6. The Defeated Female Knight, Then by the Orcs...

Blacklist.

A list typically kept to flag people who must never be hired for certain jobs, or who require extreme caution.

I understood that the Adventurer's Guild, which deals with people constantly, would naturally keep such a list. What I couldn't understand was how my name had ended up on it.

"So it's true the Guild specifically pointed at me and told people not to hire me?"

"They didn't go quite that far. It seems that because you kept getting hired and too many unsavory incidents happened, the adventurers who heard those rumors banded together and protested, saying they wouldn't employ you."

"That's the same thing."

There wasn't an official written list, but if a sizable number of adventurers protested, the Guild had no choice but to take it seriously.

But even knowing the reason, I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

Unsavory incidents? Me?

Even when heroes hurled every curse in the book and treated me like a slave or a mangy dog, I just put on my service smile, did everything I was told, and worked honestly without ever cutting corners. So why were they singling me out over something so unjust?

"No, I worked hard. Why are you blacklisting me?"

"The fact that you kept working so hard is precisely the problem."

"Wow, is this screwed-up world so broken that being hardworking is a crime now?"

This is exactly why this goddamn world has a youth unemployment rate of a million.

If you're not a special snowflake with a perfect score on the SAT equivalent, you can't get recognized for anything. Who's going to roll up their sleeves and work this hard?

Though saying this world has a million unemployed is less accurate than saying it has a million Foreign Workers, but whatever.

"Listen here, young man. Do you have any idea how dangerous adventuring is as a profession?"

To me, who had quietly worked and saved up money despite all that, this news wasn't just a fatal blow to my future income—it felt like a betrayal.

As if trying to somehow make me understand, the Guild Leader stroked his wrinkled face and quietly explained.

"Demons, undead, vampires, beastkin, and so on... With dangerous creatures like them overflowing, there's always an overflowing demand for adventurers who take on those risks instead. Especially the ones called heroes—they take on the most dangerous jobs of all. Following so far?"

"Yes, well. That's something everyone knows."

"Alright. Then let's review the missions you've taken on so far."

Shuffle, shuffle. The Guild Leader showed me my records held at the Labor Union, one by one.

Every single job I'd ever worked was recorded there in detail, and a significant number of them involved assisting heroes.

"Do you know how many of the heroes you've served are still alive?"

"How many?"

"All but three are dead! Dead, I tell you, you poor fool!"

Bam, bam! The Guild Leader slammed his fist on the documents and glared at me.

I could sense a frustration that was beyond words, but considering this was somehow my fault, there were multiple problems with that logic.

"Look, everyone knows heroes are valuable personnel, but isn't being an adventurer a profession with a pretty low survival rate anyway? All I did was carry their stuff; I didn't bash them over the back of the head. So how is any of that my fault!?"

"That's not the issue. The problem is that you keep coming back alive, every single time."

"Wow, so now surviving and coming back is a problem too? So workers like me are supposed to just follow them around, become a human shield, drop dead, and that would be fine? Huh?"

"The issue is that only you keep ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠coming back alive every single time. If it happened once or twice, you'd be called lucky. More than five times, a survival king. But beyond ten, beyond twenty times... wouldn't anyone start to find that terrifying?"

"No, that's..."

There was no malice in his eyes, yet the Guild Leader looked at me with pity and deep frustration.

Realizing that no matter what I said, the situation wouldn't improve, I could only clutch my forehead and let out a low sigh of lament.

"The real problem is that every single hero is a brick-brained moron, so why the hell is that my fault?"

It was the moment something I'd only ever thought in my head finally burst out of my mouth.

***

Yeah, heroes are all morons and idiots.

It's not that they're inherently wrong. The system is rigged so that after being summoned to this world, heroes inevitably turn out that way.

Let's think back to when they're first summoned, for instance.

In front of the summoners, nobles, and even royalty, the moment a special ability they were granted is confirmed to be SSR-grade, cheers erupt from all directions.

Like when a new collectible character appears in a gacha game—trumpets blare, spotlights shine on them...

Naturally, after being showered with such adulation from the start, this is what the heroes will likely think:

'I was a nobody in my past life, but now I'm a hero destined to save this world?'

'Doesn't this make me totally badass? Doesn't it feel like my era has finally come?'

Of course, the more of a nobody someone was, the harder this hits them.

Since the powers-that-be also sponsor them, pulling in resources from everywhere to support them, their inferiority complex fades more and more by the day.

They really can save the world. Furthermore, they're the strongest, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greatest beings in this world...

Drunk on that sense of chosen-ness, they reign as the strongest in the well that is the Empire, and then stride out looking down on this insanely dangerous world.

Yep, a perfect textbook case of the technical term 'Dunning-Kruger' in action.

"Hero! We need to fall back for now!"

That damn female knight I met a while ago was following the exact same script.

"Silence! I am one summoned to this world as a hero. Do you think it's remotely proper for me, bearing a mission to save the world, to retreat before the Demon Lord's Army!?"

"I agree we need to wipe out the Demon Lord's Army, too. But isn't the timing all wrong right now?"

The job at the time was a large-scale sudden quest arranged by the Guild.

The aim was to monitor the Demon Lord's Army that had started encamping near a port city, and to buy time until all the civilians could evacuate in case they launched an invasion.

