"That Hero really did a number on things, didn't he..."
It was becoming increasingly frightening to listen to, but I knew the gods were steeling themselves to speak of things they would rather have kept buried. I straightened my posture and prepared to hear the rest of the story.
"As his obsession with power grew, he strengthened his mercenary troupe through rigorous training and a ruthless enforcement of official discipline," Gain continued. "He bolstered his own strength by killing his own comrades, absorbing them as he went. Eventually, the state reached out to him, asking if he would be willing to serve them exclusively. He accepted the offer, of course, but during the negotiations, he played his biggest card: he revealed himself as a Child of God. He claimed he was a Hero sent by us to cooperate with Prince Masaharu and end the war."
"So that's where the 'Hero' title finally comes from," I remarked.
"Exactly," Gain said. "He claimed the title to market himself as a premium asset and counter the influence of the nobility. In aristocratic society, the word of royalty is absolute. However, by winning the Church over and attaining a religiously special status, even a King could no longer treat him lightly. He aimed for that peak, and he reached it."
Lulutia added softly, "At that point, we hadn't yet stripped him of his title as our favorite, and he had already done the groundwork with the Church. Once he met Masaharu and they confirmed they were from the same world, he was officially certified as the Hero."
According to Meltrize and Lulutia, the man wasn't just hired as a mercenary; he was adopted by the Knight Commander of the era and appointed as a General. He began to interact with Masaharu, his original objective, but this only accelerated his madness.
"By then, the Hero's personality was utterly warped," Kufo said. "When he saw how weak-willed Masaharu was, he felt a strange sense of disappointment that quickly turned into contempt. It was likely a reaction to his own inferiority complex. He had expected some brilliant, battle-hardened peer, but instead, he found someone who was essentially just a weapon firing magic exactly as his superiors instructed."
Selerepta chimed in with a casual tone. "To add to that, he was quite resentful. He thought, 'I've struggled so much, even stealing the power of others to work for the sake of the world! Yet this guy was just lucky enough to be born as royalty and favored by the gods!' He became bitter because of his own warped perspective. Masaharu actually did his best with magic development, but the Hero discounted all of that because the magic was a gift from the gods."
Though they were technically peers, the Hero viewed Masaharu as an incompetent. However, the Hero remained lower in social status, a reality he found humiliating. Even as he hated Masaharu, the Hero apparently treated him as "someone I have to save," much like the common people he looked down upon.
"Listening to this," I said, "I can only picture that one popular kid in class who assumes you can't do anything and pushes their help on you just so everyone else will praise them for being kind. The type who doesn't do it out of genuine goodwill, but to intentionally raise their own standing."
"In fact, that is exactly how he was," Lulutia confirmed. "He never showed it on the surface, but his guiding principle was: 'I must seize more power on the battlefield and gain a stronger voice! Stepping on others is a necessary sacrifice to stop the war for the sake of the people!'"
"Believing all his actions were for the sake of peace, he eventually went so far as to assassinate every member of the royal family except for Masaharu," Meltrize stated.
Her delivery was so matter-of-fact that it took a moment for the weight of her words to sink in.
"The original heirs died one after another, and Masaharu inherited the throne," I recalled. "I’ve heard rumors that King Masaharu was suspected of committing those assassinations to usurp the crown."
"The assassinations were real, but Masaharu knew nothing of them," Meltrize clarified. "The Hero planned everything—from the murders to the succession—and carried it out on his own. Masaharu, as the one who gained the ultimate benefit of the throne, was used as a decoy to divert any investigation."
To suspect the King was an act of lèse-majesté, making investigations nearly impossible. Even if they had looked, no evidence would ever have been found because Masaharu truly knew nothing. From the Hero's perspective, he wasn't framing Masaharu; he simply believed that if Masaharu was going to be an incompetent king, he could at least serve as a shield while the Hero eliminated the "rotten" royalty.
"Despite calling him a compatriot, he didn't see Masaharu as an ally at all," I said. "But how did he manage to pull off the assassinations and the cover-up all by himself?"
"That boy was what you'd call a 'Political Real-Cheat,'" Selerepta explained. "He possessed extraordinary talent even before we gave him power. Every now and then, a child is born with the kind of genius that leaves a mark on history. Ryoma, when you came to this world, Gain and the others didn't give you extra combat abilities because what you'd cultivated on Earth was already sufficient, right? It's the same thing. If you are a 'Martial Arts Real-Cheat,' then the Hero was a 'Political Real-Cheat.' If he had lived long enough on Earth, he might have ended up as the Prime Minister."
Selerepta spoke playfully, but I felt a weight in my chest. Political power is a cheat-like ability in any human society. I certainly could have used some of that in my previous life.
"However, he wasn't able to manipulate everything," Lulutia added. "For instance, the Hero treated Masaharu with the attitude of a one-and-only friend, thinking that would make it easy to control him, but it backfired. After taking the throne following the assassinations, the very first order Masaharu issued was an immediate ceasefire. By then, the war effort had turned from the brink of destruction to overwhelming dominance thanks to the two Children of God. Masaharu believed that since the goal was no longer defense but had turned into invasion, there was no reason to continue."
