The Guardian Hero
“…It’s a bit hot.” That was me speaking.
“It really is quite warm.” That was Iris.
“Why is it so unbearably hot?!” And that, of course, was Master.
The western climate was the absolute worst for someone who hated heat as much as she did. The Heavenly Demon, a being whose very name commanded fear across the martial world, was weak to summer. If the rest of the jianghu ever found out, they would have turned the blazing midsummer sun into their battlefield—or lured her straight into the desert.
“Disciple! It’s too hot! This is unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable!”
“You chose this journey yourself, Master. Please endure it with sheer willpower.”
“There are limits to what willpower can overcome!”
“You once told me something, Master.”
“What was it?”
“‘If you set your mind to it, anything is possible. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’”
Master stared at me blankly. From her expression, she clearly remembered saying those exact words. She stammered, clearly trying to figure out how to respond.
“Ahem, Disciple. That’s not how it works. Just because you say it’s possible doesn’t mean—”
“You’re the one who insisted it would work when I repeated it back to you.”
“There are things even willpower alone cannot overcome… perhaps?”
“Please don’t try to change your words now, Master.”
Just thinking about how she made me climb cliffs bare-handed still made my teeth grind. I hadn’t known a single thing about martial arts back then. Every time I slipped, she’d shouted that falling meant death and that I absolutely could not fall. Her only answer to my pleas had been, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“…Aaaagh!!”
Finally unable to bear it any longer, Master began stripping off her outer robes. For a brief moment, her snow-white skin was exposed to everyone’s eyes—including a passing noble who had been checking the map.
“Master, please endure it a little longer. Just a little. I’d appreciate it if you maintained some dignity.”
“I’m only holding back because it’s you. Iris! Fan harder.”
“Yes, Grandmaster…”
Iris had somehow become Master’s personal fan. She waved the fan with practiced ease, as if she had done this exact thing countless times before the regression.
Leaving Master and Iris in the carriage, I quietly approached the noble. He was pretending he hadn’t seen anything, but I knew exactly where his eyes had gone.
“…Hic.”
He even had the hiccups. I wasn’t about to let that slide.
“What, surprised? Never seen skin as flawless as porcelain before?”
“Eh? Ah… Y-yes, that’s…”
“‘That’s’ isn’t the answer I’m looking for. Is it?”
“Of course not. You’re right. I didn’t see anything at all.”
“Next time something like this happens, turn your head away immediately. Otherwise, I’ll snap your neck myself.”
It wasn’t a joke—it was a sincere warning. The noble wasn’t completely oblivious; he nodded furiously.
“How much farther?”
“Not far. If we head in the opposite direction from here for a day, we’ll reach my territory… and the Forbidden Zone is only half a day from there.”
“So we really are close. By the way, your territory is a day away from here?”
“Yes. One day’s travel and I can return to where I came from. Yes, yes.”
“Then why don’t you head home now? If you want to go, I can send you.”
The wounds from Master’s beating had mostly healed, and none of his limbs were broken. He could walk just fine. He wasn’t the type to cause trouble even if he returned to his territory, and even if he tried something, we could simply crush him with force.
“You’re… really going to let me go home?”
“Your role is finished. And you did your job well enough. So? Want to go back?”
“If you send me, I’d be truly grateful. Incredibly grateful.”
“You’re not going to gather soldiers and come back, are you? That would be troublesome.”
“Even if I called them soldiers, I don’t have fifty proper ones. And from what I’ve seen…”
The noble glanced toward the carriage. There was no scheming glint in his eyes like when we first met—only the look of a rabbit trembling before an apex predator.
“Even if I brought all fifty, I don’t think I could defeat that woman.”
“Oh? ‘Woman,’ is it? You called her something much cruder before. Where did that courage go?”
“I must have been out of my mind back then. Please forgive me just this once.”
“I’ve told you multiple times I’m not going to kill you. Relax and go home.”
“Aah! Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Don’t mention it. Ah, and I’ll return this carriage when I get the chance.”
“…Pardon?”
The noble stared at me in confusion, clearly wondering if he’d misheard.
“You said the Forbidden Zone is half a day from here. Are you telling us to walk the rest of the way?”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant… But if we’re being fair, my territory is also a day away, so…”
“You’ll walk. We can’t exactly give you the carriage.”
“B-but… the carriage isn’t mine… if I may be so bold…”
“Didn’t you trade this carriage for your life? If you want it back that badly, I’ll burn your corpse and send it along with it.”
The noble frantically waved his hands. “N-no! That’s not necessary! It’s fine!”
“So what’ll it be? Walk, or keep traveling with us to the end?”
