Is this Hero for Real?

[Act 4] Karma

“#&[email protected]^?”

“&#, )!(@&*.”

As much as I wanted to infiltrate through the main entrance with confidence, dealing with all of the village mercenaries by myself was realistically impossible.

So my plan was to dig a doghole, but there were guards in groups of twos patrolling the wooden fence with torches.

“Hm.”

Maybe it was because the village had been built in the middle of a danger zone full of cannibalistic animals, but the security was thorough.

The good news was that I was familiar with the overall geography thanks to touring the village before getting kidnapped by the Chief.

[A certain god urges that this is the moment.]

“Woah…”

The god that was uncooperative and perverse was actively helping me.

‘What’s gotten into them?’

I wanted to ask but that was not the time.

Fwt.

I went straight for the wooden fence.

Destroying the fence was impractical as long as I knew the guards were on night patrol. It would be no different from telling them someone had infiltrated the village at night.

“Will this work?”

I thought about building a snare to climb up the wooden fence, but my instincts were telling me my next opportunity would be much later if it wasn’t ‘now’, like the outsider god had said.

I jumped straight up the walls built with lined-up logs.

Stab-!

Nailing the blue dagger into the middle of the wooden fence and bringing my arm in, I leaped again.

Land!

“Whew~”

Infiltrating the village without getting caught by the guards: success!

There was a watchtower looking over the entire village, but it was completely empty. Maybe the guards had all gone to the bathroom.

How fortunate.

[A certain god pompously tells you to be grateful.]

“Yeah. Big thank you.”

‘The god that was suddenly cooperative is extremely suspicious, but let’s just use them gratefully for now.’

Next was…

Stab!

I sneaked behind a mercenary heading towards the public back alley and pierced and twisted his throat.

If I had studied correctly, then it was where the medulla was.

“$#…!”

The medulla manages reflex centers such as the heart, blood vessels, and breathing.

And if something goes wrong in the medulla?

It would result in instant death, even if the person was a fictional savage with a higher level than me.

“Fellow mercenary, you should have made sure there was nothing at the bottom of the cliff before leaving.”

“…”

Flop

The mercenary that had let his guard down while thinking the village was safe died helplessly.

He was one of the mercenaries who tried to kill me just from the fairies’ words alone that morning.

I remembered all of those mercenaries’ faces.

They were just lied to by the fairies, you say?

There wouldn’t be a single bad person in the world if you believed every single excuse like that.

“…this stings a little.”

I killed a human, yet it didn’t feel much different than when I had slaughtered a gnoll. I hated myself for that.

Gary, Cole, Misa…

At least when I had killed those three, it was an urgent “kill or be killed” situation.

But what about right then?

It wouldn’t have been any different if I let my rancor go and left for a different area. We would never see each other again in that vast land, and there had to be family and friends of the mercenary somewhere who would grieve if he died.

Yet I still came back for revenge. 

“Hey, you’re not the only human being.”

Drag…

I spoke as I moved the mercenary’s corpse into a dark alley.

I, too, had beloved family, friends, and relationships that I valued, but those fictional savages had almost prevented me from ever seeing them again.

How could I forgive them for that!

[A certain god look at you subtly.]

“…was that cool?”

[A certain god scolds you to finish what you started.]

“Don’t doubt that I will.”

The night wasn’t over yet. 

***

The heroes met for their third day in the fantasy world.

Although it was closer to a training camp than an expedition, nobody had any complaints because of the exquisite services they were getting. 

But that would end that day.

“A blessing to a mage is like a must-have item of clothing, so their skill capacity increases as they level up.”

“There isn’t much to teach until you all acquire your blessings, so starting today, we will level up by hunting after meditating.”

Gathering everyone two days after classes started, Princess Athena and Prince Alsus each said a word.

“Level!”

“Hunting!”

“Woah…”

Although the information wasn’t new, the heroes who hadn’t heard of it before got excited.

Was it only the boys who liked action?

Not exactly.

“Finally…”

“Am I really going to get pretty?”

“Haha, hahaha!”

