Sentenced to Be a Hero: Penal Hero Unit 9004 Records — Requiem of the Transmigrated Poet
Kuon Kanade had one dream: to be a poet. For that, his classmates laughed at him. For that, he learned to make himself invisible—eating lunch alone in the library corner, humming where no one could hear, surviving on poetry collections and silence.
Then a strange book called *Resonance* swallowed him whole.
He wakes in a world of towering bookshelves and pointed ears, where a burning mark has appeared on his neck—a holy mark. By the laws of this continent, all who bear one are conscripted as h
Sentenced to Be a Hero: Penal Hero Unit 9004 Records — Requiem of the Transmigrated Poet - The Goddess Descends, and the Worst Day
The training ground's dirt was stained red by the dying light.
Kuon Kanade felt the sweat slick against his palms as he gripped the wooden sword. Two days since that first mission. The smell of Dotta's blood, the poem he'd sung in a shaking voice, Zairo's curt "Don't throw it away"—all of it still sat heavy somewhere deep inside him.
(My song can protect someone.)
He wanted to believe that. But Kivia's cold voice echoed through his skull, again and again.
"Just a coincidence."
No. If only he could throw those words back at her—how much lighter he'd feel. Kanade bit his lip.
"Hey, Kuon."
A low voice split the air of the training ground. He turned. A man stood there, dark brown hair—nearly black—bouncing in careless spikes. An old scar on his left cheek. Stubble. Sharp amber eyes fixed squarely on Kanade. Zairo Forbarts. Captain of Penal Hero Unit 9004.
"Y-yes."
Kanade straightened his back.
"Come with me. There's something I want to show you."
"Something you want to show me...?"
"Just come."
That was all Zairo said before turning and walking off. Kanade hurried after him.
The two of them headed for the small chapel on the fortress's west side.
"Theolitta Chapel."
A little stone building where the penal heroes came to pray for victory in battle. But today, something was different.
Two unfamiliar soldiers stood guard at the chapel entrance, spears in hand. A blue banner bearing the Holy Knight Order's crest flapped in the wind.
"Um, Zairo... what's going on?"
"Shut up and watch."
Zairo jerked his chin at the soldiers. They saluted and opened the door.
The moment Kanade stepped into the dim chapel—
He stopped breathing.
In the center of the room stood a coffin.
No—more precisely, what had once been a coffin. An ancient black stone coffin, its lid thrown open. From inside, a pale golden light spilled out.
"W-what is that...?"
Kanade's voice trembled.
"Dotta stole it."
"Dotta did...?"
"That idiot lifted something he shouldn't have. Apparently the military was transporting it in top secrecy. We nearly had a real mess on our hands."
Zairo's tone was bitter.
"So then, that coffin is..."
"What it looks like. There's a goddess sleeping inside."
"A goddess...?"
That was when it happened.
The light inside the coffin flared all at once.
—Thunk.
A heavy sound, and the coffin lid swung fully open.
A hand reached out from within.
A white, slender, girlish hand.
Kanade stumbled backward.
"Hiii—"
A soundless scream leaked from his throat.
Within the light, a shadow rose.
Skin white as snow. Hair gold as flame. Eyes red as fire.
It was a girl.
No—not a girl.
Her very presence rewrote the air around her. Just standing there, she seemed to raise the temperature inside the chapel. The word "divine" felt almost trite against the sheer overwhelming force of her existence.
"...My knight."
Her voice resonated.
Like a bell rolling, yet carrying an unmistakable dignity.
Theolitta. The Goddess of the Sword.
She was looking straight at Zairo.
"'My knight'... you mean me?"
Zairo scratched his head, exasperated.
"Yes. You. I awoke to meet you."
Theolitta rose slowly from the coffin. She stood about five feet one—small in stature, yet radiating a power beyond imagining.
"...Tch. What a pain."
"Not a pain. This is fate. You are my knight. I am your goddess. The contract is already sealed."
"Hah? Contract? I didn't do a damn thing."
