Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: What Did I Do? (4)
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# 172
There was a story about the famous Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, who lived during the Warring States period.
One day, Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly flitting around joyfully among the flowers. When he woke up, he was himself again.
Normally, one might just think, "Oh, I had a dream..." But as a philosopher, he pondered, "I don't know if it was I who dreamed I became a butterfly, or if it was the butterfly dreaming it became Zhuangzi!"
Anyway, after that came a bunch of heavy philosophical stuff, but all I remembered was that the idiom derived from it was called the Butterfly Dream.
Oh, and one more thing I recalled: the Butterfly Dream is a metaphor for the unity of subject and object, or the impermanence of life.
"Daddy, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
My daughter's voice pulled me back from a brief dip into the world of philosophy to reality.
I gently stroked my startled daughter's head, and her anxious eyes began to calm.
"It's scary."
"I'm fine."
She buried her face in my chest, and I felt my shirt growing damp there.
"Don't worry."
"Okay..."
The reason my daughter was crying and the reason I'd thought of the Butterfly Dream were one and the same.
"It's over."
"Good work."
"Not at all."
The Hero, who had drawn his sword, gave a light bow and withdrew.
The blade was coated in dark red blood.
Of course, the surroundings were a sea of blood beyond just his sword.
"Haa... Orcs, of all things."
Orcs.
They were those pig-faced monsters I'd seen a lot of online back in the day.
Mostly in BL games or dark web stuff where they captured elven heroines and broke them.
They popped up often in fantasy and game novels, but surprisingly, you didn't see them much in actual games.
Seriously.
Not in ArX, not in Maple, not even in MaXnoKi—I had no memory of seeing orcs there!
Even more shockingly, in this world where orcs actually existed as a race, I hardly ever saw them.
The reason was simple.
Orcs had extremely low intelligence.
There were demonkin that seemed related to orcs, but the ones commonly classified as monsters were dumb.
That's why some orcs were called demonkin while others were just orcs, despite being the same race.
Even orc heroes who could use sword aura had survived countless battles and instinctively awakened power—they had no real thought!
No intelligence meant no ability to craft weapons.
The weapons they used were mostly stolen from humans or crude clubs made by ripping up nearby trees.
But with their innate superhuman strength and tough bodies, they put up impressive fights.
That's why... you rarely spotted orcs easily.
Unlike goblins, who were weaker than humans, orcs were foes no ordinary villager could beat.
You needed knights and soldiers.
Mobilizing knights and soldiers took time.
You had to scout the enemy numbers, prepare food, spare weapons, and more.
Orcs didn't need any of that.
Not a year ago, not ten years ago, not a hundred or a thousand!
They were dumb and hadn't evolved.
Just check their numbers and armament, then fight.
Plus, how great were they for gaining real combat experience?
Swords were mostly rusted with missing teeth, clubs wouldn't kill an armored knight unless they hit the head dead-on!
Yet orcs, with their instinctive movements compensating for low IQ, were tough for novice knights.
Low lethality risk, but hard to handle.
Perfect practice partners for rookies.
Small villages far away would report an orc sighting, and the territory's knights would fight over who got to go!
Compared to ogres that only veterans dared face or goblins too weak for practice, orcs were getting hunted like endangered species.
But the most astonishing fact? In just a week traveling with the Hero, I'd encountered them three times.
"Raids have been scarce lately. We're lucky."
He wiped the blood from his holy sword with practiced ease, tossed the stained cloth, and sheathed it.
"Yeah..."
Watching the Hero, I sank back into thought.
Zhuangzi couldn't tell if he was the butterfly or vice versa upon waking, but I could phrase it differently.
"Is it that monsters flock because there's a Hero, or does the Hero go where monsters are...?"
Five orc fights, seven goblin skirmishes, even one ogre.
For reference, in years living in my last village, I'd seen maybe ten goblins total.
No way to chalk this up to coincidence.
"Daddy, what did you say?"
"Nothing."
I was seriously pondering if the root of evil in this world was the Hero himself, but no need to burden my lovely daughter with that.
"Are monsters always this common out here?"
"Not sure."
I scooped her up with one arm and covered her eyes with the other so she couldn't see the corpses.
Hang in there, arms. No matter how old I get, I can't complain about carrying my 13-year-old daughter!
"The world's as dangerous as you said, Daddy."
"So you gotta follow what Daddy told you, right?"
"Yeah!"
I patted her head twice, then picked up Kkoko and the cat trailing behind her—well, behind me, technically—and handed them to her.
