

At the end of their sacrifice, they defeated the devil. Peace has arrived in the world.

The story should have ended there.

Hello. They lived happily ever after, and the stage ended.

But no. The story continues. The heroes did not come to an end to the story. So isn’t the end creeping into the world?

Cain stood up. It was time to meet the professor.