Useless Hero, Get Stronger Already—You Should Help Out a Little
She stood before me, wounds covering her body, and poured divine power into me while laughing.
“Pufuh, you’re really pathetic. Getting hurt like this against nothing but lower-class monsters. What a pitiful sight~♡ If I hadn’t been here, what would you have done?”
“……The Saint told me to fight.”
“So you’ve been planning to keep living as a useless human like this? You should get stronger just a little so you can help me. Judging from that bug-like strength you showed, you’re still far from it~♡”
That damn saint.
Ever since I met Saint Estelle and started traveling with her, it had always been like this. When I asked her why we were adventuring, she had answered without hesitation that it was to defeat the Demon King.
“Of course, with that weak strength, you won’t even reach the Demon King’s toes. So you must somehow strengthen that pathetic ability of yours~? You wouldn’t want to become a useless hero, would you~?”
After that, battles had repeated as training. The saint would bring monsters for me to fight, and each time I was wounded, she would heal me.
I had no idea where or how she lured the monsters. Was she scattering some kind of pheromone?
Still, there was one saving grace: the saint was truly sincere. She spoke in words of how useless I was, but her actions clearly showed she wanted me to grow stronger.
She only lured lower-class monsters that I could handle, so at least she had no intention of killing me.
…But how do I fix that speech pattern?
I had no idea how the saint ended up speaking like a mesugaki. I should have read novels…
No, originally she spoke normally around others. Why did this crazy woman only act this way in front of me?
The saint gave my arm a light slap.
“Well, the healing is done. Now it’s time to use that pathetic strength of yours to practice seriously again.”
“……Again?”
“Surely not~ You’re going to keep living as that X-rated trash forever?”
“……Then I will.”
Damn it. Let’s get stronger.
She left me alone again and headed deeper into the forest. This time she brought cobolts, reptilian monsters stronger than the goblins we had faced earlier. They looked furious.
“Kyiek! Capture them! We’ll capture and rape them!!”
“Kyaa♡ If I get captured by these trashy cobolts, I’ll be raped! Stand there like an idiot and don’t help? Hurry and do something!”
“……What the hell are you doing?”
About ten cobolts had appeared.
We had already caught twenty goblins and they still injured me. Could I even beat ten cobolts right now? While I was thinking, the saint hid behind me.
“Well, show me that stupid strength of yours, hero~♡”
“……Sigh.”
Still, the saint wouldn’t let me die.
I grabbed the holy sword firmly. The saint had told me it was a weapon deadly to anything related to 魔. So slashing it properly would deal a fatal blow to monsters.
This holy sword in the hands of a body that barely catches goblins… I had no words to counter the saint’s constant taunts of how pathetic I was.
I swung the sword at the cobolt rushing at me. It only grazed it, but the monster howled in pain and rolled on the ground.
“Kyieik! It hurts! It hurts so bad!”
“Kyiek! This sword is dangerous. Everyone be careful!”
Cobolts had higher intelligence than goblins. That was why they were considered more dangerous. By sacrificing one, they had learned to watch the sword and act accordingly.
Of course, they were still lower-class monsters. Even if they were cautious, their movements barely changed—just a thought of avoiding the swing of the sword. They had no idea about weapon reach or anything.
With a powerful swing, the holy sword cut down two more cobolts. They let out strange cries and fired their stone bows.
“Ugh!”
I dodged everything else, but one arrow hit my shoulder. Damn, it hurt like hell. I glanced back at the saint, but she showed no sign of healing until the fight ended.
“Huu… You still haven’t finished them off? Worse than a new adventurer. The name ‘hero’ is wasted on you~.”
“……Damn it. Why is my luck always like this.”
Maybe I should just take on the quest.
“Kuh…”
I gripped the arrow lodged in my shoulder and pulled it out. I couldn’t swing the sword while it was embedded, so the flesh tore and blood flowed in streams.
Shit, it really hurt. In novels or webtoons, people who got hit by arrows still moved fine. Were those crazy people who didn’t feel pain?
Grinding my teeth, I endured the pain and charged at the cobolts. When they finished reloading and raised their stone bows again, I swung the holy sword once more.
“Kyieek!?”
“T-The bow broke!”
The holy sword shattered the cobolts’ crude stone bows in one strike and then kicked their heads with my foot. A crunching sound followed as a fellow cobolt flew backward. The others roared in fury.
“Kyieik! Kill that bastard quickly!”
“Die!”
Some still held intact stone bows and aimed at me. But my sword was faster. The moment an arrow shot from their crude bows, the bows and their thick skulls exploded together.
Arrows that flew off course after the bows shattered missed me and only grazed my cheek.
Only two left now.
“Ky, kyieik! Human… strong!”
“Run! Run!”
The cobolts threw away their bows and fled when their comrades fell. I turned to look at them.
“……What now?”
“You’re planning to leave the monsters behind? Lacking the mindset of a true hero~. Before you ask such stupid questions, you should chase them right now.”
“……Yes.”
I regretted asking that question after hearing the saint’s sharp rebuke. Chasing the fleeing cobolts into the forest, I spotted one. I immediately swung the holy sword to cut it down.
“Kyieik!!!”
With a scream, I turned to the fallen cobolt and searched for another. After circling around, no more remained.
