Vol 1 Chapter 1 – The Hero of the Beastkin Falls Ill【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

In the midst of a darkness so thick you couldn’t see an inch ahead, the back of the man she admired was fading into the distance.

A slender young man with a flowing black mantle appeared larger in Leonhardt’s eyes than any giant ever could.

But no matter how far she stretched her hand, no matter how desperately she chased that back, she couldn’t reach him. She was having that dream again.

Wait…

In the dream, she was still just a young child. A scarred, wretched child of the beastkin race.

To her powerless self back in her days as a slave—to a world where everything looked gray—this person had brought color. The man looked back over his shoulder and spoke.

“…I’m leaving this world to you.”

“No! Don’t go, Allen!”

She screamed it over and over. She screamed until her voice went hoarse.

“—Allen!”

The moment her consciousness snapped awake, tears flooded from both eyes. Leonhardt bolted upright and scanned her surroundings.

“…Where am I…?”

She was in a bed.

Beside her, a familiar servant was leaning against the mattress, asleep—likely exhausted from nursing her.

The room was furnished with only the bare minimum needed for daily life. However, the walls were covered in paintings of various sizes.

A gallant figure riding on the back of a dragon, fighting enemies in the sky. A slice-of-life scene of him bathing. A serious expression during sword training. Countless other paintings adorned the space.

The model for every single painting in this large room was the same human man.

Black hair that reached down to his eyes, which were an intelligent shade of amethyst. Sharp, almond-shaped eyes set in a handsome face. A standing figure with a black mantle fluttering, a deep violet longsword tucked at his waist.

Always calm, cool, and brilliant. A peerless hero who could mow down an army of ten thousand with a single stroke of his blade.

The Obsidian Knight. The Knight Among Knights. The Knight of the Night. The aliases he had earned were beyond counting.

The First Seat and Grand Master of the World Knights: Allen Norsh.

To Leonhardt, he was a savior, a teacher, a brother, and the foster father who had named her—the person she admired most in the world. This was a room filled with countless paintings of him.

(…My… room, huh…)

Leonhardt’s breath trembled as she wiped away her tears.

One of the six towers stretching toward the heavens in the capital of the Holy Empire—commonly known as the Beast Tower. This was the top floor. It was Leonhardt’s private quarters.

As heroes representing their respective races, each member of the World Knights was granted a base in the capital of the Holy Empire, the leader of the Human Alliance.

There, they lived with servants of their own race who handled their daily needs until their next mission was decided.

“Wait, my armor is gone… They stripped me!”

Leonhardt realized she wasn’t wearing the full-body armor she usually donned.

Looking down at her body, there was a feminine, curvaceous, and ideal physique. Her chest was significantly swollen, and her waist was tapered and narrow—truly beautiful.

However, painful surgical scars stood out on that skin.

Specifically, there was a large surgical scar right in the center of her chest. No matter how beautiful the features, a body covered in scars was hideous.

She hated this ugly appearance, which was why she had always hidden it behind armor. But Allen was the only one who didn’t care. He had told her she was beautiful.

The bandages wrapped around her limbs were proof of medical treatment.

They must have removed the armor out of necessity for her recovery.

“That’s right. We lost to the Demon King… and Allen used the Angel’s Staff to let us escape…”

Leonhardt covered her face at the fact that they had fought the Demon King and been routed.

Before her memory cut out, the last sight she saw came vividly to mind. The back of the black-clad knight standing alone against the Demon King to let the other World Knights escape.

(…But there’s no way that person could lose.)

He had to be alive. Dying was impossible.

Even believing that, she was terrified to know the truth.

Leonhardt reached out with a trembling hand and woke the servant.

Cat ears twitched. The maid was of the Cat-kin, a subspecies of the beastkin.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and she looked dazed for a moment in surprise. Then, seeing Leonhardt sitting up, her eyes welled with tears.

“L-Leo-sama. I am so sorry, I fell asleep… You’ve regained consciousness! Thank goodness, truly. How are you feeling?”

The complexion of the personal attendant, dripping with fatigue, was terribly pale. Her eyes were red and swollen.

“I’m fine. More importantly, where’s Allen? He’s back, right? Where is he now—”

The moment she voiced that question, the maid’s face contorted in profound agony. A cold sweat ran down Leonhardt’s back.

