Chapter 61 – The Hero’s Circumstance (highlight)
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「Haa haa, I finally…… found…, you! Haa…, this time, you won’t get away!」
「fue? (chew chew)」
The third time encountering the self-proclaimed Hero was beside a forest a ways away from the Royal Capital.
This was the follow day from which I first met the self-proclaimed Hero, I accepted a harvesting commission from the guild just as usual.
And so, I smoothly completed the commission, right now I’m at a place eating a bento I brought along.
「Did you go out of your way to chase me to this sort of place? (chew chew)」
Rather than persistent, rather than tenacious…, he’s difficult.1!
「I had a hard time finding you! I asked everywhere, I heard you took a commission so I came running over! How dare you make a fool out of me yesterday!!」
Good grief, please be quiet okay. Isn’t it ruining the taste of my meal?2
「Hero-sama~, please wai~t.」
The female harem members arrived late.
「And so, what sort of business do you have? (chew chew)」
「Stop eating! Listen to what have to say!!」
Isn’t it just listening? I can do it while eating though.
「How many times do I have to say it!? It’s my mission to defeat the Demon King!! Therefore, I need to defeat you!!」
「Oh my, what a tough mission ne. (chew chew, gulp)」
「I said stop eating! My mission will be completed if I defeat you, the Demon King!」
Even though I already said I wasn’t the Demon King…
「I understand, how about having a meal for the time being? You’ll become hot-tempered from being hungry you know. Please have a meal and calm down.」
「Shut up! Wait, you, what’s that bread!? Is that perhaps, a sandwich…?」
Oh?
「You know what a sandwich is?」3
There shouldn’t be sandwiches in this world. Rather, there isn’t any bread that can make sandwiches.
「I don’t just know about it, it’s a common food in my world. There’s nothing but hard bread in this world so I haven’t seen one you see. How come you have them?」
My world? This world…?
「Isn’t it obvious I made it myself? Can you tell me who else can make them?4」
Well, it can’t be helped even if the self-proclaimed Hero says it though.5
「More importantly, what do you mean by things such as ‘my world’ and ‘this world’?」
「Whyy do I have tell you that sort of thing?」
mu, if that’s the case…
「Well then, won’t you tell me if I give you this sandwich?」
A transaction. However, the self-proclaimed Hero was tough.
「I-I don’t need it! Why would a Demon King be interested to know that sort of thing!?」
「Even though it’s so tasty…. This one is crushed boiled eggs dressed with mayonnaise and mustard. *munch*… Too bad….」
Oh, he’s trembling ne. Shall I give him another push?
「This one here is a simple surface grilled bacon together with pepper and ketchup. The bacon’s saltiness matches well with tingling accent of the pepper you know.」
The self-proclaimed Hero’s eyes are glued to the sandwiches.
「And this sandwich has slices of chicken roasted together with herbs, with mustard and lettuce. I’m fairly confident with my work.Aah, but I can’t eat anymore since my stomach is full ne. I made slightly too many. Since I took the effort to make them, shall I have the gatekeepers eat them on my way back…?」
Now, how about that?
「Tsk, it can’t be helped huh! That’ll be a waste so I’ll eat it okay!」
fu, that was easy ne… Even a self-proclaimed Hero will fall on their knees in front of delicious food! Delicious things are justice you know!
「fufu…. Well then, here you go?」
The self-proclaimed Hero timidly put the sandwich I gave him in his mouth. And then ate a mouthful…
「T-This is…!」
He opened his mouth a second time and took a large bite. He ate with amazing vigor.
It was consumed in a blink of an eye,
Without saying a single word, the self-proclaimed Hero ate up the remaining sandwiches.
The female lackeys dumbfoundedly watched on.
Finishing his last mouthful, he drank the tea I gave him and finally took a breath to relax.6
「It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten something with decent flavour…」
「Well then, could I have you talk about it? The meaning of ‘my world’ and ‘this world’…. Ah, it can’t be, a person calling himself a Hero wouldn’t just snatch food and run away, right?」
The Hero stiffened up from those words I said while I was tidying up the basket.
When I peeked at his face, he had an ‘oh crap’ type of expression pasted on his face.
Fufu, my strategy was victorious ne.
「Haa, I understand, okay…. Although you might not believe it, I came here by being summoned from a world different from this one. My original world had nothing like magic, instead, we developed a different technology. That place also had even tastier food, those things that looked like a sandwich earlier are commonly eaten as well.」7
Fumu…, summoned from another world, was it? Certainly, Summoning Magic does exist. However, that should be a tabooed technique that’s been banned from being used. The reason is because it requires over ten magicians as sacrifices to perform the summoning, and ten days to perform the ritual. When it comes to using that sort of magic for a summoning…
「That summoning, which country performed it?」
Judging from the situation, it’s most likely…
「……The country of Soutines. I was summoned there and was called the Hero. ‘Because the Demon King has descended, please save the world by defeating it’, they said.」
So it’s just as I thought. The country of Soutines is a militaristic country located north of Sobule Kingdom. From what the Prince has said, a skirmish occurred a few years ago at the border, it seems a small fight happened last month as well. Even without that, the relationship between the two country doesn’t seem to be very good. The cold climate country of Soutines and the temperate and abundant Sobule Kingdom. The country of Soutines has sought after this abundant land and has been making a pass at it since long ago…
「Saying I was the Demon King, did the country of Soutines say that as well?」
From my question, the self-proclaimed Hero nodded with a sullen expression.
