...W-what was that? You scared the hell out of me!

“Come on in already!”

Jepeto, who was rummaging through his medicine bag in the carriage, barked it out like he was scolding us. Normally he was kind of timid, but the second he touched that medicine bag, he seemed to grow a little charisma. Weird. Would my brother be like that too? Well. My brother was already completely cool and overflowing with charisma now, obviously. But I didn’t know what he was like living anywhere other than the village... and all of a sudden I got curious.

If even Jepeto the doctor changed a little, then my brother probably did too.

What was Hero-brother like?

I imagined my brother on a battlefield, drawing his sword all proud and gallant, and then the image of him drenched head to toe in blood flashed through my mind.

Even if he’s a Hero... wouldn’t it still hurt?

“Um, my brother really is okay?”

Jepeto was carefully unwrapping Luman’s bandages.

Luman tipped his head toward a chair, telling me to sit, so I sat down on the seat inside the carriage.

The cushion wrapped around my butt all soft and plush, and for a second I wanted to just collapse flat on it. See? Sleeping on the ground with just a blanket thrown down does hurt! I braced myself with one wrist, forcing my body not to keep tipping sideways. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“Temar...”

Luman hesitated for a moment, like he was choosing his words.

“He’ll be fine. Ever since the ‘Hero’s Miracle’ happened, he hasn’t been hurt once. His body was like steel to begin with, though.”

“‘Hero’s Miracle’? What’s that?”

“Mm.”

“Ah—doesn’t that hurt?”

Jepeto jerked his head up in alarm.

At his words, I looked at Luman’s chest too. A deep scar cut straight across the muscle there, splitting it wide open. It hurt just to look at it. The wound ran from below his chest all the way down to his stomach. The injury around his chest looked even deeper. Thick blood had pooled there, and a little pus was oozing out too. Inside the torn flesh, it looked like tiny sparks were glowing.

I glared at the wound, then glared at Luman. His golden eyes widened a little in surprise.

“Why didn’t you get treated? Why did you come like this?!”

Priest Kirky was right there!

Luman’s wound had barely healed at all!

“It’s not a serious injury.”

“Not serious...?! If this isn’t serious, then what the hell is?”

When I demanded it like I was picking a fight, he looked troubled.

“Jepeto. I’m sorry, but this is something internal, so it’s difficult to explain. Would you mind stepping out for a moment?”

“Yes. Then I’ll go take a little walk.”

Jepeto stepped out of the carriage and even shut the door behind him.

Click. Even after the sound of the door closing, Luman stayed silent for a moment before he finally spoke.

“Ren.”

“......”

“Ren. Don’t make that face.”

Luman smiled, loosening the line of his mouth. He looked troubled. He reached a hand toward my cheek, then drew it back again.

“I mean, don’t look like you’re about to cry.”

Little clusters of light gathered around him.

Beautiful light, small and soft, glowing like fireflies, drifted toward me.

Warm and comforting, the light felt like it was wrapping me up and telling me everything would be okay. Ah. Last time too—when my brother disappeared—Luman had comforted me like this.

“Ren. This is internal business, so really, I’m not supposed to tell you... but you’re Temar’s little brother, and I’m a slick former Hero, so I’ll tell you in secret. But you can’t tell anyone else, got it?”

“...Okay.”

“Good boy.”

Good boy? For keeping a secret?!

That’s just normal!

You can’t just throw words like that around! One careless little “good boy,” and someone like me is gonna go aaagh! and lose his mind!

My heart lurched like I’d been hit out of nowhere.

If keeping secrets was enough to make someone a good kid, then I would’ve been the best kid in our whole village.

It was cruel, the way Luman kept saying things I’d never heard before—things nobody had ever said to me.

Ahh, this is why I hated this.

Once you get to know someone, you end up liking them.

It’s better to leave a goodbye as just a goodbye, so why the hell did I have to get close to Luman too?

Even while cursing my own stupidity, I couldn’t push him away.

“You don’t have to be too scared. Even if you did tell someone, the sin of revealing the secret would be mine.”

Did I look scared?

That’s not it. And what does he mean, if I told, it would become his fault?! I jolted and shouted.

“I’m absolutely not going to tell anyone!!”

I never planned to tell anyone in the first place! Not that I even had anybody to tell....

“Oh! Good boy, Ren.”

“That’s enough! Stop calling me good over stuff like that!!”

The second I shrieked, Luman started laughing under his breath.

“So. The ‘Hero’s Miracle.’”

Luman started, then paused briefly to think.

“Put simply, it saves you when you’re on the verge of dying.”

“Saves you from dying?”

“When you’re on missions, moments like that come up. Ren, have you ever read fairy tales?”

“...I hate fairy tales.”

“Heh. You hate fairy tales?”

Luman chuckled again, like that was somehow funny too.

No, seriously, doesn’t that hurt at all?! Every time he laughed, it looked like that wound was splitting its mouth wider. I had to narrow my eyes just so I wouldn’t have to look straight at it.

