Chapter 160. A Shameful Confession
After the official service began, there had already been one incident that delayed my attempt to enter the Maze Forest legally and officially.
Aien had suddenly been kidnapped.
Back then, I had simply assumed the whole thing happened to stop me from entering the Maze Forest.
[Light disappears beyond the horizon, and the Demon King of Wrath is approaching as he melts into the darkness!]
Could there be some kind of curse on me?
Like whenever I was about to do something important, some other completely ridiculous problem had to happen first!
Please.
Can things just go smoothly for once?
Ah...
My determination is collapsing....
“Even if we go into the Maze Forest, it’ll happily follow us right in, won’t it?”
“It is the Demon King of Wrath.”
“Would even a Demon King get lost inside the Maze Forest?”
“The power of Wrath has settled inside my arm...”
Aien looked at it.
“So it’ll probably follow us just fine.”
“And it settled in so completely that we can’t even pull it back out.”
Technically, a Demon King was around Hero level.
So why didn’t I feel like I could defeat one in a one-on-one fight?
That hurt.
This was all Hayangi’s fault.
If she had just come to find me earlier instead of going on some journey to search for her other half, none of this would've happened.
“I know the route through this forest perfectly.”
Pie spoke confidently.
“We’ll arrive quickly.”
“At least that’s a relief.”
“The problem is that the Demon King might arrive before us.”
“...Ha! Ha! Ha!”
What happened if we actually defeated the Demon King?
With the way things were going lately, I almost felt like we might somehow manage it.
Wrath was at least a named one.
Wouldn’t it be absurdly strong?
But this was also a world where Great Demon Kings existed.
So maybe ordinary Demon Kings weren’t actually that powerful....
A Hero and a Demon King.
Why did both titles feel so pathetic?
Damn those Great Heroes.
If those bastards didn’t exist, I might have been the strongest person in the setting.
Or at least ranked in the top ten...
Top one hundred?
“Then there’s no other choice!”
I shot to my feet.
“We ride Flying Fish and crash straight in!”
Pie sighed.
“...Haa. I don’t have particularly good memories of that.”
“Ingwang’s heart is pounding!!!”
I stood up and stared toward the entrance of the Maze Forest.
The entrance was blocked because the village had become a complete mess.
But if we rode Flying Fish, that didn’t matter much.
Unlike before, I didn’t need to gather subordinates before entering some Demonic Realm either.
I could just wake up the kids sleeping in my shadow and drag them inside.
How convenient was that?
“Hey, Chang! Want to come see my other half?”
“Ah, that Hayangi thing?”
Chang looked interested while helping the villagers rebuild.
“But if you’ve already come this far, can’t she just come out herself?”
Thinking about Pastien made me consider bringing Erol too.
But Hayangi, the crystallization of Madness itself, was inside.
That didn’t seem like a very good idea.
Erol had spent an entire month traveling beside me while staring at me with that ambiguous look.
The moment Hayangi returned, he would definitely reach some kind of conclusion.
“The wrath of a Great Hero....”
I muttered.
“Grandpa Aro is already more than enough....”
Chang froze.
“...Wait. Did you make that man angry?”
“...A little.”
I hesitated.
“A little more than a little....”
Thump!
Pie smacked me on the head.
She had faced Grandpa Aro’s terrifying presence herself, so apparently she was even more nervous than I was.
Ordinary people grew weaker with age.
No.
Pretty much every living thing did.
I, on the other hand, was still growing.
Every time someone saw me, I had become stronger.
I still couldn’t properly read the Flow of a Great Hero like Erol...
But someone around Gildeupin’s level?
I could now somehow read it.
And then there was Grandpa Aro.
That man was still growing too.
Every time I took another step forward and looked at Grandpa Aro...
It felt like he was standing right at the barely visible edge of my perception, casually waving at me.
The strongest....
He truly deserves that title....
...
Was Grandpa Aro also someone who had originally existed in reality?
That thought was a little frightening.
“Either way, haven’t we already decided we’re entering the Maze Forest?”
Mallyangi asked.
“That’s right, Mallyangi.”
The Village Chief nodded.
“Whatever happens, entering the Maze Forest directly ahead of us has already been decided.”
“The problem is that we’ll probably have to face something as significant as a Demon King inside the Maze Forest.”
I frowned.
“And probably inside a Demonic Realm at that.”
Levy smiled.
“Even though Ingwang-nim is a Hero equal in rank to a Demon King, you still cannot stand against one.”
“...Levy, why are you smiling?”
Lose the Great Hero of Salvation.
Stop provoking Grandpa Aro.
Avoid the Demon King.
