The Former Hero Begins to be Re-evaluated

“You’re going to the Kingdom of Artes?”

“Yes, that’s right. Something came up suddenly. And I’ll help Ria find her relative.”

“Hmm. I see, be careful on your journey.”

A week later, I told the village chief that I would be leaving the village for a while.

At that, the village chief seemed a bit disappointed that I was leaving just as he was starting to get attached.

But I wasn’t leaving completely.

I was just going because of some circumstances for a while, and after I said I would come back, the village chief understood.

“Hehe… Village chief. Thank you for everything.”

“Yes. Ria. I hope you find the person you’re looking for in the Kingdom of Artes.”

“Yes. I’ll come visit again if I have the chance.”

Ria also exchanged greetings with the villagers.

Unlike me, Ria was leaving the village completely this time, and the villagers saw her off.

Although she came to the village as an orphan, it seems Ria was quite loved in the village.

Since she was now going to find her relative and go there, the villagers congratulated her but also showed some disappointment.

The villagers each gave Ria gifts and wished her well, saying she should live well.

But well, there will probably be a chance to meet again someday.

Ria said goodbye to the villagers, saying it wasn’t like she would never see them again.

“Then we’ll be departing.”

“Goodbye. Village chief. Uncle. Auntie.”

With that, the carriage departed with many villagers seeing us off.

‘Is this the first time in almost a year that I’m going to the Kingdom of Artes? Come to think of it, didn’t I meet Ayla there?’

Now that we were officially on our way to the Kingdom of Artes, I couldn’t help but think about the Kingdom of Artes for a moment.

The Kingdom of Artes… It’s been really long.

The Kingdom of Artes, although we’re going there because Ria’s relative is there, it’s actually not a place completely unrelated to me.

It’s one of the many kingdoms I briefly visited when I was a hero, so it’s not particularly special.

But the reason I remember this kingdom is because I met one of my hero party members here.

Apprentice nun, Ayla. Although she’s now a saint, until a year ago Ayla was definitely an apprentice nun.

When she recognized me as a hero in the past, she asked me to take her along.

She begged that she wanted to become a saint, to give her a chance to defeat the Demon Lord.

Well, there wasn’t really a need to take her along, but there wasn’t a reason not to either.

I didn’t particularly need her, but she might be needed when healing other people, right?

It’s not like I was thinking of recruiting an amazing healer, so I thought it was a good opportunity and recruited her into the hero party.

‘Sigh… I’m starting to get angry suddenly.’

Why on earth did I recruit her?

They say past memories become beautiful memories due to nostalgia bias, but that wasn’t the case for me.

After recruiting Ayla, she and I clashed over every little thing.

She started treating me like some heretical Satan because I didn’t believe in the Goddess religion.

No, it’s my freedom whether to believe in a religion or not, there’s no need to say anything about that, right?

I disliked it a lot, and I considered expelling her many times.

Still, thinking that even negative feelings are feelings, I didn’t expel her.

But seeing what Ayla did when I was expelled from the hero position later, I should have just expelled her.

An ungrateful woman who doesn’t know the favor of being kept around…

“Hero oppa. What are you thinking about?”

“Dirty thoughts.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. So why are you calling me?”

While I was in the middle of badmouthing my former comrade, Ria suddenly poked her face out.

Seeing me making a bad expression and thinking bad thoughts, she must have been worried.

I told her it was nothing and not to worry.

It was already in the past.

I just got angry for a moment remembering it.

“Hmm… Is that so?”

At my response, Ria didn’t ask what I was thinking about.

She must know that it would be rude to ask unnecessarily.

“Hero oppa. I’m bored, can’t you tell me an interesting story?”

“I don’t have any interesting stories to tell.”

Instead, Ria kept talking to me.

Why does she keep asking me to tell her stories?

I treated Ria as if I was slightly annoyed, but Ria kept insisting that I tell her stories.

“Come on. You have a lot. Just hearing stories about your activities as a hero would be really interesting. I’m bored now, can’t you tell me any story?”

“Hmm…”

Hero party stories…?

Certainly, as she said, the journey ahead was sure to be boring.

The road to the Kingdom of Artes is so far that it takes a full week of non-stop carriage travel.

It would be torture to wait in silence during that time.

It might not be bad to tell hero party stories.

“Alright. What story should I tell you?”

“Wow. Will you really tell me? I’m curious about so many things.”

Usually, I don’t talk about these things, but I decided to be generous.

I asked Ria what kind of story she wanted to hear from me, and Ria was very happy.

