Episode 2. Hero Awakening (4)
“Hey! Prause.”
“…… What.”
With her eyes closed at Tina’s cautious voice, she replied with an amused tone.
“Because I really thought about it a lot, didn’t I?”
Are you trying to say something useless again?
The annoyance is about to come.
“But I can’t stand it!”
“Do you want to go to the bathroom?”
“Isn’t it?! Make sure you are considerate of her lady!”
She’s too young to be called a lady…….
“Then tell me quickly. I am very tired now.”
“Well then…… Uh, why did you stroke Iris’s head?”
It was such an unexpected question that I opened my eyes without realizing it. I look at Tina.
Iris had her eyes wide open. Her face was full of red.
Her ears and tail wiggle restlessly, as if to signal her perplexed feelings.
‘Why are you asking that?’
“…… What’s the point of stroking her hair?”
“!”
Iris is blatantly disappointed. Her ears and tail droop. Ah, the real damn filtering.
Since she had no particular intention of making her a heroine, she had no intention of being less likable. However, she made friends with the person she would become a hero in the future, so there was nothing wrong with that.
She never knows when to ask for help.
“Don’t waste your thoughts on meaningless things.”
My snout is working hard today as well.
Damn it. I have all my tears.
“Then, please do that meaningless thing for me too.”
“Why should I?”
“Because Prause took me away, right?”
“In exchange for taking you in, I provided you with food, clothing and shelter. I even cleaned up the life you used to do. But are you asking me for more?”
“Huh. I want to get one too…….”
In the end, Tina couldn’t win against my logic and broke down in tears.
Honestly, I understood her request.
Abandoned by her family at a young age and proud of her hard life, she will be hungry for ‘affection’ as much as she is hungry.
When she was young, the love she received from her parents was everything in the world, and it helped her to live positively for decades.
If this is left unattended, it could lead to lack of affection, lack of self-esteem, and depression in the future.
So that’s why I have to take care so that doesn’t happen.
I let out a sigh, but I thought it was inevitable.
“Haa… …. If you do something worthy of praise, do it.”
“Me, really? Did you promise? Are you going to stick a needle in your butt if you don’t?”
…… Didn’t you eat a thousand needles?
Inadvertently, the hand that was trying to cover her buttocks was finally stopped.
“…… Okay.”
“Kids these days are pretty radical, aren’t they?”
Dex’s feelings that he spits out without even noticing.
“Dex.”
From noble mtl dot com
“Yes!”
“Shut up.”
“…… Didn’t I tell you?”
“Do you want to die?”
[Skill [Survival] Is activated.]
“Ah… Yes, stop living and tell me. I’m not even talking seriously.”
Just as she was about to close her eyes again after finishing her trivial incident, Iris, who was sitting across from her, slowly raised her hand and opened her mouth.
“Me too…… Can you do it again?”
“…… Okay.”
What is stroking the hair…….
I hear that in that world, girls hate it when they stroke their hair.
…… Was it because I stroked it and hated it? f*ck.
* * *
First night of camp.
The wagon was hidden on the outskirts of the forest and a lamp was lit inside the tent.
The children eagerly put bread, fruit, and dried fish into their mouths. Yes, eat a lot. You need to gain some weight, you guys.
“Me and Dex will stand the night watch, you guys go to bed.”
“Prause-sama, I will stand too.”
Maria slurped the food she was chewing on and raised her hand high. She struggles very hard to accept her as her disciple.
What do you want from someone who has nothing to learn? ….
“If I don’t sleep properly at my age, I will become a dwarf. You grow up.”
I took a bite of beef jerky and came out of the tent.
Clean air enters the lungs with a cool chill.
I feel it every time I breathe, but the air I drank in Korea was not air. It was the first time in my life that I felt healthy just by breathing.
I look up at the sky.
The stars were shining brightly in the cloudless night sky. How many times have you seen the stars so clearly in the sky?
It was the first time I felt that the stars were so beautiful. Because of his facial expression management skill, his facial muscles remained stiff, but he was spitting out exclamations without realizing it.
“Aren’t the stars beautiful? It seems like the nature created by God has been preserved as it is, so whenever I go on a trip, I think I did well to be alive whenever I see such a spectacular view.”
“I see.”
“Prause, are you planning to catch the monsters in the forest of Brihi?”
“Kill if necessary.”
“If necessary…… ? Aren’t monsters something that must be killed?”
“It is a target that must be killed, but that is not my purpose. And unless a request has come from me, if I defeat it, it will be a mess.”
I didn’t want to be asked if I stole the request for nothing, so I thought I’d keep it as much as possible. However, if they thought of killing them, I was willing to respect them.
The only breakwater that will protect us humans is said to be, but how can we stop it?
“I see. He is also thoughtful.”
“Anyway, I’m the first one to wake up. You stand next.”
“Okay.”
He answered and climbed into the carriage.
“Kick-kick. I will sleep first.”
He says with a smile that he seems to have become quite comfortable. Seeing him smiling badly, I felt something uneasy.
‘If you don’t wake up on time, prepare to be beaten.’
“If you don’t wake up on time, I will pierce your throat.”
“…… Wake me up.”
He enters the tent.
I hear the sound of talking from inside.
