"How did you first find out that you're a Hero?" I asked Harold. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know how Herman first discovered that he was a Hero.
He mentioned being chosen by the gods and the holy sword, but he wasn't very specific about it. How did they display their choice of him? Did they talk to him directly? Harold already said that the Heroes didn't receive crests like I did, as a sign of being the next Demonic Emperor. Then what sort of signs did they receive?
Or was it a divine revelation directly transmitted to the Heroes?
"Oh…it's simple." Harold looked thoughtful. He unsheathed his holy sword and showed it off to everyone. It glowed brightly in front of us, and I felt as if I was in the presence of a divine being. "I was chosen by the holy sword."
"How did the holy sword choose you? Did it…uh, fall from the sky and in front of you one day? Did it talk to you?"
"No, not exactly. It's the standard 'only the chosen Heroes are able to draw the holy sword out' cliché, you know? The holy weapons, upon losing their owners, are relocated inside…uh, rocks or anvils or something. Only the Heroes are able to pull them out."
Oh! So something like the legend of Excalibur. That made a lot of sense. It also explained how Heroes were chosen rather than hand-wave it away like most non-isekai stories with Heroes did. Like, how did people know they were Heroes? Either they conveniently had this class system that was determined from birth or they just never bothered to explain it.
Not that this reality was any different…
"How do you find these holy weapons?" I had never heard about this before. Harold seemed to hesitate before he opened up.
"Honestly, it's…a secret. The church has ways of finding out. They then pick out a select few people to try and draw the holy weapons from wherever they find them." he turned to Priscilla. "Do you know how the Church locates the holy weapons?"
The priestess shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We don't actually find the weapons themselves. We send out adventurers to find them…and then among that pool of adventurers we ask them to try. We keep it a secret, though…because the holy weapon is a very sacred and important artifact. If the enemy knows of its location…"
"They might steal it or destroy it." I nodded in understanding.
"But that makes no sense." Stella frowned. "Aren't the Heroes the only ones capable of drawing the holy weapons? How can they be stolen?"
"Oh, the thieves don't have to draw the weapons. They just need to steal the holy weapons and hide them somewhere. As in, they steal everything, including the rock and anvil that the holy weapon is embedded in."
"This is the first time I'm hearing any of this." Maria frowned as she watched Harold and Priscilla. The two of them looked apologetic.
"The Church told us to keep this a secret, and for good reason."
"It is fine, nobody is blaming you," Steve assured a guilty Harold. "You were keeping your promise and fulfilling your oath to the Church."
"But now that we know about this, we have to find the holy weapons." Arnold was thinking very deeply. "How do we do that?"
"The priestess mentioned earlier that the church selects certain adventurers to look for them?" Rafaela asked, glancing at Priscilla. She hesitated, and then nodded.
"Then we can try looking for them ourselves," Chris suggested. He turned to Priscilla. "Do you know where to start? Are there any patterns? The locations of past holy weapons?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Priscilla admitted. "I'm not a high ranking member of the clergy. Perhaps the bishop would know, but I don't think he'll tell you."
"He'll freak out," Harold muttered under his breath. "We're not even supposed to tell you guys about this. He might use a holy spell to erase your memories."
"Then we're on our own." Wilson sighed. "I assume they are all found in the Havan Kingdom?"
"Yes. But from what I know, the locations are all random. They are not usually found in the same place twice. Usually, anyway."
"So there are exceptions?" Rose asked.
"Yes." Priscilla nodded. "The holy weapons have appeared multiple times over the centuries, after all. There's only so many places within the territory of our holy kingdom that they can appear."
"That makes sense," Lance mumbled. "At least we can narrow our search."
"But Havan Kingdom is still a pretty large area," Stella pointed out with a sigh. "It will take us ages to get anywhere. And we have no news regarding any of the other five holy weapons, do we? That means the church has yet to find them."
"Most likely," Priscilla conceded.
"Still, we should get started sooner rather than later," Maria said. "No point wasting our time complaining about it."
"I assume we should split up and search?" Chris asked. "We'll divide ourselves into groups and spread across the kingdom."
Silvia, Larson and the two prowlers glanced at each other uneasily. They were foreigners in another land, so I understood their discomfort. I shook my head and waved at them, indicating that they were to stick with me.
"We can split into three groups and cover the north, east and west, while I search the south," Rafaela was suggesting, having taken our disposition in mind. Naturally, the four mages would work together, as would Harold's party, and my entourage. Rafaela was used to working solo after the demise of her party, but I wondered if she could cover the whole southern region on her own.
However, there was something that was nagging me.
"Before we split up, I think there is a place we can start from."
"Huh?" Everyone turned to look at me. I grinned.
