Keter’s gravestone was simple, which suited him well. He was someone who had disliked anything flashy in life and who had come empty-handed and left empty-handed. Even the brief funeral mass reflected his personality.

“...”

The mood was heavy, but no one was crying. Three whole years had already passed since Keter died, but it was not that time had dulled their grief. It was because the war was still ongoing.

The Demon King Rukan and Godfather Alkione, the true power behind the throne, were dead, but chimeras and monsters from the Demon Capital remained like scattered remnants. And even if the war was over, that did not mean the economy and public morale would recover overnight.

The fog of Liqueur was the same. It had thinned a great deal compared to before, but it had not vanished completely.

The world was still at war, desperately and brutally. Even Keter’s funeral today had only been possible because they had squeezed out what little time and resources they had left.

The mourners began leaving one by one. Their steps were hurried, proof of how busy they all were. The cemetery, which had been packed just moments ago, quickly became quiet. Now only five people remained: Hissop, the head of the house; Elder Besil, Chief Butler Jacques, Katherine, the commander of the Magic Archer Corps; and Daat, the leader of the secret organization Arcana.

Hissop’s face was full of bitterness as he looked at Daat.

“Seeing you here makes it feel real. Keter really is dead.”

“If he were still alive even after killing a god, then Big Brother would be the god.”

Only the kings of each nation—the gods themselves—knew what had happened that day. They had no reason to spread the story of how Keter had saved them. It brought them no benefit, so they kept their mouths completely shut.

However, there was someone else besides them—a third party who had witnessed everything within the frozen universe. It was Vina, the crown princess of the empire. She revealed the truth to the world. She declared that Keter, Sefira’s Divine Bow, had saved them all—that he had sacrificed himself to save everyone from Alkione, the demonic god who had surpassed even the Demon King.

Because of that, there was no one left in the world who did not know the name of Sefira or the Divine Bow Keter. However, that did not mean people truly revered him as a hero. Most people simply accepted it without much gratitude and moved on, as though saving the world did not mean he deserved any particular reward.

“It’s maddening. Why did that kind of fate have to fall on Keter of all people?”

Besil, the former patriarch and now an elder, pressed a hand to his chest. Even now, just thinking of Keter made his heart ache unbearably.

“Looking back, Lord Keter gave us everything for our sake. We absolutely should have repaid that grace...”

Kneeling on the ground, Katherine clasped her hands together in prayer. She believed in reincarnation, so she prayed that in his next life, Keter would be born into a peaceful and happy family.

The other four also closed their eyes in sorrow and remembered Keter. In the course of their lives, they had spent less than a year with him. But in that brief time, the crazy things Keter had done had been so intense that they could never forget him.

Then Keter’s voice came from behind them.

“So this is where everyone was! I was wondering where you all went!”

The moment Jacques heard that voice, tears welled up in his eyes as he muttered, “Ugh, it seems my time has come too. I can even hear his voice now...”

Hearing Jacques, Hissop and Besil were startled.

“I heard it too.”

“You’re saying I wasn’t the only one?”

The three of them opened their eyes and looked at one another in confusion when Keter’s voice came again.

“What funeral is this that everyone’s gathered for? Don’t tell me... that isn’t my grave, is it?”

It was not a hallucination. At the clear, unmistakable sound of Keter’s voice, they all finally turned around. And there he was. Keter stood there, perfectly fine.

“...”

But no one could accept reality. Sometimes, people who had seen Keter’s widely circulated portrait would disguise themselves and go around impersonating him. However...

“Huh, it really is my grave. Hahahaha!”

The way he swaggered over, checked the inscription on the gravestone, and burst out laughing was too much like Keter.

“Big Brother.”

“Oh, Dork. It’s been three years.”

“Did you enjoy your vacation?”

“That’s creepy. Have you been tailing me this whole time?”

“How could I possibly deceive you and tail you? It’s just intuition, intuition.”

“You’re a scary one.”

After finishing that short exchange with Dork, Keter turned and met the eyes of Hissop, Besil, Jacques, and Katherine. Then he grinned.

“I told you I’d definitely come back.”

“You never said that!”

What did the dignity of the head of the family, an elder, a chief butler, or a commander matter at a time like this? All of them, with one heart and one mind, rushed forward and pulled Keter into an embrace.

* * *

Seven years passed after that. Keter ran away from home. All he left behind was a single note.

—I’ve pretty much finished what I needed to do, and there’s someone I need to find, so I’m off. I don’t know when I’ll return, but I will come back someday.

