The Former Hero Begins to be Re-evaluated

“So what is it that you want to ask me?”

I asked Ria what she wanted.

What could she want to achieve so badly that she needed to borrow the power of me, a hero?

Regardless of whether I would grant her request or not, I felt like at least listening to it for now.

“Well… Please take me to the Kingdom of Artes. I beg you.”

To my question, Ria stated what she wanted.

She was asking me to take her to the Kingdom of Artes, which is a little… no, quite far away from here.

‘The Kingdom of Artes…’

At first glance, it was a very small request that wasn’t particularly special.

Just asking to be taken somewhere wasn’t a difficult request at all.

But, if that place is the Kingdom of Artes, it’s a bit different.

So there was a reason for asking me…

Currently, it’s said that a civil war is happening in the Kingdom of Artes.

Something about a civil war breaking out due to a struggle for the throne.

I don’t know the details, but at least it’s not a place where a powerless girl can wander around alone right now.

That’s probably why she’s asking me.

If she goes with me, a former hero, she probably won’t experience any dangerous situations.

I could understand to some extent why Ria was so desperate to ask me.

“Why do you want to go to such a place? It’s dangerous there.”

“Well… There might be someone I know there… That’s why I want to go.”

“You say there’s someone you know?”

“Yes.”

Ria seemed to have someone she wanted to meet there.

“Who is that?”

“Um… Well, just a relative.”

“Just a relative?”

“Yes… Well, just someone I saw a little when I was young…”

She didn’t explain in much detail about that person.

But wasn’t Ria said to be an orphan?

It’s not strange to have relatives, but it was a bit surprising that she had relatives in the Kingdom of Artes, which is quite far from here.

If she had relatives, I was a bit suspicious about why she was staying at a church in this remote village.

So I gave Ria a look as if asking for more explanation.

However, Ria tried to avoid my gaze.

As if it was difficult to say more.

‘Is there something she’s hiding?’

Looking at Ria like that, I guessed that what she explained to me wasn’t everything.

It seemed like she had some circumstances she couldn’t talk about.

Should I ask what it is? Looking at Ria’s attitude, I was curious about what she was hiding.

Forget it. It’s not cool to pry into other people’s family affairs.

But I decided not to ask.

If she doesn’t want to say, she doesn’t have to. Well.

I’m also in a position of hiding the fact that I’m a hero exiled from the Empire, and everyone has something they want to hide.

I could understand Ria’s feelings to some extent.

‘The Kingdom of Artes… I have some business there too…’

Anyway, should I call this an incredible coincidence?

The Kingdom of Artes where Ria wants to go, actually had quite a connection with me too.

I was planning to visit there once after retiring as a hero. Because I had one thing left to do there.

It wasn’t an urgent matter so I was thinking of going leisurely, but it wouldn’t be bad to visit on this occasion.

I could take Ria to the Kingdom of Artes while I’m at it.

“Okay. I’ll take you.”

“Huh…? What?”

“I said I’ll take you. I was planning to visit there later anyway, it’s a bit different from my plans, but it doesn’t matter.”

In the end, I just accepted Ria’s request.

No, to be precise, it’s not a request. Since I didn’t receive any compensation. It would be correct to say I granted her favor.

Let’s be a bit generous. Well.

It was a bit disappointing not to receive compensation, but it didn’t really matter.

I wasn’t the type of person to act so coldly.

I may not be now, but I was still a person who used to be a hero.

I could afford to grant this much of a good deed.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll let you know when we’re leaving later.”

Ria was greatly delighted at my words.

Her expression, which had already half given up thinking I wouldn’t take her, changed in an instant.

Her expression asking if it was really true looked truly happy, as if she had gained the whole world.

“Yay! Hero oppa. You’re the best. I’ll definitely repay this favor when I grow up.”

And she hugged me out of joy.

Ria saying she would definitely repay the favor…

“When I grow up wonderfully later, you can ravage my body as you like. I promise.”

What…? Ravage?

Now I’m hearing such words from a little kid, it’s really ridiculous.

Sorry, but I don’t have that kind of taste.

“Forget it. I don’t need a truckload of kids like you.”

I peeled off Ria who was clinging to me.

Being loved by a little kid like you has absolutely no meaning.

“Instead, don’t bother me until we leave. Got it?”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

I told Ria that we would go to the Kingdom of Artes soon, so stop stalking me now.

Ria nodded excessively and agreed.

Leaving Ria behind, I went back to finish farming for now.

#

Herald got to see the skills of the hero party.

Party members with really pathetic skills for a hero party.

Putting aside his disappointment seeing such party members, he had to ask.

Why could they have so little experience after being active as a hero party for a year?

Is it really true that they defeated the Four Heavenly Kings with the hero?

“Well… We were there when the Four Heavenly Kings were defeated.”

“But we didn’t fight directly. We were in charge of evacuation…”

“When we finished evacuation and came back, Hero Han Soo had almost resolved everything.”

“Even when fighting the Demon Lord, Hero Han Soo fought alone.”

The party members hesitated for a moment at Herald’s continued questions.

But soon they started to answer honestly.

As Herald expected, they had almost no proper fighting experience.

Han Soo alone had defeated the high-ranking demons and Four Heavenly Kings.

Then they’re not veterans but complete novices?

And that meant that the party members were useless as combatants.

What’s the point of being active as a hero party for a year if they don’t have proper combat experience…

“At least, I fought together with the hero a few times…”

“Sigh…”

At least Luna, the party’s mage, seemed to have some fighting experience.

Indeed, when fighting the nepenthes, Luna fought a bit better compared to the other party members.

But even that was far from enough.

She was just better than the other party members, but she didn’t seem to have much combat experience either.

From Herald’s perspective, she was also a combat novice like the other party members.

Herald couldn’t help but sigh deeply because of what he just learned.

To think that the hero party members he thought were amazing turned out to be such useless party members…

“Well, still. People who need to evacuate are necessary, right?”

There was a party member who spoke somewhat angrily to the sighing Herald.

Ayla, the party’s saint, spoke as if it couldn’t be helped.

She said there would inevitably be people who need to be evacuated.

To put it bluntly, if you don’t evacuate people, innocent people will all die, and you can’t just ignore that, can you?

She tried to argue that this situation was unavoidable.

“That’s right… We just couldn’t fight because we had no choice.”

“That’s true. We wanted to fight, but Hero Han Soo told us not to…”

And the other party members were the same.

The elf Kirne and beastkin Nafira also agreed with Ayla’s words.

They said they didn’t fight because former hero Han Soo tried to fight alone.

“…”

Of course, Ayla’s logic is somewhat correct.

People to evacuate are certainly needed.

But does the whole hero party have to do the evacuation?

Even if they argue like that, there’s no way Herald would be convinced.

No, even if he was convinced, it didn’t change the fact that the current hero party members were useless.

They didn’t know the geography of this place, didn’t know how to camp, and even lacked the most important combat ability.

They were literally complete burdens.

‘Why on earth did Hero Han Soo keep such party members with him?’

At this point, he wanted to know what former hero Han Soo was thinking.

Why did he keep such party members with him?

Han Soo was quite a compassionate hero.

Although he failed to defeat the Demon Lord, his reputation wasn’t bad.

But even so.

Surely he didn’t keep such useless party members just because of that compassion?

“For now… let’s depart for now.”

No matter how much he pondered what the former hero was thinking, no answer came.

It was already impossible to change to different party members.

Let’s think about it after finding the Demon Lord’s castle for now.

Herald moved with heavy steps while worrying about what to do from now on.
‘The Demon Lord’s castle…’
And while walking like that, Herald was finally able to discover the Demon Lord’s castle.