I managed to successfully establish a cooperative relationship with the hero. It’s a start.
For now, the hero probably didn’t fully trust me yet, but that’s not really a problem. The important thing was that we’ve formed a connection.
Now, what we needed to do was find the successor who would inherit the Holy Sword.
I didn’t know the exact location of the successor, but I have a rough idea.
'The Ramon Mountain Range in eastern Santea.'
Somewhere deep in that mountain range.
In the game, or rather, a few years into the future from the middle of the story, I coincidentally meet another player and went on an adventure together. During that process, I became closer to the successor as a companion and naturally learn various things about her, including her past.
Based on that information, it could be speculated that the successor was currently living with her father, away from the world, somewhere in the Ramon Mountain Range.
Of course, it’s just a guess, and even if it’s correct, it could take a long time to find her if we had to search the entire mountain range.
But still, we had to do it.
My fate and life in the future depended on it, so how could I hold back anything?
Now that I had found the hero, if I could just find the successor, I could take another big step forward to prevent the end of the world.
Although, come to think of it, I hadn’t talked about the conditions for inheriting the Holy Sword with the hero yet.
Well, I could discuss that after finding the successor.
“How’s your injury?”
As I looked up at the sky in the back courtyard of the monastery, I turned my head at the sound of a voice. It was the hero.
The hero healed the injury that I had received from Kargos. Even the injuries I had received from Ditrodemian while staying at the monastery were completely healed.
Her healing ability was on a much higher level than elixirs, all thanks to the power of the Holy Sword.
“Thanks to you, I’ve fully recovered.”
After hearing my story and accepting the proposal, the hero said she needed time to organize her thoughts and disappeared somewhere before reappearing now.
The hero approached me and asked, “But why were you staying in this monastery? I heard you were already injured when you arrived here.”
She seemed to have heard the story about me from other people.
Even she couldn’t help but wonder what a Lord of Calderic was doing in a place like this.
“Did you already know that girl Erica was carrying the demon’s seed?”
It was a natural guess, but it wasn’t truly correct.
I decided to just answer honestly, since there was nothing to hide.
“I came to this monastery purely by chance. I found out about Erica being the demon’s seed due to an attack by the archdemons.”
“What about the injury?”
“There was a battle with Ditromedean before. I got injured during the fight. In the process, his spatial ability swept me away, and I ended up here.”
The hero asked again with a slightly surprised expression, “Ditromedean? Then what happened to him?”
“He died.”
“I see.”
The hero nodded her head, showing no interest in the circumstances that led me to fighting against Detrodemian.
“What are you going to do with this monastery?”
When asked about the aftermath, the hero answered readily.
“First, I’ll inform the Pope and request support. I can’t let the people here stay and live like this.”
The monastery had already been exposed to demons, even archdemons.
The attackers who came to seize the demon’s seed had been defeated, but they were still exposed to serious danger.
Therefore, it was a natural course of action for the hero to evacuate the people from the monastery.
“What about Erica?”
“I’ve already taken care of the seed she was carrying, but she still needs to be even more careful, just in case.”
I nodded my head.
“When everything is resolved, we’ll find the successor and leave.”
Afterwards, we stayed at the monastery for a while.
The hero would stay here until the troops arrived to protect the people, she said.
Leaving hastily and having other demons come to the monastery would be a terrible disaster.
Of course, there was almost no chance that other archdemons would reveal themselves after what happened to Kargos, who was ranked third among them.
If they realized Kargos had died, they would almost certainly think it was the work of the hero.
But the hero couldn’t overlook even the slightest possibility.
I had no reason to leave the monastery alone before the hero, so I had to stay here until then.
It was quite some time before troops arrived to take the people from the monastery.
Several radiant knights with level in their 80s and dozens of other high-level holy knights came.
And not just them, but also the Pope’s decree.
Sword Saint Ceriod...
I looked at the middle-aged man talking to the hero in front of the building from the window.
One of the five stars of Santea, along with the Fist Saint and the Spear Saint, the Sword Saint. Did he come in person?
Sword Saint was the only person in the five stars who was negative towards the royal family and close to the hero.
“Then I’ll leave it to you, Sir Ceriod. Please take care of yourself.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Not only the church’s troops, but also the royal troops, including the Sword Saint, gathered an enormous force beyond imagination at the monastery.
It was not surprising, given that it was a problem related to the archdemons and the hero requested direct support.
For the time being, they were tasked with protecting the Rosariel Monastery and nearby villages while conducting an investigation.