The girls who learned ‘definite information’ from the maids that they would get clearer skin and a better body through leveling up were all smiles as well.

How many girls in the world would hate to be pretty? There were none among the heroes, at least.

“It’s slime!”

“My exp!”

“Nice! Now me!”

Some heroes bravely went for the round, jelly-shaped organisms as soon as they were found.

In their hands were wooden swords, and they weren’t those cheap ‘battered wooden swords’ like in the role-playing games for beginners.

The best quality, with enhanced cutting power from magic coating!

It was ‘light weapon’ designed for the level 1 heroes with low base stamina, for metal swords would be too heavy for them.

Jiggle?!

Jigglee?!

The prey, shocked at the tremendous vigor from the heroes holding wooden swords, jiggled.

“Stop!”

“Please stop!”

The prince and princess, taken aback at the barbaric scene, quickly dissuaded the heroes.

“Why?”

“Is it dangerous?”

“My exp…”

The prince spoke to the heroes who had utter confusion written on their faces.

“As you all guessed, this organism’s name is Slime. They’re beneficial organisms that don’t harm humans.”

“The slimes…?”

“Beneficial..?”

“That’s correct. The entire city would be covered in sewage and trash if it weren’t for these slimes. Not only that, but slimes also eat pests and corpses, so cities and towns with a lot of slimes are less likely to have epidemics.”

“…”

“…”

The heroes were at a loss for words.

Was it really the slime that was used as experience points in fantasy games, novels, and comics?

J-jiggle…

Princess Athena held the slimes that were jiggling in fear as she spoke.

“You must never attack the slimes! I’m sure there are many households who also raise them as pets! Please have caution, as hunting these slimes can label you as a savage, even if you all are legendary heroes!”

“Yes, ma'am…”

“We will be careful…”

The heroes, reflecting upon the harsh admonition, were curious. 

What did they expect them to hunt if it wasn’t the easy slimes?

Prince Alsus, noticing this, pointed towards the forest and explained in earnest.

“Level 2 goblins are usually the most adequate, but there are no goblins around this area because the ancient heroes hunted them all. Therefore, our target will be the level 4 gnolls.”

“Level 4?!”

“But we’re level 1!”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yeah, I don’t know about gnolls…”

Princess Athena, listened to the heroes’ voices of concern and spoke,

“Do not worry! We have the Saintess who can revive you even if you die.”

“Die?”

“We’re dying?!”

Instead of calming down, the heroes were thrown into an even bigger panic at her words.

Prince Alsus took a deep breath and hurriedly calmed them down.

“You all have the power of numbers. With a group like this, you can even take down a level 6 gnoll. The chances of dying… are highly unlikely, unless you are extremely unfortunate.”

It wasn’t just luck.

They would die if they were extremely unskilled, but Prince Alsus spared his words.

Rustle.

“#@!? @$#!”

“*&# @#$!”

Just in time, two gnolls jumped out from the forest.

The gnolls seized in fear at the sight of the overwhelming number of humans.

The prince cried out as he blocked the gnolls from running away.

“Attack! They’re the gnolls that the knights who entered the forest before us chased! Do not hesitate, as you get more exp the more you accomplish! This is a competition from this point!”

“Alright!”

“I go first!”

“No, I go first!”

Competition!

The heroes, coming to the conclusion that they would be robbed of exp if they hesitated, courageously rushed at the gnolls.

“#(&@!”

“@&# $*&#!”

The gnolls decided to fight back after they realized they couldn’t escape thanks to someone terrifying blocking their escape route.

* * *

* * *

Jump-

A gnoll quickly dodged the wooden swords and scratched a human’s face with its sharpened nails.

“Aargh! My… my eyes~!”

Clank.

The gnoll picked up the wooden sword the screaming hero had dropped.

The other gnoll seemed to be in a similar situation, as it was holding another wooden sword it had taken from a hero.

“$# *&@#?”

“@$# @$#?”

The gnolls looked at each other in confusion and started to swing the wooden swords they had taken.

“Eek?!”

“My arm! My arm…?!”

“H-help!”

