Chapter 4: A Hero’s Heart, Unfading

We’ve managed to capture the golden serpent, so now we can go back to Kalu Village.

As Haku and I were climbing down the mountain, three wolf monsters attacked us.

‘I’ll take care of them.’

Bam, bam, bam. Three lightning fast bites took care of them.

“You’re pretty strong, as expected.”

‘Not at all. I have claws and teeth like a beast, just in case.’

“You could use fox fire as well, right?”

‘If the enemy is flammable and in range. Some are immune to flames, though.’

“You’ve got a lot of moves, since you can launch your fur, too.”

‘I’m a fox with many secrets, hehe.’

As we were exchanging information about each other’s abilities, we reached Crew Village. I dropped the bag that was slung across my shoulder…but in the next moment.

‘Something…seems wrong, doesn’t it?’

“…Let’s go further.”

It was weird that bottles were broken and plows left on the ground. When we reached the center of the village, a lot of the villagers were gathered and were in a panic.

“Chief, what happened?”

“Oh, Master Axe. A group of bandits suddenly attacked about an hour ago.”

“What the hell…”

I looked around and saw that there were many injured.

Some even seemed to have fatal wounds. Damn it.

“Didn’t the village have hired bodyguards?”

“They were all killed…The boss was unbelievably strong…”

“I don’t see Lynn. Don’t tell me they took her.”

“That’s exactly what happened. They took all the young women and children.”

“Which direction?”

“South. Will you please help us?”

“Don’t ask me something like that. This is the village Mary grew up in. I’ll save it, even if it costs me my life.”

I walked over to the dead bodyguard and wished him luck in the afterlife.

“I’ll be borrowing this weapon.”

I equipped a good quality sword across my back and turned to Haku.

“Will you help me?”

‘You don’t have to ask. I’ll go with you, even if it’s the depths of hell.’

I nodded deeply and mounted his back.

“We’re going to save them!”

‘Kyuoooon’

Haku let out a shrill howl, and within seconds was at top speed. I gripped his fur tightly, trying not to get shaken off.

In this world, what happened to the village happens somewhere every day. Demons and demon lords are not the only evil. In fact, true evil lies in people’s hearts. People against people, aristocrats against commoners, family against their own flesh and blood, conflict occurs. Sometimes they wage war, putting heroes at their side.

I was tired of such a world.

My family was killed during a trip.

When I was chosen to be a hero, I swore to god that I would change the world.

But reality was harsh. There are things that strength can’t change. People’s greed and desire can’t be erased easily. The world won’t change.

But still, I—

‘There they are! It’s definitely that group.’

“—I don’t remember throwing away my heart as well!”

Running in front of us were dozens of horses and a few carriages.

The ones riding them were armed bandits.

“Boss! Someone is pursuing us. He’s probably a beast tamer or something.”

“All of you, stop.”

There’s around thirty of them. It’s strange that they have such good equipment.

I got off Haku and scanned the carriages. The women’s faces were swollen, as if they got hit. Lynn was on the floor, writhing in pain.

“You used violence on women?”

The skin headed man that seemed to be the boss glared at me.

“Lot of them had an attitude, so we did it to shut them up.”

“Even so, that’s too much.”

“The one on the ground resisted too much. She isn’t dead yet.”

No mercy needed. I drew my sword and raised it.

“Why did you target the village? You’re no ordinary bandit.”

“You’re pretty sharp. I’ll tell you because I’ll be killing you anyway. We’re mercenaries. We were ordered to gather up women.”

“Who’s your client?”

“Now answering that would be insolence. —You guys take care of the dog.”

‘Rude! I’m a fox you know?’

Haku tackled a few of the bandits and blew them away. The rest didn’t even flinch, and one jabbed his sword in him.

“You okay!?”

‘No worries. I hardened my fur. Leave the small fries to me!’

Haku moved away from me and started taking on the bandits. Now I can focus on the 1 vs 1 against the boss.

