The Fake Hero Is Too Strong

Chapter 231

Bion took her eyes off the screen window.

Naturally, we also turned our gazes toward her.

“……So that’s how all of you were born into this land. Well, I thought Serein would be gone forever after being caught by Idria.”

“Huh? Come to think of it, Pirensha lived as a human for twelve years and then became the Demon King’s subordinate. In other words, that means I was born twelve years earlier, but doesn’t the timeline not quite match?”

“If you put it that way, Adwin is much younger than all of you too. I was the only one left in the lab, so I couldn’t adjust all your souls at the same time. I processed them in the order you converted your bodies first, so your ages are all different.”

So Adwin, being the one most knowledgeable about souls, stayed until the very end to help Bion.

That’s why he was born last.

Serein laughed playfully.

“Ahh. So that’s why I’m the oldest.”

“If you calculate age based on the date you were born into Mide’s world, then yes, you are older. But not the ‘oldest.’ Neril is there, so who do you think you are, Serein?” “True.”

“Yeah.”

Neril frowned.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t admit it. More importantly, there is also Lisel, who was born 1,500 years before me.”

Lisel smiled brightly.

“Age is just a number, Neril.”

“Shut up.”

Anyway, with that, we were able to learn all the secrets.

As I organized my thoughts, I asked.

“By the way, have our names all been the same since 230,000 years ago? Even my name, Mide, should have been given by my parents.”

“Surnames can change, but we set it up so the names themselves could be carried over as fixed. Impelium and Serad asked for that before descending to the world.”

“Why?”

“Things like wanting to keep calling each other by those names, or something like that. Well, since it was parting with very long connections, I treated it like a retirement gift and worked hard to modify the system. We were already short on manpower by then too, so when I think about how hard that was…… sigh.”

Ah. For some reason, when you say manpower shortage, a thought suddenly comes to mind.

“Before, Impelium showed me a conversation you had with Lepia. At that time, the topic of Grade came up, and it looked like there was quite a bit of bad blood.”

“In the middle of being that busy, he said he would take not only himself but also Lisel with him.”

“So that’s why you hated him that much.”

“He was stubborn even when he worked at the lab. We never got along much. Though it’s awkward to say in front of Lisel.”

Lisel hesitated before speaking.

“I’m really sorry again. For going down with two people during such a hectic time.”

“No. In fact, everyone agreed on it, and I also thought it wouldn’t help much even if you stayed, so I eventually agreed too.”

“Huh? I was a researcher too, you know?”

“I never said you were a researcher.”

The two stared at each other’s faces and tilted their heads.

Bion continued.

“Lisel was hired from the start as lab management staff. She joined at the same time as Grade. I think she was in charge of finance. My memory’s a bit fuzzy.”

“…….”

“After the 230,000-year regression, there was no need to handle finance anymore, so you probably moved to meal preparation. Also with Grade.”

Lisel’s face turned bright red.

Xenia said with a serious face.

“Lisel. Cooking is important.”

“Yeah…….”

It didn’t seem very comforting.

I let out a small laugh and asked Bion.

“Why was it that I could see the blood script for the first time when I was seven? Isn’t the Eye of Omniscience or the blood script something that can only be granted to people with fame?”

“Fame is something anyone can accumulate a little of just by living normally. One of the cornerstone law I told you about before was…….”

“Ah. Anyone can build fame, right.”

“Yes. The greatest happiness of the greatest number. Just by making other people happy, anyone can accumulate fame. Unless you are like Trail, who never let the world know of his existence.”

That’s why Trail couldn’t use the Eye of Omniscience directly.

He had to use Adin as a connection.

Bion spoke in a gentle voice.

“In other words, Mr. Mide, you made the people of your hometown, the Hasphil territory, happy.”

“I didn’t really do anything.”

“Didn’t you help your father with hunting?”

“……That alone builds fame?”

“The prey that a father and son brought back made someone in the territory at least a little happy. Fame can be built with just that.”

Making other people happy.

That was definitely something anyone could do.

And a hero, in the end, must be someone who makes as many people as possible as happy as possible.

‘Regardless of breaking the hero system…….’

At least that standard sits well with me.

“Come to think of it, that morning I attended the execution, I made breakfast for her. For my mother.”

“…….”

“It was tasteless potato soup I had practiced for days.”

“She was probably happy while eating that potato soup.”

“So even if only faintly, my fame rose, and I crossed the threshold where the blood script could descend.”

I received the blood script as a reward for making my mother happy.

And through that blood script, I learned of my mother’s greatest sin.

It really was ironic.

In any case, by the time the story got that far, the sandwiches Bion had prepared were gone.

It almost looked like a sign that this gathering had come to an end.

I asked.

“You have told me everything you needed to tell me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You worked hard.”

“What? I’m usually pretty good at organizing and explaining.”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

I spoke in a gentle voice.

“I mean the fact that you stayed alone in the world all this time.”

“……!”