Sefira was no longer just a family. It had become a kingdom. It was a city-state, yes, but one where all races were equal, and powerful enough that even the world’s greatest powers could not ignore it.

Surprisingly, Keter’s departure caused no great uproar as he held no official rank. Even though he was the biggest contributor to building Sefira into a kingdom, even though he was the hero who saved the world, he was still just one of many people in Sefira. And they all knew one thing: Keter always kept his word. If he said he would return someday, then he would, just as he always had.

Then fifty years passed. Hissop, the first king, died young from overwork, and his biological eldest son, Reji, became the second king. The Sefira Kingdom valued peace by nature, but its military power was still known. That was because of Besil’s firm belief that peace came from military strength.

However, the peace lasted too long, and as generations changed, the national mood and political direction changed naturally as well.

“We’re wasting far too much of the treasury on military power!”

“No country is hostile to Sefira, so why are we spending half the national budget on defense?”

Most of the vassals expressed that view. Reji, the second king, had been born in a peaceful era, so he agreed with them.

“We will reduce the size of the military and use that budget to support the people’s livelihoods.”

As it happened, the kingdom was going through a great drought and a massive earthquake at the time, so Reji’s rule seemed extremely appropriate and was widely praised. But around the time people started forgetting those disasters, trouble began brewing in the Sefira Kingdom. It was also something that was bound to happen, since Sefira was a multi-racial nation.

In the High Court of Sefira...

“Didn’t we tell you to stop cutting down the forest?!”

“How are we supposed to keep the forge burning without firewood?! Do you think bricks for houses just fall from the sky?! And tell those damned beastfolk to do something about their shedding! Do you know how miserable we dwarves are because of you?!”

“What are we supposed to do? The fur falls out on its own! And why are beastfolk banned from the bathhouse? That’s racial discrimination!”

Elves, dwarves, and beastfolk were all shouting at each other. At first, they only yelled in the High Court, but when it came to the interests of their own race, raising one’s voice louder than everyone else never solved anything. In the end, one side had to give way.

In the past, figures like Keter or Panir had clearly laid down what was right and wrong and kept everything under control, but those two were no longer there. Reji, the second king, was an extreme pacifist, so all he ever said was to work it out among themselves. However, this was not something that could be solved through dialogue.

And when dialogue failed, only one thing followed. Sefira, once peaceful, began to descend into internal violence. At first, it was just fists being thrown, but it did not take long for that to escalate into murder.

Reji finally realized how serious the situation was and tried to solve it, but it was too late. The central government could no longer control the power of each faction. His pacifist personality played a part in that, but the real decisive problem was the military cuts he had made in the past.

Non-human races were fundamentally far stronger than humans. To keep such races under control, knights were essential. But the knights, who were the most expensive to train and maintain, had been drastically cut first.

Once signs of internal collapse began showing in the Sefira Kingdom, the surrounding nations, which had only been watching for an opportunity, began licking their chops.

“Sefira’s shaking? Then Keter must really be dead or gone.”

“This is first-come, first-served.”

Nations everywhere began scheming against Sefira, and the nation started to tilt toward ruin at a frightening speed. Reji had originally been healthy, but within barely a year, all the hardship aged and sickened him.

With a gaunt face, he said to his son. “Fran, the fate of Sefira rests on you.”

Fran, the son of Reji and the current crown prince of Sefira, was given a top-secret mission: he was to go to the Vina Empire and ask for aid. The Sefira Kingdom and the Vina Empire were not allies. There was no reason for the Vina Empire to help, but Reji remembered something he had heard from the first king, Hissop.

“If a great calamity ever falls on the nation, and there is no Keter or anyone else to solve it... Go find the emperor. They will help you once, no matter what.”

So, Fran disguised himself as a commoner, slipped out of the palace, and boarded a carriage bound for the Vina Empire. Under normal circumstances, he should have reached the empire without incident, but that assumption underestimated the non-human races.

Reji had been extremely cautious. He knew non-humans were far superior to humans, so he kept the plan tightly hidden and concealed Fran’s movements as much as he could. However, the non-humans were even more capable than Reji had imagined, and they noticed Fran leaving by carriage. They did not know his exact purpose, but the fact that Crown Prince Fran was being sent away in secret was obviously some kind of scheme.

“So they’re trying to ask for support. We elves control magical communication, so they must be trying to go in person.”

“But which country is he going to?”

“Does that matter? The world belongs to us as long as humans are gone.”

The situation was even worse than Reji knew. The non-human races, who had once fought one another, had already united and agreed to drive humans out.