Honestly, if monsters were this plentiful, I'd have run into them instead of my daughter in the Great Mountains.
Even remote mountains, avoided by people, were scoured by knights, armies, and evil organizations for training—monsters were wiped out there. Monsters roaming normal roads like this? Totally abnormal.
Just look at Yuglasia Academy: regular monsters were fodder for students' summons.
And they were showing up in droves?
Unless some black mage was executing an evil plot here or the 71st-ranked demon king was defending a dungeon, one cause.
The Hero was here! Being with one really shortens your lifespan.
"Gotta bail ASAP."
Muttering that resolve inwardly, I tidied the carriage while waiting for the Hero's party.
#2 Their Situation: Some Hero's Situation
Crackle, crackle.
Under the dark night sky, only the campfire burned.
"Time for him to bolt soon..."
I poked the fire and glanced at the carriage.
"No way..."
Hill gave a wry smile at my look.
"Didn't Naruan say he'd travel with us now?"
"He did. But Master will definitely run."
The instructor who fled even from the Empire.
You think he'd fail to ditch two humans and one elf?
He's pretending to travel with us because of that little girl he calls daughter and the threat of our entire church behind us.
"Don't think of Master as normal. He toys with archdemons like it's nothing."
"No way."
No way my ass—he enslaved an archdemon the moment it descended.
"You know from experience, right?"
"Th-that was..."
Hill broke into cold sweat, averting his eyes.
Even a church's holy sword couldn't block that steel pipe's strike.
Hill enduring it for five minutes? Worthy of respect.
"What even was that...?"
"Terrifying..."
Hill and I shuddered.
Selena, out scouting, would've joined us if here.
Just how limitless was that steel pipe?
Raw damage like a wooden bat.
No, same unimaginable pain in this world.
But where a wooden bat would've dropped him, the steel pipe didn't. It was like his body, remembering wooden bats, said upon steel, "Ah, gotta take at least ten times more to pass out..."
And it talked, all while looking like a kid?
When the kid first charged, even I didn't realize!
A frail, cute girl pounding away—the pain was otherworldly.
What kind of mind dreams up that combo? I was dying to know.
Well, since it was the instructor, I got it!
"Anyway, strict three-shift watches no matter what. Don't check Master. Confirm Ellis. The instant she's gone, so is he."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Right now, we watch the instructor.
Until No. 1000 or her proxy shows up to team with him!
She'll rush over, grill me on details, and I'll explain everything to lure him to Her Highness before bailing!
So until we hand him to the Empire, we keep him with us.
Screw up, and I'll get bundled with him!
"What exactly did you learn from Naruan, Hero?"
"Hill, whatever you imagine, times ten. Honestly, do I seem like a normal Hero to you?"
"Uh..."
I grinned at Hill's expressive face full of words.
"Not at all?"
"Yes."
Hearing that firm answer felt weird.
"Probably has reasons for heading to the Lübella City Union too."
"Isn't it for Ellis?"
Ellis isn't normal.
When her sleeping form changed at night, even we—seasoned Hero party—were shocked.
A half-demon born between human and demonkin.
Shunned by both, yet the instructor calls her daughter. Surprised us.
But.
"Nah."
That's separate; not why Lübella.
Some human priests, especially devotees of certain gods, go berserk and kill demons on sight.
The Church of Nature values harmony—fits elves great—or it'd have sparked a huge fight between Hill and instructor.
Ending with us steel-piped.
"Naruan's love for Ellis was genuine."
"Yeah, so."
He claimed checking if her parents were in Lübella, but Lübella was built by survivors to block demonkin.
War heroes or equivalent nobles from Empire/Kingdoms who settled the frontlines.
Harbored deepest demon hatred on the continent.
No way instructor takes her there, parents or not.
"How can you be so sure?"
"My survival instincts are his teachings. If I wouldn't go somewhere, he sure as hell won't."
Trained endlessly for survival, but his words were always the same.
"Before using that, just avoid the situation. Best evasion."
"No dumber than dying gloriously in a lost fight. Run. Even fighting to the end, if they erase evidence, you're just dog meat."
"No evil org survivor hasn't run once! Running's not shame—it's survival!"
He preached that to disciples.
We, bat-beaten, got it bone-deep.
So he'll bolt at the right moment.
"Even ten thousand troops struggle to catch my Master. Use that against him."
"Hero?"
"Kuhuhuhu."
"Hero, don't laugh so evilly!"
"Kahahahaha!"
"Hero!"
My laughter mixed with Hill's screams until Selena returned.
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