Is this Hero for Real?

[Act 10] Holy Sword for Beginners

“% #$?”

“#$?!”

“# %…”

The three people that followed me out of the city were also confused.

“Shush!”

“…”

“$…”

I put my finger on my lips to tell them to be quiet.

I was relieved I wasn’t deep inside the ocean, but that was nothing to be happy about.

‘Where did that green pig just send us?’

“Oi. Open the entrance right now.”

There was no answer.

But was it because I had my holy sword with me?

Poof!

A transparent entrance I hadn’t seen the last time I’d entered the City of Orcs appeared out of the blue.

“Get back inside.”

“@? $.”

“$%?”

I led the people, who couldn’t see the entrance like I couldn’t before, back to the city.

I didn’t know where I was.

I would have gone straight ahead if it was a plain, but a noble’s wife or lady’s bedroom was dangerous.

In fact, maybe it was worse than that.

“A noble lady with a holy sword hung in her room as a decoration…?”

That couldn’t be normal.

It was safe to assume she was from some great royal family.

[A certain god peeps their head inside.]

“Outsider god, is this place really safe?”

[A certain god drills that it is safe for now.]

“For now? That means it’s going to be dangerous later?”

[A certain god affirms it will be very dangerous.]

“…”

I should have been suspicious the minute that god was being way too cooperative!

I blamed indolent judgment and decided to look around the bedroom that was safe ‘for now’ before I left.

Honestly, it was fascinating.

The inn provided by Ladies A and B was also luxurious, but that bedroom was on a completely different level.

The bed, closet, bookshelf, vanity table, bathroom, chamber pot, desk, chair…

Everything was an art piece.

“How much money does the owner of this room have… huh?”

While I was looking around in awe, I found something familiar.

“Why is this here…?”

My backpack that I’d lost in the forest was hidden underneath the desk.

***

The Heroes, who were used to hunting comfortably in the temple, toured the lives of commoners in a village in the forest.

It would be a good lesson!

“This isn’t the fantasy village I was expecting…”

“Welch! Is this hell? The sanitation of this place…”

“How can people live somewhere like this…?”

The Heroes were in awe, but it was in a different way.

It wasn’t too dirty thanks to the slimes cleaning the village, but all of the installations were poorly kept.

It wasn’t just the installations.

They were expecting a girl resembling a wildflower, a simple but handsome young man, innocent children, generous married couples, a benign chief…

But it was so different in reality that they were at a loss for words.

A girl aged from hard work, a dirty, boorish young man, miserly couples, and children who knew too much about the world.

In fact, it was said that the chief who’d recently died was a villian who’d kidnapped and tortured humans and fairies.

“Heroes!”

Princess Ethena had woken up early that day and cheerly exclaimed.

Where was Prince Alsus?

In charge of the Heroes’ hunting grounds, he was away after getting urgent news that there was a problem with the next hunting ground.

And so, that day, the princess was the guide for the field trip.

“The village is said to be in a mess because it recently experienced various mishaps! So please be careful not to surprise the residents!”

“Haha, Princess Ethena. It is an honor that the Heroes came by, there is no need for a warning.”

“That’s right. We’re already grateful the Heroes visited somewhere this remote. Haha.”

“That’s also why exceptional mages like us also visited. The Heroes are taking important steps forward.”

As soon as Princess Ethena said a word, everyone else quipped in.

The faces of the mages that were dispatched from the Archmazing Kingdom all seemed to say, ‘what are we doing all the way here?’

Normally Princess Ethena would have faltered, but that day was different.

“Also, please be careful not to disturb the Saintess’s business!”

“Ahem.”

“Ahem.”

The mages backed away as soon as the Saintess was mentioned.

She was the sky above the heavens.

There were plenty of elite ‘mages’ in the continent of Fantasia, but there were only two ‘Saintesses’.

That was fewer than the number of legendary Heroes.

The pinnacle of nobility!

Why did such a Saintess go all the way to that ragged place?

After looking around the chief’s house, she made a brief comment.

“I see the site has already been cleaned up.”

“W-we’re sorry!”

