Who taught him to restore the country like this

Chapter 233 Welcome Back, Hero!

Inside the carriage, Luna's words made the group tense.

Someone is hiding in the ruins of the sea god, trying to kill them?
Who?
The Star Empire is out of the question; they are still hoping to achieve a win-win situation with the hero, and have no reason to harm him.

Mermaid tribe?
They wanted to kill the hero through the Sea God's Ruins, so that the three major churches would hold the Star Empire accountable, thus relieving the pressure on the Merfolk.
As a member of the mermaid race, Naruna shouldn't have spoken about such things.

Moreover, Keltia knew about the hero's agreement with the mermaids to enter the Sea God's Ruins, and she had also told the mermaids that the Holy See would be involved in this matter.

The merfolk are also implicated in the incident at the Sea God's Ruins.

Demons?

Hmm... is it really possible to hide someone in there?

Aren't you afraid of forgetting your mission while hiding inside?
"Whose voice is that?"

Ron asked patiently.

"It's...it's the voice of the Mermaid's Heart."

The sound of the Mermaid's Heart?
"What kind of sound is that?"

Ron asked in a soothing voice.

Luna kept shaking her head, unable to explain.

"What do you think?"

Ron glanced sideways at Gratoni beside him.

"I'll lie down and watch."

Gratoni put his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, leaned back, and looked completely indifferent.

Fine.

This chromatic dragon is unreliable.

"So... are you still going to the Sea God's Ruins?"

Silas asked with concern.

"go."

Ron said.

Since we're already here, how can we not go?

He had already promised the Merfolk and the Star Empire, and if he didn't go now, he would basically become a person who had broken his promise.

Anyway, he has a return scroll, so he can get away at any time.

……

Half-day trip.

As evening fell, the Rose Mercenary Group arrived at the Siren tribe and set up camp.

Ron did not linger and continued towards the Sea God's Ruins.

Listen to people's advice to eat a full meal.

Having received Luna's warning, Ron did not bring too many people with him.

They only brought Luna and Gangji, who were the keys to open the Poseidon Ruins, and Gratoni.

Steel is tough, and Grattoni followed voluntarily.

Besides the two members of the hero's team, the vice-leaders of the two major mercenary groups also accompanied them.

To avoid confusion from too many people, Ron only agreed to bring one person from each of the two mercenary groups inside.

Both companies readily agreed.

After all, they had heard about the risks of the Poseidon Ruins.

And so, the group of five arrived at the Sea God Ruins in the early hours of the morning.

Before the ruins of Poseidon, neither the leaders of the two mercenary groups nor the two princes showed up. Only a group of mercenaries from the Silver Blade Mercenary Group lit torches and stood ready for battle.

That's perfect, saving us from all the flattery and pleasantries.

"let's start."

Ron looked at Luna, whose emotions had stabilized, beside him.

Luna's eyes were filled with complex emotions, and her worry had not disappeared, but she still followed Ron's instructions and came to the statue of the sea god.

In front of that enormous sea god statue, there is a mermaid totem surrounded by obscure ancient runes.

Following the usual sacrificial ritual, Luna used her own blood to draw a few strokes on the totem and runes in several places.

Then, while chanting incantations, they performed a sacrificial dance on the totem.

Barefoot, she danced, stepping on the patterns outlined by blood, the bloodstains on her smooth little feet treading on other parts of the totems and runes.

As the entire dance was performed, the bloodstains gradually stained the totems and runes red, and the color of the blood not only did not decrease but increased, becoming a deep red with a glossy sheen.

hum-

Twelve minutes later, a blue light shone from the Neptune statue, reflecting off the red light on the ground.

A blue vortex, resembling a portal, appeared in front of the sea god statue.

Ron hesitated for two seconds before stepping in first.

Gangji followed closely behind.

Gratoni, Salom, and Chester arrived shortly after.

Passing through the portal, what appeared before them was a downward-sloping staircase, damp with moisture.

"Be careful, everyone."

Ron walked ahead as a reminder.

The steps were long, and the further down you went, the more damp and cold the air became. Moss began to appear on the walls, emitting a faint blue glow.

Three minutes later, they reached the end of the steps, where a cave-in appeared to be a naturally formed underground rock pit.

The group stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down.

Below is a layer of water emitting a soft blue light, with dreamlike specks of light floating on it, as if the starry sky has been incorporated into it.

"Is this the legendary Pool of Forgetfulness?"

Shalom looked at it with a curious expression.

It doesn't look particularly special.

"There's a passage down here."

Chester looked at the rock wall on the right and said.

