The Crown of the False Hero

The space rift slowly sealed shut, swallowing the starry, dark aura of the Demon King girl, but the air in the arena remained thick with absolute shock. The world-ending tyrant had just proposed to a twelve-year-old slum boy, promising to return in two years to claim him as her husband.Before the stunned crowd could even process the cosmic shift, a sharp click of heels echoed against the stone steps.Lady Marine stormed down the VIP staircase and marched straight out onto the blood-red sand of the arena. Her face was flushed bright crimson, her eyes flashing with a sudden, intense wave of jealousy. She completely ignored the unconscious dragon prince Niel and stopped right in front of Eren, her aristocratic composure entirely replaced by fierce determination."I don't care if she's the Demon King," Marine declared, her voice ringing clearly across the quiet stadium as she grabbed Eren's hands. "You called me your future wife in front of the entire empire, Eren. You can't just let some demon girl claim you! I am asking for your hand in marriage, right here, right now!"Eren blinked, his spiky blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze. A cocky, high-energy gyaru smirk quickly spread across his lips as he looked at her fierce, blushing face. Two beautiful, high-tier options in one day? This harem quest is going perfectly."Hey, I'm not a guy who breaks his promises," Eren grinned, casually adjusting his modern gold chains. "I accept. But you know the rules of this kingdom better than I do, princess. We've still got some red tape to cut through."He was right. Under the absolute laws of the Nileges Empire, a marriage between a royal bloodline and a commoner from the slums was strictly forbidden without the direct approval of the crown. Up in the stands, dozens of elite nobles began to recover from their fear, their expressions turning ugly. They heavily disliked Eren. To them, he was still just a lucky slum rat who had humiliated their bloodlines.Your Majesty!" the fat noble from the earlier court sessions suddenly shouted, waddling forward. "This is absurd! A peasant cannot marry into high nobility, no matter how lucky he got in the ring! It goes against the ancient laws of Nileges!""Silence!" King Alden Nileges' voice boomed, cutting the fat noble off mid-sentence.The King slowly descended the royal steps, his gaze fixed entirely on Eren. Unlike his narrow-minded nobles, the King was completely shocked by Eren's sheer might. He had seen the boy crush an ancient dragon ancestor in one hit and put a literal scratch on the Demon King. A power of that caliber couldn't be leashed by laws—it had to be worshiped."Laws can be rewritten by the hand that holds the sword," King Alden declared, standing before Eren. He drew his ceremonial golden blade and tapped it against Eren's shoulders. "By the absolute authority of the crown, I hereby grant Eren of the slums the official title of The Sovereign Hero of Nileges. From this day forward, you hold the highest noble rank in the empire."The entire stadium gasped. The shift was immediate. The moment the word "Hero" left the King's lips, the arrogant sneers on the faces of the nobility completely vanished. Everyone instantly changed their tone of talking to him, their voices suddenly dripping with forced respect and terror.The fat noble who had just been insulting Eren went pale as a sheet. Realizing he had just offended a certified Demi-God and the newly crowned Hero of the Empire, the fat noble threw himself onto the sand. He crawled forward, completely humiliating himself as he lay down beneath Eren's heavy leather shoes, weeping in panic."Lord Hero! Please forgive my blind arrogance!" the noble wailed, kissing the dirt near Eren's boots. "I am a fool! A worm! Please spare my household from your divine wrath!"Eren looked down at the weeping noble, his expression cool, unbothered, and filled with supreme gamer confidence. "Get out of my face before I use you as a training dummy." The fat noble scrambled backward into the dirt, thanking him profusely.But beneath his calm, cool exterior, Eren's mind was calculating at hyper-speed.These idiots have no idea, Eren thought, looking down at his unamplified hands.Everyone in the stadium believed he was still operating at peak Demi-God strength. They didn't know that the cowardly War God Alexus had just betrayed him, forcibly revoking the 10x multiplier buff and dropping his physical body back to a Level 1 mortal. The massive golden-silver aura was entirely gone. Right now, if a high-ranking knight attacked him, Eren wouldn't be able to rely on raw, overwhelming power to survive.He was standing on a mountain of false hype, surrounded by enemies, with a two-year deadline to face the Demon King and a cosmic mission to assassinate the God of War.A standard protagonist would have panicked, but Eren just tightened his grip on his rusted village blade, a sharp, dangerous grin cutting across his face. The divine cheat code was gone, but his veteran gaming tactics, his absolute muscle memory, and his Absolute Adaptability were still locked in his brain.You want me to grind from Level 1, Alexus? Eren thought, looking up at the crimson sky. Fine. Watch how a real VRMMO pro plays the game.