Chapter 139: The Cracked Dam

A bunch of greenhorns who’ve barely seen a real fight daring to discuss who deserves to be a hero?

From the start, the definition of a ‘hero’ isn’t determined by whether or not someone possesses a fragment of the Hero’s power. Being a hero is a truly special title, even if it doesn’t seem like much—

Someone who rushes into a burning building to save people is a hero. At the very least, someone who shouts for others to evacuate during a fire is also a hero. Someone who shows kindness to a child on the street becomes that child’s hero, and good parents can be their children’s heroes.

The title of ‘hero’ is both easy and difficult to obtain. Isn’t it obvious that those who crave it without understanding its true meaning aren’t qualified?

Besides, the Killer Knights were saved by Deon Hart during the Eight-Year War.

Many people were guided away from the brink of death by his small hands. Even if the Empire doesn’t recognize him, they acknowledge him as a hero. So, seeing them deny Deon Hart’s heroism right in front of their faces… what else would you expect from a pack of mad dogs?

“Are you jealous?”

“…What?”

“Hey, guys. These bastards are jealous of our Marquis!”

“Them? Jealous of our Marquis? Not knowing their place? How dare they?”

I’ll slip a knife into their backs during the war.

In all the chaos, no one will notice if one or two allies die.

More than anything, Deon Hart was so young when they first met during the Eight-Year War.

The age gap between the knights and him was significant, ranging from that of older brothers and their much younger sibling to, on average, uncles and nephews. It was inevitable that bonds would form.

Some of the older ones were even old enough to be his father. Their captain was a monster when it came to combat, psychological warfare, and boosting morale, but in everything else, he was just a clumsy child. Naturally, they ended up taking care of him without even realizing it, which led to him being seen as ‘one of their own.’

‘In the end, I failed to get him to wear underwear….’

He said that if his underwear got soaked with blood, it would hinder his movements.

That became a habit, and even after the war ended, he never started wearing underwear again.

‘The war has completely ruined the kid.’

Clicking his tongue, Milan swaggered toward the ‘hero candidates’ with a sly grin.

“Come on, the Marquis isn’t as low-level as you lot think to be jealous of. You need to look at the stairs you can actually climb, not stare at the sky. Why don’t you just give up gracefully?”

“…Ha!”

Of course, I know that fragments of the Hero’s power are not something to be taken lightly. I also know that if we faced them head-on, we’d lose a hundred times out of a hundred.

But still, how can I stand by when my boy is being ignored? Especially since our captain hates being disregarded more than anything because of his fighting style.

“Without even a fragment of the Hero’s power!”

“A nameless knight order, at that!”

“Our knight order’s name has nothing to do with our combat strength!”

“We can fight well even without a fragment of the Hero’s power!”

“…You’d lose if we actually fought seriously!”

“Yoo-ood woose if wee ac-tu-al-ly fow-ght seee-ri-ous-ly.”

“You!”

Chuckling at the guy who grabbed his collar, Milan’s expression turned serious as he drew his sword. As expected from those who had worked together for so long, the others also got into their stances, building tension.

While the hero candidates were taken aback, Milan twirled the wrist holding his sword a few times before resting it on his shoulder with a cocky grin.

“Looking for a fight? We have nothing to lose, but what about you guys?”

“…”

The Killer Knights—no, the Lofty Knights—are directly under Deon Hart.

The camaraderie built over eight years of fighting on the battlefield and their continued time together wasn’t something that would just disappear. They might curse, but they’d overlook minor incidents. However, the ‘nameless knight order’ before them was directly under the Emperor.

They wouldn’t have spent time fighting alongside the Emperor, and he wouldn’t be swayed by sentimentality. If they caused trouble, their heads would roll.

“Ah, but since they’re hero candidates, they probably won’t die.”

The Emperor values talent.

“But still, there will be disadvantages, won’t there?”

“We’ll just get some scolding.”

“The captain will hit us a bit, though.”

“Oh, right. There’s that.”

They stood facing each other, engaging in pointless banter for a while.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, Marquis!”

Deon Hart had arrived.

Milan immediately beamed and sheathed his sword, turning around. It seemed like he had briefly pulled down his hood, as the top part of his white hood was slightly folded.

Our captain still can’t sort out his outerwear. What are we going to do with him?

“It’s nothing important!”

He subtly reached out to fix the hood and smiled as if nothing had happened.

***

And then there was the battle. A battle to stop the Demon King’s army from advancing into the Empire.

—No, was it ‘extermination’ rather than ‘stopping’?

They say the Demon King used his head a bit. He pretended to push through the shortest border but actually entered the Human Realm through a different one.

A ‘border’ is a passage connecting the Demon Realm and the Human Realm. Just like how you can’t see every corner of a house from outside just because the front door is open, it’s impossible to deduce movements from afar with the naked eye. Without spies, it was difficult for the Demon Realm to know what was happening in the Human Realm, and vice versa.

Still, by piecing together various clues, the Emperor roughly guessed the Demon King’s plan and sent troops relatively quickly. However, it wasn’t enough to drive out those who had already entered. Instead, they were pushed back to a dangerous position, forcing them to mobilize almost all their main forces.

The second hero, Stigma Primiero, and the third hero, Deon Hart.

And on top of that, the hero candidates who could exert significant power against the demons.

‘Quite the lineup.’

The ‘extermination’ order, to not let a single one return alive, makes sense.

With this combination, it would be quite possible.

‘Even if the compatibility wasn’t great.’

