I didn’t set any specific weaknesses for Verdandi.
She was designed to be a flawless heroic warrior. In stark contrast, her insides were completely rotten.
She was strong enough to kill someone with a kitchen knife like that, and later even pulled out a holy sword and a holy armor to become even stronger.
‘…This situation isn’t good.’
I bit my lower lip, thinking. The problem was that I had a seriously injured person bleeding from a stab wound in the abdomen, with organs spilling out.
‘Verdandi’s mother, Eila Astrea, is gravely injured. Plus, we only have one Mage who can heal.’
I thought I had prevented the worst-case scenario by shaking off the alcohol from the owner of the Gold Tower, Wolfram, and putting up defensive magic.
I thought I could bring the final boss, Biyul of the King of Diamond Fist, along and overwhelm them with a difference in strength.
Because of this, I thought I had met the minimum required conditions to request a conversation with Verdandi.
But the final boss of my story had gone mad even earlier than I thought.
To stab her own mother with a blade.
“Did you come to take me as your apprentice? You must be insane!”
Verdandi laughed while pointing a bloodied kitchen knife at me. Her blue eyes shone without a flicker of movement.
“Indeed, I came to guide you on the right path. If you join me, there won’t be any more painful experiences. You can live a normal life without being consumed by the title of Hero…”
I calmly stepped forward. To show that I had no intention of harming her, I spread my arms wide to indicate that I was unarmed.
“Ha, haha! It’s far too late for that!”
Then, like a madwoman, Verdandi raised the kitchen knife high as if about to stab the already fallen Eila again.
“Even a beast treasures its own cubs, yet I almost got killed by my mother when I was a newborn!”
Verdandi cried out, tears streaming down her face. It looked like all the emotions she had been keeping bottled up exploded.
Well, of course. I was the one who set up Verdandi’s narrative.
She was abandoned by the villagers, rejected by her own mother, and betrayed even by the companions who gathered to defeat the demon king.
It was all because of my pathetic thoughts.
I thought it would be fine to pour my past into writing, something a writer should never do.
‘A writer must express themselves through their words.’
I thought as I gazed at the people standing behind me.
Biyul would escape from the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect and lead a normal life under me, while Wolfram would become an alchemist, truly creating gold in search of the Philosopher’s Stone.
There was no need to fill the story with an unhappy narrative. I should have focused on the quality of the story instead.
“…Biyul, Wolfram. Please.”
I gently nodded my head, signaling them to save Verdandi’s mother.
“It shall be done, Master.”
“Got it!”
Biyul immediately stomped the ground hard.
Heavenly Demon Art, Step of the Heavenly Demon.
With just the power in her legs, the planks of the floor shattered into many pieces, creating a sound like thunder.
The speed was so overwhelming that everything else, except for Biyul, seemed to move slowly.
“Oh golden mountain that encompasses all, raise a shield of gold coins and help grant this poor life a new breath.”
Bam! Taking advantage of Verdandi’s shock, Wolfram began to chant. Layers of magic circles piled on her staff, creating a thick three-dimensional shape like a coin.
“Aegis of Gold!”
The golden three-dimensional magic circle wrapped around Eila, forming a shield as soon as she voiced the spell.
“…?!!”
Seeing her slowly healing wound from inside the shield, Verdandi immediately attempted to shatter Wolfram’s magic with the kitchen knife.
It was a foolish method, but with her physical strength, it wasn’t impossible. A strong physical shock could still affect magic.
Now that this world mixed martial arts and fantasy, the logic of power prevailed everywhere.
“To serve a villain like that as a master, I would rather die!”
As Biyul approached to save Eila, Verdandi immediately charged at her, kitchen knife in hand.
She reacted to the speed of the Heavenly Demon’s Imperial Walk. Biyul was startled, crouching down, fearing she would be stabbed.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m your opponent.”
I immediately assumed the second posture of the Ice Crystal Divine Art, pulling my internal energy to its maximum.
A natural born condition known as extreme sound body.
The pain squeezing my heart was intense and the sensation of my blood vessels reversing filled me, but…
‘Ice Crystal Divine Art, this stance, Ice Shadow Wall.’
To save Eila, I had no other choice. I needed to create a gap for Biyul to safely escape with her.
Crash crash crash—!
As I spread my palm between Eila and Verdandi, a wall of ice formed out of thin air, dividing them.
“…An ice wall? You guys are Mages?”
Looking at the suddenly formed ice wall, Verdandi stated, almost in disbelief. She had grown up in this village, so she probably didn’t even know there was another continent to the east.
“Master, I have secured the safety of the injured.”
Crash! Biyul quickly rescued Eila, returning to my side. Eila looked like she was about to pass out.
Though in the original work, Verdandi eventually kills her mother, she was meant to be the last to die.
“Go outside with the owner of the Gold Tower and staunch the bleeding from her neck. I’ll handle things here.”
On top of mountains of corpses of countless villains, Verdandi would stab her mother to death with a holy sword.
Originally, she was meant to stop an entirely corrupted Hero while leaving behind words of love and sacrificing herself.
Thus, burdened with the sin of survival murder, she would ultimately earn the title of ‘villain’ and realize her sins.
The blind justice and the blind blade would only lead to her own destruction.
So, the Hero who sought to kill all lives would end her life through suicide.
The other protagonist would look over her lifeless body, cremating her while wishing for her to be reborn as someone loved in her next life.
‘This was the ending I envisioned for Verdandi, the end of “The Hero Must Die.”’
