Raising A Hero – Chapter 17

Ch 17: Te

Ji-hyuk opened his eyes with a start. As soon as he opened his eyes, thunk—, he heard the sound of the wooden spear shaking in his ears. He slightly pushed Bella, who was holding him tightly and sleeping, to the side. Then, he got out of bed and approached the window.

He opened the wooden window and checked outside. Outside, there was only the sound of the wind blowing, whoosh— . However, his gaze was fixed as if piercing through the dark darkness over there.

This….

Ji-hyuk immediately recognized the identity of this unpleasant, nauseating energy. He wondered why it was being felt here.

For now, since this f*cking energy was being felt, he couldn’t stay here. He quickly shook Bella awake. She was wriggling on the blanket with a dazed face.

“Ugh….”

“Wake up, quickly.”

“…Ji-hyuk-ssi?”

Bella already thought it was dawn. So, she stretched on the bed, yawning with a yawn, and then, oops—, she looked at his expression. She wondered if she had shown him something unsightly.

“Go pack your things quickly.”

Seeing his firm expression, her heart suddenly sank. If this was the Demon Realm, she thought that monsters would undoubtedly appear.

“What’s wrong?”

“First, pack your things. Quickly.”

Bella quickly left the room. And Ji-hyuk immediately knocked on the Hero’s door. She seemed to have woken up from the commotion just now.

“Hero.”

━ It’s open.

Ji-hyuk opened the door with a bang. The Fairy also felt this unpleasant energy floating in the air, and she was packing her things, having just gotten out of bed.

“I think we need to leave right now.”

“I understand. Prepare.”

At that moment, the sounds of animals crying were heard from all over. It was as if there was a great commotion. Aah—, Bella, who had packed her things and come out, had a frightened face.

Ji-hyuk headed to the room where the coachman was sleeping. And he woke him up and told him to prepare to leave quickly.

“…Yes? At this hour of the night?”

“It’s urgent. Quickly.”

The coachman got up with a somewhat uneasy expression and headed to the stable. In the meantime, Elraim and Bella had finished preparing and came out.

“Let’s go.”

They went outside the house. Ah—. Even the insensitive Bella felt that a chilling energy was lingering in the air. It was an energy of intense evil. She clung closely to Ji-hyuk with an anxious expression.

The coachman was trying to take out the horses tied in the stable, but the horses were running wild, making it difficult to even hold the reins.

“He, Hero—!”

The three of them quickly ran to the stable. Ji-hyuk thought, Oh, shoot. The two horses were already out of their minds. Then, it would be impossible to drive the carriage.

S*it…, this is a big problem.

However, they couldn’t be tied down here. They had to get away somehow before it was too late.

“Let’s just walk. Hurry.”

“Then the horses and the carriage….”

“Leave them and go.”

The coachman said that he could never leave the horses behind. They were like his children.

“I’ll stay here.”

The Fairy thought that there was no time to persuade him.

“Alright. We’re leaving.”

The three of them hurriedly left the village. Ji-hyuk had a somewhat selfish thought. Still, thanks to the coachman, we can buy some time—, he thought.

Bella, who still knew nothing, asked if it was really okay not to take the carriage.

“It’s not a situation where we can take the carriage. We have to leave right now.”

The Fairy only said those words and shut her mouth. Bella didn’t open her mouth anymore either.

Fortunately, the moonlight wasn’t completely dim, so they could roughly see their feet. They kept walking and walking.

Still, perhaps because they had hurried to get away, the unpleasant energy gradually lessened. Only then did Ji-hyuk breathe a sigh of relief.

“For now, I think we’ve gotten away.”

“…Yeah.”

The Fairy, too, seemed to feel that energy gradually diminishing, and nodded her head.

Bella, whose curiosity was piqued, asked Ji-hyuk what had happened.

“That’s the energy of death. A ghoul horde was coming.”

“Ghoul, horde?!”

Bella jumped up as if asking what that meant. Why are those cursed beings here!

“Why is that here?”

“I don’t know either. …Hero, do you have any idea?”

“No.”

The Fairy Hero also didn’t seem to know the reason at all. Ji-hyuk, too, couldn’t get a sense of what was going on. …He had felt a bit uneasy looking at the empty village without any people, but to think it was really the work of ghouls.

“It seems a sorcerer played a pretty nasty trick.”

“I think so too. …Oh, s*it, how annoying.”

It definitely wasn’t ghouls that formed naturally. It was undoubtedly the work of some crazy sorcerer. …It wasn’t a matter to be taken lightly.

They repeated walking and resting all night. Soon, the sun rose. It was a magnificent view rising to the horizon.

Bella, who hadn’t fully relieved her fatigue, yawned repeatedly. Fatigue was clinging to her face.

“Let’s rest for a while. Let’s get some sleep, too.”

The physically weak Healer was delighted. They went under the shade of a tree. Bella really fell asleep as soon as she lay down.

Ji-hyuk and Bella also took a nap. However, they didn’t sleep for long.

Before long, they set off again. Bella seemed to want to arrive in the village soon and sleep in a soft bed.

As they were walking for a while, suddenly, a group of people came out of the bushes with a rush. Ah—. Bella was startled and clung closely to Ji-hyuk’s side.

“S*it, put down your weapons—!”

Elraim and Ji-hyuk’s gazes slightly met. It seemed that the unusually large number of bandits here was not unrelated to the ghoul horde. …Perhaps, they were a small number of survivors who had lost their homes and were now wandering.

“Are your ears blocked?!”

Ji-hyuk carefully examined their appearance. Just looking at them, they were farmers who used to work in rice paddies or fields.

“Hey, the two women over there, come here. Drop your weapons, you sons of bitchesㅡㅡ!!”

