Chapter 183 – The Hero (4)
I’ve tried hunter stories where superpowers awaken, martial arts stories where inner energy makes you stronger, game-like stories with experience points, and pure fantasy too.
Is there any power that could exceed my expectations?
Even if there were, I doubted it would pose a real threat to me.
“Come at me, greenhorn!”
The moment we arrived at the sparring arena prepared in the mercenary guild, the mercenary shouted boldly.
“Well… sure.”
For now, I decided to show him my skills lightly.
Blink~
The cute eye-tentacle, Valentine, recommended slicing the mercenary in front of us.
Wait. I’ll let you cut to your heart’s content later—including the Sword Demon.
Swish!
I leaped forward like a charge and delivered a light kick.
The mercenary reacted without being flustered by my speed at all.
“Not bad!”
He thrust a large fist covered in blue aura straight toward my face.
Whoosh—
A speed far beyond human standards. His evasion, predicting my movements that relied on raw power rather than talent, was top-tier.
‘So this is what a first-class mercenary looks like.’
Without Senior by my side, I couldn’t tell if his talent was on the level of the convenience store owner, but he was definitely superior to me in skill.
However,
Flex!
I matched his speed and raised mine accordingly.
“Hup!”
Without disappointment or panic at my missed right kick, he pivoted on his right foot and spun into a left back kick.
It wasn’t as clean as the legendary Taekwondo master known as the “Master Go Mu-shin,” but he made up for the shortcomings with raw physicality.
Whoosh—
“Wha—?!”
Thud!
I struck his abdomen, but it was shallow. Not only did I have no intention of killing him, but his reaction speed was abnormally high.
“You’re pretty good yourself.”
I returned his exact words with a grin.
About this level, huh.
He called himself first-class, so in hunter-story terms, probably around A-rank.
“Hah! I went easy on you thinking you might become my client, and now the greenhorn’s getting cocky.”
Vrrr—
The mercenary’s expression turned extremely displeased as his entire body was enveloped in blue aura.
“Hey! This is a training ground!”
“That looks way too serious?!”
“That idiot…!”
The onlookers panicked, but no one stepped in to stop it actively.
“Here I come! Uooooh!”
Bang!
The mercenary tore through the air and charged with his massive body.
“Hooh~”
His speed increased even further as the blue aura wrapped around his whole body.
It felt similar to inner energy?
I don’t know what they call it here, but it’s definitely part of the world’s setting.
‘No need to kill him.’
This mercenary is a swordsman. The greatsword strapped to his back is proof.
Yet even in his excitement, he hadn’t drawn it and was fighting with fists alone. There wasn’t even any killing intent.
So it was only right for me to fight bare-handed moderately and end it appropriately.
“Now then…”
This fight only came about in the first place because I wanted to gauge the combat level of this world’s natives.
My world, expanded five times over.
With the range extending from my physical body to the surrounding space, a variety of things became possible.
For example,
“Huh…?”
Crack!
Canceling the opponent’s fantasy ability without even touching his body?
Meanwhile, my own body had long surpassed the realm of ordinary humans. Defeating a normal human was as easy as twisting a newborn baby’s wrist.
There was no way this could even be called a fight.
“Good work.”
“……”
Thud.
The mercenary, suffering from a concussion, collapsed with his eyes rolled back.
“What the hell just happened?!”
“What went down?!”
“Hey! Someone explain!”
I humbly bowed my head toward the confused onlookers and left the mercenary guild’s training ground.
It’s not exactly something to brag about, is it?
From the start, we weren’t equals. I simply won without variables in a fight I was bound to win unconditionally.
“Let’s see…”
I headed toward the request board.
Blade Phantom.
I carefully scanned the posted requests on the wall for that name, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Um…”
The receptionist lady approached me.
“Do you have any business?”
“From your earlier question and all, is this your first time at the mercenary guild?”
“Yes. First time.”
I might not know much else, but I could tell that ever since I knocked out that mercenary, her voice had become much gentler.
