Chapter 46

“Hey now, don’t even think of comparing me with a relative of the Hero. That whole family is a bunch of monsters. I’m just the son of a blacksmith. Apples and oranges.” To me, Vince, Luke, and Zack were all Heroes. I could never hope to be like them. “Aww, you’re a Hero, too, Leonard. Look, you keep fighting monsters for the sake of other people, even when there’s hardly any reward,” said Nina, peering over her shoulder at me as she cheerfully led the way. This woman jumped for joy whenever we took on a job that was all about helping people. There was no part of me that wanted to take on low-paying jobs. The world was still in a rough state even after the Demon Lord had conked it, though, which meant there wasn’t much cash to go around. I was only taking jobs for cheap because most of the clients out there couldn’t pay up. We were just barely eking out a living to this day. I had no pretensions of being the Hero or anything. “You don’t get the big bucks from being the Hero. We don’t even know if it made Zack happy,” I pointed out. The story of how Ares the Hero was actually a different guy named Zack was famous around the land. It was an impressive, emotional tale—the kind that made it hard to tell whether it was fact or fiction. I had a very different takeaway from it, though. “Instead of going back to the capital,” I said, “Zack preferred to stay incognito in a farming village…” The conversation cut off there when I spotted the cave we were looking for—except there were four people standing in front of it who looked like adventurers. “Who are those guys? Did they take the same job from another village?” Evsei muttered, disgruntled. Not that I cared about them beating us to the job. The pay was cheap change anyway. It wasn’t any skin off our nose if someone else had taken it. What did bother me, though, was that I recognized these people. The guy in the middle with chestnut-colored hair was waving at me. “Is that you…Zack?” “I was looking for you, Leonard. I didn’t expect you to be slaying monsters for the poor,” Zack called out with a guileless smile. He and his friends had already dealt with the goblins inside the cave. Leonard, for his part, was unable to conceal his confusion. “What are you guys doing here? Can’t imagine the future king, the Sword Saint, the Holy Maiden, and the Great Sage would have a vacation out in the middle of nowhere, but hey, weirder things have happened.” “Of course not, Leonard.” Leon responded to Leonard’s sarcasm with a very count-like dignity. “As Zack mentioned, we were looking for you and your friends under the queen’s orders.” “The queen? Why her?” Leonard was just a humble adventurer, which meant he was generally expected to pay his respects to Zack and his friends, who all had clout to their names. But instead, he doubled down on the informality. It was a matter of his pride as an adventurer. “I imagine she wishes to bestow honors upon those who fought against the Demon Lord’s army. Please do come along,” Maria urged, smiling. Her manner was gentle, but there was a forceful pressure exuding from her body. Nina shrank back on instinct. Even after all these years, her fear of Maria still hadn’t lessened. “Honors? We didn’t do that crap for the sake of the kingdom. We just did what we wanted. Don’t get any ideas about us wanting a reward,” Leonard insisted, impervious to the pressure. Maria’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Well… It’s not as if I don’t understand your feelings,” said Solon, ever the contrarian with a bone to pick with authority. Zack faced Leonard straight on. “But still, I want you guys to come with us.” “Why?” “I asked around about your party before we came here. We went to a bunch of different taverns, of course, but I also talked with people like the knight in Arkand, the Erdelian merchant, and the village chief of Gastan.” “So…what did they say about me?” Leonard had to admit he was a little interested in what Zack was saying. “That you’re unpleasant.” “Heh-heh-heh…” Leonard’s face twisted into a laugh. He couldn’t help but find it funny. “They said the same stuff before the battle with Berzera, actually,” Zack went on. “Everyone said you were a selfish money-grubber who’d never fit in the Hero’s party.” “Hey, isn’t that accurate? I actually am that kind of guy.” Leonard shrugged. “Maybe so. But when I asked around again this time, I heard something different.” “What’s that?” “The knight in Arkand said, ‘He’s an unpleasant guy who plays dirty to win, but he fights for the people in front of him. If the Hero is a national savior, he’s a local one. That’s why I couldn’t recommend him for the Hero’s party.’” Leonard said nothing. He recalled what he knew of that knight. His son had died in the battle, for which he had every right to blame Leonard. “The Erdelian merchant was similar. ‘He kept asking for money, but the work he did matched the pay. He understood that life has a price tag. He’s an unpleasant guy to do business with, but I didn’t want him to die. That’s why I didn’t want him to join the Hero’s party.’” That merchant did nothing but whine at me, Leonard thought with a rueful smile. “The Gastan village chief said, ‘He was an unpleasant man. Did you know he threatened me not to breathe a word that he was helping people? He wanted me not to look complicit when he sold the grain illegally, just in case the word got out. He really was awful.’ He also mentioned that he hopes you’ll stop by again.” Leonard looked blankly up at the sky. He hadn’t done those things because he wanted people to understand him or anything. He was fine with being the bad guy. “Damn, now I look totally uncool…” “You’re the son of a blacksmith and a good person,” Sophia told him. “It was pointless of you to act edgy.” “That’s for sure.” Evsei chuckled. “She’s right, you know.” Nina laughed, too. Leonard shot his party members an exasperated look. “What’s with you guys? You want a queen to pat you on the head so badly?” “Well, duh. It’s nice to be praised. You’re just a contrarian. This is a once in a blue moon kind of thing. Why don’t you just be a good boy and go see her?” said Sophia. Leonard shook his head. “Go? Like, back to the kingdom? You know how far away that is? You wanna put in all that time and effort just for a damn compliment?” Solon interrupted Leonard’s protests to say, “Oh, don’t worry about that.” “What?” “I can teleport us back and forth in an instant.” The Great Sage had sealed off Leonard’s last route of escape.