Chapter 1: The Hero of [Resurrection] Falls into the Abyss

"Hero Elott, you are suspected of assaulting the princess!"

"N-No, wait! I didn't do anything like that!"

My name is Elott.

Right now, I am being judged for a crime I have no memory of committing.

It happened the day after I defeated the Demon King lurking in the deepest part of the dungeon and returned to my homeland, the Ixion Kingdom.

I was resting in the room granted to me by the king when soldiers suddenly dragged me out of bed.

Before I could even process what was happening, they clamped Hero Shackles on me and hauled me to the grand hall where the king and the prominent nobles of the Ixion Kingdom awaited.

The king spoke to me in a solemn voice.

"...Numerous servants witnessed you visiting the room of my daughter, Melia, in the dead of night."

"T-That was because Her Highness the Princess asked me to come to her room late at night...!"

I frantically tried to defend myself, but the king simply snorted, completely ignoring my plea.

"Hmph. So you refuse to admit your guilt to the bitter end? Then I have no choice. Melia, tell them honestly what he did to you."

The one who stepped forward at the king's prompting was the First Princess of the Ixion Kingdom, Melia le Ixion.

She was a beautiful woman with lovely blonde hair and flawless features.

Melia had tears in her eyes, her shoulders trembling as if she were terrified of me.

"I-In the middle of the night, Elott-sama suddenly came to visit me, forced his way into my room, and then he just..."

"That's a lie! Her Highness really did call for me!"

"I'm so disappointed in you, Elott!"

"G-Grain..."

Gently embracing the weeping Melia, a handsome man nearly two meters tall glared at me.

His name was Grain.

He was the comrade I trusted most, my best friend who had survived countless life-or-death battles by my side.

And now, that same best friend was looking at me with absolute contempt.

"Grain! I really didn't do it! You have to believe me!"

"Ha, you've got some nerve. Then why is Princess Melia crying like this?"

"I-I don't know! It's some kind of misunderstanding!"

"...I'm truly disappointed in you, you piece of trash."

"G-Grain..."

Grain seemed entirely convinced that I had assaulted the princess, and no matter how much I pleaded, he wasn't going to believe me.

I looked around the room once more.

Everyone in the grand hall, from the nobles to the king himself, was looking at me like I was a criminal.

One of them stepped forward.

"This is quite unsightly, Sir Hero."

"D-Duke Bloodred..."

Kooz von Bloodred.

He was the head of the Bloodred Dukedom, which had supported the kingdom since ancient times, and the tactician of the royal army.

We had saved each other's lives on the battlefield multiple times, and despite our age gap, I thought of him as a friend.

Yet even he was looking down on me.

"Just to be sure, I will ask you one more time. Do you truly claim to have no memory of this?"

"I don't!"

"Oh? If you intend to play dumb, we have no other choice. Let us have the witness testify."

"W-Witness?"

"Saint Nia, if you would be so kind as to testify?"

"...Yes."

The blonde girl waiting behind Count Bloodred stepped forward.

Her name was Nia.

Like Grain, she was my comrade, the Saint who served as our party's healer.

And she was the girl who had just become my lover after I confessed to her the night before.

She, out of everyone, would surely believe me!

"Nia! It wasn't me! This is some sort of mistake! Please believe me!"

"...I am so sorry."

Nia apologized in a voice so quiet that almost no one could hear it, before stepping next to Grain, who was shielding Melia.

"The Hero has been persistently making advances on me for some time now... even though I am already in a relationship with Grain-sama."

"...Huh? W-What are you saying...?"

"Perhaps, after I rejected him, he set his sights on Her Highness the Princess instead."

I was at a loss for words.

Even Nia, who had wept tears of joy and accepted my confession just yesterday, was now calling me a criminal who tried to assault the princess.

Unable to comprehend what was happening, I was just utterly bewildered.

"Y-You've got to be kidding me! I'm innocent! Your Majesty, I swear to the Goddess, I didn't do it!"

"...To invoke the name of the revered Goddess and still refuse to admit your crime. Had you honestly confessed here, I might have considered granting you a pardon in light of your achievements in defeating the Demon King. But alas. Melia, tell them the rest."

"Yes, Father. ...While he was violating me, the Hero said, 'I'm going to kill the king and make every woman in this country mine.'"

"D-Don't make up such blatant lies!"

I couldn't help but yell at her.