Were those three conditions even possible to satisfy at the same time?
I had no idea.
“Father, why don’t we call that muscular Friendship woman and use her as a shield?”
“...Hey, Jayeon, that’s a bit much!”
Aien stared at me.
“Uncle, aren’t you thinking a little too long?”
Hmm....
Hmm....
Mmm....
I can’t do this anymore.
I seriously can’t!
Damn you, Chairman!
If that bastard hadn’t thrown me into this ridiculous situation, I could have traveled with a little more peace of mind!
“Everyone, get on Flying Fish!”
“Uncle! Again?!”
Aien protested.
“Please stop that habit where whenever you get stuck, you just charge ahead!”
“Sitting around discussing a problem that cannot be solved, repeating the same conversation like a broken record, is meaningless!”
I pointed forward.
“It’s nothing but armchair theorizing!”
“We move!”
“We think while moving!”
“We move while thinking!”
Chang alternated between looking at me with a baffled expression and watching the others prepare as though they were completely used to this.
I gave him a job too.
“Chang, tell Jin to keep Erol occupied with conversation.”
“Huh? Master and Erol-hyung?”
Chang hesitated.
“Those two don’t seem to get along very well....”
“If they actually talk, they might get along surprisingly well.”
I nodded.
“You’ll probably need to mediate a little between them.”
“Uh... okay....”
First, I needed to tie Erol down.
That guy was simply annoying.
The less involved I was with him, the easier my life would be.
I hurriedly shoved everyone onto Flying Fish and escaped.
People below stared as Flying Fish suddenly rose into the sky.
“Goodbye, everyone!”
I waved.
“I’m throwing away... uh, whatever this is, and leaving to find freedom!”
“May all of you live hap—”
I stopped.
“Unhappily!”
Even until the very end, I never forgot to maintain the appearance of a bad person.
Good job, Ingwang.
Ingwang did nothing wrong.
The world was the problem.
Just like Grandpa Aro said, if something was wrong, I could simply smash it.
Mm.
WHOOOOOSH!
The moment Flying Fish entered the range of the Maze Forest, a tremendous roar of wind slammed into my ears.
The wind was so fierce that Pie, sitting beside me to act as our guide, was using me as a windbreak.
Flying Fish seemed excited and was accelerating even more.
Maybe from its perspective, this felt like returning home after a long time.
“Do you think Hayangi will try to enter you again?”
Pie, sitting while leaning against my back, asked with a small sigh.
Hmm....
It didn’t seem like Hayangi had any particular bad feelings toward me.
And she seemed to be waiting for me to come.
So I assumed she would probably return inside me.
Of course, I currently had the title of Hero.
But would that bastard even care?
She had already lent me her power several times.
“From her perspective, I’m probably the only place she can stay.”
“Maybe she’s waiting because she has nowhere else.”
Pie grew quiet.
“...Do you think my other half will be the same?”
Ah.
So that was why she asked.
Hmm....
If Pie’s other half really was one of the Fanatics’ Fruits....
Uh....
I had absolutely no idea.
“What happens if my other half refuses to come back to me?”
“Aren’t you curious what’ll happen if your other half does enter you?”
“...Either way, it’s a problem.”
Pie sighed.
“What a life.”
“Our lives are really shitty.”
Was there a saying that failures only needed to look at each other to start laughing?
Even while flying through the violent wind, our eyes met...
And we both smirked.
The most absurd part was that even with lives like these, we still had to keep living.
“...I heard you asked that horned woman to become your family.”
“Now that I think about it, that sounds ridiculously close to a proposal.”
I nodded.
“Yeah. I did.”
“...I see.”
...
Huh?
“What’s with that reaction?”
“Do I need to say more?”
“...No.”
Now.
Now really was the time to decide...!
It had taken a long time.
A really long time.
I had spent far too long vaguely letting things continue without defining them.
Just like how I had always been unable to look people in the eyes...
Even though our relationship was practically already decided, I kept hesitating.
I deliberately kept it vague.
Because I was afraid.
Just like how I had depended on Dorfin and leaned on her without ever putting it into words.
“...Right.”
I swallowed.
“We should probably... you know... define our relationship now.”
Pie stared at me.
“That word choice is terrible.”
“Sorry.”
It had begun on the beach after my first battle with First Horn.
No.
Maybe it had truly begun when I first met Hayangi.
A feeling I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge.
I was afraid because I didn’t understand it.
I never spoke it because I didn’t understand it.
And because I didn’t understand it, I had asked others about it over and over again.
The feeling that made me obsess over Pie.
The feeling that allowed a simple conversation with Pie to calm me and put my mind at ease.
