Is this Hero for Real?

[Act 9] Easy Orc

[A certain god says the outsider is stupid for getting fooled.]

“Yeah. I know.”

[A certain god flinches]

Even most of the villagers, who were clearly not fighters, were at least level 2.

[Hero]

I should have reached level 2 already, even with a curse.

I’d hunted down all those gnolls in the forest.

The orcs were nothing to laugh at, either. The number of green pigs I lured in using ladies A and B was tremendous, enough for everyone except me to have leveled up.

“I really am stupid! It’s obvious if you think about! I just wasted my time exterminating orcs.”

If I’d known of it sooner, I would have done it in moderation!

I wouldn’t have gone that far to hunt orcs in an area with poor supplies.

[A certain god is quizzical.]

Was he expecting me to be angrier for getting fooled?

What a rude god.

“Outsider god, stop making fun of me. Let’s go pick out some picture books.”

[A certain god desperately prays.]

“For my dying soul?”

[A certain god says absolutely not.]

“Then what did you pray?”

[A certain god says it’s a secret.]

“Yeah, fine.”

They sure had a lot of secrets!

The outsider god must’ve been scheming to drill another big nail into a young outsider’s heart.

‘Damn my life…’

“Kang Hansoo $. %  thank you. #$ ^$ #$%.”

“Thank you. %… # ^$. %#$ @# ^$%$ ^$.”

Was leveling up such a big deal?

Ladies A and B finally calmed down and each said a word to me with a smile.

Of course, I didn’t understand them.

‘Hey, translator.’

“…They say they feel bad they got more help while trying to help you and that it will be hard for them to accompany you further because while your hunting method is efficient, it’s too dangerous.”

“Well, true.”

This may be a fantasy world where pigs call humans a pig, but it wasn’t a game you could restart if you died.

People in fantasy genres always acted like they took their lives for granted.

Me? I was an exception.

[Outsider]

Thanks to that blessing, I only had a very faint fear of death.

It wasn’t that I was clueless. My first day surviving in a fantasy almost getting killed by carnivorous monsters(gnolls) and savages(fairies) still felt like yesterday.

But getting my emotions reset in real-time and the thought that all I had to do was avoid instant death made me complacent.

I had to be more careful from then on…

“You don’t even have basic manners. Don’t you know you have to respond right away when a lady says thank you?”

“Tell them it’s all good.”

“…That’s it?”

“What about it?”

“Don’t tell me you still don’t know these ladies’ names.”

“I do know!”

“Say them.”

“You crude, suspicious demon! Don’t test a good human!”

“They’re ladies Laysha and Julia.”

“I said. “I know”.”

I realized something new thanks to ladies Laysha and Julia.

—There were no fantasy natives that hunted monsters for every meal to level up!

They only had one life, after all.

They were cautious with hunts that were even a little dangerous.

[A certain god scolds you to not take your life for granted.]

“Hmph. Let’s go buy picture books.”

Knowledge is power!

To become strong, I had to perfect the language of the fantasy world since I couldn’t level up. 

That way, it would be easy to gather information.

I couldn’t keep relying on the demon. He could backstab me any moment.

“Hey, you, are you talking to the demon god again? You keep talking to yourself with a dingy face.”

“I told you it wasn’t the demon god.”

This god was a little more fundamentally immature and evil.

Don’t you think?

[A certain god says absolutely not.]

[A certain god praises themselves to be the most incredible in the world.]

“…Really incredible.”

I was starting to admire that stubbornness.

* * *

* * *

Though Oh Hanwoo couldn’t call himself a Hero anymore, that wasn’t a big problem for him.

[Special]

If everyone was a Hero, wouldn’t it be more special to not be one?

A main character stronger than the Hero…

That wasn’t a bad plot, Oh Hanwoo optimistically thought.

Clink!

He invested the large amount of money that was for his independence and not calling himself a Hero and bought slaves.

As a result, his pockets became quite thin, but he didn’t regret it.

“Ehehe.”

Oh Hanwoo couldn’t help but grin with contentment every time he looked at the pretty girls he had chosen at the slave market himself. He really did make the right choice.

“Sera.”

“Yes.”

A girl with long blonde hair resembling luxurious gold silk stared at her master.

Sera was the daughter of a fallen noble family, and she had volunteered to become a slave to pay off her family’s debts.

“Kana.”

“Yeah? Did you call for me?”

A tall, skinny girl with slightly curly silver hair was staring blankly at the sky and answered in surprise.

