Hero, Go To School! - Chapter 6

Reading the system messages that appeared one after another, I clapped a hand over my mouth. He had been hurt like this because he tried to attack me.

Unaware of the truth, Ian still glared at me with murderous eyes. I felt so wronged.

“What… what have you done to me!”

“It’s not… it’s not that I did anything…”

“A sorcerer? Did you cast a spell on me?”

“I didn’t cast anything. This is just…”

I tried to argue back, but the words kept getting tangled up. I couldn’t figure out how to explain any of this, and all I could do was blurt out broken excuses.

Watching me struggle, he narrowed his eyes and muttered,

“Stop trying to lure me in with your serpent’s tongue.”

With veins bulging in his clenched fist, Ian slammed the floor with brutal force. His blue eyes were filled with scorn and hostility.

I was dumbfounded and quickly shouted out.

“No, please, calm down! Just listen to me, Ian!”

Even as I pleaded, his anger showed no sign of cooling.

“Don’t you dare call me like a dog to be humiliated!”

His voice rose even higher.

Struggling to his feet, Ian declared in a loud voice.

“I am the great ‘Ares Balthazar’!”

The air in the room seemed to freeze solid.

I swallowed hard and stared at him.

“…What?”

Who?

***

Ares Balthazar.

Of course I knew that name.

Anyone who had played even a little of Sweet Everyday would have it burned into their memory.

The great hero whose story wove through every corner of the Hyssus Empire, the setting of the game.

But at this point in time, he’d been dead for 400 years. So why was Ian so convinced that he was Ares Balthazar?

For a moment, his words echoed in my head.

“You will pay the price for turning me into this. Be ready.”

He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. The shadows in his eyes were sharp, like a predator locking onto its prey.

I instinctively took a step back, but Ian grabbed my arm roughly in an instant.

“No matter how skilled a sorcerer you are, you cannot break my resolve.”

His voice was unshakable, and the strength in his grip was fierce. I looked at him in confusion, unable to hide the trembling in my eyes.

Ares Balthazar? No, what in the world is going on?

“Your beauty trap may have swayed weaker men, but it will not work on me.”

His voice was low, yet it cut like a cold, hard blade.

“I would rather choose death than betray my lord and country!”

His voice, so full of resolution, seemed to pour down over my face like heat. I froze in fear, unable to move as he loomed so close that he nearly brushed the tip of my nose. Just then, he coughed harshly. Thin blood spurted out, soaking my face.

Then his blue eyes rolled back as if they were turning inside out, and Ian collapsed right on top of me.

“Ugh!”

There was no way I could fight against the weight of that heavy, muscular body.

I fell backward without resistance, but I was so stunned I didn’t even feel the pain.

Ares Balthazar.

That name tore through my mind again.

The legendary hero of the Hyssus Empire. The man who had turned the once-weak nation of Hyssus into a powerful empire.

A man who had never known defeat in any war, revered by everyone.

If you asked the children in the plaza about their dreams, they would all shout, “Lord Ares Balthazar!” That was how beloved and respected he was.

Why was Ian speaking as if he was this hero who had died 400 years ago?

He didn’t even recognize me, his childhood friend, and every move he made since waking up had been strange. He didn’t act like the noble who loved reading and quiet contemplation… he moved like a prisoner of war in the middle of battle.

No way.

Could it be that the soul inside this body isn’t Ian Zenor?

Everything about him was different from the Ian I knew.

He didn’t recognize me, and his every gesture and expression was completely unlike Ian.

He was no longer the young master who loved books and tea.

At that moment, a white system window appeared.

I held my breath, staring at that window.

But then, the name began to flicker and crackle, the letters warping and distorting until they were no longer legible.

And finally, a new name appeared:

I stared at the window blankly.

“We’re screwed.”