The Fairy moved like a ray of light with a blank expression and stuck an arrow right in the bandit leader’s head.

ㅡㅡ!!

At the same time, arrows poured down like rain. Every time she fired an arrow, one person collapsed to the ground. The more than ten people were instantly annihilated.

Ah…!

Bella covered her mouth with her jaw dropped, looking quite surprised. It was a horrible sight. However, the Fairy and Ji-hyuk didn’t bat an eye. The two walked over to the corpses and pulled out the arrows stuck in their heads.

“Looking at the numbers, it doesn’t seem like only one village was affected, does it?”

Ji-hyuk whispered like that. The Fairy looked annoyed. It wasn’t her job, but she had gotten involved.

A sorcerer was a public enemy on the continent. Even if it wasn’t a mission, a Hero had a duty to solve problems related to the public enemy of the continent.

Bad luck has stuck….

She thought that bad luck had started since she saw the demon summoned in the cave. She decided that she would buy a bottle of holy water at the temple when she went to the city later.

After gathering all the arrows again, the three of them started walking again. After walking like that for a while longer, a village finally appeared. Fortunately, there were people here.

They went into an inn to spend a day here. It was shabby, but it was better than sleeping outside.

“You folks, did you come from the village over there?”

The old innkeeper asked the three of them like that. Ji-hyuk answered that they did.

“How did you survive there? …Did you escape before nightfall?”

“Well, we escaped by luck.”

“It’s a mess around there right now.”

Ji-hyuk nodded slightly, urging him to continue talking. The innkeeper spoke enthusiastically.

“Every night, a ghost army appears. And they take everyone away. You saw it too, right? How it’s empty over there.”

“Yes.”

“S*it, the world is going crazy. …Fortunately, it’s safe here. There’s a shrine here. So the ghosts can’t attack. Look, our village is fine.”

The innkeeper said that the shrine protected this place like a guardian deity of the village. Of course, Ji-hyuk knew that was b*llshit. It wasn’t because of the shrine, it was just the sorcerer’s intentions.

Still, he didn’t want to argue about what was right or wrong, so he finished the conversation appropriately. The three of them roughly filled their stomachs and then went into their room. This time, they just took a large room.

“Sleep soundly from now on. We’ll leave early tomorrow morning.”

It was still early afternoon, but everyone yawned with fatigue.

There were two beds. Of course, the Fairy took one of them. So Ji-hyuk and Bella went into the other one together.

The Hero, even if it was before, wasn’t, he didn’t see it as particularly strange now. Isn’t it a relationship where they already slept with their bare skin rubbing?

“Good night, Hero.”

“Yeah, Bella, you sleep well too.”

Bella whispered quietly to Ji-hyuk as well.

“Sleep well, too, Ji-hyuk-ssi.”

“Yes. Bella-ssi too.”

The three of them immediately fell asleep.

· · ·

Three days later.

The Hero’s group finally arrived in the city of Chronostan.

Unlike the troubled surrounding villages, this place was very peaceful. The city dwellers didn’t seem to know that such an incident had occurred.

The Hero headed straight to the inner castle of the city. The gate to the inner castle opened wide for the Hero.

They also met Baron Matan at the Imperial Palace. The middle-aged Baron looked a little surprised at the sudden visit of the Hero’s party.

“Oh, what brings you here all of a sudden….”

“On our way back to the Empire, we stopped by for a while. We’d like to stay for a couple of days, would that be okay?”

“Of course. Welcome.”

The Baron welcomed the Hero’s party. However, Ji-hyuk, who was quick-witted, felt something unsettling in the Baron’s appearance. …He decided to keep a close watch on the Baron for now.

They were invited to a dinner banquet. The Fairy also expressed her gratitude for his sincerity.

“Hero, if you get a chance later, ask about the sorcerer.”

“I understand.”

Ji-hyuk wondered what Baron Matan would say.

After the banquet, the three went to the accommodation provided by the Baron. Before going to bed, Ji-hyuk went to see the Hero. She was ready to sleep, wearing her pajamas.

“What does he say?”

“He says he’s investigating it closely himself.”

“Didn’t you ask Hero for any help?”

“Uh.”

Why?

Ji-hyuk thought it was strange.

There was absolutely no reason not to…. Wouldn’t it be natural to ask the Hero for help first?

They were free labor. And it was high-quality. Yet, he didn’t ask for help, which meant there was something fishy.

“Gang Ji-hyuk.”

The Fairy called him.

“Yes, Hero.”

Ji-hyuk looked at the Hero.

“I just want to go.”

Elraim said that. Ji-hyuk understood her meaning.

If he had made a request, they would have investigated it too. If so, they would ask the Empire for help later.

Of course, it would be easier for Ji-hyuk to ignore it. …However, how many incidents were ignored like this, which later became uncontrollable!

It was right to cut the fire that could be cut in advance. Even if it was a bit annoying, it was a hundred times better than making it a big fire later. It was necessary to stop the situation of stopping the leak with a shovel.

“The Baron is suspicious.”

“I know that. But, you can’t get hung up on everything. …And, there’s no evidence.”

The Fairy’s words also made sense.

“I understand. Then, I’ll look into it for one day.”

“…Do you really have to do such a troublesome thing?”

“Isn’t it a rather big problem to just overlook it?”

He also wanted to roughly overlook it, but the sorcerer was a bit awkward for that.

“I’ll give up immediately if it doesn’t seem to work.”

“…Yeah, alright. Just one day. We’re leaving the day after tomorrow anyway.”

“Yes.”

Ji-hyuk bowed his head and turned and went out.

As he disappeared, the Fairy sighed lightly.

Annoying guy.

…But, somehow, she didn’t dislike that look.

Perhaps, it seems like it suits the Hero as well.