The reason I was bringing him all the way to the Forbidden Zone was simple—he’d proven surprisingly useful as a guide. Iris hadn’t objected either, which meant his directions were accurate. Being a local, he also knew the surrounding geography well. Having even one reliable guide made the journey far easier. There was also the chance he knew something about the Forbidden Zone.
“I… I don’t seem to have much of a choice.”
“Nonsense. Of course you have a choice. For example, you could walk and lose some weight.”
“Ahaha! In the west, a man with a sturdy build like mine is considered quite dashing!”
“Then I must not be your type. I’m just average.”
“Oh no! The most highly regarded are strong men, followed by well-built ones. Hehe. How could I possibly compare myself to someone like you?”
Now I understood how someone with nothing had managed to obtain a noble title. It was probably thanks to this silver tongue. As they say, a single well-spoken word can repay a thousand debts.
“So I can assume you’ll be coming with us, then?”
“Of course! Of course! I’ll guide you all the way to the vicinity of the Forbidden Zone.”
“You’re not going to lead us somewhere strange, are you? Like into a bandit ambush?”
“Please don’t say such things. A Hero appeared recently, so there’s no chance of that.”
Was he referring to Iris, or to Gerard who had come looking for her? Either way, neither of them would simply overlook bandits—they’d hunt them down and reduce them to dust.
“Then let’s head to the Forbidden Zone right away.”
“Y-yes! Understood. Um… by the way, are you really not worried about the curse?”
“No. The Holy Hero already placed a blessing on us.”
“Ah, I see. So the Holy Hero blessed you. Of course. That makes sense.”
The noble’s face made it painfully obvious he didn’t believe a word. I wondered what kind of expression he’d make once he learned I was the Holy Hero’s master. The thought suddenly amused me.
Less than half a day later, just as the noble had said, we arrived at the place the locals called the Forbidden Zone—the former capital of the ancient kingdom.
The reason we could be certain was simple: there were no signposts in this desolate place. Instead, a group of people stood waiting for us.
“…”
“…”
The west was hot—unbearably so. Yet every single person standing before us was fully armed. Their armor was likely enchanted to consider the wearer’s condition, the kind of expensive gear no ordinary mercenary could afford. That meant they were all knights.
On this continent, only three entities could command formal knights: the king, the nobility, and one other—the being those knights most wished to follow.
“The Holy Crusader is coming out.”
At the mention of their Hero, the knights lined up neatly on both sides. From behind them emerged a man in full armor despite the heat.
I confirmed his face, stepped down from the carriage, and walked straight toward my disciple, ignoring the other knights’ gazes.
“Master.”
Gerard Geranium, the Guardian Hero. My fourth disciple, and the only male character in the deck I had built.
That’s right—among all my disciples, Gerard was the only man.
The developers had known exactly how to squeeze money out of players. Sometimes they released powerful, attractive female characters. Other times they released female characters whose performance was mediocre but whose appearance was stunning. Either way, players’ wallets opened without fail—sometimes for performance, sometimes because of their chests.
Male characters were so rare you could count them on one hand. Four of them were completely forgettable. Only one Hero character stood out.
Originally, even the Guardian Hero had been a female character—a charming woman in light armor rather than a fully armored knight. But that design had rubbed certain people the wrong way. Complaints about the sexualization of women flooded in, especially regarding a female tank. The developers eventually caved and changed her into a heavily armored male character.
The ones who suffered were the players.
—What the hell, why add a male character?
—This is blasphemy. Get rid of the male character, you bastards.
—I’m all for performance, but still, male characters…
—Damn it, we’re the ones playing the game, so why are they listening to those people?
Everyone had said the same thing at first. I’d been furious too. It wasn’t even player feedback—it was just noise from people who contributed nothing to sales. Yet the developers had accepted it immediately.
But once we checked his performance, we all shut up.
Whether you raised him or not was your choice. If you didn’t, you simply had no rights in the game. The male Hero Gerard Geranium’s performance was overwhelming.
“I didn’t think you would actually come.”
“Of course I came. One of my disciples went silent.”
“If I had been even a little stronger, I wouldn’t have needed to ask for your help. I’m truly ashamed.”
“Don’t say unnecessary things. You’re already more than enough as you are.”
Why was Gerard’s performance so exceptional? He was a living shield. His defensive skills could block any attack without exception. Though the duration was short, even against a Fragment of the Demon God, he could hold out alone during that time.
“How far has the investigation progressed, Gerard?”
“Let’s go inside the tent first. I’ll explain everything slowly.”
As I followed him into the tent, I let out a quiet sigh.
With this performance and personality, he would have been perfect if he’d stayed female. Damn it, even in a game they had to bring up women’s rights. Go lose some weight instead of complaining, you idiots.