When the group of demon king slayers finally stumbled out of the fortress, they were met with resounding applause, hollers, and congratulations. The army transformed into a roiling mass of faces, all looking to have a moment with the heroes of the hour.
Rowan just felt tired.
Even with their ecstatic mood taken into account, the soldiers looked like a sorry lot. Most were dirty. All had tear tracks running down their faces. They were celebrating like people on death row given one final opportunity to run wild.
In the midst of all that, with the wild difference between their state and their emotions, Rowan found himself numb to all that had happened. His fellow demon king slayers seemed to share his sentiment.
The brief moment of their own elation over their survival had swiftly given way to profound sorrow when they were forced to clean up the battlefield.
They, and the rest of the army, refused to leave the bodies of their allies to rot in there, but with how thorough the demon king’s destruction was, scraping their dead off the floors and walls would be closer in nature to hazmat cleanup than something that could be described as ‘collecting their remains.’
They ultimately decided not to even make the attempt. Working together, Kayla and Olivia were able to produce a flame that burned so hot it started to warp the ridiculously tough murals of the demonic lair.
By the time they were done, not even ashes were left, and Rowan was struck by a profound sense of loss.
He hadn’t known any of the fallen particularly well. However, just the tragedy of Fia and Desmond’s young age was enough to weight down Rowan’s conscious. It was funny, in a way, but now that she was gone, he would miss Tamara.
Blake, of course, had it far worse than him. The other hero moved through the crowds blank-faced and completely zoned out, focused only on gripping his two fiancées as close to him as he could. Even the twins were sticking unusually close together, and Rowan noticed the way they would occasionally glance at the other, like they were checking if they were still there.
The Mercenary King, at least, still had his soldiers. They welcomed him with other arms, and the man was soon contributing to the local noise pollution with the best of them.
That left Kayla as the odd one out.
The heroine swept her eyes over the gathered crowds, evaluated the conduct of her mages, and then found herself standing all alone, with no one to grip close or fuss over.
Food was brought out, emptying almost the entirety of their supplies that were meant to support them on their way back, and the mercenaries managed to offer up a decent stock of spirits. Rowan didn’t stop the chaos from spreading, nor did he try to reign the soldiers in.
There was, of course, a secondary reason why the celebration was so awkward for Rowan.
Every time a soldier would approach him to earnestly express their thanks, every time one of them gave a muttered prayer that contained mention of his name, Rowan could feel a trickle of something well up in his soul.
It was just pooling there at the moment, but it practically felt eager to the Stalwart Hero’s mystical senses.
He could tell just how easy it would be to use it, to transform it into something else – into experience.
It was these odd feelings that drove him to slip out of his and Olivia’s bed later that night when everyone else had gone to sleep. With the world eerily quiet, there was no one and nothing stopping Rowan from claiming a seat right next to one of the guttering bonfires that had blazed so brightly such a short time ago.
“Somehow, I thought I’d find you here.” Rowan turned his head towards Blake, who stood there, pale and lightly shivering. “Want me to get this thing going again?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine,” Blake assured him, plopping down right next to Rowan.
“Ugh, boys. I’m not interrupting a touching moment, am I?” Kayla’s voice quipped from the other side of Rowan, and then she was sitting next to him too.
Ruefully, the Stalwart Hero shook his head, then collapsed backwards so he could have a proper view of the stunning night sky. With the bonfire all out and not a tree in sight for miles, it was the most enchanting scene Rowan had seen in a while.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” Rowan pointlessly asked, keeping his eyes trained skyward.
“None of us could, apparently. I mean, it’s not every day that you come face to face with a god whose obligated to answer your questions.”
Kayla’s comment made Rowan furrow his brow and tilt his head to face her. “Obligated? Honestly, Aristaeus looked downright happy to be having a chat.”
“Lucky you. I’m stuck with the Goddess of Secrets, remember? Pulling those out of her is like pulling teeth. Worse, really. At least force helps there,” Kayla grumbled, but Rowan knew she’d likely have it no other way.
“Sarina was… well, it’s passed,” Blake conceded, and all three friends fell silent.
