Quit The Hero Party

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EP.529 The End of Childhood (1)

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The path to the sky was opened.

Beyond the cracked azure sky, the door leading to the starry night sky was ajar. But just because the door was open, doesn’t mean anyone could stride through. Only those who had earned the qualifications and proven themselves by defeating the guardians could cross that threshold.

And here stood one mage.

A sage, a wise one, a companion to the hero, and a hero herself—the one who had led humanity this far. Raniel van Trias slowly lifted her arm. Following her gesture, the platinum temple floated.

Crack.

Crunch.

Smash.

But she unearthed the fragments of the old tower that had not lost their original purpose. With the shattered pieces, she erected her own tower. Unlike other towers, hers did not take the form of a spire. It resembled a staircase more than a tower.

A staircase stretching towards the sky—that was all it was.

Her tower did not boast its grandeur nor contained any great regulations. It was a painfully simple tower. Merely a means to ascend to the heavens.

Thud.

Stepping onto the platinum stairs, she climbed toward the sky. At a glance, it looked like Gleria’s ascent, but the current Raniel bore no holiness. She wielded no divine powers.

Only as a human.

Just a mere human.

She ascended to the sky as a representative of humanity. She had words to speak to the heavens. There were stories she had to share with the parents who had protected humanity for so long.

Thud.

She took a step.

As always, just facing forward.

*

“······.”

Leaning against the crumbled pillar of the temple, Yormun silently gazed at the sky. The god, who always looked down on everything, was now gazing up at the sky, having fallen as a human. The god who had fallen stood witness.

The path to the sky was opening.

He saw Raniel rising to the heavens in a form entirely different from his own tower.

“···Ah.”

Watching her, Yormun smirked bitterly.

The tower they had built together with Gletus, the tower he had brought down with his own hands after losing her, the tower that had been used as materials for the temple to honor her. The fragments that had crumbled and intertwined, having lost their original purpose.

Yet, lo and behold.

Were those crumblings not shining once again? Did they not reconnect the path to the sky? Watching that sight, Yormun chuckled.

He laughed while wiping his face.

The era he had known was over.

Long ago. He had to acknowledge that fact. Gazing at the shining tower, he could only smile. It had taken far too long. Too long indeed.

In his eyes, having fallen as a human, there was no longer a future or a past reflecting back. Only the present was visible.

Since ancient times, humanity learned from the past and felt their way through an unseen future while living in the present. The same goes for Yormun now. He could vaguely predict the future based on past experiences.

Full of uncertainties.

But one thing he could be sure of.

‘From now on.’

The world would begin to change.

In a direction no one could foresee.

Approaching the sky, Raniel monologued.

It had been a long time to reach this point.

Thinking back, it was all strange occurrences. The journey that started from a small village, burned by the Demon Lord’s Army, had ended up here.

“Let’s go to the royal capital. We shouldn’t be hanging around here.”

“If we go there, we can become something.”

The village had burned at the hands of the Demon Lord’s Army. Leaving behind the ashes of her hometown and the corpses of her family, she proceeded toward the royal capital.

“You have talent, child.”

In the royal capital, she was recognized for her abilities, met a mentor, and, with her mentor’s help, joined the tower. After proving her worth within the tower, she ascended to the position of the next Master of the Tower.

“Let’s go together, Raniel.”

“We’ll achieve feats no one can overlook.”

Throwing away everything she had built, she embarked on a journey to defeat the Demon Lord, accompanied by her childhood friend. She pushed forward, achieving accolades, drinking the blood of those who had shed tears.

“Stand up.”

“I can’t. I can’t do it anymore···.”

“I said stand up.”

She struggled, broke down, and caused destruction.

“I can’t be like you.”

“This is it for you, Raniel.”

“We no longer need you.”

As a result, they opposed one another and walked the long way around. Having returned to the royal capital, she somehow found herself taking on the role of a professor at the academy. There, she met talented children and watched them grow.

“Not everyone can be like you.”

“I think it’s okay. As long as you don’t give up, it’s a valid life.”

She faced her mistakes and errors.

She realized how broken she had been.

She understood that everyone could be broken.

“Go, Kyle.”

“I’ll open the path for you.”

She accepted that there was another way.

“I don’t want to die.”

“I don’t want to end it here.”

After suffering from the fear of death, she understood that humans could never be perfect. She felt in her bones that she, too, was just a fragile human amid that terror.

“I am you. The you from the future.”

“Look at me, Raniel. Don’t give up on your best. You shouldn’t live like me. Walk a different path than mine.”

“So that my life won’t be meaningless.”

She fought to find the best ending for herself without compromising anything.

“Sure.”

“When you open your eyes, let’s have a drink.”

She grasped her best. She shook off everything that had accumulated and was able to start anew because of it.

“I’ll quit being a professor.”

“I think I need to return to the battlefield.”

Having returned to the battlefield, she walked a long road to find the path that could be called the best, not just for herself but for everyone. But that was fine. As long as they could be satisfied with her life, that was enough.

“Thank you, Raniel.”

“Thank you, junior.”

“I’m grateful. For everything you’ve done.”

“I thank you. Thanks to you, I am able to fulfill my duties as a king until the last moment.”

