The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

“Well, I can understand why Brother acted that way. Brother was quite twisted at that time. To begin with, he wasn’t someone who wanted to become a mercenary. From Brother Jade’s perspective, in a situation where everything was displeasing, seeing an ignorant youngster rampaging probably made him even more heated.”

That was a part Sera was very curious about too.

Considering Jade’s talent, if he had wanted to, he could have become a knight or anything else. No, for an A-rank mercenary, any noble would have somehow granted him knighthood and let him live as a knight. In other words, if he had wanted to, Jade could have lived as a quasi-noble, or with some social skills, even as a noble. There was no era where the walls of social status were lower than in times of chaos.

But Jade lived as a mercenary, retired, and went into seclusion. Sera had been curious too, but she couldn’t ask Jade directly. The person who best understands the feelings of someone dying from an incurable disease is someone else dying from the same incurable disease. And people dying from the same incurable disease don’t ask each other if they’re okay. Because they know best that they’re not okay.

Sera had experienced more tragedies than anyone and had more ‘secrets she didn’t want to talk about’ than anyone. That’s why she could immediately tell. That Jade also had such ‘secrets he didn’t want to talk about’.

Saying ‘I understand that pain well, so you can tell me’ is, in a way, arrogant, deceptive, and hypocritical. Judging oneself is ultimately one’s own responsibility, so Sera couldn’t ask. Perhaps because Sera looked like a child, there might be a line between what could and couldn’t be said within Jade, which made it even more impossible to ask.

“Can you tell me?”
“I don’t want to?”
“……”
“Your face is burning! Okay, okay. I’ll tell you. With Brother Jade’s personality, he probably wouldn’t talk about it even if he considered it precious. I was planning to tell you from the beginning anyway.”
“Then why didn’t you say so?”
“I was teasing you.”
“……”

Can I hit him?
Can I really hit him?

But she couldn’t hit him again after already beating him thoroughly. Above all, knowing that he’s an acquaintance of Master, hitting him is impossible. Because no more ‘incorrect information'(?) should reach Master’s ears. Although her leaving the Mercenary King Balik in a half-dead state for refusing her request was truly without even a speck of error as incorrect information, it had already been perfectly revised as incorrect information within her. Befitting the hero of infinite regression, her shamelessness was on a completely different level. It’s so shameless that it probably wouldn’t be pierced even by the legendary holy sword, so it wouldn’t be too wrong to say that no further explanation is needed.

“It’s a common thing. Even among knights who have been knighted, there are many who are no different from mercenaries or thugs. Among them, there are so many who cause trouble and then use their power as knights to make it disappear, you could form an army if you gathered them all. And when such people and low-quality nobles gather in one family… Tragedies occur almost daily.”
“No way…?”
“Yes, Brother Jade’s parents were completely trampled by those crazy nobles and knights. So although Brother’s personality was perfect for a knight… He couldn’t become one. It was knights who ruined his family, and nobles who backed those knights. Of course, you know there are those who aren’t like that. But in this crazy world, there are more of those who are.”

Sera knew that very well too.

No, no one knew it better than Sera. Sera was the one who had seen the bottom of how corrupt nobles shouting about honor and knights shouting about faith could become more than anyone else. It was fair to say that it was a truth that no one could know it better than her.

Nobles who shouted about honor bowed to the Demon King’s army to survive and licked their shoes with their tongues, and knights who shouted about faith cut down their lords to whom they had sworn loyalty with their swords to survive. In the end, they even aimed for the back of the hero fighting to save the world.

Honor and faith, which were praised as so beautiful, were as weak as a candle flame in the face of the world’s crisis of destruction.

‘That’s why I plan to thoroughly strip the nobles of their wealth and make the knights work hard.’

A hero warm and kind to everyone? Sera knew well that there’s no hero more powerless than that. Because what’s needed to unite in the face of the world’s destruction crisis is not something like goodwill.

The cold winter wind makes people realize on their own that they should be more careful, cherish, and work hard, but while people relax in the warm spring breeze, no one becomes stronger. And it’s so easy for malice to take root in such relaxed hearts.

Even statistically, it was so. While the harsh north fought to the end without surrendering to the Demon King’s army, the east, famous for its abundant resources, surrendered to the Demon King’s army before anyone else. Among them were lords who opened their castle gates themselves and welcomed the Demon King’s army. When she had just started her infinite regression and went to the east thinking there must be some reason, the betrayal Sera felt when she saw lords opening the gates themselves and bowing to the Demon King’s army generals… It was still unforgettable. As she still had faith in her own kind at that time, it could only feel more painful, and it was natural that the memory remained more intensely.

