Chapter 32 

First day after our arrival at the capital:

Sakura, Mio and I are doing some sightseeing, checking out the interesting places in the villages on the way here, as Alta suggested.

[So peaceful…]

Mio lies down on the floor in a 大 shape. Her skirt gets rolled up in doing so, and her underwear is completely exposed. Oh, it is black… Black?

[Mio, you are as vulgar as expected.]

[Huh? Oh, you saw my panties. Did you get excited?]

[It wasn’t a big deal, but please fix your skirt soon.]

[Boo. At least give a proper response.]

This is the first time we’ve seen “actual” j.a.panese house since we came to this country. Most of the buildings that we’ve seen in this country until now are either just half j.a.panese or those with mixed architecture. This house is wooden with a tile roof and a sliding paper door.

The hero who had come to this country before also bought various examples of j.a.panese culture, too. However, that information is fragmented due the pa.s.sage of time, and so it’s lost its original shape. The result is the unnatural architecture of this country. The owner of this house must have investigated and collected the fragmented information in order to restore this building to the original shape that the previous hero left.

Mio lies down on the tatami mat, the same one we’re sitting on now.

Hmm… Why do we become really calm in this house?

[Here. The tea.]

[Oh, thanks.]

[Thanks.]

A twenty-year-old young lady brings us tea. She is granddaughter of the master of this house. We found her collapsed in the garden when we were looking around. She has a chronic disease (something like cardiac arrest in our former world), so I gave her Midori’s nectar to completely heal her disease. After that, we received permission to come here and relax whenever we feel like doing so.

[No, it is okay. It’s been a long time since my physical condition has been this good. So it can’t be helped that I want to move my own body more.]

She rolls up her sleeves. By the way, she is wearing a kimono. Although she has blonde hair, this doesn’t mean that the kimono isn’t a good fit for her. She is the perfect candidate for such attire.

By the way, her name is Yukari-san. It seems she shares the name of the hero’s daughter. The master of this house is into hero mania. I have a strong urge to retort, but I can’t since it is completely unrelated. However, I’m not sure whether using the nectar is completely unrelated, either.

We drink tea, eat dango, and relax like typical j.a.panese people.

[This is the first time I’ve felt so relaxed since coming to this world.]

[Yeah.. It’s not so bad to have a peaceful time like this.]

We came to this world, were driven out of capital immediately, and then had to leave that country. Our purpose at that time was to leave Eludia. Consequently, we didn’t have any time to relax since we always had to be in a hurry.

[Oh, that’s right. Sakura-sama, we can ask Yukari-san for some kimonos! Let’s wear them together, okay?]

[That’s a great idea, but I don’t kn

ow how to get dressed up in something like that.]

[In that case, please leave it to Mio-chan.]

Two people want to see Yukari-san, so they head to another room. They come back wearing kimonos with a floral design a few minutes later.

[How is it? Look good?]

[Does it… look strange?]

Mio is wearing a red kimono, and Sakura is in a yellow kimono. It’s rare to see Sakura put her braid down. Oh, this excludes the times when she is going to sleep.

[Yeah, it suits you just fine.]

My impression of Mio reminds me of a child attending a Seven-Five-Three festival. How wonderful for me.

[Eh…]

[Thank you very much.]

I have a carefree time with beautiful girls wearing kimonos on the balcony.

We stay like this until the end of the day, before eating somen for dinner and then returning to capital using .

By the way, the other members are acting as adventurers in the village between Atarime town and the capital city. Because the newest member, Lusia, has exceptional talents in fighting power, commanding and leadership, I decided to let her train the other slaves sooner than later. With Alta able to tell me if something happens…

Lusia was a knight and former B-ranked adventurer. It is easier for her to prepare anything from adventurer’s standpoint.

I put Maria, Sera and Dora in with the main party, and then I a.s.sign Lusia to be in charge of the new slaves’ party. Since I told Lusia about my powers, including telepathy, there is no problem with communication.