"Earlier, Harold and Priscilla said that the Church hires adventurers to search for the holy weapons, right? Then we should start with the adventurer's guild and see what we can find out for them. They have the manpower necessary for such a task. And if I'm not mistaken, they should have been searching for at least four of the holy weapons for a while now…ever since the four Heroes passed away last year."
"That's a very good point." Rafaela nodded. "You are correct."
"Yeah, it makes sense." Priscilla considered my words before acceding. "There is no reason for the Church to delay their search. They will most likely begin as soon as they received news regarding the unfortunate…passing of the other Heroes. I believe they sent an immediate dispatch for additional adventurers to search for the fifth holy weapon after the death of Hero Herman."
"That guy isn't even a real Hero," Maria muttered under her breath. No one contradicted her.
"All right…let me drop by my old guild and see what I can find." I rose to my feet eagerly, already having a location in mind.
*
"It's been a while, Klein. How have you been? I rarely saw you after you joined Hero Herman's party! We had a scare when we heard that you died, but it seems that news of your demise have been greatly exaggerated!"
"Not at all."
I smiled at the guild girl, glad to see a familiar face after all this time. She was still dressed primly, with her hair tied into a neat and elegant bun. I wondered if she was still in love with Master. She most probably was.
"Sorry about that. Many things happened, and I escaped with my life. But that's how it is. You know how adventurers are."
"Yes. You do too many dangerous things." the guild girl sighed and looked at me sternly. "Even so, don't be reckless. The missions you take are already risky enough. You need to take better care of yourself."
"Yes, ma'am."
The guild girl's expression softened. She probably still remembered the destruction of my village and loss of my village. The guild did, and they had sent their condolences back then. Perhaps, more than anybody else, they understood my need to fight on the frontlines against the demons…to prevent any more victims in the future.
"Are you here for a new quest? It's been a while since you've taken a quest under the capacity of an adventurer, but it's been less active these few months. The demons have mostly stopped attacking."
Largely in thanks to me and those loyal to my cause, but obviously I didn't tell thee guild girl that. I would prefer to keep my identity a secret, otherwise it would cause a ruckus in the adventurer's guild. As much as I trusted them, I wasn't that naïve to think they would simply accept everything.
I got really lucky with Harold and his party, after all. I heard Priscilla went into a seizure upon receiving the news, and I was glad I wasn't around to deal with her.
"Yeah…but before that, I need information. Have you heard of any quests that require us to search for sacred relics…important artifacts and the like?"
The guild girl frowned. "I guess. We get all sorts of requests, as you know. You'll have to be more specific."
"Um, holy weapons?"
"Huh? Holy weapons? You mean those wielded by the Heroes?" The guild girl blurted out in surprise before she covered her mouth. Everyone else turned to stare at us and she quickly hid her mouth, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"It's okay."
"Well, I don't think I've heard of anything regarding that." The guild girl frowned and shook her head. "In fact, I didn't know the holy weapons went missing. Were they taken by the demons or stolen after the Heroes were killed?"
Right. As Harold and Priscilla said, the nature of the holy weapons as well as the selection of Heroes was kept a secret from the main populace. Regular people didn't know about this. It was only natural that the guild girl wouldn't have heard of it. Perhaps even the branch manager of this particular guild didn't know of it…the Church might only see fit to notify the major branches in the capital or in large cities.
Even though I had already anticipated this, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Still, I smiled and thanked the guild girl. I did put on the pretense of asking for the requests that were looking for items. Maybe the Church cleverly worded it to conceal the true nature of the mission from the adventurers. It was worth a shot.
"Sure. Let me look for them…"
The guild girl was about to turn around and head toward the shelf behind her, which was stocked full of requests. Before she could, her eyes widened and she gasped. Even before I glanced back, I was aware of the shadow that loomed behind me.
"Master, it has been a while."
"Yeah."
Turning around, I caught sight of Master. He was dressed in that shabby armor of his, his face completely concealed by his helm. The red plume from his helmet, leather guard and a dull, filthy metallic breastplate and gauntlets. A short sword and shield, as well as a number of tools strapped to his belt. All of them utilized only for one purpose.
Slaying goblins.
Master regarded me silently. He had never been much of a talker, and he was famous for his one or two-word replies. Even so, I could sense what he was trying to say through that quiet gaze alone.
"Sorry for worrying you. A lot has happened over the past few years."
"I see."
"How about you, Master? Are you all right?"
"Yes."
Yup. Master wasn't much of a conversationalist as usual. On some level, I was glad that he hadn't changed at all, even after all these years. I bowed politely, but was surprised when he suddenly spoke up.
"I heard you were looking for…a sacred relic. A holy weapon, was it?"
"Yes, sir?" I was so taken aback that my words came out as a question instead of a proper reply. Master nodded solemnly, as if he had expected my response.
"That…I might have some information regarding it."