“Where did they go?”
If I couldn’t catch them, I would get another lecture. Since the shoulder wound still pained me, I wanted to finish and return quickly.
“Krruk…”
“That’s it?”
The sound of their cries had changed. Still, monsters could make different sounds, so I kept walking. But the creature there wasn’t a cobolt. It was something that looked like a wolf and was two-legged, like the Noll the saint had mentioned. A heavy-bodied mid-class monster, the Noll Chieftain—the strongest of the lower-class monsters.
With my current ability, I had no chance of winning against it. My body froze at the thought.
“Klararar!”
The Noll Chieftain roared, threw down the cobolt it was eating, and raised its axe.
“Uwaaa!”
The huge axe of the Noll Chieftain fell toward my head. The thought in my mind turned entirely to the fear of death approaching.
I didn’t want to die. Why did I have to die here? Damn it, let me get back home.
With every possible thought running through my head, I closed my eyes on instinct and swung the holy sword.
“……Huh?”
Even though the axe should have split my skull in half, I felt no pain and opened my eyes a little.
The Noll Chieftain’s axe blade was still hovering above my head. Startled, I quickly stepped aside. The massive body crashed to the ground with a thud. Blood gushed from its enormous frame.
“……Did I catch it?”
Oh shit. I had caught a mid-class monster.
Would the saint acknowledge this?
“Oh? Hero.”
She had followed me into the forest and now appeared behind me.
“You caught the Noll Chieftain?”
“Y-Yes, somehow… I don’t know how I did it either.”
“Huu, the useless hero did quite well.”
“…More than that, can you heal this wound?”
“You got hurt again? Just from a cobolt, what a pitiful sight. I have no choice, I’ll heal you~♡”
She treated me with genuine care even while saying such things. She showed no sign of tiring from the constant fighting, getting injured, and being healed. It didn’t seem she was being worshipped as a saint for nothing.
“By the way, Saint, since I caught the Noll Chieftain too, shouldn’t we fight even stronger monsters now?”
“N~~? You don’t know how you caught it. Are you perhaps getting so excited by accidentally defeating the Noll Chieftain that you’re getting cocky?”
“…I seem to have spoken out of turn.”
Damn it. What was I saying?
# I got quite a surprise…
Abel had entered the forest and I had followed out of worry. He faced a Noll Chieftain, not cobolts—a monster he still could not defeat with his current strength.
In the critical moment when the Noll Chieftain’s axe was about to stab Abel’s head, Estelle used the Holy Sword technique.
《Holy Sword》
Abel had swung the sword with eyes closed and had not seen it, but the radiant light created a sword that instantly sliced the Noll Chieftain in two. Even a mid-class monster was chopped down in a single strike.
“Hero…”
Estelle was about to call Abel but paused.
Um…
Since she had trained him diligently recently, she thought it was okay to reward him a little. She decided to act as if Abel had personally defeated the Noll Chieftain.
She waited until Abel understood the situation, then revealed herself at the right moment.
“Oh? Hero.”
She acted like someone who had just witnessed the scene for the first time.
“You caught the Noll Chieftain?”
When asked, Abel answered as calmly as possible.
“Y-Yes, somehow… I don’t know how I did it either.”
However, Estelle had seen it—the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. He was clearly happy about his achievement of catching a mid-class monster and didn’t know what to do with himself. The expression was utterly adorable.
Cute.
The thought that she had done well crossed her mind hundreds of times. Because she could see Abel’s adorable reaction.
“Huu, the useless hero did quite well.”
With praise, the corner of Abel’s mouth twitched upward. What a cute person. She had never imagined being with such a hero, and it was truly fortunate. Perhaps it was the grace of the Solaria goddess.
Abel kept the slight upturn of his mouth and pointed to his shoulder.
“…More than that, can you heal this wound?”
The shoulder that had been hit by an arrow was visible. Estelle was happy to see Abel’s obedient expression, but her words that came out were sharp in contrast to her true feelings.
“You got hurt again? Just from a cobolt, what a pitiful sight.”
Abel flinched. He had reacted because he knew how weak he was better than anyone. Feeling sorry for him, Estelle quickly added, “I have no choice, I’ll heal you~♥”
She refused to be so cruel as to not heal him. Estelle was the person who wanted Abel to become stronger more than anyone. She poured divine power generously to heal his wounds.
Thankfully, you didn’t get hurt much this time.
Excluding the shoulder hit by the arrow, there were only scratches and grazes. The hero really was a hero. His growth rate was different from others.
While watching Estelle smile inwardly at Abel’s growth, he said,
“By the way, Saint, since I caught the Noll Chieftain too, shouldn’t we fight even stronger monsters now?”
Abel’s words made Estelle tilt her head. She had not expected this side effect after giving him credit for the deed.
So Estelle gave him realistic advice. Of course, the words that came out were bitterly sarcastic.
“N~~? You don’t know how you caught it. Are you perhaps getting so excited by accidentally defeating the Noll Chieftain that you’re getting cocky?”
“…I seem to have spoken out of turn.”
Abel said that and his expression grew gloomy. Seeing his face, Estelle regretted speaking too harshly.
He seems unhappy…
While trying to figure out what to say, Estelle blurted out, “Still, you’ve become somewhat useful, you pathetic hero~♥”