The Seven Heroes
Those were the seven warriors chosen by the gods to wield the holy swords.
Of course, Herman was one of them.
About a year ago, when the Demonic Emperor, Viledoofus, was still alive, he and his demonic legions threatened the world, sowing the seeds of fear and destruction. Against such an overwhelming threat, the seven Heroes rose up. Alongside their comrades, they traveled to various places to combat the demonic legions, stemming the flow of death and violence, and offering humanity a flicker of hope.
Even though they took up the swords and fought a crucial battle in order to protect the world, in the end, the Heroes were still humans.
Entangled by the notions of glory and honor, sometime during the war, the seven Heroes and their respective parties ended up competing against each other. They attempted to outdo each other in terms of battle records and victories.
Herman's party, which I previously belonged to, was originally ranked last in terms of our war record and results. That was why they were so impatient to get a result back then…I still recalled the day when I was betrayed. Herman was desperate to defeat Vincent Lucard, and charge toward the throne room of the Demonic Emperor.
In the end, his plan failed, and in order for the rest of the party to survive, they sacrificed me. Left me behind for the lord of vampires to play with, just so they could run away. Not only that, they revealed that they had been trying to kill me all this time.
Now that I thought about it, it was entirely possible that they believed I was an agent of the other Heroes, planted in their party to make them look bad. They were already bitter about their dismal record, and according to them, I was causing their reputation to plunge further with my so-called hypocritical kindness. Thus, out of jealousy and resentment, and also probably because of suspicion, they decided to eliminate me.
Then they schemed to steal the glory from the other Hero parties by aiming for the Demonic Emperor. Even though I had only heard rumors while traveling around the Havan Kingdom, while gathering information, I had heard one consistent thread from the supporters of the other Hero parties.
When the seven Heroes and their parties were supposed to ally together to fight against the most powerful Divine General, Tiamattra, only five of them showed up. Needless to say, Herman and his party was among the two absent. The Mother of Dragons proved to be a formidable foe, and was able to wipe out three of the Hero parties arrayed against her before eventually succumbing to her wounds. The survivors were too badly wounded to fight in the last battle.
Capitalizing on that, Herman and his party led a massive assault on the Demonic Emperor's castle before the surviving two Heroes could recover, and used the last Hero party – the other one who didn't participate – as bait to weaken the Demonic Emperor. That poor Hero party was also annihilated during that final battle, and while the wounded Demonic Emperor was distracted, Herman stabbed him in the back and delivered the killing blow. Add his absurd power up to that, and his plan was foolproof.
Out of the original seven Heroes, less than half survived.
As the one who defeated the Demonic Emperor, Herman stood out from among the seven Heroes.
The strongest Hero party. The symbol of peace and justice. The embodiment of the power of the gods. The great Hero who would continue to be talked about and sung in tales far in the future.
The other six Heroes would forever be in Herman's shadow. And four of those six Heroes and their parties were dead.
Harold was among the other two surviving Heroes. And now he stood before me, determined to win back some measure of glory and honor.
"Now then, I hope you're ready."
Harold raised his glowing holy sword. A man in his mid-thirties, he was a generation older than Herman, and his bulky body was clad in green armor.
Before he could swing it down, however, I raised both of my hands up in exasperation.
"Uh, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to eliminate evil from this world! I hope you've resolved yourself, evil-doer!"
"And why am I evil?" I asked, annoyed. "Have you actually seen me do anything evil?"
"Huh? Uh, what?" Harold was caught off guard by my question. Obviously he had thought I would react in a panic and either run away like a coward or fight back fiercely. He never imagined that I would retort back to him.
Then again, from what I remembered of him, he was never the imaginative guy. Shaking my head, I pushed my glasses up my nose and glared at him.
"Have you already forgotten who I am, Harold?"
"Huh? Who are you…? Wait, aren't you Klein!?"
Harold's jaw dropped. I nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah, it's me, Klein Pearson. It's been a while, Harold."
We had cooperated in the past a few times before, working in concert to battle against the demonic legions. Obviously there would be instances where monsters on the level of Divine Generals would be far too much for a single party to defeat. Tiamattra was a great example. And as I recalled, Vincent Lucard practically kicked Herman's ass when he tried to challenge him solo. If we had another Hero party cooperating with us back then, the result of the battle might have been very different. In any event, there were many cases where two or more Hero parties would work together in order to defeat a mutual enemy.
Harold might be a little impulsive, but he was always a person who was more than willing to fight in order to save other people. We were slightly similar in that regard. I had always thought of him as a proper Hero.
At the very least, he probably wasn't the type who would sacrifice his comrades just so he could escape by himself. Or plot to backstab and kill his comrades just because they were making him look bad. Well, Harold actually had a similar reputation to mine, in that he would risk his lives to save the soldiers and knights on the frontlines.
That was why I had no intention of taking revenge on Harold and killing him and his party. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like his party believed me.
"Klein Pearson? That Klein Pearson?"
"How is that possible!? Isn't Klein supposed to be dead?!"
"But he looks exactly like him…even the glasses."
"Yeah, he's unmistakably Klein."
"That can't be! Klein is supposed to be dead! And this person…he's emanating a demonic aura! He must be an imposter!"
"Hang on…" I scowled. "What demonic aura? What the fuck are you guys talking about?"
