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 - A Night of Despair, and Yet She Sings
The night's darkness had swallowed the smell of blood.
At the front lines of Myurid Fortress, in the shadow of a crumbling defensive wall, the 9004th Penal Hero Unit's position no longer resembled anything that could be called a "position."
The stone paving was shattered, black smoke rising from a dozen scattered points. Ibris's roar echoed in the distance—no, close by. The air trembled.
Kuon Kanade stared at his own hands. His fingertips were trembling in small, rapid spasms. Mud and someone else's blood clung to them.
(I couldn't do anything.)
The back of his throat burned. When he tried to speak, only ragged air escaped.
"Dotta... Dotta!"
Kanade's voice was so small it nearly drowned in the battlefield's clamor.
The small-statured man lying atop the rubble—Dotta Ruzuras. Black blood poured ceaselessly from his abdomen. He had taken the blow shielding Kanade, trying to save a civilian trapped beneath the debris.
"Ugh... ah..."
Dotta's lips let out meaningless sounds. His face was the color of clay, his unfocused eyes wandering through empty space. Consciousness was almost gone.
"Dotta, stay with me! I'll sing! I'll sing for you again!"
Kanade gripped Dotta's hand with his trembling fingers. It was cold as ice.
"It's useless."
A low voice dropped from behind him.
One of the wounded penal heroes leaned against the wall, glaring at Kanade. His right arm was gone from the shoulder down, the bandages soaked bright red.
"Your singing won't do a damn thing. Dotta's going to die. You, me, all of us—we're going to die."
"Th-that can't..."
"Look at reality, otherworlder. This isn't a place where your pretty words mean anything."
The man's words stabbed into Kanade's chest like a rusted blade.
Then came the unpleasant screech of grinding metal.
"...Don't die. Not yet."
Kanade raised his head.
The massive warrior Tatsuya was down on one knee. His trademark rusted helmet was badly dented and cracked. He was desperately pressing the fragments against his head—so that the contents wouldn't spill from the lost back of his skull.
The sight was grotesque, and heartbreaking.
"Tatsuya...!"
Tatsuya tried to rise, using his massive battle axe as a crutch with his remaining arm. But his gravely wounded body wouldn't obey.
"...Ugh, ah..."
He couldn't form words. Only low groans, and still he tried to push forward.
Kanade's chest tightened with pain.
(Tatsuya's still trying to fight, even like that.)
(And yet, I...)
"Zairo... where's Zairo?"
Kanade looked around desperately, clinging to hope.
"Captain Zairo was commanding at the front until a moment ago... but who knows now."
The man spat the words out like blood.
"Ibris's regeneration mist is thickening again. At this rate, no matter how many times we kill it, there's no end."
At those words, Kanade gazed toward the distant battlefield.
Black mist writhed across the sky. At its center, the silhouette of a giant with two curved horns. Twelve meters tall. Its obsidian-like skin dulled the moonlight.
Maou Phenomenon No. 15—Ibris.
No matter how many times it was killed, it revived within hours. Cloaked in regeneration mist, the colossal body stood serene, as if mocking the fortress.
"...!"
Kanade's legs froze.
There was no way they could beat that.
That was when it happened.
"Oi, where do you think you're going?"
A cheerful voice—yet with an edge of sharpness to it.
Kanade turned to see a lightly armored man, Benedim Leopool, retreating without making a sound. He had stripped off part of his equipment and was now dressed for mobility.
"Benedim...?"
"Ah—no, this is, uh..."
Benedim tried to flash a grin, but his face was twitching.
"Just, you know, checking on the rear situation..."
"The rear? Is there something in the rear? Reinforcements coming?"
Tsarv stood blocking Benedim's path, magic rifle still shouldered. His mouth was smiling. His eyes were not.
"No, that's the thing, not yet..."
"Then where are you going?"
"I-it's not like that! I'm not trying to run away or anything—!"
Benedim's voice cracked.
"Sure looks like you're trying to run away, though."
"None of your business! I survive my own way! I'm not dying for nothing in a place like this!"
Benedim was half-shouting now.
"Benedim!"
Kanade's voice tore through the battlefield air.
It was louder than even he expected.
Benedim flinched and spun around.
"Please... don't go...!"
Kanade fixed his tear-soaked eyes on Benedim.
"Everyone's about to die...! Dotta, Tatsuya...! Please, don't leave us alone...!"
Kanade's voice shook. Pathetic, shameful—but desperate.
Benedim stared at Kanade's face for a long moment.
"...Tch."
He clicked his tongue softly.
"Fine. I get it. So stop making that face like you're about to cry."
Benedim roughly scooped up the equipment he'd discarded.
"I'll fall back to rear support. To watch you all die."
With that, he vanished quickly into the shadows.
Kanade's chest ached with relief—and something more bitter beneath it.
(Benedim must have wanted to run.)
(But my voice stopped him.)
(Maybe my voice does mean something.)
(But still...)
—BOOOOM!!
Suddenly, an eardrum-shattering roar erupted.
The ground shook.
Kanade dropped to his knees where he stood.
"W-what...!?"
"It's Ibris! It hit the wall!"
Looking up, part of the fortress wall had completely collapsed.
Ibris's mighty arm had smashed the thick stone wall to pieces.
From beneath the fallen rubble came countless screams and cries for help.
"H-help me...!"
"Someone...! There's a child here...!"
The civilians' despairing cries.
"Over there...!"
Kanade staggered to his feet.
His legs carried him toward the mountain of rubble.
"Oi, stop! You'll die!"
He couldn't hear the man's protest.
Kanade ran to the collapsed wall.
And then he saw it.
—A mother, lifeless, a small child clutched to her chest.
Her back had been crushed by a massive boulder. But the child in her arms was still moving, faintly.