“Lusa.”

“…What is it?”

The charming girl with stubborn eyes and ardent red hair answered his calls with disdain.

She wasn’t a noble, but the daughter of quite a wealthy merchant. She’d become a slave after losing the race to become heir.

“Just checking if you’re following well.”

“Okay.”

“Aha…”

“…is that so?”

They were currently Slave status, but growing up sheltered by respectable families, the girls’ skin looked different from the skin of a commoner.

There was an underlying elegance in every little move they made.

And so, after hiding their status and getting dressed well, they caught attention everywhere they went.

Beauties, slaves, nobles, unfortunate souls, broken families…

I just knew…

The girls saved by the main character(me) would make excellent comrades!

“Ahahaha.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The girls glanced at each other as if to say ‘this time, it’s your turn.’

Kana, thinking her turn came much too quick, made herself smile. She asked her master,

“…Master. Did something good happen?”

To that, Oh Hanwoo answered with a meaningful smile.

“Starting today, I’m going hunting!”

“Hunting…?”

“Yep. Hunting.”

It wasn’t bad living like newlyweds as they were, but it would fall apart if they didn’t have a source of income.

Mirrors, underwear, daily attire, fighting attire, makeup, daily necessities, swords, crossbows, shields, backpacks, household medicine, water bottles, field rations…

He didn’t have a problem because his ‘ex comrade’ Aria took care of it for him, but his slaves didn’t have any of it.

And that wasn’t the end of it!

With the addition of the cheap pride of a man trying to look good in front of a pretty woman, he even showed the generosity of lavish spending. 

“Master. It will be dangerous without the proper preparation.”

“It’s okay, just trust me. I didn’t just do nothing all this time.”

Flare~!

Oh Hanwoo formed quite a rather big flame on his palm.

[Magic]

Princess Ethena may have given him the Magic Blessing, but besides that, he’d learned everything from A to Z by himself. 

And yet it was quite significant. 

If the Mages knew of this, they would have been astonished by his talents, that he was a prodigy surpassing Princess Ethena…

“Ah…”

“Get it now? There’s absolutely no need to worry.”

“Okay.”

“Ehehehe!”

“….”

Oh Hanwoo appeared to be confident in front of the ladies, but the state of his pockets was the exact opposite of that.

He’d looked down on it for being a beginner’s territory for Heroes, but there was a clear difference between games and real life.

If you look at the reasons one by one…

First of all, there was a Great Temple no different than the most excellent hospital in the world right in the middle of the city.

Secondly, it was a critical location for traffic, as it was a hub connecting the Knight Kingdom and Magic Kingdom with a harbor to add to that.

Third, it was the world’s safest residential area where the Saintess, also called humanity’s greatest weapon, lived.

Etcetera etcetera. 

There was no way living could be cheap in a city as perfect as that.

It boasted a brutal living price as expensive as the land was.

“Mister Oh Hanwoo, please stop. This is a restricted area.”

“What the…”

Oh Hanwoo, who’d led the slaves to the forest to earn money, was stopped by the guards. 

He could pass by just fine before.

The knight cut him off in a flat voice.

“Only Heroes can come in here.”

“Then so can I-oh!”

“Please go somewhere else if you’ve understood.”

“Damnit!”

A hunting ground monopoly!

It infuriated him, but there was nothing Oh Hanwoo could do when he was no longer a Hero.

He went outside his original plans and headed deeper into a dark, empty area.

Rustle.

“#$? %#!”

“It’s a gnoll! Sera, Kana, Lusa. Focus on your guards and kill time!”

“Okay.”

“Yessir.”

“Fine…”

Gnolls were level 4, on average.

On the other hand, there was one level 6, two level 5s, and 1 level 1.

Levels weren’t everything, but they were set to win as long as they didn’t freeze in fear or lower their guards.

“Oof!”

“Urk!”

“Urm..”

[Slave]

Despite being scared and not being able to run away because of their master’s orders, the girls fought surprisingly well. 

They weren’t level 1, after all.

It was evident they had quite some experience leveling up through killing. 

They weren’t civilians who didn’t know how to fight at all.

Pow-!

“#$?!”

The magic flame Oh Hanwoo made hit the gnoll.

“Now! Attack!”

Stab! Stab! Stab!

With their master’s command, the girls stabbed the gnoll in unison without missing a beat.

“# #@…”

Flop.

Just like that, the gnoll collapsed after letting in all the attacks.

