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Eleanor exhaled a heavy sigh, as if resigning herself to the situation, and rested her hand atop Joey’s, who already had a firm grip on the sword’s hilt.

“Hey… doesn’t this look like a newlywed couple cutting their wedding cake?” Fiore remarked, voicing exactly what I had been thinking.

“It really does. It feels like the start of a beautiful partnership,” I agreed with a nod.

Eleanor’s movements suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

“What’s wrong?” Joey asked, but Eleanor ignored him, turning her head slowly—like a rusty cogwheel in desperate need of oil—until her gaze landed squarely on me.

“Miss… you look like someone with a clergy background. Would you mind taking my place in the Trial of the Sword?”

“Huh? Why me?”

“I just realized the ceremony hinges on ‘heart-to-heart communication.’ Wouldn’t it make more sense for you, his friend, to do it with him rather than me, a stranger?”

I mean, their chemistry did resemble Mentos dropped in cola, but was it really so bad that she’d hand over such an important ceremony to an outsider?

“I don’t mind… but are you sure you’re okay with a priest from another faith handling your deity?”
“This will be an exception. Besides, if you trace our origins back far enough, the first priestess was just a village girl.”

Eleanor, perhaps already resigned to failure, gave her answer without hesitation.

“Whatever works—just hurry up and get over here,” Joey urged, utterly unbothered.
“Fine. If no one objects, let’s just get this over with.”
“So anyone will do, right? I’ll give you a hand,” Shizu offered.
“This is a rare chance, so I-I’ll help too, Master,” Fiore added eagerly.

Before long, both Shizu and Fiore had jumped on the bandwagon. Good grief, how did things get this chaotic…?

“Alright, let’s do this. Three! Two! One! …Now! Whoa, it’s moving!” Joey exclaimed excitedly as the sword began to slide out.

As the sword slowly slid free, Joey cheered, while Eleanor shrieked hysterically, “Are you kidding me!?”

Well, obviously—it wasn’t just Joey; four of us were working together, and two of us weren’t even human. Honestly, Shizu and I did most of the heavy lifting.

“Almost there… just a little more… Got it! It’s out!” Joey cried triumphantly.

With a triumphant grin, Joey made a silly noise as he dramatically pulled out the Hero’s Sword and held it aloft in victory.

Well, as long as he’s happy, I suppose… though that joy might not last long. My Appraisal revealed the sword’s true nature: «Cursed Sword: Durability 0»…

Eleanor, meanwhile, snapped out of her frozen state, her shoulders trembling in shock the moment the sword was pulled free.

“…Finally…”

An eerie voice escaped Eleanor’s lips—like it wasn’t her speaking, but someone else entirely. All traces of emotion vanished from her face. …Now what?

“My seal is finally broken! I owe you my gratitude, humans!”

A manic laugh echoed from Eleanor’s mouth, reverberating through the altar chamber. The voice was strange, impossible to identify as male or female. She seemed oblivious to our presence, leaving us frozen, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

“It was my pleasure. So… does this mean I really am the hero?” Joey asked casually, as if this was just another day for him.

Eleanor cast Joey a look of pure disdain, as if he were nothing more than a bug under her shoe.

“Kukuku… Indeed, you are a hero. For 800 years I’ve slumbered, ever since that ‘god’ struck me down. I was forced to parasitize generations of priestesses to survive. But now, I am finally free. For that, you have my thanks.”

“Ahaha, no need to mention it,” Joey replied, grinning.

“But this isn’t the end. My body has been restored, and once I reunite with it, my resurrection will be complete. As the one who set me free, you shall have the honor of becoming my first prey! —Come forth, my body!”

Right before our eyes—while we watched in stunned disbelief—Eleanor, or rather the ‘Evil God’ now inhabiting her, traced elaborate symbols in the air, like a slot machine spinning to completion. As the final mark aligned, a complex magic circle spread across the floor.

“—That’s a summoning magic circle!” Fiore cried in alarm.

The magic circle burst with blinding light, and a massive black beast—easily the size of a small hill—materialized, floating in the air.

The creature looked identical to the statue—jet-black wool covering its body, tentacles writhing from its back, and shaped like the monstrous form of Meran-Aries. The only difference was its immense size. This was the body the ‘Evil God’ had summoned. But—

Eleanor’s smug expression vanished, her jaw dropping in disbelief.

“…It’s dead, isn’t it?” Joey observed matter-of-factly.
“It’s definitely dead,” Shizu added.
“Yep. Dead as can be,” I confirmed.
“……”

The monster’s head had been cleanly severed from its body, and its torso showed gnaw marks—as if some other creature had feasted on it.

“W-W-W-What in the world is going on!?” Eleanor stammered, her voice shrill.

Eleanor’s eyes widened as she stumbled toward the corpse, her steps shaky. She tapped it, patted it, even shook it, but the lifeless body—dead for at least two or three days—remained completely unresponsive.

“Alright, let’s get this over with. Since she’s possessed, I’ll go ahead and exorcize her,”.

Just as Eleanor turned her head, I unleashed a full-power undead exorcism skill on her without hesitation.

◆◇◆◇

And so, the chaotic series of events surrounding the Hero’s Sword finally came to a close.

There was no telling how much of the legend about the hero was true and how much was embellished, but at least we managed to restore Eleanor’s sanity. Before we left, she promised to establish a trade hub here—partly out of gratitude and partly, I suspect, as a hush payment to keep the whole incident under wraps. After all, public knowledge of them worshiping an evil deity wouldn’t end well.

Well, all’s well that ends well—and we managed to walk away with a profit in the process.

“But in the end, I didn’t get any kind of power-up from the hero’s sword…” Joey grumbled.
“That’s exactly why they say you have to rely on yourself to forge your own path,” I replied with a shrug.

As we crossed the border into the neighboring nation—on foot, since Sirent lacked any teleportation circles—Joey kept lamenting how nothing had gone the way he’d expected.

“Look at it this way, Master—we did prevent the resurrection of an evil god. So it wasn’t a wasted trip,” Fiore offered helpfully.

“Prevented, huh…? Everything got resolved without me, though. That thing probably just lost a turf war to another monster,” Joey muttered in frustration.
“You have a point, Master. But if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean there’s an even stronger monster nearby? That’s kind of concerning,” Fiore remarked.

Just as Fiore finished speaking, Shizu—who was leading the group—suddenly stumbled, as if tripping over a root.

“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.

“I-I’m fine, Princess! Besides, who knows what the future holds? There’s no need to dwell on it. It’s best if we forget everything that happened. Yes, definitely for the best. That monster’s probably long gone anyway!” Shizu stammered nervously.

It was strange to see Shizu speaking so forcefully for once.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s their problem now. Oh, by the way, Joey—since you’re determined to get stronger, how about I introduce you to some skilled trainers?” I suggested.

“Hmm, yeah, sounds good. I’d like to meet them at least once,” Joey agreed with a nod.

“Alright. I’ll send word once I’m back. Since you’re a swordsman, I think Maroudo might be interested in helping you out…” I mused.

With that, we fell into conversation and continued steadily along the road toward Amitia.

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