Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Side Story 7. The Hero Said So (2)

“Wow…”Cantares, his mouth agape, exclaimed in admiration.

“How can I put this? This is… beyond my imagination.”

“Stories get exaggerated in their retelling. And with most of it lost now, the truth is even more distorted.”

Cantares, who was slowly sipping his lukewarm tea, said to Lexion:

“So, what did you do? Did you go with him?”

“I turned him down, of course. But he was really persistent. He must have held out in front of my lair for almost three days and nights.”

Lexion furrowed his brow, his irritation rising again as he thought back to that moment.

“He yelled his lungs out nonstop. I really wanted to kill him, but I gave in and threw him an artifact inscribed with healing magic.”

Khan instinctively snatched the jewel flying toward him. He glanced between the jewel and Lexion, his eyes puzzled.

“What is this?”

“It’s an artifact engraved with healing magic. It should be able to heal most injuries.”

Not bothering to hide his irritation, Lexion spoke.

“Take that and go. If you whine any longer, I’ll kill not only you but everyone in the lower village as well.”

Seemingly oblivious to the threat, Khan examined the artifact in his hand with renewed vigor.

The jewel held a dazzling, ethereal sparkle he’d never seen before.

The powerful magic within it was so strong that even a layman like Khan could easily sense it.

Khan grinned.

“Thank you. Sincerely.”

Lexion, who had been staring at him expressionlessly, furrowed his brow slightly.

“Why?”

“Well, because you helped me like this. I realize that I was being a bit inappropriate and even rude. I sincerely apologize for that.”

Khan, who carefully tucked away the artifact, smiled innocently.

“Are you planning to stay here any longer?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m sad to part ways like this.”

Khan replied as if it were obvious.

“What?”

“I don’t have anything on me right now, so I can’t offer anything in return. I can’t even offer a proper apology. But I’ll come back someday, and when I do, I hope we can share a drink instead of crossing swords.”

What a confident declaration. Lexion crossed his arms and asked:

“Why should I do that?”

“Because you’re a good person. I want to be your friend. Do you like alcohol? They say all dragons who indulge in curiosity about the past are drinkers.”

“I refuse. I meant what I just said.”

Lexion glared at him coldly and spoke.

“If you annoy me one more time, I won’t let you off the hook. I’ll annihilate you and all the humans around you, so get out of here.”

That was the last time. Genuinely displeased, Lexion left Khan behind and returned to his lair.

Khan, too, returned to the people waiting for him, carrying the artifact Lexion had given him.

Khan truly lived up to his words.

“He brought several jugs of alcohol and caused a ruckus. He asked me to come out and drink with him.”

“…Well, it must have been quite annoying, Lord Lexion.”

Cantares unconsciously made a tired expression.

“I understand where the legend of receiving the Dragon Bone comes from… Was that artifact truly a Dragon Bone?”

“Since there’s no other way to obtain artifact materials in the deep mountains, I crafted it using the Dragon Bone my ancestors had made. My lair was inherited from my ancestors.”

As expected, Lexion wasn’t ordinary.

After a brief silence, Cantares changed the subject.

“So, did you accept the invitation to drink? I understand that you don’t particularly enjoy alcohol.”

“I used my breath to blow him away, along with the alcohol. Just enough to keep him from dying, I sent him crashing down the cliff… but…”

Cantares waited, a little nervously, for the next part of the story.

“He crawled back up.”

“Huh?”

“With a jug of wine.”

“Isn’t that a bit too grand of a welcome?”

Khan reappeared with a nonchalant grin.

He could tell by his senses that he wasn’t dead, but Lexion hadn’t expected him to emerge unscathed.

“The precious wine almost broke. I worked hard to get this.”

“…I’m truly speechless.”

“Friends are supposed to bond through drinks, not words.”

Khan grinned and waved the giant jug of wine with both hands.

“Oh, and no one will be scared by you anymore. I’ve told everyone about it.”

“You’re the worst offender! You!”

Lexion finally let out a roar.

At his shout, birds took flight, and the mountains rumbled.

Nature had reacted to the dragon’s emotions.

Khan still didn’t blink.

“Hey, don’t be so harsh. I came all this way, so tell me your name today. How about having a drink together?”

“I won’t. I don’t have a name to give to a mere mortal.”

“Tch. How cruel.”

Khan grumbled in response, and lowered the cask again with a sulky expression.

“If you don’t want to, then I’ll just leave this here for today. Oh, but I absolutely must hear your name. If you don’t, I’m prepared to camp out for days again, just like last time.”

It was a thought process he couldn’t understand.

Lexion was dumbfounded.

“Why are you so obsessed with this?”

“Well, because I like you.”

Khan replied as if it were the most obvious thing. Lexion, who was about to retort, couldn’t help but let out a puff of air and ruffle his hair in frustration.

He realized that Khan’s words about not leaving without hearing his name were sincere.

“Lexion.”

Khan’s face widened at the sudden, sharp word. Lexion looked at him and repeated them again, clearly and distinctly.

“Lexion. That’s my name. Now that you know it, get lost.”

“What should I say…?”

Cantares thought for a moment, then spoke awkwardly.

