Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Hero's Descent - 3
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Offense sees me as more heroic than Kaild.
I worked hard to keep my lips from curling up.
That was when Offense spoke.
“But I can’t join your party right now.”
Neril furrowed her brow.
“How does that conclusion come from the flow of this conversation?”
“To be precise, your leader won’t agree to it.”
“Huh?”
“It seems I have the edge in petty tricks. What do you think, Maide? Am I right?”
As expected of Offense.
I said inwardly impressed.
“If Offense doesn’t return, Kaild will grow even more wary of me. He’ll think you’ve been swayed.”
“And?”
“Then he’ll judge further scouting pointless and resort to direct action. In other words, he’ll come to meet me himself.”
“Even better. Let’s settle it with him once and for all. If you can’t do it, I’ll kill him.”
I shook my head.
Then I clasped my hands together and said calmly.
“If I kill him, the reputation he’s built up until now will taint me completely.”
That was when Trail exclaimed in admiration.
[Whoa. You’d thought that far ahead?]
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“To the people in the south of the continent, Kaild is an unquestioned hero. From their perspective, what would happen if some unheard-of guy named Maide killed Kaild?”
“......They wouldn’t like it.”
“It’s more than that. They’d turn completely against me.”
Kaild and I oppose each other in every way, but we share one common goal.
—Gaining the one and only, unprecedented fame across the continent.
Conquering just the north isn’t enough.
Someday, my name must echo in the south as well.
Taking out Hero Kaild would put a halt to that from the start.
Suddenly, Neril asked.
“Doesn’t the same apply to Kaild? If he kills you, everyone in the northern continent will turn their backs on him.”
“Yeah. But there’s still a huge gap in our reputations. From his position, he can afford to lose northern support temporarily and recover it later.”
So it’s a gamble worth taking for him.
I’m not there yet.
“In other words, I should only confront Kaild when my fame overwhelms his—or at least matches it.”
“Hmm.”
“That’s why we need to send Offense back nicely for now.”
Offense smirked.
“Well, I didn’t think that deeply. I just figured now’s not the time for you and Kaild to clash.”
“Hmm.”
“So? What exactly should I do?”
“Go back to Kaild. Tell him Maide’s nothing special. You barely prevented a war, but you didn’t stir up much reaction among the territory folk.”
“Will he buy that? He’ll suspect I’ve defected.”
“We’ll prepare a device to prevent suspicion.”
I actually had something in mind.
Kaild is cautious, but that caution has a weakness.
He’s several times more suspicious than others, but precisely because of that, once suspicion clears, he overly trusts his own judgment.
“Report that you overheard our conversation. The topic is the Hero’s Sword.”
“What?”
“The Hero’s Sword. It must be kept in the tomb of the fourth hero, Padania Brook, right?”
“......”
“Here’s what you report: Maide said that to become a hero, I absolutely need the Hero’s Sword, but it’s in Padania’s tomb, which is such a hassle. Since the tomb’s in the south, Kaild will interfere... something like that.”
“I don’t understand a word of this. You really think that report will fool Kaild?”
Of course.
For a hero to be recognized as such—to gain unprecedented fame, in Trail’s terms—certain events are necessary.
The biggest is, without question, the oracle.
Second only to that is the Hero’s Sword.
The Hero’s Sword is the blade used by the four past heroes to defeat the Demon King, traditionally kept in the tomb of the last hero.
Naturally, I’d assumed Kaild had taken it from the fourth hero Padania Brook’s tomb.
‘But...’
I recalled a conversation from before my regression.
It happened one night before the regression.
In my inn room during a quest, just as I was about to sleep.
Knock knock.
I knew who it was from the footsteps before the knock.
“I’m sleeping. Kaild.”
“If so, you were sleep-talking something creepy.”
“What brings you here in the middle of the night?”
Our hero Kaild had come to see me.
“Could you open the door first?”
“......”
With a light sigh, I opened the door.
He brazenly entered my room and spoke.
“Tomorrow’s a free day with no special plans. So let’s chat late into the night.”
“Chat all you want. With someone else.”
“No. You’ve been in the party a while, but our talks have always been superficial. Let’s have a serious one tonight.”
He plopped down in a chair.
I scratched my head and sighed.
“What’s this serious talk?”
“How about we each share one secret.”
“Huh?”
“You seem like you don’t trust me at all.”
“Didn’t you say on my first day that we shouldn’t pry into each other’s pasts?”
That’s why I hadn’t even asked who Bion Kunze was.
Kaild shook his head.
“I’m not digging too deep. But if things stay like this, you’ll hinder party unity.”
“Straight to the point.”
“I figured you’d prefer it that way. Don’t worry. I’m not talking about kicking you out.”
He sat beside me.
“Whatever you think of me, I acknowledge your strength. You’re definitely second to me in the party.”
“You don’t think I’m stronger than you?”
“That’d be too arrogant.”
“Pfft. Fine. Let’s each share a secret. You first.”
Kaild smiled softly and spoke.
“Honestly, this isn’t much of a secret. It’s something we learned during a quest before you joined, so the others probably know.”
“I haven’t heard it.”
“That’s because you don’t trust your comrades—it shows too much. No one’s gonna gab with a guy like that.”
Hmm. Logically flawless.
No way to argue.
Kaild said.
“Anyway, will you accept this as a secret?”
“Yeah. I will. Spill it.”
“This isn’t the Hero’s Sword.”
He casually tapped his sword.
My jaw dropped.
“W-What?”
