Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: 18. What Did I Do Wrong? (5)
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Plans usually go awry.
Doesn't it always happen around year-end or New Year's?
You make plans for the year, buy an overpriced diary and schedule planner despite leaving most pages blank, jot down your tasks, and declare, "This is my goal for the year!"
The contents are all pretty similar.
This year, I'll study like this, diet like that, get this many certifications, read at least this many books a month!
You resolve and start following through.
Until the beginning of the year, at least.
Then, around midsummer when it gets scorching hot, that diary packed full in the early pages gathers dust with nothing but blank sheets left, and the one crammed only in January and February gets tossed the moment you buy next year's.
And the cycle repeats infinitely.
Still, it's a rewarding endeavor.
At least the people working at diary companies get their paychecks.
Breaking those plans is due to your own change of heart, not interference from others.
But what was happening now was a deviation caused by someone else's meddling—not my own whim—and one I couldn't even turn back from.
"Hero...!"
"It's the Hero!"
"The Hero of Light, Swin!"
I could see a massive crowd rushing over, cheering wildly.
Wow, how on earth can they recognize that guy's face from so far away?
What great eyesight. Are they descendants of the Mongols?
A scary village that might conquer the world someday.
- Master, Master. From what I know, isn't your disciple the Hero of the Church of Nature? So why's he the Hero of Light?
- How should I know?
I later heard it was because of his golden hair and golden sword aura.
That only made me more curious why he's called the Hero of Light instead of the Hero of Gold, but he seemed clueless too, so I let it slide.
As a side note, the Hero of the Temple of Light apparently gets called the Blue Hero thanks to his blue hair.
Pretty nicknames that could subtly manipulate information.
"Hero, bandits raided our village and kidnapped our women."
"Then orcs came and stole our food supplies."
"And in that state, the corrupt lord demanded taxes and took even what little we had left..."
"And then the goblins..."
The villagers swarmed the Hero, pouring out their woes.
As expected, with the Hero effect in play, every story was disastrously severe.
- The world's a scary place...
- Tell me about it.
In this world, being a bandit is a tough gig.
Mountains can have monsters.
Bandits are groups formed by people who fled corrupt lords' exploitation or criminals who can't live normal lives.
Some groups lack anyone with proper military training, so their combat prowess is barely above commoners'.
And those guys survive in monster-infested mountains?
Extremely tough.
Of course, mountains without monsters are more common.
But that just means the area's security is good.
When there's no real combat experience against monsters, bandits become the target instead.
No wonder people say being a bandit is harder than mercenary work.
And yet, surprisingly, bandits hit this village.
Plus orcs, a corrupt lord, and goblins to boot!
This combo gift set is a rare life experience!
And that grueling ordeal!
"No worries. It happens often enough. I'll take care of it."
The Hero accepted it all calmly.
- And he says it's commonplace.
- I thought only my surroundings were insane, but I've lived a pretty blessed life.
- Wasn't the village we lived in actually the safest in the world?
- Could be.
This combo feels less likely than the grandpa next door being a former Sword Saint.
No massive mountain range around here—just small hills—and yet orcs and bandits coexist!
Imperial scholars would run barefoot to publish papers on this!
"So, shall we head out?"
"Taking Ellis along?"
"It'll be safer with us together."
Even I was tempted to poke around this intriguing village while waiting, but the Hero seemed to want me moving with him.
"What, you think I'll run off or something?"
I said it bluntly to probe.
Normally, you'd get a denial...
"Yes."
But he was my former disciple.
"Sharp as a knife with that answer."
"All thanks to Master's teachings."
He nodded impassively, looking utterly confident.
"How can you drag such a frail child to a dangerous place!"
"There's nowhere safer than by Master's side."
He's gotten cheeky with age, refusing to yield an inch.
"The safest is for Ellis and me to stay in the village."
"Which also makes it the easiest escape route."
"Sigh... Fine. I'll tag along. You really can't trust me, huh?"
"Yep."
His snappy reply made me crave my iron bat, but smacking the Hero now would make me the enemy of the whole village.
So I'd hold off.
- Beat him up the second we leave this village.
- Aaang, Master is the best~
Ever since Yuglasia, my frustration had been building without an outlet.
Even lightly tapping the cat or Kkoko got our daughter glaring daggers to protect them—I hadn't had free rein.
But our daughter is warm to family, cold to outsiders—like a classic rural kid!
So the Hero was doomed to an iron bat beating the moment we left the village.
Oblivious to his fate, the Hero worked diligently.
