*** MC's POV ***

What happened? Why was Arte here? I thought Prometheus must have done something to her, but--

"Oppa. Hehe."

The girl herself seemed to be giggling blissfully, rubbing her cheeks against my chest. A familiar warmth flooded my skin where she touched it.

Besides having a new skill and a gift, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. However, I decided to heal her just in case. Her body glowed white as my healing enveloped her.

"Ah… hehe. Oppa's white stuff went inside me." Arte blushed and glanced up shyly. "Let out a lot, Oppa. ❤️"

"…"

No, scratch that. There was something wrong with her head. A shiver ran down my spine.

"Prometheus," I said, my grip tightening on my sword hilt.

As I thought, this guy must have done something to Arte. I tried to escape reality and glared at the guy.

He laughed. "Ah, my rival. You never ceased to amaze me. Though I must ask - how did you come to know my name?"

"More importantly, we have a score to settle, don't we?"

"Must we resort to such barbarism?" Prometheus shook his head disapprovingly. "Violence will solve nothing, my rival. I propose a more civilized solution. Come, let us have a conversation. We shall discuss this like men, not beasts."

"You seem to have forgotten, but it was you who tried to kill me first, Prometheus."

Arte's body seemed to twitch for a moment. However, I was too focused on Prometheus's eyes to confirm.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's see… food poisoning, luring a horde of monsters to attack me, hiring assassins to kill me." I closed my fingers one by one. "Or what? Should I remind you how you instigated Nicht to attack the white dragon, which ended up destroying my village?"

"Huhu, I see. It seemed the traitors trusted you more than I thought if they told you that much. Or are you simply that perceptive?"

"Is this enough to convince you why I tried to kill you?"

"No. Because you won't kill me. Not before you get the information you want from me." He grinned. "However, I can kill you."

I furrowed my brows. He was right. In the first place, I never planned to kill him yet, I only said that to see whether he would feel guilty about what he did.

"Though, as I mentioned," Prometheus said. "I'm a busy man. So I would appreciate it if we could settle this matter another day. Surely you would prefer that too? Seeing the condition you are in."

His eyes shined brown. I thought about hiding my information from his gift using [Perfect Stealth], but he must have seen it when I fainted anyway, so I ignored it.

Furthermore, he was right. Despite having recovered enough to fight, I couldn't defeat him by myself. It was the moment I thought about that.

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"You tried to hurt Oppa?" Arte said, her voice trembling with rage.

Without waiting for his response, Arte roused her mana. [Mana threads] filled up the sky, weaving into a storm of daggers raging toward Prometheus.

He watched them approach with terrifying calm, eyebrows raised as his eyes shined white. At the last moment, his sword flashed upwards in a blur, deflecting two daggers while sidestepping away from the rest.

Arte's attack had been bold, yet Prometheus made light of her rage with relative ease. When the storm of daggers stopped, he fixed his stare on Arte.

"Mademoiselle--"

"I hate you. Stop calling me that."

Another storm of mana daggers filled the sky, raining toward him. However, all of us knew that wouldn't be enough to scratch him, much less to defeat him.

"I see," Prometheus chuckled. "As I thought, it wouldn't be easy to win the heart of a beauty like you."

Soon, Arte's rain of attacks stopped as she was breathing roughly. She raised her hands and was about to launch another attack, but I stopped her.

"Arte, stop," I said softly.

"Oppa…"

"I'm happy you got angry for my sake, but it's fine. Leave everything to me, okay?"

"Un…"

Her hands fell to her sides, threads dissipating into wisps of light and she took a step back.

Prometheus eyed me expectantly. "Have you reached a decision?"

I gave a nod. It was then. Reinforcements arrived led by Fatty. Even Eliza was here as she ran to Arte.

"Arte…!"

"Unnie!"

The two hugged each other and had a tearful reunion. However, everyone else froze as they seemed to sense the tense atmosphere between me and Prometheus. Prometheus's sword was already drawn, so even the mercenaries knew he was an enemy of mine.

I drew my sword and pointed it at him. "I can't kill you, sure. But with these numbers, don't you think I can cut one of your limbs or two?"

The assassins and mercenaries unsheathed their weapons and followed my lead. They surrounded Prometheus from all directions and pointed their weapons.

Prometheus chuckled, and I felt my grip on my sword tighten at the sound. There was no joy in that laugh - only mockery.

"That would be problematic, indeed. These limbs have served me well all these years." He ran his fingers along his arm in a gesture almost tender. "I've no wish to part with them just yet. Do you, however, wish to part with life?"

His words were silk hiding steel. I knew if I pushed the attack, it would be no easy victory. Still, I had to do this much to gain the upper hand for my next move.

"I'm willing to take that risk if it means achieving my goal." Lightning sparked on my blade "However, I will let you walk away unharmed if you answered my questions honestly. What will it be?"

"Ah! A civilized method at last. Do tell, my rival. What troubles you so much?"

I closed my eyes for a moment. What kind of question should I ask to get the most accurate answer from Prometheus's gift?

Then, I concluded and said, "Who is the hero?"

If I at least know the new hero's name and appearance, I should be able to find them easily. And when I considered Prometheus's faulty prophecy, I believed this was the best question to start with.

Of course, I will ask further questions to narrow the search after this. However, his answer was so unexpected that my mind blanked for a moment.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Prometheus's eyes shined white as he grinned at me, looking amused. "Aren't you the hero?"

My eyes shook as my breath caught in my throat. It was then.

"Wow! Unnie, Unnie, did you hear that? Oppa is a hero!" Arte looked at me with pride and amazement as she jumped in excitement at Eliza's embrace.

"Hero saint!" Eliza's entire body trembled at the huge realization.

Even worse, Eliza couldn't contain her excitement and even started breathing heavily with flushed cheeks! I looked away from her in a hurry only to find another crowd acting crazy.

"Our employer is a hero?!"

"No, the boss? A hero? What bullshit?"

"Haha…"

The mercenaries dropped their jaws and forgot the enemy. While the assassins looked absurdly at me, groaning as if they had just chewed a bug.

Fatty laughed awkwardly and I--

'Who? Me?'

I tried to deny reality as I watched the chaos unfold. That was the moment when the new hero was found.