"Ah... aah..."
Meaningless sounds spilled from Kanade's mouth.
The mother's face was twisted in agony. But her eyes were open, fixed on her child.
(She tried to protect this child until the very end.)
(And yet, I...)
Kanade tried to pull the child free from the mother's body.
But her arms, locked in rigor mortis, had dug into the child's body.
"Ugh... uu..."
Crying, Kanade pried her fingers loose, one by one.
Cold. Stiff.
It was the touch of death.
He finally lifted the child.
Still breathing.
"It's okay... you're okay...!"
Kanade held the child to his chest and tried to move away from the rubble.
That was when it happened.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A low voice, crawling along the ground.
Kanade turned. Zairo Forbarts stood there.
His near-black dark brown hair was disheveled, the old scar on his left cheek stained red with splatter. His lips beneath the stubble were pressed tight. Sharp amber eyes pierced through Kanade.
No man better fit the phrase "battered beyond recognition."
His armor was shattered, his left shoulder deeply slashed, several fingers of his right hand bent at wrong angles.
And still, Zairo stood.
"Zairo... this child...!"
"I know. Get them to the infirmary. Now."
"But I..."
"Your singing won't do a damn thing."
The same man from before hurled the words again, laced with hatred.
"That brat won't make it either. Stop wasting your time."
"Shut up."
Zairo's voice was curt.
The man flinched for a moment, but pressed on.
"Shut up? Look at reality! We've been abandoned! No reinforcements are coming! Ibris won't die! Is this really the time to be singing songs!?"
"I said shut up."
Zairo's voice dropped another register.
Killing intent pulled the air taut.
The man finally fell silent.
"...Kanade."
Zairo turned to Kanade.
"You take that child. And do what you can. Don't think about anything else."
"...Yes."
Kanade wiped his tears, held the child close, and ran toward the infirmary.
(Do what I can.)
(What can I even do?)
(All I can do is sing.)
(But that singing doesn't help anyone...)
Kanade's heart was shattered to pieces.
---
The infirmary was hell.
A sea of blood spread across the floor, and the moans of the wounded echoed off the walls.
Kanade laid the child on an empty bed.
"Excuse me... this child...!"
But no one had the time to answer him.
Doctors and nurses alike were overwhelmed treating the wounded.
Kanade was struck anew by his own uselessness.
(I'm just in the way.)
(All I can do is sing, and even that doesn't help.)
(There's no reason for me to be here.)
Kanade stepped outside the infirmary.
The night sky was stained an eerie purple by Ibris's regeneration mist.
Kanade sat down against the wall.
He pulled a leather-bound notebook from his pocket.
A precious notebook for writing down poems.
And one more.
An old poetry collection.
—*Resonance*.
The book that had brought Kanade to this world. The beginning of everything.
(I'll open it.)
(I'll open it and sing.)
(Maybe then something will change.)
Kanade's fingers touched the cover of the poetry collection.
But he couldn't open it.
His fingers trembled, refusing to obey.
(I can't open it.)
(I'm afraid to open it.)
(I'm afraid to sing.)
(Because it won't help anyone.)
Tears spilled from Kanade's eyes, one after another.
"...Uu..."
A voiceless sob escaped his throat.
Clutching the poetry collection to his chest, Kanade simply kept crying.
---
"...Kanade."
How much time had passed?
Zairo stood before Kanade.
He was breathing hard through his shoulders.
"Zairo..."
"Dotta's calling for you."
"...What?"
"He regained consciousness. Says he has something to tell you."
Kanade staggered to his feet.
The two of them headed for Dotta.
---
Dotta was still lying atop the rubble.
But his eyes were faintly open.
"...Kanade?"
"Dotta...! It's me!"
Kanade ran to Dotta's side and gripped his hand.
"Thank goodness... you're awake..."
"...Yeah. Not dead yet."
Dotta wore a blood-tinged smile.
"More importantly... take this."
With trembling hands, Dotta pulled a small device from inside his coat.
"What is this...?"
"Ibris's communicator."
"Communicator...?"
"I stole it back when I was a scout... Ibris's voice is recorded on it."
Dotta coughed painfully and continued.
"I analyzed it. And then... I found Ibris's weakness."
"Weakness...!?"
Kanade's heart leaped.
"A specific tonal pattern... It can be sealed with song."
"Sealed... with song..."
Kanade couldn't believe his ears.
"There are only a few successful cases on record... But I'm certain of it."
At Dotta's words, everyone present fell silent.
Zairo, Tsarv, Tatsuya, Benedim.
And Kanade too.
(Sealed with song.)
(My song might be able to defeat Ibris.)
(But only a few successful cases.)
(Most of them failed.)
(What happens if I fail?)
(Everyone dies.)
(Everyone dies because my song wasn't good enough.)
Kanade's body began to tremble again.
"...I can't."
The words of refusal slipped from Kanade's mouth on their own.
"I can't do it..."
Tears streaming, Kanade sank to the ground.
"Only a few successful cases... there's no way I can do it... My singing can't possibly... Because my song doesn't help anyone...!"
Kanade clutched his head.
"If I fail, everyone dies... Because of me... I'm scared... I'm afraid to sing...!"
Kanade's sobs echoed through the quiet battlefield.
No one could say a word.
—That was when it happened.
The air changed.
A warm wind swept across the battlefield.
Kanade raised his head.
She was standing there.
Snow-white skin. Flame-gold hair. Burning red eyes.
The Sword Goddess, Theolitta.
Small sparks crackled and scattered from the tips of her hair.
"That's enough."
Theolitta's voice held a beauty like rolling bells—and anger sharp as a blade.
"Lady Theolitta..."
"How long do you intend to sit there crying?"
Theolitta stood before Kanade and looked down at him directly.
"Who decided your son
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