“You managed the world by yourself, something that so many researchers had maintained together. It must have been hard, but more than anything, you must have been very lonely.”

“Mr. Mide.”

“Now leave the rest to us and get some rest.”

Tears welled up in Bion’s eyes.

She quickly wiped her face and answered.

“Yes. I will. To be honest, I’m really tired.”

Something about that answer felt ominous to me.

It seemed the others felt the same.

Adwin carefully spoke.

“Noona. Just in case…… when Mide hyung said ‘get some rest,’ he didn’t mean go to the underworld, okay? He literally meant rest.”

“Sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”

“What.”

“Everyone. Could you look over there for a moment?”

We turned our heads in the direction Bion pointed.

Below the small hill we were standing on, there stood a building of a shape we had never seen before.

It was a form where gray stones of unknown material were arranged in a circle.

“What’s that place?”

“That’s the research lab. You and I, and the many researchers who left before us, all cried and laughed together there as we spent our time. A full 230,000 years.”

“…….”

“It was a long time, but I never really felt bored or weary. To be honest, the days of energetically creating the hero system there and managing the world were very enjoyable.”

Bion’s voice grew darker.

“But the negative energy stored there really doesn’t have much left anymore.”

“What? Even though all of our bodies were reverted?”

“We used most of that energy to turn back seven years of time.”

“Then how much is left now?”

Bion quietly raised one finger.

“One year?”

“One hour.”

“……!”

“To be exact, there are 57 minutes and 12 seconds left.”

We were too shocked to say anything.

Bion bowed her head with an apologetic expression instead.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you from the beginning. Still, I’m glad I was able to bring you here right before the negative energy ran out.”

“…….”

“Even bringing people of the world to this place consumes the energy. I was thinking of inviting only you, Mr. Mide, to save even a little, but I was foolish. What meaning would it have to extend it by just a few more hours?”

She gave a small smile.

“Rather, it’s much better to have more people with me at the end.”

“Bion.”

“I think I did everything I could. If there is one thing that bothers me, it’s that now you, Mr. Mide can no longer use the Eye of Omniscience or the Blood Script.”

When the negative energy completely disappears, neither the Eye of Omniscience nor the Blood Script can be activated.

But that wasn’t important at all.

Xenia cut in with a serious expression.

“We already know all the secrets anyway, so things like the Eye of Omniscience or the Blood Script don’t matter. More importantly, Bion……”

“No. Those abilities are still necessary. If I had to guess, that being has already begun interfering. When we went back 230,000 years, it couldn’t interfere for about 10,000 years.”

“Ah. Because we only went back 7 years.”

“Yes. I think it began interfering at some point during your journey. Since it’s obvious that it will cause trouble, losing the weapon called the Eye of Omniscience is a real shame.”

I briefly looked back over my journey so far.

From the moment I regressed seven years to this very moment.

‘So it interfered at some point during that.’

What was that interference?

And what were the results?

At that moment, Bion adjusted her posture and continued.

“Of course, it’s a shame, but there is no way to solve it.”

“…….”

“Mr. Mide. Before the negative energy completely disappears, please add one last law.”

I didn’t answer.

Bion tried to say something with an urging expression, but before that, Neril spoke.

“What happens to this place when the energy of the lab completely disappears?”

“I don’t know. I have never experienced it.”

“I do. This place will collapse. And you might die…… no, you will definitely die!”

Bion spoke softly.

“There you go again. You are always at odds with me, but at the critical moment, you worry about me like that.”

“Then you should revert your body right now like us and be born into the world. If you are born as a baby, Mide and I will raise you well.”

“Hmm. Then I feel like I would fight a lot with mom.”

“This isn’t the time to joke.”

“It’s already too late for that, Neril.”

Neril looked like she was about to ask what was too late.

But she shut her mouth with a small gasp.

I closed my eyes lightly too, as if I understood what she meant.

“Even if I reverted my body, someone would have to connect my soul from the lab to the world. But as you know, there’s no one left in the lab.”

“But there’s Adwin.”

“The act of sending a soul down into the world is fundamentally different from calling a soul from the underworld. Without the help of the devices in the lab, it’s absolutely impossible.”

“…….”

“You have lost the memories of how to use the devices here. Along with all your other memories.”

“…….”

“Either way, my ‘life’ now only has one hour left. And even while we are talking, time has passed, so now there are 55 minutes and 20 seconds left.”

More certain than any terminal diagnosis.

A life whose remaining time was decided down to the second.

We were so suffocated we couldn’t say a word.

But Bion, the one concerned, remained calm.

“Hurry. Mr. Mide. We have to add the law before it’s too late.”

“There are 55 minutes left, right? If we use the negative energy to add a law, how much time will be left?”

“About 30 minutes?”

“And you said inviting someone to this world also consumes negative energy, right? How much per person?”

“What are you talking about…….”

“Answer me.”

“W-Well. About 20 minutes, I think.”

Good.

It’s tight, but it’s definitely possible. This plan.

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