Tale of the Fake Hero

Chapter 1 – The Night the Stars Laughed

My mother was a ‘fake’ hero. I probably heard it for the first time when I turned four.

“Kaisen, you know, I’m a hero who left my name in history.”

“He一ro?”

“Yeah! I was also like a fox. Guys lined up just to see me. Why wouldn’t they? I’m pretty, sweet, and incredibly powerful!”

At the time, I knew nothing about the kind of heart-wrenching grief she had to overcome to become such a hero. I just listened with shining eyes, not fully understanding her words.

“Fake Warriors can’t get pregnant due to the side effects of the body modifications we undergo, you know? Still, somehow, your father was so peerless that he got me pregnant after just a single try.”

“Irene… what are you saying to a four-year-old child?”

“Quiet, so what if you’re full of stamina? Anyway, I found out I was pregnant about three months before the final battle. You don’t know how surprised I was.”

It was said that, whenever a Fake Warrior was inaugurated, they vowed to forsake both family and lovers and to only live and die by the sword. My mother had reneged on that vow to give birth to me and my sister.

After leading the final battle to victory, she faked her death and went to the outskirts of the known world to create a home with my father.

“People say that I created numerous miracles on the battlefield, but…” Whenever she reached the end of that story, my mother hugged us and rubbed our faces together, as if she found us too lovable for words.

“Kaisen, you and your sister are the best miracles I’ve ever created. Hahaha. That’s why I want to protect you dearly, forever.” As if to prove her words, whenever I let out a small moan in my sleep or tripped over a rock, she would drop anything she was doing to rush over and comfort me, wherever and whenever it might’ve been.

“Huh?” The year I turned seven, I happened to be watching my mother practice with her sword. I’d ignorantly been watching her elegant movements when she suddenly pointed her sword toward me.

“Kaisen, how does it feel to have your life threatened by someone?”

A vague fear brought tears to my eyes.

“Are you scared?” she asked; then, my mother spun her sword around and held the hilt out to me. “Now, the opposite, how would you feel to be protecting someone’s life?” Maybe it was due to how brilliant her smiling face was as he turned to look back at me, but I forgot to cry.

“Now, look.” My mother then put a small, wooden knife in my hands. “A sword can be a tool used for killing others, but on the other hand, it can also be used to protect others.”

“…?”

“How does our Kai want to use this sword?”

If I’d said I wanted to protect her with my pitiful strength when I was unable to even lift a sword, would I have been able to change my destiny? I have no way of knowing, and I’ll probably never have a way of figuring that out for the rest of my life.

The wheel of fate continued to turn for me from birth, with no swords able to reach or cut me.

* * *

The foreshadowing of the worst summer of my life appeared the year I turned thirteen.

“Under the guidance of light, we meet again, Raminea Alter Aradamantel.” A liaison unit from the Imperial Court went all the way to that faraway village at the end of the world to visit my mother, their golden armor shining in the sun.

They knew my mother’s real name, and they’d known she’d faked her death all along and continued to observe her. “It’s not even funny. A warrior who graces the pages of history is living in a remote village while hunting, of all things.”

“Even if you promised me everything, I wouldn’t return,” my mother said.

“Do you think we came all this way to play word games with you?”

“You think I’m playing word games?” My mother narrowed her eyes.

The herald sighed and turned to the Southern Sea. “Summer is coming. A very harsh one, at that. It may already be around the corner.”

“…”

“The abyss is stirring. The shadows of the Black Church have appeared all over the continent. News of defeat is already coming from the Tersh Islands.”

“They’re already at the Tersh Islands…?” Even my mother, who had maintained a blank expression from the start of the meeting, raised an eyebrow at that. The Tersh Islands were the midpoint between the Akrad Continent and the Demon Realm and served as a breakwater for humanity.

“It’s not even late spring yet, let alone early summer. Don’t lie,” my mother said.

“It’s true. However, since humanity is divided and fighting each other, a decision was made for a hero to become a central figure of unification.”

“…”

“I’m talking about you, Raminea of the Crimson Lotus,” the herald said.