At that, Melia let out a small shriek and clung to Grain's arm, pressing her chest against him.

Grain smirked, looking down at me while enjoying the sensation.

"You're the lowest of the low, Elott. Yelling at a girl to cover up your own crimes."

"L-Like I said, that's—"

That was when it hit me.

I realized that both Grain and the princess were sporting the same wicked smiles.

"Grain! You! You set me up!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. First you blame Melia, and now you're blaming me? You're absolute scum."

"Your Majesty! Please listen to me!"

I pleaded desperately, but the king delivered his cold verdict.

"Former Hero Elott, you are hereby exiled to The Great Hole for the crimes of assault and high treason!"

"N-No, wait! Your Majesty! I am innocent! It's a conspiracy by those two!"

"...Take him away."

"I didn't do it! This is all a plot cooked up by Grain and the princess!"

No matter how loud I screamed, no one believed me.

I was dragged away by the soldiers and thrown into the royal castle's underground dungeon.

Over the next few days until my execution, I was relentlessly beaten and kicked by the guards.

Apparently, it was retaliation for my supposed outrage against the beloved princess.

Normally, a Hero's body wouldn't be fragile enough to sustain damage from such beatings.

However, the Hero Shackles clamped on my wrists seemed to have the effect of reducing a Hero's physical abilities to those of a normal human.

Thanks to that, breaking out of the cell was out of the question.

Exposed to this one-sided violence, my spirit completely broke.

And by the time I stopped caring about anything at all, the day of my execution arrived.

"So this is... The Great Hole..."

The Great Hole.

It was a massive vertical chasm over a kilometer in diameter, located on the borders of the Ixion Kingdom. It was so deep and dark that you couldn't see the bottom.

You could call it an execution ground exclusively for Heroes.

Rumor had it that the bottom of The Great Hole connected to hell, or that it was swarming with terrifying monsters, but no one knew the truth.

This Great Hole began to be used as an execution ground for Heroes over a millennium ago.

In the distant past, there was a Hero who had committed a crime.

That Hero reportedly possessed power so immense that they could even overcome death, surviving even if their limbs were torn off or their head was severed.

It is said that the king of that era threw that Hero into this Great Hole to punish them by any means necessary.

Even if the Hero didn't die, it was to ensure they could never return to the surface.

Ever since then, convicted Heroes have been exiled to this Great Hole.

With my physical abilities degraded by the Hero Shackles, I'm pretty sure a simple guillotine would have been enough to kill me, but I guess they just wanted to be absolutely sure.

"Now, we shall banish the former Hero Elott into The Great Hole!"

The executioner declared loudly, and at the same time, the gathered crowd began to throw stones at me.

Among them were people I had once saved.

Even though they had tearfully thanked me right after I rescued them, now they were eagerly joining in on the stoning.

Smack! A stone hit my head, sending a dull ache through my skull.

Even as blood poured profusely from my head, not a single person stopped throwing stones.

As I stood there in a daze from the blood loss, I suddenly remembered the words of a certain someone.

"Why don't we put an end to this Hero and Demon King business? All this fighting is just pointless, isn't it?"

Those were the words of the Demon King I had killed.

I had been consumed by rage when my home village was attacked by monsters and I lost my family and friends, but thinking back on it now, I think he was right.

I fought for revenge, for my country, for the people, and my reward was a death sentence for a crime I never committed.

It really was just pointless.

Though understanding the Demon King's words now was a little too late.

"You look pathetic, Elott."

"...Grain."

Right before the execution was carried out, Grain spoke to me for some reason.

"What do you want?"

"Don't be so hostile. I just thought I'd tell you the truth before you die."

"...The truth? I already know you colluded with the princess to have me killed."

Grain clicked his tongue, perhaps irritated that I was so calm in the face of my execution.

Even so, he clearly wanted to tell me something, a wicked smirk plastered on his face.

"Heroes get stronger the more monsters they kill, right?"

"What about it?"

"Eventually, a Hero becomes too strong for humans to handle. So once they defeat the Demon King, they just slap some convenient crime on them and execute them."

"...So it was a kingdom-wide conspiracy."

Well, I had faintly suspected as much the moment I realized the princess was in on framing me.

No wonder pleading my innocence to the king was completely pointless.

"And? Are you done talking? I don't care about anything anymore, so just leave me alone."

"Whoa there, I'm actually grateful, you know? Thanks to you, my marriage to the princess is set in stone. The script is that I grew close to her while comforting her after she was violated by the lowest trash of a Hero, leading to us tying the knot."