Killer Knights member Kleter recalled the earlier clash with the hero candidates and sighed, retrieving his weapon from a demon’s stomach.

Marquis Primiero and his knights were tasked with blocking the retreat and killing those who fled, so the Killer Knights had no choice but to kill the enemies alongside the hero candidates.

They were growling at each other right up until the battle started. Would they suddenly become docile after it began?

“You! You almost died!”

“Oops, why did that go that way? Sorry—.”

“You crazy bastard…!”

The stray weapons seemed to target only the backs of the hero candidates’ heads. Perhaps they were showing restraint because they were supposed to be on the same side. Those who failed to defend only suffered minor injuries to their arms and legs; no one was hit in a vital spot…

“Enough!”

There’s no benefit to allies fighting each other with enemies right in front of us. As expected, Captain Lien Riner’s angry shout rang out.

Normally, Kleter would have tried to mediate before the captain stepped in, but this time, even he pretended not to notice. They made fun of the Marquis, so they deserve this much.

‘Well… they probably wouldn’t even dare to underestimate him now, though.’

He glanced over to a corner of the battlefield.

A place where the stench of blood was thicker than anywhere else. Red chunks of flesh, presumably from demons, littered the ground, and their captain stood there, grinning widely amidst the heavy atmosphere of terror.

‘Our Marquis is such a badass.’

His conscious mind thought so, but his subconscious recoiled.

Knowing that relying on drugs wasn’t good, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should have taken some like the others.

The carnage Deon Hart unleashed was too much to witness while sober.

‘I didn’t take any drugs because the enemies are demons….’

Wouldn’t it be better to take some now?

Since this war was against demons and not fellow humans, opinions were divided within the knight order regarding drug use.

There were those who decided to take drugs because they couldn’t bring themselves to deal with human-like demons while sober, and those who decided to treat the demons as monsters since they all had at least one distinct non-human feature.

Kleter chose the latter because he didn’t want to abandon his reason.

‘I didn’t account for the Marquis’s actions…!’

Despite the revulsion, his eyes kept drifting in that direction.

It felt similar to the sensation of not being able to take your eyes off a beast you’ve encountered by chance.

An unrealistic and illogical feeling that if he looked away even for a moment, that beast would tear his throat out held his gaze captive.

Even he, who had been watching him closely for a long time, felt this way, so how would the hero candidates, who were meeting him for the first time today, feel?

‘They’re terrified.’

The eyes of the terrified fools were fixed on Deon Hart. Their pupils darted around, trembling.

Even the ones who had been fighting well couldn’t easily tear their gaze away from Deon Hart once they caught sight of him. Looking away during a battle was a dangerous act, but this applied equally to the demons, so the damage was less than expected.

Kleter indifferently averted his gaze from the hero candidates and readjusted his weapon grip.

‘…Should I start using drugs from now on?’

Those annoying hero candidates weren’t even worth considering.

Not as much as Deon Hart, but he had bought himself some time to recover his stamina by killing demons in his own brutal way. He picked up his weapon again to end this damn battle quickly.

Even someone who hasn’t mastered proper swordsmanship will develop their own knack for it after spending years on the battlefield.

Kleter, and the Killer Knights, no longer blindly killed their opponents in the most brutal way possible.

Deon Hart alone was enough to set the atmosphere. They only acted brutally at the start of the battle to seize the initiative, and afterward, they left that field to their captain, focusing on eliminating as many enemies as possible to end the fight quickly. Their brutal methods were a last resort to buy time when they were low on stamina.

This was instinctive behavior that emerged even when they were high on drugs, not something they consciously thought about and acted upon.

Should they be happy about it, or bitter?

‘For now… let’s think positively.’

Kleter stopped thinking and moved.

***

Naturally, the battle didn’t end in a single engagement.

The Demon King kept sending reinforcements, and the ‘extermination’ order remained unchanged.

It was fortunate that they didn’t send any commanders. Stigma Primiero was able to observe Deon Hart to some extent during these repeated battles.

The Deon Hart he observed seemed to be in a rather unstable state.

‘Is it because it’s a battlefield?’

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but it felt like a cracked dam with water precariously close to overflowing. Even a small pebble could cause a ripple, making the water surge and spill over. In a way, it was impossible to look away.

He looked dangerously fragile, but it was something no one else could fix. Stigma briefly wondered if the others hadn’t noticed, feeling a touch of disappointment, before turning his gaze elsewhere.

“Straighten your back. Shoulders back, and chin up slightly. Don’t swagger when you walk; maintain a steady gait. When speaking to people, make eye contact and speak elegantly.”

Advice as a ‘senior.’

It was a bit unexpected, but he had called him ‘senior,’ and he had acknowledged him as a ‘junior,’ so he should offer some help as a senior.

Deon Hart’s fighting style was the opposite of Stigma’s. Therefore, he couldn’t and shouldn’t interfere with that aspect. The only advice he could offer was ‘how to avoid being looked down upon.’

In more refined terms, it would be ‘the bearing of a noble.’

“If your subordinates look down on you, others will too. So, be a superior who is respected. It doesn’t matter how. Whether it’s respect born of fear or affection. Just show others that you are someone who deserves respect.”

Among the information he gathered while observing Deon Hart was information about his direct knight order, the Lofty Knights.

At first, he thought they were looking down on Deon Hart. But upon closer observation, he saw it.

“Junior, you are already overflowing with love, so all that’s left is to educate your knight order. How to express their ‘respect’ for an adored superior.”

Their blind affection for Deon Hart.