Exploration (1)

A few days had passed. Late at night, Lena and I said our goodnights.

"Sleep well. I'm just heading out for a light walk."

"Hero City's dangerous at night, so be careful, sis."

"If they run into me, the creeps are the ones who'll need to watch out. Don't worry."

"If anything dangerous happens while I'm gone, or if someone breaks into the house, you do exactly what I told you, okay? Trustworthy people will be there to help within five minutes."

"The police, right? Okay. I got it."

It was the opposite of what she thought — but compared to Hero City's police, they were far more reliable. The cops in this city existed as a formality and nothing more. In practice, the Hero Association handled almost everything, which meant they were next to useless in a genuine emergency. That was just what happened when a city ran on the Association.

"We've got a lot more breathing room these days, but still..."

I double-checked every lock before I left. Awakeners could rip a door off its hinges with their bare hands or smash straight through a wall, but if the locks at least kept out petty thieves, I'd call it a fair return on investment. The truth was, Hero City's public safety wasn't exactly stellar.

What set it apart from everywhere else was the sheer number of high-rank awakeners. Beast attacks and villain terrorism got cleaned up fast. That was why people spent a fortune to live here. Especially since, outside Hero City, children like Elena were only growing in number with every passing year.

Before heading out for a light dawn stroll, I listened to the radio and caught up on how the world had been turning.

As expected, a massive explosion had gone off at a major branch of the Corvo Family — powerful enough that the foreign press had mistaken it for a nuclear bomb dropping on Federation territory. The armed clash along the Federation's border railway had been quietly swept under the rug under pressure from the Hero Association. Cheonma's attitude had caused some controversy, but not a single person dared to criticize her to her face.

It wasn't that nobody wanted to. Those voices were just shut down almost immediately. The Federation government was already viewed as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worse than bad — as garbage, frankly — and her appearance had even calmed the conflicts raging in nearby regions. If anything, the number of people singing Cheonma's praises had only grown.

"How strange."

I didn't mean the people. What I found strange was that this world still functioned at all, however much it creaked and groaned while doing it. A world where individuals existed with enough power to surpass most nations — and yet the overall backdrop of history wasn't all that different from the reality I knew.

The only difference was a single singularity. Beasts and awakeners had begun appearing in earnest in the nineteenth century, and a handful of differences had branched out from there. That was all.

"It's terrifyingly realistic. But then you see something like this, and it feels like a game all over again."

It was one of those places where you could feel the artificial hand of a setting. Of course, there were reasons for that too. One: the strongest awakener in Hero City wanted a world like this. Two: a prophecy of the world's destruction still waiting in the future.

It was a fact known only to the leaders of each nation and the high executives of the Hero Association — that in a few years, the worst awakener in existence would appear and destroy the world. That was the true ending of the game Hero Maker, and the one event I didn't actually know in any precise detail.

The reason was simple. The difficulty was so completely unhinged that I'd never been able to beat it.

It had taken a full month after the game's release just to find the conditions to reach the ending, and even the strongest party composition I could remember putting together had been completely wiped by the final boss. As a point of reference — even ten heroes on Cheonma's level lasting about three minutes was the best you could hope for. That was how bad it was. People had thrown up their hands and said, "A piece-of-shit world like this deserves to be destroyed."

Honestly, if this world's route bent in that direction, there was nothing I could do about it. Surviving would be impossible. Protecting Lena would be even more so. It would just be the end of the world. No special tricks. No way out.

The least I could do was stay beside her until the very end. But...

"It's a long way off. No need to worry about it now."

If I actually thought about it, it was a pointless worry anyway. This world had dozens of possible endings, and the conditions for entering that particular hidden route were so exacting that the odds of it happening were vanishingly small. Besides, world-ending crises showed up at the drop of a hat around here. Nuclear war. A global coalition purging awakeners. Beasts running rampant across the entire world. Infighting among the S-Rank heroes. And on and on. Just thinking about it was enough to make my head hurt. There was no shortage of disasters.

It was just that it would be a real problem if the story flowed in that direction. Even so — even if the route did bend that way — I had no intention of quietly giving up.

That was the promise between me and Capella.

"I should be back before Lena wakes up."

Wearing a black mask, I stepped onto a streetlamp and climbed to a building's rooftop.

Hero City's public safety had been a topic of controversy for as long as anyone could remember. For a city packed with awakeners and heroes, it had a remarkable number of petty thieves, muggers, and molesters.

