Chapter 48

Rakia walked confidently and firmly grasped the handle of Excalibur.

Then, with a loud “Hyaa!” she tried to pull it out with all her might.

“……”

But Excalibur didn’t budge an inch.

Rakia wasn’t the chosen hero.

“Ugh!”

Rakia channeled the mana in her heart, exploding it outward.

Her skirt fluttered, and a blue haze began to rise around her.

Rakia’s current strength was enough to easily toss a boulder the size of a house.

But even with that strength, she couldn’t pull out the hero’s sword, Excalibur.

“Why won’t it come out! This stupid thing…!”

Rakia refused to give up, stubbornly tugging at Excalibur’s handle.

“Come out already, damn it!”

“Hey! Stop! If it hasn’t come out by now, it’s not going to!”

A patrol soldier who had been watching shouted.

“You’re not the hero!”

“Darn it…!”

Exhausted, Rakia slumped to the ground.

“But, but I’m a dragon…”

“What are you talking about? If you can’t pull it out, hurry up and leave! Next!”

The patrol soldier coldly shooed Rakia away, and she weakly walked over to where Ariel was.

“Ariel, I’m sorry… I wanted to pull out that sword so badly… but it just wouldn’t budge… sniff…”

Rakia finally burst into tears.

Not only had she failed to pull the sword, but she also felt a pang of sadness, thinking that Ariel might be disappointed in her.

“It’s okay, Rakia.”

At that moment, a small creature popped out from Ariel’s hat and perched on Rakia’s shoulder.

“That sword is only for the chosen hero.”

It was Roo.

Roo, who had been sleeping soundly in Ariel’s hat, had woken up just in time to see Rakia trying to pull the sword.

“You don’t need the hero’s sword. You’re already stronger than any hero. You’re a dragon, after all.”

“Sniff, Roo…”

“There, there, don’t cry, shh.”

Roo wiped away Rakia’s tears, and Ariel quietly approached, gently patting Rakia’s head.

“You did well, Rakia.”

Ariel had never expected Rakia to pull out Excalibur in the first place.

Excalibur was a sword that only the chosen one could wield.

Even a dragon couldn’t defy the will of the gods.

“Ariel…”

Rakia, trying to stop her tears, spoke up.

“I failed, but you’ll definitely pull that sword out, Ariel. You’re much stronger than me…”

“……”

Ariel, wondering if that was really true, turned her body.

Then she briskly walked over to where Excalibur was.

Excalibur was still glowing brilliantly, embedded in the ground.

‘So this is the hero’s sword…’

Ariel, feeling a bit moved, grasped the sword’s handle.

Then she felt something strange.

Perhaps because it was a divine weapon, she could sense a holy aura emanating from it.

Ariel applied some force and pulled on Excalibur’s handle.

“……”

But Excalibur didn’t move an inch.

Ariel wasn’t the chosen hero either.

At that moment, Ariel thought something similar to what Rakia had thought.

Even if she wasn’t the chosen hero, couldn’t she pull it out with sheer strength?

Ariel’s strength stat was infinite.

Not just strong, but to a level that couldn’t even be measured.

So maybe, just maybe, it was possible.

Ariel applied a bit more force and pulled on Excalibur’s handle.

*Groan…!*

A strange resistance came from Excalibur’s handle.

It was an indescribable, almost magical feeling, but it seemed like she could break through it with strength.

Ariel added more force.

*Groooan!!*

The resistance from Excalibur’s handle began to waver precariously.

As if it was struggling against Ariel’s strength.

Ariel felt like she could pull it out with sheer force.

“……”

Ariel firmly grasped Excalibur’s handle and pulled with all her might.

With more strength than she had ever used before.

*Crackle!!*

Finally, with a sound like something breaking, Excalibur moved.

“……!”

Ariel was slightly surprised.

She had been half-doubting, but Excalibur had actually been pulled out.

The resistance was completely gone, and the blade was halfway out of the ground.

“……”

Ariel glanced around.

Coincidentally, a fight had broken out behind her, and the patrol soldiers were focused on that.

