I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 24

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The village bathed in the hues of the setting sun.

“Thank you!”

Finn, the Pathfinder, tucked his purchases into his backpack.

He resumed his walk, his thoughts drifting.

‘Wait, what was I going to buy?’

His memory suddenly turned hazy.

He stopped in his tracks.

‘I was going to buy…’

His gaze landed on the flowers displayed at a stall.

Beautiful white hyacinths, their petals translucent and delicate.

‘Those…’

He felt drawn to them, an irresistible pull.

Noticing his interest, the girl behind the stall spoke up.

“Are you interested in hyacinths, sir?”

“Hyacinths?”

So that was their name.

Even from this distance, their fragrance wafted towards him, a sweet and intoxicating scent.

‘They resemble…’

The flowers reminded him of her, their delicate beauty mirroring hers.

“How much for a single stem?”

“One silver coin per stem, sir.”

“Then, can I buy this entire bundle?”

The girl’s face lit up.

“Of course, sir!”

She carefully gathered a bundle of white hyacinths and tied them together with a ribbon.

She presented the bouquet to Finn with a curtsy.

“Thank you.”

“Um, would you like to know the flower language as well?”

“Hmm?”

“You seem to be buying these as a gift for someone special.”

His ears flushed red.

That was answer enough.

“The flower language for white hyacinths is ‘the happiness of loving you.’ ”

“The happiness of loving you?”

“To be more precise, it means ‘the happiness of loving you freely.’ I’m still young, so I don’t really understand what it means, though.”

‘The happiness of loving you freely…’

The words resonated with him.

Clutching the bouquet tightly, he bowed to the girl.

“Thank you for telling me.”

He couldn’t wait to give the flowers to her.

As he walked through the village square, his thoughts filled with her, he spotted a familiar figure.

‘Oh?’

There she was.

Her pale, flawless skin and her hair, the color of spun ice.

She resembled the flowers he held in his hand.

“Wei…ss…?”

His voice trailed off as he approached her.

Weiss didn’t seem to hear him.

However, the boy sitting beside her turned to look at him.

‘What?’

Why was Weiss with that kid…

And why was she smiling at him like that?

He felt dizzy, a strange sense of unease washing over him.

‘Why?’

She was showing a side of herself she had never shown him before, a tenderness reserved solely for that boy named Allen.

Flustered, he hid the bouquet behind his back.

‘This can’t be happening.’

He retreated, his mind reeling.

Weiss finally noticed him and turned around.

“Finn?”

Whatever was happening, he knew it wasn’t the right time to give her the flowers.

He turned and fled.

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‘What was that about?’

I watched Finn run away, a sense of foreboding gripping me. I followed him out of the village square, determined to get to the bottom of this.

However, Finn was already gone.

“Allen? Wasn’t that Finn just now?”

Weiss, catching up to me, sounded confused.

I had turned around when she called my name, and there he was, Finn, standing a short distance away.

But for some reason, he bolted the moment our eyes met.

‘And in his hand… he was holding…’

Flowers.

Those white flowers lying abandoned in the bushes.

‘Could it be…?’

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“Damn it, what an idiot!”

Finn cursed under his breath as he ran, putting as much distance between himself and the village as possible.

‘Why did I run away like that?’

There was no need to panic.

He must have looked strange to Weiss.

‘She can’t possibly be interested in that kid.’

He was the one who saved her.

He had every right to confess his feelings.

But a momentary lapse in judgment had ruined everything.

‘What is wrong with me?’

This wasn’t the first time.

Lately, he felt like a stranger to himself.

He kept doing things he couldn’t explain.

‘Things I can’t explain?’

What was he talking about?

His memories were muddled, like fragments of a dream.

“Ugh…”

Something was wrong.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings.

Where was he, anyway?

‘Huh?’

He finally realized where he was.

He stood in a desolate ruin, shrouded in a haze of dark, swirling particles.

He was beyond the barrier.

‘When did I get here?’

He felt a strange sense of emptiness.

He looked down at his wrist.

The bracelet that should have been there was gone.

“Oh, shit!”

How could he have wandered beyond the barrier without his relic?

As an ordinary human with no Stigma, he couldn’t survive for long without a relic’s protection.

It was a miracle he hadn’t already transformed into a Chaos Beast.

‘I need to get back!’

He was quite a distance away from the barrier.

He stumbled and fell as he tried to run back.

“Gah! Ugh!”

He was going to die. There was no doubt about it.

The realization hit him as he lay sprawled on the ground.

Then, as he lay there, his panic subsided, replaced by a cold, unsettling clarity.

‘Why am I not dead yet?’

He had no relic, no Stigma.

And yet, he was still alive.

‘Why?’

At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.

(You’ve finally calmed down. Don’t worry, as long as I’m inside you, you won’t die.)

He looked around, but there was no one in sight.

The voice sounded familiar.

‘This is…’

A sharp pain shot through his head.

Fragments of memories began to surface.

“How much is this?”

“Oh, young man. I’m not selling that.”

“Would ten silver coins be enough?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just take it!”

“Thank you!”

Why did he buy a pig’s heart?

What was he planning to do with it?

