[Hated Hero, Chosen by the Holy Sword (Spoiler)]

As the three of us were chatting, a priest came to fetch us.

It was finally time for the Divine Gift Ceremony to start.

I invited Cornell to go with us, but it turned out special seats that were separate from the others had been prepared for me and Tayte. Just how far were they going to go with these special treatments?

Normally, Tayte would have been seated at the same place as Cornell, but she was led to the special seat on the account of being my fiancée, apparently.

The seats were located on the second floor of the church.

And there were only two of them, for me and Tayte respectively.

This was the first Event—the Divine Gift Ceremony.

In the novel, the Divine Gift Ceremony ended relatively quickly because it was only described as a flashback scene. Also, the viewpoint didn’t follow Barrett, but Raul, who was granted the Demon Sword.

This scene also briefly described Berrett receiving the Holy Sword from God.

If my memory served me right, in the novel, the scene was written like this: 『The surrounding people burst into cheers, but inwardly, they were convinced that Barrett would only get stronger from now on and felt despair.』

……Well, nothing I could do about it. If anything, it might be better for me to welcome the situation.

But for the moment at least, interest was not in my own situation.

“? Is something the matter, Barrett?”

“Ah, no, nothing. I was just thinking this place was really high.”

“Do you hate high places?”

“A-a little bit.” I lied in a hurry.

It was only natural that she’d posed that question to me, as I had been leaning forward and peering down below.

I was looking for a person—Raul, the Protagonist.

Raul should be participating today’s Divine Gift Ceremony as well, so he ought to be here somewhere in the venue. Originally, this was yet the time for us to meet face to face, but I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and wanted to take a look at him—right then,

“Next, Raul Lorenz.”

The priest spoke Raul’s name.

Immediately after, a blue-haired boy climbing up to the altar came into view.

At a glance, he had a ‘friendly-looking’ face. He was from the slums and had been doing manual labor for a long time, so he was more physically fit compared to other kids.

His clothes were tattered. In fact, it was merely a big piece of cloth with holes cut out for the head and arms, giving him an indescribable air of shabbiness.

I could see the surrounding people talking in a hushed tone while pointing at him. I was sure they were talking about his appearance. There was such a description in the novel as well.

“Insert your mana into this box.”

There was a 2-meters-wide and 1-meter-long box on the altar. Apparently, by pouring your mana into it, the item gifted by God would manifest inside.

Raul closed his eyes, focused his mind, and poured his mana into the box.

Eventually, the box began to vibrate with rattling sounds. When it settled down, the priest opened the lid and was going to take out the item inside, but—

“Gasp! T-this is?!” A look of horror surfaced on the priest’s face.

The surrounding people turned boisterous upon seeing his reaction, but knowing the cause, I stayed composed.

“This is the Demon Sword! This person is the wielder of the Demon Sword!!”

When the priest’s scream echoed inside the church, the participants panicked.

Screams rang out on one side.

Profanities were thrown on the other.

Some people even ran away, crying.

Err… if I remembered correctly, the Demon sword was the sword that the Demon King made by pouring his blood into it. However, that was just a hoax; it was actually a super-rare item with outrageous magical powers lying dormant in it.

However, it appeared to be quite difficult to wield. Only after he trained under the Holy Knight whom he had happened to encounter was Raul finally able to master the Demon Sword.

As a result, Raul was able to freely command the magic of all elements and he became strong enough to defeat the Ancient Dragon that lived in the Castle in the Sky. …Speaking of which, that was the first major step that led Barrett to his ruin, wasn’t it?

However, that was still many years away.

From now on and until then… it would be a difficult period for Raul.

“Let go of me! I’m not the Demon King’s minion!”

The resisting Raul was taken out of the church by the knights.

……Still, as far as the novel went, Raul’s ability as a holy swordsman was the real deal. If we eventually had a hostile relationship, I’d definitely get beaten black and blue by him, but if, by any chance, we were able to fight together on the same side—

“The Demon Sword… It’s scary, isn’t it? Barrett.”

“…………”

“? Barrett?”

“! Y-yeah.”

I see. Tayte’s first impression of Raul wasn’t good. It wasn’t mentioned in the novel.

After that, the Divine Gift Ceremony resumed safely, and my turn arrived eventually.

By the way, Tayte had already had her turn and had received the item named Healing Floral Headpiece. The name might make it sound like a mediocre item, but this was proof that you were chosen as a Saintess. This item had the power of enhancing the effectiveness of her healing-type spells to an overwhelming degree.

“Alright, I’m off.”

“Yes!”

Having said that to Tayte, who had been all smiles this whole time—probably because she was happy by the fact that she was chosen as the Saintess—I went down to the first floor, then to the front of the door leading into the venue—at that time,

“Young Master Barrett, please wait a minute.”

For some reason, several maids from the mansion were waiting for me there.

“Team A, how is the preparation going?”

“Everything is in place. Team B and Team C, make sure to get the timing perfect.”

““Roger!””

They seemed to be extremely fired up, but… what were they up to?

“Good! Young Master Barrett, the production you ordered is ready! Please enter!”

“Ah, y-yeah. –Production?”

I wanted to hear a little more about this production stuff, but before I got the chance, the door in front of me opened grandly. Then, no sooner had the lumenstone spotlights that hung on the ceiling shone down on me than smoke rose from both of my sides with “Bush!”

“Wha?! What the hell is this?!”

It appeared that Barrett had ordered the maids to prepare this in advance.

A very Barrett-like order. Further, an orchestra played a cheesy song in the background as I made my way to the altar. And for the finisher, the maids narrated a story which how I grew up in a loud voice.

……Please, just stop.

What was this? Public shaming?

My face must be beet red right now.

The only saving grace was that my face was hard to see from the surroundings’ perspective because of all the smoke.

Still, the surrounding boys and girls were wondering out loud, “Doesn’t Lord Barrett seem rather tame today?”, “I know right. The way he walks isn’t as sharp as usual, too.”

……Seriously, what were you thinking, (former) Barrett!

Let’s just get this over with, with that in mind, I quickly went up to the altar and began the Divine Gift Ceremony, the result of which was already clear.

“! T-this, this is the Holy Sword! Without any doubt, this is the Holy Sword! God has chosen Barrett Albers as Hero!”

Yes, yes, I knew that.

Then, the church reverberated with loud cheers—however, I knew that behind their smiles, everyone was despairing. I had mentally prepared myself, but due to the extra production earlier, I felt depressed.

In contrast to the noisy surroundings, I thought quietly:

……One day, I’ll become someone whom everyone blesses from the bottom of their hearts.

Thus, the exhausting Divine Gift Ceremony finally came to an end with me gaining a new goal to work toward.