I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me - Chapter 62



61 – [A Brief Rest – 01]

Did I choose wrong?

I thought I’d done my best.

This wasn’t a bad ending for *me*.

I ate something, sap or fruit from the World Tree, and the reaper’s curse was gone from my body.

Sure, the magic nerves that had been torn by the curse, the state of my body, it wasn’t completely healed so I still had to be careful, but at least I wasn’t going to die right now.

But people died.

A lot of them died.

That’s why this wasn’t something I could call a happy ending, it was…tainted.

And.

-I’m, sorry…

Reina’s words echoed in my head.

What are you sorry about?

What the hell are you even sorry for?

You selfish, self-centered b*tch.

I would’ve resented you dying like that whether you apologized or not. If you hadn’t apologized, I would’ve cursed you for not having any remorse to the end. And now that you *did* apologize, I’m trying to curse you for doing it just to make yourself feel better.

But I’ll hate you.

You just went and died on your own terms.

Without even properly bowing your head to me, without bearing the weight of your sins, without having the cross of evil engraved within you, without facing legal punishment.

Without being scorned or humiliated by anyone.

You’re a coward, Reina.

A spineless one, too.

How could you possibly be this selfish until the very end?

b*stard.

Trash.

b*tch.

In the end, we didn’t even share a single proper story, did we?

If we’d shared stories, maybe things would have been resolved, not just the circumstances, that kind of problem…

Even if there was punishment, something…

Something might have changed, you know?

Why aren’t you talking?

Talk.

If you don’t talk, I can’t know.

Why does everyone live with their mouths shut?

Not saying what they’re dissatisfied with.

Not saying what they’re afraid of.

Not saying anything at all, and expecting me to just *know*?

Is your mouth just for show?

I know, you couldn’t talk because of the Geas.

But.

I wanted to share more stories.

*

“…….”

I opened my eyes.

Where am I?

My mind was blank for a moment, making it hard to grasp the situation, but I quickly realized this was the lodging Titania had lent us.

‘Right, I passed out.’

Right after Reina died, I’d rushed to hunt the wyverns, and after finally taking down most of them, I’d collapsed from exhaustion.

Even so, getting pummeled by a Demon Lord’s officer had taken a heavy toll. My already poor physical state had worsened.

It was no exaggeration to say I only survived because the Reaper’s curse had lifted.

At least, the wounds I’d gotten now would heal soon, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

But I knew that parts like my arm or other important areas, I couldn’t expect to heal naturally. I wanted an elixir, but even if I wanted one, it wasn’t like I could just get my hands on it.

‘Reina…’

I thought of her name. The name of the dead.

It wasn’t exactly longing.

No, that’s a lie.

It wasn’t like I had no feelings at all.

If the gavel of the law had sentenced Reina to death, I wouldn’t have tried to stop it.

If death was the fair punishment she deserved, then that was that.

But maybe we could have talked a little more, but in the end, I never heard what Reina had wanted.

Never heard why she did what she did.

Though, because of the geas, I wouldn’t have been able to hear it anyway.

“……”

Royce isn’t here.

Lately, it’s become a habit, waking up to Royce’s gentle ‘Did you sleep well?’ greeting every morning. Now that the greeting’s gone, it feels strangely awkward.

I sat up and put on my outer coat.

“Ugh, it hurts.”

I was beaten and sliced all over; it hurt like hell. The wounds were treated, but full recovery was a pipe dream.

When it comes to healing magic, it’s best to assume it’s just ‘enough to keep you from dying,’ unless you’re dealing with a Saint-level healer.

Especially with critical injuries; asking for healing magic practically means nothing else but to stay alive.

It’s only at the Saint-level where they can just heal critical wounds on the spot.

‘Saint… Belita…’

Come to think of it, Belita only ever healed my minor injuries.

Most of the times when I got critically hurt, I only asked for treatment after the fight, and natural healing was better than healing magic anyway.

Healing magic is more like taking the other person’s magic and using it to heal; you are effectively injecting ‘someone else’s magic’ into your body.

It’s not a huge issue, but some people experienced adverse effects from healing magic, and too much of it could build up a tolerance, making it less effective.

Luckily, this tolerance faded if you stayed away from it for a while.

Still, it was a problem for adventurers and soldiers who get injured frequently.

‘What is Belita doing? At least I need to hear what Belita has to say. I don’t want to miss another chance to talk to her. At least, I want to know the truth hidden in her heart.’

Hearing it won’t change anything, won’t lessen their sins.

I just want to hear it.

If they betrayed me, at least I should know the reason why.

And…

‘Alex.’

That Garfield or whatever his name was, the Demon Lord Army executive, knew about my physical condition, even the curse.

And even though there are very few people who know where I am, he wasn’t surprised that I was in Elvenheim.

