Former Title: The Old Men's Battle Begins Now! ~ The Merchant, an Initial Member of the Hero's Party, Snaps at the Great Nation That Discarded the Hero.

Balad, a merchant and Hero Velkt's first companion, left the Hero's party after a defeat by a Demon Lord's general.

Nevertheless, Balad continued to support the Hero with funds, supplies, and equipment, sending him off to the decisive battle against the Demon Lord.

However, the Hero never returned.

Though he had defeated the Demon Lord, it was said that he succumbed to a curse the Demon Lord unleashed.

Harboring doubts about this narrative, Balad journeyed to the Demon Lord's castle, the Hero's last known location. There, he uncovered that the perpetrators behind the Hero's demise were Meishin, Prince of the great nation of Aleista, and other final members of the Hero's party, and that the slain Hero potentially could be resurrected.

To save the Hero, Balad headed to Aleista's royal capital, where the Hero's body had been transported.

The merchant, who started out running a hardware store, was in fact a prodigy of rare talent.

Balad, who commanded the Matial Chartered Company — an armed economic organization he founded to support the Hero — devised a plan to infiltrate the Hero's state funeral for his recovery, and furthermore, to construct a siege around Aleista, the 'betrayer' great nation.

However, at the same time, a 'malign entity' that had sustained its existence through the Hero's death had also taken root in Aleista, preparing to unleash a new catastrophe.

In the corrupt royal capital, those connected to the Hero converged, and the final battle commenced.

It was a battle to save the Hero, a battle to bring an era to its close.