Chapter 94

“The snow of the Northern Region… is stopping.”

The Beast of End, which had been sealed beneath the Realm, has been defeated.

The chill that had turned the North into a hellish winter was fading, and the snow that seemed like it would never melt was gradually thawing, restoring the North to its original state.

Of course, the Monsters that had crossed over from the Demon World and formed a new ecosystem were still alive, with a few survivors remaining, but many of those Monsters had perished in this war, so if they continued their extermination operations, they would eventually be able to wipe out all the Monsters that had taken root in the North.

Valencia believed this with a hopeful expression.

In fact, the number of Monsters that had died in this war was staggering, and if they continued their extermination efforts, the population would decrease instead of increase, eventually leading to extinction.

If that were to happen, the Realm would no longer be a dangerous place.

That had been the long-standing goal of the Duke of Erghart…

“Did we really do it?”

“No way…”

“The legendary Monsters… I…”

As they succeeded in defeating the Monsters, many students shed tears of joy.

Of course, some students seemed to think that they had personally exterminated a disaster-level Monster, but their words weren’t entirely wrong.

In the end, each and every one of them had succeeded in the extermination of the Monsters…

“I thought I was going to die…”

“Ha, hahahaha…”

Some students, who believed that it was their own lives at stake if they didn’t defeat the Monsters, were exhausted and collapsed on the spot.

Well, that wouldn’t have happened, but had they not succeeded, they would have retreated, leading the North to be completely overrun, and the many Monsters would have advanced down to the Empire, inflicting catastrophic damage even if they could have fought back.

Considering the possibility of the Demon King Army attacking while the Empire was weakened, it could be viewed as a national crisis.

Well… I was indulging in a hot spring bath within a Monster’s body, so I didn’t really know how the war was unfolding.

Even if not all of them, the number of Monster corpses strewn about made it hard to believe that it was all Valencia’s doing, so the students seemed to have done surprisingly well.

At least the students from the Department of Magic surely contributed by firing magic from a distance.

‘That being said, it’s impressive that there are no dead among the soldiers other than those who were injured or gravely wounded…’

With even a great magician and a Sword Master present, it was said that one person could change the tide of battle… Although it was true that everyone fought to ensure no one died, the front line had been pushed back to the brink of defeat, but Evan awakening and successfully exterminating the Monsters was certainly a good outcome.

In fact, the initial raid boss monster had been expected for Evan to awaken, and precautions were taken so that no one would die…

With each of them being elite soldiers, the count of those severely wounded showed just how formidable this batch of Monsters had been.

‘Is this… an early story raid?’

I didn’t understand.

I wondered how weak they had been compared to what they were meant to be…

A sigh escaped me.

Meanwhile, Valencia, surveying the scattered corpses of the Monsters that had been defeated, turned to Argen and spoke.

“I will quantify and submit the corpses of those Monsters to the Academy.”

The corpses of the Monsters were quite valuable individually.

The magical stones inside them were, of course, invaluable, but the materials were so valuable that for top-tier Monsters, they were worth whatever price someone would pay.

Yet here on this battlefield lay corpses of Monsters that were at worst mid-tier; practically everything around could almost be viewed as money.

This meant that the Academy was expected to receive a massive amount of funding.

“Hm? There’s no need to go too far.”

“No, if it weren’t for you, Argen, and those kids… the North would have fallen today. They have done a great deed.”

That was true.

The soldiers of the North and those dispatched from the Empire would have struggled to hold back so many Monsters on their own.

The students of the Academy, being skilled magicians, were able to cast many protective spells and bombardment magic to halt the Monsters’ advance.

The students from the Department of Swordsmanship, being potential prodigies, surely did not become dead weight…

Had there been no students from the Academy, Argen, and especially Evan, the Hero, and myself, the Saint, the North would have been devoured by Monsters.

However, Argen chuckled, waving his hand dismissively.

“Hoho, this incident means there will be a lot more work to do in the North, so it’s not necessary to give everything.”

That was an unexpected response.

I never thought he would refuse.

Valencia, further moved by this, bowed her head and expressed gratitude.

It was a nice scene.

Though I couldn’t see it with my own eyes.

“We too… sincerely want to express our gratitude, Saint.”

“[… Yes, yes?!]”

Huh?

Wait a second…?

“If it weren’t for you, our clan would have been exterminated down in the underground.”

“[Eh…?]”

What? What happened?

I thought they were all dead?!

‘Weren’t all the people in the village there?’

When did they make it here?

Oh, and it seemed that the Monsters awoke while I was meeting with the Matimos tribe and went down, but wouldn’t it be strange to escape in such a brief moment?

As I was in a state of shock, all the members of the Matimos tribe approached me and lowered their heads.

As more and more Matimos people revealed themselves, my questions only grew.

How could they all be here?

“Thanks to the Saint providing us a hint regarding this incident, we were able to find a way to escape.”

“[Ah…]”

Was there a way to escape all along?

Or had they prepared in advance?

It seemed odd to ask how they escaped, so I just decided to let it go.

As long as they were all alive, that was enough…

And…

“Wow… Evan! Your hair color is fascinating!”

“I don’t feel like this is the Evan I knew…”

“Hey… can I let it down?”

“No!”

Evan had become the main attraction of a zoo.

His hair had turned completely white since awakening as the Hero, and his eyes shone with a golden hue.

I could only see the form but couldn’t tell what color it was, so it didn’t seem like he’d changed much.

Or was it that nothing had changed at all?

Although I felt as if he became more serious and his face sharper with each awakening.

He probably didn’t notice.

“I’m embarrassed…”

“Really cool!”

“It is somewhat cool.”

“Ah, ahaha…”

– Popular, aren’t you, Evan?

“I-I’m popular…”

But I felt somewhat uncomfortable.

I should be feeling happy that I was surrounded by two lovely girls, but instead, I felt like he was showing off…

In any case, seeing him awkwardly smile amid the beautiful Uriel and Stella made me feel like he was bragging, which I really didn’t like.

It felt strange…

I should definitely be happy about it.

‘I don’t care; I’ll just go treat some injured people.’

Trying my best to ignore Evan, I decided that I needed to head out to see the injured from the recent war.

I should go get some healing.

*

Surrounded by Uriel and Stella, Evan awkwardly smiled as he suddenly looked down at the necklace.

Now, staring at the necklace that showed no reaction again, Evan fell into thought.

‘What were those memories and sensations at that time?’

Strange memories surfaced momentarily…

I couldn’t recall what those memories were precisely.

It was vague enough that it was questionable to even call them memories.

Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call them sensations?

Even that felt like a dream that I had just woken up from, slowly fading away, not quite remembered, but warm and sad… filled with a sense of regret.

And at some point… I found myself crying while holding Aria.

‘What was that longing sensation…’

What was the nostalgic sensation that enveloped my whole body as soon as I hugged Aria?

No matter how much I tried to recall that moment, or think deeply about it, I could only remember awakening as a Hero… and the technique I had used named “Divine Punishment” against the Monsters.

Aside from that, I still did not know.

I really… don’t know.

Truly…