Is this Hero for Real?

Chapter 38

[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 mans 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 couldnt 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.

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

Thats 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 couldnt 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 Im 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?

Im 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 hadnt given the boy the first move.

But what did that result in?

Excuses dont work in a battlefield where one risks their life.

Hed made a disgrace of himself, falling behind a level 1 mercenarys swordsmanship.

The partys become a mess

Shall we bring him in again?

Ill 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 theyd introduced the boy to him.

It was light, pure light!

Hed risk his life to see it againGang Hansues swordsmanship was that valuable.

Yes, Prince Alsus.

Please wait for us.

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

Im sure he went to the inn.

Well 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 girls ideal dream!

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

The maids 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 wasnt even a trace of anything, let alone a city

(Good work.)

And Saintess, I have a suggestion.

(Lets 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 Heros 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 wasnt 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. Its 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 dont cause further trouble.

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

Of course, its a request from the Saintess.

(No. A Heros faults are the Saintess responsibilities. I should have been the one to compensate them myself, but thats going to be difficultI 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 couldnt handle Gang Hansues attacks and was destroyed.

The fate of the spare sword hed gifted Hansue had been the sameThe blade had broken, not able to bear its handler.

This wont 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 demons shoulders.

Kogmo! Hurry up and pack your bags!

Wh-what is it?!

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

You did it, you crazy bastard!

Dont worry. Its easy for me to escape.

Who ever worried about you?! Im worried about myself for getting caught up with you!

Youre right. Youre the one who needs to be good at escaping. Ill get out by my own way.

Damnit!

Poof!

Demon Kogmos couldnt use the holy swords entrance because he was over level 10.

But that didnt apply to me.

With my things that didnt fit into my bags because I didnt 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 couldnt use magic!

Theres no time to explain. I cant wait for you too long.

What?

I made sure to double check that I didnt leave anything behind and finally jumped into the opening.

Poof!

Youre back, $#!

%#. Welcome.

% # again? &$ @#.

Without exception, all of the humans whod 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 Iable to walk in and out as I pleasedwas 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?

Thats

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. *%. #$ $%.

Its you again.

It was the man whod offered me the dolled-up woman.

His name was

Bruce, sir! %$!

Hm. Bruce.

Was it okay to trust him?

It didnt matterId just swap him if it wasnt.

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 dont kill him.

this isnt 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?

Im 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.

Ill 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?

Thats because it was where the people whod wished to go back home and I had come out last time. There wasnt another optionthere wasnt 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.

Lets hurry and run.

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

Its the power of extraordinary magic!

At least I know you dont want to give a proper explanation.

Where should we go now?

I dont 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 Heros Curse?

Yep.

Im going to have to go further north as soon as possible to get away from someone who has a grudge with the Saintess.

Whats up north?

The biggest slave market in the western continent. Ill find you a slave with the Language Blessing there.

heh~

Whats with that sour face?

Its fascinating how you didnt run away.

After all, the demon didnt 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 dont know?!

What?

Contorting his handsome face, demon Kogmos cried out, I couldnt 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 theres nowhere to hide.

Then well just run really fast.

Wait. I dont have infinite stamina like you. Well get a horse from the stables outside the cit

Neigh~!

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

Is that all?

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

Its a business secret

Dont act cute. Im going to throw up my breakfast.

[A certain god strongly agrees.]

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

Jeez, Im 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 doesnt make sense. Ive never heard of magic that cooks and does the dishes for you.

Thats 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 reputationI couldnt 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.