Farewell to the hero! chapter 53

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“What do you want?”

“What do you mean, ‘What do I want?'”

“What exactly am I supposed to do?”

For the first time, Kaindel’s calm demeanor cracked, his brows furrowing in frustration.

His hand raked through his hair, messy strands falling over his forehead, as the easy confidence he always wore dissolved, leaving his golden locks in disarray.

I almost reached out to smooth his hair.

To keep my hands in check, I clenched them tightly.

“I already told you.”

Despite my best efforts, my voice shook as I forced the words out.

It sounded strained, almost like I was holding back a sob.

I didn’t want him to see how vulnerable I felt, but there was no hiding it in my voice.

It was beyond my control.

Kaindel picked up on my turmoil immediately, seeing through my pursed lips.

He twisted his mouth in a mocking smile.

“A lover… Yes, that damn ‘lover.'”

“Why…?”

‘That damn lover.’

The way he said it cut me like a knife.

“Why are you the one getting worked up? You’re the one holding all the power here, Kaindel.”

I stared at Kaindel, puzzled by his uncharacteristic nervousness.

He held all the cards and could toy with my emotions as much as he wanted.

Yet here he was, acting as if he were the one cornered on the edge of a cliff.

It was absurd.

Kaindel could simply make his choice and be done with it; the one who had to bear the cost of his decision was me.

It wasn’t his place to crave affection or worry over this.

That was my burden to carry.

“I’m the one…”

Kaindel’s face twisted in a flash of anger as he muttered that he was the one with the power of choice.

“I’m the one… ha.”

Kaindel’s expression soured, frustration flaring in his eyes as he repeated the phrase bitterly, and then he let out a self-mocking laugh.

“Ha ha.”

It was nothing like the laugh I’d heard in the Mother’s Nest, where satisfaction had overwhelmed him.

Now, his expression was on the verge of breaking, as though he couldn’t believe the crumbling reality before him.

His scornful smile looked ready to shatter, though I couldn’t tell who it was directed at.

A hard-to-describe feeling welled up within me.

Finally, wiping away his smirk, he shifted the conversation.

“What’s your relationship with Daniel?”

Why was he bringing up Daniel all of a sudden?

Caught off guard, I looked at Kaindel in confusion.

There was no reason to compare himself to Daniel, making his sudden mention of him even stranger.

Come to think of it, Kaindel always seemed irritable whenever I went to train with Daniel.

Was that what this was about?

I thought it over before answering.

“We’re friends.”

“Then what are we?”

“Hmm?”

“What are we, then? Are we nothing?”

“Well, we’re… um…”

His relentless questioning left me momentarily speechless.

His intense gaze felt like it was strangling me, and I hesitated, unsure of how to respond.

Kaindel’s intent was unreadable, making it impossible for me to guess the right answer.

My mind, slowly turning blank, couldn’t settle on a suitable response.

“We’re friends too, I guess.”

For now.

After a moment of silence, I cautiously added the words.

I picked this answer carefully, thinking it was what Kaindel wanted to hear after mentioning Daniel out of the blue.

When I confessed my feelings, I had described our connection as “nothing”—but that was only in the sense that we weren’t romantically involved.

Age-wise and appearance-wise, the closest label for us was “friends.”

“Friends… friends.”

He dragged out the word as if testing it.

Friends. Kaindel murmured the word over and over, almost absently.

Not long after, he seemed to gather himself, piecing his expression back together like shattered glass.

“Interesting.”

The intensity of his emotions, which had been bubbling up to a boiling point, suddenly faded into his usual gentle smile.

“Would you mind heading back first, Isa?”

He added softly, his crescent-moon smile returning.

The firmness in his gaze left me with no room to refuse, so I had no choice but to nod obediently.

Only after I left him alone did regret start to settle in, for letting yet another opportunity slip through my fingers.

---

Just before the sun set in the west, Ruen returned with a single warbear, as he had confidently promised.

Despite pulling an enormous warbear that looked three times Sehir’s size, he didn’t seem even slightly tired.

Though Sehir was helping hold the beast from behind, climbing the steep hill should have left him breathless—but his stamina was terrifying.

It seemed they’d deliberately struck a spot away from the core, as the warbear was in pristine condition aside from a wound on its neck.

Despite this, the warbear remained unconscious, likely due to the gash on its neck.

Most mid- and low-level monsters didn’t have strong regenerative abilities, so that injury was enough to keep it down for hours.

With a mischievous laugh, Ruen threw the warbear in front of Owen, who paled instantly.

Then, with practiced ease, he began butchering the monster, carefully avoiding the core as he sliced off clean cuts of meat.

“Will it stay dead if you take out the meat?”

Wondering if it would still revive, I asked, and Sehir explained that they could destroy the core after finishing their meal.

After finishing, Ruen roasted large pieces of meat over the fire, handing the first slice to Owen.

Owen looked at the piece of meat with suspicion before finally sighing and accepting it.

After one reluctant bite, his eyes grew wide.

“…It’s delicious.”

Ruen chuckled at his honest reaction.

“Didn’t I say it would be good?”

“Stop laughing like that; it’s ruining my appetite.”

“Ungrateful brat.”

Luen clicked his tongue at Owen’s sharp tone.

The playful smile that had been on his face moments ago disappeared without a trace as he glared, grabbing his own share of the meat with a scowl.

Only once he started eating did the rest of us take our own portions.

Wow.

As I chewed slowly, I held back my surprise, swallowing the delicious bite.

Despite my initial reluctance to eat monster meat, one taste was enough to dispel all my doubts.

As I focused on filling my stomach, Owen, who had just swallowed a mouthful, spoke up.

“Now that I think about it, Isa, do you know anything about Morhan?”

“Hm.”

When asked out of the blue, I hurriedly cleared my mouth and shook my head.

“I don’t think I’ve heard much about Morhan.”

When I admitted this honestly, Owen couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“Is that so?” His voice dripped with regret as he looked away. At that moment, Ruen, who had already finished her meal and was lounging back, spoke up.

“If it’s Morhan, I know a bit.”

Owen’s cold blue eyes turned toward him.

“Your information isn’t worth trusting.”

“Ah, damn. Hey, watch your mouth.”

Ruen muttered curses at him, not even pretending to listen, and ruffled his own hair roughly.

“Anyway, my old man said he’d been to the Behamdon Plateau back when he worked as a mercenary, so he heard some things about Morhan.”

“Who’s your old man?”

“My martial arts master.”

“If this old man of yours encountered Morhan at the Behamdon Plateau, what about Mother? How did he get past Mother’s territory?”

“No idea. Probably avoided it somehow. How would I know?”

Ruen shrugged as he replied.

I watched his nonchalant attitude, and, suddenly, my chewing slowed down.

“Old man?”

For some reason, that term rubbed me the wrong way.

I’d never heard him mention an “old man” before, so it was strange.

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