[What on earth are they doing?]
"Damn it, are they already here?!"
Bell Cranel's plan was roughly this.
Hand both of Crozzo's magic swords to Ryuu Lion, the strongest among them, and have her draw the Magus's attention.
Then, in that opening, they would rescue the ones who were still trapped beneath the collapsed rubble and help them flee with the others.
A simple, utterly reckless plan—hardly a plan at all.
"It can't be helped. From the start, the difference in combat power between An and Lili is absurdly vast. Lili would honestly have a better chance fighting another first-class adventurer. A head-on fight against that kind of monster is impossible, of course, and trying to come up with some separate way to beat him from behind would be so stupid it's laughable. At this point, there's not even anything else to think about. Honestly, Lili's real feeling is that we should just give up and sit still."
"But Lili, I still can't just ignore those people."
"Uu, Bell-sama is really a hopeless idiot."
Anyone could see that Lili's judgment was correct. Realistic.
After all, there was no reason for them, the victims, to help the Apollo Familia, the perpetrators and enemies.
But for her, who had been saved by the boy's foolish kindness, there was no other way to persuade him.
So the only option she could offer was that.
Buy time somehow, rescue those people, and get them out of this disaster scene.
That was the entirety of their plan.
Or rather, it was all they could do.
"Ryuu-san...!"
At the edge of Bell's vision, he could see Ryuu flying far away.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—she seemed to be in no real danger to her life, since even now she was writhing and trying to get back up.
Still, the boy already felt so guilty for forcing so much onto her, an outside ally, that he felt like he could die of shame.
All of this had happened because of his own stubbornness.
And now even she had ended up like that.
There was no way this wasn't a hopelessly bleak situation.
"Hans-san! Please, stop already!"
[Ah, I'm telling you! I'm a Magus!]
Boom!
"Ghk!"
The giant's fist slammed down right beside Bell.
With it came a great many shards of stone flying up.
In that violent scene, like the aftermath of a bombing, Bell's body was instantly battered into a miserable state.
Even so, the way he shielded the person he was trying to save, protecting them first and foremost with his own body, was surely a deed worthy of praise.
But.
"Ugh... A-are you all right? We need to get out of here, quick..."
"Damn it, let go! I said let go!"
For that kindness to be accepted as nothing more than simple goodwill.
The nature of a human driven into a dead end was far too weak and ugly.
"Damn it, both of you! What the hell are you trying to do?!"
"Ah, I..."
"One of you is trying to kill us! And you're trying to save us! Quit playing with people, you bastards!"
Flop, flop.
One adventurer, moving his injured body with such feeble motions.
His face was smeared with tears, snot, and blood that had spilled down in grief.
But for some reason, Bell Cranel couldn't bring himself to touch him easily.
Because the expression he was making right now was just too sorrowful, too miserable.
He looked so precarious it was as if he might die from his own despair at any moment.
"Don't act all sanctimonious! You're on that damned monster's side too, aren't you? You're probably laughing at us inside, thinking this is great!"
"That's not true. I..."
"What do you mean, not true?!"
Anyone could see that the boy's desire to save him was sincere.
But at the same time, anyone could see that the boy's actions looked nothing but hypocritical.
Contradiction.
The boy's current state was an action and choice that was, in every way, contradictory.
At least, that was all the adventurer in front of him could see.
- Guaaaaaaah!
"Ah!"
"Damn it, it's coming again!"
Then the giant once more shattered the surrounding rocky mountain and scattered the rubble everywhere.
Again, screams rang out from all directions.
But the giant's attack, the Magus's malice, did not stop there.
Thud!
"No way!"
"N-no!"
[Yes.]
The giant leaped high into the sky once more.
Then, as gravity dragged it back down to the ground, its massive body brought another small calamity upon the earth.
KWAANG!
"Aaaaaaagh...!"
Even pitiful screams were buried beneath the traces of disaster.
In that harsh environment, Bell Cranel somehow managed to protect the person he had tried to save.
But the adventurer who had been saved was already mentally beyond recovery.
"Damn it, fine. I get it now. I get it all. We're nothing but a promotional stepping-stone for you guys, the new Familia. You've been toying with us without killing us just to use us like this!"
Whatever was so heartbreaking, so unfair, whatever was so empty.
The nameless adventurer only kept wailing and refusing Bell's hand.
"I understand what you're trying to say. But if we stay here, it's really dangerous..."
However.
That didn't mean they could just stand still like this.
The current situation was urgent; they had to get out of here as fast as possible.
There was no telling when the Magus might target them again.
So Bell reached out to him once more.
"Quit with that pathetic hypocrisy, you brat!"
"Hypo... crisy?"
"Yeah! Damn it, am I wrong?!"
Once again, the man rejected the boy's hand—this time even more violently.
