Son of the Hero King

The feeling of the wind brushing past her skin was heavenly. The monumental beauty of the hills and the green pasture, paired with the everlasting forest as far as the eyes could see was mesmerizing.

Floating more than three hundred meters above the ground while sitting on top of her huge sword, Lilith quietly observed Lustburg from the skies above— the so-called bird’s eye view. Her eyes were filled with quiet contemplation about the sceneries of the world.

The world was truly a beautiful place.

In the past, she had never agreed to this opinion that her companions often used to utter. After all, her life had not been an easy one from the get-go. Born as an experiment with an expiration date stamped on her like a mass-manufactured item— for her, the world was only a grey scene and it became even greyer when she lost one of the very few sources of light that kept it some shades brighter.

Now though, she could better understand this world and its machinations.

When seen up close, life was truly miserable and filled with endless misery and suffering. But standing up from so far away, life was indeed beautiful.

In the end, everything was just a matter of one’s perspective— how one viewed and perceived the flow of events that comprised one’s life.

Lilith mused with serenity as she ignored the flow of the ice-cold air and the sparse oxygen available around her. Her body had already adapted to this harsh weather and she did not even need mana to sustain herself. In her current situation, even floating in the vacuum of space would not bother her a single bit.

‘I need a new sword.’

Certainly, as a master swordswoman and with her new True Name, everything she held could become a great weapon. But having a great weapon from the start would make everything better and easier for her. Her current sword, the one that had accompanied her from the start of her adventure, was not able to support the might of her powers anymore.

It was a shame. But it was reality.

‘I wonder if Theresa can create a new sword of an even higher power.’

Theresa had created a God-level embryo weapon but even then it was only because of a moment of enlightenment and the extremely rare materials that were the Horns and Core of a King-ranked Dragon like Blaze.

It would be more or less impossible to find materials at that level again even if she scoured the entirety of the Mortal Realm.

‘Well. Enough with all the hesitations.’

There was a reason she was currently floating in the air like this. She had been hesitating about something she wanted to do for some time now.

‘Should I go meet her?’

Lilith wished to see her daughter again and speak and reconcile with her. But deep down, she feared what kind of response she would receive from her. She would feel quite sad if Lilin decided to just ignore her existence altogether. The opposite of love was indifference, after all.

‘Sigh… I promised to enjoy this life that I’ve gained.’

Life was too short and anything could happen when we expected it the least. Reality was a mass of disappointment. Hesitation was only a waste of time that was way too precious to be spent.

“My. I was thinking who dared to trespass the aerial zone of Lustburg but it was you.”

Lilith smiled as the sword slowly turned so that she could face the intruder.

“Camelia. How have you been?”

“Me? Perfectly well. I mean… It isn’t like no one gave me a complete recap of what happened exactly and that I was kept in the dark about you surviving.”

“I guess tasting your own medicine isn’t that great now, is it?”

“Ouch. That one hurt.”

Camila grimaced after those words. She knew that she was the one who usually cooked up schemes behind the backs of everyone.

“Well, don’t worry. Sol didn’t hide this out of pettiness. At least… I think he didn’t. Also, I didn’t really survive. I am currently an undead. Heh.”

“...An… Undead?”

Camelia could only give a perplexed look to that statement. But then she looked up at the sky and her eyes widened in realization.

“I see. An undead indeed. I guess this is why you look so much younger.”

“Hehe. Now I am not the oldest-looking one in the group, old hag.”

Camelia coughed a little. She had indeed teased Lilith many times about how she would never grow old as long as she had Castitas' blessing. But now, out of the group of four, she was indeed the oldest looking.

“This… Hmm… You…”

“Yeah, I have changed, haven’t I? I know. You wouldn’t believe how many times I heard this already.”

“Well. I was going to say you remind me of how you were in the past.”

Unlike the others, Lilith and Camelia could be said to be childhood friends. In fact, they were each other’s first true friends.

So Camelia was not as surprised by Lilith's current personality as the others. “I guess Sol really did a good job. That boy seems to have a knack for troublesome women like you and me.”

“Troublesome women… I guess I was indeed quite the troublesome woman, huh… Everyone took so much risk because of me.”

This was another reason why Lilith decided to be more upbeat. Sol, Lilin, Camelia, the five witches, and the Phoenixes. Even that little fairy and indirectly Pandora.

All of those people took too many risks for her well-being. Even though the vast majority did it for Sol rather than her, it did not lower the risks they took for her sake.

Her life was not just her own anymore. It would be an insult to all those who toiled in order to save her if she continued to wallow in her own sadness while never taking a step forward to get out of that cycle.

“Hey… Camelia. Will you be busy for the next few days?”

“Huh… I think I am free for at least two days.”

It was a sudden and unexpected question but Camelia shook her head. Even though she did not like Aurora, there was no denying that her tasks became lighter since she had someone to take charge of them.

“Hehe. Then… Let’s have a small adventure. What do you say?”

“Wh— Wait!”

Camelia did not have time to answer before Lilith captured her with her powers and began to fly away from this place. Before leaving, Lilith created two small daggers with her powers. On them was a message that was hastily scribbled, then she threw those daggers at the position of Sol's bedroom and his office.

The message was simple.

[I have captured the Saintess Camelia. Come find me if you wish to free her.

PS: If you are too busy you can just wait. We will come back.]

It was truly a sudden and random stray thought she just had. There were no deep plans or considerations behind them.

But what the hell? She thought it would be fun.

‘Now then. An adventure of Sol and Lilin fighting the evil swordswoman Lilith to free the saintess. I wonder how he will react to that.’

She gave a low laugh as she fled in the direction of Lilin, with a very confused Camelia in her arms.

———

A few hours later, when Sol finished dealing with the knights and went to his room to change into more comfortable clothing, he was quite bewildered as he read the message from Lilith.

“What the f…”

‘Am I becoming some plumber in red and blue chasing after a princess now?’

This was becoming quite uncanny.