Episode 21: “I’m Glad It Was Me”
Walking around the village with Bianca, a few things became clear.
Every villager respected Conrad, the “Frontier Hero” — but unlike outside the village, he wasn’t treated as some deified, larger-than-life figure.
This time, the request to the Magic Corps and to Fiine had come thanks to Count Rehmbruck — but the villagers themselves were still running their community council, doing what they could to manage on their own.
(Conrad turned out to be known to the villagers, much more as just an ordinary Conrad, than I expected.)
The rest of the diary she’d left unfinished kept nagging at her, and after parting ways with Bianca, Fiine hurried back to the village head’s estate.
“Fiine-san.”
An elderly man called out, stopping her just as she was about to step inside.
“I heard from Lutz-san. That you can bring Conrad back to life, for just one day.”
“…Yes. And you are…?”
“My apologies for not introducing myself sooner. I’m Max Hofmann. It seems my son was in your care earlier.”
She recalled the young man from before. The two of them didn’t look far apart enough in age to be father and son.
(Max — that’s the same name that came up in Conrad’s diary, isn’t it?)
And, it turned out, the head of the village’s community council.
He now worked broadly as a merchant, but had apparently kept his home base permanently in this small village, and made generous donations to it besides.
Every statue of Conrad scattered throughout the village had also, apparently, been funded by him.
“Fiine-san. There’s something I absolutely need to ask of you.”
“Wh-what would that be…?”
“Just a little time is all I need. Would you allow me a moment alone with Conrad, once he’s revived?”
“Alone, the two of you?”
“Just a little time is fine. It’s not as though I have anything special to say.”
Max’s voice trembled as he continued.
“I just… wanted the chance, one more time, to laugh together with my childhood friend.”
Watching Hofmann fight back tears, Fiine felt a wave of relief.
There really were people who wanted Conrad — not the “Frontier Hero” — himself.
And it seemed the villagers, both now and back then, hadn’t been leaning on Conrad irresponsibly after all.
(Maybe I’d been assuming everyone only ever thinks about themselves.)
Even Count Rehmbruck, who’d bowed his head and asked for the “Frontier Hero’s” resurrection — he too had been personally spending his own money, moving as a lord for the sake of Schnee Village’s people.
“Leave it to me, Max-san. Supporting a goodbye with someone precious — that’s the magic doll shop’s job.”
Thank you, Max said, bowing his head, crying with the unguarded face of a small child.
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Back in the archive, she turned the pages of the diary once more.
“Drank with Max. Told him I couldn’t stop being scared, and he cried and apologized. Maybe I should’ve let myself rely on people more.”
“Went out on watch today, and Max and Tim came along with me.”
“The whole village is building traps to catch monsters together now. I wasn’t very good at it, so they laughed at me. Felt like myself again, for the first time in a while.”
“Heard through rumor that the hero has left the royal capital to face the Demon Lord. Once the Demon Lord’s dead and the world’s at peace, the men of the village got excited talking about taking a trip together. I want to go see the ocean.”
“Heard the Demon Lord is dead. But Schnee Village hasn’t changed. Monsters still attack the fields, same as always. Though I heard the monsters should start decreasing soon. Just a little longer, I think.”
“…Yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. Tobias died. Killed by a monster. First time one’s ever gotten into a house instead of just the fields. Not the same kind that’s been hitting the crops — this one was apparently as big as a bear.”
“There’s a rumor going around that the Demon Lord’s death has thrown the monsters into disorder for now. Sent a letter to Rehmbruck territory, but everywhere’s stretched too thin. No telling when help will come.”
“Max was attacked. Both legs injured. Unconscious.”
“I’ve decided. I’m going to fight whatever attacked Max. If this keeps up, someone else in the village will be next. Someone has to do it. There’s no one but me.”
The next page was the last. Fiine steeled herself and turned it.
“I’m glad it was me, and not someone else.”
The final letters were shaking, the paper blurred with tears.
She closed the diary gently and returned it to the shelf. A book spine beside it caught her eye.
The Life of Conrad, Frontier Hero — by Max Hofmann.
The book she’d skimmed through that morning. Opening it again, the contents came back to her from the introduction alone.
A book that praised Conrad to excess, painting him as a flawless hero.
She’d been sick of it at the time, how far it strayed from the truth — but it seemed that distance had been deliberate after all.
“…But he surely didn’t die satisfied, did he.”
He hadn’t refused to become a hero, not even at the very end. He’d steeled himself and gone to fight all the same.
But it couldn’t have been an ending without regrets.
Which was why—
“I hope tomorrow turns out to be a good day for you too.”
Fiine murmured it like a prayer.