Is this Hero for Real?

[Act 8] Second Language

As the daughter of a Count, she had many opportunities to meet all kinds of people.

Kings, merchants, knights, fairies, the strong…

But she had never met anyone as odd as Kang Hansoo, who was single-handedly butchering orcs in front of her.

“Hm…”

Even then, she was silently ‘observing’ him.

[Observation]

> When given the chance, you can look into other peoples’ status windows.

> The higher the person’s level is compared to yours, the higher the chance for failure.

It was a necessary blessing for a noble involved in high societies and politics, who found a hidden treasure.

If she could peep at that boy’s status window with the Blessing…

[Name] Kang Hansoo

[Level] 1

[Blessings] Outsider F, Fairy C, Mercenary B

[Curses] Hero E, Slaughter E

His blessing, ‘Hero’s Curse’, was perfect for making him look like a villain.

But he also had the ‘Fairy’s Blessing’, which was basically an approved ID that only a noble fairy could give.

And a C rank, on top of that.

Considering that a human who built up trust and married a fairy noble would be an E rank, it was clear how much trust the fairies had for that boy.

“#$ %#$ @%#~?!”

“Handsome male pig! Let’s talk this out!”

“%#$, $ @#~?!”

Slash-!

At every swing of his red swordsmanship, the orcs were unrequitedly cut open.

How many had he killed?

She could find out if she counted the number of orc heads, but it was meaningless when there were more orc heads getting added to the pile as she counted.

“Let’s take a short break!”

“#% #?”

“Uh…”

She had never had a problem with language barriers in her life.

Right then, however, she felt extreme discomfort not being able to speak with that boy who did nothing but hunt all day without a break.

“I’ll let that bastar… my friend know we want a break.”

“Thank you, Kogmos.”

She couldn’t keep up with the boy that didn’t eat, sleep, or use the bathroom at all.

“Laysha, what a surprise! I didn’t know you would ask for a break~”

“What, I can’t rest? Besides, you’re not one to talk. I can see your legs shaking.”

“That’s mean!”

“Hehe! Then why don’t you wear a skirt, too?”

“Say something that makes sense for a knight…”

“Hahaha!”

After getting a blow in against her friend, Laysha the beautiful mage sat on a mat on the grass.

Plop.

Her legs hurt from all the walking and running, but the biggest problem was her fading mentality every time she used magic.

She just wanted a long nap…

“Moooo~”

“Mooooo~”

She couldn’t help but feel sorry looking at the boy taking care of the aftermath of beheading all the orcs.

Should she at least help him out?

“…Eek?!”

“Staring at a boy, how devious of you Laysha.”

“Y-you surprised me, Julia!”

“Hehe! There wasn’t an answer when I asked if I could sit here~”

“I’m just tired.”

That wasn’t an excuse, she meant it.

“I’m sure you are~”

Plop. 

Her friend, Julia, sat next to her, giving off a sexual ambiance with her hair and clothes wet with sweat.

“Truly incredible.”

She didn’t say who or what, but it was obvious who she was talking about.

She could only mean one boy…

Kang Hansoo.

“Yeah. He says it’s because of his blessings.”

“I’m talking about his talent.”

“Talent?”

“You probably can’t see it because you’re a mage, but his swordsmanship is insane.”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t know how else to put it… He’s been using swordsmanship that can easily fall apart with one small mistake all day.”

“Is that even possible?”

“I’m not sure. I grew up as a prodigy, but he’s on a different level. It’s simply insane.”

“…”

Finished with the aftermath of the hunt, Kang Hansoo brushed the blood off his face and hands and started reading the picture book.

“Humen, demmon, wuman, bouy…”

His pronunciation was worse than an orc’s because he was just starting off, but it would get better with time.

There were some things he could say fluently. 

“$! #@ %! Spare me, I’m sorry, forgive me, kill me, I was wrong, it hurts, go easy, stop it…”

His vocabulary seemed a little too concentrated in one area, but she brushed that thought off.

Anyways, he sure was a busy boy.

“Laysha, what level are you?”

“I know you know… oh? Wait, are you…?