“Alright! Now keep it up—”

“Wow! That was pretty neat. I was going to give you a hand if it got dangerous.”

Clap Clap!

There was a boy approaching Oh Hanwoo tauntingly. 

—It was his classmate that had taught him various things at the slave market.

Behind them was a muscular slave standing on guard.

Oh Hanwoo scrunched his brows.

“If you’re going to hunt, do it over there. I came here first.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“…”

He was like that in school back on Earth as well. 

He’d always go around in groups and cut in line in the cafeteria and school store.

But this was a fantasy world where there was magic and levels. And that bastard was alone, just like him.

No, Oh Hanwoo was no longer alone.

Sera, Kana, Lusa… 

He had beautiful comrades to share his mind and body with.

And so the boy didn’t get scared and loudly shouted.

“You piece of shit! Take it if you can!”

“Yeah yeah, I was going to.”

[Slave]

[Slave]

The Heroes, who weren’t on good terms even back in their motherland, ordered their slaves.

And fought…

[A certain evil god looks over with excitement.]

[A certain immature god of dice looks for their popcorn.]

[A certain god…]

***

A normal approach wouldn’t work for me to take down the evil goddess when I couldn’t level up.

—A weapon that could cut gods!

Wouldn’t I need at least that much in order to cut the head off of the goddess who looked down 

on me from the heavens?

So I asked for help.

“#… #[email protected]# $ %#.”

“^$ # $. %#$ $.”

“The two ladies say they don’t know. It looks like you’ve got some hot air in you from reading 

all those children’s picture books, but the nation already confiscated such incredible weapons.”

“Is that so…?”

There were a lot of relics that no one had been to in fantasy creations, but how cruel real life 

was!

Land relics had been excavated thanks to state investments a while ago, and there was only a 

small chance if I looked at treasure islands in the owner-less ocean…

“Oh! I was wrong. There are some left.”

“Oh?! Really?”

Was there really a relic that hadn’t been excavated yet?!

The demon told me with a sneer.

“But it’s better to give up. There are only relics that haven't been investigated yet for special 

reasons or because it was too dangerous.”

“…”

“I can tell what you’re thinking from your face, but leave me out of it. The entrances of those 

relics are guarded by the nation’s knights.

“How strong are the knights?”

“I can assure you that they’re stronger than you. It’s even said that national power is determined by the number of knights, not soldiers.”

“Hm….”

Was it really impossible as a level 1?

Knights were just empty tin cans with nothing but glory and bluffing in the fantasy creations I 

knew of.

It was extremely disappointing.

“This is depressing.”

I went out to the vast meadow alone to soothe this melancholiness.

[A certain god tells you to cheer up.]

[A certain god twirls in their place.]

[A certain god shakes their buttocks side to side and dances.]

‘They’re ecstatic that I’m upset, aren’t they!’

Woosh~

Still, I felt better feeling the cool night air on my face in an open area…

“Skinny male pig! Hand over everything you got!”

“ Green pig. I’m feeling really depressed right now, alright? Don’t pick a fight. Move along.”

“A pig speaking orc tongue?! Am I dreaming?!”

“Just go.”

“Smart male pig! Don’t look down on orcs just because you’re a little fluent. Hand over 

everything you g-kirk?!”

“You really don’t listen, do you!”

I hurled down punches on the head of the fantasy pig that picked a fight with a peace-loving 

Earthling.

“Oiiink?!”

“Do you know how I feel? Fantasy world full of exciting adventures, my ass! Do you know how 

miserable I feel knowing it was all bait from the authors?”

A new dungeon has been found!

…Was just something to add content in fantasy genres. This place was already done with 

excavations like on Earth.

“S-stop- oink?!”

Pow! Pow! Pow!

I let out my anger- ahem! I threw punches of justice until the green pig’s skin turned blue.

“How can there be no relics to excavate! What am I supposed to do in a fantasy world with no 

hopes and dreams!”

“Th-there is!”

“There can’t b— what?”

“Relics! They’re there, now stop hitting me, smart pig!”

“Don’t lie to me. You’re racking your brain to run off.”

“You don’t know the Orc’s Secret! Don’t bluff just because you know the language!”

“…”

That was a knockdown.

The fact that there were no undiscovered relics was just the human and devil’s point of view.

“Urk! My handsome face… kirk?! I… I can’t breathe….!”

“My friend! Can you tell me more?”

I had to listen to the orcs, too.