The man in charge as the temporary chief bowed like he’d committed a sin.

“There is no need to be so fearful. I am not blaming you for this. After all, you can’t just let a corpse rot.”

“Y-yes maam!”

No matter what the Saintess said, the temporary Chief couldn’t relax.

The Saintess’s beauty, emanating sweetness and light, was enough to make people stay up at night from one glance.

There wasn’t anything scary about her.

But what was important was that it could all switch at any time.

“I came by out of my personal curiosity after hearing there was a mysterious massacre nearby. It is irrelevant to humanity’s peace.”

“Y-yes, ma'am!”

Humanity’s peace…

It was obvious what would happen if it was decided that it was disturbed.

It would be nice to believe that was absolutely not going to happen, but the residents couldn’t be sure when what their chief did was so shocking.

Looking at the roughly organized torture devices, the Saintess asked,

“Councilwoman Celebless was captured here, right? As well as the other fairies.”

“Yes!”

“This question is a bit open, but do you know how important Councilwoman Celebless is?”

“…”

“I apologize. I was a bit insistent. After all, this would be a problem whether or not you knew.”

Flame Guardian Celebless…

Her combat skills were meager, but the beasts she looked after were strong.

Especially the phoenix that gave Celebless the title of ‘Flame Guardian’. It was on another level.

It was the guardian of the Fairy Kingdom.

“Although disturbing the harmony between humans and fairies as well as inducing a civil war is unforgivable…”

“Eek?!”

“I will not press further since the victim has forgiven everything.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much…”

If the Saintess who stood above the law said so, that’s how it was.

The temporary chief’s gloomy face lightened up a little bit.

“What did the stranger who saved the Councilwoman and fairies look like? I want to reward him as a representative of the people.”

“He… he’s dead.”

“I asked about his appearance.”

“Yes? Yes! He had short black hair…and foreign features…but he looked like the Heroes that visite…a-actually he didn’t!”

Did they murder a Hero?!

The temporary Chief’s face turned pale again after thinking of a terrifying possibility.

With an unchanging expression and voice, the Saintess asked,

“What was his name?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is there a resident who does?”

“The owner of the inn he stayed in would know, but he was also found dead in this basement…”

She’d heard about it.

The Chief, innkeeper, pharmacist, head police, and restaurant owner.

What they had in common was that they were middle-aged men who’d helped build the village, and each held an important role.

“Do you really not know who he was murdered by?”

“No…”

* * *

* * *

His words faded towards the end as he was unable to tell the Saintess, the most authorized figure in exorcism repelling wicked energy, that ‘the culprit’ was a phantom!

“Hm.”

The Saintess thought over the circumstances.

Councilwoman Celebless had come back safely after leaving to find the body of her savior.

The rest of the fairies were kidnapped once more by the masterminds controlling the chief in the middle of the night and had died in the basement.

And immediately after, the masterminds and mercenaries were murdered by the ‘phantom’…

It was unrealistic.

“…Go, show the Heroes around the village.”

“Y-yes maam!”

The temporary chief practically ran out of the horrid basement.

The attendant, who had been silent the whole time, carefully spoke up.

“It seems the phantom was…”

“Yes. No doubt it’s him. Although it’s a mystery how he survived without our help when the forest was infested with gnolls.”

“He had a Blessing with him.”

“The Blessing isn’t so all-powerful. No matter how incredible the Blessing is, you can’t beat a gnoll at level 1. You’ve seen our Heroes, don’t you know?”

“Certainly…”

The attendant immediately agreed.

Even with the best equipment, the Heroes had been annihilated by just two gnolls.

But alone?

She was starting to get genuinely curious about just how he’d survived.

“And who gave him the Blessing? All of the gods were in the temple with us.”

“I see. Even the demon god was there to watch…”

The absolute god worshiped by demons…

The demon god!

It was odd they could freely move in and out of the Temple when it was basically their enemy camp, but calling it snooping should justify it.

…It will only get worse if you think about it further.

One simply couldn’t put the criterion of a human on god’s judgments, all they could do was move on.

