Is this Hero for Real?

[Act 12] Remodeling

“What a ludicrous fellow…”

Laying in the ruined garden fountain, Prince Alsus recollected the events from just moments before.

Just one blow…

It was an incredible duel that showed just how concise a swordsmanship battle could be!

The man’s stance was worse than that of an uneducated mercenary, and his honest facial expressions made it obvious when he was going to attack.

And yet, he couldn’t be stopped.

“Prince Alsus! Are you alright?!”

“Prince! Are you hurt at all?”

The two ladies who had been watching hurriedly ran over to support him.

Prince Alsus stood up, shaking off the dirt on his clothes.

“I’m alright. In fact, I feel refreshed. Like my mother, her Highness said: The world really is a big place.”

That’s right.

The boy Gang Hansue had shown him just how strong a person could become if they refined their swordsmanship with their life on the line.

But Alsus was next in line for the throne of the nation.

He couldn’t risk dying or becoming disabled by training too dangerously.

“It looked like he was in shock, too.”

“He ran away immediately.”

Prince Alsus let out a hearty laugh after listening to the two ladies.

“Things could have gotten bad because I’m weak. That was foolish of me.”

Attempted murder of a royal family member…

Without doubt, that was an outrageous crime.

But in that case, the prince had suggested the duel first, and two honorable noble ladies had watched the whole thing.

Even if things had gone wrong, at the very least, the boy would escape a death sentence.

Only a death sentence…

“I thought my heart was going to stop beating while I watched.”

“I sincerely apologize. Did you get hurt at all?”

“I’m alright, really. This was my fault, Miss Laysha, Miss Julia.”

Prince Alsus had thought he would obviously win.

In fact, he would have won if he hadn’t given the boy the first move.

But what did that result in?

Excuses don’t work in a battlefield where one risks their life.

He’d made a disgrace of himself, falling behind a level 1 mercenary’s swordsmanship.

“The party’s become a mess…”

“Shall we bring him in again?”

“I’ll leave it to you ladies. I want to properly apologize to Mister Gang Hansue.”

—And he had a lot of questions for him.

He almost wanted to hit himself for not taking the two ladies seriously before when they’d introduced the boy to him.

It was light, pure light!

He’d risk his life to see it again—Gang Hansue’s swordsmanship was that valuable.

“Yes, Prince Alsus.”

“Please wait for us.”

“Miss Laysha, Miss Julia. Please, you have my trust.”

“I’m sure he went to the inn.”

“We’ll be right back.”

Prince Alsus escorted the two rushing ladies and put his hand on his left chest.

Thump, thump.

“Well, well. This is as exciting as the first time I learned swordsmanship from my mother, her Highness.”

“Prince Alsus!”

Just then, a maid came running from the house.

“What is it?”

“The Saintess wishes to see you!”

Face flushed, the maid was clearly excited.

The Saintess…

She was the most perfect human female on the continent of Fantasia.

Every girl’s ideal dream!

Even the beautiful queen and princess, praised to be the nation’s treasures, looked dim next to the Saintess.

The maid’s reaction was only natural.

“I forgot my duties. Please take care of the destroyed fountain.”

“Yes!”

Back in his house, Prince Alsus sat in front of the communication crystal ball.

“Did you wish to see me, Saintess?”

(Yes. There is business I have to take care of with the Fairy Kingdom, so I reached out to you in hopes I could get an earlier report.)

“It will be difficult to carry out the plans for the Heroes to hunt the orcs in the plains. At the moment, there is no sign that the sudden decrease in the number of orcs will go back up again.”

(Did you figure out why?)

“After capturing a wandering orc alive and asking with the Langauge Blessing, it seems like a demon stole their habitat. But none of the information has been confirmed.”

The City of Orcs…

It was a legend passed on between bards and troupes since a long, long time ago.

Prince Alsus had gone to the place the captured orc had spoken of, but it was as he thought.

There wasn’t even a trace of anything, let alone a city

(Good work.)

“And Saintess, I have a suggestion.”

(Let’s hear it first.)

“Thank you. There was recently an incident of a Hero who harassed a fairy.”

(…Go on.)

“An honorable civilian who tried to stop him ended up getting the Hero’s Curse.”