From the conversation I overheard, it seemed that their future situation had not yet been decided.
Evacuation was the best option, but it was realistically impossible to evacuate so many people indiscriminately.
Only a few people were aware of the demon attack in the first place, and it seemed they would watch the situation and decide on the future course of action.
However, Erica was to be transferred to the Pope’s decree under thorough protection.
The hero had dealt with the seed of the demon, but she couldn’t be left unguarded like that.
Erica also agreed to leave the monastery after hearing the explanation.
“Since it’s turned out like this, I’ve decided to become Sir Jerel’s disciple.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
Erica came to find me before leaving and talked to me.
In the end, she decided to become Jerel’s disciple, or how she and her two other friends would go to the Pope’s order together.
“Thank you so much. Thank you for protecting me and my friends.”
And finally, she gave her gratitude.
Erica conveyed only simple gratitude without asking anything about me.
I asked her, Jerel, and her other friends who learned about me to keep my identity a secret.
Anyway, it was a short relationship, and I wished her future would be smooth sailing without being swept away by such events.
After the situation was resolved, I also left the monastery immediately with the hero.
The hero opened her mouth after looking around the vast plain that stretched out in front of us.
“First, you said we’d head to Enrock.”
“Yes.”
First of all, meeting Asher was a priority over anything else.
She wouldn’t still be in the place where she fought with Ditromdemian, right?
Since it was impossible to know what she was doing by now, it was best to return to the Lord’s castle.
'I hope she didn’t tell the Overlord about anything else, at least...'
No, since the Overlord’s subbordinates who were being chased by the tower master were also in that place, even if it wasn’t Asher, it couldn’t be kept secret.
I hoped the Overlord would not find out about the events here at the monastery and find the connection. It would be troublesome.
“Does the Holy Sword also have teleportation abilities?”
The hero turned back to me at my question.
I knew that with the power of the Holy Sword, the hero could accomplish most tasks that were difficult, even with magic. Like teleportation or polymorph.
“That’s right.”
“Can we teleport directly to Enrock from here?”
The hero shook her head.
“That might be difficult. I can’t teleport unless it’s a location I’ve set.”
It seemed that even with the power of the Holy Sword, there were limitations to teleportation magic.
I felt a little awkward and could only bite my tongue inwardly because I didn’t have the ability to move quickly to Enrock like the hero. I didn’t even have a flying mount.
The hero could move quickly even without a mount.
I glanced at the hero and said, “I plan to move as quickly as possible from here to Enrock without delay.”
“I agree. There’s no reason to waste time.”
“Actually, I don’t have the ability to move as fast as you do.”
The hero blinked.
Why did memories of being carried by Asher while climbing a cliff when I went to find the first Mystery suddenly came to mind? The situation was particularly similar.
“I see. I understand,” said the hero, as if she had understood my words right away.
I wondered what she was trying to do when she reached out to me.
Then, a golden aura gathered and created a barrier around me. And it lifted me into the air.
“I’ll fly and move like this. It won’t take long to get to Enrock.”
“...”
I looked down at my feet while floating inside the barrier.
Although the shape was a bit strange, well, it’s better than not floating at all.
Then the hero, who had risen in the air, shot up into the sky. My body followed behind her as if pulled by a magnet.
The flight speed was much faster than riding a wyvern. As she had said, it seemed like we would reach Enrock soon enough.
***
We arrived safely in Enrock.
The hero decided to wait for me in the city since there was no reason for her to follow me all the way to the Lord’s castle.
“What if someone recognizes your face?”
She replied by immediately changing her appearance.
Her hair and eye color were reversed, and her facial features and shape were also changed. It was the polymorph ability of the Holy Sword.
So I went into the city alone after parting with the hero and headed to the Lord’s castle.
As always, the butler came out to greet me.
“Welcome, my Lord. You must be tired.”
“Yeah. Was there something else that happened while I was away?”
He seemed very surprised for some reason, so I asked.
The butler replied, “Yes, that... Sir Asher returned to the castle alone a while ago...”
I could understand the situation from his words. Fortunately, Asher had returned to the Lord’s castle.
The butler could only roughly explain the situation to me.
I immediately headed into the castle.
Not long after, I sensed someone coming closer, then a figure appeared in the hallway at the entrance of the castle.
I stopped in my tracks upon seeing the familiar face before me.
Asher looked at me dazedly before calling out with a choked voice,
“...Sir Ron!”
