Going Out Is Too Much Trouble
Going out really was too much trouble.
Heroes.
Saviors granted power by the Goddess who watched over the world — the Demon King's ancient adversaries. Those who strove to stop the Demon King and his minions from staining the world with demonic corruption and conquering it whole.
Naturally, a hero had to be strong. Inevitably, inescapably strong. Without that strength, they could never hope to defeat the Demon King's armies. Even a low-tier hero was expected to casually crush a legion of monsters, and to hold their own one-on-one against a lesser legion commander.
But no matter how carefully the Goddess bestowed her power, pulling talent of that caliber every single time was impossible. Under those harsh conditions, the number of heroes never exceeded two digits — yet even the weakest among them still ranked at least at the level of a knight-captain…
"…You're saying Yong-ba is roughly on par with the strongest hero of the modern age?"
"Well, not identical, but the level itself is similar. The advance party is stronger, of course."
"……"
"Oh, and I've gotten insanely strong too — top 0.1%, easy. Hehe. All thanks to you, Fire Dragon."
"…You've completely lost your mind."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
A guy who wouldn't even make knight — never mind knight-captain, never mind hero — was nearly on the same level as the strongest modern hero? What kind of absurdity was this?
Her head spun of its own accord.
You old hag. What the hell were you thinking?
She'd heard the Goddess had summoned hundreds of heroes and assumed it was an attempt to scrape together prodigies the way she had with the previous generation. If even two or three of them were exceptional, it wouldn't matter how lacking the rest were.
But no.
They're all duds!
Duds. Every last one. Not legion-commander material — mayflies that would be swept away by a single strike from a high-grade monster. That was the true nature of these apprentice heroes.
"Can that guy even stop them? Though he's retired and must be pretty old by now…"
"Who are you talking abou—"
"Haring."
"Yes!"
"Come here."
"Huh?"
"I said come here."
She beckoned to Haring, who stood there blankly. Haring shuffled closer, hesitant. Lea immediately prodded at her arms and legs, the heart through which mana flowed, the danjeon in her lower abdomen — then stared hard at her face.
"Eek!!"
Haring's face flushed so red it looked ready to burst, but Lea withdrew her hands without the slightest interest and flopped back down.
"Nope… completely ordinary…"
"I-I, um, just one hug—"
"Stay still."
"Yes, ma'am."
Still lying down, Lea folded her arms and brooded. She'd wondered whether the Goddess had layered some special mechanism onto the mass bestowal of hero power — but no. Just ordinary humans who'd received only a faint scrap of the Goddess's strength. Their physical makeup was oddly different from the locals of this world, which was curious, but…
Heroes are always like that.
The more heroes wielded the Goddess's power, the more their bodies gradually changed — adapting to better receive that power. This batch seemed to have been accelerated through the process.
Hmm.
She sat bolt upright.
"Fire Dragon?"
"……"
She stood. Then sat back down.
"……"
"?"
Going out really was too much trouble. No matter how annoyingly things spun out of control, she wanted at least five years of rest inside her nest.
Rather than tire herself by going in person, she plucked a small scrap of parchment from a junk box rolling around the nest. And a little bird statue? No, not that — ah, there was the quill.
"What are you doing?"
"Just wait."
Scratch, scratch. After scribbling for about three minutes, she neatly folded the parchment, sealed it, and held it out to Haring.
"Want to run an errand for me? The reward will be generous."
"Is this for real?"
Haring carefully stepped out of the nest, staring at the letter tucked against her chest. A luxurious letter, just received from her master — her adorable Fire Dragon. The contents were sealed and unreadable, but the text floating before Haring's eyes could not have been clearer.
Having earned the Fire Dragon's favor through training, you have been entrusted with a letter-delivery mission. Deliver it carefully without damaging the letter.
Destination:Legion Royal Capital
Recipient:Bahamart Legion, or a contact who can deliver it to him directly
"Holy crap holy crap holy crap!"
This was an absolute jackpot. Twenty thousand experience for a single letter was already insane — but the real prize was the treasure selection right. One pick from those absurdly high-grade pieces of gear she'd seen in the treasure vault.
Even rankers might own Unique weapons, but none of them had Legendaries. If Haring got one, she'd be the first player in the game to hold a Legendary weapon.
"Ehehe… nice! Very nice!"
Of course, she couldn't just go bragging about it the moment she got the weapon. As Yong-ba had warned, the top guilds would flood into Red Mountain and start locking it down. But the feeling alone would be fantastic.
Grinning from ear to ear, Haring checked the quest again. Let's see…
"Destination is the Legion Royal Capital…? I haven't even unlocked that yet."
Haring was a pure newbie who'd done nothing but climb a mountain from the moment she started the game. Thanks to the Fire Dragon's training her stats were ranker-tier, but her quest progress was still stuck at beginner level.
She briefly considered grinding through the story quests now — then shook her head.
"Nah. I can just walk there, right?"
The point of clearing quests was personal growth and building bonds with NPCs — so you could travel to the capital along safe routes with their help. But the current Haring could punch through even the unsafe, monster-infested paths. The maps were already all over the gallery. She'd just carve her way through and go.
"Recipient is Bahamart Legion… who is that?"
Even Haring, who'd diligently studied the gallery, had never heard the name. The surname Legion suggested royalty, but…
"I'll just ask."
"Ugh. Should I not have posted the pic?"
She'd asked about Bahamart Legion and the entire comment section was nothing but Fire Dragon chatter. Still, without the photo a question post like this would've been buried instantly, so it couldn't be helped.
Haring scratched her head and kept scrolling. There was exactly one person in the gallery who could actually answer this properly…
"Oh! There he is!"
Not the only one in the Frolazia gallery, but easily the furthest ahead among the advance party. Why a single-digit ranker was casually browsing the gallery was a mystery — but right now his information was what mattered.
"…Emperor?"
She'd figured prince or princess at best — and it was an emperor. So how was she supposed to meet him?
No matter how ranker-strong Haring had become, the royal capital swarmed with knights. A complete nobody with no cleared quests and zero connections waltzing in demanding an audience with the former emperor would get tossed out on the spot.
Sure, she could name-drop the Fire Dragon and hand over the letter — but the quest had a warning baked in.
Recipient: Bahamart Legion, or a contact who can deliver it to him directly.
Unless the person had a direct relationship with the former emperor, the quest was highly likely to fail.
"…Haa."
Haring let out a long sigh. No wonder the reward had been so stacked. There was always a catch.
"First things first. Just get there."
If she made it somehow, something would happen. Worst case, she'd lean on Evan or other advance-party players from the gallery. And if even that failed… she could try asking that guy for a favor.
Haring set off toward the royal capital.
Back in the nest Haring had left behind, Lea was crunching through the cookies Haring had left when something suddenly occurred to her.
The little bird statue that had been buried in the box alongside the quill.
She picked it up and poured mana into it. The bird began to move, clacking its beak. A messenger golem developed by the Magic Kingdom. She'd thought it was broken — but it worked just fine.
"I sent her for nothing, huh."
She should've just used the messenger bird.