It wasn’t for nothing that Sera had given up on the world.

To that extent, there’s no end to the depths of human depravity, and after seeing it all, whether one should work so hard for humans… Even if they’re the same kind, it was inevitable that the will to do so would disappear.

And Jade also had to experience the taste of a terrible hell by facing the tragedy of losing his parents due to nobles and knights. She wanted to fly back to the past and save him. Unfortunately, her infinite regression was fixed at the point of hero candidate selection, so it was impossible.

If it had been possible, she was confident she would cut her own throat many times for it. But it was impossible. In a way, it might have been better for Jade. Even if his disciple regained his parents by cutting her throat multiple times, he wouldn’t have been happy at all. After all, if one is happy that family shed blood to save family, isn’t that already livestock, not family? For Jade, Sera could never be livestock.

“So Brother Jade became a mercenary. There’s no job that can swing a sword against nobles and knights as much as a mercenary. You can also earn a lot of money legally. But mercenaries are also full of filthy guys. Strong thugs become mercenaries because they want to act out somewhat legally, so… Anyway, Brother Jade had no choice but to go through a stormy period like young knights might.”

‘If you’re going to defend, defend properly. In the end, you’re just saying Master went through a stormy period like young knights…’

Her expression almost crumpled due to Balik, who couldn’t even defend Master properly because he was dumb, but befitting the hero of infinite regression, she maintained a perfect poker face. She had mastered expression management in the early stages of infinite regression. For her, it was as simple as breathing exercises.

No matter what anyone said, Balik was the one holding the information, and Sera was the desperate one, so Sera managed her expression and even tilted her head in an effort to gain information about Master.

“But how did you become close?”
“I chased after him. How should I put it? He seemed like someone you couldn’t help but care about just by looking at him.”

Sera couldn’t help but nod and acknowledge that the assessment of Mercenary King Balik, who was said to have terrible intuition despite being dumb, was so accurate. To see such an aspect in someone going through a stormy period. At that level, couldn’t he be considered to have insight? …Although looking at how dumb he is, it doesn’t seem possible at all.

“As expected, Brother taught me various things. Especially, he focused on teaching me how to survive long as a mercenary. No matter what anyone says, it was largely thanks to Brother that I’ve survived until now and even sat in the Mercenary King’s seat. That’s why I once asked him to be my master…”

Clang!

“Is that the mouth that said such nonsense?”
“…Hey. If you’re going to be like that, just speak casually.”
“Ah. I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”
“Are you saying you’ll cut me by mistake? Really?”
“So what’s next?”
“Wow! You’re just like Brother Jade’s disciple, so shameless!”
“Thank you for the compliment. More than compliments, what’s the next story?”

For Sera, being told she resembles Jade was the highest compliment in this world, so she couldn’t help but thank Balik for giving her such an unexpected compliment. So she sincerely thanked him and urged for the next story.

Of course, for Balik…

“……”

He could only look at Sera with an admiring(?) gaze.

It was a moment when Balik, the Mercenary King famous for always making others shut their mouths and look at him with admiring(?) gazes, for the first time closed his mouth and looked at Sera with an admiring(?) gaze. For Balik, who thought he would hold the title of ‘the one who receives the most admiring(?) gazes’ to the end even if not the Mercenary King position, it was a fresh shock in itself.

“Well, I was rejected. That’s why I still call him Brother.”
“Phew”

Sera couldn’t help but sigh in relief at not losing the title of the only disciple.

“……”

Seeing Sera genuinely relieved, Balik decided not to mention that the mercenaries who had learned various things from Jade during his mercenary days, including himself, still regarded Jade as their master.

If he said such a thing, he felt he would suffer indiscriminate violence and then hear nonsense like ‘Oh my. By mistake.’

As mentioned several times

Balik was a man with terrible intelligence but extremely good intuition.

With that intuition, he had been able to choose life many times on the line between life and death, and even at this moment, he could choose life on the clearly existing line between life and death.

It was the best outcome as Sera could be relieved thinking ‘I am indeed the only disciple’, and Balik had escaped the crisis of death, so it could be seen as the best outcome for both sides.

…Of course, considering Balik’s half-dead physical state, no one could directly say to Balik himself, “It’s the best outcome,” but that’s beside the point.