It’s not often that you get the chance to hear hero party stories directly from a hero, so she couldn’t help but be happy.

Ria pondered for a while at my words to ask anything.

She thought hard for a long time with a face that didn’t know what to ask first.

“This is what I’m most curious about after all.”

After pondering like that, she started to ask what she was most curious about.

“Hero oppa. What kind of being was the Demon Lord?”

Ria asked me to talk about the Demon Lord.

#

“This is the Demon Lord’s castle.”

The hero party was able to find the Demon Lord’s castle not long after defeating the nepenthes.

Seeing the black castle in the middle of the empty demon realm, the source of the creepy demonic energy flowing out, Herald was sure.

The being called the Demon Lord is probably here.

It was finally time to meet the Demon Lord from now on.

Herald gripped his sword tighter.

He steeled his mind and prepared to fight the Demon Lord.

“From now on, I’ll go alone. You all should go back now.”

And before that, Herald told the party members.

He told them to go back now.

Herald had thought a lot while searching for the Demon Lord’s castle, and this was the decision that came from those thoughts.

No matter how he thought about it, it was obvious that the hero party members wouldn’t be much help in battle.

Party members who couldn’t fight properly against a nepenthes couldn’t possibly fight well against the Demon Lord.

They would probably just get in the way and be a hindrance.

Considering that the scariest thing on the battlefield is not a competent enemy but an incompetent ally, his judgment was rational.

From now on, Herald planned to defeat the Demon Lord alone.

“Hero Herald… You don’t mean you’re abandoning us or anything like that, right?”

At Herald’s words, the party members started to stir.

And they each looked at Herald with very anxious faces.

“I must defeat the Demon Lord as part of the hero party.”

“Me too.”

“…”

They said they wanted to follow Herald too.

They asked Herald not to do this, saying he was expelling them from the party now.

‘Well… They all joined for their own reasons,’

Herald wasn’t unaware of why they were making such anxious expressions.

The party members who joined the hero party each had something they wanted, which is why they joined.

Herald, who had been in the Empire for a long time, knew their circumstances to some extent.

The beastkin, Nafira, was a being who joined the hero party for the independence of her tribe.

The beastkin race currently oppressed by the Empire, for them to gain independence, Nafira must join the hero party and achieve the merit of defeating the Demon Lord.

When she did that, she was promised autonomy for the tribe from the Empire.

The elf, Kirne, had to defeat the Demon Lord to protect the World Tree.

The elves’ forest was gradually being destroyed and the spirits were losing their power.

The ones who could restore them were the mages of the magic tower in the Empire.

The elves had to fulfill their deal with the Empire of joining the hero party and defeating the Demon Lord in order to receive help from the magic tower.

The saint, Ayla, had to defeat the Demon Lord to maintain her position as a saint.

What was the reason she could rise from an apprentice nun to the position of saint?

It was because she worked hard after joining the hero party that she was able to take the current position of saint.

Of course, if she was expelled from the hero party, she could no longer remain as a saint.

No, she might even be excommunicated.

The mage Luna was also a mage who joined the hero party to be recognized by the magic tower.

To become the head of the magic tower, she had to defeat the Demon Lord as part of the hero party.

Each of the party members had a reason they absolutely couldn’t back down.

Therefore, they couldn’t help but be very flustered at Herald’s words that he would go alone from now on.

That’s why they were sending such desperate looks now.

“Don’t worry too much. I don’t mean I’m kicking you out of the hero party.”

Well, of course Herald wasn’t unaware of this, and he had no intention of interfering with what the party members wanted.

“I’m just saying I’ll go alone. I should be able to defeat the Demon Lord sufficiently by myself.”

He was thinking of being somewhat considerate.

Herald wasn’t a villain who enjoyed others’ suffering. Although it had been a short time, he was someone who thought he should do good deeds as a hero.

Herald wasn’t trying to expel the hero party members from the party now.

It’s just that since they weren’t helpful at all, he was just sending them back.

That was the only issue.

“I… I see.”

“What a relief…”

At those words, the party members’ faces brightened.

They were relieved that their worst fears weren’t true.

“Anyway, I’ll go to the Demon Lord’s castle alone. You all should go back.”

“Understood. Please make sure to defeat the Demon Lord, Hero Herald.”

Leaving those party members behind, Herald headed towards the Demon Lord’s castle.

The party members watched Herald and each cheered him on.

‘Phew… I’m finally meeting the Demon Lord.’

Now the time had finally come.

With a face full of tension, he flung open the doors of the Demon Lord’s castle.