By Zephyria 
After enthusiastically chewing, tearing, tasting, and enjoying the convenience store foods, time had already gotten quite late.
“Ah, I feel like my stomach is going to burst. I feel so bloated.”
Sebastian, whose lower belly had literally become a little round, refused to eat any more, saying he would vomit if he ate any further. It was only because of him that they were able to leave by evening; if he could have eaten more, they would have left the convenience store even later.
Well, he did eat a lot.
Ramen, hot bars, jelly, snacks. Listening to Sebastian talk, it seemed like he would utilize these items much better than Eddie. Eddie had tried his best to help Sebastian operate more effectively, but it seemed his enthusiasm had been a bit too much.
“You’re fine without dinner, then? I was going to prepare a splendid dinner.”
“Even if you were to slaughter a whole cow, I would absolutely refuse.”
“Just a cow? If you wish, a sheep or a pig…”
As Eddie was having a pointless conversation with Sebastian and just stepping out of the convenience store, he immediately ran into Danny, who looked extremely anxious.
“Your Highness!”
Danny seemed to have been waiting impatiently at the door for Eddie to come out.
He was sweating profusely, his face filled with a reprimand for why Eddie was only coming out now. Yet, he couldn’t voice it and could only wring his hands.
Once one went inside the convenience store, those inside couldn’t know what was happening outside.
No matter how powerful Boram’s sorcery was, nothing happened inside the convenience store, which was the very principle that saved their lives. But in situations like this, it was a fatal flaw.
The convenience store’s perfect spatial separation was definitely good, but the inability to relay any news from the outside to the inside could act as a misstep. Just like now.
“What is it, what’s wrong? Did the sky fall?”
“Something similar happened!”
Danny raised his voice, uncharacteristically. Eddie’s question about the sky falling was a joke, but the fact that something similar had happened suggested it was no ordinary serious matter.
“F-first, please come over here.”
Danny hastily led Eddie towards the window.
Wondering what was happening, Eddie turned his gaze towards the window, but he didn’t need to follow Danny’s gesture to get closer.
Because the entire wall was a large transparent window, there was no way he wouldn’t know what Danny was trying to show him.
“……Snow?”
Something was falling heavily from the sky. It was mid-winter, so snow falling wasn’t strange, but Eddie’s eyes widened. He reflexively mumbled that it wasn’t snow, but it wasn’t snow.
It was ash.
White ash was pouring down from the sky like heavy snow.
“……!” “……!”
He could hear people outside shouting something. From what he could vaguely hear, their voices sounded very joyful, so Eddie, as if entranced, approached the window.
Creak, he opened the window, and along with the cool breeze, snow-like ash flew into the room.
From the sky, ash falls.
“Oh……”
Eddie had never seen this phenomenon before, but he knew very well what it meant.
Because it had been described before. In 〈The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Much〉.
There was a description that when the Hero, Ketron, defeated the Demon King, ash fell from the sky like heavy snow.
[People were naturally bewildered at first. But as soon as someone realized it was a phenomenon signifying the dissipation of Demonic Energy, the opposite of black rain, cheers filled the faces of those who had only been bewildered…….]
The symbol that the Hero had finally defeated the Demon King.
“Long live! Long live!”
“Finally!”
“Long live the Hero!”
And just like then, he could hear the cheers of people outside.
Eddie stared blankly at the sky, then reached out his hand. The ash that piled up on his palm was clearly completely different from snow. It wasn’t cold, nor did it melt with body heat.
It was ash. The trace of dissipated Demonic Energy. It signified the Hero’s victory, and at the same time… Tarajiel’s defeat.
“Your Highness……”
Danny called out to Eddie cautiously from beside him, but Eddie couldn’t react much.
“……”
He won.
Ketron had won.
But though he should clearly be happy, Eddie couldn’t be entirely joyful.
The worries he had tried to suppress because they drove him mad when he thought about them suddenly flooded in.
Fortunately, there was no description of people losing their memories, as in the original work.
“He probably won’t fall for the same trick twice. He’s not that easy a man.”
Ketron had said something similar before they left. The magic that erases existence wouldn’t work again.
“I don’t wish for anyone to forget me, so even if it worked, I wouldn’t use it.”
He had said that while looking straight at Eddie.
Of course, Eddie felt the same way; he didn’t want to forget Ketron or their past, so he had nodded, but it had actually made him more anxious.
Ketron had said he had become stronger than before.
