Chapter 22: 22

Is this Hero for Real?

Chapter 22

[Act 7] And Your Reputation?

[A certain god is humming.]

[A certain god says there’s nothing wrong with being a eunuch.]

[A certain god is very pleased.]

“…”

[Outsider]

There was a critical con to that covinous blessing.

The god seemed happy with the secret I had to carry to my grave.

Your misfortune is my happiness!

Weren’t they supposed to at least pretend to make me feel better?

Clueless to all of that, Kogmos spoke to me,

“Look nicer. It’s awkward enough with you not being able to talk. You’re making it even harder to talk to with that face.”

“…Fine.”

I sacrificed my dignity to calm the wrath of god.

…Although he went beyond calming down and was downright festive.

Anyways, I couldn’t throw away the opportunity to befriend a fantasy native.

And to do that…

“Skinny pigs! Hand over everything you ha—oink?!”

“Let me talk! You pigs!”

There was no way the orcs would allow a group of humans that resembled fallen soldiers to pass by in peace.

By getting rid of every orc that came at us like a swarm of moths, I obtained camaraderie with the people! 

“$# %#…”

“@%$…”

“What are they saying? Thanks for helping?”

“Kill in moderation.”

“Aha!”

They were saying I was doing more harm than good, weren’t they?

I generously gave in to their stubborn request to share the exp!

After building my reputation like that little by little, I put the cherry on top by volunteering to keep night watch.

“…iI’s been a while since I’ve done nothing.”

Flicker, flicker…

Sitting in front of a campfire surrounded by sleeping bags, I looked up at the fantasy night sky.

Blue moon, red moon, white moon…

There were three moons.

The blue moon looked like its main component would be copper sulfate, and iron oxide for the red moon. Would the white moon be made of silicate like it was on Earth?

While I was passing the time with those useless thoughts…

“Kang Hansoo, #%$.”

Lady B silently got out of the fancy carriage and came towards me.

According to the demon’s translations, she claimed to be a noble attending a famous fantasy academy.

Let’s call it a military academy.

It was the place where love and friendships bloomed in fantasy genres, but the subjects taught there weren’t romantic at all.

Swordsmanship, magic, healing, murder…

They taught things extremely useful for war.

“What a sticky situation.”

Demon Kogmos was deep in his sleep.

His nerve to sleep peacefully among humans as a weak demon was bold, that’s for sure.

“#$ #.”

Lady B sat at a slight distance from me as she said things I couldn’t understand.

Maybe she didn’t have any business with me and just wanted to stay warm by the fire.

“…”

“Kang Hansoo $#.”

“Hm?”

Lady B pulled out a dagger she was wearing on her waist.

I could tell by her slow movements that she had no intention of attacking me, but I couldn’t understand why she took her dagger out.

“# %#.”

Flame~

A blue flame engulfed the dagger lady B was holding.

It wasn’t as hot as it looked, but it would destroy anything it touched nonetheless.

“Kang Hansoo #. % $#.”

“…Ah! You want me to show you?”

Fwp.

I could have taken out my blue dagger in my pocket, but I felt lazy and opened up my right thumb.

And concentrated.

A thick, hard red pillar of light rose from my fingertips.

“$#…?”

“Are you happy?”

“@%$#?! Kang Hansoo ^! @#$ *$ #?! @%$ #$. @%$ ^# @^? $ &% *^.”

“…”

“$… @%.”

Lady B was apologizing with her head down after getting herself all worked up.

But why?

“…Ah! Is that it?”

I took out my blue dagger from my pocket and concentrated again.

Fluff fluff.

Maybe she was mad I insincerely showed her just my finger?

She was apologizing after getting mad at me because of that.

I made a thicker, harder force and showed lady B.

“Are you happy now?”

“$ @… $%.”

Lady B gave a sour smile and turned back to the carriage.

“…was that not it? Women confuse me.”

[A certain god ensures a eunuch doesn’t need to know.]

“…”

It was a sad night.

* * *

* * *

There was no doubt the Heroes summoned to the continent of Fantasia by the gods were special, but they were still regular students in high school, not a military academy.

Preparation for death?

That was impossible.

They weren’t selected from a military or warfare enthusiast club, it was an entire classroom…

There was no way everyone would be fit for it.

“Saintess. Hero Oh Hanwoo has quit the job.”

“I see.”

The Saintess took in the hierarch’s report like the weather news. Plenty of Heroes before him had quit for various reasons.

There would be more like him in the future. It would be troublesome if they didn’t.

That’s because…

“Guard the right! Oh?! Watch out!”

“Aak?! You bastard gnoll-?!”

“Bear with it, even if it hurts! We have the Saintess with us!”

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“Yeah. I’m okay. Kirk!”

Because there were only two Saintesses in the entire continent of Fantasia.

It was fine for now because the Heroes were low levels and obedient, but once the real fight started, it would be difficult for her to handle on her ‘own’.

It was inevitable.

She had to prepare beforehand.

“The number of gnolls have decreased quite a bit while I was visiting the Fairy Kingdom.”