I had left it unwritten, halting the serialization before it got completed.
“However, Master…! Are you not feeling unwell? The opponent is strong enough to react to my moves!”
Biyul, seeing my bleeding eyes, nose, and mouth, wailed loudly. She held onto my arm as if not wanting to leave my side.
“It’s common knowledge that a master is stronger than a disciple, isn’t it?”
I watched Biyul like always, slowly petting her head. Softly and kindly, conveying unspoken emotions.
If Biyul didn’t help the owner of the Gold Tower now, I would be caught right away, even if I fought Verdandi.
“I might not be the world’s greatest martial artist, as you said, perhaps I’m not even the best among all.”
Thump, thump. My heart pounded as I glared at the opponent before me, opening my mouth.
“But I am a master of countless disciples. I am a commoner loved by many, rather than a mere named strongman.”
I recalled my students from the Ice Dragon Blossom Heart and those I had in reality.
The smiles of children who learned new things and experienced joy allowed me to realize many things in life.
“So, I have to do something worthy of making my disciple proud. You have to step over me and someday succeed.”
Since meeting Biyul, I’ve felt that my life wasn’t mistaken. I thought I had failed as a web novelist, but I’m still breathing and moving.
“You’re just a mouthpiece! That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a villain!”
Verdandi shouted loudly at me. Veins were popping on her neck, and the skin around her eyes was red and bloodshot.
“Why do you think I’m a villain?”
“Of course, it’s because I’m a Hero…”
“…What if you’re not a Hero? Have you ever considered the assumption that you are an ordinary person?”
I slowly took a step towards Verdandi. As I closed the distance, I stepped into her knife’s range.
“What on earth are you talking about?!”
“The abilities you possess are ‘The Eye that Sees the Truth’ and ‘The Scales of Justice.’ Both have two major flaws.”
Crack, Verdandi grasped the kitchen knife she was holding in one hand. No blood poured out because it had frozen into an ice block.
“The flaw of ‘The Eye that Sees the Truth’ is that if the party speaking is unaware of the lie, it shows the truth.”
“……?!”
Verdandi struggled to pull away, but she was already frozen solid to the ice block she had created.
“The flaw of ‘The Scales of Justice’ is that when an enormous difference occurs between good deeds and evil deeds, the results can shift anytime.”
I stomped my foot once. The sound echoed, and Verdandi’s lower body froze in place.
Her hands and feet bound, she couldn’t resist at all.
“Look closely with that eye of yours, is the me before you really a villain?”
“……This doesn’t make sense.”
Verdandi blinked repeatedly, sounding incredulous. The information she saw would surely say, ‘at first’ I appeared as a villain.
I was indeed the culprit who had brought this world to a halt through serial cancellation.
But,
“Are you saying I’m a good person…?”
I struggled not to flee from that responsibility. I pushed myself to help save Biyul, Wolfram, and heal Eila despite exhausting my body.
It seemed like such good deeds were finally being reconciled.
“Yes, now will you trust me instead of your abilities?”
Blood trickled from my mouth. This was the side effect of excessive negative energy circulating through my blood vessels.
“I came here under the order to save you. From a being like a god.”
The only reader who possessed this world would have wanted to see the story’s ending until the end.
To a writer, readers are like gods.
Without them, a writer cannot exist.
“It’s the truth… How can this be…?”
So, this statement is not a lie. It’s just the same logic as being given an oracle from a god.
“You will now learn of love and hatred from me—contradictory emotions that coexist with sadness and joy. Just as your mother did.”
“My mother… you mean?”
Verdandi’s breathing slowed. Seeing me rise in her ability made her willing to listen.
“Yes, your mother was subjected to an unwanted pregnancy by a thief who raided her home. While it was undoubtedly unforgivable to strangle you as a baby, her love for you was much stronger.”
“……”
“But she was so ashamed and embarrassed to say that, she probably got caught up in your ability and appeared as a villain.”
“You… you are the apostle of the god…?”
Verdandi’s voice trembled, her pupils dilated, and tears began to flow down her cheeks.
“No, I’m just an ordinary human. Just like you, I fear that my true intentions won’t be understood by people dozens of times a day.”
I gently stroked Verdandi’s head. It felt a different kind of sensitivity compared to Biyul.
“The villagers treating you poorly doesn’t matter. They’re fundamentally intertwined with evil deeds, like snakes coiling around each other.”
“Is this really true…? Does it mean I am a good child…?”
“Yes, you are a good child. Even though I made mistakes in not getting here sooner, and I was clumsy and inexperienced, it can still be corrected.”
I warmly embraced Verdandi. She’d likely never known such warmth before.
Eila harbored guilt, love, and hatred toward Verdandi, so she never expressed affection so actively.
Sniff sniff Verdandi cried, flooding my shoulder with tears.
“I was so incredibly lonely. My mother became a villain, and even the words ‘I love you’ were all lies…”
“Yes, yes.”
“I knew she had tried to kill me as a baby, I was even afraid to sleep next to her…. I felt like I was suffocating to death every day.”
“That must have been tough.”
I patted her gently, comforting her. This was a story too harsh for a young girl to accept.
“The villagers hated me, they secretly put bugs in my food, and they even gossiped that I lived promiscuously like my mother….”
“Biyul and I will resolve everything. So don’t worry too much. No one under this sky will insult you anymore.”
Verdandi continued to sob in my embrace. Until the weight of her 15 years of torment finally lightened.