"The contract is sealed through the resonance of souls. The moment you touched my coffin, my holy sigil chose you."
Theolitta traced with her finger the sigil that ran from her left cheek down her neck, across her chest, to her heart.
"I receive a part of you. That is the proof of the contract. Your pain, your past, your sins. I know them all."
Zairo's expression stiffened—just for an instant.
"...You know them?"
"I know. That you killed a goddess. The weight you carry. That is precisely why I chose you."
Silence filled the chapel.
Kanade had forgotten even to breathe, watching the exchange between the two of them.
(A goddess... a real, actual goddess...)
His heart pounded violently against his ribs.
"...Hmph."
It was Zairo who broke the silence first.
"You're the one who picked me on your own. Don't blame me."
"You are not honest. But that is fine. You will praise me, and you will pat my head. That is enough."
"Hah!? Pat your head!? What the hell are you talking about!?"
"When you annihilate the enemy, you shall praise me... and pat my head. These are the terms of our contract."
Theolitta declared it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Like hell! Why do I have to pat some goddess's head!?"
"I fight to be praised. I swing my sword to be praised. That is what a goddess is. As my knight, you are obligated to praise me and pat my head."
"What kind of logic is that!? It makes no sense!"
"You don't need to understand. You need only obey. Now, pat my head this instant."
Theolitta stepped close to Zairo and offered her golden hair.
"...Tch."
Zairo glared at her for a while, but eventually, as if resigning himself, he placed his large hand on Theolitta's head.
"...Like this?"
His hand moved hesitantly through her hair.
"Mmm. Not bad. A little more gently, if you please."
"You're so damn demanding!"
Zairo shouted, but his hand didn't stop.
Kanade stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
(Pat a goddess's head...?)
His brain couldn't keep up.
But there was no denying it—a goddess stood before him.
—That was when it happened.
"...You."
Theolitta's gaze turned to Kanade.
Those burning red eyes fixed on the base of his neck.
"Eh... u-um, I'm—"
Kanade instinctively took a step back.
"Your holy sigil... it's clouded. But there's something beneath it."
Theolitta approached him.
"The power of song. The remnants of a song's power reside within your sigil."
"The power of song...?"
"That song—let me hear it."
Theolitta commanded in a tone that brooked no argument.
"But... my singing isn't anything special..."
"Let me hear it."
Her red eyes pierced through him.
Kanade swallowed hard.
(Sing... in front of a goddess...)
He was afraid. But he couldn't run.
With trembling hands, Kanade opened his usual leather-bound notebook.
—Wind, blow.
The first verse slipped out in a shaking voice.
—Carry it all, even this pain in my chest.
—Carry it away.
—To the far, far ends of the sky.
Kanade's voice echoed through the chapel.
The holy sigil at the base of his neck glowed faintly.
He finished singing.
Silence.
Theolitta's eyes were closed.
"...Hmm."
She opened them.
"Not bad. Your song—make it one that praises me more."
"...What?"
"Praise my greatness, my beauty, my strength, through song. Do that, and your singing will shine all the brighter."
Theolitta spoke innocently.
"U-um... my songs are meant to heal people..."
"Heal? That's fine too. But a song that praises me is the greatest song of all. The power of your voice is meant to be used for me."
"...Y-yes."
Kanade nodded, not really understanding.
Then Theolitta's expression shifted—suddenly serious.
"...There is something in this child's song."
It was a small murmur.
But that voice held none of her earlier innocence.
"It's not mere healing power. Something deeper, more fundamental... something sleeps within this child's song."
Theolitta looked Kanade straight in the eyes.
"You don't yet know the true power of your own song, do you."
"...No. I don't really understand it myself."
"In time, you will. But don't rush. Power awakens when it's needed."
Theolitta said that, and smiled softly.
That smile was strangely warm, and something deep in Kanade's chest grew warm in turn.
(There's something... in my song.)
Theolitta's words seeped into him.
A goddess had acknowledged his singing.
That made him happy.
—And then it happened.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
—WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
An alarm blared across the entire fortress.