“What’s important is that he’s alive somewhere in Fantasia.”

“Um…Saintess.”

“Is there anything that bothers you?”

“Yes. If that really is him, isn’t it dangerous to bring the Heroes to this village? If things go wrong…”

“That’s fine.”

The Saintess thought it would be better if things were exposed sooner than later.

When the Heroes got stronger and harder to control, it would be harder to fix things if they turned their backs on them.

Of course, there was someone who didn’t want to get exposed.

[A certain arrogant god of benevolence anxiously watches over.]

[A certain arrogant god of benevolence asks what exactly are you doing.]

[A certain arrogant god of benevolence is extremely displeased.]

“…They won’t notice right away, so please don’t worry. Those who know his name are dead, and the most crucial evidence is with me.”

She’d stored it in the safest place in Fantasia. They could rest assured of that.

“Saintess. It’s another issue, but it seems information was leaked.”

“The tournament?”

“Oh dear! Pardon me. I see you’re already aware.”

“I am, I’m just pretending I’m not. They were intentionally managed a bit poorly. A warrior shouldn't just fight well. Getting misled by false information brings nothing but disaster.”

That’s how it was with the previous generation of Heroes.

The Saintess held back her words and turned to leave the basement with a smile.

“It all depends on how they use the information. Haven’t you noticed Hero Jang Miyeon has been very engaged recently?”

“Could it be…”

“I don’t know why she wants to go to that awful Academy, but she will stay that way until the tournament opens.”

She’d said it would open soon, but not a single thing about the date was mentioned.

Was it tomorrow, next month, next year, or would it be canceled…?

The actually important information was omitted completely.

But they couldn’t ask the date directly or they’d be exposed.

Everyone was in the palm of her hand.

“I feel a bit sorry.”

Unaware of their heated competition that included her, Yoo Bora would only go through more hardships.

The Saintess left the chief’s house and looked around her surroundings.

“The food is really bad.”

“They said the restaurant owner changed.”

“He looks like that at 17? Bring me back my fantasies…”

“Hey! Don’t turn your back to reality!”

“I wonder if there will be hot mercenaries in the big cities…”

“Pff! Wake up! The only novel-like feature is the Prince.”

“Ah, I’m sad there’s no Prince Alsus.”

…The Heroes were let loose around the village and were loudly getting along.

There were no signs of them noticing anything.

It was the right call to not give pretext for any suspicions by unnecessarily restricting the gates to the village.

“Princess Ethena.”

“Oh? You’re out earlier than I expected, Saintess. Did everything go well?”

“In one way or another, yes. By the way, what are you holding in your hands?”

“Alcohol!”

“I wasn’t asking because I don’t know…”

The Saintess felt another headache on its way because of Princess Ethena answering cheerily, grinning ear to ear.

Princess Ethena responded,

“I was also studying the lives of the people.”

“With alcohol…?”

“Alcohol is the best when it comes to making friends, and everyone is honest when they’re drunk. I just heard a proper answer about what they think about my father, the King.”

“What did they say?”

“They said he’s bad at magic and politics.”

“…I see.”

She wanted to investigate who taught that princess how to drink.

—So she could drown them in alcohol.

“I’m sorry to interrupt the princess’s leisure, but it’s time to leave.”

“Okay!”

A drunk Princess Ethena wobbled unsteadily to call over the Heroes.

“…Something about this is disappointing.”

Was she secretly hoping the Heroes would notice?

She couldn’t tell.

[A certain arrogant god of benevolence is greatly relieved.]

[A certain arrogant god of benevolence cries out to kill him quickly.]

“Saintess?”

“It’s nothing. Let's go home early today and rest.”

“Okay.”

She wasn’t speaking to just the Heroes who couldn’t enjoy the village field trip as Princess Ethena did.

She, too, wanted to go home early and rest.

How would the Hero that was betrayed after saving the fantasy natives feel…?

There were even more things to worry about.

“Kang Hansoo…”

Maybe looking at his backpack would help put her at ease.

The Saintess headed toward the safest bedroom in the world.

—To her bedroom with the legendary holy sword.