NOVEL WEB Chapter 12
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“So, writer, please… help me out here.”
“Uh… what do you want me to do?”
“Dig up the empire’s ugly past and reveal the truth to everyone. I’m not looking for any rewards or anything, just… the truth, only the truth.”
“Ugh…”
I turned my gaze to Eve and Rian.
“…Can you take responsibility for that statement?”
Eve asked Lathe in a rather forceful manner.
“Our empire is the most powerful nation, and that’s thanks to our ancestors’ achievements. What you just said is, in essence, a denial of that history.”
“You are…?”
“Eve Nias, Second Princess of the Nias Empire.”
“!! Royalty..!”
Lathe clenched her fists tightly, seemingly ready to kill Eve at any moment.
“Whoa there! Chill out! Our Princess Eve hasn’t done anything wrong?! And if you lay a finger on her, even I won’t be able to help you!”
“…Alright, I got a bit carried away there.”
I managed to calm her down by holding her shoulders.
That was close!
“Um… So, Lathe, I think you need to prove that you’re a hero first…”
“If I could’ve done that, I would have done it ages ago.”
Oh, right! You said nobody believed you when you went to the palace before.
“Um… do you have something like a holy sword?”
“Haven’t seen it since I opened my eyes in the water. No matter how much I look for it, it’s nowhere to be found, and it never responds when I call for it.”
“What about a divine beam or something?”
“Sadly, that’s only for saints. Even if I had a holy sword, it could only be a blade of divine light, not a beam.”
“Uh… the Hero’s Mark?”
“If I had that, I would have shown it by now.”
“No answers, huh.”
“Right. All I’ve got left is this unnecessarily sturdy body.”
“…Wait a second. How about proving it with your body?”
“What?”
“As a hero, there should be something distinctly different about you, right? Like, maybe higher regeneration or some standout feature.”
“The only standout thing I have is my swordsmanship. Everything else isn’t impressive compared to my party members. My holy power is comparable to a high priest but doesn’t even come close to a saint, I’m faster than a night wolf but slower than a thief. I’m sturdier than a golem but weaker than a tank, and while I can use all the magic up to 7th circle, I can’t cast 9th circle magic like a mage.”
“…Found it! A way to prove it!”
“What?”
“You see, there’s no one in this world who has every stat maxed out except for heroes.”
***
Since I couldn’t just tell them, I had to show them directly to prove it.
While I was overjoyed, Eve and Rian looked troubled.
“Hah… Zech, do you really think people will believe this?”
“A real hero… how can this be…”
“Princess, Prince, this is your second chance.”
“Second chance?”
“A hero who was betrayed came once and got kicked out. If they get kicked out a second time, who knows what will happen the third time? I’m already out of the palace, if next time I take the whole palace with me, what’ll you do?”
“…”
My words seemed to resonate, and Eve began to ponder.
“…Zech, do you really think our ancestors did such things?”
“Well… nobody knows about past events except the people who lived through them. History is written by the victors.”
“So you think that’s what happened.”
“Ahem.”
I had to be careful not to get myself killed, so I hoped for neutrality.
“…First of all, Lathe?”
“What is it, Your Highness?!”
Lathe replied, suppressing her rising anger.
“Honestly, your body possesses abilities that wouldn’t be possible unless you were a hero. But even if we are convinced, there will still be many who won’t. Haven’t you ever been to the temple?”
“…Been there, but the gods didn’t answer me. I prayed so ardently…”
She mumbled that the gods must have abandoned her.
But.
“Hmm… Could it be there’s a reason why the gods couldn’t help?”
My thoughts were different.
It happens sometimes at the bar.
“Maybe they couldn’t help because they were too weak, or perhaps they warned late after the disaster happened.”
Like that moment when a god goes berserk after a hero gets killed, saying, “How dare you kill my chosen hero! You shall all perish!”
Or when the hero seeking revenge meets the god and gets told, “Sorry I couldn’t help… I was too weak…”
It feels like it’s one of those two scenarios.