Obviously, if the Demon Lord's Army wasn't showing any notable movement on their side, there was no need for us to charge in and provoke them.

"Hero, isn't it enough for you to just stay here and observe their movements? From the looks of it, they don't even seem to be planning an attack on this city—more like scouting the surroundings. To insist on barging into their garrison and poking the hornet's nest..."

"Hah! Whatever tricks they're up to, aren't they ultimately enemies we must deal with? No matter how strong or how numerous they are, they're no match for me, a hero. Why should I have to consider such circumstances?"

"But still, the evacuation isn't over yet. If you could at least wait until all the people have left the city..."

"Ha! Once I kill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that commander, this will all be over. He's nothing but a lowly orc anyway. Shouldn't be a problem to clean up quickly, right?"

"I think it's a bad idea to underestimate him just because he's an orc. If anything, the fact that an orc has risen to the rank of commander in the Demon Lord's Army means..."

"Shut up! You're just a baggage-handling grunt. Why are you running your mouth so much? All you have to do is grab my gear and follow behind me!"

And so, despite my dissuasion, the hero ordered me to carry her equipment and dragged me into a deathtrap, charging headlong into the Demon Lord's Army garrison by herself.

Then, after only taking down a few small fry, she got completely wrecked.

As a bonus, because she had to go and poke the Demon Lord's Army that had been sitting quietly, the port city was turned into a wasteland, and people who hadn't finished evacuating died in droves.

Yet, without an ounce of self-awareness, that she-knight just stared at the orc who had defeated her, eyes filled with nothing but bitter resentment.

"Ngh...! You're just a lowly orc...!"

"Hmph! Orc is merely my birth. As I stand now, I am proudly a commander of the Demon Lord's Army!"

Come on, would the Demon Lord's Army, who aren't idiots, just leave a dull-witted orc in a high position as is?

If you're facing someone who's considered a commander, it makes far more sense to see them as an outrageous powerhouse who overcame their origins as an orc to reach that rank.

Meaning, they're not the kind of opponent some muscle-headed rookie hero can handle by charging in full of confidence, relying on nothing but brute power.

"On the other hand, despite your fierce fighting, you're just a whelp freshly summoned to this world!"

"I am not a whelp! I... ngh!"

Eventually, her stamina exhausted, the she-knight collapsed to the ground, her wounded body giving out.

Seeing that wretched sight, the orc slammed the mace in his hand onto the ground with a thud and looked down at her with cold eyes.

"Greenhorn hero. What do you think I will do with you now?"

"...Hah. It'll be the same sordid thing all orcs do, obviously."

Even a greenhorn would have received all sorts of education while honing her abilities as a hero at the royal palace.

Among that would have been general knowledge about the beings that throw the world into chaos—demi-humans, demons, undead, and the like.

And among them, orcs are a demi-human race with vigorous reproductive capabilities, whose numbers explode exponentially if not culled quickly.

Having foreseen a future based on such common knowledge, she soon glared venomously at the orc and declared,

"But no matter what you do... I will never surrender! Whatever vile thing you do, I will never...!"

"Understood! In respect of your resolve, I shall grant you a painless death!"

At her defiant words, the commander orc immediately raised his mace.

Realizing something was very wrong with what she'd just heard, the she-knight's face began to turn deathly pale.

"Huh? Wait a moment..."

-Crunch!

A sickening sound.

When I opened my eyes, which I had reflexively shut, it was already all over.

All that remained was spattered blood and brain matter on the floor, and limbs twitching from rigor mortis.

Soon, standing before that corpse, the commander raised his mace proudly and shouted.

"I am a commander of the Demon Lord's Army, one who knows honor! To any who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stand before me as a warrior, I shall grant them a fitting end!!"

Well, a being who rose to become a Demon Lord's Army commander despite being a demi-human, not even a demon, is bound to act in ways that defy common sense sometimes.

The commander, dragging the mace he'd used to crush a head, began walking straight toward me.

"Now next... You, human over there. Come here!"

"Eeek..."

Even a powerful, well-connected hero had been reduced to a ruin with her head caved in. How could I possibly act tough?

When I approached as ordered, he looked at me and spoke coldly.

"Human. What would you have me do with you now?"

"Spare me, good sir! I am but a body with so much left to achieve in this life; I don't wish to die yet!!"

I might die anyway, but if he was giving me a choice, obviously I had to bet everything on wanting to live.

To do that, I planted my skull into the dirt. My forehead hurt, but if I couldn't endure this much pain, the next thing to bash my head in wouldn't be the ground, but that blood-stained mace.

"Hmph! You do not wish to die!?"

"That is correct, my lord! How could this precious life my mother and father gave me wish to end in a place like this!? They say even a dung heap is better than the afterlife, so if you let me live, I'll work like a dog!"

"Hmph! I like your honesty! In admiration of your courage to bend your head for what you value, I shall spare your life!"

"Thank you, big brother!"

"And you said you would work for me? Then once you get out of here alive, relay this clearly to your kin! That if they provoke us again like today, they will pay the price accordingly!"

"Of course, I'll relay it, big brother! I, U-hyo-seong, will faithfully convey your military exploits!"

And so, after a desperate, groveling plea for my life, I managed to survive a face-to-face encounter with a commander of the Demon Lord's Army.

As I thought, people really must know courtesy and humility to live long lives.