Chapter 45: My Brother Can't Possibly Be This...

"It alienates a person's efforts, understand? Do you even know what alienation and reification mean?"
"With all your hard work, you're still nothing more than a Hero Candidate, I'll tell you that much."
"If you're trash, practice more!"
Duke Mors said angrily. In his eyes, besides Shana, the culprit who made him lose his money was none other than this good-for-nothing Dane.
If you had just shown a little competence, the Goddess would never have chosen the former between a red-eyed girl with a screw loose in her head and a textbook blonde hero... It's not like the Goddess is blind!

Not far away, Thunk accepted a drink from a comforting house servant, looking in surprise at the dejected-looking Mors in the distance: "Why is this old fogey in such a foul mood today?"
The servant shrank his neck and stammered, "Because Lady Shana became the Hero, Lord Duke just lost a thousand gold coins at the betting table for the Hero selection."
"Ah? Father actually bet that much?" Thunk blinked, suddenly feeling a bit moved in his heart: "Could it be that he bet on..."
"It was Candidate Dane."
"..." Thunk fell silent for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "Serves him right!"

...

"Chief拉克, thank you for all your hard work this time."
Ota said sincerely, noticing that拉克 also seemed to be in a great mood, with an undisguised smile on his face... Ota felt comforted. It seemed that for Chief拉克, being able to train another Hero was a joyous occasion indeed.
拉克 smiled, his heart inexplicably swelling at that moment.
Look, Ota still had to thank him! Little did he know, the first step toward creating the Dark Hero had already been achieved.
Soon, the entire continent would plunge into eternal darkness.
He glanced at Ota's energetic face; it seemed the other man was also overjoyed by the Hero's awakening...
Their eyes met again, and soon, with tacit understanding, both of them chuckled softly.
After all, what they were rejoicing over was the exact same thing.

"With Lady Rek under your guidance awakening as the Hero, Minor must be very happy in the Demon King's Castle too."
Ota said with some emotion, looking into the distance as Shana stepped onto the high platform and began cooperating with the Holy Church's clerics to perform the Familiar Contracting ritual.
The die was cast. Hearing these words, the surrounding dukes and nobles could only echo in unison: "Indeed."
"Indeed, indeed."
"Indeed." ラック smiled and chimed in.
The contract ritual began to emit light... Although the holy sword Altortai was sealed in the Demon King's Castle along with the Hero Minor, the weapons used by past heroes varied, making this the least impactful part of the process.
The observing nobles watched this scene and nodded in unison.
拉克 smiled and nodded along.

Soon, with a surge of blazing flames soaring into the sky, a slender red saber appeared in Shana's hand—the Flame Holy Saber forged by the dwarves, Darkflare.
The surrounding clerics began to applaud.
拉克 smiled and starte—
His hands froze mid-air.
拉克 tilted his head, as if he hadn't processed Prince Ota's previous words, his mind experiencing a momentary blankness and confusion:
"Re... k?"
Soon, he smiled again, shook his head, and joked, "Prince Ota, you must miss the Hero Minor far too much. The Hero on that stage is Shana, not Minor..."
"Indeed," Ota replied reflexively while clapping, having long since dismissed what he said a few minutes ago.
"After all, today's Hero is Shana Rek—"
拉克 maintained his smile: "Huh?"
"Huh?"
"What a miracle, sharing the same surname as the Hero Minor..." ラック quickly chuckled and stroked his beard.
"Not at all," Prince Ota turned his head and gave ラック a strange look. "Have you not read the dossier?"
"Hero Shana is Hero Minor's younger sister."
The smile gradually froze on his face.
Strange, strange... Prince Ota was clearly speaking the common human tongue of the kingdom, so why did all the words pieced together sound somewhat incomprehensible to him?
"That can't be right." ラック quickly chuckled, shaking his head, and said with absolute certainty:
"That is the being possessing the crimson demonic eyes and the deepest, most evil dark bloodline."
Even though ラック was acting composed on the outside, the "darkness" in the depths of his heart was already somewhat shocked:
"Hey! Why are you suddenly starting a self-destruct sequence?!"

Ota also smiled and shook his head: "According to Minor, Shana just has something wrong with her head and likes to indulge in whimsical fantasies, but as she grows older, she'll gradually grow out of it..."
"Just things a child blurted out, haha, take it seriously and you lose."
Fantasy... Fantasy............
拉克 turned his head with a dull gaze and saw Shana on the high platform, holding Darkflare high and erupting with brilliant power:
"My name is Shana! Shana of the Burning Eyes!!!"
"Going against my brother Minor, I am the Dark Apostle harboring a chaotic bloodline, the one destined to bring destruction and chaos to the entire world!"
"Tremble! Quake! On this day, people shall recall the fear of being thoroughly dominated by the darkness!"

Watching her blatantly declare her evil intentions in front of all the nobles and the Holy Church while the surrounding people wore expressions of utter familiarity, ラック's composure completely shattered.
At that moment, the power actively released by Shana pierced through her cloak, exposing itself with undeniable clarity.
The "darkness" inside ラック's body instantly felt so angry that its lungs were about to explode!
What harboring the deepest darkness within, what innate evil bloodline... It was all complete bullsh*t!
The power flowing through your damn body is the purest holy power, you idiot!!!!
The kind that's even purer than an ordinary cleric's!
Feeling the holy power within Shana's body, ラック stared with wide eyes, his vision turning pitch black as Prince Ota's final words drifted over:
"Shana and Minor becoming Heroes is all thanks to you, Chief ラック!!!"

...

"Shana-chan, congratulations on becoming the Hero!"
Jenny's face was flushed with excitement as she kept clapping her small hands. "If Hero Minor knew, he would definitely be very happy."
"Hmph, heh, don't mention him to me." Shana pressed one hand against her eyepatch and let out a low laugh. "As the darkness of chaos, there must be a battle between that holy sword and me. I can feel it; this is a fateful duel."
"But Hero Minor has already been locked up in the Demon King's Castle," Jenny blinked, looking confused.
"That is precisely what I intend to do." Shana lifted her chin and said loftily, "Once I receive the Goddess's blessing atop the Round Tower, I shall single-handedly storm the Demon King's Castle and defeat both the Demon King and Minor at the same time!"
"Hey, hey, aren't you getting a bit full of yourself, Hero Shana?" Thunk's mouth twitched upon hearing this. "A Hero builds up their strength step by step. As the weakest Hero Candidate, do you really think you'll become super strong just by becoming the Hero? Careful you don't die on the Hero's path, hey!"

Jenny stood to the side, blinking as she watched Shana's resolute expression, seeming to understand a bit this time.
"In short, Shana really wants to save her brother, right?"
"W-What?" Shana's movements suddenly turned flustered, as if someone had stepped on her tail, and she cried out, losing her deep, brooding tone, "It's not like that at all! This is just the Goddess's, the Goddess's guidance, yes!"
"Who was just claiming to be an apostle of darkness... And didn't you say before that Minor was a softie, why is he suddenly your opponent again? I never expected... you two were actually so close." Thunk dawned in realization.
"Mu... that was just an exaggeration, do you understand exaggeration?!" Shana looked like she was about to shed little pearls of tears.
"Even though Minor that guy is kind of a loser, loves meddling, and likes acting cool, he would definitely... never do anything to betray humanity!"
In any case, Shana declared angrily:
"My brother can't possibly be that useless!"