“Speaking of which, have you heard about the bandits beyond the barrier disappearing? There’s a rumor going around that a hero took care of them. Any truth to that?”

“I heard from some of the guests that a hero was staying at our inn recently. I believe they called her the Hero of Roses? Quite a famous hero, I hear.”

“A famous hero? Is she still staying here?”

“No, she’s moved on.”

“Is that so? I wanted to express my gratitude…”

There was nothing strange about that conversation.

Or was there?

‘Express my gratitude…?’

He knew himself well.

He was timid.

He wouldn’t dare approach a hero to “express his gratitude.”

‘When did this start?’

When did he start acting so strange?

As he pondered the question, a different memory surfaced.

“Are you alright?”

“What’s your name?”

“Weiss? That’s a beautiful name.”

“What happened? Why were you lying unconscious?”

The memory of carrying Weiss back to the village after finding her.

For some reason, the memory felt distant and hazy.

And then, the realization hit him.

“Weiss? I feel something prickling my neck…”

He finally recognized the voice that had been speaking to him.

‘Weiss? Is that you?’

(Took you long enough.)

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‘Abandoned flowers and a fleeing Finn…’

I turned to look at Weiss.

She had composed herself and was back to her usual cheerful self.

‘Still suspicious.’

What did Finn see that made him run away like that?

I had a sinking feeling that he might have witnessed Weiss attempting to harm me.

As my suspicions solidified…

‘Her tragic backstory doesn’t matter anymore.’

I prepared to activate my inventory.

‘If she truly is the Demon King, then I have no choice but to kill her.’

One swift, decisive blow, leaving no room for resistance.

I had honed my skills for this very moment.

As I was about to draw Gravitas Replicant…

‘Hmm?’

Something on Weiss’s arm caught my eye.

It was a bracelet adorned with intricate patterns.

It didn’t look like an ordinary item.

Especially the symbol engraved at its center.

‘I’ve seen that symbol in ruins before.’

I used Item Appraisal on the bracelet.

As expected, an item window popped up.

This was unexpected.

‘A relic?’

This single piece of information shattered all my suspicions about Weiss.

The Demon King and relics were incompatible; she couldn’t wear one.

“Weiss, that bracelet you’re wearing…”

“My bracelet? What about it?”

Weiss looked down at her wrist, her expression innocent.

“Have you always worn that?”

“You just noticed? I’ve been wearing it since last week…”

“No, I mean… were you wearing it when you woke up outside the barrier?”

“Ah.”

She shook her head.

“Finn gave it to me when he found me outside the barrier. Even though I was unconscious, I clearly remember him putting it on me.”

That made sense.

Only one question remained.

“Weiss, do you have any memories of being rescued by Finn?”

“Of being rescued? I remember being carried on his back…”

“What about before that? When you first met him?”

Weiss hesitated for a moment.

Then, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

“…Please don’t tell Finn, but… I don’t remember anything before that.”

That was all I needed to hear.

‘There are two Weiss’s now.’

First, there was the innocent Weiss standing before me, oblivious to everything.

And then there was…

‘The Demon King Weiss, inhabiting Finn’s body.’

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The 71st Demon King possessed the ability to change their appearance.

That ability was ‘Parasite.’

They infiltrated their host’s body through their bloodstream, slowly taking control of their mind until the host’s body became their own.

‘The problem is that it was undetectable.’

Because the process was gradual, no one would notice the change until it was too late.

Furthermore, after switching hosts, the previous host would only experience hazy memories, with no lasting side effects.

In the game, if left unchecked, the 71st Demon King could even take over the throne of an entire kingdom.

‘Their combat abilities weren’t particularly impressive at first, but acquiring a hero’s body would change everything.’

That was why I wanted to eliminate them as soon as possible.

However, my actions in defeating the bandits had thrown a wrench into my plans.

In the original game, the bandits had prevented the village Pathfinders from venturing beyond the barrier.

Therefore, the Demon King would choose to possess an outsider associated with the bandit group for their initial reconnaissance.

Since outsiders rarely visited this remote village, my plan was to lie in wait at the inn.

However, the arrival of Weiss and Finn changed everything.

‘Weiss, an outsider, and Finn, who had already made contact with her.’

Furthermore, Weiss’s story about being from Ice Valley added to her credibility.

In the game, the 71st Demon King was depicted as originating from the fallen kingdom of Ice Valley.

That meant the crucial question was whether the 71st Demon King still resided within Weiss, or had already moved on to Finn.

I spent the past week observing them, trying to find the answer.

I didn’t want to kill an innocent person, and doing so might alert the Demon King to my presence.

‘Until recently, I had no choice but to suspect Weiss.’

She had adapted to village life too quickly for someone who had just lost her home.

And her unnatural kindness only added to my suspicions.

However, I ended up learning the reason behind her behavior.

‘And I now had concrete evidence that she wasn’t the Demon King.’

I still didn’t understand why Finn ran away.

But I felt a pang of guilt for assuming that Weiss had tried to harm me after seeing that.

Weiss had opened up to me, and for a moment, I doubted her.

‘If the Demon King isn’t inside Weiss…’

Then there was only one other possibility.

I had to stop Finn.

He was likely almost ready to breach the barrier.

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