The Fake Hero Is Too Strong Chapter 13

“No, wait a minute.”

…Was what I ant to say, but the screen popped up first.

‘……’

[……]

‘Got nothing to say?’

[Hmm. A woman with many secrets is always attractive, you know.]

I ignored Trail’s answer and fell into thought.

A secret involving soone nad May Enerika was also B-Rank.

If it’s on the sa level as Neril’s core secret, then whatever ‘that item’ Da has must be incredibly valuable.

Just then, Neril spoke.

“Sorry. I still can’t tell you…”

“Anyway, what’s the reward?”

“Uh, huh?”

“The reward Da promised. I’m very interested in shiny things.”

Maybe realizing I was deliberately changing the subject, Neril’s expression softened.

She answered in a light tone, playing along.

“A magpie, are you?”

“Worse than that.”

“Pfft. It’s just jewels and gold coins. And Da is mistaken. I’m not so desperate for rewards anymore.”

Because the person who was supposed to give the reward is already dead.

Neril seed to be implying that.

“So that grave keeper old man partnered with the Empire for a comfortable retirent?”

“You really are quick on the uptake. Yeah, the butler’s warehouse had piles of gold and silver higher than a person’s height. He just stuffed it all in without spending a single coin.”

“And you knew that and still kept accepting the rewards?”

“I considered it the bare minimum atonent.”

I didn’t bother asking what that ant.

Neril continued.

“Of course, all that treasure was stolen by Grey’s gang.”

“Aha. They all lived ‘successful’ lives on the continent, huh. I always wondered how those pieces of trash made it big—turns out they cashed in there.”

“Grey’s tool shop probably had the sa story.”

She let out a light sigh.

I scratched my head and asked,

“So? If Xenia shows up, are you going to go along with the interrogation willingly?”

“Hmm. I’d love to kick up a fuss, but that might ss with your ‘Path of the Hero,’ right?”

“I’ll have to et her to know for sure.”

“Then et her and decide. I’ll do whatever you want.”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise, not expecting her to say that.

Then our eyes t.

We awkwardly turned our heads away at the sa ti.

Trail chid in.

[No way… You guys aren’t going to stay like this forever, are you?]

‘What are you on about.’

[Anyway, this next part is going to be really interesting.]

‘Huh?’

[Xenia Seide. Nicknad the God’s Agent. A holy knight who emits more divine power than most high-ranking priests. And most importantly—]

He continued in a subtle tone.

[She’s your forr party mber.]

He was right.

Xenia Seide was one of the mbers of the hero’s party.

The fourth person Kaeld successfully recruited.

He currently has three heroes under his wing… in other words, the next target(?) is Xenia.

[In other words, Kaeld hasn’t gotten to her yet. This is your chance—bring her over to your side.]

‘It’s not that simple.’

[Eh?]

‘Neril and Xenia. The two of them had an absolutely horrible relationship.’

I recalled my mories from before the regression.

Xenia was the fourth person Kaeld recruited.

And Neril was the fifth.

When they first t, Xenia treated Neril like a mortal enemy… even said she’d leave the party if Neril joined.

[Hmm. Well, one’s a witch and the other’s a holy knight.]

‘No, it’s not just bad chemistry. There’s a backstory between them.’

[A backstory?]

‘Yeah. And the one who resolved that story was Kaeld himself. That was the mont Xenia truly ca to believe in him as the Hero.’

I stopped there and stared silently at Neril, who was now munching on an apple.

“What? Want one?”

“Yeah.”

“Here. Ten guilds.”

“Okay. Just a sec.”

“No, no—it’s fine. I was just kidding. Don’t actually pull out money. That’s embarrassing.”

Flick.

Neril tossed an apple.

And then, for so reason, bit into her own apple a bit more hastily than before.

[So what is the backstory?]

‘Anyway, in my current position, I can’t afford to go against the capital. It’s hard to resolve things between the two of them right now. What to do…’

[Hey! I asked you what the backstory was!]

‘At the very least, I need to prevent them from going at each other’s throats. Maybe if I tell Xenia I’ll handle it later, she’ll believe ?’

[Hello?? Are you ignoring again?] This text is hosted at N0veI.Fiɾe

‘Well, I’ll do what I can. If I earn a lot of trust through this mission, it might work out sohow.’

[I’m gonna cry. I really will, I swear.]

I could almost hear the sound of soone sniffing in sync with my sadness.

Though I was probably imagining it.

As we neared the Lior Territory, a piece of good news arrived.

All the points from the Quelk territory had been retrieved, and I had leveled up.

That gave ten seconds of joy… and thirty minutes of despair.

Thanks to what Trail said next.

[Well done. Now that your level’s gone up, you can see Kaeld’s fa level in detail. Well, technically, you can see everyone’s fa levels now.]

‘Show . Right now.’

[You sure you want to see it? You ready for this?]

‘I’m a so-called “slightly famous” person now. Show without worry.’

With a solemn sound, Trail brought up the display.

The usual continental map showed our respective domains in different colors.

In the center of each domain, numbers appeared.

…Huh?

“This has to be a mistake.”

I accidentally said it out loud, and Neril tilted her head.

“What is?”

“How do I explain this… It’s like starving for days and finally getting a drumstick in your mouth, only to watch soone toss away a full roast turkey, saying they’re too full.”

“……”

Neril didn’t respond.

She seed to have given up trying to understand.

Thanks to that, I had a bit of ti to complain to Trail.