"Good for you. Congratulations. You have my blessing."

Grain's face twitched at my hollow words of congratulation, but he kept going.

"Hey, Elott. Want me to save you?"

"...If I ask for help, will you actually save me?"

"Pfft, as if, you idiot! This is my big chance to show up all those guys who thought I was just an extra tagging along with the Hero! You'd better die properly for my sake!"

"...I never once thought of you as an extra."

That was the honest truth, devoid of any lies.

I had trusted Grain as a comrade and considered him my irreplaceable best friend.

But apparently, Grain didn't feel the same way.

"Oh, and about your precious Nia. I'm planning to make her my mistress. Sorry for taking a taste before you even laid a hand on her. How's it feel? Having your status, honor, and even your lover stolen right out from under you?"

"I told you already. I don't care."

My spirit had been broken a long time ago.

The princess, the king, the comrades I thought were my best friends, the lover I thought I shared a bond with—they all betrayed me, and even the citizens I saved were throwing stones at me.

What else was left to grieve over?

I thought nothing anyone could say would make me feel anything anymore.

I never imagined that Grain's next words would fill me with such intense fury.

"Oh, right! I forgot the best part! I heard this from Melia, but apparently, the reason your village was destroyed was because the kingdom lured the monsters there."

"...Huh?"

For a moment, I couldn't comprehend what he had just said.

"Hey, Grain. What did you just say?"

"They did it so they could conveniently instill a hatred of monsters into a kid and use him. Isn't that hilarious? You fought with your life on the line to avenge your family, only to end up murdering an unrelated Demon King! It's a joke!"

"...You bastard."

The words spilled from my mouth before I even had time to think.

Feeling the blood rush to my head all at once, I roared.

"Y-You gotta be, you gotta be kidding me! You! You guys killed my mom and dad! You killed everyone in the village! I'll never forgive you! I'll kill you! I'll absolutely slaughter you all!"

"Whoa, whoa, if you yell that loud, people are gonna get the wrong idea again. 'See, the Hero really was evil,' and all that."

"I'll kill you! Even if I die, I'll slaughter every last one of you bastards in this kingdom!"

"Pfft, no way. You can't do a damn thing right now. Just die quietly, Sir Former Hero."

"I'm going to! I'll drag you down to hell with my own two hands!"

"Yeah, yeah. See ya."

Grain shoved me into The Great Hole.

The blue sky slowly grew further and further away. I kept falling, endlessly falling.

With nothing but hatred and murderous intent towards the Ixion Kingdom burning in my chest, I slammed into the bottom of The Abyss and died.

...Or at least, I should have.

◇

"Ngh, guh..."

I woke up in the darkness. I pushed myself up and looked around, but it was too dark to see anything.

When I looked up, I could only see the sky looking as small as the eye of a needle.

"Where... am I...?"

...That's right, I was set up by Grain and Melia and exiled to The Great Hole.

Does that mean this is the bottom of The Abyss?

"No, more importantly, why am I alive?"

No matter how much of a Hero I was, a fall from the surface to the bottom of The Abyss should have killed me instantly.

Especially since the Hero Shackles clamped on my wrists had degraded my physical abilities to that of a normal human. A fall from that height should have absolutely killed me.

There was only one possible explanation.

"Did my [Resurrection] activate?"

Besides the physical body that grew stronger by fighting monsters, Heroes were granted one other special power by the Goddess.

In my case, that power was [Resurrection].

True to its name, it was a power that could bring the dead back to life.

Though it had no effect on those who died of old age...

"I see. The moment I slammed into the bottom of The Abyss, I must have cast [Resurrection] on myself..."

It was a desperate, split-second action to survive.

I hadn't realized it because I'd never tested it on myself before, but it seems [Resurrection] works on the user as long as the timing is right.

Given the situation, that was the only logical conclusion.

"Guess I got lucky. ...No, if I were truly lucky, I wouldn't be in this situation to begin with."

I slumped down right where I was and cursed my luck.

By the time I fully grasped my situation, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

That was when my hand brushed against something.

"Hm? Is this... b-bone!?"

I lifted the object and squinted, only to realize it was a human skull.

I had seen plenty of corpses in my time on the battlefield, but this was the first time I'd seen a completely skeletonized human skull.

I panicked a little and scrambled backward, my foot accidentally kicking something else.