But he had also said the returning Demon King would have grown stronger too.
When one overcomes the brink of death, they are met with one of two things: a fatal wound that prevents them from fighting as before, or growth.
In Ketron’s case, it was the latter.
But the problem was that the Demon King had also come back from the dead.
Eddie couldn’t even imagine Ketron’s defeat, but a sliver of anxiety would sometimes scratch painfully at Eddie’s heart, an anxiety he tried to forget.
But in the end, Ketron was the victor. He should be happy enough about that.
How badly was he hurt this time?
Such worries suddenly struck him, preventing him from rejoicing purely.
During the first battle, he had returned to the capital, barely managing despite suffering a grievous wound that felt like his side had been torn open, and this time…
He suddenly glanced sideways and saw Sebastian looking at the swirling gray ash with an expression similar to Eddie’s. It was obvious who he was thinking about.
“He’ll be alright.”
Despite being in a precarious situation himself, Eddie comforted Sebastian, who looked worried.
Of course, it was also words he said to himself. Ketron would be alright.
There was no good in having bad worries. Eddie forcefully shook off his thoughts.
“My brother will be busy. He seemed restless because he hadn’t had any work lately, so I suppose it’s fortunate.”
“Paki-nim, aren’t you happy?”
Danny asked, sounding puzzled. Eddie gave a wry smile.
“No, I’m happy. Very happy.”
But I’m worried he might be hurt.
Without adding those words, Eddie quietly closed the window. The inside, now separated from the outside, became quiet again, and Eddie pressed his tired brow.
It was regrettable that they were so far apart that he couldn’t check if Ketron was alright or if he was badly injured.
Moreover, the swirling ash looked like Tarajiel’s remains, and the more he looked at it, the more his mood sank. It shouldn’t be like this.
He was, after all, the enemy, and if he had defeated Ketron, it would have been the worst-case scenario where everything fell apart. Yet, perhaps because of the memory of being saved by him at the brink of life and death, a bitter feeling overlaid his joy and worry.
What contradictory and selfish emotions these were. He wasn’t such a great saint.
“I almost want to try it myself.”
Suddenly, Eddie recalled the words spoken by the person who had forced him to make a ‘choice,’ looking at Lee Jeong-hoon’s world that he had stolen from Eddie’s memory.
He had said he wanted to visit Lee Jeong-hoon’s world once.
“……”
You, who even brought back your own death, perhaps.
Though some might call it pathetic, at that moment, Eddie wished for something no one else would dare to wish for. For a moment, just a brief moment.
And after that, he forgot.
The person who filled Eddie’s mind was not the Demon King, but someone else.
Naturally, the world was in a festive mood.
As if a light had been turned off and then back on, the gloomy atmosphere of the streets was entirely festive, as if a lost Christmas had returned. Of course, there was no Christmas in this world.
The Emperor and Marquis Rivalt became so busy they didn’t even have time to eat together or have simple refreshments.
Eddie, who spent more time alone, chose to seclude himself in his room after the day it rained ash like heavy snow.
If it were up to him, he would have wanted to move towards the returning subjugation force himself, but after regaining his status as a prince, that became difficult.
For Eddie to travel a long distance alone, one Danny was far from enough. It would become a matter of a massive group moving all at once.
The 21st-century youth, who considered living without bothering others a virtue, couldn’t bring himself to trouble the people of the Imperial Palace, who were already frantically busy. Nor could he do anything about his restless body, so he remained holed up in his room.
Except for occasionally discussing new menu items for Eddie’s Inn with Sebastian, he stayed in his room reading books.
He had also stopped learning swordsmanship or sorcery, which he had occasionally studied before.
After all, all his teachers had painfully and indirectly conveyed that Eddie’s talent was utterly lacking.
This body was clearly blessed with only appearance stats, Eddie thought glumly.
Fortunately, subsequent reports indicated that the subjugation force was returning quickly. Eddie, relying on that news, waited patiently for his master like a dog waiting for its owner.
When would he arrive? How far had he come by now? It would take a month, right? Then, today would still be too early.
About fifteen days after the ash fell, as he calculated the passing time and remaining time every day to kill time,
“……”
Eddie lay quietly on his bed, closing his eyes and trying to sleep. He hadn’t done anything to expend energy during the day, so he often couldn’t sleep at night, but that night, he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, as if he had been particularly sleepy. It was early morning.
Eddie’s door opened quietly, and an intruder slowly walked into the room.