“Before you joined, we had a quest to get the Hero’s Sword from Padania’s tomb. We completed it fine, but soon realized it’s not the real one.”
“What are you talking about? It’s continental tradition to place it in the last hero’s tomb...”
“But it wasn’t. Man, I wonder what happened.”
“......”
“So soon we’ll set out to find the real Hero’s Sword. You’ll have to join then, so I used sharing a secret as an excuse. That enough?”
Silence fell for a moment.
I stared straight into Kaild’s innocent-looking eyes.
A flash of insight hit me.
Kaild said.
“Now, your turn to share a secret...”
“Hold on. I think I just learned a bigger secret of yours.”
“Hm?”
“One big requirement to become a hero is the Hero’s Sword. You said it’s fake, but you weren’t tense at all.”
“......”
“And when you said you’d go find the real one someday, there was this weird certainty. Like, ‘I knew the tomb sword was fake from the start. And I know where the real one is.’”
Kaild’s expression hardened.
I leaned back in my chair and continued.
“Do you have some ability others don’t know about?”
“......”
“Like, maybe ‘the path to becoming a hero’ is visible to you?”
In that instant.
An overwhelming killing intent settled over me, making every hair stand on end.
Bang.
The door flew open, and people rushed in.
Our hero party members.
“Kaild. That killing intent just now?”
“What’s going on? Why are you two...”
“Maide. I told you to get along with Kaild!”
“Nothing much. I’m just gonna sleep.”
Kaild hurriedly withdrew the intent and said to everyone.
“Sorry. Just a minor difference of opinion.”
“Two differences and I’ll have a heart attack.”
“Haha. Really sorry. Go on back. We’ve got more to talk about.”
Sorry, but not here.
I stood up.
“I need to sleep. Everyone out.”
“......Maide. We’re not done.”
“Oh, right. My secret.”
“......”
“Keep it to yourself. Actually, I...”
I whispered in his ear.
“...have a bit of a slacker streak.”
His rotting expression then was something I wanted to savor forever.
[Ho. So that happened.]
‘Don’t butt into my flashbacks.’
[‘The path to becoming a hero’ is visible. How intriguing.]
‘It’s not certain. I might’ve overthought it.’
But considering Kaild’s killing intent then, even if not exact, it had to be damn close.
‘From another angle, it’s obvious. He killed the true hero Bion Kunze, fooled the entire continent, and played hero from start to finish. Not something an ordinary person could do.’
[Hmm. No joke.]
Trail’s voice grew serious.
But I didn’t think so.
‘No need to worry. I didn’t know before regression, but now I have the overwhelming advantage.’
[How can you be so nonchalant against an enemy who sees the path to becoming a hero?]
‘Because I have... no.’
I cut myself off.
But Trail nailed what I meant.
[Uhahaha! Right, you have me. Finally recognizing my worth.]
‘Why are you so quick on the uptake only now?’
[I’m always quick. Especially at sniffing out overtime.]
‘I see.’
But anyway.
He’s right.
‘......I’ll say this just once.’
I scratched my head.
‘I’m really grateful to you, in many ways.’
[Huh?]
‘Thanks. Fuck.’
[Gratitude or curse, pick one.]
‘Fuck.’
[Say thanks.]
I smirked and looked at Offense.
He was still eyeing me, demanding explanation.
“Kaild has a strange ability. To him, the path to becoming a hero is visible. Just a guess, of course.”
“......!”
“I don’t know the details. But... if not that, how do you explain it? A nobody rising to southern hero in a few years?”
“Hearing that from the north’s hero makes it convincing.”
I shrugged.
“Anyway, with that ability, he already knows. The Hero’s Sword in Padania’s tomb is fake.”
This time, everyone looked shocked.
Jenia slammed the table.
“It’s fake? The Hero’s Sword, and the past heroes’ tombs are key strongholds the Empire guards with utmost care!”
“I don’t know what happened either.”
“Maide knows so much yet so little.”
“That’s what makes us human—incomplete.”
“Suddenly philosophical.”
As her excitement subsided a bit, Jenia leaned back.
Neril said.
“I get it. I know what you’re aiming for.”
“Hm?”
“Kaild knows the sword in Padania’s tomb is fake. But you don’t have a clue it’s fake. ...You want to make him think that?”
Neril’s quick on the uptake, as expected.
As I nodded, Offense spoke.
“I see. Once he realizes someone he suspected is beneath him, he’ll let his guard down.”
“Yeah. Kaild’s cautious and suspicious, but once he drops suspicion, he won’t watch me for a while. I’ll surge ahead in that time.”
“You’ve got his personality nailed. From this distance.”
“Well, I’m pretty great.”
I clasped my hands seriously.
“Offense. Can you pull it off?”
He shrugged.
“You haven’t said what to do.”
“You already know.”
“......”
“Here.”
I held out a communication orb.
“It’s directly linked to us.”
“Huh. So I’m a spy?”
“Only to the extent Kaild won’t notice. No need to overdo it.”
“Hmm.”
“Some info on his weaknesses, secrets, or next moves would be great. If possible...”
Find out who Bion Kunze is.
I decided against saying it.
That’s Kaild’s core secret.
Something I couldn’t uncover before or after regression—Offense wouldn’t either.
No point risking him.
“If possible?”
“Never mind. Forget it.”
“You’re making me curious.”
“Forget it. Let’s eat.”
Jenia reacted.
She pushed forward the plate she’d pulled to her earlier.
“Since you’re a comrade now, have some.”
“Thanks.”
“Yes. You know this shows great trust.”
Offense tilted his head.
“......Pheasant meat?”