"He must have hated using his power for conquest," I muttered. "But surely, the military didn't just agree to stop the war? Especially since Masaharu lacked the Hero's political influence."
Gain nodded deeply. "Indeed. It caused a massive uproar and a storm of condemnation, primarily from his own side. The mood that they would definitely win as long as they had the Child of God had spread to every rank. Few were willing to accept it, and those around him viewed Masaharu's declaration as nothing more than a child’s tantrum."
However, the situation changed because that child was the King. Even if he was a suspicious newcomer suspected of regicide, his subjects could not simply ignore his words. To allow that would shake the very foundation of the state. Furthermore, while a normal child’s tantrum is harmless, Masaharu was a mage who had demonstrated magic capable of wiping out entire armies. If he threw a fit and unleashed his magic, it would be a catastrophe.
"The royal decree and the threat of Disaster Magic were powerful," Gain said, "but the final blow was a single sentence Masaharu threw at his detractors. He likely suspected the truth about the assassinations by then. He told them, 'If you kill me, I've set it up so that the Ultimate Annihilation Magic, the "Atomic Bomb," will automatically trigger!'"
"An Atomic Bomb?! Just what kind of magic was he making?!" I cried out.
"Don't worry," Lulutia said, "it was just a desperate lie on Masaharu's part."
"Oh... a lie. Right." I felt the blood return to my face, but my heart had skipped a beat.
"Umu. It was a total bluff," Gain continued, "but there was exactly one person who had the same reaction you just did, Ryoma. The Hero. As a fellow Japanese man, he was the only one who knew exactly what kind of weapon an atomic bomb was."
Japan is the only country to have been victimized by nuclear weapons. The power, the destroyed cities, the death toll—it’s all preserved in history. It’s taught in school as a record that must never be forgotten. Since the Hero was an honor student, he naturally knew the horror of it. He also knew that in this world, mental imagery can make the impossible possible through magic. And Masaharu was a specialist in magic.
"The Hero saw through the bluff as a stopgap measure, and he was nearly certain it was a lie," Gain said, "but he couldn't ignore that one percent chance. He became unable to lay a hand on Masaharu out of pure fear."
"This is the part that’s truly fascinating," Selerepta added. "It was a series of accidents and misunderstandings. First, Masaharu suspected the assassinations, but he didn't suspect the Hero at all. The Hero's facade was perfect. So, Masaharu was only trying to intimidate the high-ranking officials. Those officials had no idea what an atomic bomb was; they just figured it was a slightly stronger version of the magic they’d seen on the battlefield. They thought they could just find a quiet place to kill him later. But the Hero, the only one who truly understood the danger, took the lead in warning everyone else about the risk. He ended up laying the groundwork to prevent the assassination himself! That single bluff was the greatest 'fine play' of Masaharu's life."
It was an incredible coincidence, but I imagine the Hero was internally fuming. And it turns out, he was. His anger wasn't just about having to protect Masaharu, but because his goal of ending the war had been snatched away from him. He wanted to be the one who stopped the war and took all the credit.
"The Hero was a total scumbag," I sighed. "His goal shifted from wanting to stop the war to wanting to be the glorious figure who stopped it."
"There is more," Meltrize said. "His true battlefield was the political stage."
"There's more...?"
According to Meltrize's dispassionate explanation, the war ended abruptly. For the enemy nations, the ceasefire was a godsend. However, the ravaged land and economy still had to be rebuilt. The Hero found his opening in the post-war social chaos. He reasoned that true peace would only come when every spark of conflict was extinguished. To bring peace, he needed more power. To get power, he needed to kill more people. But since he couldn't start another war without becoming the villain, he decided to make others into the villains instead.
"So... he framed people?"
"In a sense," Meltrize replied. "He used information manipulation. He introduced the culture of the newspaper, gathering and altering information to control the world to his convenience. For example, Ryoma, do you think wasting food is a good thing?"
"No, I don't."
"What about damaging a product in a store before you buy it?"
"That's also bad."
"Then, if you accidentally drop a fruit and crush it while trying to pick it up?"
"That's an accident. You'd need to pay for it, but I wouldn't call it 'evil.'"
"Why not?" Meltrize’s voice grew uncharacteristically intense. "On what basis do you judge intent? Regardless of intent, you ruined food. There are people in this world starving, and that fruit could have sustained a life for a day. Do you not realize the gravity of your waste?!"
"I... well..."
"There are no excuses! Evil is evil!"
I was overwhelmed. Meltrize, who was usually so quiet and concise, was suddenly shouting with an intensity that didn't match her unchanging expression. But I understood her point. Once that trend of absolute, unforgiving justice was established, it snowballed. People condemned one another for the smallest infractions. They demanded severe punishment, and vigilantism became rampant. The Hero turned this "public will" into a weapon to twist the law.