When I told Lusia about telepathy, I heard her mutter, “This is an oracle, right?”

Second day after our arrival at the capital:

We go to the j.a.panese house again today.

Maria also comes, too. I actually asked her to come. Then again, I thought it would be better to put a cat on the balcony. So I decide to leave Maria, curled up on the balcony. This is perfect.

The idea of letting Maria sleep on my lap suddenly pops into my head. Treat her totally like a cat.

[Jin-sama, what’s the meaning of this?] Maria asks me after laying her head on my lap as I told her to do.

 She has no choice but to obey.

[Is it unpleasant?]

[No, it is really blissful.]

Maria makes an unusually relaxed face while looking up at me. Isn’t this about the same as when I rub her ear? I haven’t seen this expression very often.

I must rub her cat ears as much as I can.

[Maria, I will rub your ears.]

[Eh… Oh, okay.]

Maria’s face and body become stiff immediately. She lies, face down, on my knee.

Since her head is on my knee, it is easy to rub. *rub rub*

[*moan*]

Maria squirms restlessly and moans like always. How about doing this for one hour? That’ll be the longest record until now. I make this suggestion since we have some leisure time to spare, after all.

This is trivial, but my trousers are soon drowning in Maria’s drool. Maria makes an earnest apology, but I expected this from the beginning, so I told her it’s no problem, at all.

Gilbert should be closer to this village tomorrow if he sticks into his plan. Since I don’t want to meet him, I will have to stop visiting this village for a while.

The third through sixth days after our arrival at the capital:

My resting time in the village comes to an end, and I have to resume my adventurer’s activity. However, unlike other members, it is relatively lighter for me since I don’t need to raise my adventurer rank. Sakura, Mio and Dora are in my party. Maria and Sera are working hard to bring those newcomer slaves and themselves up to the rank of C.

After their hard work, Maria, Sera and all newcomer slaves finally become C-ranked adventurers on the sixth day. Since we have

[For now, Maria and I will stop raising our rank.]

[Cloud and others, please work hard to raise your adventurer ranks.]

[Yes. We are able to fight more proficiently, too. Since Lusia-sensei is with us as well, I don’t think we will have a problem with an adventurer’s lifestyle, either. At this rate, I think our ranks will continue to increase smoothly.]

Since Lusia is a former B-ranked adventurer, her combat strength isn’t just strong; she has a good adventurer’s sense, too. No matter how low an adventurer’s rank is, there are a few rules that they must follow. I heard Lusia had personally received guidance from the senior knight before becoming an adventurer. I think it is natural for her to have either an E- or F-rank but I learned, for a fact, that a D-rank is considered to be middle cla.s.s.

But now, Lusia’s rank has dropped to C. It seems that an adventurer at a B-rank or higher can’t be a slave. I need a special plan for those newcomer slaves.

The newcomer slaves were strengthened to such a point that I wouldn’t have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. They gained full-fledged combat proficiency in ten days due to harsh battle training. Of course, I secretly raised their status, but…

Some of them still feel uneasy and want to learn from Lusia’s experience for a while longer.

[Master! Are we going to act on our own again!?]

Coco seems to understand my thoughts, so she looks at me with a sad expression and says that with a sorrowful voice.

[Don’t worry. We will return to capital in four days, but you guys should prepare yourselves to some extent, too.]

[Yes, I will do my best to help Master. However, I feel a little lonely, after all.]

Roro acts cute and leans on me. Since her body has matured quite a bit since I picked her up, it feels slightly s.e.xy. For an 11-year-old girl, her s.e.x appeal is frightening.

Seventh day after our arrival at the capital:

Gilbert arrives at the capital. After getting the report from the castle, he comes to the “hotel in the forest” where we are staying.

[I’m sorry. Could you come to the royal capital with me?]

I invite Gilbert into my room and let him sit on the chair before beginning our talk.

[Aren’t we going to meet with Her Highness three days from now?]