The two gnolls ravaged the heroes, of which there were at least 10 times more of.

They swung the wooden swords and cut the throats of the heroes who were pissing and shitting themselves running away.

Magic?

There weren’t many heroes who could ignite a flame with ease in an urgent situation like that.

Poof.

“…#*&@?”

“H-how… eek?!”

“#$#@!”

Even when they barely succeeded in doing so, the flames were so weak they couldn’t even burn the gray hairs of the gnolls.

“…That’s enough.”

“#$#?!”

“[email protected]$ @#@?!”

Prince Alsus, who was watching the entire time so as to not take the heroes’ accomplishments, quickly took care of the situation.

Cut-

In one blow, the gnolls who were making fools of the heroes were decapitated.

“Sob, sob…”

“Mom… mommy…”

“My legs! They’re-?!” 

“It hurts! It hurts…!”

The scene the gnolls had left behind was terrible.

If they had gone any further, there would be a much bigger pile of the injured and dead.

“How can this be…”

The unexpected situation threw Prince Alsus into a state of confusion.

Just then, a savior arrived.

“Good work for guiding the heroes, Prince Alsus.”

“Saintess!”

The saintess, who had been watching the hunt(?) from afar, approached without a guard.

The prince hung his head.

“I apologize. I have nothing to say. I didn’t think the legendary heroes were so… I mean…”

“Awkward, right?”

“Y-yes!”

Prince Alsus couldn’t bring himself to call them incompetent, so he agreed with how the Saintess put it.

Shine!

The Saintess spoke calmly as white light covered her right hand.

“There must be a reason our god chose them to be heroes and sent them here.”

[A certain male god asks if there was a reason.]

[A certain god sends a question mark.]

[A certain innocent goddess is confused.]

[A certain evil god shrugs their shoulders.]

Jerk! Jerk!

One by one, the heroes revived from the healing light the Saintess created.

“Ow…”

“Sob, sob…”

“Waah!”

But their mental scars and trauma couldn’t be helped.

Looking over the heroes, the Saintess declared.

“Great heroes. Please fight with all your strength. I will revive you every time you die.”

“Eek?!”

“Oh no!”

The heroes’ real expedition, more tenacious than cockroaches, had begun!

***

There was a time when I, too, yearned for an adventure in a fantasy world while playing games, reading books, or watching comics. 

But in none of them had I seen something like that.

Grab!

“@#…?!”

The mercenary I was choking was trying to tell me something.

“…”

Crack.

He fell down without a single cry when he had just been heading to the alley while scratching his buttocks.

I stacked the mercenary that died an instant death from his broken neck on top of the pile of the other mercenaries who came before.

“…it’s too quiet.”

The village was as quiet as a dead mouse even, though it was understandable to be suspicious by the time that many mercenaries had died.

How come I was only going for the mercenaries?

That was my fault. 

Everything went well up to the point I infiltrated the village, but I was stuck on how I would find the fairies from there. 

I didn’t know any techniques about sneaking out after killing just the target without getting caught. After all, I was no professionally trained killer or assassin.

“What do I do?”

As I was hesitating on what to do, I found myself taking care of all the mercenaries going towards the back entrance.

[A certain god looks at you extremely pathetically.]

“Yeah, I know.”

I look pathetic to myself, too.

I was only killing mercenaries when I really wanted revenge on the fairie… hm?

“Why aren’t there any fairies?”

Men and women of all ages had come to the back alley, but I hadn’t seen a single ‘fairy’.

Was a fairy’s bladder bigger than that of a human’s?

[A certain god laughs that you just noticed.]

“Rude.”

What was the reason I wasn’t coming across a single fairy? It would be a serious problem if they had already left the village…

While I was deep into my thoughts about that…

“#*(&@”

“$#. $(*#@.”

“$## %$#”

Innocent villagers that weren’t mercenaries were slowly walking at night without torches.

I wouldn’t have cared if that was all there was, but…

“$#@!”

“%$,$#!”

The villagers were taking the fairies to the chief’s house by force with a sack over their heads.

“…things are getting interesting.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but I figured I’d ask if they would let me in.