“Did your gods… did they talk about the cycle, at all?” Rowan finally whispered his question, unsure how to broach the subject.
“Of course she did, I made sure to ask about it. Really, I can totally believe that it would be the divines themselves who kicked off this shit party everyone’s had to deal with since. And of course, they’re trying to keep people from ascending by messing with the system.”
“Wait, what?” Rowan was sitting up now, alarm obvious on his face.
“What what? Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed all the inconsistencies and then asked for clarification?” Kayla taunted with her signature smirk of superiority.
“Kayla, not the time, I want to know about this too,” Blake joined in.
“Traitor,” Rowan hissed. “You’re implying that she could keep taunting me if you didn’t want answers as badly!”
“Do you want me to explain or not?” the heroine snapped, and the two guys finally decided to shut up.
She gave it a few moments longer knowing they were prone to breaking out into bickering quickly, then finally launched into an explanation.
“You know how people say the system constantly grows? That’s because it does. It’s testing things, evolving, checking to see what works. Most changes roll out automatically, but some require direct admin access to confirm. Gods can act as very low-level admins, so they’ve been vetoing a whole host of upgrades meant to take the system further and make it more convenient.”
“Like what?” Rowan demanded, outrage easily slipping into his voice.
“Like the ability to upgrade your heart card, or crafter-based tier progression systems that don’t necessitate a world where everyone ventures outside of civilization to kill something if they don’t have a heart card of sufficient quality.”
“They’re saying no to that? That’s just… barbaric!” Rowan growled, but he couldn’t find it in himself to doubt the claims. Frankly, that sounded exactly like something a bored divine creature set on keeping their position would do.
“It’s something, all right. Just be grateful they can’t completely cut off all the ways to progress through tiers and levels, or we’d be in real trouble.”
“You know… it’s kind of ironic, and makes me want to smash my head against the wall, but I really can’t blame the king for what he did with all the information laid out like that,” Rowan admitted.
“You’re kidding, right? Right?” Kayla looked less than amused.
“I mean, if his plan did work, he could have prevented future summons and fixed the problem permanently.”
“That’s a pretty big if. I’ll tell you right now, he couldn’t have managed with what the gods do to hero cards so that they’re neutered versions of the real thing,” Kayla insisted, and Rowan quickly latched onto the subject.
“I’m assuming, then, that you got all the details on the requirements that had to be met in order to unseal our hero cards? And did you meet all of them yourselves?” Rowan asked.
An odd expression swept over Kayla’s face before she collected herself and shot Rowan a smirk. “You know, you’re asking for a lot right there, asking us to trust you with such personal details like the state of our heart card.”
Blake rolled his eyes, but Kayla’s joking tone prevented any danger of an argument breaking out. “No on the details, but I did get my heart card unsealed too,” Blake said.
“Mine’s divine as well, and you two are no fun to tease anymore. Anyway, yes, I got the details from my goddess. Apparently, past the murder of all the demonic leaders, you need to kill one of the legends yourself, to be present when the ‘demon lord’ dies, and receive the approval of at least three different gods.”
Rowan latched onto that last requirement, disbelief coloring his face. “Wait, how did any of us manage to get enough gods to sign off on us unsealing our heart cards? Isn’t that the sort of thing that they’d work as hard as they could to prevent?”
“I had the same question,” Kayla admitted. “Apparently, you’re to blame.”
“Me?” Rowan almost looked affronted.
“You. Apparently, my goddess absolutely loved it when you managed to somehow provoke citywide panic among people scheming against you, and decided to officially endorse you. Without telling anyone, of course. I think she thought no one else would be foolish enough to do it.”
“And the last god that had to sign off on me getting a shot at Divinity?”
“That would be his goddess.” Kayla motioned at Blake, who looked more surprised than Rowan. “When you saved his life, she reluctantly did it as a gesture of good will towards Aristaeus. She didn’t know she’d be the third to do so.”
Rowan took a moment to process that, before grinning smugly. “Checks out. Divine reluctance to coordinate, right there. Okay, that was me, what about you two?”
