As the time for the first snowfall approached again this year, although he didn’t want to forget, Snow couldn’t recall the name or appearance of that person anymore. He only remembered a sense of darkness and the warmth that enveloped him. However, the desire to protect the world with that person in it had never wavered for Snow.
Recently, Snow had begun to grasp the nobility and righteousness contained within the term ‘brave hero.’ He remembered how his parents had hoped he would become a hero when he was young. Although it seemed unlikely now, he believed that someday, given any chance, he would do his utmost to exercise that honorable justice.
Whenever he saw the falling snowflakes, Snow would pull up his scarf and bury his face in its gray folds. Only this action could provide him with a little forgiveness in days filled with guilt.
A while ago, he had received a new scarf from the adults, but he gave it to Ram instead, choosing to use the gray one himself. As long as he didn’t attract too much attention, Snow could openly wear this scarf. However, he had to be very careful while working, as he didn’t want the scarf to get dirty.
As usual, before dawn, the bandits were already armed and prepared to raid the village. This was their profession, and Snow was one of them this time. He carried a blade and a small dagger, neither particularly sharp. Despite his skills, Snow was just another nameless individual, essentially a worthless pawn.
The bandits rode into the sleeping village on horseback, causing chaos and death. The silhouette of slaughter and swords danced incessantly on the snowy ground.
Snow’s task this time was to set fires and cover the retreat. When most of the members were about to return for assembly, he would ignite the buildings and provide cover as the bandits withdrew. He had done this job dozens of times before and knew the timing well.
However, something was off this time. The raid should have been swift, involving breaking into homes, killing, plundering, and then leaving. Usually, it didn’t take much time, and they could depart before sunrise. But now, with the dawn breaking, there was no sign of the bandits successfully looting and retreating.
Snow held the tinder and kindling, preparing to start the fires, feeling an ominous premonition. Suddenly, a group of figures rushed out—it was the men of the village!
Each of them wielded aggressive weapons and farming tools, all stained with blood. The villagers, calmly and orderly, repelled the raiders. In a tightly knit village with prepared defenses and organized unity, it was entirely possible to turn the tables on the attackers. This time, the bandits had miscalculated the village’s strength.
Someone spotted Snow in the distance and shouted as they rushed over. Sensing trouble, Snow bolted. The fate awaiting captured bandits was immediate execution. As he fled, Snow saw many familiar faces lying in the blood-stained snow.
After a chase, someone grabbed Snow’s arm from behind. In a panic, Snow swung his dagger, cutting the person’s wrist before continuing to flee. But he was immediately struck from behind, sending him crashing into the snow, his dagger flying far away.
‘Shit!’
“You’re so young, yet you’re already a despicable bandit! Have you no shame?” The man angrily berated Snow with a string of curses, grabbing the scarf around Snow’s neck and hoisting him up. Snow, small in stature, hung suspended in the air, his neck constricted, unable to draw breath, kicking and struggling desperately.
The villagers sneered, “Nice scarf you got there. Where did you steal it from? It’s a pity for such a small thief like you to use it. Give it to me instead.” After saying this, he intended to take off the scarf. Seeing that the village had successfully defeated all the bandits, and considering Snow was just a child, the man decided to spare his life. But in the moment the scarf was about to be removed, a blood-red blade flashed across the man’s face, causing blood to immediately gush out, leaving a wound.
“Damn little thief! He’s actually a hero!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The man’s cry immediately attracted other villagers. Snow tried to control his wings, unfurling them from his back. In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t expected to wield the Hero’s Sword to protect the scarf, but now he had no time to think about it. He had to escape quickly.
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“Is this brat really a hero?”
“What a sin! He dares to defile the power of the Goddess Elena, using it for evil deeds.”
“That’s right, this child is simply monstrous! To treat the grace bestowed by the Goddess in such a manner, and even use it to harm others!”
“If such scum were to grow up to be a hero, I bet he would only use this power to wreak havoc on the world.”
Suddenly, a voice chimed in, although timidly, but with a shocking suggestion, “Then… why not just kill him?”
“…Well, this child is still young. After he dies, a new hero will be born soon anyway, so why not…”
“That makes sense, but he’s still a child…”
People whispered in hushed tones, discussing amongst themselves, their words dripping with malicious intent.
Snow felt afraid. He knew he was going to be killed but couldn’t seek help from anyone. Living as a nameless one subjected to violence for so long, he knew very well when to plead for mercy and when to remain calm.
The villagers had just engaged in a fierce battle with the thieves, fueling their appetite for combat. In the eyes of those villagers, any trace of sympathy or pity had long vanished, so Snow couldn’t plead for mercy; he had to rely on his own strength to escape.
As the villagers were about to grab Snow from the net, he seized the opportunity to fiercely bite the hand of the villager reaching in, wriggling out of the net’s crevice to escape.
“Ouch! Damn it, everyone, catch him!”
