The Strongest Porter in History
Once all the commotion had died down, it was already lunchtime with the sun high in the sky. The Hero politely declined the viscount's invitation and returned to her room. In her hand was not just us, but another sword as well.
Hailender. It was the reward Viscount Hire had bestowed this time—a sword with considerable historical value, the family's treasured blade, or so I heard. I had no idea why they'd give something like that to us, and crucially, the damn thing couldn't even talk. You're out.
[No need to sleep more, right?]
"Slept... enough."
Even amid all that chaos, the Hero's clothes were spotless, not a speck of dust on them. She stopped by her room, casually tossed aside the so-called family heirloom Hailender, and headed back out.
[Carbalt...!]
Aries glared daggers at me here and there along the way, but I just snorted and ignored her. What I feared was the Hero, not that shiny sword whose only trick was being unbreakable.
"Hero?!"
And where did our diligent Hero head after leaving her room? The adventurer's guild, naturally. Kale's exaggerated surprise at seeing us suggested the Hero's destructive antics had already reached his ears.
"Request."
Ignoring the reactions around her, the Hero cut straight to the chase. Hmm, somehow her assertiveness felt a bit stronger lately? Back when we first met, she was just helplessly dragged around by me and Aries. But now, she was actively voicing her own will.
Not that her dazed tone made it feel all that different.
"Of course, I know the Hero's capabilities, but you just completed a request yesterday, so maybe a rest period..."
"Request."
Of course, her overwhelming strength and status made it impossible to nitpick over mere speech habits. Sweating bullets in the face of the Hero's parrot-like repetition, Kale soon laid out a row of requests suitable for Bronze rank.
"These are the ones that just came in..."
The Hero's eyebrows furrowed at the table of requests. Sure enough, most Bronze-rank jobs were trivial busywork. Unless they ran into an ogre while goblin-hunting like last time, it wouldn't even be a warm-up for her—just a pointless waste of time.
"Anything... else?"
"Yes. I'm truly sorry, but even for the Hero, we can't make exceptions."
This was the annoying part of the guild system, prioritizing credit over raw power. I'd been watching the Hero's back until now, so I piped up to score some points.
[There are other requests, right?]
"Hiiik!"
No need to freak out like that—you're making me sound like the villain. With the Hero shooting me a sticky glare, I quickly pressed on.
[Sure, those might be all for Bronze rank, but what about porter jobs?]
"Porter?"
The Hero's "un-hero-like" side turned into an advantage this time. Any other Hero might've blown up, but she just tilted her head without a hint of offense.
"A porter? Ha, but having the Hero do that kind of work..."
[Ah, shut it. Got any or not?]
"Th-there are, but..."
Kale pulled out papers with a different texture from under the table—Silver-rank requests, covered in sticky notes. Mostly long-term gigs or ones in harsh environments. Since combat personnel couldn't handle all the luggage, they recruited non-combat help.
"I'm just the middleman, so I have no say in porters. The party decides that."
[No worries.]
With the Hero not stopping my chatter, I got bolder. What word suits a demon sword less than "repentance"? I'd held back plenty.
[Who'd turn down the Hero's request?]
*
"P-Porter?"
Once the Hero picked a request, Kale summoned the party. They'd been lounging in the guild's first-floor tavern briefly when the Silver-rank adventurers appeared—a standard four-man team of two warriors, a ranger, and a mage. Nothing unusual except no priest, but their fundamentals looked solid.
The young warrior who seemed to be the leader turned pale as death at the sight of the "porter" Kale introduced.
"Hi."
The Vatican announcement hadn't come yet, but how stunning was our Hero's looks? Especially those starry, cosmic eyes—anyone who knew her couldn't miss her. He shot Kale a resentful glance, so this party knew her reputation well.
"Wh-why would someone of the Hero's caliber be a porter?"
"Bronze... rank."
The Hero flashed her guild badge casually. The leader's face darkened further at the specs: average stats S+, representative trait S+.
"S-sorry, but I think..."
Bringing someone like that as a porter would be too much pressure. The leader hesitated, about to refuse us.
[You'll take her as porter?]
"Wh-what voice is that?"
The leader whipped his head around, trying to find the speaker. His gaze soon landed on the Hero's waist—specifically, the black sword hanging inside it.
[Yo, it's me.]
"Hiiik! W-wasn’t the demon sword sealed?!"
[A sword this vicious can't be perfectly sealed. No telling when it'd pull some dirty trick, so the Hero's supervising it for now.]
No need for me to step in—Aries desperately covered for the Hero to protect her reputation. I snickered at the pathetic sight.
[Sure, I'm sealed, but reject this and... urk!]
With the hilt covered in seals blocking holy power output, the Hero flicked the scabbard. The jolt zinged through to me inside, shutting me up.
But the adventurers seemed more impressed by the Hero casually flicking her demon sword into submission than by its threats.
"Gonna... help?"
"Ah, ahahaha. Of course we'll help."
"Jack!"
The young mage behind him—female, by the way—protested the leader's unilateral decision.
"Shh, Emily. Over here a sec..."
The other two didn't object, so the leader dragged the mage to a corner. Their whispers carried over clearly.
'Are you insane? Taking a walking hazard as porter.'
'No choice. She's the Hero—if we refuse, who knows what disaster. Besides, her skills are legit...'
'Tch, fine.'
Poor things didn't realize the Hero's senses could pick up even clumsy whispers like that. Not that she'd flip out over it with a 'How dare you insult me!'
"Anyway, you sure about porter? You know porters don't get proper pay..."
"Don't... care."
"Alright then."
Bronze rank meant no Silver requests without porter duty anyway. With the Hero's joining confirmed, the leader pulled out the request sheet—a crumpled copy of what Kale had shown.
He spread it on a table and began explaining. The Hero scooted her chair closer, intrigued, while the party crammed into the opposite corner to avoid her.
"This Silver-rank request is a dungeon exploration. Found in the neighboring Tefer viscountcy, but their adventurers got pulled for ogre subjugation, so we got stuck with it."
Ogre—hopefully not the one the Hero smashed.
"Hmm. Unknown era ruins, but based on size and mana density, not too dangerous. Especially with the Hero here."
Dungeon! Now that stirred the adventurer's blood. Come to think of it, where I died was a dungeon too. Dragon lairs counted as one technically. But with the Hero in the party and it being a Silver request, it shouldn't be that risky. Major profitable ruins would've gotten a noble-led excavation team, not guild hand-me-down.
"Then... let's go."
"Right now?!"
"Yeah."
The word "dungeon" piqued her interest; she sprang up with a tad more enthusiasm than usual.
"Wh-what about preparations...?"
"What... prep?"
Not everyone could outrun their words like the Hero, stay pristine without washing, or feel full without eating. In the end, arranging a carriage and supplies delayed the start to the next day.
The Hero pouted, but impossible was impossible.