I smiled awkwardly and said,

“You’re hardly one to talk, Grade-nim.”

“No. I wasn’t much of a good leader.”

Grade let out a sigh.

“Of course, I don’t mean to discredit the me who once played the role of Hero. Back then, our party was united in one heart and mind. And I was at the center of it.”

“……”

“That’s why I made the mistake of thinking I was a man of great capacity. We had six in the party—just six. I tried to hold the whole continent in a bowl only big enough for those six. It was bound to shatter.”

His words carried weight, and I unconsciously leaned toward him.

“It shattered?”

“There were many events from when I became king and founded an empire… all the way to when I finally ascended to the throne as emperor. That journey was far longer and more grueling than our campaign to slay the Demon King.”

“……”

“The comrades who once supported me began to change. Some left me, disappointed. Others changed for the worse, becoming greedy for wealth and power.”

He wore an expression as though he were chewing a bitter herb.

“The only one who remained as she was till the very end… was Magna Neros.”

“You mean Lisel Vint.”

“I’d meant to ask from the beginning, but—you really do know everything, don’t you? There’s no record anywhere that Magna is Lisel .”

“I have my own ways.”

“Heh. I suppose without that, you wouldn’t have even thought to become a Hero.”

He nodded with a satisfied expression.

After briefly gauging the mood, I carefully asked,

“How is Lisel still alive after over 1,500 years?”

“……”

“And what happened to her in the end? Why did the two of you part ways? And why does she now follow Kaeld so loyally?”

Grade let out a deep sigh.

Then, slowly, he began to speak.

“It’s all my fault.”

Grade was a warrior among warriors, with jet-black hair and a body that seemed like a weapon itself.

He stood at the edge of a cliff, the Hero’s Sword planted in the ground beneath his feet.

They had just finished their grueling battle against the dreaded Demon King of Destruction.

Tears welled in Grade’s eyes—part joy at having protected everything in sight, and part sorrow for the comrades they’d lost along the way.

Then a voice called out from behind him.

“Hero.”

“Magna Neros.”

“When it’s just us, please call me Lisel. I prefer the name you gave me.”

Lisel had her hood drawn all the way over her head, hiding her face.

From the moment Magna Neros joined Grade’s party until her eventual disappearance from history, she had never once shown her face.

Grade chuckled softly.

“Isn’t ‘Magna’ a cooler name? The spirits call you that, don’t they?”

“The spirits say ‘Magna Neros’ means ‘king.’ That’s the last thing I am.”

“I’m always sorry, you know. For making you keep your face hidden like that.”

“I understand. I’m a slave.”

“……”

“You always said it, didn’t you? That a Hero needs fame. And that taking a slave along in your party would do nothing to help that fame.”

Fame.

It wasn’t something as clearly quantified as in Mide’s case, but all Heroes blessed by prophecy instinctively understood—fame was what made them true Heroes.

No one had to teach them. They just knew.

Grade spoke again.

“That was only temporary. As you know, we’ve defeated the Demon King of Destruction.”

“……”

“My homeland lost its king in the war. With the strong support of nobles and citizens alike, I’ll take his place.”

He continued, face set with determination.

“When that happens, I’ll abolish slavery altogether. You’ll be able to stand proudly by my side, with your face uncovered.”

“Heh. That may be easier said than done. Even if I’m no longer a slave, you’re going to be a king.”

“Just a king? That’s underselling it. I’ll found an empire. I’ll become an emperor.”

The empire began in the small southern kingdom—Grade’s homeland.

Starting with Grade von Handman, the first emperor, it expanded its territory over time until the entire continent was unified.

The epic saga began with this very declaration.

Lisel pouted lightly.

“Then it’ll only get harder, won’t it?” For original chapters go to novel·fire.net

“Lisel. As emperor, I decide who stands by my side.”

“Hmm. Maybe so.”

She smiled playfully.

But Grade was serious.

“In this continent, it’s considered common sense that slaves aren’t human. I’m going to break that nonsense.”

“……”

“I’m going to make you, Lisel, into a human.”

“Hero…”

They embraced.

Decades later.

Lisel was still a slave. But she was also the Spirit King.

She first began to notice something strange after they defeated the Demon King and started helping Grade lay the foundation of his empire.

She wasn’t aging.

She never got sick.

While her beloved Grade visibly bore more and more traces of time with each passing day, she remained the same.

Eventually, one day, Grade spoke up.

“Lisel. Are you really okay with this?”

At the time, Grade was nearly fifty.

The difference between his aging face and Lisel’s youthful one—still that of a girl in her early twenties—was beyond what could be passed off as lovers.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you really okay staying with an old man like me?”

“…! I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Thanks to your help, I rose to the throne and abolished slavery. I thought maybe it was finally time to give you this ring. But then I looked in the mirror.”

Grade continued with a bitter smile.

“And saw an old, withered man staring back.”

“Don’t say that! To me, you’ll always—”

“I’m saying this for your sake. If I’m lucky, I’ve got maybe thirty years left. What will you do after that?”

“Hero!”

“‘Hero,’ huh? Haven’t heard that in a while.”

His once mighty muscles had long since shrunk and shriveled.

Grade looked out the window and spoke.

“Keeping you by my side might just be selfishness on my part.”

“You’re lying!”

“Lisel?”

“Don’t lie to me. I have ears and eyes too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know. I know all too well how your ministers keep nagging about why, even in your fifties, you’ve never taken an empress or produced an heir. And the reason you can’t introduce me to them—!”

