The Former Hero Begins to be Re-evaluated

‘To think Herald would fall…’
The prime minister of the Empire was faced with an unbelievable fact.
The knight newly selected as the hero this time, Herald. Even now, the news of his death was hard to believe.
Herald was a man who had long served as a knight and knight commander in the Empire.
Although he was old now, his strength was by no means weak.
For such a man to be killed by the Demon Lord, it inevitably led to many thoughts.
However, apart from that, the current situation seemed strange to the prime minister.
“What did the hero party members do? What were you doing until Herald died?”
Is it normal for only the hero to die?
Common sense would suggest that the hero and hero party members went to the Demon Lord together.
In the first place, since they are a party, there’s no reason for the hero to go alone against an enemy like the Demon Lord.
So, if the hero party was defeated by the Demon Lord, the hero couldn’t have died alone.
There’s no reason for the Demon Lord to kill only the hero and spare the rest of the party members.
If they were defeated by the Demon Lord and the hero died, probably the party members would have died the same way.
Of course, the prime minister wasn’t hoping for the party members to die or anything like that.
It’s just that this situation was clearly strange.
That’s why he had to ask the reason.
“…”
The party members were silent for a moment at that question.
They looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Among them, the first to step forward was Ayla, the saint of the hero party.
“We had no choice. Herald said he would go alone…”
She reported what had happened before.
Herald said he would go to the Demon Lord alone, and the party members just respected that, she said.
Then why?
“What was the reason for that?”
“We… we don’t know.”
She couldn’t explain the reason.
Ayla seemed to be slightly evading the answer.
“Do you swear to God that this is not a lie?”
Is that really true?
No matter how he thought about it, it was nonsense.
For the hero to deliberately go alone to the Demon Lord… The prime minister couldn’t believe it.
“I swear to God it is not a lie.”
However, Ayla swore.
For a cleric, swearing in God’s name is absolutely not a simple matter.
Swearing to God is like putting everything on the line.
If she proves it to that extent, her words must absolutely not be a lie.
“Then… what on earth.”
If so, Herald made the decision to go to the Demon Lord alone, but what could be the reason for that?
The prime minister couldn’t understand.
There must have been a reason why he had to make such a choice…
Could he have become senile?
Considering Herald’s age, it’s quite possible, but there’s no confirmation.
Or are the hero’s party members hiding something?
Since the dead Herald couldn’t be called back, the prime minister was at a loss.
“Sigh… Who should we entrust the fate of the Empire to now?”
In the end, the hero died and the Demon Lord is still alive.
Putting aside the reason, this current situation was the biggest problem.
The trusted Herald died, and the hero position became vacant again.
Is there anyone who can replace Herald?
Now that Herald has died, who should be entrusted with subjugating the Demon Lord?
Just as the prime minister was sighing,
“I will do it.”
Someone came forward saying they would become the hero.
“Knight Commander Alex?”
When the prime minister turned his head to look at that person, there stood a young knight commander different from Herald, Alex.
The prime minister was a bit surprised at Alex’s words.
“You’re saying you’ll be the hero?”
“Yes. I will subjugate the Demon Lord.”
Certainly, Alex was also a man who had been coveting the hero position.
So he must be interested in the now vacant hero position.
“But… even Herald couldn’t do it… how could you?”
However, it wasn’t very convincing.
Although Herald was old, his skills were considered the best in the Empire.
So, could Alex, who is considered weaker than Herald, really subjugate the Demon Lord?
There was no confidence in that.
So the prime minister couldn’t help but hesitate.
The hero position was too important to handle with just a young man’s spirit.
“Because Herald couldn’t do it, I should be able to do it.”
Alex told the prime minister not to worry at all.
“Knight Commander Herald is certainly strong. I’ve lost to him many times too. But he’s old. No matter how great his technique is, he’s just an old man.”
Alex, who wasn’t on very good terms with Herald usually, didn’t speak very well of Herald.
“I should be stronger now.”
But he was confident he wasn’t inferior compared to him.
Alex’s face was full of confidence.
“…”
Looking at Alex like that, the prime minister had to think for a moment.
Herald is by no means weak.
It’s not for nothing that he’s called the Empire’s greatest knight.
But as Alex said, he was indeed an old knight.
It wasn’t an appropriate age to be a hero.
Compared to that, Alex’s age could be considered very appropriate.
All the past heroes were active at about Alex’s age.
But still… he was worried.
Is he really stronger than Herald?
Alex?
In his opinion, Alex was just young, but couldn’t be said to be superior to Herald.
Every time he said he was stronger, it was Alex who lost to Herald.
In a normal situation, the prime minister would never have made Alex the hero.
“Alright. We’ll proceed with the inauguration ceremony shortly.”
But now wasn’t a normal situation.
A new hero was needed now.
The prime minister is thinking of making Alex the hero once.
It might be that Alex is really stronger than Herald.

