Episode 1 – Delivering a Will

Delivering a Will

It’s a dream I’ve been having for a while now.

Leaving behind the fallen, I head towards the room of the final battle. What I see is the hero and the demon king.

The hero, who has plunged his sword into the demon king’s chest, and the demon king, shocked as he’s impaled.

Suddenly, the hero, standing in front of the fallen demon king, brings his sword to his own throat.

“Hey, wait. What are you doing…?”

“…Farewell.”

And as blood spurts from his throat, the world crumbles,

And I wake up from the dream.

* * *

“Is it that dream again…?”

Three days have passed since the death of the demon king and the hero.

During this time, the emperor has been doing his best to hide the hero’s death, and the hero’s comrades… for some reason, they’ve become contemplative and returned to their respective residences.

Well, it doesn’t matter to me, who will soon return to my original world. It’s strange for a porter to meddle in such matters.

-Knock. Knock. Knock.

As I was looking out the window for a moment, I heard a knock from the entrance.
A sound that wakes up my drowsy mind. The remaining sleepiness flew away with the knock that filled the quiet room.

As I approached the door to greet the visitor, a voice echoed from beyond the wall.

[Mr. Flan, His Majesty has summoned you.]

“Tell him my answer remains the same.”

[…….]

I don’t want to be involved with this world anymore, so don’t look for me until the preparations for my return are complete. Words I added when I reported the deaths of the demon king and the hero to the emperor.
To express such a strong will, I’ve been staying in the guest room of the imperial palace for the past three days.

The reason I can take such a stance even against the emperor’s call is because I’m a member of the hero’s party. Even though I’m just a porter, I’m the only one who can follow the prophecy of the goddess now that the hero is gone, so they can’t treat me lightly.

[…If your answer is the same, His Majesty has added a word. ‘I’ve deciphered the will you handed over, so come quickly. We’ll only talk about the will, so don’t worry.’]

“……Ha. I’ll leave in 10 minutes, so if anything other than the will comes up, I’ll leave.”

[Yes. Understood.]

Click-clack. As the sound of receding footsteps echoed, a sigh escaped me first.

The unpleasant sensation of having to mix with the world I didn’t want to face again.
I thought there would be no ties anymore, but they won’t let me go easily.

I thought this world would be a wonderful place filled with swords and magic, and beautiful races.

But this body is unfit for battle, the guy who was transferred with me just smiles foolishly, and the women in the party ignore the suffering hero and are all character flaws. None of them were the ideal image of this world I had in mind.

So after everything was over, I tried to go back to my original world without making any connections with anyone.

Well, in the end, I couldn’t even cut off the connection with the hero, so was it meaningless?

“But the will of a friend….”

I should go read it. It’s natural, and he was one of my few friends.

I changed into the clothes that were casually hung on the head of the bed and washed my face with cold water. After tidying up the randomly grown beard, I straightened out my clothes.

-Knock. Knock.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, turning my face this way and that, another knock came.

“Mr. Flan, we have come to escort you.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Before leaving the room, I quickly tidied up my belongings. For some reason, I felt that once I left the room, I wouldn’t be able to return for quite a while. I hastily stuffed items that might be needed into my bag and opened the door.

I wished there wouldn’t be any troublesome matters.

With that thought, I followed the maid who came to meet me towards the royal audience chamber.

The atmosphere of the royal court hadn’t changed a bit. The stern-faced royal guards. The maids with their bright smiles. And a few servants who, despite knowing about the hero’s death, were desperately keeping their composure.

Perhaps it was because they were desperately hiding the news of the hero’s death, but the atmosphere of the royal court was as quiet as ever. Occasionally, the sound of suppressed crying echoed in my ears, but that wasn’t what was important now. After all, I was not the hero who sacrificed himself for everyone, but merely a porter. I couldn’t offer any warm comfort to anyone. I wasn’t even sure if the comfort offered by a porter would be properly received.

“Mr. Flan, we have arrived.”

It hadn’t even been five minutes since I left the room, but I had already reached the front of the royal audience chamber.

“Alright, thank you for guiding me.”

“…I hope all goes well.”

-Creak.

The tightly closed door opened with a noise. The maid who had been guiding me had disappeared at some point.

Upon opening the door, I saw two simple but luxurious sofas and a chair. The royal audience chamber of the empire, which occupied most of the continent, looked quite modest, but I rather liked that. But there was no reason for that damned old man to be so considerate. Had there been some change in his feelings?

