Chapter 68
“What is this?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“It’s the name of the hero who sealed the demon a thousand years ago and sacrificed his soul to close the gate to the demon realm,” Yurell replied.
‘This is a horror game set in a romantic fantasy world—why is there suddenly a hero backstory?’
Strangely, the writing gave me a sense of déjà vu.
I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
Familiar. Intimate. As if I had seen it somewhere before. The strokes felt oddly recognizable.
“A hero? Why is there a hero?”
When I voiced my confusion, the crown prince seemed a bit surprised.
“You didn’t know, Lady?”
“Umm, I think I’ve heard of the hero before… maybe April too…”
I answered vaguely, tilting my head.
Of course I knew what a hero was.
But I didn’t remember there being such a thing in The Archmage’s Mansion.
It felt like I was hearing it for the first time.
Not because I skipped the story. I had no memory of my brother ever telling me about it.
“He is the hero who saved this land,” Yurell said.
“Around a thousand years ago, when demons invaded this world, the temple summoned a hero from another world.”
Yurell explained slowly, as if telling a fairy tale to a child.
“The hero defeated the demons and eventually discovered, through research, that they came from dimensional rifts.”
“Dimensional rifts?”
“They’re created by souls too powerful for the world to contain. The world simply can’t sustain such a strong soul’s presence.”
“I see!”
It reminded me of something Sian once said—about how overly powerful souls must be fragmented to prevent them from returning as evil spirits.
“So the hero sacrificed his soul to close the dimensional rift connecting to the demon realm. He is the hero who saved the continent. That event took place well over a thousand years ago.”
It sounded like something straight out of a typical fantasy novel.
Yet for some reason, my heart began to race.
“April also met a demon here.”
“Probably one of the few demons the hero couldn’t finish off. Later, the first emperor and the four founding families killed them and gained the people’s favor.”
I felt suffocated.
Why? Why was I feeling this way?
A memory of crisp winter air drifted into my mind.
Looking out at the falling snow, I felt like I was in a game.
The crown prince gave a bitter smile.
“To be honest, we just stole the hero’s accomplishments. The archmage only mimicked the hero’s magic. While the archmage may seem like a victim before the founding nobles, he’s hardly innocent when it comes to the hero. We’re all indebted to him.”
As he spoke with cynicism, a flicker of hatred crossed his crimson eyes.
“A holy sword! I know about that. But why would a hero use magic?”
I asked innocently.
Only after asking did I worry if the question was too suspicious. What if this was common knowledge?
Thankfully, the status window remained calm.
Yurell and the crown prince both stared at me in surprise.
“My lady. The hero was a mage. He rejected the holy sword from the start and only used magic.”
“Why?”
“No one knows. But he was the first to reach the pinnacle of magic—he was magic itself. He even shared that knowledge. That’s why magic a thousand years ago was so advanced. Even the magic used by the owner of this mansion, the archmage, is just an imitation of the hero’s teachings.”
“Wow, that’s amazing!”
I smiled brightly. And in that moment, I realized something.
If the hero didn’t exist, then this whole mansion incident wouldn’t have happened.
Or if it did, it certainly wouldn’t be on such a massive scale.
“He was especially skilled with shield magic. They say he once wrapped himself in ten thousand layers of barriers. It’s a famous tale.”
Suddenly, I recalled a silly joke I once made with someone:
“…If I ever become a hero, I’m just going to use shields and barriers non-stop. I won’t use a sword.”
“Why?”
“Because if I act all cool and reckless, I’ll probably die before I even realize it—especially if I meet someone like you…”
49:0
That was the result of a 1v1 FPS game match.
My brother had just stood there, not even trying to dodge, so I landed 49 headshots in a row.
He looked so down about it, I tried to cheer him up.
“You’re about average, right? All the friends you brought played about the same as you.”
“The one I brought last time was a pro hopeful…”
“But just hopeful, not a real pro. Seriously, they were just like you. Oh, but I did lose once.”
“They quit because you beat them once and said their tricks didn’t work anymore. Melee weapons are only for prodigies like you!”
<ㅎ ㅏ Y l ㅇ>
If I flipped those letters…
<이서우> (Lee Seo-woo)
The broken strokes, the shape of the letters—it was identical.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Why was this here—my brother’s name?
It was his handwriting.
Hero? My brother?
No. That’s ridiculous.
I tried to recall if maybe this was just another forgotten memory.
Since I’d possessed this body, maybe my brother got isekai’d into the game world too. Not that strange.
But how could he be the hero from a thousand years ago?
The one who was already long dead?
“…Ah.”
Just as the cold winter air began creeping into my senses again, Yurell let out a soft exclamation.
“So we’re the live offerings.”
“What? What are you talking about? And why are you so calm…?”
The crown prince stared in disbelief at Yurell’s oddly relaxed demeanor.
“My master said that a mansion like this would surely have a chapel. A room that’s just a ritual chamber. This room fits that description. With an inverted symbol, you’d need living sacrifices. But the bodies on the first floor were already dead.”
“Of course they were.”
The prince looked like he couldn’t decide whether to be tense or utterly baffled.
“They needed a living sacrifice for the ritual. And just as they were searching, we walked right in. Now they’ll be coming to kill us.”
Ah. That made sense.
The key lying in the kitchen… maybe it was just bait to lure a live sacrifice in here.
As soon as Yurell finished explaining in his flat tone, the crown prince screamed.
“Why are you only telling us this now?!”
“I forgot. I was thinking about something else when my master explained it.”
“…As a knight, you should listen when your master talks! No wonder Lady Devnoah treats you so coldly…”
THUD—!
Just then, a loud bang echoed from somewhere, and all the candles in the room went out at once.
Silence fell.