(It looks like a Hero who was kicked out caused some trouble.)

“It appears so…”

Having spent almost every day with the Heroes ever since they were summoned, Prince Alsus was feeling a deep sense of responsibility.

Mercenary Gang Hansue…

It wasn’t just for him.

How could one get cursed for doing the right thing all because they were going against a ‘Hero’?

It was absolutely reprehensible

(Who was the Hero?)

“We do not know his name or appearance, only that his face was injured beyond recognition.”

(His face… I do have someone in mind. Oh Hanwoo. It’s not easy to be this much of a nuisance.)

“Was it him? I would like to track them with a surveillant so the kicked-out Heroes don’t cause further trouble.”

(I give my permission. And please compensate the cursed civilian generously. Thank you.)

“Of course, it’s a request from the Saintess.”

(No. A Hero’s faults are the Saintess’ responsibilities. I should have been the one to compensate them myself, but that’s going to be difficult—I have to go to the fairy kingdom urgently.)

“I understand. I will make sure to not disappoint with my compensation.”

(You have my trust.)

Beep-

The connection with the Saintess ended.

Looking at the crystal ball that was no longer on, Prince Alsus smiled with much satisfaction.

“Compensation, huh…”

He looked to his sword that only had the handle left after getting destroyed.

Despite being a ceremonial sword with fancy accessories decorating it, it was still one of the finest swords made by an exceptional blacksmith in the kingdom.

And yet, it couldn’t handle Gang Hansue’s attacks and was destroyed.

The fate of the spare sword he’d gifted Hansue had been the same—The blade had broken, not able to bear its handler.

“…This won’t be enough to make him my knight.”

* * *

* * *

Knight Gang Hansue…

He was quite an enticing prodigy.

Happily dreaming of an imaginary world, Prince Alsus waited for him to return.

***

The holy sword for beginners was an exceptional escape route.

Not too far from the house that was in the center of the city, I was back at the luxury inn and shaking the demon’s shoulders.

“Kogmo! Hurry up and pack your bags!”

“Wh-what is it?!”

“I’ll be arrested for attempted murder of the Prince if I get caught! We have to run away, now!”

“You did it, you crazy bastard…!”

“Don’t worry. It’s easy for me to escape.”

“Who ever worried about you?! I’m worried about myself for getting caught up with you!”

“You’re right. You’re the one who needs to be good at escaping. I’ll get out by my own way.”

“Damnit!”

Poof!

Demon Kogmos couldn’t use the holy sword’s entrance because he was over level 10.

But that didn’t apply to me.

With my things that didn’t fit into my bags because I didn’t pack properly…

“Orc! Open the gates!”

Poof!

As soon as I spoke, a semi-transparent opening was formed.

The demon was appalled as he watched me throw all of my belongings inside.

“What the hell is that?! Four-dimensional spatial magic?! I thought you couldn’t use magic!”

“There’s no time to explain. I can’t wait for you too long.”

“What…?”

I made sure to double check that I didn’t leave anything behind and finally jumped into the opening.

Poof!

“You’re back, $#!”

“%#. Welcome.”

“% # again? &$ @#.”

Without exception, all of the humans who’d settled in the City of Orcs ran to welcome me.

Maybe their lives had become a lot more stable.

The clothes they were wearing had improved, so they looked like actual civilians, and their expressions had brightened significantly.

—And they were walking on eggshells around me with an extremely docile attitude.

“Hm~”

It was understandable.

They were basically trapped in a deserted island, and I—able to walk in and out as I pleased—was clearly the stronger person.

And so, at least in that place, my words would be the absolute law.

Almost like a king…

It may be baffling that an average student like me could be above someone, but that was the reality.

“#$?”

“I need a person.”

“A person? $#%. Do you need a #@ $% *&$ person?”

“That’s…”

It was hard to explain because I still had a very limited vocabulary.

But after trying my best and mixing body language into the explanation, I found the person I wanted.”

“Hehe. *%. #$ $%.”

“It’s you again.”

It was the man who’d offered me the dolled-up woman.

His name was…

“Bruce, sir! %$!”

“Hm. Bruce.”

Was it okay to trust him?