“It’s just what you’re thinking. I leveled up to 15 ~”

“No way…”

Despite being in different fields, Laysha was a little upset that her good rival and friend was slightly ahead of her.

She looked at her status window that stayed as still as a boulder.

[Name] Laysha

[Level] 14

[Blessings] Noble D, Magic B, Student C, Charm E, Observation E, Mercenary C

[Curses] –

[Dividend] –

She had quite a bit of high-ranking Blessings relative to her level thanks to her social status and rising effort effects.

But she’d surely fall behind if she didn’t spend her break wisely. 

That was because…

[Student]

> you get an appropriate amount of exp at the end of each semester!

> All students are ranked in a fair, relative grading system.

—The relative grading system.

It made it incredibly difficult to catch up if you fell behind the rankings even once.

The higher your rank, the easier it was to level up. The higher your level, the easier it was to get better grades.

Having enjoyed the benefits for a long time, Laysha knew better about it than anyone else.

—And so did her friend.

“Laysha. I’m going to aim for a B rank this time.”

“A B rank…?”

“Yep. I know I barely moved up to a C rank, but I changed my mind after seeing Kang Hansoo’s hunting.”

“Overachieving isn’t good for you. We only have one body.”

She wasn’t just talking about their lives. Their careers would get muddied if they got crippled.

If their valuable faces got injured or one of their limbs detached, they wouldn’t be able to dream of a social life and would get married off to a worthless man.

No matter how good her grades were, she didn’t want that kind of future.

“Don’t worry too much about it.”

“You’re just too complacent.”

“No, I’m not. That boy may look like he’s putting his full attention on orc hunting, but he’s actually paying attention to our safety almost excessively.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’m not calling him insane for nothing. That means he’s looking around his surroundings while he’s fighting.”

“…”

“What?”

“It just seems like my friend that was never into boys is observing a certain boy a little too much.”

“N-no I’m not! It’s a swordsman’s duty to observe movement!”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s leave it at that. Hehehe.”

“Jeez!”

“Eek?! That tickles~!”

Kang Hansoo saw the two ladies joking around on the mat.

Coming to the conclusion they had enough rest to recover, he closed the picture book and yelled.

Thump!

“Wumen! Less go~!”

“Already?!”

“A little more…!”

“Wumen! Less go, you’re alive~!”

“…”

“…”

The two ladies pledged to teach the boy the language fast.

* * *

* * *

The orc hunt went smoothly.

My status window wasn’t budging from level 1, but the orc heads were piling up one by one.

Those would all be exp.

It looked horrendous, but it was much more valuable than gold for me. I desperately needed the exp.

“Damn my life…”

My body didn’t need sleep, but I couldn’t leave ladies A and B sound asleep by themselves to go hunting.

I had no choice but to have a late-night study session.

I hated studying when everyone else was asleep back in school…

[A certain god looks at the cute pictures.]

“Looks like you like the picture book.”

[A certain god agrees he likes it quite a lot.]

They really liked a children's picture book…

I was growing suspicious of the outsider god’s mental age, but I brushed the thought away before my devotion to god was at stake.

“Where are all the other gods?”

[A certain god drills that they don’t know.]

“Hm…”

I figured out the outsider god’s personality over our conversations.

A typical outsider!

I didn’t get dropped out alone because I wanted to, but I wasn’t complaining, either. I was alive because god was an outsider.

“Dear outsider god. To avoid them, you must know where they are.”

[A certain god is in deep thought.]

[A certain god shouts there are a bunch over to the right.]

And they said they didn’t know…

In the direction where the god pointed were the sleeping bags of the demon and two ladies, all huddled together.

Was it roughly southwest?

“Slightly west of the forest is…”

It looked like my classmates and the gods were still nearby the Temple.

That meant the evil goddess and saintess must’ve been nearby as well.

I couldn’t relax.

“We gotta hurry.”

I was going to run away northeast after exterminating the orcs as soon as possible, opposite the southwest.

I had to avoid them until I felt I was strong enough.

…Would that day come?

It was a hopeless situation, but I still had to give it everything I had.

[Outsider]

Thanks to my covinous Blessing, I could make unlimited attempts and experiments.