“Where do you think you’re going?” A burly man reacted swiftly, lunging toward Snow and coincidentally grabbing his wings, lifting him up from the ground like a chick.
“We might as well break his wings; that way, he won’t become any hero.”
“Yeah, otherwise killing this little vermin would dirty our hands, and we’d be blamed for being heartless.”
“We’re doing this for the good of the people; this is an act of justice.”
“Anyway, let’s break his wings first to prevent him from trying to fly away again later!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” the crowd agreed.
The people consented to this action, and Snow was pinned down in the snow, his back and limbs pressed down by many, while a pair of hands tightly gripped his wings spread upward and began to pull with force.
The wings were connected to his back, just like a part of his body, the pure white wings torn away as if they were pulling out weeds. Snow tried to retract his wings, but they simply wouldn’t obey, as he hadn’t truly mastered the technique to control his power.
“Ah!” A sharp pain spread from his back, as if his arms were being twisted and broken, more intense than the pain of the branding.
“Ah, it hurts!” Snow continued to scream in agony, the sound of bones breaking echoing in his ears, while he saw countless white feathers and shimmering snowflakes.
He couldn’t restrain himself from shouting and crying for mercy, but the hands on his back pulled harder and harder, treating him like a slaughtered chicken, cruelly tearing off those pure white feathers and the soft bones of his wings, one by one.
Just because there was no drop of blood shed, no one felt any guilt, even though the child’s screams had become so hoarse that complete sentences couldn’t be discerned, no one felt any pity.
Suddenly, a loud scream came, and a girl with long platinum blonde hair forcefully pushed away the crowd pressing down on the child.
“Stop it! He’s just a kid!”
“Where did this little girl come from? Could she be an accomplice of the thieves?” The villagers immediately grabbed Lena, preventing her from getting close to Snow.
“Lena… Don’t… come out…” Writhing in pain all over his body, fearing that Lena would suffer the same fate as him, he urged her to quickly disappear back to the Sword.
Seeing Lena’s distinctive clothing and seemingly noble status, and not knowing where she came from, the villagers just temporarily detained her. However, they had no intention of letting Snow go. Several people grabbed the remaining broken wings and started tearing them apart.
Snow screamed in agony once again, the pain of having his wings torn off was hundreds of times worse than death.
“Stop! Don’t treat him like this! Please, I beg you, stop!” Lena’s wails and screams suddenly brought forth a bizarre downpour from the sky. The torrential rain shattered and dissolved the points of snowlight, creating an unprecedented surreal scene, plunging the entire land into darkness in an instant.
The scattered bones and feathers on the ground, as if endowed with consciousness, turned into strands of platinum-colored light, weaving through the rain and heading in the same direction.
“Snow followed by rain again?”
“This is too unusual…”
The drenched people immediately turned their uniformly aligned gazes towards the nearly unconscious child on the ground, his tears dried up, his voice hoarse.
–
What would be the consequence of committing violence against the hero, tearing off the hero’s wings?
–
“Do you know what happens to those who harm the noble hero?” The girl asked with an unforgiving tone.
Immediately, lightning fell from the sky, golden bolts striking like divine spears, raining down upon the village. People turned and fled, running for cover, but even the safety of their homes was shattered by the thunderous blasts. Amidst the torrential rain, everyone scrambled desperately, knowing full well that their impulsive actions had offended the divine and brought upon them heavenly punishment!
“Oh, Hero, noble hero!” Lena knelt beside Snow, lifting his limp body.
As a spirit embodying the Hero’s Sword, Lena was not allowed to interfere in the human world or the hero’s life. She could only watch silently or manifest as an object for the hero’s use. That was the rule. But witnessing Snow being subjected to such cruelty, she instantly broke that rule.
Lena carried the unconscious Snow away from the scene, and now, no one dared to stop them. She navigated through the freezing rain, occasionally stumbling into melting snowdrifts.
After walking for an unknown duration, Lena finally found a tree hollow in the forest where they could take shelter from the rain. Sobbing, she gently lowered Snow from her back. His hands and feet were already frozen purple, yet his body burned with an unnatural heat.
“Sob… What should I do… Oh, noble hero…” Lena knelt beside Snow, crying inconsolably. His clothes were thin, offering little protection against the cold. The only thing left to keep him warm was that gray scarf.
She wrapped the scarf around Snow’s weakened body, but then she noticed something alarming – her own form was starting to fade.
“No, this can’t be happening!” Lena had never experienced her body involuntarily turning invisible. She immediately realized it was because the Hero had lost the power of the goddess, rendering him unable to supply the magic needed to maintain her physical form.
“Why now… No, what about this child!” With one final lamenting cry, Lena’s form completely disappeared, leaving Snow alone in the silent patter of rain.
Thanks for the chapter. What else does he have to suffer. 😢
ˁ•ᴗ•ˀつ～ 💞