"Whoa."

Looking down at my feet, I saw a skeletal corpse.

And it wasn't just one or two—there easily had to be over a thousand corpses scattered everywhere.

The Great Hole is an execution ground exclusively for Heroes.

Which meant that all these corpses rolling around here had to be Heroes of the past.

A hundred or even two hundred years wouldn't be enough to accumulate this many bodies.

It must have taken an unfathomable amount of time for this many Heroes to be buried in The Great Hole.

Knowing that these Heroes had likely also been robbed of their families, used until they were no longer needed, and then thrown into this abyss filled me with a misplaced sense of rage.

"I... I was fighting for the scum who do things like this?"

I had fought for the Ixion Kingdom.

But throughout its long history, the Ixion Kingdom had treated all the Heroes who likely also fought for the people with this same level of cruelty.

Unforgivable. I absolutely cannot forgive them. That kingdom must be wiped off the map.

"I'll crawl my way out of here and slaughter them all. I'll destroy everything, everything, absolutely everything!"

I swore vengeance against the Ixion Kingdom.

However, I couldn't accomplish my goals if I just let the blood rush to my head.

I took a deep breath and cooled my head.

"First, I need to get these Hero Shackles off."

I picked up a decently sized rock and began vigorously smashing it against the shackles.

I misjudged the force a few times and ended up hitting my hands, but eventually, I managed to break the shackles.

Now then, I need to figure out a way to get back to the surface from this abyss.

"If I scale the rock wall, maybe... No, my stamina would probably give out halfway up."

Even if I knew I could use [Resurrection] on myself, I still didn't want to experience pain.

I needed to come up with the safest plan possible.

It was as I was staring at the sky far, far above, trying to think of a way back to the surface, that it happened.

Suddenly, I heard the snarl of a beast behind me and whipped around.

There, standing on two legs, was a wolf even larger than I was.

I hadn't sensed its presence at all.

"W-When did you—!?"

"Grrraargh!"

The wolf closed the distance at a speed my eyes couldn't follow and swung its sharp claws.

My stomach was ripped open, and my entrails spilled out.

A squelching sound accompanied the bright red liquid that splattered across the ground, dyeing the surroundings.

"Guh... ah... Impossible! It's stronger than the Demon King!?"

With the shackles off, my body wasn't suffering from any debuffs.

Despite that, the wolf in front of me had sliced my stomach wide open in passing.

My body, which even the Demon King could barely manage to gouge into, was torn apart by mere claws!

"Hah, hah, hah..."

The bleeding was severe, and my consciousness began to fade.

Even though I'd die if left alone, the wolf, perhaps driven by its monster instincts, lunged at me again.

I instinctively braced myself, but—

"Grrraargh!"

"Gah—"

This time, its claws pierced straight through my heart, and I died.

"—Not, yet!"

The very moment I died, I cast [Resurrection] on myself and drew breath once more.

However, the wolf did not let up.

"Gruwaaah!!"

"Gah..."

I cast [Resurrection] on myself over and over, coming back to life each time I died.

Again and again and again, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

I single-mindedly resurrected myself.

The endless cycle of life and death was driving me insane, but my resolve to get revenge on Ixion Kingdom refused to let my mind break.

After I'd died around a hundred times, the wolf started to show signs of agitation and fatigue.

"Now's my chance!!"

"Gurah!?"

Seizing a momentary opening, I tackled the wolf and locked my arms around its throat.

As long as monsters needed to breathe, strangling it would do the trick.

Of course, it wasn't about to go down without a fight. The wolf thrashed wildly to shake me off.

Refusing to let go, I kept squeezing with all my might.

I didn't know how long I held on, but eventually, the beast foamed at the mouth and collapsed with a heavy thud.

"Hah, hah... I-I did it. I won..."

Killing a wolf monster stronger than the Demon King made my body feel somewhat lighter.

I must have experienced Growth.

My faint sense of accomplishment and relief at surviving was short-lived, however, as another beastly growl echoed from behind me.

And this time, it wasn't just one. It was three.

"""Grrrrr..."""

"...H-Hahaha, right. It's only natural for wolves to hunt in packs."

"""Gruwaaah!!"""

I was killed again.

As I was slaughtered dozens, hundreds of times, a thought crossed my mind.

It hurts. It's agony. I can't breathe.

Should I just give up? Let them kill me and fall into an eternal slumber?

