I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

46 – 46. Being at peace

Arsel, who was in the land of demons without Alfred, suddenly felt strange.

Originally, the only time he was in a place like this was when he came to defeat the demons with a holy sword.

Even in the days when they were called witches and chased, if there were demons plundering the village, they hid their identity and drew their swords to protect the people.

He is like that, he himself is here without even pulling out the Holy Sword.

He didn’t even wear armor, let alone a holy sword.

He is himself who wanted peace, but when peace came to him, it was an awkward moment more than ever.

“…Alfred.”

I watch the city outside the window quietly, watching over the sleeping Stella.

The sky is blue and the market is full of lively people.

The appearance of children running around the market and merchants buying and selling goods, although it is said to have been done under strict supervision and order, it is a very peaceful scene even though they are demons.

‘I have been fighting to keep that kind of peace.’

It was also what Arsel wanted more than anything else.

He became a hero not to defeat the demon king.

It may be natural for some people to have a lively day with people laughing and chatting like that, but Arcel was aware of people who didn’t.

Although you may have such a peaceful scenery in your eyes now, you couldn’t in the past.

‘That was all I wanted.’

If it had been caused by the demons, it might have been possible to divert the blame elsewhere.

But that’s not because of the demons.

The cause may have been the war with the demons, but what they had to live like that was the extremely high prices and brutal taxes caused by the war.

The war took a lot from people.

Young people were called to the battlefield and their lives were put to death. As a result, only the elderly and the still young children were left on the streets.

‘But now I have doubts.’

It is not the end of simply driving young people to the limb.

Already in a situation where food was scarce due to the destruction of agricultural land by the war, prices soared endlessly and the taxes demanded by the nobles increased without mercy.

In order to eat a piece of bread, they had to work hard all day to barely eat it.

How many people starved to death because of it.

Though the place he went to was able to somehow provide the minimum amount of food by hunting monsters in the forest, the situation was terrible in places where it was not or it was already too late.

The streets were full of corpses dying of starvation, and those who did not plundered their neighbors with knives.

There were even cases where revolts broke out and entire cities turned into dens of bandits.

‘Is peace really coming after defeating the king of the demons?’

That hasn’t changed even now.

The demon king fell, but even now, five years later, life was still cruel.

No matter how great the damage from the war was, prices were still not stable, and there were not many people left to repair the damage from the war.

Most of them disappeared because of the war.

Originally, it was supposed to make muddy water clear as it flows with time, but in reality, this was not the case.

‘Could all of that really be only the devil’s fault?’

In addition, the nobility collected taxes more tenaciously to refill the warehouses that had been vacated by the war.

The leaders of many countries have ordered tax cuts to stabilize people’s lives, but it is not known whether they are actually being followed.

Unlike him, the city of demons was peaceful.

Of course, the difference in leader’s ability and the difference between the races of demons and humans must be taken into account.

But no matter how much it is, it is the same for humans and demons who were mobilized for war and collected a lot of tax, so how can there be such a difference?

It is said that there are still a lot of normal people in some capital areas, but there was something unpleasant about it.

The price of the market was also much more stable here.

As a result of what I secretly heard from Alfred when the war was in full swing, the amount of tax the devil was taking was not a negligible amount, but even so, the place was peaceful.

‘If I had worked harder, would I have made other places as peaceful as this one?’

What did I do wrong?

What did you lack?

Maybe the method was wrong from the beginning…?

Wouldn’t he be able to live a better life if he had found some other solution, rather than focusing on defeating the demon lord?

Then maybe he wouldn’t have to part with his colleagues.

My colleagues who were more precious than my life may not have had to end like that.

“…Stella is sleeping well.”

Arsel looked at Stella, who was lying on the bed.

Perhaps if she had been awake, she would have asked Stella the thoughts that were running through her head.

At first, I thought this place was just a garden maintained under the control of a strong demon tribe, but when I looked more closely, I realized that this was not necessarily the case.

Especially, the children’s smiles were pure without lies.

It was not a scene that nobles forcibly created by intimidating the residents after hearing that a hero was coming to their estate.

At that time, I almost drew my sword.

“Perhaps, we may have gone the wrong way from the beginning.”

Arcel looked out his window, blaming himself alone.

If Alfred was by my side, I think he would have comforted me with something that didn’t make him laugh, but he had long since left for an urgent business.

It might have been better to go back with Alfred.

But for some reason, I felt a little strange, so I wanted to confirm that it was the holy sword of the other hero.

Just as there is no single hero, there is no law that requires only one holy sword, but it was a shame nonetheless.

If the holy sword remains even after the hero, the owner of the holy sword, dies…

It’s because I don’t know why it was discovered by the demons only now.

Smart.

“?”

The sound of a knock outside the window is suddenly heard.

I looked out the window again and there was a white crow.

The knock sounded like a beak hitting the window.

“Is that the crow?”

It seemed that the crow outside the window was not Clen’s.

