The Fake Hero Is Too Strong Chapter 56

We flew for two hours on Agril and returned to the Tetra territory.

Then, after waiting about another three hours, Offense appeared.

Instead of greeting us, he tossed sothing our way.

“Here.”

“You actually managed to steal it. And how did you catch up so fast?”

“Well, you know all about my sorcery.”

“The Bright Death, huh. Terrifying.”

Shing.

I drew the sword and let the sunset light reflect off it once.

“So this is the famous Hero’s Sword.”

“It’s fake.”

“Don’t ruin the mont, Neril.”

“I thought you might’ve forgotten.”

“Well, I guess it’s my job to make it real from now on.”

I fastened the sword to my waist.

anwhile, Lisel’s eyes had gone completely wide as she looked back and forth between and Offense.

“Um… just a mont, please.”

She rubbed her eyes and looked at Offense again.

“He’s still here. Please wait just a little longer.”

“No need. I really am Offense.”

“No! Mr. Offense just fell and died a mont ago!”

“That comnt tells what you really thought of .”

“Why are you even here?”

Lisel’s expression suddenly sharpened.

She wasn’t soone who naturally got angry, but even so, this was enough to send chills.

Xenia asked,

“Can we tell her now, Mide?”

“Yeah.”

“Mr. Offense had joined hands with us a while ago.”

She explained the situation briefly.

Lisel’s face went through a range of emotions before finally turning pale.

“So we were completely dancing in the palm of Mide’s hand, then.”

Offense shook his head.

“That’s too much of a stretch. The intel I passed along was barely anything.”

“…”

“And it’s not like Mide actually got in your way. You got the Hero’s Sword properly, didn’t you?”

“Yes, we did. And sohow, that sword is now in Mide’s hands.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

Offense gave a awkward shrug.

Lisel pressed her forehead, looking dizzy.

“Kaeld will never forgive you.”

“I’m scared of that guy too, honestly. But my new leader will protect . Right?”

I just chuckled softly.

Lisel asked quietly,

“You really think he can protect you?”

I answered that one.

“You saw it just now, didn’t you? My battle with Kaeld.”

“…”

“Let’s put any pointless argunts aside and focus on resolving this matter.”

“You’re going to ask to stop the second earthquake, aren’t you? Like I’d listen to that…”

“I’ll turn you into a human.”

At first, Lisel looked baffled by my offhand statent.

The words had reached her ears, but hadn’t quite made it to her brain yet.

But soon enough—

“W-what? How could you…”

Neril spoke up.

“We already know everything.”

“Huh?”

“You’re the Queen of Spirits, aren’t you?”

“…”

“We have an excellent necromancer. We summoned a soul who knew your circumstances and had them explain.”

Lisel’s eyes shook violently.

It seed she realized we had heard it from Grade directly.

I spoke again.

“If you help us kill the Demon King, I’ll turn you into a human. So please help us.”

“…”

“I’m not even asking you to join my party right away. You can decide that for yourself after this is over.”

“…”

“And don’t worry about what excuse to give Kaeld. Just say I captured you and threatened you.”

Lisel gave a faint nod before quickly looking away, seemingly surprised by her own reaction.

Good. Just a bit more.

I swallowed hard and said,

“Putting everything else aside.”

“…”

“If you don’t help us, the people of this territory will lose everything. Is that what you want?”

Lisel finally opened her mouth after a long pause.

“Kaeld only had step in after the earthquake had already caused so damage.”

“I guess there were no casualties. Not that he’d have cared even if there were.”

“That can’t be…”

“Let’s say you’re right. So?”

“This ti, I want to stop it before there’s any damage at all. Is that okay?”

I smiled and answered.

“Of course. Do it.”

Lisel looked straight in the eye and asked again,

“Then you won’t gain much fa from it, will you?”

Having spent the longest ti at the side of the original Hero, Lisel clearly understood how important fa was for becoming one.

After all, she was the very person who’d helped him by keeping her face hidden to protect that fa.

I answered without hesitation.

“What’s more important—my fa, or the happiness of the people in this territory?”

“…!”

“For , it’s obviously the latter. I think that’s the only natural choice for a Hero.”

In other words, Kaeld—who chose the forr—was no true Hero.

That implication was embedded in my words.

And that implication was the final blow for Lisel.