“I see! Then may I explain everything step by step?”
“That’s fine. I’m not really planning to become a mercenary anyway.”
“But you’re targeting the Blade Phantom, aren’t you?”
“That’s true.”
However, since I was completely free from basic needs like clothing, food, and shelter, I didn’t particularly need money.
Ah! One thing, though.
Even if I don’t get hungry, I’m willing to pay for delicious food.
“At the bottom of the request forms, you’ll see the estimated risk level: Beginner, Low, Medium, High.”
“I saw that.”
“But requests classified as Top-tier or Special are managed separately, so they’re not on the public board.”
“Ah!”
“And Blade Phantom is classified as Top-tier. So if you go to the city hall, you should find the information you’re looking for—things like which areas are under travel bans until the monster that attacked someone is subjugated…”
“Aha!”
So the place I needed to go wasn’t the mercenary guild, but the city hall?
Thanks for the great info.
“If I stop explaining here, you’ll just leave, right? It’s written all over your face.”
“……”
She nailed it.
“You can’t enter restricted zones just like that.”
“Ah, I see. Only mercenaries with sufficient skill are allowed in.”
“Yes! Exactly!”
The receptionist lady clapped her hands with a bright business smile.
“Hm… Does it take long?”
Sneaking into the restricted zone would be possible, but out of consideration for the receptionist lady’s kindness in explaining things so patiently—like trying to sell insurance—I decided to think it over.
“Not at all!”
“Then that’s good.”
It really felt like being pressured into buying insurance?
“Normally there’s a lengthy qualification review process, but your skills from the training ground just now will serve as verification.”
“Nice.”
“Just sign this contract and pay the membership fee, and you’re done!”
“…Membership fee?”
“Yes. All mercenaries are required to have mercenary insurance. In case of death, the body and condolence money are delivered to the family, and even the funeral is handled. Besides the membership fee, 30% is deducted from each successful request as commission and brokerage fees.”
“……”
The mercenary guild is straight-up robbery?
“The guild doesn’t keep all 30%. 15% goes to the family, and another 15% is returned as retirement funds. In exchange, rejoining after retirement is not allowed.”
“Oh…”
So half the fee comes back to the mercenary eventually?
“And you get 50% discounts on treatment at temples and clinics that partner with the guild. Pretty great, right?”
“Hm…”
It’s good, but unnecessary for me since I can heal severed limbs on my own.
“Also, in case of disappearance, the guild commissions a search and rescue at the organizational level. In that case, the cost is auctioned off and automatically deducted from your retirement funds.”
“Hooh~”
That’s actually a pretty solid system?
“There are many other detailed benefits, but explaining them all would take more than a day.”
“…I’ll go get the money.”
“Yes!”
“Ah! By any chance, is there a place that knows where the hero went?”
“The temple would know. The hero’s party includes a saintess from the temple, after all. Whether they’ll tell an outsider is another question.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be waiting~”
“Sure.”
I mentally apologized to the receptionist lady and headed toward the city hall.
***
In front of the city hall hung a detailed map of the surrounding area.
「No Entry」
「Dragon Habitat」
「Bandit Warning!」
……
It marked locations and danger zones where travel was prohibited to prevent citizens from getting into trouble!
Among them was the place where the ‘Blade Phantom’ I was looking for had appeared.
‘This is more serious than I thought.’
The Sword Demon doesn’t tire. It doesn’t fear death, and its purpose in killing people is similar to that of a serial killer.
In other words, from the moment it was summoned into this world, it will not stop destroying until it dies.
“Shall we go?”
Blink!
I turned to head toward the forest where the Sword Demon had appeared.
At that moment,
Dong! Dong! Dong…!
The bell signaling a crisis in the city began ringing loudly.
“Monster?!”
“W-what’s happening?!”
“Hurry home!”
The citizens reacted to the warning sound without panicking and swiftly took shelter in the nearest buildings.