“You know why I let all my underlings handle the beast, right?”

“It’s because he’s stronger, right?”

“Not even close. It’s because weaklings like them will just get in the way.”

Then you should just operate alone in the first place.

“You’re strong. But you’ll never be able to beat me. Because my power-- was handed to me directly from a hero!”

The boss threw the knives, three in each hand, towards me.

Each of them took different orbitals, but they were all headed towards me. I deflected all of them with my sword. I see, it definitely is an unusual technique. But a technique of this degree can’t be one that was handed down by a hero.

“You shouldn’t be thinking that hard during a fight.”

A metallic sound rang. I blocked his sabre with my sword.

His strength wasn’t impressive. I easily pushed back and cut down diagonally. From our differences in strength, this should do it.

“What…”

“Whoo, that was close”

My blade barely scraped him. This guy. Did his movement just go ahead of mine…

We started to clash swords once again. By the fifth time, my sword broke.

“This sabre is a destruction type magic weapon. Everyone falls prey to this, and so will you.”

Right before the sabre pierced my heart, I used ‘Shadow Bind’ to sink under my feet. The boss’s shadow is behind him. I reemerged from there and punched the back of his head.

“Whoa!?”

“Again, huh.”

It was the same as before. It wasn’t that he was able to react to it. It was even faster. Like he knew what was coming.

“Whew, that was close…was that darkness magic?”

“Yours is the eyes. It’s not a perception type.”

“Y-you found out, just like that…”

“If you put it together with the fact that you mentioned a hero, I’m guessing the hero of Divine Eyes gave you the ability to see the future.”

The boss’s eyes widened, and gulped. That response was enough to tell that he was right.

Not limited to heroes, in this world there are idiosyncratic people who are able to share a portion of their power at a low risk, and they are nuisances.

“Which means, your client is the hero.”

“Wrong. Huh, you aren’t fazed at all. You can’t land a single blow on me, and you don’t have a sword, either”

I do have a sword.

“Darkness, manifest in the shape of a sword, ‘Darkness Sword of Five Losses’”

I gripped the darkness that took the shape of a sword. It was a weapon of black the only I could summon and use.

Without missing a beat, I swung it casually.

“I told you, I see everything!”

“It doesn’t matter whether you can see it or not.”

“What…?”

The black sword went through the sabre and easily cut the boss.

Well, although it cut him, it can’t really injure him. Instead-

“Eh, huh, how? The sun’s still up, why is everything getting so dark…”

“Looks like you lost your sight.”

“You didn’t even hit my eyes!”

“The Sword of Five Losses is supposed to take all five of your senses. But right now, it seems like I can only take one.”

Too bad it seems like it’s random. But for him this should be more than enough.

“Further resistance is futile, you know? Stay still.”

“…Yeah, I’ll do that.”

The boss took a deep breath and held his sabre in a backhand grip.

“Wait…too late, huh.”

Committed suicide by piercing his own heart. I’ve seen it a few times. There were people who did this, fearing torture.

I felt a slight sense of emptiness, but immediately checked behind me.

‘All done over here.’

“Good job, Haku. Now…”

I climbed up the carriage to Lynn and raised her up in my arms. There was blackened blood on her face. She also had bruises on her body.

“a…a…Shion…”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

Looks like I can use ‘Shadow Bag’. It was a spell that let me store things in a special pocket space.

I immediately pulled out a top-quality potion.

“It’s an X-potion. Drink it, you’ll feel better.”

“Why would you use something like that…”

“I’m using it because it’s you.”

The liquid trickled into her mouth. Its effect was immediate, and not even thirty seconds passed before she was recovered.

“Isn’t that the medicine that’s worth ten houses?”

“It’s only worth ten houses. A small price to pay, isn’t it?”

“…But why? I said all those mean things to you…”

“It’s alright. You should rest.”

Lynn is a delicate woman, but she pushed herself even though she was scared. Her trembling shoulders told me that.