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“Well, when that happened, all the gods received a notification about it. Then our goddesses got upset, and leaned on Aristaeus to reciprocate. Once he did, it was simple for the two to find a subordinate god of theirs to approve of their chosen.”
“So… we’re in the position to possibly ascend, just because the gods decided to get prissy that their own toy wasn’t as successful as the others?” Blake sounded so done with gods that Rowan felt immense satisfaction.
It wasn’t all that long ago that his best friend was the perfect picture of devotion. No matter what future held for them, Rowan would never regret handing off that mental defense card to Blake.
“Pretty much, yes,” Kayla confirmed, and all three of them fell into a comfortable silence.
Their stories weren’t done. There would be much to do. Much to plan around, and even scheme, to protect the people they cared about or pursue personal ambitions. The chances of them clashing in the future were also non-negligible.
In spite of all that, in that moment, they were almost better off than before their summoning. The dysfunctional, broken pieces of their friendship had been dragged to the surface, and at least somewhat resolved.
And they could still call each other friend.
“I want a promise from both of you,” Rowan suddenly declared, keeping his eyes fixed on the stars. “No matter what happens, no matter what we become, let’s at least try to avoid becoming enemies and killing each other. I promise, here and now, that unless you directly threaten the people I love, I’ll… well, not necessarily support you, but I’ll be your friend.”
Rowan appreciated the fact that neither of them rushed to agree. He could tell they were seriously considering his request, and all the implications it had.
“I promise.” Blake was the first to make the declaration, voice solemn.
Kayla took a bit longer, expression shifting between emotions too complex to easily name, but she eventually sighed and nodded her head. “Fine. I promise, too. Really, how hard can it be for us to avoid killing each other?”
“Pretty hard, I’ll reckon,” Rowan said with a grin. “Thank you, though. Funny how things worked out. If you asked me when we first got here, I’d have thought we’d all jump on the chance to go back home.”
Nobody said anything in response to that, and their thoughtful faces didn’t give away much about how they were feeling. Still, when he stood up and went to rejoin Olivia in their bed, Rowan was content with the way things had turned out.
—
The next morning, Rowan woke up early and found himself in the unenviable position of forcing his army back into action thanks to the bleak realities of their situation. For one, the remnants of a battlefield that had claimed upwards of six hundred lives didn’t make for a very good place to rest.
The soldiers had done their best to retrieve bodies and sort out the belongings of the dead while the hero parties sought access to the inner reaches of the fortress and fought the last two demonic leaders, but that still left plenty to be done.
In the end, they resorted to a similar way of honoring the dead to what the heroes had employed. Massive pyres were constructed, and the air was thick with the nauseating smell of cooking meat before Kayla took pity on everyone and cast some sort of spell to protect their noses.
The heroine slipped away shortly after, without a word of parting.
Kayla didn’t hate the other heroes. In fact, the disdain she’d started to nurture towards them had been broken down, and last night had cleared the air between them fully.
Still, it was a basic fact of reality that she wouldn’t be able to spend much time with them, be it now or in the future.
Her troops were at least not too badly damaged, with only a quarter of their number falling in combat. This meant that most of her long-term plans were still intact, and her eyes narrowed dangerously as she guided the mages towards the Cartian kingdom.
Blake wasn’t in as much of a hurry to leave, and surprisingly, his two noble ladies didn’t press for it either. This time, none of Rowan’s party members protested their presence.
In Olivia’s own words, “I’ve kind of grown fond of them. Yes, even the Treagon.”
Rowan supposed that there was definitely some truth in that you couldn’t risk your life alongside someone without growing to respect them at least little.
When all the work was done, and it was finally time to set out, Rowan found himself standing in front of his troops one more time. His eyes scanned their faces, the odd duality of happiness and grief shining through.
One thing united them all: they were ready to go back home.
“I know how difficult what I asked of you was. We ventured here, with no support from the wider kingdom, with a fraction of the numbers we should have had. In spite of that, even with the king himself trying to stop us, we’ve prevailed.
