SON OF THE HERO KING

As the sun slowly rose in the sky, a ray of light shone on Sol’s face, slowly forcing him awake.

Opening his eyes, refreshed after a good night of sleep, he tried to stand up, but stopped once he became aware of the weight on him.

Looking down, he was startled at the sight of purple hair draped all over his chest. Thankfully, his mind kicked into gear and he remembered the events that led to this.

Last night, after their discussion about her relationship with Lilith, Lilin had clearly stated that she wished to spend the night with him.

When she did so, the little head of Sol had been screaming to go for it. But, the rational part of his mind ultimately stopped him.

He had absolutely nothing against finally spending his first night with her. No matter what their blood relation was, it did not really matter to him.

But he did not wish for it to happen like this.

He felt as if she just wanted to throw herself away in sex and forget everything.

Sadly, escapism was not something Sol could condone.

Escapism generally led to depression, and depression to morbid thoughts. Having one person with suicidal tendencies near him was more than enough.

That was why, rather than having a wild and passionate night, they simply kissed and cuddled until she finally fell asleep.

Weirdly, Sol did not feel particularly pent up. Of course, sleeping with a woman such as Lilin who exhibited an odd mix of sexiness and cuteness without touching her was sort of torture.

But moments like this filled his heart with contentment and happiness.

No relationship could rely on sex, no matter how good, to last long. In the end, the most important thing was to understand, protect and support each other.

Even though two humans could never completely understand each other, it was necessary to come as close as possible.

Sol sighed. Sometimes, he wondered why a simple teen like him had to deal with so much mess.

Even during his first life, he was nothing more than a random university student between millions upon millions in the world.

He had nothing particularly special about him.

He was not particularly good at anything, but neither was he particularly bad.

He was not a super-hidden genius that was bored with life nor was he a NEET that thought the world was a shitty game.

Simply and clearly average.

[Is that so?]

---

In Medea's world, Ambrosia, who was chatting happily with Medea and Freya, suddenly frowned before shrugging.

It had nothing to do with her and it wasn’t like she could stop it even if she wished to

“Mother?”

“Hum? Haha don’t mind me, I was just wondering how much your charm was lacking for Persephone to beat you even though she came later. What did you do? Did you ask for a child or something?”

“Ugh.”

“You didn’t...You did! Oh my goddess, I never thought you could be so dumb.”

Ambrosia laughed out loud while teasing the red-faced Freya.

---

In the church, Camelia, who was hugging her pillow as she slept, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

Standing up, she murmured,

“What are you doing?”

She waited but received no answers.

Helplessly, she could only lay back on the large bed with worry etched on her face.

She wasn’t worried about what could happen to Sol. She knew that Sol was simply too important for the goddesses.

She was worried about the possibility of him thinking this was another scheme of hers or that she did not warn him in advance.

She was already on the fence, and she did not need someone to pull her down deeper.

*Cough* *Cough*

Covering her mouth with her hand, she sighed once her body stopped trembling and looked at the now bloodied hand.

A few seconds later, the blood slowly evaporated as it transformed into golden particles of light.

She had not told Sol the complete truth about the ritual back then. It would not harm her, but that was only when it wasn’t broken.

Back then, she had absolute confidence in the barrier. Who would have thought that a demi-god would interfere?

Thankfully, it was nothing much, she just needed to sleep longer for some time. She just feared that if she told Sol now, his trust in her would crumble even more.

Sighing, she curled down on her bed,

“I should tell him the truth about my current situation today.”

All this while she had hesitated and tried to think about different excuses, but she ultimately discarded them.

As a schemer, she understood more than anyone else that a lie could only be covered by even more lies.

It was better to come clean now than to wait for the situation to explode in her face.

She was ready to accept any punishment he would throw at her as long he didn’t show his expression of disappointment again.

That, more than anything, had really cut her deep.

Closing her eyes, she began to dream. A simple and happy dream.

---

Sol was dreaming, at least he thought he was dreaming. His mind felt hazy as if his consciousness was floating in endless white fog.

When he felt his mind grow clear again, he was standing in a vast garden, green pasture as far as the eyes could see and an incredibly shining starry sky, shining so beautifully, each star seemed like a jewel.

Even though he was a little startled, Sol regained his focus rather fast as he eyed the place he was in.

Feeling the pleasant breeze on his face and looking up at the sky, he could basically guess where he was currently.

After all, it hadn’t been that long.

*Crunch*

The sound of the grass being crushed under graceful steps sounded in Sol’s ear as he turned to face the source.

This was the same scene, the same situation and the same place.

This time though, he did not make the mistake of looking directly at the face of the woman but simply at the hem of her short golden dress, that seemed ready to fly with the wind and show the spring scene underneath at any moment.

Sol remembered clearly what had happened the last time he saw the face of the being in front of him. It was not a pleasant memory and he had no wishes to revive it.

Giving a bow, Sol said gently, “Good morning, dear goddess. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Oh? and here I thought you would face me with a face full of anger, ready to berate me or something of sorts.”

Straightening his back, Sol gave a smile as he focused his gaze on the collarbone of the woman.

‘I hope I won’t develop some weird fetishes.’

Literally, every part of her body seemed to be perfect and attracted him to no end.

“How could I dare? Your excellency could smite me, take my blessings away, break my mind, or many things. Why would I voluntarily antagonize someone who is so much more powerful than me because of some useless pride?”

Sol was prideful. He became even more since his awakening.

But he wasn’t foolish–even less so suicidal.

Pride without the means to back it up was nothing but pure hubris.

A slight chuckle escaped her, and immediately, Sol felt as if the world was filled with happiness. As if nothing could ever go wrong.

Taking a deep breath, he managed to stop his surging emotions that definitely did not come from him.

‘So this is a goddess. A simple laugh is enough to nearly destroy all my mental barriers.’

He was once again reminded that gods and mortals stood at two different levels.

“Now then, little Sol, could you guess why I brought you here?”

“My entry in the Astral world.”

“Ding Ding Ding. Beautiful answer. No prize though.”

Teasingly joking, the goddess waved her hand and created a throne before plopping in it in a rather unbecoming way.

Once she was seated, she murmured, “You remember our deal, right?”

Sol sighed as he nodded, “How could I forget? I am still grateful for you sparing Camelia back then.”

“Then, It’s time for you to know about your second trial.”

(AN: Read back the Saint Fall arc if your memories are blurry. This arc will end in the next chapter. After that, there will be 3 special chapters. Vol 6 will not have any interludes. After all, this volume didn't have a particular heroine)