This must be their daily life.
“……”
In an instant, the front of the city hall became deserted. The only ones who didn’t hide in the buildings were those who knew how to fight—mercenaries and soldiers.
Clop clop clop!
A knight on horseback galloped down the empty street, shouting.
“Only top-tier mercenaries and above to the north gate! Hurry! It’s a Blade Phantom~!”
“Oh my god!”
“Phantom?!”
“Dear God…”
Mercenaries lacking confidence lowered their weapons and slipped into the buildings.
Me?
“What a waste of effort.”
If the Sword Demon wanders the forest nonstop, killing without rest, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches a densely populated city.
All roads lead to Rome… wait, that’s not quite right here?
Anyway,
“Perfect timing.”
The Sword Demon can appear in any dream, but even it has conditions.
A crack in the world.
It can only slip through when the Ranuvel patient’s health is in serious danger—either in reality or in the dream.
And when that crack widens, it invades en masse to destroy the world. Ultimately, it turns the patient into a companion.
‘This should still be the vanguard.’
For the Sword Demon to swarm like in the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun> or the hunter story <I Became an SSS-Class Hunter>, ‘Hero Jeong Yong-sang’s’ health would need to deteriorate further.
In other words, the witch plays a role similar to a nurse traveling the world to maintain the patient’s (fuel’s) health so it can be used longer…
Truly inefficient.
Screech! Screech—!
“Argh~?!”
“Watch your arm!”
“C-crazy…!”
The fantasy natives were being one-sidedly slaughtered by the Sword Demon that could cut through anything. I needed to clean this up quickly…
“Out of the way! I’ll handle it!”
“It’s the Grand Swordmaster!”
“The duke has arrived…!”
I wanted to stop him, but some confident uncle beat me to it.
Whoosh~!
He drew a sword whose entire blade blazed with blue flames and charged valiantly.
The fight ended in an instant.
“Wha—”
Clang!
The moment it touched the Sword Demon’s sharp arm, the blue flames receded like low tide, and his sword was sliced through like air—no time to counter or evade.
Swordsmanship requires a sword to begin with.
“D-duke?!”
“The Grand Swordmaster got taken down!”
“The kingdom’s greatest swordsman…!”
The mercenaries and soldiers, their morale shattered, began to flee.
Screech!
The Sword Demon advanced deeper into the city without any sign of emotion.
“Well, that’s unfortunate.”
A swordsman going up against the Sword Demon? The matchup was terrible.
“Hellfire!”
“Ice Arrow~!”
“Dark Storm…!”
In <I Became an SSS-Class Hunter>, they mashed together English words for monster names even though perfectly good native language existed—an anachronistic choice. Here, they went one step further and used English for magic spells.
If you’re good at English, does that make you an archmage too?
What an incredibly lazy setting.
Fizzle…
“M-magic isn’t working!”
“My Hellfire…!”
“The magic resistance is too high!”
The fantasy natives—who became mages with English skills worse than an elementary schooler’s—fell into despair.
Screech—!
The Sword Demon charged toward them,
“Valentine.”
Blink!
I slipped into its blind spot from the side and swung Valentine downward.
Screech—?
“Surprised?”
That uncle who just got cut down must have felt the exact same way.
Clang!
The Sword Demon split cleanly in two like tofu and collapsed at my feet.
“……”
“……”
The fantasy natives stared in stunned silence at the situation that defied common sense.
Blink~
I returned Valentine to its eye-tentacle form and asked,
“Does anyone know where the hero went?”
Now that the vanguard was dead, a new one would surely be dispatched.
And that Sword Demon would undoubtedly be summoned near the patient.
_____________________________________________
TL Note:
This novel is fully completed.
You can either:
- Unlock this novel individually through shop or its Collection "Shaman: Breaker of Dreams" and access remaining 48 chapters for only $3
- Or join the Premium Tier ($7) for access to all 6 novels and ongoing updates
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
_____________________________________________