4th Drone Hoopi House - 3: The Porter Remains Unchanged
Even after spitting out my embarrassing inferiority complex, the Porter was still the same. He diligently and faithfully helped me. Yeah. There was no reason for him to change. He must have already known. That I felt inferior to him. If anything, what changed was me.
Once I let out my emotions, I could treat the Porter a bit more gently. I could acknowledge his efforts and dedication.
"Hero. I fixed your torn gloves."
"……Thanks."
Looking at someone who understood me so completely with harsh eyes was just something I couldn't do. Anyone with a conscience would feel it stabbing at them until they died.
My inferiority toward the Porter faded bit by bit, but I was still a coward. I couldn't stand the sight of blood. I couldn't slice flesh. When facing a beast I could kill, my whole body froze, and I couldn't move an inch.
And that failure of mine led to the worst outcomes.
"Porter! Watch out!"
"Ugh?!"
The Porter got hurt. By the monster I let slip away.
"You okay?!"
"Hero. Sorry. The bag got torn, so some stuff's a bit damaged. Luckily, the essentials we need right now are fine, but……."
"Not the luggage! You, Porter!"
"Huh? Oh. Got scraped a bit? Didn't even notice."
Until now, it was fine if I missed monsters. Even if one I let go lunged at another comrade, they could handle it themselves. But not the Porter. He was fragile, someone who didn't know the first thing about fighting. Skilled at caring for people, but powerless against violence and combat.
"……Sorry. My fault."
"Nah. I'm just weak, that's all."
Similar accidents kept happening nonstop. The enemies our party faced grew stronger and stronger, and I still couldn't swing my sword.
"Brother! You need treatment right away……."
"Ah. I'm fine. This much just needs first aid. Can't waste holy power on a mere porter like me."
The scars etched on the Porter's body kept increasing. I drew my sword to save the world. Yet I couldn't even protect the comrade right beside me.
"Porter."
"Ah. Hero."
"……Sorry."
"That again? Told you, it's not your fault. From the start, I gotta protect my own body."
Why was I so powerless? My head spun. Crushing inferiority and helplessness gripped my heart. I want to die. What could a coward like me do to save the world? Trash. Useless. My comrades get hurt because of me. If I can't save the world, it's all my fault──.
"Hey. So, Hero."
"……."
"Wanna teach me swordsmanship?"
"……What?"
It didn't mean the Porter would step up to fight. Just that he'd gain the bare minimum skill to not get in the way during battle, buy time, and escape the battlefield. Swordsmanship not for killing, but for fleeing. Perfect for a coward like me to teach.
And so, I became the Porter's swordsmanship master.
"What I'll teach you is three things. How to dodge. How to block. How to create distance."
"Exactly what's needed for survival."
"To effectively kill huge monsters, you need sword aura. But blocking just requires coating your body with mana. A few months should suffice."
Surprisingly, the Porter had talent.
"……You already mastered it all?"
"Yeah. Like this, right?"
The church's self-defense swordsmanship, modified for beginners to learn easily. The Porter adapted to the new style in no time.
"Must be 'cause you taught me well, Hero."
"Even so, this speed is……."
"It's the swordsmanship you customized for me, right? Of course it fits me perfectly. Any other style, and I wouldn't have picked it up this fast."
Good…… right? Not sure. Honestly, even I, called a genius at the church, wasn't confident I could've learned that quickly. A familiar feeling sloshed in my heart. The emotion I'd spilled while drinking that day. Inferiority. Suddenly, an ominous premonition pierced my mind.
Maybe──.
Maybe the one born with the Hero's fate wasn't me, but the Porter? The fact that he was acknowledged by comrades first, the unnatural luck that followed him── all because he was the one destined for the Hero's path?
Of course, absurd speculation. The goddess bestowed this mission. She prophesied I would be the Hero. A god wouldn't err.
Yet I was captivated by that ominous conjecture.
["You know. I'm the one who carries your burdens."]
In my head, our drunken conversation from that day reconstructed itself.