「Right. ‘A black-haired black-eyed Demon King is in Sobule Kingdom’, they said. And since the royal family is sheltering the Demon King, they said I must defeat the royal family as well.」
「Hero-sama, even if you tell that sort of thing to the Demon King…!」
One of the lackeys interrupted by shouting.
「”Silence” and “Restraint”」
Since we’re in the middle of a conversation, I used sorcery to have them behave themselves. Seeing that I used sorcery without chanting, the self-proclaimed Hero and the female lackeys stirred up.8
「Please be quite. We’re still in the middle of a conversation you know?」
To begin with, Silence and Restraint are both intermediate sorcery. Even though it should be simple to handle this much for a mage…(note: it seems mage is a level above magician(?))
Seeing that the self-proclaimed Hero’s lackeys have become quiet, I resumed the conversation.
「And, the Hero-sama believed those words without any doubt?」
The credibility of information that’s only been received from one source decreases considerably. It’s necessary to collect information from several viewpoints before judging. For this self-proclaimed Hero to not do that, as expected, it looks like he’s no more than self-proclaimed.
「……The King said it. It’s the words of a King of an entire country you know? There shouldn’t be a mistake though.」
An idiot ne. An extremely idiotic Hero.
Although it might be fine to ignore it and leave it as it is, since it’s irritating to be persistently chased around, let’s at least give him some advice.
「Just because a king said it, doesn’t make it the truth. No, it’s because the person is in that sort of position, they’ll tell as many lies as they can for the sake of their own country. You said you were summoned, but who was it that summoned you? And the method to return? Are you certain of it? Did you confirm it? Who can prove that it’s not a lie? If, in the case that it’s a lie, what will you do? Without even confirming those things, it seems you’re just being manipulated by words, you shouldn’t just listen to what they say you know?9」
From my words, the self-proclaimed Hero’s complexion changed.
「E-Even if you say that sort of thing…. I was told I could return to my world if I defeat the Demon King and this country’s royalty…. There’s no way I could’ve confirmed that….」
「The king said the Demon King was a black-eyed black-haired person right? At the very least, I’m not aware of a black-eyed black-haired person other than me, but I’m not the Demon King. I’ll say this while I’m at it, I’m a human that came to this world from another world around two months ago. The world I was in is a country called Japan, on Earth, but my situation wasn’t that I was summoned, it was a coincidence.」
Hearing that, the self-proclaimed Hero lifted his head, which was looking at the ground. Astonishment was pasted on his face.
「Earth? Japan you say…, I also came from Japan!」
The same home town huh…? Well then, it’s necessary for me to say this as well ne.
「Is that so…. Although it’s cruel, it’s not possible to return to Japan. It’s impossible you see. At least, living through it.」
The self-proclaimed Hero’s complexion rapidly got worse.
「And also, I’ll tell you various things since I’ve already put in the effort…. Firstly, the country of Soutines and Sobule Kingdom are on extremely bad terms. Although I say that, the actual state of affairs is that the country of Soutines arbitrarily started it. Skirmishes are still going on throughout the border. And also, Summoning Magic has been designated as a tabooed technique. I wonder why they used that tabooed technique to summon you? While I’m at it, even if you look in history books, an existence called a Demon King hasn’t been seen in the past two thousand years. Aah, if it’s a human self-proclaiming themself to be a Demon King, then I heard one was confined in prison the other day. Although it seems the best that self-proclaimed Demon King could do was control a single monster.」
Although it was actually a big-shot Lesser Dragon that was controlled, there shouldn’t be a need to say it.
「In other words, you were summoned to this world by using a tabooed technique, they made up an imaginary Demon King, and finally lied to you that the royalty of this country are the bad guys. Furthermore, they even said they could 『return you to your original world』, which isn’t possible…. Even though I’ve only said this much, you understand how much you’re been lied to, right? Well, since my words might also be lies, please think carefully about it yourself.」
The complexion of the self-proclaimed Hero has already gone beyond blue, and has become white.
When I look at the female lackeys, although three of them have a bad complexion and are staring at the Hero, only the lady who shouted earlier is flapping her mouth open and close in shock.
「Aah, this lady seems to know the situation, you know? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to try to ask her later as well?」
From those words, that lady’s mouth suddenly shut.
The self-proclaimed Hero exchanged glances between me and that lady several times.
「That’s all I’ll be saying. Aah, although it’s at the end, let me introduce myself. I am Fujino Sakura, from the way it’s said in this place, it’s Sakura Fujino ne. I work as an adventurer. I’m from Tokyo, Japan.」
When I asked ‘you are?’ with my gaze, the self-proclaimed Hero slowly opened his mouth.
「…I am, Takahashi Hajime. I’m from Kanagawa prefecture, Japan…」
「Well then Takahashi-san, once again, please take your time and think about it. Since I’m in the middle of a commission, I shall be leaving here ne. Aah, the sorcery should be dispelled later at 4 and a half koku.」
Saying that, I stood up and proceeded towards the Royal Capital. Although I saw the self-proclaimed Hero reaching out his hand within the edge of my field of view, I ignored it. Though it seems harsh, it’s no use if he doesn’t come up with his own answer. Besides…… I haven’t completely accepted that I won’t be able to return to my original world either…
Leaving behind the self-proclaimed Hero with his head hung down and the female lackeys, I walked towards the Royal Capital.
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