The party blinked and exchanged glances. They looked confused for a second, and then they studied me and Stella. Stella, for her part, had drawn her sword and stepped forward to put herself between me and Harold's party, but I had yanked her back and gestured for her to stand down.
"Don't attack them," I told her. She frowned.
"But they…"
"It's just a misunderstanding. I know them." I turned to Harold. "Don't tell me you've forgotten that you owe me, after I saved your lives during the fight against the Frost Giants. Or should I have left you guys to freeze on the Tertia Tundra?"
Harold's jaw dropped. "It…it really is you, Klein!"
"Who else can it be?"
"But…but…" Harold was looking utterly baffled. "Aren't you supposed to be dead? Herman and the others told everyone that you died during that first assault on the Demonic Emperor's castle. They said you sacrificed your life to hold the lord of vampires off…"
"That's partially true," I confirmed. "Except that I survived against all odds and defeated Vincent Lucard after a desperate battle."
"Hmm…" the mage in the group mused with a nod. I recognized her. She was Maria, a mage who specialized in wood and water magic. "We did hear that Vincent Lucard perished during that battle, a few weeks after the retreat. And nobody knew who killed him."
No doubt Herman and the others would have tried to claim credit for it, but they couldn't because they would have shot themselves in the foot. After making up that sob story about me sacrificing myself to hold Vincent Lucard off so that they could escape, they couldn't go back and pretend that they had somehow killed the lord of vampires shortly after their disgraceful retreat.
"How did you survive?" Harold asked, overawed. Like I said, he wasn't very imaginative.
"Through focus, commitment and sheer, fucking will."
"…really?" The spearman didn't seem convinced, but at least he wasn't pointing that damned spear at me anymore. He had lowered his weapon after bearing the brunt of Stella's glare. I didn't recognize him. He must be a new addition, to replace the losses the party had sustained during the battle against Tiamattra. "I'm sorry, but that's pretty unlikely…"
"Given that I'm standing right before you guys, alive and well, I would say that there's no other explanation, right?" I shrugged. "Or are you going to deny the facts before your very eyes? It's not as if you actually witness me die. All you have is Herman's word."
"And given his current reputation, the word of Herman or any member of his party, carries with it a burden of doubt." The archer, Arnold, nodded. Even out here, the kingdom had heard rumors of Herman and Irene abusing their power in Royales. "In fact, we were heading down southwest to check on reports that Miranda is abducting villagers for illegal experiments."
"Oh, she was," I confirmed. "In fact, several survivors from the mage corps enlisted my assistance to apprehend and eliminate her. You will be hearing the report from the military investigation unit soon enough. The other members of my team have the evidence."
"What…?" The priestess blurted out. Another unfamiliar face. Their last priest, Pierce, must have perished during the fight against Tiamattra. Or maybe in another battle. I was going to miss the bald guy. He was a swell guy with a sense of humor. Something this new priestess seemed to be lacking in. She glared at me suspiciously. "Why aren't you with them?"
"Klein and I have a mission elsewhere. We have to rush back to handle those urgent matters." Stella stood her ground and glared at the priestess.
Harold shook his head in disbelief. "Still, I'm surprised you survived. But I'm glad you're still alive, Klein." He leaned over and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Frankly, you're the only decent person in Herman's party."
"Uh…thank you, I guess?"
"He's definitely Klein." Arnold laughed. "I know that humility anywhere."
"He might be an imposter," the priestess insisted, pointing her staff at me. She backed off when Stella interposed herself between us and shot her a glare. "I'm pretty sure I sensed demonic aura from these two."
So that was how Harold's party found us. Priests and priestesses were known to be sensitive toward demonic auras and the like. This priestess must have detected something. But that wasn't possible.
"Are you sure you aren't mistaken?" Stella glanced at me and I shook my head. Neither of us were doing anything to emanate any demonic aura. We didn't even cast any blood spells…
Oh. We were drinking blood before their arrival. Our bad. I didn't know our demonic aura would leak out whenever we drank blood.
"I…" the priestess trailed off and frowned.
"Do you still sense anything from them?" Maria asked. The priestess gritted her teeth, as if trying her best to sense mana. Then she finally shook her head.
"Strange. I was so sure I picked something up earlier. I'm certain it was the power of darkness. A demonic aura."
"Anyone can make mistakes," I said dismissively. "And besides, even if we turn out to be demons, so what? It's not as if we are hurting anyone or committing any evil. As long as we don't harm anyone, it's fine, right?"
"Demons should be exterminated," Harold declared. "For the sake of humanity."
"If it's really for the sake of humanity," I grumbled. "Then I think we should look for ways to peacefully coexist. To put an end to this meaningless war…and to stop the needless loss of lives."
"Hah!" Harold snorted. "Don't be naïve. As long as demons exist, there can never be peace!"
"Really?" I asked with a sigh. "So…even if the demons stop attacking Havan, are you going to try and invade the Demonic Empire and wipe them out from existence? Even though it'll cost countless human lives? Are you going to insist that our soldiers and knights risk their lives…just to commit genocide?"
"T…that's…!" Harold spluttered.
"…blasphemy!" The priestess shouted, almost frothing at the mouth. She jabbed her staff toward me. "You're definitely an imposter."
"Actually…" Maria was dragging the priestess away. "…I think the kid has a point."