She advanced like that.

Now that she looked back on the path she had walked, it felt different from the times when she was tormented by the fear of death. Back then, she had groaned, reflecting on her life, thinking, ‘I lived terribly.’

But what about now?

“I lived well.”

Unconsciously, Raniel muttered that.

She smiled and continued forward. She had no regrets. While it couldn’t be said to be perfect, she had no regrets about a life lived to the fullest. Reflecting on her life, she wore a contented smile.

Thus, the child became an adult.

Realizing her mistakes, letting go of her stubbornness, and having grown, the child stood before her parents.

Now, it was time to settle the matter.

With the path she had walked and the life she had lived, Raniel stacked her tower to reach the sky. Raising her head to look ahead, there lay the crumbled heavens.

“Ahh···.”

After exhaling deeply, she stepped into the beyond of the collapsing heavens. The night sky did not reject Raniel’s entry. The tower she had built and her life proved her qualifications.

Thud.

Raniel crossed into the beyond of the sky.

Blinking, she surveyed her surroundings. Beyond the collapsed heavens lay an endless horizon. Or perhaps it could be called a horizontal line.

An endless expanse of darkness.

No matter if she looked up at the sky or down at the ground, all she saw was the night sky. However, it was not an ominous darkness like anything related to shadows. There was a gentle and warm darkness present.

And what she had sought was there as well.

“······.”

Raniel silently stretched her gaze.

In the center of the night sky was a constellation etched in place. A giant constellation spreading like a web. A weathered constellation that twisted and crumbled, scattering dust.

Thud.

Raniel took steps toward the constellation.

Against the swirling starlight, she reached the front of the constellation. The constellation, already imperfect and broken by the Braver and the Shade, had fully revealed its fissures due to the recent battle between her and Yormun.

Therefore, this was possible.

Reaching out to the constellation rooted in the night sky like a colossal tree, Raniel touched the branches as she moved inward. The grand regulations rejected her touch, but there was no need for Raniel to calculate that far.

“Could you step aside?”

Snap, Crack, Thud…

Raniel forcefully tore away branches, moving toward the interior of the constellation. After all, she knew what lay within.

‘At first, I thought it was something like a rule.’

Raniel smiled bitterly as she ripped apart the branches.

In the past, she regarded the stars as a sort of natural phenomenon. A natural occurrence that stabilized and balanced the world according to established rules.

‘But that wasn’t the case.’

On the surface, it might appear so.

But the stars were not just that. The first sensation of unease struck her in Yormun’s attitude towards the stars.

He treated the stars like sentient beings. He referred to the stars as his friends. The discomfort she felt then transformed into conviction during her battle against Kyle, who had become the Sword of Yeocheon.

The voice of the stars she had heard at that time.

The voice of a woman who asked what she desired. That had given Raniel assurance.

“Thinking back, there’s a lot that’s strange.”

She murmured as she broke the tender branches, progressing deeper into the constellation.

“That day, ‘you’ wished to be a god who grants humanity’s wishes. Even if not every desire is fulfilled, there was a thought that a being needed to at least listen to their wishes. The stars were created for that role.”

That was the origin of the stars.

“To stabilize the world, they needed to be a being of solid rules, yet to hear the wishes of humans, they must possess a heart akin to that of humans.”

So then.

“You never thought one of those aspects could be missing… so you made the outer and inner aspects of the star different.”

Thud.

“That’s why you made such a choice.”

Raniel stepped into the depths of the constellation.

There lay the essence of the star. A being responding to human wishes, different from the star that preserved the balance of rules.

“······.”

The woman depicted, nailed to the constellation, lifted her head slowly as she sensed Raniel’s presence. Raniel opened her mouth and uttered the name of the woman.

“Gletus of Regulation.”

No, Raniel smiled bitterly.

“Calling you a fragment of Gletus would be more accurate. Closer to having your soul shattered and mixed with the star.”

Gletus was just the original, but that being nailed to the constellation could not be called Gletus. The share Gletus held within that being wasn’t large.

“You listened to the wishes of humanity, created the Braver and the Shade’s opposite Stella and Watcher, and forged the hero to defeat the Shade. All of it was your doing, wasn’t it?”

The eyes of the woman nailed to the constellation were dull.

Was it the Shade’s emergence that broke the stars? The star as a perfect rule on the outside was carelessly mixed with the inner star that bore human feelings.

‘No wonder the stars turned out like this.’

Tsk, Raniel clicked her tongue and twisted her wrist.

Either way, she was going to break it, so without hesitation, Raniel smashed her fist into the constellation. With a thunderous noise, the constellation shattered.

For some reason, it felt a little refreshing.

After all, there was a lot built up with the stars.

Whoosh.

Catching the woman who had fallen through the wreckage of the constellation, Raniel seated her and waited for her to awaken. After a few seconds, she blinked, opening her eyes.

“···Who are you?”

With dazed eyes, she looked at the being who was the original of Gletus, and Raniel smiled.

“It’s been a while.”

Raniel reached out her hand toward the stars.

“Let’s have a chat.”

She bore an expression that suggested she would grab her by the collar if she didn’t.

“I have a lot to say.”

It certainly looked like there was a lot.