As I stepped down from the caravan after calming everyone, I heard a small voice behind me.

I’m sorry.

I turned back with a smile and gave a thumbs up.

◇　◆　◇

The next day, after everything settled down, I decided to leave Kalu Village before noon.

I was happy that the village chief and the villagers saw us out of the entrance.

“We can’t thank you enough. This isn’t much, but still.”

The chief tried to give me a bag full of jewels and such, but I declined.

“Please use it to rebuild the village. I’m not good with shining stuff……Because I’m the Hero of Darkness, you know?”

“……”

‘Pu pu pu.’

That’s weird, Haku’s the only one laughing. This is a bit embarrassing.

“A-ahem. There doesn’t seem to be any bandits left, so be rest assured. If I sense something strange or weird, I’ll come back, so don’t worry.”

“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”

“Oh, and please send Lynn my regards.”

“We’ll go get her right now!”

“No, it’s fine. We’re about to leave, anyway.”

I waved at everyone and said goodbye.

I had Haku stop after a short distance and looked back.

“This is my last look at that village, huh.”

‘Shion, about that.’

“I’ve got something I want to talk to you about, too.”

I was about to express my thought but stopped. A girl was running towards us, calling my same.

“Axe! Wait!”

“Lynn!?”

My heart started racing, seeing that she was out of breath from trying to catch up.

“You came all this way to see me off?”

“There’s something I need to say to you.”

Lynn caught her breath and gazed into my eyes.

“To be honest, I knew everything…That day, my sister told you to go do your job, right?”

“Even so, my sin won’t be washed away.”

“It’s not a sin! It’s not! You’re not responsible. You always worked for the village, for my sister. You were a great hero, helping others!”

Had I been accomplishing that? I felt powerless against the world, and I wasn’t confident.

Lynn put her arms on my shoulders as I stood there, staring down at the ground.

“I was being a child. I couldn’t bear the sadness if I didn’t make it someone’s fault…I couldn’t go on…I was weak…But I’ll stop now. I won’t do that anymore.”

“Lynn…”

“So, from now on, you should live for yourself too! You stopped being a hero, right? Then from now on live for yourself. You’ve done enough. There are so many people that have been saved by you.”

“……”

“You can’t die, even if something hard happens. Here, take this.”

I was surprised at what she handed me. It was the golden serpent preserved in liquor.

“It’s really good. Drink it on the way to the city.”

“…Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

“Come back again. I’ll be waiting.”

“I will. Definitely.”

I hugged her and departed with a smile.

I felt warmth in the depths of my heart. The frozen emotions silently melted.

I felt the frustration that was inside me for a long time disappear.

‘Oh-, I just remembered-.’

“Whoa”

Haku sudden shout almost made me fall off.

‘Sorry about that. But I remembered something important. It’s about the golden serpent preserved in liquor!’

“Tell me about it.”

‘I heard this story from a certain man around two hundred years ago. When a man was tired of life and was about to select death, his wife gave him the serpent wine. Then suddenly the man became happy and forgot he wanted to die.’

I looked at the golden serpent.

I guess, this means Lynn saw through me since the beginning.

“Hey Haku, I want to discuss something.”

‘Go ahead.’

“About dying together, do you mind if we push that back a bit? There might be things in this world that we haven’t seen yet, you know…”

‘That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you earlier. It won’t hurt to live a bit longer and enjoy life, won’t it?”

I gave Haku a broad smile as he winked at me.

*Growl*

*Growl*

*Growl*

“Hey Haku, isn’t your stomach being a bit too loud?”

‘That’s embarrassing-. I’ll go hunt something-!!’

I saw Haku off, shaking his tail as he darted away, with a smile.

It was a strange feeling.

Just a week ago—

I was the Hero of Darkness.

Just a few days ago—

I wanted death.

But now—

I was taking a step forward.

“I guess you could call this, a second shot at life.”

A wandering journey with a white fox, huh.

That doesn’t sound too bad.