She responded as if trying to justify herself.

“Fine. If both of you have stopped an earthquake once, then helping you won’t tip the scales in your favour too much anyway.”

Hm. Well.

We’ll see about that.

Kaeld’s so-called ‘path to becoming a Hero’ clearly didn’t teach him this part.

That the essence of fa is maximizing happiness for the greatest number of people.

Let’s rewind six days.

I was just finishing up explaining my plan.

Flying Kaeld’s party far away from the Tetra territory on Agril.

Kidnapping Lisel.

Convincing her to stop the second earthquake.

And lastly…

“You’re not going to use Append View?”

Neril blinked.

That look was kind of cute.

…Wait.

Am I going crazy?

“Yeah.”

“Why? You used Append View on Kaeld, right? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?”

“I used Append View on Kaeld, and I won’t use it now. If things go the way I’ve planned, this simple tactic will beco an effective bomb.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Just try thinking from the viewpoint of the territory’s people.”

“Hmmm…”

That’s when it happened.

Adwin suddenly shot to his feet.

“I think I get it!”

“Oh? Go ahead, let’s hear it.”

Adwin calmly laid out his theory.

And I couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.

A fourteen-year-old boy had grasped my plan completely.

This kid has a bright future.

Who did he take after, I wonder?

“Correct.”

“Heh heh.”

“How’d you figure all that out?”

Adwin answered like it was obvious.

“I thought about your personality.”

“My personality?”

“Yeah. You’ve got a bit of a devious streak.”

…

This kid’s future worries .

Who did he take after, seriously?

Temporary Shelter

Many of the territory’s citizens whispered among themselves about the earthquake earlier in the day or the hero Kaeld.

But not everyone was in the mood to chat so freely.

Those who weren’t among the majority, nor among the happiest.

One of those people, a carpenter nad Braman from the Tetra territory, felt rather sullen.

The earthquake from earlier today.

For soone born and raised in Tetra territory, it wasn’t exactly earth-shattering—figuratively speaking.

He himself had experienced quakes of that magnitude four or five tis before.

If you went back to his father’s generation, you wouldn’t be able to count them all on both hands.

‘Still… my lumber mill was totally wrecked. Damn it.’

He had survived with his life, but he ended up witnessing the complete destruction of his workshop.

Of course, he hadn’t seen it with his own two eyes.

Whatever trickery it was, at so point the scenery had shifted, and the mont of the earthquake had flashed before his eyes.

‘That must be the magic people talk about, huh? And the hero used it?’

He tilted his head at the thought.

‘But why show that to us?’

It’s not like a normal person could pull off the feat of stopping an earthquake.

Even without magic, anyone would’ve acknowledged it as the hero’s accomplishnt.

‘So then why show it off? As if he was… boasting… huh.’

He quickly shook his head.

This was the hero’s doing.

Soone like him shouldn’t be casting doubt so carelessly.

Fortunately for Braman, there were others who shared his sentints.

“Hey, about that weird experience earlier today.”

“You an when they showed us the scene of the hero stopping the quake?”

“Yeah. Honestly, wasn’t that kind of… off-putting?”

Braman perked up his ears.

“I saw Lord Kaeld stretch his hand toward the sky like he was trying to look cool.”

“Well, to be fair, he did look cool.”

“No, what I’m saying is, why did he even show that scene to us in the first place?”

“…”

“I an, it’s not like this is the first ti we’ve had an earthquake. Sure, we’re not exactly used to them, but living in this cursed land, we’re kind of accepted to it, aren’t we? And yet he made it look like he saved the whole world…”

The man kicked a small rock by his foot and continued.

“He even used magic to show it to us. Thanks to that, I saw my restaurant get completely trashed. What the hell—our misfortune is just his material for showing off now?”

“Hey now…”

“Co on, I’m already miserable, and then he rubs it in like that.”

“You’re always so damn twisted, that’s your problem.”

“Shut up.”

That was the kind of talk going around.

Braman hurried over to join them.

“Hmm-hmm. So you all feel the sa way?”

“Huh? What?”

“I an, I kinda thought the sa. Na’s Braman, I run a lumber mill.”

“Nice to et you. I’m Vane.”

“About what you were saying earlier…”

Braman didn’t know this, but conversations like these were spreading throughout the shelter.

