By the Grace of the Gods

“That hero must have really messed up...”

I was gradually getting scared to hear more, but everyone was prepared to talk about things they didn’t want to, so I straightened my posture and listened closely to the continuation.

“He became obsessed with power, killing even his comrades to increase his strength, while also strengthening the mercenary group through harsh training and strict discipline. Eventually, the kingdom approached him, offering to hire him exclusively.

Of course, he accepted the offer, but during negotiations over the details, he revealed that he was a child of god. He declared that he was a hero sent by us—the gods—in cooperation with Prince Masaharu to stop the war!”

“So this is when the hero finally enters the story.”

“Yes... He called himself a hero to raise his own status and challenge the power of the nobility. In noble society, the words of superiors, especially royalty, are absolute. But if he could ally with the church and attain a ‘religiously special status,’ even the king couldn’t easily disregard him. That was his aim, and he achieved it.”

“At that point, he still hadn’t been stripped of the title of our favored one, and he had already done some behind-the-scenes maneuvering with the church. When he met Masaharu, they quickly recognized their shared hometown, so he was smoothly recognized as a ‘hero.’”

According to Meltrise and Lurutia, he was not only hired as a mercenary but also adopted by the knight commander at the time, given the position of general, and served the country. He began to interact with Masaharu, his original goal, but... this only accelerated his madness.

“At that time, the hero’s personality was quite twisted. He looked down on Masaharu, who was timid, feeling disappointed on his own.

Though it was probably a flip side of his inferiority complex, he had high expectations, thinking ‘Such a powerful mage, who’s overcome so many hardships and is so talented—surely he would be a good ally!’ But in reality, Masaharu was just a weapon firing spells at the orders of superiors!”

“To add to that, he thought, ‘I have suffered so much, even using methods to steal others’ power, dedicating myself to the people! But this guy was just lucky to be picked up by royalty and favored by the gods!’—and resented him for no good reason.

Masaharu was working hard developing magic too, not that he didn’t put in effort, but he considered it ‘not counting’ since the magic was power given by the gods.”

Although they could communicate, Masaharu was incompetent in the hero’s eyes. Yet, the hero was lower in status and felt humiliated. Despite hating Masaharu, as a hero he treated him like “someone who, like the common people, needs to be saved by me.”

“...Listening to this, I can’t help but picture him as that class ‘nice guy’ who decides ‘You can't do this on your own, so I’ll help you!’ and then forces his help on you, while everyone around praises him as ‘so kind.’ It’s less about genuine goodwill and more about intentionally raising his own status.”

“That’s exactly how he was back then.

Though he never showed it openly, his belief and motivation at the time was: ‘I must take more power from the battlefield, raise my status, and gain stronger influence! Knocking others down is necessary for stopping the war and protecting the people!’”

“He truly believed all his actions were for peace, and even assassinated all the royal family except Masaharu.”

Meltrise’s words hit me hard, and it took me a moment to fully process them.

“The rightful heirs died one after another, and Masaharu inherited the throne. I’ve heard rumors that King Masaharu was suspected of assassinating them to usurp the throne.”

“The assassinations did happen, but Masaharu knew nothing. The hero planned, arranged, and carried out everything—the assassinations and succession to the throne—on his own. Masaharu was used as a decoy to deflect investigations since he was the one who benefited most, gaining the throne.”