“…”

“Didn’t you make a vow when you became a hero?”

“…” My mother remained silent.

“Please answer me. Do you really think you should stay here at such a time?”

That day, my mother faced the cold wind and cried until nightfall.

Why did she cry? Why did she have to cry when it was the world at fault and not her?

“Actually, I have something important to say to my prince and princess.” The next morning, my mother called me and my sister over; her face was reddened and stained with tears, and she smiled at us for the last time. “Raminea Alter Aradamantel. That is my real name.”

Alter Aradamantel was not the last name of a noble. Alter is an ancient word meaning ‘proxy’. It meant the proxy wielder of the Great Holy Sword, Aradamantel.

She gave us a sad look. “Haven’t I always told you that I’m a great hero? It looks like people need me again.”

“What do you mean, Mom?” my sister asked.

“I have to go back to the battlefield, Ratel. It’s probably not safe here anymore.”

“Mom…”

“Since they say the Tersh Islands are under attack… Ratel, Kaisen, follow the liaison unit and leave first.”

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Unlike me, who couldn’t understand the undercurrent of the conversation, my older sister, who always liked to nag me with a proud expression, looked serious, and her voice trembled as she spoke.

“Why? I don’t want you to. Why do you have to go fight? It’s dangerous on the battlefield! Mom, come with us. You can run away again.”

“No. The Mad Dragon already knew where I was. He just turned a blind eye until now. I can’t escape his sight.”

The Light Dragon, Haradrimann, the dragon god who ruled the Imperial Court and managed the world on behalf of the departed gods. His holy powers were absolute.

“Ratel, please promise me that, no matter what happens, you will cherish and love Kai on my behalf.”

“No, I don’t want to! Why do you make it sound like you’re never coming back? Why are you talking like Dad?!”

“Kai, treat your older sister like you treat me—”

That’s when I’d run out without listening to the rest of my mother’s words. I just… I just hoped my mother wouldn’t leave. I just hoped that the next day would continue to be the same as usual.

I hid in a new spot and didn’t return until the evening. I really… I really thought my mother wouldn’t leave until she found me. The only thing on my mind was how my father had died of an illness when I was 10 and never returned, no matter how much I wailed and cried.

I hid because it seemed like the same thing would happen to my mother. How could I have known, at that young age, that my actions would lead to my mother’s death?

* * *

“Kubech ou tokose! Kill all those walking on two legs!”

When I woke up, volcanic ash flew through the air. Under the cover of ash, military ships filled the sea horizon and approached the coast on the tide.

Yes. I didn’t know anything back then. I didn’t realize it was the prelude to the uruk invasion, which was one of the six major demon races. I also didn’t realize my mother went looking for me and ended up confronting them.

“Mom…” I anxiously made my way back to the village while the chaotic scene engraved itself in my eyes.

“Sister…” Black smoke rose from the direction of the village. Endless screams and bursts of dull sounds floated over the air. The volcanic ash was so thick that I couldn’t tell where I was going.

“Mom!” I saw the soldiers of the liaison unit that the villagers had gazed at with envy strewn about, their limbs torn off.

‘What…? What on earth happened here?” I was having trouble understanding the unimaginable scene when a hand suddenly grabbed me.

It felt like a mountain moved and caught me. That was my first encounter with an uruk warrior. He dragged me to the countless ships anchored at the coast, and I saw my mother there.

“GWAAAAAAAAA…!”

“HARRRRRRKKKKKKKK…!”

Her small sword flashed, sending blood erupting into the air as heads flew and uruk bodies piled into a small mountain. She looked like a red flower blooming in a blood-soaked meadow.

It was the first time I’d ever seen something so beautiful. In that beauty, my mother had decapitated over a hundred Uruk warriors by herself and was dealing with a hundred more.

Psssssshhhhhhkkkkkk—!

A mysterious, bright-red energy shone over the blade in my mother’s hand—the manifestation of sword aura and a symbol of a swordsman who had reached the peak.

My mother probably planned to have the liaison unit protect my sister and me while she bought time against the enemy’s main force.