#

‘Should I have eaten together before parting?’
After parting with Ria, I entered a nearby restaurant.
It’s not that I didn’t eat during the long journey, but I couldn’t eat properly.
Even if I wasn’t hungry, my heart was hungry.
I ordered food to eat something human-like after a long time, and waited.
Naturally, I couldn’t help but think about Ria whom I had just parted with.
Should I have parted a bit later?
It’s not regret, but it felt like some thoughts remained.
Because this might really be the last appearance.
Can Ria really do well?
‘She’ll do fine. Well.’
Although there are many worries and the situation can’t be said to be good, I still believe she’ll do well.
There’s no particular basis for thinking like that.
Just a feeling, should I say? I think if I visit in about 1 to 2 years, she’ll welcome me as an excellent queen.
By then, won’t she have changed unrecognizably?
Ah… what could such a kid do.
‘Hmm…? A newspaper?’
While thinking such pointless thoughts as I waited for my food, a newspaper caught my eye.
Did someone leave it after reading in the restaurant?
I naturally picked up the newspaper.
‘It’s today’s. Should I read it?’
I hadn’t read a newspaper for a few days.
I couldn’t read during the journey to the Kingdom of Artes.
Since there’s a newspaper, it wouldn’t be bad to read it.
Most of it will be stories about the Empire anyway…
Of course, it’s not that I’m interested in the Empire or reading it because of that.
“Herald died?”
When I read the newspaper like that, the first thing that caught my eye was Herald’s death.
The newspaper said that Herald, who was appointed as the new hero, died during the battle with the Demon Lord.
Quite shocking news. Is it okay to announce a hero’s death so easily…? I had such thoughts, but thinking about it, it was understandable.
Normally, the Empire would immediately control such news. There was nothing good about revealing it.
But the fact that they couldn’t means the Empire must be in such a chaotic state.
Certainly, when the hero dies, there’s no余裕 to care about other things.
“I expected it, but still.”
Learning of Herald’s death, I felt a bit bitter.
Well, it’s not that I expected Herald wouldn’t die.
I was certain that with Herald’s skills, if he faced that Demon Lord I know, he would definitely die.
But still, there’s such a thing.
I didn’t view Herald that badly after all.
It must be the end of a knight who served the wrong country…
“So the next news is…”
Deciding to move on from the unpleasant news, I looked for and read the next news.
“What? They selected a new hero?”
And I could see quite shocking news.
It was news that they had already selected a hero not long after Herald’s death.
They’ve already selected a new hero?
When a hero dies, a new hero is selected. It’s not particularly strange content, but thinking carefully, it was quite strange.
Strange…? There shouldn’t be a knight stronger than Herald?
Because there was no talent to be selected as a hero.
I know most of the Empire’s knights.
As far as I know, there were no knights stronger than Herald, so who on earth did they choose as the hero?
I continued reading the newspaper out of curiosity.
“What? Alex?”
And I learned the identity of the new hero.
“No, why are they making this bastard the hero?”
I exclaimed.
In irony, of course.
At this point, I wonder if the Empire is determined to perish.