Chapter 251: Awakening

The origin of Heroine Laina is no secret.

She and Laike are both "villagers"; more precisely, in that barren village, they could be considered kin in some sense.

"I don't want to spend my life as a farmer's wife."

Even as a child, Laina was already clever; from those around her, she saw through her own future.

If she stayed in these mountains, the best she could hope for was to marry some farmer-lord, bear a few children, and spend her life bound to the land.

This wasn't unusual—most people lived their lives this way.

But one person, a "country bumpkin" who had already become famous in the world while she was still young, lit up another path.

"If a country bumpkin can become a great figure, then maybe I can too."

Laina was lucky—because that country bumpkin had risen so high, and because he was generous with his own kind, having little ambition or extra desires, he welcomed many from his hometown.

He not only gave his own courtyard to fellow villagers to live in, but also funded many to start small businesses or take minor official posts, and even recruited those willing to enlist as soldiers to serve as his personal guards.

Among them was one of Laina's uncles.

So, as a child, she too went to the royal capital.

Heroine Laike himself didn't remember it, but in fact, the two generations of heroes had met once.

That time, the child lay on the second-floor windowsill, watching the returning army.

The child saw the man at the very front—the distant relative with whom she shared thin blood ties—radiant and triumphant.

He laughed freely and recklessly, completely ignoring the nobles and officials who came to greet him; he waved cheerfully to the crowd and tossed gold coins in great quantities.

The entire city was wrapped in music and laughter; countless spoils were flung into the sky, and even little Laina then picked up a copper coin as a keepsake.

It still rests in her small treasure chest.

Laina remembered clearly the joy on every face that day—what else could better define victory?

And all of this seemed to have come from that man.

He forgot her, but she remembered him—for many years.

"Can I become him too?"

Ambition—or rather, longing—took root in her young heart.

What followed was unremarkable; unlike Laike, who slacked off every other day, Laina walked step by step.

"I know I can never match Lord Laike, even if I only become a fainter shadow in the people's hearts, I'm willing—I will follow Lord Laike's path and keep walking."

Laina's strength was excellent, but she was merely a "hardworking genius," not a "monster who shattered common sense" like Laike.

She wasn't even the strongest among the candidates, but her identical humble origins, and the slight similarity in the coloration of her "hair" and "tail" to Laike's, secured her selection.

After all, no one expected another Laike; better to choose someone similar as a symbol.

But sadly, ever since she became Heroine, everything had fallen far behind Laike's era; her efforts seemed meaningless, reckless.

This wasn't just due to combat power—many equated the kingdom's rise and fall with the hero's death.

But in truth, the core internal force behind the kingdom's rise could not be attributed to one person alone.

It was the technological innovations brought by the Whisperer, and the kingdom's own burning ambition for change, that were the true roots.

Laike was the flag-bearer of the tide, but also its beneficiary; his rise was fueled by countless pieces of knowledge, evolution, and "information" from the Whisperer, all accessible through the Whisperer as well.

Of course, his absurd strength and undefeated battlefield record also removed all obstacles to the kingdom's rise.

But without the kingdom's overall upward momentum, an invincible hero would merely be a lone warrior on the battlefield.

"I—I can't do it."

Laina had a strong sense of duty; her entire life had been chasing Laike. Though she wasn't as illiterate as Laike, her strength was still quite limited.

And because she was raised under the kingdom's knightly education, her personality had unconsciously diverged greatly from the person she chased.

The greatest strength—and greatest flaw—of knightly education was the excessive sense of duty instilled by knightly virtues.

Since Laike could do it, and during the previous hero's era, the kingdom kept rising.

"At the very least, I cannot let the nation grow weaker."

She had tried hard, but she was still just a sword—even not the kingdom's strongest.

And at that moment, a rumor spread:

"Heroine Laike has not died; he was merely taken by a dragon."

This should have been just another rumor—such things surfaced periodically; the kingdom longed too desperately to return to the past, and countless citizens yearned for the glorious hero to return.

Where there is longing, there are rumors to satisfy it; at least hundreds of versions of this tale existed among the people.

But this time, it was different.

"My soul ability was triggered—my intuition."

A hero is a role utterly dependent on instinct and intuition; and the girl holding the Hero's Sword suddenly felt that "someone" might truly still be alive.

All search magic was useless, but if this rumor were true, perhaps the legendary hero could truly be recovered.

Or perhaps the kingdom could truly be revived.

Fairytale met reality, yet the end of hope was only despair.

She found him—but wished she had never found him.

"Why, why, why."