If the gods really abandoned me, well, the fact that I was born in this world might mean they wanted me to suffer, so let’s hopes that’s not the case.
“What do you mean! I prayed almost every day, and during crucial moments, I even got revelations! Like this! Hands together!”
Lathe shouted while folding her hands in prayer.
And at that moment.
-Fhwaaaak!
“Huh!”
Suddenly, a beam of white light came down upon us.
“Aaaah!”
“Ugh!”
“W-What is…!”
“Zoltrac!!”
My brother, who was slightly further away, wasn’t hit, but the four of us were all caught in it and felt it with our bodies.
After a moment, the light faded away.
“Hah… what do we do now…”
“How can this be…”
The two royals looked even more confused than before.
“Goddess…?”
Lathe was flustered,
“Please, I can’t write anymore.”
I was about to fall behind on my works.
“So, I’m the only one who didn’t see anything, right?”
“Yeah. I saw the past that I heard earlier.”
“Me too.”
The two royals said they saw the past.
“I… met the goddess…”
“Did she speak to you?”
“She apologized, saying she was so sorry for being the god of this world…”
Lathe conversed with the goddess.
And I…
“No way, this can’t be happening. No matter how many fragments I get, this isn’t right!”
I saw the future where I wrote to reveal the truth.
This must be… a revelation.
‘A revelation from the god to create more works.’
This is just horrendously ridiculous.
***
We returned to the imperial palace.
My brother got separated in between, but…
Let’s just skip over the fact that people nearly went into hysterics at my return, Lathe somehow managed to get Eve and Rian into the guest room.
“You’ve been through a lot, writer.”
I have no idea why I ended up in the same room as her.
When Eve said to some high-ranking official that “this person can speed up the writer’s publication rate,” they just let me in.
Eventually, when I returned, the first words the emperor joyfully exclaimed were,
“Volume 2!”
I suppose he was more interested in Volume 2 than me.
After some formal greetings, I shut myself in the room.
It was a little noisy outside the door, but I ignored it and just wrote like crazy.
I was getting Lathe to review everything I wrote.
And then, a week after my return.
My book that came out in the world wasn’t titled “Support Disbandment,” but…
***
After about a week, Check Writer had returned to the imperial palace.
We still don’t know who the kidnappers are, but there were rumors that the woman who was also abducted could make Check Writer’s writing speed faster, which made people incredibly hopeful.
It still took about a week as usual, but… what does it matter? I believed it would get faster from now on.
People were now looking forward to the reward titled “Support Disbandment Volume 2” –
“Huh?”
Those waiting in line for what they thought was “Support Disbandment Volume 2” realized that the title of the book was different.
[The Betrayed Hero Has Returned.]
“W-What? Is this some kind of bonus edition about the Betrayer Hero?”
The Betrayed Hero Does Not Return.
The Betrayed Hero Has Returned.
With nearly identical titles, people thought, “Well, if it’s not Support Disbandment, that’s okay. A Betrayer Hero sounds good too!” and without much thought, they opened the book.
But instead of starting with the usual novel content or even a subtitle, they saw a phrase they had never encountered before.
[This novel is based on a true story.]
“This novel is based on a true story…? Is Check Writer writing from his own experiences?”
Since many people had published their personal stories, nobody thought much of it and flipped to the next page.
And before long, everyone began to sweat profusely.
“What the hell is this..?”
[I beheaded the Demon King. It meant everything was over.]
[I wanted to hurry back to my companions and be welcomed by the people while living happily.]
[Right, let’s first make a dinner appointment.]
[The food served in the palace is luxurious and delicious, but the beer that goes with the pub’s food is an entirely different delicacy.]
[I thought of such happy things.]
[Ugh?!]
[Before I lost consciousness from being struck at the back of my head.]
The first paragraph was about beheading the Demon King.
This could only be something a hero could accomplish; it was impossible for the writer, Zech, to have that experience.
Then…?
I flipped back to the first page.
[This novel is based on a true story.]
For some reason, that phrase looked different to me.
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