After that, the Rhine Kingdom was turned upside down.
The hero party members who were expected to become the kingdom’s core strength alongside the hero.
Due to the unprecedented situation where all of these party members fled to another country, saying they couldn’t take it anymore.
It was to the extent that information was received that they hadn’t just fled, but had actually joined under another country’s hero and were supporting him.
Naturally, Friet ended up bearing all the responsibility for this.
On the grounds of how incompetent he must have been for his party members to not just give up, but actually transfer.
The proposal to assassinate the hero, which had been rejected as too extreme, was now being discussed more seriously among the nobles who looked askance at Friet.
Perhaps, if Friet had shown his face in the royal capital, it might have gone beyond discussion to actual implementation.
However, Friet, fallen into despair, went into hiding. In a corner of a remote inn where the nobles would never find him. Without letting anyone know of his whereabouts.
It was two months later.
When rumors about the party members who had left him reached Friet’s ears, as he did nothing but reminisce about old memories.
There were widespread rumors that not only Irina, but also Imelia had been accumulating dazzling military achievements since becoming Gunther’s lover.
Annihilation of orc legions. Defeat of troll tribes.
The records of solo conquests of mid-level dungeons were too numerous to count on fingers.
If Brunhilde had joined Gunther’s party to fight, she too could have built a reputation known to everyone in Burgundy.
However.
‘…What about Brunhilde?’
Strangely enough, Brunhilde’s name was conspicuously absent from the rumors being heard.
Where was Brunhilde, the traitorous knight, and what was she doing? No one could find out her current situation.
It was certain that she had headed to the Kingdom of Burgundy following Gunther, but there was no record of her afterwards.
As if she had changed her mind midway and left for somewhere else.
Brunhilde’s disappearance.
‘Why…?’
The question he harbored upon hearing this rumor changed Friet’s fate.
* * *
Friet knew.
The reason Imelia and Irina had firmly decided to leave the party was not just because they were fed up with his weakness, but because they had fallen deeply into ecstasy with Gunther.
That’s why he couldn’t help but fall into despair when even Brunhilde left, mentioning Gunther.
Because Friet harbored feelings beyond admiration for the blonde female knight who was his swordsmanship teacher, comrade, and admired person.
A secret affection he had never spoken of to anyone.
That’s why his spirit was broken.
While he could endure Imelia’s mockery and Irina’s harsh words, the shock of even Brunhilde abandoning him and going to Gunther’s side was a pain he simply couldn’t bear.
That was the fundamental reason why Friet had fallen into despair and holed up in a corner of an inn.
Perhaps, if he had heard rumors that Brunhilde, who had left for Burgundy, was frequenting Gunther’s bedchamber…
He might have given up on everything, unable to endure even through escapism?
At least, that’s what Friet thought. That he would have probably done so. It was a truly objective self-assessment.
However, Brunhilde had vanished without a trace.
She hadn’t stayed by Gunther’s side, but had left for somewhere unknown to anyone.
That gave Friet hope.
‘Perhaps…’
A small,
Very small hope and expectation.
* * *
Friet recalled.
Brunhilde’s tone when mentioning Gunther’s name, openly showing her discomfort.
It was an attitude contrary to Imelia, who openly displayed her affection for Gunther, or Irina, who didn’t mind Gunther’s flirtations.
What Brunhilde expected from Gunther was only his personal strength and talent. She seemed to harbor feelings close to contempt for his character.
‘That means…’
Friet thought.
If she hadn’t completely fallen for Gunther. No, if she had even given up on her position as a member of the hero party altogether…
‘Maybe.’
There might be a chance to meet her again.
Not as a hero and his party member, but at least as two people who knew each other well.
Of course, it wasn’t a high possibility.
He didn’t know for what purpose Brunhilde had disappeared, and there was no guarantee that he could find her.
However.
‘If so…’
Friet had a means to turn a mere possibility into an inevitability.
His gaze turned towards his holy sword, Nibelung, which was leaning against the corner of the bed.
A golden greatsword emitting a faint holy light.
Friet, who had been staring at the blade as if mesmerized, soon reached out and pulled the holy sword to his side.
Recalling the true power of Nibelung, a state secret that King Alberich II of the Rhine Kingdom had told only to Friet himself.
‘Three times. Only three times in a lifetime, but it was said to grant its master’s wish.’
The power to fulfill desires.
That was the power of the holy sword Nibelung.
‘…Though it’s not omnipotent.’
Friet already knew. The way Nibelung granted wishes was seriously distorted.
The two wishes he had made so far proved this.
The first wish.