And with it, he glared at Bell with eyes full of despair-soaked hatred.
At that look and those words, Bell Cranel took an involuntary step back.
"You're the ones who are right! We were the first ones who did wrong! We're the bad ones! I admit all of that! We... damn it, we're just low-ranking members, but we know what's what! We're not all just brain-dead idiots, you know!"
Perhaps because he had been driven into a dead end.
The adventurer's mouth had started running on its own.
He cursed not only the Magus who had cornered them here, but even the Familia he belonged to and their god Apollo.
"Of course we deserve to get crushed. Of course we deserve to be mocked to death. The difference in level is that huge. It was stupid, pathetic fools like us who failed to recognize the stronger ones and started all this. So I can understand that much. I can understand why you're doing this to us. The ones at fault are... us, for being weak and starting it first."
But this was too much.
It wasn't right to trample a person's pride like this.
And in the end, the adventurer broke down into tears and sobs, choked with self-loathing.
"What are you even trying to save? Who do you think you are, trying to save anyone?"
"Ah..."
"You really want to act like a good guy that badly, Little Rookie?"
"No, I..."
"No, my ass. Quit spouting that pathetic crap, you damn brat."
To Bell Cranel, who still lacked experience with the world, it was the first time he had ever seen such an ugly face of the weak, such a scream from the weak.
A venomous, filthy curse that seemed like it could stain the boy's soul just by being seen and heard.
It was surely nothing more than a powerless, miserable complaint.
And yet Bell Cranel felt it. He sensed it.
For a moment, his head even went a little dizzy.
It was incomparable to the jealousy he had felt from others not long ago.
The lament—no, the malice—spat out by the man before him was fatal to a boy who still might have retained the purity of childhood.
"Just get lost. I'll go out exactly the way you want—like some pathetic third-rate villain."
Don't trample what little pride is left in this trash loser any further.
Then the adventurer staggered around on his own and collapsed under his own weight.
Though he was still alive, to Bell's eyes he looked no different from a corpse that could no longer move.
The boy felt disgust rising in him, to the point that he almost wanted to vomit.
The Magus spoke to him.
[Look, boy. This is how they receive your good deeds.]
The golem stopped moving.
With that, the air around them fell silent.
And along with that, sounds reached Bell's ears as well.
Every last one of them was a voice doubting and condemning his companions, rejecting even the outstretched hand of help.
There was nowhere that answered goodwill with goodwill.
[See their weakness. And the boundless selfishness revealed within it.]
Then came other voices from within that chaos.
People sobbing for help, begging to be saved.
And their companions, ignoring them and struggling only to save themselves and run away.
[Do you see it, boy?]
This is what human beings are.
This is the true face of the people you tried so hard to help.
The Magus was speaking to the boy, who was caught in the shock of confusion.
[Human beings are beasts who cannot live without the sacrifice of someone else. And yet, every single one of them longs for and yearns after the light. They live believing that is the whole of their nature, never even properly looking at what lies in the darkness beneath.]
The voice of the one saying this sounded somehow intoxicating.
The voice of the one saying this sounded somehow sweet.
The voice of the one saying this was almost like...
[Boy, your choices, your actions, and your heart are undeniably kind. Brighter and warmer than the sun in the sky. On that point, I acknowledge you without question.]
And yet, at the same time, foolish—as foolish as wings fastened together with wax, like Icarus.
At those words, Bell Cranel...
"Fool... ish?"
...kept repeating only that word in his mouth over and over.
As if he had remembered something he hadn't known before—no, something he had forgotten.
[Unfortunately, this world is full of know-nothings. Most of them are exactly that sort of people. And those kinds of people hate having their own foolishness exposed. So they criticize, point fingers at, and reject fools like you, as if doing so would somehow make their own foolishness disappear.]
But the Magus left him alone and continued speaking.
As if to say: this is all for you, boy.
The Magus's words were slow and careful.
They gently seduced Bell Cranel, skillfully leading him along.
[But there's no need for you to be dragged around by those ordinary commoners. Your foolishness is foolish, yes, but at the same time it is something rare and precious, something you won't find in those people.]
That is why you are special.
That is why you have potential.
And that is why you can change.
[You only need to become a little... just a little bit smarter.]
Just as anyone who has left their name in history has done.
All you need is to slightly alter that kindness... that purity.
The boy can do that too.
That is by no means wrong.
It is the wisdom of the pioneers, something that should be properly engraved into both head and heart and accepted.
[The world, history, fate... and humanity! They have always reached the same conclusion every time. Power is justice! The victor is the entirety of righteousness!]
And beneath that lie countless corpses of those loser dogs.
The Magus pointed at the broken adventurer with a golem's finger.
Bell Cranel, who had been hanging his head, slowly lifted it.
The Magus watched his back with a smile.
[Why do you think history belongs to the victors?]
