Is this Hero for Real?

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Gnolls were stubborn.

It’s obvious from the way they relentlessly pursued their prey. 

They were especially relentless when their family or clan was in danger.
On and on until their prey fell, exhausted…

“You all underestimate gnolls.
There is power in numbers.
Some fairy tribes make it their lifelong mission to get rid of the gnolls in the forest.”

“I’m well aware.”

“No.
Not even the knights could have done this.”

“Then the Demon King…”

“…”

“I… I apologize.
I’ve made a mistake…”

“It is dangerous to make hasty judgements, but no doubt this comes close to the Demon King invading.”

That was because the Heroes would level up slower as the number of gnolls went down.

This wasn’t good.

“I will look into it further.”

“No.
We mustn’t waste our time and manpower on this crisis.
Just make sure to check if the Demon King really is involved.”

The Heroes were summoned in the western outskirts of the continent Fantasia.

On the other end, the Great Demon King and Demon King were spread widely across the eastern continent.

It was much too far away.

A few hostile Demon Kings were active in central Fantasia, but they were too busy rampaging on the front lines to care about the superficial things going on behind the scenes.

…Or were they?

The Saintess wanted to look into it herself, but her plans got ruined as the gnolls’ habitat got destroyed.
It pained her.

“Saintess.”

“What is it this time?”

Another hierarch called her through a crystal ball.

“Now that it’s a break, the Academy wanted to invite the Heroes as special guests…”

“Where did the information leak?’

“I believe a student snooping around the mercenary guild saw Hero Oh Hanwoo’s status window.”

“…It was a mistake to allow him independence.
I thought he wouldn’t last long by himself and would come back sooner.”

Hero Oh Hanwoo…

He was no longer a ‘Bero’, but it seemed he wouldn’t be remembered well for a long time.

It was a good thing to spread word of the Heroes, who were humanity’s hope to put an end to this long war.

But it was too early.
An unprepared Hero would only give disappointment, not hope.

“…Tell the principal we will think about it positively.”

“Yes.
I will let them know right away.”

It was still too early, but there might be a student or teacher who could be a useful companion to the Heroes.

It would be good in the long run if the Heroes befriended those in the Academy.

“Saintess!”

That time, a knight hurriedly called for her.

Without going through Prince Alsus?

It meant the problem was more important than the Heroes’ training.

“What’s wrong? Did they all die to a full gnoll again?”

“No, it’s not!”

“Then what is it?”

“We found a backpack assumed to be a Hero’s personal item!”

“…”

The Saintess froze in her tracks.

 

***

 

I felt it deeply while staying up the previous night, but awkwardness really was inevitable if you couldn’t speak the language—that’s why a translator was needed.

I tried to befriend many mercenaries in the morning.

“Kang Hansoo, #.
$# @ %#$ &$% % &^ #^?”

“He asks how you can be so strong even though you’re level 1.”

“I struggled to learn the swordsmanship of the gnolls while fighting them.”

“He says he learned the swordsmanship of the gnolls through his hunts.”

“Hey! Don’t sneak important information into the translations.”

“Well, you should use your brain for once.
You have to give the greedy humans this kind of info to get them off your back.
Is that really how you learned it, by the way?”

“This little shit…?”

He was mistranslating on purpose while getting information off of me.

The translator needed some desperate re-training, but unfortunately, there were too many eyes on us.

“$#? %# # ^$… *% #^$ $# *$&?”

“He asks if it’s possible to hunt a gnoll at level 1 and how many you have to hunt to learn it.”

“I can read through these guys’ questions like a book…”

“Should I tell them their dirty greed is making you uncomfortable?”

“Don’t!”

What was he thinking, making everyone else uncomfortable, too?

It was truly a demonic thought process.

“No need to try so hard.
It’s extremely rude to ask a stranger how they train.
The mercenaries are just stubborn about it because their bodies are their fortune.”

“Mercenaries, you say…”

I wanted to be stronger as well.

As long as I could get strong and kill the evil goddess, I could handle all the fairys’ sexual harassment and the discomfort from the god.

 

“What are you thinking this time?”

“Kogmo… You say it’s okay for a mercenary to be stubborn?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.
How could being a mercenary give them indulgence? There’re quite a few cases where they died from petty fights.”

“Then why be a mercenary?”

I was genuinely curious.

 

I knew they were paid if they finished a task.

But this was a fantasy world, not Earth.

There are monsters outside cities and villages, and they were all money if you hunted them.

Did they really need instructions where to mine when a perfectly good mine was right next to them?

I didn’t get it.

“You probably wouldn’t know because you don’t have the Mercenary’s Blessing.
You get exp if you complete a task.”

“Oh?”

A Mercenary Blessing?

According to Kogmo, anyone who aspired to be a ‘Mercenary’ could get the Blessing easily.

…Wait.

I took another look at the evil goddess’s curse.

[Hero]

> Languages of races that are hostile towards the Hero will be automatically translated.

> Experience that you gain from hunting and achievements is greatly diminished!

 

“It’s not here…”

The only things stopping me from gaining exp were hunting and achievements.
Anything else didn’t matter.

“What’s not here?”

“Kogmo, what do I have to do to be a mercenary?”

I had found a way to become stronger.