Son of the Hero King

Chapter 691: Some Truth?

“Have you ever watched baseball?”

Sol immediately understood that he was dreaming. A dream that brought back memories he thought he had forgotten in their entirety at this point in his life.

They were memories from a more peaceful time. From a time when he resided in a world with no power or magic. When his greatest worry was his notes and finding a good job in the future after graduating.

Sol had once been completely ignorant about baseball, but during his university years, he had no choice but to watch it.

His memories of those times were faint at best, but one of his roommates was a baseball fan— the kind who would wear a jersey and paint his face while paying exorbitant prices for first-row tickets.

For Sol, who was constantly bored with life at the time, such an amount of relentless passion was truly intriguing ways he was unable to articulate at the time.

— What the hell are they even talking about...? He once wondered while listening to his friends.

At first, it was all confusing. The rules, the way points were scored— it didn’t make much sense most of the time. Batting averages? On-base percentages?

None of it clicked with him, but as time passed, he was (forcefully)trained to watch baseball, developed a favorite team, and eventually found himself celebrating wins and sulking over losses.

Before he knew it, he was watching postseason games in the fall—

— Baseball is absolutely insane!

It was fun. There was no other proper way to explain the sport other than the fact that it was fun in its own twisted ways.

Sol found himself shouting at the opposing team and experiencing firsthand how his blood pressure spiked whenever his team lost.

Soon, instead of playing on his PC or reading books indoors, Sol began throwing baseballs, swinging bats, and practicing alone.

His reasoning? It truly wasn't anything grand. In fact, some might even find that it was quite stupid.

— If I’m going to insult the players, I might as well understand how hard their sport actually is.

... And then—

— Holy hell, this is insanely hard.

Sol realized just how unforgiving the sport was. This went beyond simple matters of talent. It was simply a grueling amount of work with minimum results to show for it in a short time.

Throwing a ball properly was no joke.

Hitting one cleanly was even worse.

What shocked him most was how hard and heavy the baseball felt. Throwing it with full force left his elbows and shoulders feeling like they were being ground down in real time. RåNꝊꞖÊș

Stolen novel; please report.

Nefertiti smiled gently as she approached Sol and took his hands in hers. Her eyes were earnest as she looked at Sol’s past self, groaning heavily, his hand covered in blisters from all the swinging and the throwing.

The man she was looking at had nothing particularly special.

His appearance was moderately handsome but nothing head-turning. His body was frail, his balance was non-existent. He had no training, no power and certainly did not exude the aura of power the current Sol had.

Even so—

“All I can see is the earnest and steadfast man I feel in love with and came to respect.”

She gripped his hand tighter, not willing to let him go. “We may have met because of common interest and the machinations of Lady Nent. But your personality is what made me fall in love with you.”

He brought light into her world drenched in utter darkness. “I managed to grow, not because I believed in myself. But because I believed in you who believed in me. Because I refused to betray your expectations, I reached new heights.”

She hugged him. “So do not fear my Lord. You are Sol. You will always be Sol and no one can change that.”

Sol hugged her back. “I don't know how I have someone as great as you by my side.”

He had to admit. He felt quite... No. Extremely moved.

As far as he knew, outside otherworlders like Kali and Anubis, or Ambrosia, people like Tiamat, Asmodeus, and Gabriel all knew he was from another world.

Out of the people close to him, Isis and Nent were also aware and Camelia had more or less an inkling of his origins, even if he never went into detail of his past life.

“Even after coming this far, I still have a small modicum of fear about revealing my past identity.”

“I believe none of the people close to you would be so shallow that they would think negatively of you because of this.”

“I know. Quite stupid of me isn't it?”

“There is nothing stupid about fearing rejection. The more we love something, the greater our fear of losing it.” Nefertiti tapped Sol's head. Even though she was shorter than him, at that moment he couldn't help but feel comforted by her.

“My lord. You are nearly perfect. But your most noticeable flaw is your inability to believe in us completely. To believe in our conviction, loyalty, and adoration for you.”

Sol looked offended. “I let the girls fight alone during the war.”

Nefertiti gave him a look akin to a mother looking down at a misbehaving child.

“You let them fight in a war where you had perfect control of nearly every variable and had a demigod on standby. Even Isis had her King-level undead ready at a moment’s notice. Miss Setsuna or Lilin were never in any danger whatsoever. This war was nothing but a game where you gave the illusion of danger to push the weaker girls around you to reach new heights. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I...” For the first time in quite some time, Sol found himself speechless. This was even more so since the one speaking was none other than Nefertiti.

Just what the hell was happening here?