The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

The sound isolation barrier Aird cast was considerably reliable.
It did not disappear even after Aird had fainted.
Thus, even until now, Flaman and the others still weren't aware that something big had occurred in Alice's room.

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However, it was rather fortunate that they remained ignorant.
After discovering that something was fishy about Aird's identity, Alice hoped that Flaman and the others wouldn't notice the commotion that had taken place in her room.

After cleaning the bloodstains outside, Alice dragged Aird's body into the room.
Although most of her room was in tatters right now due to the Gaia's Spear, there were still some places that remained intact.
One example was her bed.
The Gaia's Spear had only crushed half of her bed; the remaining half still looked fine.
Thus, Alice still had a place to rest Aird's unconscious body.

However, when Alice tried to carry Aird onto the bed, a complicated expression immediately appeared on her face.
The reason for this was simple.
Alice naturally had to use both hands when carrying Aird onto the bed.
Meanwhile, now that Aird was unconscious, Alice's right hand would naturally consider Aird's unconscious body as a weapon, just like it did when Alice grabbed onto Zauna's unconscious body.

Thus, Alice could now see her right hand's evaluation of Aird.

…

[Weapon: Mana Depleted Hero – Aird]

[Quality: Artifact]

[Effect: Strength +10000, Mana +10000]

[Additional Effect:

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Awakened Hero (Passive Skill.
Drastically reduces the consumption of stamina and mana when using a weapon blessed by God.
Recovery speed of stamina and mana is greatly increased);

Word of God (Passive Skill.
When praying sincerely, you can communicate with God and receive God's blessing);

Blessing of Light (Passive Skill.
Your affinity with the light attribute is increased to MAX.
When you are wielding a weapon blessed by God, exude a holy light that deals additional damage to dark-attributed enemies.)]

…

Previously, Alice guessed that Aird might be the real Hero after seeing the light show the Hero's Sword put on.
Now that her right hand's evaluation also stated that Aird was the Hero, then Aird must be the Hero.

This isn't good news…

Alice grabbed the only chair in the room that wasn't destroyed and sat on it.
Then, she looked at the unconscious Aird, a somber expression appearing on her face.

The only reason Alice had dared to pretend to be the Hero and Demon King was that she thought that the current generation's Hero and Demon King had yet to appear.
However, Aird's existence proved that her assumptions were mistaken.

Along with this revelation, Alice also understood why Aird would be so righteous as to infiltrate the demon realm and remain undercover for so many years.
If any normal person possessed strength of Aird's caliber, they definitely wouldn't abandon the privileges and authority they could enjoy in the human realm and come to the demon realm to work as a spy.

However, it was a different story if Aird was the Hero.
The Hero was an existence who wholeheartedly moved for the sake of humanity.
Thus, even if the task of infiltrating the demon realm was unrewarding, it wouldn't be strange for Aird to take on the task without hesitation.
In fact, Aird had gone beyond conducting just simple infiltration.
She had climbed to the very top of the demon realm's social ladder and became one of the demon realm's Four Heavenly Kings, becoming humanity's strongest chess piece hidden among the demons.

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No matter how Alice thought about it, the human Hero being one of the demon realm's Four Heavenly Kings was simply ridiculous.
It also explained why even after Alice had posed herself as the Hero, the real Hero did not step out to expose her.
If Alice didn't happen to let Aird touch the Hero's Sword, nobody in this lifetime would ever realize that Aird was the Hero.
Not even Aird herself.

However, apart from Aird's identity as the Hero, one other thing troubled and angered Alice.

…

[Weapon: Unnamed Hero's Sword]

[Quality: Garbage]

[Effect: Strength +1]

[Additional Effect: None]

…

Even though the Hero's Sword's name had changed after absorbing all of Aird's mana, the weapon's effects remained unchanged when Alice tried wielding the sword with her right hand.
The quality was still designated as “Garbage,” the weapon's effect was still Strength +1, and the additional effect entry remained empty.
The only difference was that the sword had gone from being named “Enheria” to becoming unnamed.

Alice guessed that only the Hero had the qualifications to name the sword.
At the very least, when she said, “From now onwards, your name is Durex,” the sword's name did not change.

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Does it need to have the Hero give it a name for it to exhibit its effects?

With no luck at naming the Hero's Sword, Alice stored the weapon back into the little chopstick box from before.
Similar to the small pouch Zauna had pulled out her magic staff from, this chopstick box was also a spatial tool meant to store weapons.
Such spatial storages were relatively cheap since mercenaries often used them.
So, Alice had bought one specifically to store the Hero's Sword.
Of course, Alice made sure to buy the cheapest variety.
It was important to be frugal, after all.

Wait, maybe it's just like what everyone said, and that only the Hero can use the Hero's Sword?

Alice fell into thought as she looked at the chopstick box in her hand.

Maybe the reason why my right hand designated the Hero's Sword as Garbage is that the sword really is no different than garbage in my hands, and only in the Hero's hands can it reveal its true powers… It makes sense if that's the case.
And since my right hand turned the Hero's Sword into Garbage, it must have removed the sword's inherent effects such as “Cannot be drawn by anyone other than the Hero” and “Anyone other than the Hero will lose consciousness when wielding this sword” as well.

…It seems the only thing I can use this sword for is to prove my identity as the Hero.

Alice sighed and kept the chopstick box into her pouch.
Although she now knew why her right hand would designate the Hero's Sword as garbage, this discovery was useless to her.
She still couldn't utilize the Hero's Sword's true powers.
Currently, Aird was probably the only person capable of doing so.

Speaking of Aird, Alice couldn't help but wonder if Aird had seen the sacred radiance the Hero's Sword had released just now.
If Aird saw it, would she realize that she was the Hero and Alice was nothing but a fake?

Holding such worries in mind, Alice sat by the bed and quietly waited for Aird to regain consciousness.

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Fortunately, Aird had only lost consciousness because of mana depletion.
With her constitution as one of the demon race's Four Heavenly Kings, or more specifically her constitution as the Hero, she quickly recovered her mana and regained consciousness.

After groggily opening her eyes and sitting up on the bed, Aird first looked around in confusion.
Then, when she saw the mess in the room and Alice looking at her with a somber expression, she immediately snapped out of her daze.

“L-Lord Hero!”

“…”

Alice inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
Judging by Aird's reaction, it didn't seem like she saw the holy light the Hero's Sword radiated.
In other words, Aird was assuming that the Hero's Sword had caused her to lose consciousness because she wasn't qualified to wield it.

Although Alice felt a little guilty, she had no choice but to keep quiet about Aird's identity for now.
If Alice told Aird about her identity as the true Hero right now, Alice would only be putting herself into an awkward position.
At that time, Aird would probably assume Alice to be the Demon King, and the fight scene from before would once again repeat itself.

Not to mention, Aird clearly held a lot of hostilities toward the Demon King.
If she were to find out that she was the Hero, the conflict between the human realm and demon realm might escalate immediately.
This was not an outcome Alice wished to see.

“Cough, cough… It's great that you know now.
The Hero's Sword isn't something that anyone can use,” Alice said in embarrassment.
It felt incredibly awkward for her to pretend as the Hero in front of the real Hero.

“Yes! I understand!” Aird earnestly answered, a look of reverence on her face.

Alice felt her guilt growing when she saw Aird's serious behavior.