Observing Lady A’s magic and Lady B’s swordsmanship while hunting orcs made for excellent learning resources.

And the fruit of my efforts?

[A certain god suggests reading another picture book.]

“After I learn this one.”

Only my fantasy vocabulary was slightly better.

[A certain god presses you read another picture book.]

[A certain god presses you read another picture book.]

[A certain god presses you read another picture book.]

[A certain god…]

“Alright, stop pressing!”

‘So self-centered!’

I just had to bear with it because I was powerless.

While I was having a bland time reading picture books, my heightened instincts sensed some things that weren't orcs.

“We’re surrounded.”

[A certain god is displeased that the reading was interrupted.]

“What bastards, they deserve divine punishment.”

‘How dare they displease the outsider god? They deserved to die.’

The problem was the numbers.

It would be hard to protect the demon and two ladies safely while fighting.

So…

Tap tap.

I nonchalantly kicked the demon’s sleeping bag to wake him up.

“…What is it? It’s late.”

“Wake up. Quietly. We’re surrounded by humans that are on the same level as these ladies.”

“You know their levels from that distance..?”

“Is there a reason for me to not? Even gnolls can do it.”

“…”

The demon scrunched his face at my flawless logic.

We also woke up the two ladies.

“Wumen. Do you want to die?”

“#?!”

“$#?!”

“You madman! Anyone will take it the wrong way if you say it like that!”

“I tried my best.”

‘What do you want me to do? I didn’t know a lot of conversation topics.’

Ladies A and B, wide awake, got into their fighting stances.

All they had to do was put on their shoes and get their weapons, but that alone would prevent them from dying or getting captured in vain.

“They’re coming.”

It was right after I spoke those words…

Flare~!

Flare, flare~!

At once, torches from all directions lit up the dark grass field.

Most of them were mercenaries with crossbows.

They were aiming at us from a safe distance.

A man who looked like the head chief came forward and shouted. 

“#$ orc%! #$ #$ $%# @ %#$ ^$#!”

“They’re babbling about how they really want the orcs’ trophies you monopolized.”

“And?”

“#@ $ the men will die. #$ the women will %@ @# $ ^ @$ *%& ^ %.”

“You and I will die for sure, and they’ll let go of the noble ladies after a few days if they surrender.”

“Foul savages! How dare they discriminate against someone’s birth status like that!”

I was educated no differently than a prince on Earth, getting discriminated against for my social status!

It didn’t sit well with me at all.

And ladies A and B, who got special treatment from the thieves pretending to be mercenaries?

“#! % kill them!”

“*$ $gonna die!”

It looked like they wanted to die to save their noble dignities.

‘This is gonna be difficult.’

I didn’t know if I could kill them all while guarding the ladies perfectly.

‘Guess I don’t have a choice.’

I took in a deep breath and yelled with all my might.

“There is a strong female here…!”

My voice rang across the plain without a single obstacle.

Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!

The mercenaries, sensing something was off, shot their crossbows.

“Too slow.”

I wanted to ignore the flying bolts and charge at them, but then the two ladies wouldn’t be safe.

Toss, toss, toss.

I swatted all the bolts away like they were mosquitoes and flies.

“$?!”

“#%?!”

The mercenaries, taken aback by my petty tricks, started reloading.

Surely they didn’t have the time to be doing that?

“Hand over the female pig!”

“Kill all the male pigs!”

“Haha! There’re pigs everywhere!”

“Those females are mine!”

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

My green reinforcements heard my cries for help and came from every direction.

How reliable!

The orcs raided the mercenaries surrounding us.

“# orc &$ @&?!”

“Orcs?! $ *# *$^…!”

“#*$! Kill the orcs!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The mercenaries threw their crossbows to the ground and fought back with their swords.

“Moooo~”

“Neigh~”

My hard-earned livestock ran away, and the screams of humans and orcs rang everywhere.

—Chaos of the wilderness.

“Be honored you’re dying to the outsider’s apostle!”

[A certain god is too embarrassed to keep their head up.]

Glare!

‘I’ll show these fantasy savages what equality is!’