Because all wealth, honor, and glory have always been built upon people like him.
On that blood-soaked road, the boy's warmth, kindness, and considerate compassion would barely even show.
They could only appear as nothing more than foolish arrogance.
[Come to think of it, boy. You said the reason you adventure is for "encounters." And to become a hero like the pioneers who walked that path before you, didn't you?]
Then I am the orthodox path of that road, and the fastest shortcut.
And I shall give you the best answer.
The Magus spread both arms and declared with conviction.
[Kill one, and you're a murderer! Kill ten, and you're a killer! Kill a hundred, and you're a butcher!]
Then what do we call the one who has taken the lives of more than a thousand, more than ten thousand?
That is a hero.
The result of history repeated countless times from the beginning until now.
Whatever the process, it belongs only to the life that succeeded at the end—to the victor alone.
[That is the essence of what we commonly call a hero.]
So here, the Magus delivers his lesson to the boy.
Boy, become stronger than anyone else.
Adventurer, become greedier than anyone else.
Warrior, become crueller than anyone else.
And after you win on countless battlefields,
you too shall become a splendid hero.
[This is the answer, and this is reality.]
This is the ugly truth of the world.
The unchanging truth history has proven again and again.
[Now then, that's the end of my story.]
You should know very well what to do, and how to do it.
With those words, the Magus drew the golem back slightly.
As if leaving all the choices ahead entirely to the boy.
And the boy, after taking a moment to steady his breathing, made his choice...
"Hngh, mmph!"
...and it did not change.
Just as he had done before.
Bell Cranel supported the fallen adventurer and carried him.
"...What are you doing? Let go. I said let go."
"No."
"You really do everything, huh. So you're going to keep pretending to be nice to the very end..."
"Whether it looks like I'm pretending to be nice or not doesn't matter!"
Startled, the adventurer who had been struggling to reject the helping hand stopped moving at Bell's sudden shout.
Still supporting him, Bell looked up toward the golem above—no, toward the Magus beyond it.
"Magus. No, Mr. Andersen."
Is that what a hero is to you?
At the boy's question, the Magus gave no answer.
So the boy asked and answered alone.
"If that's what it is... then I can't agree with it."
To Bell Cranel... to this pure boy, the hero "that person" had told him about was this:
"It's not the one who wields a sword, or the one who carries a shield, or the one who heals."
The true hero is the one who stakes himself.
"Protect your comrades. Save the woman. Bet yourself."
It's fine to break.
It's fine to bend.
Crush out a great cry.
The victor is always among the defeated.
"Stand by your wish and shout your heart out."
Then that is the most...!
"Wonderful hero."
After saying that, Bell looked at the adventurer he had been supporting.
"Please tell me your true feelings."
Do you really want to end everything here?
That utterly pure figure, with not even the slightest trace of falsehood.
That sight, shining brighter than the sun Apollo, their god, symbolized.
"I know it's shameless... I really, really know it's shameless, but..."
The adventurer Bell had been supporting finally answered, sniffling in a disgraceful mess.
But his voice, trembling with tears, was more sincere than ever before.
"I... don't want to die yet."
I want to live a little longer.
I don't want everything to end here.
So... so...!
"Please. Please... help me...!"
That was his true feeling.
The instinct of a human being who, even in unavoidable despair, could never give up on the desire to live.
And yet, it was a primal weakness no one could blame.
"Yes, I'll help you."
Bell Cranel accepted that with a smile.
The boy, far weaker than the Magus, smiled and took his hand.
The Magus, who had been watching it all, said:
[I see. So you're going to keep this up to the very end?]
Looking down at the boy beneath the giant's feet, the Magus spoke coldly.
But beyond the communication of the magic circle,
there, his mouth was clearly smiling.
[Ahh, you really are foolish.]
But that foolishness is precisely the condition of a true hero.
To be exact, it is the quality of a hero suited to his taste.
And so.
[Boy.]
I ask you once more, and for the last time.
[Do you still wish to become a hero?]
To that question, the boy answered with a steady gaze that no longer fled.
Then.
[Prove it here and now!]
Prove that your foolishness is also a form of justice!
- Uwoooooooo!
The giant roared and howled.
The final time for true riddles and answers had come to an end.
What remained was only to prove it with strength.
Boy.
Become a "hero."
"The blood of the spirit is that red-haired blacksmith over there, and the wind of the fairy is that masked swordsman from before... But ugh, the young orphan and the mask. And what on earth is the sword of the war god supposed to be... Based on the current situation, it has to mean the Hestia Familia, but who on earth is pointing to whom...!"
On a battlefield where not even a single step ahead could be seen, the witch of prophecy struggled alone in anguish.
Under the guidance of "fate," just how far could she resist and keep moving forward?
Act Two was still ongoing.
The trial upon the stage was still far, far from over.
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