“Hey, Flan. Or should I say… since you’re going back, should I call you Jun-ho?”

As soon as I stepped into the royal audience chamber, I was hit with a strong smell of alcohol. Turning around, I saw the emperor of the empire, stroking his bushy beard, with his hand on my shoulder.

“…Your Majesty.”

I carefully removed the emperor’s hand from my shoulder and gave the unique greeting of the empire. I covered my mouth with my left hand, brought my right hand to my heart, and bowed my head while kneeling on one knee. It was uncomfortable at first, but now I was used to it.

“There’s no need to be so formal with me~”

“I don’t think we’re that close. Please just tell me about the will.”

“Tsk… you’re uncomfortable. I don’t like this atmosphere.”

The emperor, who was sitting in the only chair and grumbling, had a dark expression that was different from his tone. It must have been hard for him to hide the fact that the hero had died and not show any signs of it.

The emperor hesitated to start the conversation, opening and closing his mouth. Just when I was about to get up from my seat after waiting for a long time, the emperor scattered nine letters that had been in his pocket with a determined expression.

Letters of various colors and shapes. Yet, the seal that enclosed each letter indicated that they were written by the hero. It seemed like there were more letters scattered here than the ones I initially collected. With that thought, I picked up one of the letters and sent a questioning glance towards the emperor.

“Are all of these his will? There seems to be more than what I’ve seen.”

“You could say that for now. And since they’re more like letters than a will, there’s quite a number of them.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Just give me the ones addressed to me.”

“Well, about that…”

The emperor, who had been stroking his chin, picked up a letter. The moment he tried to open the sealed letter, a small flame flickered from the letter, burning it for a moment. The emperor, looking at his singed hand, spoke with a rather serious expression.

“These letters can only be verified by specific individuals under specific conditions. If not, as you can see… a bit of a defensive action occurs.”

“It’s my first time seeing a letter imbued with divine power.”

“It’s my first time as well.”

“So… where is the letter that came for me?”

His expression oddly lacked confidence. I didn’t want to converse further with a man wearing such a face. I wished he would get to the point. Perhaps my thoughts were clear on my face, as the emperor, noticing my impatience, changed the subject.

“As you may know, most of the heroes from the hero party are in a bad state… I thought it would be better if they could verify these letters.”

No matter how much they tried to hide the hero’s death, if his comrades were wearing gloomy expressions, suspicions would arise. Even the emperor couldn’t silence everyone.

“So, I’d like you to break the seals on these letters and deliver them to the girls. For the girls who are grieving the hero’s death.”

So this was his aim, that damned old man.

“Why do you specifically entrust this task to me? Are you, the descendant of the dragon slayer and the ruler of the empire, scared of something and passing the task onto me? And I don’t have a particularly close relationship with them. My presence won’t make things better.”

“…Firstly, because you were a member of the hero party, I thought it would be better for a young man like you to deliver them rather than an old man like me. Secondly, don’t you also need to vent your pent-up frustration?”

“If that’s the reason, I won’t do it.”

“Thirdly, to return to your original world, you need to put either the hero’s power or the divine blessing into the magic circle. The hero is already dead, isn’t he? The blessing is currently imbued in these letters. To put the blessing into the magic circle, you need to collect it.”

“Is this a threat?”

“That’s not all, actually, this is the most important part. He left a letter for me asking you to deliver these letters to the girls. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to… it’s not a big deal.”

So, to ensure a definite return, I have to play the bothersome role of a postman? And he’s created a situation where I have no choice but to go. Damn goddess, she’s annoying till the end.

“Well, in that case, I’ll just deliver them as a sort of farewell. Please make sure the magic circle is completed within two weeks as originally planned. I’ll be back before then.”

I gathered the eight letters and tucked them into my pocket, then stood up from my seat. It’s a hassle, but it shouldn’t cause any major problems. As I was about to open the door to leave,

“Before you go, could you do me one last favor?”

He spoke in a mutter, with a pitiful face he occasionally showed and slightly moist eyes.

“…Please deliver to my daughter last.”

“If I can…, I will.”

“Hmm… Thank you.”

After giving a brief reply to the emperor, I left the reality of the palace.

Well, there’s no harm in fulfilling one request. There are eight letters. Excluding mine, there are seven. I should start with the closest location. But who was the closest person here? The person who might be nearby…

…The princess.