“……”

“You keep rejecting their demands. And if you suddenly present someone whose face has never been seen before as your empress, you’re afraid it will destabilize your rule, aren’t you?”

A flash of unease crossed Grade’s face.

It was a response to hearing something utterly absurd—but to Lisel, it didn’t look that way.

“So? Am I right?”

“Of course not! I’m the emperor. I can do whatever I want—”

“Can you really?”

“……”

“Do you really still believe that, even after all these decades?”

Grade couldn’t answer.

Decades ago…

Back in those days, when he had just defeated the Demon King and his fame soared sky-high, he could speak those words with ease.

But now, after countless wounds from crashing against the harsh wall of reality, he could no longer say them.

He had grown small.

This cruel world had weakened even a “Hero.”

Grade finally forced the words out with difficulty.

“I was thinking of you. Of how you’d be left alone after I was gone…”

“I’m not saying that sentiment was a lie. But was there really not a single part of you that thought this? ‘How long can she keep rejecting the council’s demands for marriage?’”

“……”

“I waited all this time. Thirty years. For the day you’d give me a ring!”

“Lisel…”

“That’s enough.”

She stood up, tears welling in her eyes.

She glared at Grade fiercely and said,

“You think I wanted to be chosen by the spirits? That I wanted to be their queen?”

“……”

“Look at me. I’m a slave—I can’t choose anything on my own. I didn’t even get to choose whether I became the Spirit Queen or not. So just one thing—just the man I love—I wanted to choose that for myself.”

“Lisel. Wait!”

“You promised to make me human.”

That was what he’d said after defeating the Demon King of Destruction.

He promised to make her human by destroying the slave system that treated people like livestock.

Grade had indeed kept that promise.

But Lisel had not become human.

Because she was the Spirit Queen.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t become human.”

“Lisel. Please, wait!”

“I hope you find a good partner. And I hope you’ll be happy… enough for the both of us.”

Like a ghost, she began to fade away.

As someone chosen by the spirits, she could turn herself into spirit form at will.

And humans had no way to track spirits.

Just like how Mide’s party failed to find Lisel after she suddenly disappeared from the inn room 1,500 years later…

While Mide’s group was listening to Grade’s story,

Lisel was tossing and turning in bed.

‘How did he figure it out? That man…’

Was it because he was training to be a Hero?

Well, Kaeld was the same.

She remembered when she first met Kaeld.

She had kept herself in spirit form for 1,500 years, cutting off all contact with the world.

In that time, three more Demon Kings had risen, and three more Heroes had emerged to defeat them.

None of it had concerned her.

After all, she wasn’t human.

She had no reason to care what happened to the world of humans.

As she began to sink back into unconscious thought, a voice called out to her.

“Magna Neros. Or… should I call you Lisel Vint?”

Kaeld Wake.

A red-haired man with a kind face.

He spoke again to her blinking in surprise.

“Before I tell you my name, let me say this first.”

“……”

“I’m going to become a Hero. I’d like your help. Just like you did 1,500 years ago.”

“What…?”

“In return, when I defeat the Demon King—I’ll make you human.”

—I’ll make you human.

That sentence, which she had heard 1,500 years ago, came from the mouth of a man she had just met.

And unbelievably, it shook Lisel’s heart to its core.

‘Yes… maybe this time, it’s possible. If it’s Kaeld…’

But Lisel didn’t know.

That the only reason Kaeld said those words was because a quest window had popped up before his eyes:

<Next Quest: In the center of Seten Island, the southernmost region of the Empire, there is a massive tree.>

<At that tree, call out for Magna Neros, or Lisel Vint.>

<Hint: She is vulnerable to the phrase “I’ll make you human.”>

Grade’s reminiscing and lamentation came to an end.

My mind was racing.

Lisel had loved Grade.

And 1,500 years later, she fell in love with Kaeld.

But a bastard like Kaeld—how could he ever be compared to someone like Grade?

[What are you thinking?]

‘She must have overlapped them in her mind. She saw traces of Grade in Kaeld.’

If I could just figure out what exactly that was… maybe—

I gathered my thoughts and spoke.

“I understand. Thank you for your time, Sir Grade.”

“That sounds like you’re telling me to get lost.”

“No, I meant it—please take care on your way back.”

“Heh.”

Grade let out a low chuckle.

“You really remind me of myself when I was younger.”

“……”

“Well, I’ll be off then. Seems like the second Hero is still worrying about the whole continent, but I’m no saint.”

He stretched once more and said,

“I’ve done all I can. The rest is for those who live in the present to deal with, using whatever skills they’ve got. Clinging to the dead’s coattails doesn’t get you far.”

“I agree.”

“Well then, I wish you the best of luck.”

A spell on Adwin’s arm lit up.

Would this First Hero respond the next time Adwin called on him?

The thought made me speak quickly.

“Sir Grade.”

“Hm?”

“Would you like to see Lisel again? Through Adwin’s necromancy.”

He gave a small laugh.

“See the me who died 1,500 years ago for what? It’s over between me and Lisel. I don’t want that, and I’m sure she doesn’t either.”

“……”

“More than anything… who the hell do you think you are, pitying me? Damn rookie.”

And with that, he left.

I scratched my head.

The group remained silent for a while.

Then Xenia finally spoke.

“That was… really sad, but also beautiful…”

“We can use this.”

“Wow. Cold.”

“Listen up, everyone.”

All eyes turned to me.

“I think I know the line that’ll shake Lisel’s heart.”

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep