The Hero's Coffin - Chapter 3

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Original publish date: 08/10/2024

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Fwooosh—the night wind blew softly. The figure walked toward me, his footsteps inaudible, and removed the hood of his robe. His dazzling blonde hair fluttered gently with the breeze and shimmered in the moonlight.

His eyes were as blue as the clear skies on an autumn day. One might feel as though they were truly looking up at the heavens when getting lost in the stare of those eyes. His soft gaze, his gentle smile, and the benevolent yet watchful air he carried around him. Everything about him made him look like a saint. Even the slight glow around the man, his back facing the bright moon, seemed to contain a bit of holiness to it. 

I’d never seen such a beautiful face before, it left me flustered. It was like I was witnessing a divine figure in the flesh. The holy atmosphere was so overwhelming that it even evoked a strange sense of resistance within me. Perhaps it was the intuitive distance between me, someone who’d been labeled gloomy his entire life, and him, the complete natural opposite.

As I stared blankly at him, the red-haired man behind him glared at me. It was the look of someone who demanded that I immediately show them respect, but unfortunately, I didn’t know who this man was. 

“Who…?”

My question shocked the red-haired man so much that he reeled back. Then, thinking that I was perhaps joking, he scrunched his face with a frown. “Have you gone mad? You dare to pretend not to know who this man is?!”

“Calm down. He must’ve heard the news of my passing today, so maybe he’s just surprised to see me alive,” the divine stranger said.

No, I genuinely didn’t know who you are? I only just found out the name of the body I got put in… Wait a minute. 

…News of my passing today?

The realization came to me slowly. The words the guard shouted at me while kicking me were pieced together in my head. 

‘It’s because of guys like you that the hero suffered and died!’ was what he yelled angrily, accusing me of breaking the silent prayer he’d been holding while he mourned. As I recalled that moment, I looked back at the man in front of me. 

A man with a saintly face who looked unmistakably like a ‘hero’.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Harenir von Lucette, leader of the Order of Sidon, the paladins that are tasked with defending the Holy Empire of Solares, and First Sword of the Order. And... I am the hero who is said to have died today.”

Harenir smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. 

“You don’t seem particularly surprised. Perhaps you already guessed I wasn’t dead? Since you said my soul was beautiful before, I thought you might’ve looked into it.”

…Was the original owner of this body a piece of trash who tried flirting with the hero? No, but what does it even mean to tell someone their soul is beautiful? Confused, I remained silent, which Harenir took as confirmation. He tilted his head slightly, his smile growing wider. 

There was faint disgust in his gaze directed at me, although I had expected that.

“Isaf, I need your cooperation. If you come with me, I will help reduce your sentence when everything is over.”

“Even though everyone thinks you’re… dead?”

“You could be applauded as one of the supporters who helped the hero’s return.”

I could see the man behind him scowling at my informal speech, but Harenir raised his hand to stop him. It may have seemed rude for me to talk casually to the hero of the empire, but right now clearing up my questions was more important. 

This was the very reason why they broke into the prison and retrieved me in the middle of the night. It seemed more like a threat than a request for cooperation at this point. But did that mean they really needed the abilities of this body, even to the point of causing a large commotion resulting in the destruction of the tower? What kind of abilities do I even have?

“What kind of cooperation do you need from me…? Where are you going?”

“I need the souls you command. And our objective is the Infested Zone.”

At the mention of the ‘Infested Zone’, a pained groan came from behind Harenir. The red-haired man grimaced at Harenir’s declaration of their destination, even though he probably already knew that was always the plan. 

Unfortunately, I had no idea what the Infested Zone was, nor could I understand why they needed the souls this body could command. If I pieced together the clues, I could guess Isaf, the original owner of this body, was a necromancer. 

Suddenly, I heard the sound of rustling come from right next to me. 

-Meow.

A jet-black cat emerged from the grass. The slim figure seemed familiar—could it be the cat I saw on the road?

I was certain because its eyes were purple, which was not very typical. Just as I was about to shout ‘You!’ in surprise, the cat approached me.

There was a moment when its purple eyes met with mine. 

┌---------------------------------------------------------------┓

   Hidden Network ACTIVATED!     

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

   Quest 

   The chance has finally come! Help the

hero of the empire!

   Success Reward: Freedom
  Failure Penalty: Death

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

   Will you accept? 

   Accept

   Decline

└---------------------------------------------------------------┙

Suddenly, several translucent blue windows appeared before me. It was very confusing, but as I read the floating text, a wave of relief washed over me. Something inside me clicked together.