“Lord Lexion, you haven’t changed much since then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re weak against reckless humans.”

Lexion didn’t bother denying it. He simply sipped his tea, pretending not to care.

Cantares nodded, seemingly convinced.

“I’ve often wondered why you would let Arendt get away with so much… but now I understand.”

“I’ve seriously considered killing him several times, but unfortunately, that’s beyond my purview.”

The gods were staring with sharp eyes.

But he couldn’t bring himself to tell Cantares that.

Lexion naturally changed the subject.

“Arendt and Khan are completely different types of people. I thought I’d gotten used to a fair amount of weirdos after dealing with Khan, but that kid was truly disconcerting.”

“That’s right. Arendt, you know, can be a bit vicious, depending on how you put it.”

Cantares chuckled softly. Lexion then made a disgusted expression.

“I suppose I could say they’re somewhat similar in terms of their venomousness.”

“Is that so?”

Cantares continued to smile.

“And what happened after that?”

“Just as he boasted, he kept coming back, regularly.”

No matter how many times he chased him away, he would always return. Even if he disappeared for a while, he’d return within a few weeks.

“Even after he found out I didn’t drink, he’d still come back with a jug full of alcohol and drank it all himself.”

, Lexion added.

“He reeked of alcohol in front of other people’s lairs, and he whined for a healing spell, saying he had a terrible hangover… Even now, thinking about it, he was a real pain in the ass.”

The face of the man, pale and gagging, begging for a pat on the back, was still vivid in his mind.

“That’s why I say you’re nothing like him, Crown Prince. But I guess you inherited some of his eccentricities.”

The current Emperor was quite eccentric, after all. Cantares smiled sheepishly.

“His Majesty is quite the oddball, after all.”

Lexion leaned back in his chair and added plainly.

“Anyway… getting used to it is scarier than you think. Before I knew it, I was playing along with his friends.”

One day, he’d bring him alcohol, and another day, he’d show him some strange object.

Of course, Lexion wasn’t young enough to be fascinated by such things.

“He’d come by out of the blue, offering to catch some fish from the mountain where my lair was and share it with me. Another day, he’d show up crying after being rejected by a woman.”

“…Well, I don’t know. Now that I say it aloud…”

Cantares, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.

“He was too easygoing and free-spirited to be confined by the word ‘hero.’”

It was what Arendt had once said. Luce had trapped Khan and Laius within His grasp by calling them heroes.

Lexion didn’t bother answering. His silence was a sign of approval.

Cantares asked again.

“So you ended up going to war together?”

Lexion nodded reluctantly.

“Yes.”

One day, as the war in the human world intensified, Khan disappeared.

And exactly two years later, Khan returned, his body covered in wounds.

His usual foolish smile was stained with tears. He stumbled, as if he would collapse, but he spoke with urgency.

“Lexion, please. Help me… I beg you. My homeland is destroyed.”

That voice still lingered in his ears.

Lexion knew better than anyone that interfering in human affairs was foolish.

But he simply could not refuse the request.

In the end, Lexion accompanied Khan.

And Khan, who yearned for peace more than anyone else, was chosen by Luce as the Hero of the Holy Sword.

‘And then…’

Lexion’s gaze lowered to the floor.

He became a hero on the battlefield, praised by all.

Khan continued his heroic deeds, giving hope to the people.

Even on the battlefield, where everyone was in agony, he never lost his smile and encouraged them.

But…

Every night, he suffered from a terrible sense of pressure.

With his eyes hollow from sleeplessness, he smiled painfully.

“It’s okay, I, I can do it. I have to do it.”

He muttered this habitually, and he would vomit, sometimes unable to even swallow a sip of water.

Under the pressure of creating a peaceful world with his own hands, under Luce’s name, he grew increasingly exhausted.

Even amidst all this, Khan was glad that the suffering was his alone.

He felt it was better to suffer himself than burden others.

When Lexion suddenly fell silent, Cantares cautiously called out to him.

“Lord Lexion?”

“Huh? Ah.”

Lexion, suddenly coming to his senses, lifted his head. The scent of blood lingering in his nostrils vanished in an instant.

“Indeed…”

Lexion stroked his teacup, speaking slowly.

“Anyway, the title of Hero wasn’t exactly fitting. That’s the conclusion.”

“I see.”

Seemingly guessing what he was thinking, Cantares smiled wryly. Leaning back against the sofa, Lexion raised his gaze and looked up at the ceiling.

“Still…”

Khan’s descendant had survived to this day, and was now sitting before him, intrigued by the tales of his ancestor.

And the seeds Khan had sown sprouted and took root over the years, allowing the Caerleon Empire to escape the clutches of God Luce.

A faint smile graced Lexion’s lips.

It was a gentle smile, a smile he’d never shown before

Cantares looked slightly surprised and dumbfounded.

“So Khan has finally achieved what he wanted.”

Lexion, unaware, added casually.

Cantares couldn’t take his eyes off Lexion for a while.

Grand titles like “hero” and “dragon” didn’t suit them now.

There was only the cheerful and easygoing man and someone reminiscing about their former friend.

Cantares nodded with a small smile.

“…That’s a relief.”