A stiff conversation continued for a while, as if the children didn’t think that Dex was a bad person.
* * *
Jumping!
The wagon gets caught on a rock and shakes greatly. Regardless of whether it was a person or a burden, it floated up.
“Ouch… ….”
“Hey, Thelma. Drive the horse straight.”
“Have you tried driving?”
“Are you saying that for money? Since I was driving a carriage, I deliberately left out my night watch.”
“Huh.”
Thelma snorted uncomfortably and drove her words incessantly.
Take the tent lightly.
I felt a sensibility that I couldn’t feel in modern times as I was riding a carriage that was moving fast along the endless prairie.
I had been running all over the place for four days already.
“It’s empty.”
“It’s like all non-city areas.”
A huge canyon is visible across the vast plain. It was about the same size as the Grand Canyon in the United States.
Everyone seemed quite tired from the carriage life.
The children just dozed off in the wagon or ate.
Remembering that it would have been much more comfortable and better if it had been a car, I felt a sense of pity.
For four days, they had come down a lot to the southern provinces. It seemed to take two more days to arrive, but the speed wasn’t bad.
But before that, there will be an abandoned village where artifacts are hidden.
I had to stop by there.
“Thelma.”
“Why?”
“On the way there will be a windmill that is no longer in use. I want you to stop when you arrive in front of it.”
“A disused windmill…… Are you talking about that?”
I removed the tent and came out to the chair where Thelma was sitting. It was difficult to see because it was covered by trees, but I could see something similar in shape to the wings of the windmill built in front of Pretium.
“Let’s take a break over there.”
A carriage enters the village.
All of them were abandoned. The walls collapsed and the roof collapsed. Black filth, which was expected to be blood, was everywhere on the roadside.
I don’t feel like I’m popular at all. There were also a few places where plants were growing along the walls of the building.
It looked like it hadn’t been inhabited for at least several years.
Of course. Because this is a village that was ruined by the invasion of demons who once came to study humans.
As time went by, the demon disappeared, but looking at the devastation of the village, it was enough to give an idea of how brutal the attack must have been.
“This is spooky. Here.”
Tina poked her head through the tent. His brow was furrowed. Iris and Maria also look outside.
“It smells strange.”
“What are you going to do here?”
“Not really. It’s just a break and a stop.”
To Delma’s question, I gave a rough answer while looking at the whole view of the town.
“For that matter, you say as if you knew that a place like this existed?”
“Didn’t you see it on the way? Don’t raise unnecessary doubts.”
“Hey! Have you ever asked a nice question and answered it?”
I put two swords on my waist. I pulled out a sword I hadn’t used yet.
[Equipped with 「Unshakable Vengeance」.]
[You can temporarily use the skill 「Ghost」.]
It was a sword that looked much sharper than its unbreakable past glories. It was a double-edged sword of a similar shape, but it seemed that the sharpened blade was made only for killing.
“I’ll come back after a while.”
I put my sword in and got off the wagon. Then Dex followed and said.
“Can I go too?”
“No. You watch the kids.”
In preparation for an unexpected attack, the wagon had to have power left.
Those three who haven’t become heroes yet are just weaklings like kids their age.
“Then, isn’t there a reason I followed Prause? Prause came along because I wanted to know the information. It would be embarrassing if you refused like this.”
I sighed as I saw him complaining as if he was unfair.
“Don’t worry. I’ll show you why I went there.”
“…… All right. Trust me.”
He was still looking at me suspiciously, but eventually gave up on me.
Perhaps the big factor was the misunderstanding that I was stronger than myself.
Unlike today, in this era where the culture of the jungle is strongly felt, everyone is well aware that there is nothing good by touching the heart of an opponent who is stronger than himself.
“I’ll be back.”
Leave the party alone and enter the village alone.
First, let’s look for artifacts.
I walked in search of a building I remembered.
The building was discovered within minutes. It was placed in the deepest place, and the outer walls were the most intact.
I rummaged through one of the walls of the house. I put my finger in the gap and searched for the stone of purification.
I found a stone of purification that was covered in dust and couldn’t emit its own light.
If you wipe it clean, it will give a weak but purple color.
[You have found the 「Purification Stone」.
The Stone of Purification was an artifact that helped to get rid of demonic energy. Since mana cannot be used when infected with demonic energy, it was as important an item as a demonic protection potion to adventurers.
However, since the stone of purification is not consumable, it is called a relic because it can erase demonic energy indefinitely.
“Okay, I found one. Next-“
[Can you hear me?]
I raised my head at the voice in my ear.
“…… ?”
[I know what I hear. You have the sword I used to use.]
Yes. It was an event like this.
This event was originally an episode that took place after Tina and Iris had awakened as heroes, but the episode was changed because they were concerned that the monsters in this world would be stronger in terms of experience.
I cleared my throat with “Hmmm”.
“He was once the leader of the imperial knights and was protected by the wind spirit king, but he was killed by the demon army corps commander, and now he becomes a vengeful spirit and hovers around this world…… It was.”
[…] Do you know about me?]
“There is no way there is no one in the Empire who does not know you.”
I snorted, as if asking what I was talking about.
“Nice to meet you, Sword Master Phasma.”
He was once the best warrior in the empire, called the strongest.