[Yeah, but I want you to meet my superior before that.]

[Your superior?]

[Yeah, Gorudo, the knight leader. Do you know him?]

Gilbert says that name proudly. Nope, I don’t know him.

[Well, I don’t.]

[W-What…]

I can see Gilbert’s surprised face. Yep, sorry about that.

[That is ridiculous! Even if you just came to this country, you should have heard about Gorudo’s story before!]

Is he famous?

A: He is famous, for being the strongest “knight” in the world.

Oh…

[Haven’t you heard that the leader Gorudo’s heroic stories: “Dragon Slayer” or “Giant Slayer” and his t.i.tles: “Champion” and “Another rampart” are widely known? Didn’t you hear anything about this from the adventurer’s guild? Leader Gorudo is a former S-ranked adventurer! He retired when I became the knight leader…]

[No, I haven’t. Sorry.]

Gilbert drops his shoulder, disappointed.

[This is ridiculous… My idol…]

Wow! That is an amazing collapse. It’s like showing someone the signature of a favorite star and then be asked “Who?” straight to one’s face.

He recovers himself after I left him alone for a while. He lifts his face and then looks at me.

「…！？」

[Sorry. I was a little confused. I guess there are a lot of people who don’t know about leader Gorudo. Although this is understandable since vice-leader Lusia was in her position until recently…]

[Huh?!]

I almost fall down. Lusia was a vice-leader? Well, I didn’t ask her about her official position. I guess that is why she has such strong fighting power, commanding and leadership.

A: From Lusia’s point of view, this information isn’t important for Master.

Well, I was surprised because I suddenly heard it after everything that has happened.

A: I will make an attempt to show information in a more timely manner.

Do your best.

[What’s wrong?]

[No, it is nothing. Why does the knight’s leader want to meet me?]

[When I reported to him about the gathering of skilled adventurers, he seemed awfully interested in your stampede’s subjugation and wanted to meet you. That is why I came to see you directly, instead of sending one of my subordinates who might have handled this situation poorly and offended you.]

It seems there are a few knights who look down upon and make fun of adventurers. Judging from the circ.u.mstances I’m going to face, I’m thinking we best not go there unprepared.

In short, it is a matter of timing. Dora and Mio want to go to castle, but should I bring them there, too?

[There are children in my group who want to go to the castle. Is it okay for me to bring them along?]

[Uh… I don’t mind. When are you free? I want you to meet with the leader as soon as possible.]

[Yeah, don’t worry.]

Because bringing too many people isn’t a good idea, only four of us will go to the castle: Maria (since she wants to come along), Dora, Mio, and I.

The royal castle in the capital of Queendom:

The highest building in this country and the symbol of the authority of the royal families. The castle itself is a huge magical tool with many built-in functions. One of them is . This prevents you from using any magic even with and .

However, when you really need to cast magic, the queen’s necklace is necessary. Only the owner of the queen’s necklace (i.e. the one who is the queen) can use it, so it is impossible for other people to use that magic.

Even if there is a magic attack from the outside, the castle’s walls are made from magic-resistance materials, so their effectiveness ranges from little to none.

As for why this castle has a strong defense like this, it is because of the hero of the country. When heroes with production’s gift shows up, they can invent magic tools with various magical effects.

This castle is one of the best masterpieces I’ve seen.

In addition to that function, it has , , , , , and a lot of other useful functions they could think of and create.

I look around the inside of the castle and speak to Alta. “I see… This is a hero’s hobby. That explains why this castle is awfully gorgeous. I was wondering why this castle is so showy while the rest of Kastral is simple and humble.

Although this place is useful, I feel that the furniture is too showy.

A: They aren’t pieces of furniture. They are part of the walls and the floors.

Seriously? Including that armor, too?

In the place we pa.s.sed a little while ago, there was a set of armor that gave me the feeling that “This really is a castle!”.

A: They’re connected to the floor. It is impossible to wear them down since they don’t have any joints.

