Chapter 31: The Tale Of The Survivor Hero (1)
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
The wagons proceeded leisurely along the forest trail.
The journey had been so quiet that the initial excitement gradually gave way to boredom.
Woo Hyo-sung, if its okay, could you continue the story from yesterday?
Engaging in small talk with a companion in such a situation was the natural course of action.
The story from yesterday?
I am a collector of stories, after all. Especially the one about the hero we heard yesterday; its not something you hear often, so I thought itd be good to listen to it while I can.
The story of the hero from yesterday.
It was not a pleasant story, but she listened attentively without dismissing any part of it.
For someone who made a living listening to stories, it was important not to discriminate between the types of stories they handled.
Ah well, I dont mind telling it, but it might not be interesting enough to alleviate your boredom. As you saw yesterday, Merilyn, heroes are not always as righteous as their titles suggest.
Thats probably true, but Woo Hyo-sung, you seem to have met various heroes. Wasnt there even one with whom you got along with?
Um, a hero I got along with.
Resting my chin in thought, I began to recall the heroes I had met.
The knight who got into an unnecessary fight and had her skull split by a demon kings officer, the mage who led the front lines despite being a rear guard and got his limbs severed by tentacles, the sniper who despised men but was charmed by a vampire and was torn to pieces
Thinking back, they all seemed to get what they deserved, leaving no room for sympathy. But not all the heroes I met were like that.
There were about three who were okay, with whom I got along fairly well.
Just three out of the dozens I had met over two years.
Most would see it as a very low success rate, but heroes were typically gaslighted by the power groups that summoned them from the start.
In a structure where arrogance was inevitable, meeting three decent heroes was quite fortunate.
Haha, heroes who survived someone with the nickname Hero Killer. Im curious about what theyre like.
Merilyn, I told you thats a misunderstanding, just like yesterday.
She should have known I lacked the capability from yesterdays training.
Brushing off her mischievous joke with a hint of annoyance, I then recalled the first of the three people I had mentioned.
Lets see, the first person to introduce would be
It had been a long time since we met, but that person was not difficult to remember.
That person was considered one of the top eccentrics in a world filled with oddities.
He always wore a paper bag over his head.
A paper bag?
Yes, a bag with only the eyes cut out, covering his entire head.
You would normally think he was insane.
Regardless of a heros strength, the places they visited were perilous, and choosing a bag over a helmet to protect such a vital area as the head?
It was practically like he wanted to end up like the heroes who had died before, wasnt it?
But what really deserved more attention was, of course, his clothing.
Clothing? Besides the bag, did he wear anything else noteworthy?
No, he wore nothing else.
What?
That means
My voice faded for a moment.
Even now, over two years later, the person I encountered back then still seems ridiculous.
He just wore the bag and underwear, nothing else. His only weapon was a wooden stick.
In a world where even heroes could easily fall, he wandered through this harsh world without proper clothing or armor.
Surely there couldnt be more than one such crazed eccentric?
Why did he go around like that?
I dont know. After he hired me, he never spoke a word.
Not a single word?
Yes, even at our first meeting, he simply threw the contract at me and would only point or make gestures when he needed something.
I survived by reading the room enough to communicate that way, and considering he sometimes played tricks with his hands or showed some skill. It wasnt that he completely lacked a sense of humor.
But still, being an oddity, he had a few particularly memorable behaviors, one of which was stretching his arms diagonally when the sun rose or when he went outside to see the sun.
It was as if he were doing photosynthesis, just standing still for a while
Well, religious people pray a lot, so that was probably some kind of personal routine he had set up.
There were several other eccentricities, but the most unique was definitely when he went into battle.
Speaking of battle Ah! Since hes a hero, he must have been strong, right?
No, he was weak.
What? Weak?
Literally, he was the weakest hero Ive ever met. Probably even weaker than me now.
That was to be expected.
Initially, his only armor was a paper bag and a single pair of underwear, and his so-called weapon was just a wooden stick.
Without borrowing any noticeable supernatural powers, he was arguably the weakest among all the adventurers of that time.
However, I often heard rumors that, despite being so weak, unlike other heroes, he has survived to this day and is actively serving as a hero.
Considering hes said to be active, it means hes not just hiding in a safe place. How exactly does he manage that?
Its nothing special. He just dodges all attacks aimed at him.
What? He dodges?
Exactly. No matter how strong the attack, if it doesnt hit, its as good as nothing.
Indeed, his combat style was incredibly simple.
In the face of an enemy, he dodged all their attacks.
Whether stepping aside or rolling on the spot, he avoided the attacks and looked for an opportunity to strike.
Its not as easy as it sounds, but he exhibited an incredible ability to evade, as if he knew where each attack would come from.
Even without magical tools or spells to assist in dodging, he relied solely on his unarmored, lightweight body.
After dodging all the attacks, he would swing his stick to inflict damage, and if the enemy got even slightly hurt, all his party members would declare the heros victory.