Ah, this was a game…

It seemed like the game was set to extreme hard mode, but as soon as I accepted this was all a ‘game’, my mind was more at ease. The situation was unfair and overwhelming, but from the context of a third party player, I realized this was just the opening. Was the cat an NPC, then?

As I assessed the situation already feeling better about myself, Harenir, who may have taken my silence as me dwelling on his offer, asked in a friendly voice, “It seems you have a lot on your mind. Would you like my help?”

His smile, which made the corners of his mouth curl up and his eyes crinkle slightly, was a sight to behold. My gaze was firmly fixed on him behind the status window. He spoke softly, meeting my blank stare directly. 

As if to prevent me from getting caught up in any more useless thoughts, he kindly said, “Do you want to go back and die as a death row inmate, or will you help me and have your sentence reduced? Oh, let me correct myself, you’re both a death row inmate and an escaped convict now.”

“...”

“I heard your execution would be death by flaying, which means they’ll peel your skin off layer by layer until you die. If you escape from prison the day before your execution, I wonder what other punishments they might add to your sentence. I hear there are quite a lot of people who want you dead…”

Anger flared up inside me. Let’s get the facts straight here: I was an involuntary escaped convict, dragged out of prison against my will. I kept my mouth shut, however, because that red-haired guy in the corner was fiddling with his huge blade. 

‘The hero was such a kind, merciful, and good-natured person!’

The guard’s passionate words from earlier came to mind. That was probably the sentiment the public had towards the hero, but was this his true nature? Or was it just how he treated me?

Usually the first quest in a game was mandatory, so I was going to accept it anyway. But I felt like I was being treated very unfairly. I was just mulling over the word ‘freedom’ that appeared as the quest reward because it seemed so strange. 

Normally these hard difficulty quests offered money, experience points, or special abilities, but freedom? It was a pretty vague term. I’ve occasionally seen cases where the reward was to return to the original world, but if that’s not possible because I’m already dead, then what on earth could freedom mean?

Freedom from imprisonment?

Or freedom from this strange dimension?

Those were the only two possibilities I could come up with at the moment, but both rewards were already incredibly tempting. The body I possess, Isaf, seemed to be despised by everyone in the empire, so maybe it’d be better to go to another world and start a new life there. 

With that thought in mind, I answered without hesitation, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

As long as there was a status window, I wasn’t afraid of anything. After all, weren’t status screens the master key of transmigration? I didn’t play a lot of games back on Earth, and I certainly don’t remember ever encountering a character named Harenir or Isaf, nor can I recall a game that ever had an opening like this. But maybe something will come to mind as I keep playing. 

I looked closely at the status window hoping to find a clue. But as soon as I hit ‘accept’, the button lit up and the window disappeared, leaving only the letters H.N. behind.

H.N.? Hidden Network?

What the heck was this name that felt so forced…

Was it the name of a game company or was it just the term used to represent what the status window was? As I was peering at the letters curiously, the silver-haired woman approached me and sung her sword. 

With a clang, the thick handcuffs fell off easily like leaves from a tree. 

A sense of relief filled me when the old, thick shackles that restricted my movements back in prison were gone. I was excited because it felt like I had gotten out of prison for real. 

“So, you’ll accept me as a companion from now on…?”

“Well, since we’re going to put a monitoring device on you since we don’t know if you’ll try anything.”

I wish you could’ve told me that before I said anything. 

Knowing that feeling embarrassed would only make things worse for me, I decided to keep my mouth shut and pretended I never asked the question in the first place. Harenir let out a small chuckle, as if he found my reaction amusing.

Was it funny for you? Are you having fun right now? I couldn’t bring myself to ask those questions out loud, so I thrust my hands out fiercely instead. Since he mentioned putting on some monitor device on me, I figured it’d be something for my wrist. 

With a swift motion, Harenir suddenly bent over. 

Then, in almost no time, his face was very close to mine. So close that our noses almost touched. I was instantly captivated by the piercing blue eyes that were staring back at me. His eyes, which captured a piece of the bright skies, looked down on me with benevolence. Normally, I would’ve been flustered by the lack of distance between us, but I was busy losing myself in those skies. 

A fresh smell, like the type of scent you’d come across when passing through a meadow of dewy grass in the morning, brushed my nose. Ah, this refreshing scent was very alluring… 

Click—

“...?”

The feeling of something cold and hard against my neck snapped me out of my thoughts. Harenir had secured a restraint around my neck. It was sleek like metal, but it was surprisingly weightless. Yet, seeing the restraint connected to a translucent red cord that was held in Harenir’s hand…

“It’s like a leash…”

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