Hero, are you an idiot?!

A: Perhaps, but I think it was an anti-theft measure. However, it completely misses the point.

I decide to give an evaluation of this country’s hero, and cla.s.sify him as “Idiot”.

[WooHoo! A castle! This is a castle!]

Two little girls are in high spirits. When I turn around, they just run off to somewhere else.

[Don’t go too far.]

[Right…]

Those two disappear. When I look at

[Err… Aren’t you going to stop them?] Gilbert asks, astonishment evident in his voice.

[Nah, it’s best for children to have some freedom. There’s no need to restrain them.]

[Well, if you think like that…]

[Really? Is that really okay?]

[Well, there are important facilities around here, like the training ground and the prison. There are prison guards, so it is unlikely they will able to enter.]

We are on the first floor right now. It seems that leader Gorudo is in the training area.

To be honest, I have a bad feeling. Given the template, he might challenge me to battle.

I arrive at the training ground while thinking about this. Dora and Mio catch up with us, too.

There is a middle-aged man, wielding a sword and wearing armor, training there. Yeah, his presence is quite intimidating, but I don’t feel any overwhelming strength from his sword swing.

LV85

Gorudo

LV 85

Wow! His skill almost reaches the counter’s top end. In other words, this person is one step away from being inhuman. He doesn’t have a lot of skills, but he’s really strong in his areas of expertise, unlike myself, who uses cheats.

[Gilbert? It seems you bought the adventurer in question here.]

Gorudo knows without looking in our direction. This world has skills. But skills don’t always apply to all actions. There can be a person who’s good at cooking without having any cooking skills and a lucky guy without any luck skills.

It isn’t strange if this person can detect signs without having the skill.

He is exactly who I would call “Master” in my world. My initial reaction to him is this: He is the first person I’ve met in this world who is really strong.

Gorudo stops swinging his sword. His sheathing movement is so refined — like art. Then he approaches us.

[Nice to meet you. My name is Gorudo, the leader of the knights in this country.]

He doesn’t look at me with disdain in his eyes, at all. There are only a few knights who pay attention to young adventurers like me.

[Nice to meet you. I’m Jin, the adventurer.]

[Hmm… Black hair, black eyes and a hero’s uniform. You actually dress like a hero.]

[It is a coincidence.]

This is the first time I was told this face-to-face in this manner. My appearance has common features of a hero like black hair and black eyes, and I dress in something that looks like a uniform. Moreover, the reactions from other people usually involves a bit of envy.

[The neighborhood Eludia has summoned a hero recently. It isn’t strange to have people who were inspired by their appearance.]

I see. This appearance may cause a bit of a misunderstanding since the summoning of a hero was done in a time of peace. I think it’s safe enough as long as I don’t show my powers.

[You are right. I think my clothes have caused a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings.]

[Yeah, that is okay.]

Why does the knight leader want to talk with me?

[Leader, how about getting to the main topic soon?] Gilbert says, a rebuking tone in his voice.

However, Gorudo doesn’t seem to care, at all.

[This is a main topic, too. I don’t see any malice in his eyes. He doesn’t seem to have pure, good nature, but it is normal.]

Was evaluating me one of the main topics? Gorudo said that in front of the very person whom he was evaluating. I guess I have to play my part, too.

[Well then, another main topic.  However, it seems a little impossible. It can’t be helped, so let’s give up.]

[Eh?]

Please tell me about it before coming to a conclusion.

[Leader, the explanation…]

[Oh, sorry. My bad. It was wrong of me to come to this conclusion on my own, without any explanation. The same habit from the olden days.]

Gorudo smiles awkwardly and keeps talking.

[Gilbert said he found a strong person about whom he hadn’t even heard any rumors, so I wanted to confirm your abilities myself.]

So, is this going to be a duel?

[However, your ability is far better than mine. I want to fight with a powerful opponent, but considering my position, I can’t. I don’t want to look shameful in the public.]