Ron and his companions came over at the sound and saw a vertical ladder on the rock wall below, which seemed to lead to somewhere.

Ron climbed down the ladder.

Soon, he discovered a two-meter-high opening in the rock wall.

Upon entering the cave, one sees a crystal coffin inside, and a person can be vaguely seen lying quietly within.

The only person lying here is Philian, the teammate of the third-generation hero.

Ron walked up to the crystal coffin.

really.

It was that dark elf.

Her features were so lifelike, as if she were simply asleep, with a strange tranquility on her face.

"Where's the clue to the Mermaid's Heart? Could it be on this body?"

After Chester followed him in, he saw Ron looking at the crystal coffin and asked him a question.

Ron didn't answer.

He reached out and touched the crystal coffin, then forcefully opened the lid.

"Gangji, go and fetch some water from the Forget-Me-Not Pool."

he said.

Upon hearing this, Gangji, who was standing at the cave entrance, immediately turned around, bent down, and scooped up a handful of water with his enlarged hands.

"Put it in."

Ron gestured for Ganggi to put the water into the crystal coffin.

Gangji did as Ron instructed.

"Go and fetch some more water until she is completely submerged."

Ron continued.

Gangji didn't ask any further questions and went back and forth to fetch water multiple times.

Shalom, standing to the side, hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

She wanted to ask: Why not just throw the body into the pool?
With Gangji repeatedly fetching water, the water in the coffin finally submerged the body.

Salom and Chester both expected something strange to happen next, but after waiting for more than ten minutes, nothing happened.

Just as they were about to ask Ron what the point of doing this was, Ron suddenly reached out, scooped up a handful of water from the crystal coffin, and drank it.

The people nearby: "???"

The brave warrior has this kind of quirk?

"What are you looking at? If you want to find out the clues about the Mermaid's Heart, drink it quickly, there's not much time left."

Ron said calmly to the group.

When the group heard that they also wanted to drink, their expressions immediately turned rather unpleasant.

They could accept drinking the water from the Forget-Me-Not Pool, but drinking water that had been used to soak corpses was something they found hard to accept. "Fine, don't drink it then, and don't come asking me about it later."

Ron glanced at the group.

Upon hearing this, Salom and Chester exchanged a glance, both seeing the determination in each other's eyes.

Having come this far, they cannot back down.

The two of them each took a handful of water and drank it.

Gangji also drank some.

Gratoni scooped up a handful of water and drank it.

Then, he scooped up a handful of water and drank it.

Then, he lowered his hands and stretched his head toward the crystal coffin.

"Stop right there!"

Ron grabbed Gratoni by the back of his collar.

"Keeping it is a waste."

Gratoni said seriously.

Ron gave him a disdainful look.

Just as Gratoni was about to stick to his principle of not wasting anything, a bright light suddenly appeared before his eyes, and he felt a blue radiance pour out like mercury, engulfing the entire cave.

Not only him, but everyone who drank the water from the Pool of Forgetfulness experienced this.

After a period of intense dizziness, the scene before my eyes shattered and reformed like a broken mirror...

When their senses returned to normal, they were already outside the ruins of the sea god.

No.

This is not outside the ruins of Poseidon!

The group gazed ahead.

A blond, blue-eyed man with a sunny disposition is with his teammates.

Aside from the agile warrior teammates and the composed mage teammates, the most eye-catching was the dark elf.

It was Philian, who had just been lying in the crystal coffin.

They soon realized that this was not the real world, but rather the memory of the person in the crystal coffin.

They have become invisible voyeurs.

The five of them quieted down and looked at the memory that could very well be helpful in finding clues to the Mermaid's Heart.

The blond, blue-eyed man was the third-generation hero. He and several teammates walked down the street, chatting and laughing with the merfolk they encountered along the way.

Scenes flashed by one after another.

They searched all over Mermaid Island for clues about the Mermaid's Heart.

After searching unsuccessfully for a long time, they began to discuss entering the ruins of the sea god.

Finally, after obtaining the consent of the five major merfolk tribes, they entered the ruins of the sea god.

Seeing this, Salom and the others became completely focused.

What the third-generation hero discovered in the Sea God's Ruins is about to be revealed.

however……

They saw the third-generation hero and his teammates exploring and whispering by the Pool of Forgetfulness.

However, when it comes to crucial information, it's as if someone has muted the sound, and you can't hear a single sound.

Through blurry fragments of conversation, the group learned that the third-generation hero was not searching for the Mermaid Heart to fight any enemy, but rather to have the legendary Mermaid Heart bear witness.

Witness his eternal love with the dark elf Philian.

