Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 423: Facing and Protecting (10)
Ding!
The warped quest window asserted its presence once more.
[Emergency Sub Quest: Show the dignity of a Hero!!!]
The exclamation marks at the end of the sentence had increased from one to three.
.......
Alberu was dumbfounded.
What dignity?
The dignity of a Hero. What the hell was that supposed to be?
It was absurd.
That said, he could not just ignore this quest.
The Sun God.
Just as Cale had predicted, Alberu had met the Sun God.
Of course, the way he had done so was completely different from Cale, but in any case, he had spoken with the Sun God.
It was better than I expected.
It had not been a bad conversation.
That was only natural, because the Sun God had not wanted to make Alberu an offer or strike a deal with him.
He had merely told Alberu how he himself would change going forward.
Saint Jack.
Unnamed 1, where the Roan Kingdom was located.
Jack, the saint of the Order of the Sun God there.
He said the saintess who succeeds him will come from among the Dark Elves.
The Order of the Sun God had long ostracized races close to dead mana, such as Dark Elves and necromancers.
And that had been because of the Sun God.
Yet that very Sun God had told Alberu, as a gesture of reconciliation, that the next saintess would come from among the Dark Elves.
And—
There was one more thing he had told Alberu.
The moment you wish to reveal your Dark Elf quarter appearance of your own will, I shall bestow the blessing of the sun upon you. So that no one may doubt your existence.
It was a remarkably considerate message.
If Alberu ever resolved, as crown prince, to reveal his true form, then the Sun God would once more unfold before him the legend connected to the Crossman royal family.
Of course, I have no intention of revealing myself.
Why would he?
There was no particular reason to do that.
That was how he felt.
There is no reason to needlessly throw the kingdom’s people into confusion and give rise to rumors.
And besides—
I need at least one form in which I can be free.
Playing the game this time had driven that home.
Alberu needed time to spend with his own people not as the crown prince, but as Alberu Crossman.
That was why he wanted to keep Alberu Crossman in his Dark Elf quarter appearance secret as well—for the sake of that “freedom.”
Ding!
[Emergency Sub Quest: Show the dignity of a Hero!!!!!]
The exclamation marks had increased to five.
Alberu could more or less guess why the Sun God was acting like this.
The first moment the real Sun God becomes connected to the Order of the Sun God in New World.
Even Alberu, with his eyes closed, could feel the people of the Order barely containing their excitement.
That was probably because they knew at least part of the truth.
Which was precisely why Alberu’s existence mattered.
Hero.
He was proof that the real and the artificial had both become reality and were now connected.
Haa. I really don’t want to do this.
It was not even for the sake of the Roan Kingdom, which made him even less inclined to bother.
Good grief.
In the end, he decided to just do it.
“Mm.”
Alberu deliberately let out a low sound first.
“Oh! It seems the Hero is about to awaken!”
He could hear Cale Henituse’s noisy voice.
That bastard was definitely enjoying this.
“Oh, Hero—!”
“The blessing of the sun shall descend!”
The voices of the Pope and the bishops rose, and Alberu slowly, naturally opened his eyes as though nothing were the matter.
“Hero!”
The detestable face of Cale Henituse came into view.
But Alberu merely curved his lips in a faint smile, as if it were nothing.
Hm?
Cale flinched.
That’s strange?
Alberu Crossman. The crown prince’s reaction was a little different from before.
He had looked like someone trying to avoid an awkward, embarrassing situation, but suddenly he was in crown prince mode.
Huh?
With a vague sense of unease, Cale began to subtly edge away from Alberu.
Tap.
But Alberu’s hand caught his shoulder.
Then Alberu slowly pushed himself upright.
“Ah—”
“Hero!”
The Pope, the saintess, and the bishops, who had not dared come too close to the center where sunlight poured down through the opening in the ceiling, slowly approached at the sight.
As the leadership of the Order of the Sun God, they had witnessed every miracle the Hero had performed.
A divine relic radiating the power of chaos.
While that divine relic dominated the space, sunlight striking the frozen surface of the water.
It had truly been wondrous.
Everything Cale had done had also been astonishing and wondrous enough in itself, but to them, the power of the Sun God naturally struck closer to the heart.
Step.
However, they could come no closer.
“Ah.”
“Mm.”
Because Alberu, having raised his upper body, lifted one palm to tell them not to approach.
Mm.
Cale let out a low sound.
Something about this was weird.
Why is he smiling so wistfully?
Alberu Crossman was wearing a bright, wistful smile.
Then he slowly rose to his feet.
He staggered slightly.
It had been nearly four days since he had moved his body.
“Ah!”
“H-Hero—”
But Alberu rejected every anxious gaze and every hand that reached toward him as if to support him, and stood straight.
Mm.
Cale decided the atmosphere was telling him he should not be standing beside Alberu.
He quietly took about three steps to the side.
That turned out to be a very good choice.
“......”
Alberu silently looked upward.
This place was the most central location within the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Papal Palace, the heart of the Order of the Sun God.
It was called the Hall of Light.
