For a moment, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Padania folded her arms, as if encouraging him to go on.

Defir continued, his tone slightly excited.

“Wasn’t the Demon King of Desolation created by Idria to begin with?”

W-what did he just say?

Did I hear that right?

“In order to turn you into the Hero.”

“…..”

“Just to confirm… were the first to third Demon Kings also created by Idria?”

“No,”

Padania shook her head gently.

“Rather, it was the existence of the three Demon Kings that inspired Lady Idria. With the descent of a Demon King comes the rise of a Hero. Humanity puts their absolute faith in Heroes.”

“…..”

“But what if that Hero was fake? Wouldn’t that be the most perfect and grand lie in the world?”

“……”

“She is gathering strength by swallowing that lie whole. She is a person with a vessel so vast that someone like me can’t even fathom it.”

A chill ran through my entire body.

The Demon King of Desolation… was fake?

So Padania Brook was the ‘prototype version’ of Kaeld Wake?

[Wait, are you saying that damned Idria has been planning this for over 200 years?]

‘Based on how this is playing out, yes.’

[But I thought Padania received a divine oracle. Would the Celestial God give an oracle to a fake Hero… never mind.]

Trail seemed to realize something.

[So even the oracle from 200 years ago was fake.]

Exactly.

From that moment, the Celestial God had been “passively cooperating” with Idria.

By not giving a true oracle.

That troublesome Idria was planning to create a fake world and escape to it.

The Celestial God found the idea appealing.

Whether they ever spoke to each other or not, the Celestial God must have judged their goals to be aligned and secretly lent her support.

[……Even after the Demon King of Desolation, I kept returning to the world, killing Idria over and over.]

‘Trail.’

[She must have thought how pitiful I was. Playing the Celestial God’s jester without knowing a damn thing.]

‘…..’

[Now I understand why she always looked at me with that sorrowful expression.]

He fell silent, seemingly sinking into gloom.

There was no point trying to comfort him now.

I turned my thoughts in a different direction.

The first Demon King’s core was in Mount Baharma.

The second Demon King’s core was a liquid.

By the third, the form wasn’t even defined.

In other words…

‘The fourth is oddly normal. Just a gemstone?’

And Demon Kings are said to descend when there’s an abundance of a certain “negative” force.

But the “negativity” of the first three Demon Kings all came from humans.

Destruction from war.

Endless greed.

The loss of humanity through corruption.

All were born of mankind.

But Desolation? That wasn’t caused by humans.

‘There was a great famine at the time, sure, but no one caused it. People actually struggled to stop it.’

[Hmm.]

‘So when you think about it, the Demon King of Desolation is a bit different. But still, to think…’

That it was a manufactured Demon King.

Wait. Then why did Idria fail back then?

Padania sinned against 129 million people.

Almost the same number as Kaeld.

Modern humanity knows her as a Hero without a doubt.

Idria’s lie should have been complete.

And then, on screen, Padania responded to my unspoken question.

“But that wasn’t enough.”

“Sorry?”

“To achieve Lady Idria’s true goal, that level of deception wasn’t sufficient. There must be another lie of the same magnitude, at least one more.”

“……”

“Her objective is still far away. That’s why I gave you the Gem of Desolation.”

She leaned back against the sofa and continued.

“Lady Idria will remain busy, gathering more lies whenever she can. The Gem of Desolation will likely be used as part of that process.”

“……”

“Which is why it had to be refined to the point it wouldn’t harm a human body, even if embedded.”

“The refinement is already complete.”

“Back to square one, then. Show me the results.”

“Indeed, back to square one. But this time, even Neril won’t be able to see through my plan.”

Click.

The screen cut off there.

‘Holy shit.’

So Padania handed over the Gem of Desolation to have it refined?

And Defir succeeded in doing it.

And so…

‘That’s how it was able to lie dormant in the Martial King’s stomach without going berserk’

[Right.]

‘Couldn’t she have just done the refinement herself?’

[That was probably around the time I was busy killing Idria.]

‘Busy dying and resurrecting?’

[Accurate, but not how I would like to put it.]

I scratched my head furiously.

Padania said there had to be one more deception of similar scale.

And the one chosen for that “one more”… was Kaeld.

A tale from long ago had finally connected back to me.

[This is insane.]

‘Yeah. But let’s put that problem on hold for now.’

[Huh?]

‘I have got a more pressing issue to deal with.’

Sobius knows the secret of the headband.

Which means he knows my Hero’s mark was engraved because of it.

‘In other words…’

His request for a duel…

[Was to cut the headband during the match?]

‘Exactly. Then he could erase the mark right in front of all the territory’s people.’

[If that’s his goal, wouldn’t it be easier to just ask you to take the headband off? If you refuse, he could just press the issue.]

‘That wouldn’t be dramatic enough.’

He has no concrete proof. Starting a fight about the headband would seem petty for someone in his position.

It’s better to “accidentally” cut it during the duel and make the mark disappear, that’s a cleaner narrative.

[Can you really admit that so openly?]

‘It’s just the truth.’ Check latest chapters at novel[f]ire.net

[Then you will refuse the duel, right?]

‘No way. Absolutely not.’

I organized my thoughts and spoke up.

