DMHS 1

Kian was an immortal.

For a long time he wandered the human world and he learned many things.

He learned how to bargain in the market, how to tame ill-tempered horses, how to prepare herbs according to illnesses, and other methods needed to survive alone in the world.

Kian also read people’s emotions well.

He could clearly know what made them happy or sad. He could clearly know what they were proud of and what they became angry about. So…

–I cannot live without you.

He thought he understood that person’s heart.

–You were born to be my partner. We will be together for life until we die.

He thought he knew it well.

–When I am with you everything looks good.

Even though he knew the feelings that person carried were not light,

–Do not go. Please… stay by my side, Kian.

He thought it would still be fine if he left. He thought the feelings of now would disappear without a trace like countless things vanishing under the flow of time.

But Kian did not really know.

For him, love was not a seasonal shower but a drizzle that fell all day. The feelings he thought only reached his feet had by now soaked all the way into his heart.

He thought that person needed him, but in truth the one who needed that person was himself.

“Lucien.”

Kian held his aching chest and he murmured quietly.

“If I now say that I miss you, how will you answer….”

He knew well even as he said it that the words had no meaning. Everything that passed was only laughable.

In the late sleepless night, Kian closed his eyes again to sink into memories.

***

Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom.

The kingdom, founded with the goddess’s blessing, sadly fell into corruption as time passed.

The king continued his tyranny, and the nobles took the lead in satisfying their own greed.

Then one day, the land in the west of the kingdom turned dark red and a castle appeared, one never seen before.

It was the Demon King’s castle.

From the Demon King’s castle, the continent rapidly turned into a demon realm. The people caught by demons had to endure even more painful days.

Meanwhile, the king and nobles in the royal castle continued their luxurious lives.

In the end, the people, enraged by the king’s attitude, took up weapons and rose.

In disgrace, the kingdom perished.

Ten years later, to save the continent drowned in grief, the goddess sent down a hero to the mortal world.

The hero set out on a journey together with four champions appointed as apostles of the gods.

The strongest swordsman Yan, the gold dragon Hellenos, the spirit king Rowan, the dark elf Betias.

They sealed the Demon King and closed the gates of the demon realm.

The hero founded a new kingdom on the continent devastated by long hardship and ascended as its first king. The world regained the peace it had lost.

Four hundred years later…

The hero Kian was working as a guard in a northern village.

It was called a guard, but what Kian actually did was wake up in the morning and shovel snow, eat lunch and shovel snow, shovel snow before going to sleep, serving as a human snow clearer.

‘So much damned snow has fallen again.’

That morning too, Kian held the shovel he was used to and went outside the lord’s castle.

There was no particular reason why the strongest swordsman, who was said to have crushed mountains and split seas with a single sword, was now shoveling snow every day.

Four hundred years ago, after sealing the Demon King, Kian had left the royal castle without hesitation and set out on a journey.

In spring he saw flowers, in summer the sea, in autumn the foliage, in winter the snow, spending peaceful idle days.

In the first year, such peaceful rest felt sweet as honey.

But as one year, two years, three years passed, the longer time piled up, the more restless Kian became, until he could not endure it.

‘I am bored.’

Kian quietly slipped into human society.

Since Kian had been born a commoner, he liked living in small villages helping with people’s work day by day.

In the daytime he labored, at night he gathered in front of a dark lamp to shake off the day with strong liquor.

But Kian was an immortal who slipped past the flow of time.

Ten years. To Kian it felt like ten months, a short time, but to people ten years was when a baby grew to a child who walked, ran, and talked.

Even after more than ten years, the villagers looked Kian, who did not age, with suspicion. That was usually the time for Kian to leave the village.

How many times had he already moved villages.

For four hundred years, Kian had herded cattle and farmed fields. He had forged blades at smithies, and just before coming to this village he had boarded fishing boats at a harbor.

‘Drinking on a boat has its own charm.’

But Kian’s plan to settle in a harbor village fell apart.

As with all problems of human affairs, it was because of the high nobles of the kingdom.

‘Damn those ducal houses.’

At that time, the kingdom was split in half and locked in sharp conflict.

One side was the ‘North Party,’ centered on the royal knights. The other side was the ‘South Old Party,’ centered on the magic tower.

The ducal house of the South, who held the true power of the latter, gave orders to the harbor village.

‘We will make magic stones using fish as material!’