["That's not your burden. You just took on someone else's."]
This wasn't my burden.
["Saving the world, protecting lives, defeating the Demon King── none of that's your load."]
I can't save the world, protect lives, or defeat the Demon King.
["For now, hand your burdens to us. They were ours to begin with."]
This was originally their burden. The Porter's burden. I was just a kid who stole ill-fitting clothes.
["Thanks. Hero."]
Another emotion replaced the writhing inferiority. Black ink sloshed in my heart. Resentment. Guilt. Relief. Rage. Pity──.
I resented the goddess for her terrible mistake, felt sorry for those whose lives I couldn't save because of me, relieved that it wasn't my burden, enraged that I'd shouldered it, and also──.
"……The biggest victim was you."
I pitied him. This kind Porter, reduced to a mere luggage carrier because I stole his mission── the one who should've been born the Hero, saved the world, and been hailed by all. He was so pitiable. The greatest victim of this misalignment was surely him.
"Huh?"
"Sorry…… It's all because of me……."
"Aigoo. There you go again. You even taught me swordsmanship, and you're still just saying sorry?"
"Sorry, sorry, really, sorry……."
"Sigh. What to do with this soft-hearted Hero."
No amount of apologies could repay that debt fully. It's my fault. I ruined everything. This world's fate, his fate── all tangled beyond repair because of me. How could I atone? How to repay that debt? What the hell should I do?
"Then Hero, from now on, help me with my work. It'll make things easier for me too. Got it?"
I nodded without a word. His judgment was surely wiser than mine.
"Oh. Hero. You did great. Knew you had a knack for this."
"Still clumsy compared to you."
"I've been doing it forever. Makes sense. If you caught up to my decades in a month, I'd be bawling."
"You haven't even lived decades."
"Learned sewing before I was born."
"What a joke."
I learned a lot from the Porter. How to sew, cook, haggle with merchants, draw maps, and more. He knew everything needed for travel. And I had talent for it all. While learning his tasks, I felt endlessly at ease, like reclaiming my place.
"……So this was my true fate?"
"Huh?"
"Just mumbling."
I'm a porter. With that mindset, I diligently helped with his work. For the first time since our journey began, I was becoming useful to my comrades. The Porter bore no grand mission. Like a slave freed from chains, I felt light and unburdened.
"So, what's next to learn?"
"Ah. This time, butchering. We'll hunt wild game on travels, and it's needed for harvesting monster trophies too."
"Got it."
"We'll use a butchering knife for practice, but if you don't have one……."
In that comfortable mood, I neatly butchered a goblin corpse. Then it hit me.
"Huh?"
Blood no longer scared me.
"W-Wait! Porter! Something's wrong!"
"Huh? What's up?"
Something had changed. I found a nearby goblin village and charged in like a madman. And.
I swung the holy sword, which had never tasted blood before.
"Ha. Haha. Haha……!"
I killed. I could kill.
"Hahaha!"
That day, one goblin village fell.
"Hero."
"……Ah."
Turning toward the voice, the Mage stared at me with a sullen expression.
"Why are you standing there all spaced out? You killed the Demon King── shouldn't you be happier? You saved the world."
"Just reminiscing about an old memory."
"Old memory?"
"The time I first killed a goblin."
"Ahh. That's ancient history. You were so thrilled, you grabbed the Porter and bawled your eyes out."
"Haha. Yeah……."
Me being able to swing my sword was all thanks to the Porter.
"Then I don't need more sword lessons, right?"
"Hm?"
"You'll protect me, yeah?"
"……Yeah. I'll definitely protect you."
"Hehe. That's all I needed. Honestly, the muscle pain was killing me."
The Porter himself just joked that he didn't need more training anymore. But that was consideration for me too. After that day, he never swung a sword again.
"When we get back to the capital, let's have a celebration party together. Illina too, right?"
"I must return to Mother's World Tree──."
"The Porter will be there too, so we should celebrate with him."
"……Not a bad idea."