Why? Does his weapon have some special effect?
No, as I mentioned before, he just used an ordinary wooden stick. But if he could inflict even a little damage with that stick, he believed he could beat them without getting hit himself.
When facing the undead, he applied holy water, and against vampires, he lit a fire, but these were tactics used only against enemies that couldnt be dealt with by physical attacks alone.
With such an absurd strategy, yet still surviving every time, he had extraordinary skills and courage.
His evasion was so good that, when surrounded by undead archers, he dodged all the arrows aimed at him by dancing.
He dodged arrows by dancing?
It was like a dance where hed clasp his hands behind his head and sway his hips
Had a professional dancer done it, it might have been seen as sexy, but the dancer was a man clad in nothing but underwear.
Looking back, the sight was quite something, but at the time, it was so shocking how he dodged all the arrows that there was no time to pay attention to it.
And then, of course, he went after each archer and cracked their skulls
But the most remarkable thing I saw was when he tackled a drake that attacked a village.
Isnt a drake a rather ferocious beast?
Just the feeling of it is comparable to the dragons from legends. The drake possessed such tremendous power that its breath alone could wipe out everything in its vicinity, and yet, the hero bravely stood in front of such a monster.
In his bare body, without any armor?!
Yes, and then the drake shot its breath directly at the hero, who stood there confidently
Gulp.
Merilyn swallowed hard.
Absorbed in the increasingly intense explanation, she cautiously placed her hands on her chest.
The drake shot at him, but how did the hero handle it? Did he block it?
No, he didnt block it. He lay down to dodge it.
Lay down?
Yes, while everyone else was frantically running away from the breath, the hero just lay down in front of it and dodged it.
When facing the breath of a large monster, even guarding is not feasible, so the only option for humans is to find cover.
In fact, even the hero who used to feed me pineapple pizza couldnt handle the breath of a wyvern and screamed, Dodge the breath! To the corners!!! before melting away.
But that person, as if he had read the path of the breath from the start, stepped out of its trajectory and lay down as comfortably as if he were in his own bedroom to dodge the attack
Then, a one-sided beating began. I found out later that a drakes weak point is its crown. If you hit it there, even a wooden stick can kill it.
Oh, wow.
Merilyn blinked in astonishment at the shocking story.
I wasnt sure if she always blinked because she usually kept her eyes closed, but it was probable.
Even someone like her, who had traveled the world, had probably never heard of such an eccentric character.
Is that even realistically possible?
Haha, impossible for ordinary people.
I understood that sentiment.
Humans, demons, undead, and even exceptionally perceptive beastmen or vampires wouldnt easily attempt such ridiculous acts with their only life at stake.
But that was a reality that unfolded before my eyes, and that fact became a solid basis for what humanity in this world longed for.
Thats what makes a hero, and thats why the empires leaders are so desperate to summon heroes.
Magic, faith, monsters, supernatural phenomena
Even in a world where such fantastical beings became reality, the power of those who had awakened abilities beyond dimensions acted as a factor surpassing all of that.
Therefore, the people of this world saw those heroes as hope, and the worlds power holders sponsored heroes to attach the heroes achievements to themselves and obtain the leadership to guide everyone.
And in such a world, heroes became even more arrogant.
Especially since many who didnt receive such privileges were still brought to this world today as insignificant foreign laborers.
Well, not everyone can receive such privileges, though.
Yes, I was also one of those foreign laborers who shone a light on those heroes.
Just surviving was difficult, let alone pursuing anything beyond that.
Without an adventurer to predict my future, I might have been a trivial being scheduled to die on this mission.
Woo Hyo-sung, are you okay?
Sorry for ending such a story that was meant to be amusing in this manner.
As I tried to hide my feelings about that reality with a forced smile, the wagon suddenly stopped with a thud.
Soon, the head of the caravan shouted at the adventurers in the wagon.
Hey, rookies! Weve arrived at the village, so get out and help move the cargo!
What? Isnt it bad enough were in the luggage compartment, and now we have to help with your business too?
If you dont want to eat, then dont! Just so you know, it takes three whole days to walk to the garrison without the wagon.
Perhaps this was just part of the trading on the way to the garrison.
Well, if it must be done, it must be endured, I thought as I stood up, glancing back at Merilyn before starting the work.
To her, still standing there as if feeling sorry for me.
I think I need to work a bit before eating. Could you sing a work song for us if thats okay?
Without needing to offer any consoling words, showing her that doing what she could do was enough to provide comfort.
We had already met, and I considered that meeting an opportunity.
So why not indulge in the simple luxury that her hands could provide, using this opportunity?
Yes, I am happy to offer my modest talent if its needed.
She felt encouraged by that expectation and soon began to pluck the strings of the lute in her hands.
Ding-a-ling
The melody produced a clear, bright tone.
It seemed to promise to wash away the fatigue from the upcoming work.
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