“Yes. Especially stories where a Hero goes to fight the Demon King to save some princess. I hate those the most.”

My eyes went dark.

That’s not a fairy tale. That—that’s...

That’s a brutal, heartless story.

“Ahh. So you read The Magic Castle and Princess Anaphelisia?”

“I hate the title too!!”

All at once, my emotions surged up.

“It’s a story about a Hero defeating the Demon King and rescuing the princess, so why the hell is the title like that? Why is the title the magic castle and the princess’s name? It pisses me off so bad I could die! The Hero nearly died more than three times trying to save that princess! Isn’t the Hero the actual main character?!!”

“—character?!!”

My shout echoed through the forest like it was bouncing back at me.

Aaaagh!

And the more I thought about it, the madder I got!!

I grabbed my hair and started yanking at it, and Luman, still laughing, had to hurry to stop me.

“Heh—haah. Ren, calm down! You’re going to rip all your hair out.”

“This is not funny!”

I’m really, seriously, seriously pissed off!!

I read that book when I was four. I thought it was so cool that my brother was a Hero. I loved that idea so, so much that my brother told me he’d bought me a fairy tale book with money he earned as a Hero. A fairy tale where the Hero bravely defeats the Demon King and even rescues the princess.

But what happened?

Ugh. I never wanted to remember the ending of that vicious, evil little fairy tale again—the one I’d been so excited to read that I savored it one line at a time. I bit my lip because I thought tears might spring up.

The image burned most vividly into my childhood memory was the Hero shoving his own chest into the Demon King’s sword to save the princess. The Hero’s face was hidden behind a helmet. What must he have been feeling? What kind of expression did he make?

It all welled up in me again. Ah! I don’t want to cry, seriously!

This isn’t because I’m sad! I’m furious!!

I couldn’t bring myself to tear up the gift my brother had given me, so instead I buried that fairy tale way, way deep behind our house. I couldn’t live under the same roof as that vicious book! It should’ve been grateful I even gave it space in the backyard!

Using Heroes up like that! Heroes aren’t supposed to be like that!

They’re supposed to be treated as more precious than that, cared for better than that, and allowed to live peacefully in their later years!! They’re not the kind of people who are meant to die in somebody else’s place!

Even ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) while I was trembling with rage, Luman looked like he was about to laugh himself to death.

“Nobody appreciated the Hero at all! Nobody understood how much he sacrificed! Or how sad his family must’ve been!”

I shouted it, but... the second the words came out, a terrible loneliness sank into my chest, and I regretted yelling whatever came to mind.

I huffed and huffed, and by the time I’d exhausted myself with my own tantrum and started drooping, Luman finally stopped laughing.

He wiped the tears gathered in his eyes with one finger and let out a long breath. Even his sigh still had laughter in it.

“But you understand, Ren.”

“Me? Understand what?”

I blinked.

“How sad the family must’ve been. How much the Hero sacrificed.”

For a second, my throat locked up.

I opened my mouth slowly, stumbling over the words.

“I... don’t know anything.”

My voice trailed off.

I don’t know anything. Other than my own sadness. I don’t know what my brother sacrificed... because he never tells me.

Not about the time he spent as a Hero. Not about the seven-year war that seemed to have left behind nothing but horrific memories. All I could do was look at my brother’s gaunt face and those long scars on his body and make guesses by myself.

“I wish you really didn’t know.”

Luman gave a faint snort.

“But you do know. And so do I. We’re both involved, aren’t we?”

“Well, that’s...”

“And just that alone makes me happy.”

“Happy?”

Luman looked steadily into my eyes.

His eyes softened as they narrowed. Luman’s delicate lashes curved like the ribs of a fan. Between those lashes, yellow light like fireflies lingered. It was the kind of smile that looked like it was tempting someone in.

I stared dumbly into those eyes, and then he nodded slowly—short, but firm.

“Very. I never thought I’d get to have a conversation like this with someone.”

Luman’s cheeks were faintly red. His face was so pale it showed clearly.

D-don’t tell me he’s embarrassed. If that’s what this is, then let me say this: please don’t do that, Luman! You’re going to make me die of embarrassment too!!

When I looked away, Luman laughed out a little breathy sound.

“So... this comforts me, a little. And you too shouldn’t—”

He paused for a moment, searching for the words.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“Do whatever you want, Ren.”

“What??”

“Whatever it is you want to do.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, out of nowhere?”

I couldn’t grumble at him the way I used to.

Getting close to someone is uncomfortable. You can’t just do whatever you want anymore!

But if someone asked me whether things were better before we got close, or after, I don’t think I could answer right away. Something prickled in my chest.

I should wash up. I’m itchy because I haven’t washed. That’s all. I glared for no reason.

“Um! Are you done talking? The sun’s coming up!”

Jepeto knocked on the carriage.