Oh? It seems I’ll be able to avoid a duel. I mean… He can measure an opponent’s ability without a check. As expected, Gorudo is a master.

[I don’t really understand, but I wonder: Is he really that powerful?]

[Yeah, only his sword skill is on par with me.  However, I think his overall strength is greater…]

Wow! His detail is matched with my skill. As expected from a master.

[His sword skill is equal to that of a “Sword Saint”!]

How many times is Gilbert going to be surprised today? I guess now he has two more instances of being surprised.

[Yeah, I have more fight experience than he has, but it’s too little to be called an advantage.]

「…」

[Huh…]

Gilbert is surprised again and at a loss for words. This is out of character for him. Is it really okay?

[Well, it is settled. I haven’t seen anything interesting like this in a long time. I’m sorry for calling you here.]

[No, I don’t mind. This is a good experience for me.]

After saying that, Gilbert leads me out of the castle. Having refused Gorudo’s offer to escort us back to the hotel, we return on our own.

Eighth day after our arrival at the capital:

I went shopping on that day. I buy some clothes with Mio. After I thought carefully about the clothing situation, I realized that I only have a school uniform. By the way, Sakura also has a lot of plain clothes. I brought Mio with me because I’m not confident in my fashion sense. I always wonder what should I wear other than my school uniform.

Now that my school uniform is off limits, this is the biggest pinch I’ve been in since that unpalatable preserved food.

[Hmmm… Clothes that are suitable for Master. What about this…]

Mio immediately shows me the clothes that she chose. As for Mio herself, she is wearing a gothic loli style, but she seems to have a good knack at picking clothes for other people.

What Mio chose for me is this: linen trousers and a cotton shirt, which seems to be a normal combination to wear in this world. The color of the trousers seems to suit me, but it has a lot of black and brown. It can’t be helped if I look more plain.

I know it is awfully similar to the garb of a villager, but that is fine because it suits my purpose…

[Well, I better dress like this, so people will confuse me with heroes less…]

[How was it? My look?]

[No, it is nothing.]

I suddenly notice a white dress. One for a prim and proper girl that has little in the way of decoration.

When I compare that dress to Mio, her black hair seems suitable for it. I might as well buy it as a present for her.

That night:

[Eh, Master brought it for me?]

[S-So enviable…]

As she shows off her white dress, Maria groans. Then she looks at me with a sorrowful look on her face, but it can’t be helped. I will buy clothes for everyone. Since I have no fashion sense, I don’t know whether I will satisfy them or not…

Ninth day after our arrival at the capital:

We need to prepare for tomorrow. I don’t know what will happen. At worst, two or more S-ranked adventurers will become our enemies. That is: Gorudo and Gilbert…

I ask Gilbert, but I can’t bring Mio and Dora with me this time. Well, I hadn’t planned to do so, but he told me that it’s fine to bring Maria who fought in the stampede with me or Sera who drove the carriage — just one of them, though. Since Maria is willing to become my guard, Sera has to do a bit of house sitting for now.

[It is highly likely that there will be a fight tomorrow. In a worst-case scenario, we will have to flee this country.]

[But… Isn’t there a chance that this will turn out well?]

[Yeah, we are likely to win with current cards we hold right now.]

[I mean, Master took the joker.]

Well, I am aware.

[I said that would be a worst-case scenario. I don’t want to be careless.]

[In that case, you shouldn’t talk about this in the first place…]

[But I don’t want to leave. I really like this country.]

Apart from Eludia, this country suits my taste. It would be regrettable if we have to flee.

But my stance is basically not to touch my subordinates’ past. The events that happened in the past didn’t involve us directly. Of course, I will help if my subordinates want… On the other hand, I won’t lay a hand on it if my subordinates don’t want me to do so.

But if this event involves one of my subordinates, I won’t allow it. I will absolutely crash it.

~fin The Hero’s Legacy and Ten Days