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

“You are serious?”

“I don’t like the idea of two grown men squabbling like children, but if this is what it takes to determine who the true Hero is, I’m more than willing to cooperate.”

“······So it seems, Lord Kaeld.”

Sobius bowed his head and stepped back, as if his part was done.

Kaeld quickly picked up the conversation.

“Count, please host the duel. Invite all the people of this territory to witness it.”

“Hmm. Very well.”

“Let us know once the date is set. We will be staying at the inn.”

“Is Lord Mide staying at the same inn?”

At that, both our party and Kaeld grimaced simultaneously.

The Count, finally getting a clear answer, sighed.

Then he muttered to himself in a barely audible whisper.

He probably believed no one could hear him, but my ears picked up his words loud and clear.

“The Empire’s future is looking bleak.”

We returned to the inn and gathered in one place.

Xenia was the first to speak.

“That man Sobius…”

“Yeah?”

“He’s not a normal human, is he? Actually… he’s not human at all, right?”

I nodded.

Then Adwin spoke up.

“That’s what I wanted to say too. His soul seems uncomfortable in that body.”

“Right. He’s like Ophelia or Hyran.”

“One of the Fingers of Lie.”

“Definitely not an ordinary guy.”

Serein jumped in.

“Has there even been a single ‘ordinary guy’ so far?”

I simply shrugged instead of replying.

Indeed, both Ophelia and Hyran were literal monsters.

But the First Finger had a unique power.

Something even more terrifying than commanding insects or turning into poison mist.

Still, there was no need to lower morale by going into detail.

“Well, he is still a lesser threat than Idria or the Celestial God.”

“You’re casually lumping the Celestial God in as your enemy now. Not that I disagree.”

“In any case, even if he is not on their level, we will need to be extremely cautious when dealing with him.”

“Speaking of which, why did you accept the duel with Sobius?”

“To expose him. To the entire world.”

Then Offense spoke up with a serious look.

“Is this another case where someone in our party has a personal connection to him?”

“There is.”

I said, then looked at Neril.

She tilted her head in confusion.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. But the others will also recognize his real name.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Padania Brook. The Fourth Hero is the First Finger.”

A shock unlike anything before rippled through the party.

“Try to stay calm.”

I relayed everything I had learned through the Eye of Omniscience without holding back.

Why Padania gave the Gem of Desolation to Defir.

That a ‘proto-Kaeld’ version existed 200 years ago.

That another lie of similar scale was needed to create a fake world.

Everyone’s expressions visibly darkened.

I sighed and continued.

“As you have probably guessed by now, he also knows the truth about the headband, that this mark was carved through it.”

“…..”

“He probably plans to cut the headband during the duel and erase the mark. Then reveal it to the world.”

“B-but… are you really okay with that?”

“Yes. Requesting a public duel was Sobius’s mistake. I’m going to split open his helmet.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Offense asked,

“I understand what you are trying to do, reveal in front of everyone that he is Padania Brook.”

“Exactly.”

“But will he even be wearing Padania’s face?”

“…..?”

“Idria turned Ophelia into an old woman, and Hyran into literal smoke. There’s no guarantee his face will be the same as Padania’s.”

A sharp observation.

Serein looked genuinely impressed.

“Since when did you get so wise?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

“Mide, he is right. If you smash his helmet and the face is totally different, it could backfire.”

“True.”

“And even if it is Padania’s face, that alone doesn’t prove his connection to Idria.”

Also true.

But I just shrugged.

“I’m not done explaining yet.”

“What?”

“Breaking the helmet is only the beginning. To be specific…”

That’s when it happened.

Pop. A red screen appeared.

It was glowing crimson.

‘Idria! Watching again?’

[It’s not Idria.]

‘What?’

[The feeling’s different. Still the same type of authority, but someone else is using it.]

‘······.’

[Remember after the fake oracle? The red screen appeared back then too. I wasn’t sure at the time, but now I’m convinced.]

Come to think of it, Trail did say something like that.

Sobius suddenly came to mind.

Could he use Idria’s authority over space?

If so, that meant Idria had some reason she couldn’t take the lead herself.

‘Wait.’

Maybe I could use this.

I signaled to Adwin.

Thanks to our previous experience in the Atrium territory, Adwin quickly cast the spell.

We were now able to communicate secretly through soul speech.

Neril said dryly,

[Ugh, that stalker again. Idria, you perv.]

[No, I think it’s Sobius this time.]

[Huh?]

[Trail sensed it. If anyone can detect Idria’s presence, it’s him.]

[What’s going on? Is she tired out from the fake oracle stunt or something?]

Neril probably spoke offhandedly, but I had a gut feeling she was right.

Faking a divine oracle that could be experienced by an entire continent must have drained her.

[Yeah, I think that’s it.]

[I was just saying it.]

[You’re surprisingly accurate when you say things offhand.]

[Mide.]

[Anyway, Sobius won’t notice this conversation. Let’s keep talking like normal on the surface.]

Everyone gave a subtle nod.

Out loud, we started chatting about random things.

Most of it was trash talking Kaeld, which probably seemed totally plausible to Sobius.

Through the soul link, I said,

[If he is watching, good. That means he is helping us without realizing it.]

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep