Chapter 154. The Great Hero Goes Off the Rails
What was the position of a Great Hero within the Alliance?
A good, obedient child.
A timid young man who carried a pointless ideal in his heart, yet hesitated because of that very ideal.
Someone burdened by a sense of responsibility even heavier than the immense power he possessed.
A child who had never truly learned how the world worked, who simply made choices for the sake of as many people as possible and blindly longed for goodness.
“What in the world is this...?!”
If Erol had possessed a personality like the Great Hero of Insight, someone who did not blindly chase goodness, the Alliance would never have been able to treat him the way they did now.
Erol did not possess Insight’s loyalty toward the Alliance.
If his personality had been like Insight’s, then the instant he decided the Alliance was no longer worth protecting, he would simply leave.
And they had no way to stop him.
“M-Mayor! The Great Hero of Salvation has contacted us...!”
“Connect him! Immediately!”
Erol was already over twenty, but he had little experience with society and did not know how to doubt others.
Because of that, he was easily influenced by what people said.
So naturally, the Mayor assumed this incident had to be the work of Madness, who was supposed to be accompanying him.
Suppressing his anger, the Mayor accepted Erol’s call.
“Erol? Is that you, Erol? What in the world are you doing?!”
[Uh, Mayor? This is Ingwang!]
“W-What?! Why are you...!”
[Why else?! I’m calling because this bastard is about to get me killed, so stop him! He won’t listen to me, but maybe he’ll listen to you!]
What was this supposed to mean?
Was the current situation, with a warship flying straight toward the city, not Madness’s doing?
Then why did Ingwang sound this desperate?
“Why... Why is Salvation doing something like this?!”
[How would I know?! We just talked for a little while and suddenly he turned into this!]
“...This is because of you, isn’t it?!”
Silence continued on the other side for a while.
Occasionally, the Mayor could faintly hear Ingwang muttering things like—
“Is it? Hmm... Then maybe... No, but still... Hmm....”
But the Mayor had no idea what any of it meant.
[...Hahahaha! Nooo~? Why would this be my fault? Kahaha! Cough! Ahem! Old man, Mayor! Thiiis~ is all something you caused~!]
Hearing laughter overflowing with dense Madness through the device, the Mayor recoiled in horror and dropped it.
Even from the fallen device, that loud laughter continued.
It was the laughter of someone utterly wicked.
[Hey, old man! What the hell did you do?! What did you do to make the kid snap this hard and decide to ram a ship into you?!]
“Wrong...? You’re saying I did something wrong?”
What had gone wrong?
Erol had complained many times before.
Whenever that happened, he occasionally ignored orders as if venting his anger.
But he had never openly committed an act of hostility like this.
Because he believed it was wrong.
Because he believed his anger would only bring misfortune to countless innocent people.
But now...
That same Erol was charging forward despite knowing the guilt he would feel afterward?
“What exactly did I...?”
[Well, there are plenty of things that come to mind. You people have been doing all kinds of business with the Fanatics, haven’t you?]
“?!!”
How did he know?
The Mayor had believed that even if Erol had harbored suspicions, he had already convinced him thoroughly regarding that matter.
His confusion only grew.
Since when?
Who told him?
How?!
Just as Erol suspected, the Alliance did have connections with the Fanatics.
They existed everywhere.
They could be anyone.
From the Alliance’s perspective, they were practically the perfect allies.
As always, it had simply been a decision made for profit.
The Mayor began to feel slightly wronged.
He even felt frustrated that he had been working alongside a child who belonged to the same Alliance yet could not understand something so obvious.
[I understand~ Old man, it’s not like you did it with evil intentions, right? You just wanted to make money, didn’t you? Of course, of course. If important people want to make a little money, they might end up making some strange friends~]
“What exactly... are you trying to say?!”
[Old man, do you have any of those strange friends standing beside you right now? Ahaha! Aren’t they all running away because they’re afraid of a Great Hero’s anger? They’re cutting off the tail, right?]
“M-Mayor! The warship! The warship is approaching!”
The Mayor hurried to the window.
In the sky, an enormous warship poured out black smoke as it flew straight toward the Mayor’s residence.
[AAAAAH! The ship is tilting! The ship!! This is all your fault! If even one of our kids gets so much as a scratch, I seriously won’t let this go!]
“...Shoot it down....”
“E-Excuse me?!”
“Shoot it down immediately! Activate the anti-air magic! Bring that warship down right now!”
“B-But if we do that, the city—!”
“If we leave it alone, the residence will be destroyed! We can rebuild the city even if it collapses!”