I thought about it over and over every time I resurrected and died, until I finally reached a conclusion.

"Like hell I careeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

Even if I die thousands, tens of thousands of times, I won't give up.

I'd already killed one wolf. I would find a way to kill three more.

And then, I'd slaughter the surface trash, too!!

"Gruwaaah!!"

"Gah..."

But my organs were easily gouged out by their claws once again, and I died. Only to resurrect once more.

"Hah, hah... C-Calm down. Keep a fiery heart and a cool head..."

"Gruwaaah!!"

"Ugh..."

I died. I resurrected again.

If I didn't think of a way to break this stalemate, I would just be repeating this endless cycle of life and death.

"Isn't there some way... If I just had one more person here, I could do something—Ah."

Speaking it aloud made a way out of this predicament suddenly click.

It was simple, really.

After all, this was the bottom of the Great Hole, the graveyard of past Heroes where they had all been buried.

"Senior Heroes!! Please lend me your strength!!"

My [Resurrection] heavily consumed my stamina depending on how much time had passed since the target's death.

If I revived a corpse that had been left long enough to turn to bone, I'd probably only be able to resurrect myself a few more times.

But that still held far more hope than fighting three wolves all by myself.

With that thought, I used [Resurrection] on the closest skeletal remains.

Almost simultaneously, the wolves lunged.

Just as their descending claws threatened to reap my life once more...

One wolf's head went flying through the air.

"...I don't really get what's going on, but..."

She was a stunningly beautiful girl.

Her long silver hair glowed even in the darkness, and her golden eyes—the mark of a Hero—stared straight at the remaining wolves.

There was an almost divine aura to her pale skin and unmoving expression.

The girl cast a brief glance my way and said one thing.

"It's obvious Onii-san needs help."

With a single swing of her arm, the other two wolves were cleanly bisected down the middle.

...H-Hahaha.

"Heroes really come in all power levels, huh."

As a Hero who fought and defeated the Demon King, I'd gotten cocky.

I truly believed I wouldn't lose to anyone in a head-on fight.

But that was nothing more than sheer hubris.

Far stronger Heroes had existed in the past, and this girl was undoubtedly one of them.

"...Are you okay, Onii-san?"

"S-Sorry. I'd love to explain the situation, but it seems I used more power than I thought... I'm tired, so I'm gonna go to sleep..."

"Understood. Good night, then."

"Ah, yeah. Good night."

With that, my consciousness faded to black.

How much time had passed?

I woke up in the darkness once more and slowly fluttered my eyes open.

"Good morning, Onii-san."

"Ah, uh, good morning?"

The beautiful silver-haired girl peered down at my face as she greeted me.

I felt a soft, warm sensation against the back of my head.

It seemed she had been giving me a lap pillow the entire time I was asleep.

...Hm? Wait!!

"W-Why are you naked!! No, wait, that makes sense!!"

My [Resurrection] only affected the human body.

It couldn't restore weapons or armor, let alone clothes.

When this girl fell into the Abyss, she was probably wearing hemp rags just like me.

But after being left here for so long, those rags must have decomposed back into the earth.

I hurriedly took off my tattered prisoner shirt and draped it over her.

"...Onii-san, are you interested in my boobs?"

"Buh!? W-What are you saying!?"

"You were staring. You can touch them if you want."

Come again!?

"P-Please don't tease me!!"

"I'm not teasing you. I'm used to this kind of thing, so touch me if you want."

"...Y-You sure are experienced."

And here I haven't even held a girl's hand before.

No, more importantly, I need to thank her for saving me.

"You saved my life. Thank you so much."

"Don't worry about it. It's the duty of the strong to protect the weak."

"W-Wait, I'm weak?"

"Yeah. Onii-san is weak. I'm strong."

"H-Hahaha..."

I mean, she's right!! She's completely right, but still!!

I'm still a Hero who actually defeated the Demon King.

Being casually branded as weak right out the gate is a little frustrating.

Even though I can't deny that she's definitely stronger than me!!

"By the way, who are you, Onii-san? I can tell you're a Hero from your golden eyes, but..."

"Ah, sorry for the late introduction. I'm Elott, formerly known as the Hero of Resurrection."

"Elott? ...That's hard to remember, so I'll just call you Onii-san."

"H-Hard to remember? Well, I guess you can call me whatever you like. May I ask your name?"

"I'm Ciresta. I was called the Hero of Slashing."