Ariel quickly pushed Excalibur back into the ground.

She had pulled it out of curiosity, but this didn’t seem right.

If people misunderstood her as the hero, she’d only attract unwanted attention.

That would be tiresome. It might complicate her adventures.

Knowing that it could be pulled out with strength was enough.

Ariel let go of Excalibur’s handle and turned to walk back to her spot.

Then, a voice called out from behind.

“Hey, you…!”

She glanced back to see a patrol soldier staring at her in shock.

“You, just now… you pulled it, right? You pulled it out, didn’t you?”

It seemed this patrol soldier had witnessed Ariel pulling out Excalibur.

“You, you pulled it out just now! I saw it! You pulled it out a bit! But then you put it back! Right? I definitely saw it!!”

The patrol soldier shouted excitedly, but Ariel feigned ignorance and shook her head.

“What? She’s an elf…”

Other patrol soldiers clicked their tongues nearby.

“How could an elf pull out the hero’s sword? That doesn’t make sense.”

The other patrol soldiers hadn’t seen Ariel pull out Excalibur.

At the moment she pulled it, a fight had broken out in the line, and they were focused on that.

But one patrol soldier had clearly seen Ariel pull out Excalibur.

“No! She definitely pulled it out! That elf, she pulled it out a bit and then pushed it back in! Didn’t you see it? That elf is the hero! That elf is the hero!!”

The patrol soldier who had seen it desperately shouted, but no one believed him.

“You’re acting a bit strange today, are you tired?” was the only concerned response he got.

And so, Ariel managed to keep up her act until the end.

“Stop with the nonsense. It’s already dawn, and I’m exhausted. Next!”

The patrol soldiers sent Ariel away.

Ariel safely returned to her original spot, and the next in line, Sion, stepped forward with determined strides.

*

‘I am the hero.’

Sion thought as he walked toward Excalibur.

‘I have to be the one.’

A look of determination filled Sion’s face.

‘I have to become the hero to protect Clara.’

When Sion was young, he and his sister Clara were abandoned by their parents.

After that, they lived as vagrants, barely surviving, but it wasn’t much of a life.

Begging for food, shivering in the cold on the streets.

It was a harsh life for the young siblings.

Sion wanted to make sure Clara, at least, could sleep in a warm house and eat her fill.

She was his only sister, after all.

They said that if you became the hero, you could enjoy wealth and glory.

Then they wouldn’t have to live as vagrants anymore.

They wouldn’t have to run from patrol soldiers or live in fear of being kidnapped by slave traders.

He and Clara could live well and eat well.

‘So please…’

With a desperate heart, Sion grasped Excalibur’s handle and pulled with all his might.

‘Please come out!’

*Swoosh!*

Excalibur slid out smoothly.

“Huh?”

Not only Sion, who had just pulled out Excalibur, but also the patrol soldiers and everyone in line were stunned.

“D-did I pull it out…?”

Sion muttered in a low voice.

He couldn’t believe the situation. His legs felt weak from the surreal feeling.

“The, the hero…”

After a moment, one patrol soldier struggled to speak.

“Has appeared…”

Then others began to shout one by one.

“The hero has appeared…”

“The hero has appeared!”

“Wow! The hero has appeared!!”

Cheers erupted from all around.

The area quickly turned into chaos.

The patrol soldiers busily moved to report to their superiors, and a crowd gathered to see Sion amidst the commotion.

Sion stood there, still bewildered, holding Excalibur.

“Wow, it’s the hero!”

“The vagrant kid was chosen as the hero!”

Sion had never received so much attention in his life.

And the gazes that had always been filled with disgust and contempt were now filled with awe.

Of course.

Sion was the hero.

The chosen one of the gods.

‘I, I’m the hero…!’

Sion raised Excalibur high into the air.

Then, a thunderous cheer erupted.

“Wow!!”

“Hero!!”

In front of the golden statue of Leonhardt.

The new hero stood, holding Excalibur high.

It was a young boy, barely ten years old.

“Long live the hero!!”

The morning sun slowly rose in the sky.