“I apologize. The report was pushed back due to Oh Hanwoo’s disturbance. I was told an unidentified group of knights exterminated the forest of gnolls.”

“Knights? Are you certain?”

“We assume it was the work of an elite group with the same swordsmanship.”

“A realistic approach, I see.”

Gnolls were stubborn.

It’s obvious from the way they relentlessly pursued their prey. 

They were especially relentless when their family or clan was in danger. On and on until their prey fell, exhausted…

“You all underestimate gnolls. There is power in numbers. Some fairy tribes make it their lifelong mission to get rid of the gnolls in the forest.”

“I’m well aware.”

“No. Not even the knights could have done this.”

“Then the Demon King…”

“…”

“I… I apologize. I’ve made a mistake…”

“It is dangerous to make hasty judgements, but no doubt this comes close to the Demon King invading.”

That was because the Heroes would level up slower as the number of gnolls went down.

This wasn’t good.

“I will look into it further.”

“No. We mustn’t waste our time and manpower on this crisis. Just make sure to check if the Demon King really is involved.”

The Heroes were summoned in the western outskirts of the continent Fantasia.

On the other end, the Great Demon King and Demon King were spread widely across the eastern continent.

It was much too far away.

A few hostile Demon Kings were active in central Fantasia, but they were too busy rampaging on the front lines to care about the superficial things going on behind the scenes.

…Or were they?

The Saintess wanted to look into it herself, but her plans got ruined as the gnolls’ habitat got destroyed. It pained her.

“Saintess.”

“What is it this time?”

Another hierarch called her through a crystal ball.

“Now that it’s a break, the Academy wanted to invite the Heroes as special guests…”

“Where did the information leak?’

“I believe a student snooping around the mercenary guild saw Hero Oh Hanwoo’s status window.”

“…It was a mistake to allow him independence. I thought he wouldn’t last long by himself and would come back sooner.”

Hero Oh Hanwoo…

He was no longer a ‘Bero’, but it seemed he wouldn’t be remembered well for a long time.

It was a good thing to spread word of the Heroes, who were humanity’s hope to put an end to this long war.

But it was too early. An unprepared Hero would only give disappointment, not hope.

“…Tell the principal we will think about it positively.”

“Yes. I will let them know right away.”

It was still too early, but there might be a student or teacher who could be a useful companion to the Heroes.

It would be good in the long run if the Heroes befriended those in the Academy.

“Saintess!”

That time, a knight hurriedly called for her.

Without going through Prince Alsus?

It meant the problem was more important than the Heroes’ training.

“What’s wrong? Did they all die to a full gnoll again?”

“No, it’s not!”

“Then what is it?”

“We found a backpack assumed to be a Hero’s personal item!”

“…”

The Saintess froze in her tracks.

***

I tried to befriend many mercenaries in the morning.

“Kang Hansoo, #. $# @ %#$ &$% % &^ #^?”

“He asks how you can be so strong even though you’re level 1.”

“I struggled to learn the swordsmanship of the gnolls while fighting them.”

“He says he learned the swordsmanship of the gnolls through his hunts.”

“Hey! Don’t sneak important information into the translations.”

“Well, you should use your brain for once. You have to give the greedy humans this kind of info to get them off your back. Is that really how you learned it, by the way?”

“This little shit…?”

He was mistranslating on purpose while getting information off of me.

“$#? %# # ^$… *% #^$ $# *$&?”

“He asks if it’s possible to hunt a gnoll at level 1 and how many you have to hunt to learn it.”

“I can read through these guys’ questions like a book…”

“Should I tell them their dirty greed is making you uncomfortable?”

“Don’t!”

What was he thinking, making everyone else uncomfortable, too?

It was truly a demonic thought process.

“No need to try so hard. It’s extremely rude to ask a stranger how they train. The mercenaries are just stubborn about it because their bodies are their fortune.”

“Mercenaries, you say…”

I wanted to be stronger as well.

As long as I could get strong and kill the evil goddess, I could handle all the fairys’ sexual harassment and the discomfort from the god.

“What are you thinking this time?”

“Kogmo… You say it’s okay for a mercenary to be stubborn?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. How could being a mercenary give them indulgence? There’re quite a few cases where they died from petty fights.”

“Then why be a mercenary?”

I was genuinely curious.

I knew they were paid if they finished a task.

But this was a fantasy world, not Earth.

There are monsters outside cities and villages, and they were all money if you hunted them.

Did they really need instructions where to mine when a perfectly good mine was right next to them?

I didn’t get it.

“You probably wouldn’t know because you don’t have the Mercenary’s Blessing. You get exp if you complete a task.”

“Oh?”

A Mercenary Blessing?

According to Kogmo, anyone who aspired to be a ‘Mercenary’ could get the Blessing easily.

…Wait.

I took another look at the evil goddess’s curse.

[Hero]

> Experience that you gain from hunting and achievements is greatly diminished!

“It’s not here…”

The only things stopping me from gaining exp were hunting and achievements. Anything else didn’t matter.

“What’s not here?”

“Kogmo, what do I have to do to be a mercenary?”

I had found a way to become stronger.

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