Let's Go Home
Have you finally decided to leave?
The saintess looked at the hero with a look of pity. It was no longer the naive boy who had been summoned here, but a stalwart warrior. His once-pristine skin was marred by rough scars, and his eyes, once filled with fear, now held an unyielding strength that could overcome any trial or hardship.
"Yes, now that I've defeated the Demon King, I should head home."
The hero smiled gently. It had truly taken a long time. In the span of five short yet long years, the boy had become a man, and he had slain the hated Demon King.
"Waaah! Hero!!!"
At that moment, the beastkin mage hugged him tightly, wagging her tail. She looked up at the hero with eyes brimming with tears.
"Waaah! Do I really have to go? I don't want to stay here!"
The hero chuckled and stroked her hair.
"I wish I could stay here too, but my family back home would worry, and this is the world I need to return to. I have no choice."
"Waaah! That's not fair!!"
She had been sharp-tongued when they first met, but now she was spoiled.
"Well, family is precious. Just as you protected my family, I should say. It's a pity, but partings are necessary for reunions. Please live healthily in your world."
A dwarf clad in full plate armor stepped forward and extended his hand to the hero.
"Stay healthy, sir."
The hero shook his hand.
"Hmph, hurry up and go."
The girl puffed out her cheeks, her eyes bloodshot as she avoided looking directly.
"I know your heart is warm despite your tough words. Thank you, Eries. Without you, I never could have defeated the Demon King."
"W-what are you saying! Hic!"
The hero gazed at his companions with moist eyes, recalling the journey from the moment he was saved by Eries after nearly being eaten by a slime to the moment he cut off the Demon King's head.
"Hero, Han Mir. Thanks to you, our world has been saved. In place of the goddess who rules this world, I thank you again."
"Save the stiff formalities. Act like usual."
The saintess smiled.
"Of course. Thanks to a dummy like you, I can suck honey and save the world. Now, before me, there's only a golden path filled with gold coins, ho ho ho! I'll use the share for you frugally~"
"Yeah, enjoy yourself with that money."
"Yes~ Then, take care!"
The saintess smiled brightly and activated the reversal summoning magic. The power of the reversal spell began to wrap around his body. It felt like being sucked into somewhere, the same sensation as when he was first summoned.
His companions bid him farewell.
"Waaah, Hero! You have to come back!"
"Kuek~ I'll eat the gold coins deliciously~"
"Hehehe! See you again!"
"...Take care, you idiot! If you don't come back, we'll come find you!"
The hero waved with a big smile.
"Bye, everyone!"
With a whoosh, a fierce pillar of light shot up into the sky, and the hero vanished without a trace. The companions watched silently at the spot where he had been, as if they had made a promise.
The saint fiddled with her staff and gave a somewhat sad smile.
"Reversal summoning successful. The hero has returned to his original world."
"...I see."
Eries looked up at the sky and muttered to herself.
"They said this place is a peaceful world unlike here. I wonder what it's like."
⁎⁎⁎⁎
"Kyahoh!!!"
Han Mir let out a triumphant cry from the gap in the car seat.
"Whoa, finally free! I really suffered! In medieval fantasy, no proper facilities, beds infested with bedbugs and mites, no toilet, it was hell!"
Five years. For five long years, just because he was summoned as a hero, he endured countless responsibilities, getting his hands dirty with blood. He endured death after death—cut by swords, broken ribs, poisoned—barely surviving, enduring with sheer stubbornness.
Only for the day he could return home.
He clasped his hands behind his head and lay back comfortably.
"No more of that suffering. Finally, I'm heading to a modern civilization where I can use a smartphone! Goodbye, hated fantasy! Hello, modern world!"
Han Mir was now to return not as a hero but as an ordinary human.
He had become 23 years old from being 18, but he had no worries about going home. Thanks to the saint's magic that allowed the use of the goddess's power, his appearance remained 18, and after 5 hours in the real world, he was being reversed summoned.
His hero's power was preserved as well.
If they had taken away the power he had painstakingly cultivated through hardship, he would never have returned home peacefully. But fortunately, the power remained intact, and he was confident he wouldn't lose in any field if it came to using his body.
Becoming a national representative and sweeping gold medals, or becoming a YouTuber and showing off the magic he learned in the other world, or posting survival stories—it would all be fun. Or perhaps publishing a memoir.
No matter what, just like the saintess, only a golden life awaited him.
Between living sweetly in the inconvenient medieval fantasy and enjoying all the conveniences of the modern world while snapping his fingers with the hero's power, of course the latter.
At that moment, dazzling light poured into Han Mir's eyes.
"Oh! Finally arrived!"
As soon as he arrived home, he grinned, thinking about devouring chicken vigorously.
"Paahaaat-!"
"I'm here! I came back!!"
He spread his arms wide to the sky and shouted with all his might.
"Wiiing-! Wiiing-!"
"Huh?"
But something was off.
Everything was filled with flashing red lights and blaring sirens.
Code C. Code C situation. An anomaly has escaped. All staff are to evacuate to the safe bunker immediately. This is a reminder once again...
Through the speaker, a strange broadcast came: "Code C. Code C situation. An anomaly has escaped. All staff are to evacuate to the safe bunker immediately. This is a reminder once again..."
Han Mir blinked and looked around.
The place he had been summoned to was his home at first. But perhaps because the saint had made a mistake, he was inside a building he had never seen before.
Moreover, the surroundings were not normal.
"Kyaaah! S-save me!"
"This way! There's an anomaly here!"
"Fire! Fire!"
People armed with the latest equipment like special forces soldiers were shooting at something, and researchers in white coats were running in panic, their faces filled with terror.
On the floor, there was a woman picking up intestines spilled from a ruptured belly, and a man whose lower body was severed but was trying to reattach it by rubbing the cut surface on the wound.
Also, numerous corpses with no breath left, emitting a pungent smell of blood.
Looking at the clothes and buildings, it seemed like a modern world, but this was not a world of violence and blood like his.
Could the saint have accidentally sent him to another world?
No, that was impossible. The goddess had recovered all her powers upon the Demon King's death, regaining her true divine brilliance. Unless she deliberately sent him to another world, there was no chance he would be summoned to a strange place.
Han Mir approached the people still alive and reached out his hand.
"Heal."
Warm light flickered from his hand, gently enveloping the man with the severed lower body and the woman whose intestines were spilling.
"Eh, eh!?"
"It, it's attached! It's attached!!"
Surprisingly, the wounds healed instantly, and both the man and woman looked clean.
"Um, I was wondering if I could ask something..."
"Guek! Everyone run! The anomaly is coming this way!!"
Feeling the killing intent from the side, the boy turned his head with a listless expression.
"Kieeeeeek!"
A giant spider with dozens of human hands was climbing the wall, opening its jaws wide as it lunged at him.
"Respond to my call, Nepos."
"Zzzzt!"
Lightning flashed in the air, and space distorted. Inside it, a lightning-fast flash pierced through the spider's body.
"Kieeeeeek!!!!"
The spider's body burst, and blood dripped from the ceiling. Han Mir frowned and blocked the blood with Mana Shield.
"Ugh, gross. Anyway, I was wondering if I could ask something."
He turned back to the people, but even after defeating the monster, their faces were still stained with fear.
"Hiiiiik! A, an anomaly! An anomaly has appeared!!"
"Eh?"