It didn’t matter—I’d just swap him if it wasn’t.

“What is this, Gero?”

The green guardian looked blatantly uncomfortable to see me again.

After moving all of my belongings to the relic, I introduced him to Bruce.

“From now on, this human will move my things from the entrance to the exit, so don’t kill him.”

“…this isn’t your personal warehouse, sir.”

“All you need to do is pass the things I ordered to the exit with my holy sword.”

“Are you listening to me, sir?”

“I’m talking to you, sir.”

“…”

Communication with the fantasy pig was much better than with a human.

After negotiating a bit, I had a four-dimensional warehouse that I could store and find my things from whenever I wanted.

“Excellent.”

“…”

Its advantage was that it was very convenient to carry as well as its infinite capacity.

On top of that, I could store any creature under level 10 there.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“I've been through all kinds of humiliation, but I've never felt so resentful of the fact that I'm weaker than you, Hero.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!”

Poof!

I left the ‘warehouse’ that was once the City of Orcs right away.

Demon Kogmos was probably waiting near the north gates of the city.

Why the north gate?

That’s because it was where the people who’d wished to go back home and I had come out last time. There wasn’t another option—there wasn’t a holy sword anywhere else nearby.

Poof!

“Kogmo.”

“Holy! Where did you come running from all of a sudden?!”

The male demon had been watching the city exit while waiting for me.

He was shocked senseless when I called him from behind.

“Let’s hurry and run.”

“How did you do that? You vanished without a trace back at the inn, too.”

“It’s the power of extraordinary magic!”

“…At least I know you don’t want to give a proper explanation.”

“Where should we go now?”

“I don’t even know your objective, why are you asking me?”

My objective!

He was definitely right.

As Kogmos pointed out, I would never be able to return back to Earth by blindly wandering around a fantasy world.

And it would be troublesome if that demon led me somewhere weird.

“For now, we run somewhere as far from the Saintess as possible. “

“Does that have something to do with you getting your Hero’s Curse?”

“Yep.”

“I’m going to have to go further north as soon as possible to get away from someone who has a grudge with the Saintess.”

“What’s up north?”

“The biggest slave market in the western continent. I’ll find you a slave with the Language Blessing there.”

“heh~”

“…What’s with that sour face?”

“It’s fascinating how you didn’t run away.”

After all, the demon didn’t have the loyalty to keep following me, soon to be the most wanted criminal for attempted murder of a royal family member. Or maybe that demon was as loyal as he was tearful…

“You stubborn bastard! Are you asking because you really don’t know?!”

“What?”

Contorting his handsome face, demon Kogmos cried out, “I couldn’t leave because you took all of my stuff with you, too!”

“Aha!”

Our relationship was much tighter than unreliable loyalty.

“We have to hurry. There is no way to lose the horse-riding knights in the plains, where there’s nowhere to hide.”

“Then we’ll just run really fast.”

“Wait. I don’t have infinite stamina like you. We’ll get a horse from the stables outside the cit…”

“Neigh~!”

I summoned a decent horse that I’d ordered from my storage unit.

“Is that all?”

“…Just what kind of magic did you get your hands on?”

“It’s a business secret♪”

“Don’t act cute. I’m going to throw up my breakfast.”

[A certain god strongly agrees.]

[A certain god drills to never do that again.]

“Jeez, I’m sorry!”

We ran north. If the horse got exhausted, it would take turns with another horse, and so on…

What about food?

Poof!

“Here, eat this.”

“…Where did you get proper food like this? Are you going to call this magic, too?”

“Yep.”

A lot of people who knew how to cook lived in my warehouse.

‘I should gift them with cooking utensils once I get the chance. That way there will be better quality meals.’

Poof!

The emptied plates were returned to the warehouse entrance.

Looking closely at it, the demon furrowed his brows.

“…No matter how I see this, it doesn’t make sense. I’ve never heard of magic that cooks and does the dishes for you.”

“That’s just you.”

“Annoying bastard…!”

As a result, we reached our destination in two days.

—The biggest slave market in the western continent.

It deserved its reputation—I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation as soon as I saw it.

“This is awesome.”

It looked like I would be able to add more function(person)s to my warehouse.