Even that plan collapsed because of me.

“Horoku nena shi. Don’t move, human!” an uruk shouted. The uruks were a fierce race who revered victory since the beginning of the abyss, but that didn’t mean they were honorable.

In most cases, uruks would do anything to win.

“M-mom…”

That’s why the uruks enjoyed taking hostages and using them against Fake Warriors, just like how I was caught and used to threaten my mother. It’s not like the uruk knew I was her son—it was just a method they used.

My mother gave me a blank look as she cut down the next uruk.

“I told you to stop moving!” the uruk holding me shouted again.

If it were me, I would have frozen, but my mother didn’t give in to the uruk’s threats. Instead, she found another way…

A way to save me, and the only way for both of us to survive there. She figured it all out with a quick scan of the area in less than a split second.

Shhhh一 tiiiiinnnnggggg—!

In the next moment, my mother fiercely threw her sword. Even the uruks, hardened by countless battles, reacted a beat late to how quickly her sword flew.

“Ogure wira Irishina ro Raminea(My name is Raminea of the Crimson Lotus).”

The small sword trembled as it plunged deep into the bow of the ship, right next to the head of her target—the uruk chief.

“Hishime ki KALTAKE ro gimarasu (I request Kaltake from you).”

One by one, the uruk warriors stopped their fierce attack on her.

“Crimson Lotus…?”

“That human woman…?”

* * *

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* * *

There were two reasons for their shock. One was because my mother identified herself as Raminea of the Crimson Lotus. To the uruk people, who revered battle and victory, a strong person was worthy of respect. My mother was a hero of humanity who was said to have wiped out most of the uruks invading the land, after all.

“Kaltake…?”

The second reason for the uruks’ surprise was her call for Kaltake. It was an ancient uruk fighting custom—a barbaric law of battle that surpassed all other laws and common sense.

Kaltake called for a fair, one-on-one battle where the winner would be in the right, regardless of what they’d done. There was a fatal problem, though…

The battle wouldn’t end until one of the two participants died.

“That’s ridiculous一!” the uruk who grabbed me tried to shout,

“Greeshe(I accept).” The chief pulled the sword from the bow of the ship and accepted. As he approached, I saw he was two heads taller than the other uruks, who already averaged seven feet in height, and the fangs of the other uruk chiefs and humans he’d killed gruesomely hung from his long, flowing hair and beard.

If you are really the Crimson Lotus, then your death will be a great feat for our clan.” A human slave behind the chief translated. The man was old and crawled around on all fours like a dog, with his hands and feet bound in chains. He’d probably been captured on the Tersh Islands.

“I heard that all Fake Warriors have white hair and a weapon called a holy sword.” The uruk chief aimed the small sword at my mother’s neck.

My mother snatched it away and mockingly responded with, “I dyed my hair, and I don’t need a pig-killing knife to kill chickens.”

“You have spirit. Unfortunately, there is no proof that you are the Crimson Lotus.”

The uruks touched their weapons again. The tension was palpable, but my mother was not flustered. Instead, she gazed pointedly at the countless uruk corpses littering the beach.

“…” The chief thought for a moment with his arms crossed and then burst into laughter. “Did you hear that, you useless bastards?!” His laughter drowned out the old man’s translation. “Here and now, the Kaltake between Raminea of the Crimson Lotus and me, Balkarro, will begin!”

“WUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Shouts and cheers rang out. Hundreds of uruks surrounded Balkarro and my mother. It wasn’t just a fight to see who was more skilled-it was a barbaric practice meant to keep the participants from running until one died.

“I can lend you a weapon, if you want. I have several knives I took from other humans.” Balkarro’s weapon was an oversized, single-edged axe. Even two uruk warriors would have trouble lifting the weapon due to its weight and size, and he was said to have killed 87 uruk chiefs with the weapon.

Against that massive axe, my mother used her slender shortsword. Rather than a weapon, it was something she treasured.

“Again, why would I need a pig-killing knife to kill chickens?” she asked.

“Ha!”

Thus, their bloody battle began.