When he had just been recognized as a hero and bestowed with the holy sword, Friet looked down at Nibelung with doubtful eyes and made his first wish.
He wished to become someone like the legendary first hero.
It meant he wanted to become a strong and great hero who would save many people and be loved by many.
And Nibelung granted that wish.
By changing his physical body to resemble that of the first hero after he slept and woke up.
For Friet, it was truly shocking.
He came to realize.
While Nibelung certainly grants its master’s wish, it might not be in the way the master desires.
In any case, Friet gained a new body that way.
‘It was a disaster.’
Except for his hair color, nothing remained the same as his previous body, so he only struggled more, unable to adapt to it.
The second wish was, of course, to become strong.
It was at a time when his incompetence was placing a tremendous burden on the other party members, and because of this, his relationships with the party members were also deteriorating.
And Nibelung granted that wish too.
‘…Probably.’
He had to add ‘probably’ because nothing had changed after making the wish.
He was still weak and incompetent. To the extent that all his party members left him.
It was something that could make one doubt whether the wish itself had failed, but Friet couldn’t even harbor such doubts.
Because there was a clear mark left on the hilt of the holy sword.
A mark indicating that there was only one more chance to make a wish.
So, he had to assume that the second wish had been fulfilled.
The reason there was no noticeable effect was… probably because the way the wish was granted was so different from his expectations that he hadn’t noticed it.
Perhaps, even with the power of the holy sword, this level was the limit of how strong he could become.
That’s what Friet thought.
* * *
And so, only the last chance remained.
The third wish. It was a power that was supposed to be saved to defeat the Demon King.
A last resort, an insurance that might become a lifesaver, so to speak.
It was something King Alberich II had earnestly requested.
Saying that if he used up even the last wish, he wouldn’t be able to defeat the Demon King even if he possessed the holy sword.
That’s why Friet had been enduring not to make the third wish.
‘…Is there a need for that? At this point?’
Until now.
And, now.
‘Let’s use it.’
Friet made a decision. Let’s try making the last wish that he had been saving and saving.
He wouldn’t be able to defeat the Demon King after making the third wish?
‘The Demon King. Being a hero. It’s all irrelevant to me now.’
None of that mattered anymore.
He wouldn’t be able to defeat the Demon King, let alone face him anyway. There was no meaning in saving the last wish.
Since even Brunhilde had left him, he no longer had any lingering attachment to being a hero.
That’s why Friet decided to abandon the hero’s duty and make a wish for himself.
Then what wish should he make?
If Brunhilde had been by Gunther’s side, Friet would have wished to give up everything and disappear.
Perhaps he might have made a resentful wish for the party members who had abandoned and left him to regret their choice.
However.
‘I want to meet Brunhilde again.’
Now that Brunhilde had suddenly disappeared, the wish Friet would make was predetermined from the start.
‘I wish we could meet again, and face each other smiling like when we first met.’
Reunion with Brunhilde. Restoration of their relationship that had gone awry.
That was Friet’s only wish.
And.
* * *
Whooooosh!
The blade of Nibelung rippled with golden holy light, answering its master’s wish.
…As always, in a terribly distorted way.
The next morning.
As soon as Friet, who had fainted and then woken up, raised his collapsed body, he realized that Nibelung’s power had activated.
“My body…”
The body that had changed with the first wish.
The body that had no resemblance to his original appearance had once again undergone a major change.
An extremely light body.
A significantly lowered field of vision.
Snow-white skin and slender fingers.
It was evidence that the holy sword’s power had activated.
‘I thought it wouldn’t grant it properly… but I never imagined it would turn out like this.’
Friet, bewildered by the sensations that were completely different from before he opened his eyes, staggered slightly as he got up and entered the bathroom.
To confirm how he had changed this time.
He had a rough idea, but it was something he needed to see with his own eyes to be certain.
And.
‘…As expected.’
Looking down at his face reflected in the surface of the bathtub, Friet finally gained certainty.
‘…I’m back.’
The certainty that he had returned to his original body.
The face rippling with the water waves.
The face he had seen every time he washed up for nineteen years before becoming ‘Hero Friet’ was welcoming him.
No-
Welcoming her.
“Ahahahaha…”
Friet laughed.
It was a terribly gloomy smile, perhaps due to the heavy dark circles, tear stains, greasy hair, and sunken cheeks, but nevertheless, she could laugh.
The fact that she had returned to being a woman was proof that the holy sword’s power had decided to grant her wish.
So surely, someday, she would be able to reunite with Brunhilde.
Friet…
No, ‘Friede’ was certain of this.
Although she didn’t yet know what form that meeting would take.