Especially among those who had lost everything except their lives—these people were raising their voices the loudest.

And strangely enough, their words started to catch on.

Even among those who were part of the majority.

“I an, I’m not saying it was offensive or anything, but you know what I an, right?”

“Yeah, I get it. Honestly, for us, this was a life-or-death matter.”

“Exactly. But it kinda felt like he used that to brag.”

“C’mon, still—Kaeld did stop the earthquake. You can’t just say that stuff.”

“Hey, don’t make out to be ungrateful. Of course I’m thankful… but still…”

Once the murmurs among the territory’s people had ripened enough—

A loud voice suddenly bood across the sky.

“Everyone! Please be careful!”

“Huh? Wh-what was that?”

Xenia was standing atop Agril.

With all her might, she cried out again, feigning urgency.

“A second earthquake is coming!”

The people of the territory murmured in confusion.

“What? What’s she saying?”

“She said an earthquake! Another one’s coming!”

“But Lord Kaeld stopped it earlier, didn’t he?”

“Oh, she’s one of Lord Mide’s companions! She helped during the evacuation.”

Xenia took a deep breath.

And, just as Mide had instructed, she spoke her line.

“This ti, it’s going to be on a whole different scale from earlier!”

It sounded desperate. Completely unembellished and unexaggerated.

As though she were sincerely concerned for the citizens safety.

I was standing about five or six steps away from Lisel.

She had her eyes closed, focusing her mind.

Neril whispered beside .

“Think Xenia’s delivering the ssage properly by now?”

“She is. Thanks to your sound amplification magic too. I’m always grateful.”

“Ahem. It was nothing.”

Neril turned her head slightly.

In that mont, Offense opened his mouth.

“Still, you’ve got quite the knack for manipulation.”

“You should learn to have so reverence for the hero.”

“Then teach .”

“…”

“Reverence aside, I’ll admit I was impressed. Kaeld definitely missed sothing.”

Exactly.

That guy doesn’t really understand how ordinary people feel.

Stopping an earthquake? Of course it’s an amazing feat.

But Kaeld didn’t notice the despair of those who lost their livelihoods because of that earthquake.

Which is precisely why he waited until after so damage had been done.

Honestly, if it hadn’t been for that misstep, I wouldn’t have expected our plan to have more than a 50% chance of success.

But I had a hunch.

I’d seen this pattern plenty of tis before—back when Kaeld was still pretending to be a hero.

I said,

“Earlier today, he was probably welcod with open arms. After all, you have to be alive before you can start worrying about your livelihood. At that mont, they were probably just grateful to have been saved.”

“Yeah. There was a lot of excitent about Kaeld then.”

“But a few hours pass, the adrenaline cools, and reality sets in. ‘What do I do for work now?’ ‘How much debt am I in already?’ ‘My kids eat like horses these days…’ and so on.”

“…”

“So then people start looking for sothing to chew on. And that’s when the thought hits them.”

Kaeld Wake—

Or rather, his performance—as if the disaster that threatened their lives and futures was nothing more than a stage for him to show off.

Trail chid in.

[If he had just quietly dealt with the quake without using Append View, it might’ve been different.]

‘Yeah. One of his biggest mistakes was using magic for the sake of showing off.’

Well, technically I’d baited him into it, but let’s let that slide.

The fool who blindly accepts an enemy’s mysterious kindness deserves what he gets.

Anyone could see he used Append View intentionally.

That’s why I made sure to seal it off, and had Xenia spread the ssage verbally instead.

Then Offense spoke. This update is available on N()velFire

“But didn’t you also do a flashy entrance in Avis territory? Descending on Agril like so divine being?”

“And you said I looked more refined than Kaeld when you saw that.”

“…Right. I rember.”

“Why do you think you felt that way? Back then, there wasn’t an actual war happening. Most people were still in a state of peace and happiness. But now, thanks to Kaeld’s blunder, there are quite a few who’ve ended up miserable.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind. It’s just one of those things.”

Offense tilted his head.

‘Now then.’

I rubbed my palms together.

Kaeld, who used magic to boast about stopping a minor quake.

Mide, who stopped a massive quake but didn’t even think of using magic to boast.

Let’s see which one the people end up preferring.

TL : You know what to do. Novel Updates