It'd fit perfectly with background music like [The Hero is plump and plump, working hard again today!]
First, using the infiltration skills I'd taught him, he sneaked into the lord's castle, exposed all their corruption, and had the lord and his cronies arrested.
Then, as the Hero of the Church of Nature, he sent a letter to the royal family, getting the lands confiscated and the lords executed—in just five days.
Three of those were for the letter delivery; the actual handling took one day, execution another.
The day after dealing with the corrupt lord, the Hero headed straight for the mountains without rest.
Using the tracking skills I'd taught, he found the bandits' and orcs' hideouts.
Even if he'd rushed sloppily, the Hero who'd tracked me—a trace eraser—made finding amateur bandits and orcs a breeze!
He infiltrated the mountain base, solo-killed the orcs through divide-and-conquer, recovered the food, and for the bandits, torched the boss's spot. Once he confirmed the elf and priestess hostages escaping, he turned the whole camp into an inferno.
"Hero..."
"Hill, we can't save everyone."
A hellscape of people burning alive.
The priestess Hill called out to the Hero in pity, but he shut her down decisively, like my disciple.
"It's impossible to save them all. That's how they've survived—by doing crap like this. Even if spared, they'd sacrifice others to save themselves."
"No regrets? There might be other ways."
"No regrets. I've experienced too much."
His words echoed a gunslinging magician bashing fellow magicians, while his crooked grin mirrored his son, the Red Archer.
At least he learned fast. Otherwise, his past self might've haunted him as a spirit to beat some sense in.
"Just... don't let the fire spread to the forest."
"I know, Selena. What you're worried about won't happen."
Even amid humans burning, the elf prioritized the forest—revealing her true character.
- Our daughter mustn't pick up that rotten personality.
- Wrong! Bad character comes from home tutoring by the continent's top offender... Your little sis is doomed...
- What's wrong with my parenting? It's perfect education no one else teaches!
- Sure. No one teaches how to dump princes or spot illegitimate royals/nobles.
- Exactly—ways to preempt the world's most dangerous crap. Where else do you learn that?
- You don't need to! It doesn't happen to normal folks. It's all 'cause you're around, Master!
- Gah...
I wanted to deny it, but couldn't.
Not Hero-level, but I'd endured every disaster just below that.
- No, even the Hero's not as bad as you? Marked by the Imperial Princess, elves, gods... What? Even sparing disciples, it's this bad?
- N-No! I'm not Hero-tier!
Like the bandits' camp going up in flames, so did my heart.
"Daddy, why are you sweating so much?"
Our daughter, ears covered by the iron bat, tugged my clothes and tilted her head.
I wrote on the ground with nearby twigs so the screams wouldn't reach her ears.
[They're doing fireworks, so I need the bathroom.]
"Geez, Daddy's dumb!"
Grown-up me got scolded by our daughter for playing with fire.
But she fears big fires since before, and saw our garden burn days ago—I couldn't tell her the truth.
[Sorry, sorry.]
I apologized on the ground and told the iron bat to keep distance.
About ten minutes later, once people and camp were ash, the Hero swung his hand to extinguish every flame.
"You've perfectly mastered mana flow as your own."
"All thanks to Master."
This punk credits me for everything.
- The problem is it's not a lie.
- Ugh, this talent...
- It's the kids' talent!
I awakened it all.
No, every move he made was based on what I'd taught.
- Who knew no place beats an evil organization for raising a Hero? Shocking.
- Nothing learned is ever useless.
Hopefully, the other subjects from middle/high school will pay off someday.
Others became grand magicians or cheat mages via math!
- Still hung up on being a mage...
- Mages are a dream.
They say men become grand mages at 30.
Does reincarnation count? Still no?
"It's done."
Lost in thoughts of past and present lives, the Hero approached after dousing the fires and checking embers.
"Not a displeased look."
"Just did what needed doing."
He shook his head casually, same as always.
"Shall we head down, then?"
"Yeah."
Showing some maturity.
I've seen plenty of Heroes like this crash and burn, but mine should manage.
Our daughter matters more anyway!
I took her hand from where she'd waited and descended the mountain.
All village business was wrapped up.
Oh, goblins left?
"The kingdom's knights handled all the goblins."
Nice, things are going smoothly.
Unlike worlds ignoring trash mobs like goblins, they get dealt with here.
"And the kingdom's envoys want to meet the Hero."
"Is that so?"
Seemed routine; he nodded and headed to the village chief's.
And there...
"Please slay the dragon for us, Hero!"
"Help our kingdom!"
He accepted a dragon raid quest.