A low, heavy siren that shook the air itself.
"W-what!?"
Kanade jumped.
Zairo's expression changed in an instant.
"Enemy attack."
Zairo kicked the chapel door open and rushed outside.
The twilight sky had turned an ominous purple.
No—that wasn't it.
That wasn't the color of the sky.
"A Distortion...!"
Zairo let out a low growl.
From the north side of the fortress, from the direction of the Alvein Mountains, something like black mist was slowly closing in.
That was a Distortion. A spatial anomaly that accompanied the appearance of a Maou phenomenon.
"Don't tell me... Iblis."
Zairo's voice shook.
Iblis. Maou Phenomenon No. 15. A giant-type Maou phenomenon standing twelve meters tall, with two curved horns and obsidian-like skin.
"Zairo... that thing, is that—"
Kanade's voice cracked with terror.
"You stay back. Theolitta, we're going."
"Indeed. My knight's first battle. Show me what you can do."
Theolitta smiled fearlessly.
—BOOOOOOOM!!!
The ground shook, rattling the fortress.
Something exploded beyond the walls.
Screams. Roars. The sound of destruction.
The sounds of battle closed in all at once.
"Kuon! Rear support! Go help at the infirmary! Use your song to heal the wounded!"
"Y-yes!"
Kanade broke into a run.
His heart hammered wildly in his chest.
He was scared.
His legs were shaking.
But right now, he had no choice but to do it.
—The fortress had entered all-out war.
On the walls, soldiers loosed arrows, cast spells, fought desperately.
But Iblis's massive body shrugged off every attack.
"Damn it! Nothing's working!"
"The regeneration mist...! The wounds are closing!"
Iblis's body was shrouded in black mist.
That mist healed its wounds, regenerated its flesh.
No matter how many times they brought it down, it rose again.
That was Iblis.
"Hey, why aren't reinforcements coming!?"
"Where's the Holy Knight Order!? What is Lady Kivia doing!?"
The soldiers' angry shouts flew back and forth.
—That was when it happened.
"――――――"
Iblis opened its mouth.
Black mist gathered at its jaws.
The next instant.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
A thunderous roar.
A section of the wall was blown to pieces.
"UWAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Screams echoed everywhere.
Civilians who hadn't escaped in time were crushed beneath the rubble.
"Help me...!"
"Mommy...!"
A child's crying.
The smell of blood.
Through the gap in the collapsed wall, Iblis's massive body pushed into the fortress.
"Hiii—!"
Kanade froze in place.
His body wouldn't move.
(Scared... scared... scared...)
His feet felt glued to the ground.
His breathing grew shallow.
His vision narrowed.
—That was when it happened.
"Kanade!"
A voice.
He turned. Dotta was standing there.
Her small body was trembling, but she was still trying to stand in front of him.
"R-run! Hurry!"
Dotta reached for Kanade's hand.
—BOOOOOOM!!!
Iblis's fist smashed a nearby building to dust.
Debris flew through the air.
"――――!"
Dotta shoved Kanade out of the way.
"Eh...?"
Kanade hit the ground.
Dotta's body vanished beneath the rubble.
"...Dotta...?"
Kanade whispered in a shaking voice.
Blood was seeping out from under the debris.
"Dotta! Dotta!!"
Kanade rushed to the rubble.
Dotta's lower body was pinned beneath the wreckage.
"...R-run... away..."
Dotta's voice was barely a rasp.
"No... no...!"
Kanade tried to move the debris.
It wouldn't budge.
"Sing... with your song... heal me..."
Dotta spoke while coughing up blood.
"S-song... my song..."
Kanade opened his mouth.
—Wind, blow.
No voice came.
—This pain in my chest...
His throat seized.
(Nothing... nothing comes out...!)
Terror clamped down on Kanade's throat.
"Ah... aah..."
Tears spilled over.
He couldn't sing.
Dotta's blood spread across the ground.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
"Hey, what the hell are you doing!"
A bellowing voice.
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