They claimed they would pay cost price, but…

Considering the tyranny they had shown so far, even if the fish were delivered properly, it was plain they would find pretexts and not pay properly.

–This work is ruined too. You should look for other jobs.

Losing his work, Kian left the harbor village and went north.

On that journey, Kian felt with his whole body the rapid collapse of the kingdom’s state of affairs.

‘How many times have I met bandits in just a few days.’

Before even finding a village to settle in, it was hard enough just dealing with bandits who popped out on mountain paths.

So far they only threatened with pickaxes and sickles demanding money, but with time, how they would change was obvious.

‘Someone will end up bleeding.’

Indeed, before arriving at the northern village, Kian discovered a group of merchants annihilated by a bandit raid.

The wagons had been plundered completely, and only the corpses of those who resisted and died were left at the site.

Kian let out a small sigh and dug pits to bury the bodies.

Then, something heavy dropped from a man’s chest with a heavy noise.

‘An identity plaque.’

And it was an identity plaque of a noble, made of silver.

Kian checked the name written on the plaque.

[ Kian Semes ]

By coincidence, the man’s name was the same as Kian’s. Checking the birth year, his age was about the same too, early twenties like Kian’s outward appearance.

‘I have never heard of a noble house called Semes nearby.’

Besides, if he were a proper noble, he would have been dressed more decently.

No matter how Kian looked at it, the man’s attire seemed like that of a lowly employee hired by a merchant group. It looked as if quite some time had passed since his family had gone bankrupt.

‘It is highly likely he was a fallen noble.’

While putting the bodies in order, Kian slipped the identity plaque into his chest.

‘I will be in your care for a while, Mr. Kian Semes.’

And so Kian ended his wandering life and settled in a nearby village under the name ‘Kian Semes’…

It was closer to the life of a retired butler than to the afterstory of a hero.

‘Shall I start with the castle gate again today?’

In any case, Kian cherished his daily routine.

Stretching in front of the castle gate, Kian held the shovel’s handle from afar. Planting the tip of the shovel into the snow-covered ground, he ran with all his strength.

“Ahhh!”

With a strange shout, the snow piled up to his knees was pushed aside in one go. Everywhere Kian passed, the wet earth floor was revealed.

“Ahhhh!”

Soon an L-shaped path appeared in front of the castle gate. Kian cleared the road from the village entrance to the lord’s castle in the same way.

“Ahhhh!”

To his unchanging shouts, the villagers, woken from sleep, greeted him.

“Sir Kian, good morning!”

“Good morning, Melda! Have a good day at school!”

Kian waved to a ten-year-old girl.

“I have some apples left from yesterday’s sales. Would you like one?”

“Of course! Thank you, I will enjoy it!”

Kian caught the apple with both hands when the fruit shop lady tossed it to him.

“Hoho, you are working hard again today, Sir Kian. If you have time this evening, please drop by our house. My younger brother sent some good liquor. It is said to be distilled spirits of forty percent…”

“I will come as soon as I finish work!”

At Kian’s smooth answer, the blacksmith burst into hearty laughter.

Kian too smiled brightly at the blacksmith.

‘A village like this in times like these. I really am lucky.’

Kian liked this place where snow fell endlessly every day.

They said people were influenced by their environment, and the villagers were just like cedars. Like cedars standing firm without a single complaint despite the long blizzards.

‘I should stay here as long as I can until the kingdom’s situation stabilizes.’

But Kian’s resolve did not last long.

“You brat, today you won’t escape!”

While Kian stood absent-mindedly with his shovel stuck in the ground, a man attacked from behind. It was none other than Captain James.

Kian, his neck caught in James’s thick arm, coughed in an exaggerated way.

“Ugh, urgh, if you grab me like that I will suffocate and die!”

“I know very well you are breathing fine. As if I have that much strength.”

“Ah, right… Captain, you do not have strength. At least compared to the bear living in the mountain behind.”

“If only you would keep your mouth shut, you would be less hateful. You are the kind of guy whose mouth would still be floating even buried in snow.”

“Eh, you are lying again. I know you care about me deeply in your heart, Captain.”

The two exchanged such trivial words as they entered the lord’s castle.

As usual, Kian planned to shovel the training ground’s snow today.

As if reading Kian’s thought, James tightened his grip on Kian’s neck again.

“Today there is something more important than clearing the training ground.”

James’s voice had already lost its playful tone.

“The lord is looking for you.”