There's a saying that goes, "If you don't court death, you won't die."

The two, who were only thinking about showing off their affection, were completely unaware that this act of "making a wish" driven by strong personal desires was unknowingly touching the deep-seated contractual laws of the mermaid's heart.

Yes.

The Mermaid's Heart can bind itself to others by fulfilling their wishes.

Normally, the Mermaid's Heart can only exist as a Mermaid.

However, it can exist as the person making the wish if someone makes a wish.

Philian made a wish, and the Mermaid's Heart can now exist as Philian.

In this case, Philian is Schrödinger's cat.

Did Philian really exist?
This is entirely determined by the Mermaid's Heart.

In short, the mermaid's heart can completely replace a person; it is not just a matter of creating a fictional person.

When the mermaid's heart replaces this person, that person ceases to exist in this world.

Of course, no matter how many people the Mermaid Heart can transform into, its activity range is limited to Mermaid Island.

Therefore, those who are bound cannot leave Mermaid Island; if they do, they will disappear from this world.

A true disappearance.

His family and friends will no longer remember him.

Because he was a person who never existed.

This is exactly the situation Kertia is facing.

She came into contact with the Mermaid's Heart and made a wish upon it, which is why a mermaid phantom appeared on her body.

Now, Kertia could become someone who never existed at any moment.

Returning to the scene in memory.

It was precisely because they were unaware of the mermaid's heart's abilities that the tragedy occurred.

The memory quickly shifted to the day of the once-in-three-hundred-years mermaid phenomenon, when a three-headed dragon suddenly attacked the bustling venue.

The third-generation hero fought the three-headed dragon alone and had been gaining the upper hand all along.

However, one of the dragons possessed a rare spatial domain ability.

During the battle, it desperately activated its ability, forcibly teleporting the third-generation hero instantly outside the territory of Tenkai Kita Island.

The hero, who had initially held the upper hand and was in complete control, suddenly turned deathly pale, his life force rapidly draining away. In the battle against the three heavily wounded dragon, he was no match for it and found himself in grave danger.

At this moment, one of the dragons broke away from the battle and swam back to the island from the water.

Does it want to take advantage of the hero's absence to slaughter the Mermaid Island?
No.

It went back to deliver the message.

A closer look reveals that although this dragon is relatively small, its unique dark red scales and voice clearly identify it as a young Gratoni.

It hurriedly returned to the island, found Philian, and explained the hero's current situation to him.

"I...I never expected it to turn out like this."

The young Gratoni spoke with regret and fear.

It came to deliver the message because Philian had helped it twice.

Once, when it was a cub, it was almost killed by the dragon slayer, but Philian saved it.

On one occasion, it acted alone on Mermaid Island and flirted with Philian, almost getting killed by the third-generation hero. It was Philian who pleaded for its life.

This time, its two elder brothers from the same clan couldn't swallow their anger and insisted on leading him to fight the hero to the death.

I was thinking that if I couldn't win in the end, I could just beg for mercy and that would be the end of it.

But unexpectedly, the hero suddenly became so weak.

Philian did not blame Gratoni. Upon hearing about the hero's current situation, she immediately realized that it was related to the Mermaid's Heart.

It's also possible that the reason they made the mermaid's heart a testament to their eternal love is why the hero became so weak after leaving Mermaid Island.

Once you understand the problem, solving it becomes much easier.

Philian took a deep look at his companions, then gazed in the direction where the hero had disappeared, and summoned the mermaid phantom.

She sacrificed her life and memories, abandoned her eternal love with the hero, and let the mermaid's heart witness her failure.

Since the wish of the one who made the wish was not fulfilled, the bond between the mermaid's heart and the one who made the wish was naturally broken.

As the bindings were removed, the hero's restraints vanished instantly, and the battle ended in a flash.

The hero swiftly passed between the two decapitated dragons and hurriedly returned to Mermaid Island.

What Philian could think of, he could naturally think of as well.

When he rushed back to Mermaid Island, covered in wounds and filled with anxiety, he saw Philian standing on the shore of Mermaid Island.

She looked at the charging warrior and forced a smile.

still alive.

The hero's face lit up with joy, but as he got closer, he noticed the undisguised unfamiliarity in Philian's eyes.

At this moment, all the emotions about the hero in Philian's mind were from what her teammates had told her.

She didn't want the hero to be sad, so with her last bit of willpower, she waited here for the hero to return.

I want to tell the hero...

I haven't forgotten you.

"Welcome back, hero."

As the sun set, Philian lay in the hero's arms, bidding his final farewell.

(End of this chapter)