As someone who was unfamiliar with combat, it seemed to me that anyone could tell who the victor of the fight would be. Thankfully, my untrained eyes were wrong.

My mother’s bloody sword easily deflected Balkarro’s axe as she swirled like a storm, leaving spurts of blood from cuts on Balkarro’s forearms, side, and right cheek. An afterimage of her sword seemed to appear and stretch into eternity.

My mother’s swordsmanship was so elegant and fantastic that the cheering uruks fell silent one by one.

She looked like a red flower. Was that how she got her title as the Crimson Lotus?

“Were the rumors true…?”

“I heard that countless uruk chiefs fell under the Crimson Lotus’s blade…”

Did he feel frustrated with the flow of the fight? Being pushed back by her constant barrage, Balkarro suddenly raised his axe and aimed for a fatal strike.

My mother must have been waiting for that exact moment.

SHeGAaaaaaaa一!”

She must have known he would try to end things quickly at some point and been looking for the opening.

If only I hadn’t screamed the moment my mother’s blade flashed forward.

If only the uruk behind me, who couldn’t bear to witness the death of his chieftain, had not cowardly grabbed me as if to crush me.

If only my scream of pain hadn’t broken my mother’s concentration…

I shouldn’t have screamed.

Not at all.

“Kai…?!” Raminea was the strongest Fake Warrior without any weaknesses, but in that moment, she was a mother above all else. When she heard the scream of her son, who was more precious than anything else in the world, her concentration wavered.

Her sword shook. It was only natural to lose power when you lost focus in the midst of a fight.

That instant was decisive.

The axe, which should have collided with her sword, dug deep into my mother’s shoulder without resistance.

Pssssshhhhkkk—

Bones broke as the head of Balkarro’s axe cut through organs and muscle. The axe, which would have continued all the way through her body, suddenly stopped when Balkarro noticed something was amiss.

“M-mooooooomm…!” I felt sick and dizzy, and my heart raced.

Balkarro strode toward me and crushed the face of the uruk who was holding me. How dare he interrupt his fight?

“Mom…” I didn’t even have time to think about why he had killed his subordinate. It was enough to know that I was free of the monster holding me. I was so scared that I fell on the white, sandy beach. I had to scramble up and run to my mother.

“Mom, mom!” Her form was all I could see.

‘Mom, my mom…’ I fell, got up again, fell and got up again.

I don’t know how many times I fell.

“Mom…!”

My mother kneeled on the white sand with Balkarro’s axe stuck in her shoulder.

“My Kai, you’re safe…”

‘It’s a relief. Thank the gods. Thank you. My mother is still breathing. She’s still alive.’ My pupils uneasily shook. I couldn’t think. It was as if a white fang were stuck in my head. What was I supposed to do?

“Are you the son of the Crimson Lotus?” I heard the slave’s voice, and my body soared into the air as I was thrown back onto the sand, and a huge shadow fell over me that would remain with me for the rest of my life.

Balkarro… The sight of the uruk looking down on me with his evil eyes was embedded into my mind.

“Truly, if you look closely, there is a resemblance,” the uruk chief said.

‘This bastard…’ As soon as the slave translated his words, my anger rose. “Let go! I’ll kill you! Let go! I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you…!”

Balkarro broke off one of his fangs and stuck it into my left cheek. It was more than just a fang. I screamed in unbearable pain that transcended the physical realm.

“Bait for a hunt.” The fang suddenly lost its shape and melted, mixing with my blood and engraving a brand on me of a body, hanging upside down with limp limbs, stuck onto a pole.

His people impaled people from poles after massacres and used them as flags. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the emblem of Balkarro’s clan, Balkrush, and it was feared by both humans and many other uruk clans.

“Victory is more important than anything else for uruks, but it’s a joke to win in such a wake in a Kaltake, let alone one against the legendary Crimson Lotus,” the uruk chief explained.

“Shut up…”

“I have chosen you as my prey. As long as you have this brand, those who fear me will never harm you unless you attack them first.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! Let go! I’ll cut you to pieces right now…!”