All in this territory are black crows, and those white crows were similar to those used by Alfred.

The white crow sat on the window sill and looked at Arcel.

By the way, Arcel closed her eyes and opened them.

“No, the crow is spending time with his family now. Today is my day off.”

“…You?”

Alfred.

Little Alfred was waving his hand.

“I came here because I was worried.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your method wasn’t wrong. If the Demon King had won you, the world would have ended there. Because the demon king is like an ordeal that the hero must overcome.”

If you don’t overcome the ordeal, it ends there.

Little Alfred strode over and sat on Arcel’s lap.

Arsel felt ashamed as it was like seeing himself last night.

“…Now I feel like this. If I had focused on stopping the war rather than defeating the demon lord. Or wouldn’t it have been better if we had put more effort into saving people rather than defeating the king of demons?”

“That’s an unknown story, surely the fight with the demon king was fierce, right? If only you were a little weaker back then. This land couldn’t have been as peaceful as this.”

Little Alfred said with a bitter expression on his face.

Anyway, the Demon King was an existence that had to be defeated.

Don’t regret your choice.

“This goblin is still sleeping, even when I think about it, I am very mean.”

Little Alfred landed on Arcel’s lap and turned his attention to the sleeping Stella.

“Stella hates having her ears pulled.”

“But is it fun? Look, it stretches just like glutinous rice cakes.”

Then she tugged at Stella’s ear with her hand.

The elf’s ears, which are already long, grow even longer.

Fortunately, the elasticity was good, so it went back to its original state.

Although it turned a little red.

Fortunately, Stella’s face was calm, but if she had been awake, she would have shot arrows and been angry at what she was doing.

“But what happened? You… No, didn’t you go to your grandmother’s house?”

“Did I tell you? I came to see you for a while because I was worried. I can’t stay very long.”

From noble mtl dot com

Little Alfred looked around and said.

“…Are there any watchful eyes?”

After making sure that no one is listening, she naturally sits on Arcel’s lap again.

And he said with a serious expression.

“You better be careful, an unknown energy is being felt in this land. But it is also a familiar energy.”

“What does that mean?”

“Literally, incomprehensible words. But it’s familiar. That ring… never take it off your body.”

With those words, little Alfred disappeared again.

I’m sure I was sitting on her lap a little while ago, but when I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, they suddenly disappeared.

Arcelo, not knowing what the hell she had come to warn her about, felt frustrated.

However, given that it was an unknown word, little Alfred did not seem to know the details of its identity.

Besides, it seemed very urgent.

It seems that working with Zion was so important.

“…I don’t know, but it’s familiar?”

Arsel squeezed the ring that Alfred had left behind.

I didn’t intend to separate it as much as possible originally, but when I saw that he had come and warned me like that, I felt like I had to wear it no matter what.

“Did he say that?”

After a while, Arcel woke up at dinner and told Clen what Alfred had left.

If there is such an unknown threat to this territory, then of course I had to tell Clen, the owner of the land.

Although Clen usually hates Alfred, he seems to have accepted it as something that can’t be ignored.

“Certainly, remnants of the thief may remain. If they were still alive, they would have tortured them and ripped off the inside story, but when they were discovered by my soldiers, they fought and were at a disadvantage, so they ended up taking their own lives.”

“…I see.”

But Clen didn’t have a particularly sharp idea.

“I am still watching closely. The auction house’s expenses have also increased more than before. Especially on the last day, I plan to strengthen the boundaries of the entire territory. There is no guarantee that the stray cat will come only once.”

Still, it was reassuring if they did it like that.

“So, by any chance, you are not going to watch the auction today. I don’t have him, but I’ll let you watch from my side if you want. In particular, today’s auction is going to deal with the clothes worn by the hero and the equipment used more than yesterday.”

“No, no. If I see the same scene as yesterday one more time, I don’t think I can stand it.”

Arsel politely declined Clen’s invitation.

He didn’t say that he was just the organizer of the auction, Clen, but he wanted to ask for the auction to be stopped right away.

I don’t know anything else, but it was too embarrassing to sell plain clothes.

I don’t know where or how I got them, but not just casual clothes, but embarrassing ones were also auctioned off.

It’s okay if you didn’t know it all along, but once you know it, you can’t help but worry about it.

“You can rest assured. The heroes of this auction include not only you, but also other warriors from previous generations.”

“Which part can I be relieved of…?”

Arsel couldn’t understand why the demons were so interested in the hero.

No matter how much it was used by a major figure in the war, it was unacceptable to bid at such a high price.

Especially yesterday, I didn’t know that Alfred was unpacking the piles, but when I looked at the prices at which the items were bid, the prices were so great that I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I can’t count how many question marks popped into my head.

“It must be because there are many Demons with unique tastes like him. It doesn’t matter if I win the auction.”

“…That’s a bad taste.”

And that’s how the second auction ended.

After one night, the final auction was held.

Arsel put on the clothes he received from Clen and headed to the auction house.