A circular cone-shaped structure that narrowed as it rose.
From the narrow ceiling, sunlight poured down.
Alberu gazed at it quietly, then placed a hand on his scabbard.
[Charging complete!]
He ignored the message that rang in his ears.
Instead, before drawing the sword, he lowered his head.
Then he looked at the Pope, the saintess, Sir Voltien, the bishops, and the others staring at him.
The wistful smile was already gone, replaced by a proud, dignified expression.
Alberu Crossman, crown prince, yet the man who was in practice ruling an entire nation.
This was a moment that laid bare the full force of his bearing.
“......”
“......”
The people of the Order could not easily open their mouths before this aspect of Alberu Crossman, who somehow seemed like more than someone who could simply be called a Hero.
Shing.
Alberu slowly drew his sword.
“Ah.”
The saintess looked at the sunlight pouring down from the ceiling and the identical sunlight now radiating from the sword, and was overcome with an emotion beyond words.
Even the saintess, who had stood above the gorge, had nearly found it hard to breathe under the power pouring from the divine relic of the God of Chaos.
And then that noble, dazzling light that had shone alone in the night when even the sun could not be seen.
The sight of the Hero at the center of that light, vomiting blood as he continued to create that radiance until it finally died out.
Drip.
The Pope was already shedding tears in silence.
“......”
Cale’s expression turned odd in the face of a scene so noble, solemn, and holy.
Huh.
It was ridiculous.
Alberu Crossman had drawn the sword like he was filming some grand movie scene, neither too fast nor too slow.
And he had done it with a truly excellent posture and expression.
That man never drew a sword like that in everyday life.
What he was doing right now was really—
-A poser.
The dominating aura did not say wrong things these days.
“......”
Having fully drawn the sword, Alberu swept his gaze across everyone once before speaking.
“The Sun God sent me here.”
The Pope’s mouth fell open.
“Ah, ah—just as I thought—!”
The saintess also squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again as she looked up at the sunlight.
“To think the life we had originally lived was false—”
Her voice held sorrow.
But at the same time, it also held exaltation.
“And yet even that falsehood will now become a true past.”
New World had now become a real world.
And as proof of that, not the Sun God assigned to them by the system, but the real Sun God had chosen to embrace them.
And as proof of that—
He sent us the Hero!
And not only that—
“From this day on, the sun will always shine upon you here as well.”
The Hero who would save this world!
Alberu Crossman looked heroic to anyone who saw him.
Especially when he spoke of the sun—it suited him so perfectly it might have been painted.
And the fact that even after being unconscious for four days and only just waking, he still wore that clear gaze and overwhelming dignity was more than enough to shake the hearts of the people of the Order of the Sun God.
“Hero.”
The Pope rose from his place.
He staggered slightly.
Others tried to support him, but he too rejected them and slowly approached Alberu.
There was something he had to do.
A task bestowed by the real Sun God.
“Bring it.”
At his gesture, several bishops moved and brought over a rather large box.
They carefully placed it between the Pope and Alberu, then stepped back.
“Sir Voltien.”
“Yes.”
Sir Voltien, the greatest holy knight of the Order of the Sun God, slowly opened the box.
Oh.
Cale was impressed.
Wow.
Inside lay a brilliantly dazzling and beautiful suit of pure white armor.
The Pope took a helmet from within it.
It was a helmet adorned with no jewels, no gold, no decoration of any kind, yet its elegant shape and its white sheen of unknowable composition seemed beyond extraordinary—holy.
“Hero.”
He carefully held the helmet out to Alberu.
“Will you become our Hero?”
Ding!
Along with the alert sound, a message appeared before Alberu.
[*You have reached the final stage to fulfill the conditions for being a Hero and using the Sun Sword!]
The reason Alberu had been told before that he lacked the qualifications.
The reason that, even though he was a Hero acknowledged by the Sun God, he had still lacked far too much power to use the Sun Sword.
It was because he had not yet been the officially recognized Hero of the Order of the Sun God.
It was absurd.
Alberu thought it was absurd, but when he considered it, it also made sense.
So he acted as heroically as possible.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to become your Hero.”
With those words, he accepted the helmet.
Drip.
The Pope shed a single tear, and Alberu turned a beautiful smile on him, giving him a look of consolation.
Good grief.
For some reason, Cale felt strangely empty, but he just stayed still.
Ding!
[*The more support you receive from the believers of the Sun God, and the greater the support for the Hero, the more your ability to use the Sun Sword will improve!]
Alberu felt a burden lift from his chest.
At any rate, I’ll be able to use it more easily than last time.
Unlike Cale Henituse, who had bled profusely, perhaps that would no longer happen now.
The Sun Sword. He did not know the limit of this sword, but if last time was the standard, then now Alberu felt instinctively that even if it drained him until he could not move, he would probably not end up vomiting blood or collapsing unconscious.
That’s settled.
Satisfied, Alberu turned his head.
His business here was done.
His gaze shifted to Cale.
“Ah.”
The Pope understood the meaning of that look and turned a benevolent smile toward Cale.
