Adopt 179

Episode 179
Even without going through Mikhail, there was a way to verify whether the First King’s prophecy was accurate.

That was by asking Giuseppe, who currently possesses the “gift of prophecy,” whether he too had seen the kingdom’s calamity.

However, if Giuseppe truly had seen it with his prophetic gift, I couldn’t approach him recklessly.

If I made a mistake, he might discover that Leo was the Star of Heroes.

‘I can’t be sure, but I’ll try probing for a reaction by letting something about the prophecy slip.’

The next day, the first reply I received was from Ophelia.

The High Priest has joined a medical volunteer team heading to the western Rohat slums today.

He’s wearing plain priest robes and a veil to hide his identity, so you may not recognize him at first glance.

If in doubt, look for the person with the most striking aura of handsomeness. That will surely be the High Priest.

P.S. 1. You absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must not let the High Priest know I told you this. If he finds out, I’ll be forced to write an official statement…

I could almost see Ophelia’s face furrowed with worry and tears as she wrote her reply.

After sending her a note of thanks, I prepared to leave.

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The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.

As the Kingdom of Zenos gained its reputation as a land of luxury and pleasure, the Rohat slum district in the west of the capital only reeked more of misery.

Every year, the royal family, with the help of the Temple, tried to reduce the size of Rohat. But the Temple itself was far from clean and frequently refused the royal family’s pleas for assistance.

That changed when Giuseppe became the High Priest.

I had my carriage stopped in a spot with a good view of the temporary clinic set up in the slum.

Just as Ophelia described, all the priests busily moving in and out wore plain robes and thin, veil-like hoods that made their faces hard to distinguish.

But when a tall figure stepped out of the clinic, I was certain it was Giuseppe.

It wasn’t just the spill of platinum blonde hair from his veil.

‘That must be the aura of handsomeness Ophelia mentioned.’

Even in the simple robes every other priest wore, Giuseppe exuded a kind of immaculate elegance.

As I nodded in certainty, Terry, who was watching with me, rapped three times on the carriage door as a signal.

A moment later, I watched as a child selling wildflowers approached Giuseppe.

The boy said something, then stumbled and fell deliberately in front of Giuseppe.

When the boy didn’t immediately get up, tears brimming in his eyes, Giuseppe quickly helped him up.

Not only did he brush the dirt off the boy’s clothes and heal the scrape on his knee with holy power, but he even revived the wilted wildflowers with a touch of his magic and bought a blossom as well.

Watching this with me, Terry clicked her tongue in disapproval.

Her feelings toward Giuseppe, soured during the Siren Dungeon incident, showed in every displeased glance.

Once the child left Giuseppe’s side, I drew the carriage curtain and waited a while.

After some time, I heard a knock, and a young boy—the same who’d just sold flowers to Giuseppe, still with watery eyes—entered.

He climbed into the carriage, shyly bowed to me with a flush on his cheeks, and quickly handed the bunch of wildflowers to Terry.

“Jeez, what a stink. I picked only wilted ones to hide the smell, but that priest went and revived them all. I had to work twice as hard.”

Terry jingled two gold coins at the boy, who grumbled with a carefree, streetwise air.

“So what happened?”

“I did just what you asked—fell so my neck was in his view. He didn’t react at all—didn’t ask my name or where I lived. Total pushover.”

He scratched at his neck as he spoke, smudging the inked star symbol I’d drawn there until the lines blurred down his skin.

With inky fingers, he nabbed one of the coins from Terry and grinned.

“Thanks for the job. Oh, and Boss was looking for you, Miss Terry. Did you get in trouble again?”

“Trouble? You little brat—get going, now! Shoo!”

With a wave of her fist, Terry chased the boy off.

Only when our hired carriage started pulling away from the slum did Terry finally speak.

“Did you get what you wanted?”

“Yes.”

Before leaving the house, I’d tasked Terry to hire one of the Guttersnipes: choose a clever, quick-witted child to get an inked emblem drawn on their neck and let Giuseppe see it. Then, observe his reaction.

The Guttersnipes sent over their best for the job—a skilled little actor. I painted the Star of Heroes’ mark on his neck myself.

If Giuseppe responded, he would believe, just as the prophecy written by the First King described, that the flower-selling boy was the Star of Heroes.

But Giuseppe showed no such reaction.

‘Which could mean the First King’s prophecy was false.’

Even so, I wasn’t entirely reassured.

Since the world of became my real life, a persistent question lingered in my mind.

“If you didn’t touch some suspicious object, then you fell victim to black magic by fulfilling a particular condition.”

“The one who cast the black magic was the First King.”

According to Cheshire, the First King was the one who summoned me into this world, into Belinda’s body.

Why did he turn to black magic? I’d searched far and wide for the answer, but the man himself had been dead for centuries. I thought I’d never know.

At least, until Mikhail told me about the First King’s prophecy, the kingdom’s calamity, and the Star of Heroes.

‘Quest window.’

I whispered silently to myself, and before my eyes appeared the long list of unfinished quests.

So many were outstanding because I’d put Leo’s future first, supporting what he wanted—not what the game wanted.

At the top was ’s main quest, updated on the day I officially became Leo’s guardian.

[Quest] The One Chosen by the Star of Heroes.
The “Star of Heroes” can become anything.
But even so, the “Star of Heroes” must become a hero.
Draw the sacred sword “Blessing’s Light” to become the hero who brings peace to the continent and earns fame known across the world.

• Fame: 0/100
• Quest “Draw the Sacred Sword” must be completed.
• Time remaining: 2175 days

The main quest “The One Chosen by the Star of Heroes” served as a guide to obtaining the True Ending.

The Star of Heroes had to pull the sword and earn 100 Fame before the coming-of-age spring at eighteen.

No one had ever seen the hero ending, but in the game, that was THE END.

Yet in reality, the child’s life would go on after eighteen.

Now I finally understood why the game was titled “Heromaker.”

To “make” the protagonist a hero meant there would be an event where a hero was needed—surely the very calamity described in the prophecy.

‘If the First King orchestrated all this to prevent that calamity seven hundred years later, and the game’s system is the result…’

The pieces all fit too well for me to dismiss his prophecy outright.

Lost in thought, I arrived home only to find an unexpected guest awaiting me.

“Mikhail?”

Without meaning to, I spoke the name aloud, then looked around in alarm.

Fortunately, the servants hadn’t heard me.

That could have given away the identity of my visitor.

“What brings you here…? Forgive me for keeping you waiting.”

No matter how things had ended between us, I addressed him politely. Wearing casual clothes rather than his royal uniform, Mikhail replied languidly,

“I was not bored, Marquess. Your knight and I had a rather meaningful conversation.”

“Lady Cherry…?”

“She seems to go by that title, yes?”

Mikhail, knowing Lady Cherry’s true identity, chuckled in amusement.

Given Lady Cherry’s lack of conversational flair, she rarely greeted my visitors, even if the guest was the crown prince.

I glanced at Lady Cherry’s face as she sat with the prince, then tilted my head in puzzlement.

Was it just my imagination?

For some reason, Lady Cherry’s mood seemed especially foul.