He created a society where things that were never crimes before suddenly were, making it easy to hold anyone accountable. Even without the Hero’s direct interference, the citizens themselves began to churn out "sinners."
"And the result of that was the Town of Ghosts," Kirilel said.
I recalled the countless undead. "That was his facility?"
"One of many," Kirilel confirmed. "He would make rounds to steal power from those gathered there as 'sinners,' or use them as sacrifices for curse magic. The Town of Ghosts was mostly ordinary citizens who were caught in the web of his new laws. That’s why the prisoner facilities were so simple—they weren't warriors, just common people who posed no threat. And the reason he used starvation for execution was simply for his own convenience in harvesting their souls."
The pieces of the puzzle clicked together in my mind.
"That era was truly wretched," Gain sighed. "The sight of people ganging up to beat someone while preaching justice was a daily occurrence. Lawyers were persecuted as social evils for 'protecting' sinners. If you argued back in court, it was taken as a lack of remorse, and your sentence was doubled."
"That's horrific," I said. "It makes me wonder if the Hero was really a modern Japanese person at all. In a society like that, everything would just fall apart."
"Human society was in chaos," Selerepta said, "but that helped him. People acted perfectly upright just to avoid becoming a target, and the constant division among the citizenry prevented any organized opposition. He managed to keep the nation running just enough to serve his needs. It was an incredible feat, even if it was for all the wrong reasons."
"But it makes sense now," I added. "The reason Masaharu is remembered as a 'Tyrant' is because of the Hero. Ninety percent of the misgovernment attributed to Masaharu was actually the Hero's doing."
"Exactly," Meltrize agreed.
"I thought so... Even when I first went to the Town of Ghosts, I felt like the image of Masaharu I heard from the gods and the one I heard from humans were at odds."
Actually, the fact that the Jamil family had to worry about Elia’s situation was also indirectly the Hero’s fault. I was starting to get angry. Even if we had been from the same era, I knew I could never have been friends with that man.
"You and he would have been oil and water," Kufo said. "By the end, even we couldn't understand him. He absorbed too many souls, which caused a sort of 'soul indigestion.' He developed Multiple Personalities, and eventually, he lost his reason entirely. By the end, he was consuming human flesh alongside souls."
"I summoned his soul once after he died," Gain added, "but it was a patchwork of undigested fragments, like a Frankenstein's monster. I wanted to ask him why he had gone so far, but he was beyond conversation."
"What happened to him?"
"I erased him on the spot," Gain said simply. "Normal souls are reset for reincarnation, but his soul was too damaged. Besides, we had considered divine punishment several times already. There was no need to force a rebirth."
Soul erasure. It was the ultimate price for his atrocities. The gods explained that they had wanted to warn him earlier, but an Oracle would have gone through the Church, which would have caused a massive scandal and potentially restarted the war. They had been forced to watch from the sidelines, a painful experience for them.
"Thank you for telling me all of this," I said sincerely. "I’ll keep the Hero's story in mind. But if I ever start to stray, please tell me as soon as you notice."
"Umu. It was worth telling if it helps you," Gain said with a smile. The tension in the air broke, and everyone else laughed along.
"To be honest, falling that far is a talent in itself," Selerepta teased. "I don't think you could manage it even if you tried, Ryoma."
"Certainly," Kufo added. "Since you were already an adult inside when you came here, your values are firmly set."
"If you want to know more, look up King Masaharu in the history books," Meltrize advised. "Now that you know the truth, you'll be able to tell which deeds were his and which were the Hero's."
"I'll do that," I said. "It'll be good for my history studies."
As we spoke, my body began to glow with a faint light. My time was up.
"Just the right timing," Gain remarked.
"I'll bring more souvenirs next time," I promised.
"Don't worry about that; just come visit whenever you like," Lulutia said.
"I will. Oh, are you all still busy with the Fragment of the Demon King?" I asked. Tekun had previously offered to teach me how to make a magic staff, and I wanted to learn for the sake of making the rake for miasma removal.
"I'll let everyone know," Gain said. "Next time you come, whoever receives you can go fetch Tekun."
"He'll be happy for the change of pace," Lulutia added.
"That’s great!" Kirilel exclaimed. "Ryoma, why don't you have a match with me next time? I’ll teach you how to fight as the Goddess of War. I’m curious about Earth’s techniques!"
"...And perhaps it would be good for you to understand the soul more deeply," Meltrize said. "I don't want you to misuse it, but knowing about Necromancy has its benefits."
"Now even Kirilel and Meltrize are using Ryoma as an excuse to slack off," Selerepta grumbled. "They tighten the screws on me the moment I try to take a break... they must really hate that job."
"That’s because you’re in a period of reflection for your past behavior, Selerepta," Lulutia reminded him gently. "But everyone, keep it within reason. Ryoma, you are always welcome here, so please don't hesitate."
The light intensified before I could reply, but Lulutia’s warmth reached me all the same. I vowed to return to the Divine Realm again soon.