“The business of the Order of the Sun God is now concluded, so please continue.”
And what are you supposed to be?
Alberu looked at Cale with precisely that sort of gaze, and Cale lightly ignored it and put on a gentle smile.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Not at all. We must not miss this moment, when the power of the sun is at its strongest.”
It was currently a little past noon.
From now on, the sunlight pouring down through the ceiling would gradually diminish instead of filling the space completely.
“You said you must purify a divine relic of the God of Chaos?”
The Pope treated Cale with courtesy.
Through the saintess and the recording orb she had brought, he had seen the miracle Cale had performed.
He was someone even more remarkable than the Hero.
Purify a divine relic of the God of Chaos?
A strange light passed through Alberu’s eyes.
Whether he did or not, Cale calmly continued with what he had to say.
With perfect politeness.
“Yes. I need a sacred place untouched by the gaze of the God of Chaos.”
“Then there could be no place better than this.”
Since this had already been discussed to some extent, the Pope stepped back and left Cale to it.
Alberu too quietly retreated a little.
But his expression was deeply uneasy.
He’s purifying that?
The divine relic of the God of Chaos.
That knife had caused an enormous disaster.
It might be possible to purify it, but the process did not seem likely to be easy.
At the center of the light,
only Cale remained.
Everyone else stood in a circle around him, doing nothing but watching.
[Sub Quest: Obtain the skill ‘Purification of Chaos’!]
[Go to a sacred place untouched by the gaze of the God of Chaos and tear up the scripture of ‘Purification of Chaos’!]
[Sub Quest: Change the divine relic’s attribute to ‘nothingness’!]
[Go to a sacred place and subdue the ‘Knife of Chaos’!]
In truth, Cale had decided to use the purification of the divine relic of chaos as a pretext to deal with both of those quests at once.
Mm.
But the thing was—
Obtaining Purification of Chaos is easy enough.
All he had to do was tear up the scripture of purification here.
But how am I supposed to change this divine relic’s attribute to nothingness?
Cale pulled the divine relic, the Knife of Chaos, from his clothes.
Still gray-skinned, Cale quietly stared at the knife, which—unlike before—did not even tremble.
Mm.
Then he looked at the quest window again.
There was one word.
Just one word that really bothered him.
[Sub Quest: Change the divine relic’s attribute to ‘nothingness’!]
[Go to a sacred place and subdue the ‘Knife of Chaos’!]
Subdue it?
Subdue.
-Is that me?
The dominating aura jumped out.
Cale cleanly ignored it.
No. Should I try using the dominating aura just a little?
Cale let a very slight trace of the dominating aura rise from him. Very, very faintly—just enough that it would not frighten the others.
--.
The knife did not react.
Instead, the people around him swallowed dryly as they watched Cale, from whom a strange pressure was slowly beginning to radiate.
Cale ignored them and thought.
Mm.
Then, in the middle of thinking, he simply lifted his head without any real thought.
The sunlight was so dazzling that it made his eyes want to shut.
At that very moment—
-#$^
He heard some kind of voice.
Huh?
It was an unfamiliar voice.
Cale listened carefully.
But he could not make it out.
Could it be?
He opened his eyes.
It was so blinding that it felt as if tears might come.
-#$^
He heard the sound again.
The Sun God?
There was no way not to think that in this situation.
And the sound he heard was the same as before.
He strained his ears.
-Break.
Huh?
-.......
No further sound came.
Cale closed his eyes.
Drip.
A single tear rolled down his cheek.
The light was too bright.
“...Ah.”
A dignified hero, staring at the sun with a single tear falling from his eye.
One of the bishops unconsciously let out a sigh of admiration and clasped both hands together.
Whether they did or not, Cale opened his eyes.
When a single tear had run down, leaving only a faint track behind it—
“Your Holiness.”
“Yes?”
Cale made a request of the Pope, whose face had turned solemn.
“Would it be alright if I used the cloth on the floor?”
A thick cloth had been spread over the floor for Alberu, who had been lying there as if unconscious.
He had heard it was woven with thread imbued with holy water.
“Ah, yes. Please, by all means.”
The Pope readily granted permission for the cloth to be used.
“Thank you.”
Cale set the knife down on the corner of the thick but not especially soft cloth—the rectangular cloth about the size of Alberu himself, the one that had made Cale think Alberu’s back must have been aching while he lay on it.
?
Questions appeared on people’s faces.
“Ah.”
The saintess gasped softly.
“Could it be... are you trying to purify it by using the power bestowed by the Sun God as well?”
As the careful words left her mouth, a strange light entered the faces of those from the Order.
No, he’s not.
Alberu tilted his head to one side.
That’s exactly what he looks like right before he causes trouble.
Cale Henituse.
That bastard was pretending to be composed, but the corner of his mouth was twitching.
This felt deeply ominous.
“......”
But Cale said nothing and merely moved.
He set the Knife of Chaos on the corner of the cloth, then used that corner of the cloth to cover the top of the knife.
The knife was wrapped in the cloth.
Bzzzz—
The knif