How funny my struggles must have looked to Balkarro and his men. How pitiful I must have looked to them.

“I’ll let you live. Go. Become strong and come to avenge your mother. The only way to cleanse a tainted Kaltake is to kill you after you have become a warrior.”

It was ridiculous and absurd that they let me live. How insignificant I must have seemed. He pulled the axe from my mother’s shoulder as I watched and ordered his subordinates to take the loot and wounded before heading north.

It was with a burning killing intent that I stood and blankly stared after them. I would kill them… It was the only thought in my mind. I might’ve even rushed forward with any weapon I could find if it weren’t for my mother’s voice.

“Kai.”

My body stiffened. Forgetting all my anger, hatred, and murderous intent, I looked at my mother as if under a spell.

She was still sitting on the sand. “Would you please come here?”

“Now…”

“Please. I don’t have much time.”

Pain rose from somewhere deep within my heart. No… My mother had the same smile on her face as always, but that was all.

Everything…

Everything else was different. There had never been a cut on my mother’s shoulder, and never had blood flowed endlessly from her wounds, soaking the white sand red.

“Please come closer… now. Quickly.”

I barely managed to walk. One step at a time, I walked, paused, ran, and stopped again. It felt like something was grabbing my ankles.

Life, my happy life… I felt like it would all end the moment I reached my mother… I felt like everything would be irreversibly changed… After hesitating again and again, I finally reached her and almost tripped in front of her when she caught me in a hug.

“I’m so, so glad…” my mother breathed out in a trembling voice as she smiled and hugged me. “Mom’s most precious treasure…”

I started crying in pain, like a trapped animal. The trap keeping me caged was called reality, and there was no way out.

“Mom’s sorry, okay? There’s so much I couldn’t do for you…”

Very, extremely slowly…

My mother’s arms, which hugged me as if I were more precious than all the gold and silver in the world, fell limp on the white sand.

Thud—

She leaned on my shoulder for the first time, and I noticed how heavy she was. Her heartbeat slowed and disappeared. At the same time, even the faint sound of her breath faded.

“M-Mom…?” I barely managed to call out to her. It felt as if the world were collapsing.

The world…

I wanted to believe that, if I called out to her, I would hear her laughter before she asked, “What is it, Son?” Of course…

I received no reply. From that day on and forever more.

After calling for my mother three times, I finally hugged her body in silence and cried.

The world has always been ironic. The day my mother saved her most precious treasure, I, her son, lost mine.

Half a day, a day, and the next day passed. After crying for two days, I finally buried my mother on the coastal cliff overlooking the beach. It was a place both she and my father had loved, and I remembered how she’d rolled around and played with me there.

My world went hazy as I stared at her grave.

“Mom’s most precious treasure.”

I don’t know when I started biting my lips, but I eventually tasted a metallic liquid in my mouth. I didn’t even know where my sister, Ratel, was. She’d probably died when the village was burned to ash.

I held my mother’s shortsword, a keepsake, so tightly that I felt my hand warming up from the rush of blood.

I would kill him… Just like her, one by one, all of them…

I brought a shovel from the ruined village, covered the grave, and planted a peach tree.

Someday, I didn’t know when, but someday, I would return… to find the one responsible.

“Mom.” My semi-hoarse voice trailed off. I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I found it hard to speak. I took a deep breath and tried again. “I’ll be back.” I swore it, even if I had to cut down my enemies to make a path through their corpses.

Yes, it was from that day on that the world—no, my life… entered a seemingly endless summer.

* * *

“Kaisen Alter Aradamantel.”

A voice from the present pierced through my memories. That boy who’d buried his dead mother had become a young man with white hair, and I raised my head. I looked at the countless uruk corpses reflecting on the Great Holy Sword, Aradamantel, and reveled in the bright, red aura that flashed from it.

“The commander is calling.”

With a click, I swung my sword and shook off the blood before sharply returning it to its sheath.

The world called me a Fake Warrior. In the distant past, my mother was also called the same. We were the last sparks to light the fading world… fake heroes.

“Yeah, let’s go right away.”

____