“…W-What’s wrong?”

For a while, the maid remained awkwardly silent, fidgeting nervously.

“…Hey, seriously, what is it?”

Seeing her reaction, Leonhardt was hit with a massive wave of confusion.

It should have been a simple question. She just asked where Allen was.

“…Leo-sama… Allen-sama… has not returned…”

“…Huh…?”

“It is… no longer possible for that lord to return to us.”

As the maid spoke sadly but firmly, Leonhardt tilted his head, looking stunned.

“Not… returning? Why…?”

“It has been two weeks since the other World Knights besides Allen-sama returned to Whiteworth, the capital of the Holy Empire, via teleportation… When everyone, including you, Leo-sama, first arrived, you were all in a coma due to the Demon King’s curse. Seeing the wretched state of the heroes representing the races, everyone despaired, thinking we had been defeated. But it was immediately after that. The darkness that had been emitted from the Evil Eye Castle and covering the sky… it cleared.”

The Cat-kin girl stood up from her chair and, with a solemn face, began opening the curtains of the many windows in the room one by one.

“Every human living on the Continent of the Human Realm must have realized it then. That the Demon King had been slain. That Allen-sama… the world’s strongest hero, had achieved the ultimate feat.”

Leonhardt narrowed her eyes against the brightness, a smile forming on her face.

“W-What’s with that! Allen won, didn’t he!?”

In the sky, the sun shone brilliantly.

That was the proof the Demon King had been defeated. For five years, the Evil Eye Castle floating in the heavens had emitted darkness, shrouding the sky.

But it was different now. The darkness had vanished, and through the sun-drenched window, the capital of the Holy Empire, Whiteworth, could be seen in its entirety.

A cityscape of chalk-white buildings constructed of marble. The sky was clear, and the streets were bustling with people. Everyone was living happily under the sunlight.

In response to Leonhardt’s joy-filled words, the maid shook her head left and right.

“…While the Demon King was slain and the remnants of the demon race and magic beasts fled in all directions, the Holy Empire declared victory. However, only Allen-sama, the one of greatest merit, has not returned. It is believed he likely shared his fate with the Evil Eye Castle, which exploded magnificently…”

The maid wrapped Leonhardt’s trembling hand in both of her own and continued.

“—No good reports have come from the search parties of any nation. Regrettably…”

“…”

“…Leo-sama?”

“…That’s a lie…”

The words slipped out of Leonhardt’s mouth unconsciously.

Countless memories of Allen flashed through her mind, and finally, everything was dyed pitch black.

“…Leo-sama, it isn’t a lie—”

“…It’s a lie. A lie, a lie, that’s a lie… Lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-LIE!”

“…Leo-sama…”

“Shut up! Don’t say another word!”

(Allen is—Allen is the strongest, you know!? There’s no way he’d die! He won’t die… he isn’t… dead…)

“Where is Allen!? Where is he!? No, Allen, Allen, Allen, Allen, Allen… Allen…!”

Leonhardt clutched her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She clawed at her platinum-blonde hair and let out a piercing scream. Even with her eyes tightly closed, tears leaked through.

The Evil Eye King was certainly strong.

Allen, having let his dying comrades escape, had challenged the powerful Demon King all by himself.

In that situation, he must have used the full power of the Lightning Annihilation Sword, which shaves away the user’s lifespan. He must have used it.

(Because we… because I was weak…! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…)

Looking at Leonhardt, who was weakly sobbing, the maid bit her lip.

It was a fragile sight, one that didn’t seem befitting of a hero.

Looking around this room, one could tell just how much the hero of the beastkin adored Allen Norsh. It was an adoration that bordered on the abnormal.

And that was only natural. From a wretched slave child who had everything stolen from her, to growing into a hero—it was undoubtedly thanks to him.

Allen had given Leonhardt everything.

“…Leave me… alone.”

“…Leo-sama…”

“…”

Watching her mistress slumped on the bed, the light gone from her eyes, the servant nodded sorrowfully. Since she had lost someone precious, anyone would need time to recover.

But she was a hero.

So surely, she would stand back up. Time would heal everything. The beastkin girl decided she would wait until her heart’s wound healed.

However, as the maid was leaving the room, the words whispered in a hollow, mechanical voice lingered hauntingly in her ears.

“—A world without that person… might as well just be destroyed.”