Ciresta... the Hero of Slashing...

I searched my memory for a Hero with that name and title, but drew a blank.

She must have been a Hero from much further back—not just a century or two, but from ancient times.

"Onii-san, I don't really get what's going on, so please explain it to me."

"Understood. Let's see, first—"

I gave her a brief summary of how I ended up here and our current situation. Ciresta nodded, a tinge of sadness in her expression.

"...I see. We're the same, then."

"The same?"

"We're the same, Onii-san. I was condemned for a crime I didn't commit and thrown down here, too."

I see. So Ciresta went through the same thing.

"Do you want revenge, Onii-san?"

"Yeah, I do. I want to slaughter everyone in that kingdom. ...And also."

"And?"

"...I want to apologize to the Demon King I killed."

Even on the brink of death, the Demon King had tried to talk to me.

He had tried to gently reason with me, a fool who refused to think for himself and let others use him.

Maybe that Demon King wasn't a calamity meant to harm humanity, but a genuinely good being.

And I had harbored a one-sided grudge against him and killed him.

Apologizing wouldn't absolve me of what I'd done, nor should it.

But even so, I still wanted to say I was sorry.

Ixion Kingdom had to be keeping the corpse of the Demon King I killed under heavy guard somewhere.

Once I destroyed that country, I would reclaim the body, resurrect him, and apologize.

My [Resurrection] made that possible.

"I see. You're strong, Onii-san."

"...Didn't you just call me weak a minute ago?"

"I mean it in a different way. Revenge and an apology. You've decided your own reason for living. That's different from me. You're much stronger than I am."

Saying that, Ciresta looked at me with a faint smile.

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of that beautiful smile.

"So I'll help you, too."

"Huh?"

"The people I should apologize to are probably long gone. So if there's someone you want to apologize to, Onii-san, I want to help."

"...Thank you."

"No need for thanks. I'll help with your revenge, too."

"No, that's alright. I can't drag you into my own revenge."

It's definitely reassuring to have a Hero who can effortlessly slaughter a wolf stronger than the Demon King on my side.

But I absolutely refuse to involve Ciresta in my vendetta.

Thinking that, I politely declined, but...

"The country that used me was called the Iklesia Empire."

"The Iklesia Empire? That's the predecessor to Ixion Kingdom that fell centuries ago, right?"

"Listening to your story made me realize something. The empire may be gone, but Ixion Kingdom has inherited its rotten nature. They might not be my original targets for revenge, but that rot needs to be purged from this world. So, please let me help."

"I-I see. Alright, I'll be counting on you."

I bowed my head deeply in gratitude once again.

"...Onii-san."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Why are you speaking so formally to me? I'm pretty sure I'm younger than you."

Ciresta tilted her head and looked up at me.

S-So cute... No, focus.

"That's because you're my senior as a Hero."

"But I'm younger. You're just under twenty, right, Onii-san?"

"I'm turning eighteen this year."

"I knew it. I'm still fifteen, so there's no need to be so stiff with me."

"E-Even if you say that..."

This is tricky.

I don't really know how to interact with a younger senior.

"We're going to be fighting together from now on. I don't want you to treat me differently."

"...Together?"

"Yeah. We have the same goal, so we're comrades. Or do you not want me around, Onii-san?"

"N-No!! Not at all!!"

Ciresta unleashed her upward glance once again.

Its destructive power was simply overwhelming, making me flinch in spite of myself.

Saying no to that would be impossible.

"Understood... . I'll try my best... ma'am."

"...If it's too hard, at least just use my name. Please call me Ciresta."

"I can manage that, at least... Understood. I'm counting on you, Ciresta."

"Yeah. Glad to be aboard."

Ciresta offered a soft smile, and I found myself smiling back.

I felt like it had been a very long time since I last smiled.

"So, Onii-san, how are we getting back to the surface?"

"...I still don't know anything about this place. For now, I figured we could clear out the monsters in the area and map out the terrain to find an escape route."

"Oh, in that case, I already took care of most of the monsters nearby."

"Huh?"

Following her pointing finger, I saw a literal mountain of monster corpses—including the wolves that had slaughtered me hundreds of times and massive insectoid beasts.

It was too dark for me to notice earlier, but a truly gruesome scene had been laid out before me.

"Whoa!! Ciresta, did you do all this...?"

"Yeah, I did. I was bored while you were sleeping, so I figured I might as well secure the perimeter."