‘What the hell has that bastard even been doing to be so damn famous?!’

[This might be the first ti I’ve seen you yell.]

‘Haa…’

[Calm down. He started this “playing hero” thing several years before you. You can’t help it if you had a different starting line.]

‘If it was going to be like this, they might as well have sent back ten years, not just seven.’

[Uh… I’m sorry? Is “sorry” the right thing to say here?]

My sigh only deepened.

The carriage arrived at the territory of Lior.

As I paid the coachman, he spoke.

“But you folks… you’re rcenaries, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Nope.”

Neril and I gave completely opposite answers.

The coachman tilted his head, confused, then continued.

“If you’re rcenaries, it won’t be easy to find work around here.”

“Sounds like a peaceful region.”

“Hmm, more like… the whole town’s full of lazybones.”

A town of lazybones.

The coachman didn’t say it to mock them.

Around this ti before my regression, Lior was practically a symbol of laziness.

As if it were agreed upon, the townsfolk didn’t even get out of bed until 10 a.m.

Then they wrapped up their daily work around 4 p.m. and went ho.

And by 9 p.m., it was lights out.

Their bizarre routine, like that of small children, had even beco a running joke in neighbouring territories.

Neril spoke.

“Ah, I get it now. It’s such a lazy town, there aren’t even any rcenary requests.”

“That’s right. Ironically, this is the land governed by the ‘Martial King.’”

“Who’s that?”

When Neril asked, the coachman looked flabbergasted.

I smoothly cut in.

“Please understand. This young lady was raised quite delicately—she doesn’t know much of the world.”

“Ah, well, that explains it. Even her tone had the air of nobility. If I’ve been rude in any way—”

“Not at all, so don’t worry. We’ll be going now.”

“Take care.”

The coachman bowed a full ninety degrees, probably thinking I was the lady’s bodyguard.

Once he had left, Neril spoke.

“‘Young lady,’ huh. Has a nice ring to it.”

Get a grip.

[You get a grip. You’re the one who got Rena to call you ‘big brother.’]

I ignored that and opened my mouth.

“Seriously though, you really don’t know who the Martial King is? You’ve had dealings with the Empire.”

“You keep going on about the Empire, but to be precise, the only person I’ve dealt with is that bastard Da Seide, Captain of the Holy Knights of Light. It’s not like we’re close or anything.”

“Hmm.”

“The only imperial organization tracking is the Holy Knights, right? So I only bothered learning about them.”

“You should work on building so general knowledge from now on.”

“Hearing that from the most nonsensical guy I’ve ever t is… weirdly insulting.”

That’s harsh—especially to soone as exemplary and reasonable as .

“So anyway, who’s this Martial King?”

“Terce Crine. If you ranked the Empire’s power players, he’d be around tenth. He’s from this region, and about ten years ago, he entered a martial tournant in the capital as the local lord’s proxy and won.”

“Hm.”

“And not just won—it was an overwhelming victory. The Imperial Academy even tried to scout him, but he turned them down. He’s deeply attached to his hotown, Lior.”

Despite my enthusiastic explanation, Neril looked completely uninterested.

She glanced around instead.

It was 2 p.m.

A ti when most people should be busy at work, but the territory was eerily silent, like a ghost town.

Neril spoke in an intrigued voice.

“The coachman was right. Everyone really is a lazybones.”

“If soone answers your question, try listening properly.”

“I did listen.”

“Then tell the Martial King’s na.”

“Artwill Garen.”

Unbelievable.

Not a single letter was right!

“Close enough?”

“Sure…”

I gave up trying to explain.

Neril asked,

“Anyway, where are we headed? How are we supposed to make a na for ourselves here?”

“Let’s go to the rcenary guild first.”

“Huh? Didn’t the coachman say there wouldn’t be any work because everyone’s so lazy?”

I smiled lightly and answered.

“If there isn’t any, we’ll just make so.”

Lior may be infamous now as a land of lazybones, but in a few years, it becos known for sothing else entirely.

One of the quests the so-called “Hero Party” received after it ford under Kaeld was here, in Lior.

[Wasn’t the quest to kill the Demon King?]

‘Kaeld judged the Demon King too powerful. So instead of charging straight at him, he decided to tighten the party’s bonds and level up through various quests around the continent.’

[Hmm. And the quest in Lior was what?]

I paused a mont, then answered.

‘Kill the Martial King.’

[What? What are you talking about?]

‘It’s complicated. You’ll see soon enough.’

[…]

‘Besides, there’s sothing more urgent to deal with right now.’

I said that and stopped walking, looking up at the sky.

Neril took a few more steps before turning back to look at .

“What are you doing? Spacing out all of a sudden?”

“You don’t see it?”

I pointed to a spot in the sky.

Neril squinted in the direction I was pointing.

“Sothing’s flying… Isn’t it just a bird?”

“Your eyesight sucks.”

“Yeah, it sucks. Must be nice to have good eyes.”

“Hm. It’s far from ordinary magic, so I get it.”

“Seriously, what is it?”

Instead of answering, I pulled out a dagger.

Then I bent my body backward, almost touching the ground with my hand.

Neril recognized the pose and stepped back.

Creak…

The muscles in my right arm swelled to the point where the word “bulging” wasn’t enough.

And then—

Shwaaak!

The dagger shot upward at a terrifying speed.

I took a light breath and straightened my posture.

‘Consider that a greeting. It’s been a while, Xenia.’