“The demons are routed, their leaders dead, and our lands safe! Their corruption vanes as we speak, and the land they tainted can now be cleansed. I promise you, one and all, that is what we shall do. Rest’s Remorse will recover, and then it will grow.
“No matter what the future has in store for us, you and yours will never find yourself wanting for anything again. You have my promise as your lord and as the man who fought alongside you.”
Rowan bowed, and the cheers he was met with were deafening.
He meant every word.
Maybe he couldn’t ensure universal peace. The kingdom was likely in chaos at that very moment with the king missing. But he would do everything he possibly could to prevent his people from getting swept up in it all.
Rest’s Remorse was already out on the frontier. It wasn’t a place any kingdom would be in a hurry to claim, not with the demon’s slain and their corruption no longer driving the levels of monsters ever higher.
Likewise, Olivia had assured him that her alchemy would let her perform minor miracles when it came to cleansing and enriching the land around their city. For the first time in countless generations, industry and agriculture would witness a resurgence in the area.
Hopefully, that would give all of Rowan’s citizens stable livelihood and employment. Still, that was something for the future.
For the time, they focused on a mad rush home. No one wanted to spend any additional time out on the frontier, and the Mercenary King put his all into getting them back as quickly as possible.
They still saw combat.
The source of demonic corruption might have been destroyed, but the many creatures already affected by it weren’t. Some ran when confronted by the overwhelming number of humans marching past their territory, but just as many challenged them freely.
Some of these remnants were actually powerful enough to reach the epic tier.
Those Rowan enthusiastically hunted down himself. He didn’t need the experience himself anymore, but he wanted his party to be as high of a level as he could help them get to, and epics would likely become harder to come by in the future.
Of course, the steady buildup of power in his chest brought on by his new class was reassuring on that front, even if he still needed to experiment with it.
Monsters or not, they were still traveling faster than when making their push into the wastes. They didn’t need to worry about preserving their strength or ambushes by the legendary demons. All in all, it took a mere five days to make their way from the core of the wastes back to Rest’s Remorse.
The first sight of the city was a balm on Rowan’s soul. There was no hostile army surrounding it, and no monsters anywhere in sight. The city walls, now completely rebuilt, towered higher than ever and practically gleamed in the light of day.
Banners were hung from the same walls, and wreathes of flowers decorated them. There was a festive atmosphere to the city, and they hadn’t even stepped foot inside it yet.
They were spotted well before they reached the gates by guards patrolling the battlements. This meant that, by the time they were walking past the entrance to Rowan’s city, people were already lining the streets.
Rowan doubted that the whole thing was spontaneous, but the true hero’s welcome they received, complete with the flower petals raining down on them and people cheering their names, was touching.
More than a few soldiers broke down crying, or even broke rank to clasp their arms possessively around their loved ones.
Rowan didn’t mind.
In fact, he immediately proclaimed that while those who wanted to accompany them all the way to the mayor’s manor were free to do so, the soldiers were officially free to reunite with their families. He felt more than a little honored when the vast majority of the army chose to stay.
They found Kayden and Camilla, along with the manor’s staff, waiting for them in front of the building. The baroness did not wait for them to close the distance, instead surging forward to envelop her daughter in a hug. Rowan was touched when she dragged him into the same hug a moment later, gripping them both like she was afraid they would vanish.
“With everything we heard… and what was happening… Welcome home, both of you. Welcome home,” Camilla whispered tearfully, only holding them tighter.
Rowan missed the wistful way Blake was watching the interaction, but the hero’s fiancées didn’t. He got plenty of hugs himself, even as they were practically dragged into the house. Kayden watched them go with a smile and a brief hug, staying behind to declare to the army that they were free, and to invite them to a feast prepared in their honor.
As the cheering soldiers headed off to the training grounds where tables were being dragged out, the baron’s family congregated to the dining room, where a feast of their own waited. Blake, too, was invited to the more private setting, provoking embarrassed mutters of thanks, especially when the baroness hugged him too and thanked him for helping protect her family.
No one spoke while they ate. The food, after all the travel rations, the fighting, and the stress that was finally draining out of their bodies, tasted divine. When they were finally done, however, Rowan couldn’t put off his questions anymore.