Hero City's official position was that even they couldn't monitor every floor of the city twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year — and that doing so would mean trampling on people's privacy, which they weren't willing to do. On top of that, those petty thieves and muggers were awakeners themselves. If they could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turn invisible, or teleport like Lilac, even heroes would have a hard time catching them.

"The hell are you lying about, you little shit? And you thought we'd get scared and run just 'cause you're a hero?"

Hero City was also far larger than it looked. Divided into floors from A through Z, the city as a whole was easily twice the size of the Korean peninsula. Just protecting a territory that vast from beasts was already an extraordinary feat. Having a handful of awakeners also micromanage internal security was impossible.

Hero City had the power to turn that impossibility into reality. They simply didn't want a perfect city, so they left the reins deliberately slack. If public safety became too perfect, people would stop depending on heroes.

There was a saying for it, wasn't there? God doesn't make a perfect world, because then people would stop looking for God. Same idea.

"I already called the local branch. Backup's on the way, and you're all going to be eating prison food."

The hero in the dorky spandex suit said it like he meant it. Wearing a costume like that in the dead of winter — even an awakener would be freezing. You had to admire the work ethic, at least. I didn't know his name, but I was pretty sure there had been a guy like him among the low-rank heroes who existed to be used as XP.

"Sorry, but we've already got a detailed rundown of this floor's assigned heroes. At this hour, the only ones on duty are two D-Rank awakeners and a single C-Rank."

His opponents, on the other hand, were the local floor's organized gangsters. The leader was around C-Rank, with at least five underlings, all of them awakeners. The hero had no way of winning. When the ranks were similar and you were outnumbered, you lost. That was just how it worked. He'd been running and gotten himself boxed into a dead end. Talk about rotten luck.

"Kh... You think you can lay a hand on a hero and walk away?"

"A nobody hero like you goes missing on the street, you get a tiny blurb in the paper and that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it. We know how this works."

Let me just check the list real quick. I hadn't come out specifically to hunt bounties, and they didn't look like they'd fetch much, but there was no harm in picking up a little pocket money. I happened to need cash anyway. Might as well grab them while I was here.

Low-rank, no-name awakeners like these paid a pathetic amount — but when you needed a bit of cash right now, they were actually the convenient option. Like hitting about a hundred bucks on a scratch-off ticket. The underlings would pay something if I brought them in too, but hauling in a bunch of guys who weren't even worth ten bucks each was more trouble than it was worth.

"Ghk?!"

I dropped from above and planted my foot, almost gently, on the one who looked like their leader. A dull thud. His neck bent at a sickening angle. He wasn't dead. A corpse lost market value, so I only knocked him out — had to keep the goods as fresh as possible for delivery.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Backup's already here?"

Next, I put the underlings in their place. I didn't feel like fussing over them one by one, so better to put them down before they saw my face well enough to remember or identify me.

"Kh—?!"

I grabbed one by the nape and flung him into another.

"Guh!"

I made sure the next two got a real close look at each other — by slamming their faces together. A heavy crack. Both their faces looked caved in, but they'd heal soon enough.

"Nice meeting you."

Last, I stepped on the face of the one who'd crumpled to the floor. They'd all gone quiet as the dead, but I'd held back enough to only knock them out. They'd be easy to process.

"W-wait... you're not a h-hero, are you? Wh-who are you?"

Now the only one left was the hero in the spandex. I'm a tenderhearted person, you know. Seeing a public servant out here working so hard on a freezing night, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. His bounty wasn't high enough to be worth the risk of selling out a hero, and this might be a good chance to start using my ability in small doses.

"I'm grateful for the help, of course, but—"

"Shh..."

"Wh-what are you suddenly— mmph?!"

I pinned the hero against the wall, covered his mouth, and slowly looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into his eyes. He looked back into mine.

The last time I'd used the ability against Lilac, it had been dangerous at first — I'd gone too long without using it. So I needed to get used to Capella's power again, slowly, a little at a time, without putting too much strain on my body or mind.

Capella couldn't go as far as full brainwashing, but she could imitate something close. Right now it was only hypnosis, but if my body could endure it, there was no reason I couldn't go further.

"Got it?"

"...Yes. I understand."

Good. For now, the only cost was a slight ache in my eyes. When I faced high-rank awakeners, I'd have no choice but to use this power. Better to get my body accustomed to it before then.

I used the ability on the spandex-clad hero until I was satisfied, then slung the limp gang boss over my shoulder. Back then, I wouldn't have bothered with any of this. But I needed to improve now.