Even if he had somehow heard rumors while hiding among humans, or just stumbled upon it, the world had declared that “Hero Olivia Reinhart” was dead.

But for him to know everything, it could only mean he was connected to Alex.

‘Why?’

I, at least, believed that Alex did it “for the kingdom.”

He always seemed to have a slight faith in the kingdom, so it was believable.

If that was the reason he tried to kill me, it would explain it.

Honestly, I don’t understand it, but usually, the reasons behind someone’s evil acts are hard for anyone else to understand. It’s not easy to find a perpetrator whose motives are understandable.

‘Anyway, the fact that Alex was cooperating with monsters is bothering me. Or am I missing something? Is there someone besides Alex who knows something? Hmm, honestly I don’t know.’

If he was cooperating with monsters, why would he go so far?

For the kingdom.

For humanity.

Wasn’t he trying to kill me?

Besides, Garfield, the Demon Lord Army executive, even used the power of the Grim Reaper. His abilities increased instantly, and the efficiency of that boost was so good, it might as well have been the real power of the Grim Reaper.

Where did he even get that?

This is giving me a headache.

“Okay, let’s stop thinking about it.”

Pushing my not-so-good brain any further won’t yield good results.

Even right after waking up.

I wasn’t going to give up on the accident, but it didn’t seem like something to think about right after waking up.

Before I passed out, Royce and Silphy, and Les, including so many people were hurt, and in Titania’s case, she was hurt so badly, she might be crossing the river in the underworld by now.

Thinking about that, I needed to check on the current state of Elvenheim.

“Okay.”

I briefly checked my condition in front of the door, and then, for some reason, opened it nervously.

As I opened the door, sounds came from everywhere.

“Hey! Handle the wood gently!”

“Hold this for a sec!”

“Those monster b*stards…!! How much money did I save to get this house!”

“Breaking a house that still has debt on it, the heinous things.”

“That’s because they’re monsters.”

“Yeah, true.”

“……”

The atmosphere is better than I thought?

Elvenheim, which was messed up in many ways due to the Wyvern or the Demon Lord army’s attack, was currently undergoing construction in real time.

They were rebuilding houses on the trees, and the buildings under the trees were also being fixed with hammering sounds.

I considered the possibility that the atmosphere would be bad, but they were all working hard, as if they had decided to live positively.

Yeah.

There’s nothing that can be done about what already happened, so spending the day energetically wasn’t such a bad option.

Looks like a funeral or something’s already been done?

Come to think of it, how long have I been out?

Looking at the state of the village repairs, I’d guess I was asleep for about 2-3 days.

If I hadn’t been on the receiving end of Garfield’s beatdown, I could’ve woken up in a day.

“Hmm.”

I clenched and unclenched my fists, checking my body.

From noble mtl dot com

I could move, no paralysis.

Still hard to use full power though, my mana pathways are trashed.

Looks like I can’t fight all-out until I get an elixir.

Even with the curse lifted, its effects linger, still messing with me.

No, more than that, I should be happy to be free of my time limit.

“Olivia-nim! You’re awake!”

“Huh? Ah, Silphy! You’re okay! That’s a relief!”

Last time I saw her, she looked like she was in bad shape with a curse on her.

I was worried something might have gone wrong.

“Whew, we were so worried, you didn’t open your eyes for three days.”

“Slept a long time, huh….”

Did the curse of the Reaper lifting make me relax like this?

“By the way… Have you seen Royce? He’ll be happy to see me healthy.”

“Royce-nim went to the World Tree.”

“The World Tree? Didn’t we already take care of that?”

“Lord Royce said he needs to go there a few more times. From what I heard, it’ll take quite a while… probably means you’ll need to be in Elvenheim for at least a few days.”

“Oh, really?”

If Royce said so, then there’s no helping it.

I was free from the time limit, so there was no need to rush.

Rather, I needed to take my time and talk to a lot of people, to understand the current situation.

I had been betrayed so powerfully that I thought they felt betrayed because I, the ‘Kingdom’s Hero,’ wasn’t sticking to the hero role.

But, the way things are playing out now, the more I think about it, the more it doesn’t seem like a simple ‘disposable pawn’ story.

It was slowly starting to feel like something unknown was distorting Alex in my mind.

“Um, so, Lady Olivia?”

“What?”

“Titania said she’d like to meet you when you woke up, would that be alright?”

“She’s alive!”

“Yes, but her condition isn’t great, she spends almost the entire day sleeping. Still, she’s passed the crisis, she’ll recover with time. I just came from seeing her, could you maybe show your face?”

“…….”

She has something to say to me.

I also had several things I wanted to say.

I needed to share the information from my conversations with Garfield with Royce, of course, and with Titania as well, if possible.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yes!”