“It seems Crown Prince Fran is about to have a streak of bad luck. Say, getting attacked by bandits.”

Fran had left alone, without an escort, precisely to conceal his movements, which meant no one was there to protect him. And just as they said, it happened.

Sefira’s territory was famous for being safe, so there were no bandits there. Other nations, however, definitely had bandits and thieves everywhere, so Fran had planned to stay on the main road until he crossed the border.

But for some reason, bandits attacked the carriage before he even reached the border. They were brutally ruthless. Without asking any questions, they shot the driver dead with arrows and dragged Fran out of the carriage.

Fran was a healthy grown man, but he had never learned martial arts. There was no way he could stand against a group of thick-bodied bandits.

“That outfit... you’re men from the Rakan Kingdom,” Fran said calmly, even with his life in danger. “So you came here knowing exactly who I am, and you mean to kill me.”

“If you know that much, then just bare your neck. We’ll make it quick.”

“I’ll pay you ten times your fee. And I swear on my ancestors’ names that there will be no revenge.”

“Hehehe. If you can pay right now, we’ll take the deal.”

“That’s impossible at the moment. At least let me reach the Infinite Bank...”

“Do you take us for idiots?”

Thud!

One of the bandits kicked Fran in the stomach. Fran dropped to his knees in pain, but he did not cry out.

So this is where I die.

Fran felt certain about his death, and with that certainty came a flood of regret.

...Peace is never free. I should never have forgotten what my ancestors said—that peace can only be preserved by strength.

There were no excuses. This was all his fault.

I’m sorry, Father. And to all my ancestors as well.

At the very least, in order not to die disgracefully, Fran closed his eyes and tried to accept death with composure. But that was when...

“Has this old geezer gone senile? Get lost.”

“Are you actually bandits? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen real ones.”

Judging by the voice, an old man had happened to be passing by. However, his voice was strange; it was full of energy and annoyingly cocky.

“Looks like he really is senile. If you want to die so badly, then die.”

They were bandits, but they were also former soldiers. They had no hesitation about taking a life, even if the target was a powerless old man. Even on the verge of death, Fran could not let that happen.

“Stop! Leave the innocent citizen alone and just kill me instea...”

Thud! Crash!

One of the bandits who had approached the old man suddenly flew high into the air and smashed into a distant rock, dead.

“...?!”

Everyone’s eyes widened. The old man paid them no mind. He strolled over and stopped in front of Fran.

“So all of you gathered just to kill this one little kid?”

He looked at the bandits with clear contempt. The bandit leader became suddenly polite.

“My apologies. You may pass, sir.”

He realized the old man was no ordinary master. That was why he wanted to let him go, but the old man ignored him.

“You. What’s your name?”

“F-Fran.”

“You look like a noble brat. Say your full name.”

“Fran Con Sefira... sir.”

“Heh. I thought so. I could tell from a distance your big head looked exactly like a Sefira’s.”

“Sir. I’m fine, so please just ignore this and leave. It’s dangerous.”

Fran could tell the old man was strong, but there were over twenty bandits here. No matter how powerful he was, it should have been impossible for an old man to defeat twenty bloodthirsty bandits.

However, the old man just picked his nose.

“It’s been a while since I heard that one. Hehehe. Oh, now that’s a big one.”

Seeing him flick a giant booger around on his finger, the bandit leader tightened his grip on his sword.

“Sir, if you mean to interfere, then we have no choice.” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Ziiing!

Aura rose from the bandit leader’s sword. Fran was horrified.

“A-aura! Sir, it’s not too late yet. Please, go!”

“I was going to, but you’re coming with me.”

Seeing the old man briefly glance to the side, he signaled his men. The bandits charged at the old man all at once. No matter how strong he was, they thought he could not deal with all of them at once.

The moment he leaves an opening, I’ll cut him down myself.

The bandit leader prepared to strike at that exact moment, waiting for the old man to attack his subordinates. Then the old man moved.

“This is the moment you di... Huh?”

The bravado in the leader’s voice vanished. Of course it did, as all twenty of his men had already been thrown backward. He had no idea what had happened. It was like watching a play.

“So it really is the moment you die.”

The booger on the old man’s finger had killed all twenty of his men.

Faced with such an overwhelming difference in power, the bandit leader’s legs gave out, and he collapsed.

“Wh-who in the world are you?”

“Me? I’ve got more titles than I can count, but this one’s my favorite.”

The old man raised his thumb and flashed a wicked grin.

“I’m the crazy one in this nation.”