A-Amazing.

Looking closer, I spotted several monsters that looked far stronger than the wolf I had barely managed to kill.

But what really shocked me was the condition of the corpses.

The insect monsters with hard carapaces had all been cleanly sliced in two as if by a razor-sharp blade, leaving their materials largely undamaged.

If we sold these at the right place, we could fetch a hefty sum.

"These are incredibly clean cuts..."

"My [Slashing] allows me to cut whatever I want, ignoring its hardness. If I have a sword, I can launch wide-range slash attacks, too."

"Isn't that completely overpowered?"

"From my perspective, your [Resurrection] seems much stronger, Onii-san."

"...I guess the grass is always greener on the other side."

While I lacked any direct offensive capabilities from my Hero power, my ability to constantly revive myself gave me incredible stamina in prolonged fights.

I suppose we both had our strengths and weaknesses.

"Alright, let's start exploring the area immediately—"

"Before that, Onii-san, I have a proposal."

"A proposal?"

"I think there's a limit to what just the two of us can do. So we should increase our numbers."

Increase our numbers...

"You mean resurrecting the past Heroes sleeping here, right?"

"Yeah. Do you not want to?"

"I-It's not that I don't want to, but waking them up just for our own convenience feels kind of..."

"It's a little late for that since you already revived me. Besides, I'm sure the past Heroes would rather be woken up than sleep in a dark, damp place like this."

"...That's a good point!!"

That being said, reviving skeletal remains takes a massive toll on my stamina.

I can probably only manage one person a day at most.

And I've already revived Ciresta today.

If I'm going to resurrect someone else, I'd like to rest for at least a few more hours first.

When I explained this to her, Ciresta did something completely unexpected.

"Then we'll hold off on exploring and do this until your stamina recovers."

"Eh, wait, Ciresta!?"

For some inexplicable reason, she sat on my lap and pressed her body against mine.

A faint, sweet scent tickled my nose, and I could feel her body heat.

"Y-You're too close!! What are you doing!?"

"Exploring is more efficient with more people, so we should wait for your stamina to recover and increase our numbers first."

"But why are we practically glued together..."

"Even for Heroes, the cold saps your strength. It's only logical to huddle together so you can conserve as much body heat as possible."

"W-Well, that might be true, but still!!"

Look, I might be a guy who's never even held a girl's hand, but that doesn't mean I'm completely uninterested in women or lack a sex drive.

"Ah."

Ciresta suddenly realized something and said in a teasing voice.

"...Onii-san, you pervert."

"T-This is just a physiological response!! I don't have any impure thoughts at all!!"

I was desperately trying to defend myself.

◇

Meanwhile, back on the surface.

"W-What is the meaning of this!?"

"It is exactly as I said."

Melia le Ixion, the First Princess of Ixion Kingdom, was screaming at an old woman.

The old woman was a fortune teller who could foresee various futures.

Melia had taken an interest in her powers and employed her for the past few years to divine the kingdom's future.

However, today's fortune was far from favorable.

"'A Hero lies in the depths of the Abyss. The time has come for the kingdom to face judgment. Ruin is imminent.' This is the prophecy I have received."

The old woman delivered the prophecy indifferently.

Melia knew the old woman's prophecies had never once been wrong, which was precisely why she took this warning to heart and begged for a way to avert disaster.

"What should we do, then?"

"..."

"Excuse me!! Are you listening to me!?"

"..."

The old woman formed a circle with her thumb and index finger, gesturing with a flick of her wrist.

If you want to know, pay up.

A vein bulged on Melia's forehead at the unspoken demand for money, but she promised to pay double the usual fee.

"A pleasure doing business. If you wish to escape this judgment, your only option is to summon those from another world."

"T-Those from another world?"

"Otherworldly beings possess knowledge that does not exist in this world. If you utilize their knowledge, you may yet avert your doom."

"How do we summon them?"

"..."

"I'll pay you ten times the normal fee."

"Much appreciated. There is a tome in the royal castle's forbidden archives detailing the ritual for summoning otherworldly beings. You need only follow its instructions."

Melia wasted no time springing into action.

A few months later, Ixion Kingdom had assimilated otherworldly knowledge and amassed a vast arsenal of weaponry, becoming an invincible nation.

However, at that time, Melia did not realize the truth.

That the Heroes crawling up from the depths of the Abyss were powerhouses capable of surpassing even those weapons.

ToC