He opened his mouth, but a thousand different things to ask surged up, and he could only settle on “What happened?”
The baron sighed and leaned back in his chair, but his expression was more wistful than upset. “Shortly after the first announcement of a legendary demon falling, we got news that an army was laying siege to all the border fortresses between our territory and the rest of the kingdom. One army even ventured deep into our lands, laying siege on our home itself. When they found out we weren’t there, they sent out a messenger demanding our immediate return and surrender.”
“They didn’t push all the way out to Rest’s Remorse itself?”
“No.” The baroness seemed amused by the suggestion. “The King certainly has plenty of soldiers under his command. However, trying something like that would still stretch his armies thin. No, they just sat there and pressured us to comply.”
“It was looking like we might just have to do that, too. Especially when a messenger came, declaring that if we did, our daughter would be spared when the heroes were executed for their rebellion against the kingdom.” The baron’s voice was incredibly bitter.
The news made both Rowan and Blake bristle. The only thing that prevented a more visceral reaction was the fact that the problem was already dealt with.
“They’re not laying siege on your lands anymore, right?” Rowan hurried to ask, wondering if the kingdom had any clue about the death of their monarch.
“No, they’re not. That was brought to a swift conclusion when the death of the king came out,” the baron confessed, making Rowan frown and shoot the princess a questioning look.
The woman looked confused, but then blushed as a look of realization crossed her face. “I’m sorry, I forgot you wouldn’t know. When a king or other important officials are instated, they link to special artifacts. When they die, those artifacts immediately send out an alert to the linked watcher on duty.”
“So, people knew about it the second we killed the king?” Rowan’s words made the baron give him a startled look, and the baroness to smile smugly.
“I did tell you it was them,” the woman declared, looking pleased.
Her husband looked conflicted. “I don’t know how you managed that, but… I’m just happy you survived.” There was plenty he wasn’t saying, and Rowan could see that.
Then again, the hero had heard plenty about what the relationship between the king and the baron used to be like before it soured. In a way, Rowan imagined that it would be like him hearing about Blake’s demise.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it had to come to that,” Rowan offered.
“No, no, he… he wanted to protect our kingdom, but the way he decided to do it….”
“Um, on the subject, what is happening in the capital? If you happen to know?” It was the princess who asked the question, and in spite of trying to look relaxed, the anxiety in her voice was impossible to miss.
“It’s not good, I’m afraid,” the baroness confessed, giving the woman a look of pity. “Your brother and sister have erupted into all out hostilities. The crown prince is the designated heir, but no one knows what happened to the king’s heart card, and the elder princess has supporters of her own.”
“I… see.” Blake’s princess looked anything but pleased.
Rowan didn’t know whether the princess harbored a desire to claim the throne for herself, but the trio would have their work cut out for them. After all, Blake had outright expressed their intentions to return to the capital post-haste. It was all Rowan could do to convince them to rest for a day.
Blake’s party excused themselves shortly after, leaving the baron’s family alone. It was with a small, happy smile that Rowan reflected on the fact that he was part of that family now.
“Your friends will be heading off to the capital, won’t they?” the baroness asked, clearly picking up on the trio’s tension. “Will you be heading out with them?”
“No.” And Rowan meant it too. He wasn’t going to abandon Blake entirely, but he was neither willing to immediately jump into another conflict nor happy about all the potential politicking.
“What, then, will you two be getting up to?”
“Well…” Olivia drawled as she lay her head against Rowan’s shoulder. “With the kingdom in chaos, it will take a while for anyone to come bother us, unless we get involved voluntarily. And, well, I’ve always wanted at least three children. We do need to get started on those.”
Rowan flushed scarlet, much to the amusement of his in-laws. Olivia did drive a very good point home though.
For the first time since his arrival in his world, there was nothing truly hanging over the hero’s head. No quest to save the world. No ticking timer that was pushing him onwards before the demon lord could grow beyond any mortal’s ability to handle.
He had the time to enjoy his new life, and to properly settle in.
He wasn’t going to waste it.