Chapter 35: No Longer Needs a Hero
"Sigh…"
On that small path in the dark forest, a sigh clearly rang out.
Shien was walking on that parth and was taking an aimless work while thinking over the absolutely cannot be ignored news that he just got.
"And there I thought I came to a world filled with cliches."
And the result was?
"This twist is a bit sudden, isn't it?"
At the very least, even now, Shien hasn't managed to pull himself back together.
That's because it meant one more thing.
"So I was tricked, huh?"
Isn't it exactly that?
"Even though the Demon King had clearly been defeated already, and the world has been at peace for a thousand years, under this kind of situation, where exactly would it need a Hero to save it for?"
However, that goddess did indeed use that kind of reason and resurrected Shien who had already died once, awakened him as a Hero, and summoned him to this world.
"Just what is the meaning of this?"
Shien doesn't get it at all.
More so, he felt like all his efforts up until now were a complete waste.
"Even though it was for the sake of defeating the Demon King that I became an adventurer in the first place…"
Indeed.
Shien reason for chosing to become an adventurer wasn't simply to earn money.
If he wanted to earn money, Shien could easily do as he did before, take a few days in that forest filled with demonic beasts, kill a bunch of demonic beasts, and then collect their parts for sale. That way, he wouldn't need to worry about his living expenses at all.
In addition, even for leveling up and getting stronger, Shien didn't particularly need to be an adventurer. He could have just directly fought against demonic beasts. That would have been enough to guarrentee that his levels would have shot straight up.
However, in the end, Shien still chose to become an adventurer. That wasn't just because he was interested in this legendary other world fantasy job, but also for the sake of having an identity in this world to reach the final goal of defeating the Demon King.
Otherwise, as an outsider who just came to this world, how was Shien supposed to even find the Demon King, much less defeat it?
Therefore, Shien needed information. He also needed a way for him to get various kinds of information in this world without restrictions.
And becoming an adventurer was a good way for that.
After all, in practically every story, adventurers are existences that tend to run about in every direction and would end up hanging around in every location in the world. Plus, there's the adventurer's guild in the background as a power spread out all over the world. With all that, Shien could easily use the identity of an adventurer to assimilate into this world and naturally get all sorts of information about this world.
Plus, Shien also needed to deal with the matter of his identity.
Otherwise, while he might be alright for now, but once his level becomes higher and he becomes slightly more well known, Shien would definitely end up within the visions of various figures and end up investigated by them.
At that time, if Shien didn't have an identity, then there would definitely be all kinds of troubles.
Thus, Shien could perfectly imagine that if he wasn't an adventurer and end up reclusing himself, not communicate with anyone, silently earn money and raise his level, then there would definitely come a day where he ends up attracting suspicion.
Never mind everything else, if Shien didn't become an adventurer, then if he used Lamdrion as the base and end up passing by the town gate every single day while bringing back tons of demonic beast materials, then wouldn't even the gate guards end up memorizing Shien's face?
If things became like that, then Shien would end up attracting suspicions sooner or later. By the time someone with the mind to end up investigating him, then his various abnormalities will probably end up exposed. In the end, due to being under the microscope, the Holy Sword might even end up exposed and bring about even more trouble. It really just wasn't worth it.
With all those matters being what they are, and having considered all kinds of problems, Shien thus chose to become an adventurer, and use that identity as a jump off point to assimilate into this world, and only after that consider additional plans.
That way, when his level is about high enough and he's collected about enough information and could defeat the Demon King, Shien could directly go for the ended and move to complete that goal.
At that time, for the sake of being able to move about the world freely, Shien would need an identity as well.
That's why Shien ended up going down this particular path.
But who would have thought…
"It died before it even had the chance to leave the tutorial."
With that, the biggest goal was lost.
Actually, personally speaking, when it comes to this major piece of news, Shien actually thought that he could be a bit happy about it.
"Since the Demon King had already been defeated, and the world had returned to peace a long time ago, then there's no need for me to bust my ass to try and fight with a guy that even the gods feared. I could instead just peacefully start up my second life, and live normally as an adventurer."
From that point of view, this matter really is a great piece of news.
Although, Shien didn't believe that the goddess that summoned him to this world resurrected him and made him a Hero just for fun.
That goddess definitely only summoned Shien for the sake of some kind of goal. That bit's undeniable.
Plus, the other used the already defeated Demon King as an excuse to trick him with.
This gave Shien a feeling like he's been caught up in some kind of unknown plot.
"Well, that kind of development is a possible route too I guess?"
Shien could deal with it. His attitude of it can't be helped was as same as always, so he just accepted this sudden bit of news.
Plus, it's not like he could be certain right now that the whole thing is some kind of dark plot.
"Maybe the Demon King isn't actually dead, and Nian found out about this so she reactivated the Hero summoning ritual? Who knows?"
Or perhaps, in actuality the demon race, after a thousand years of recovery, decided to overturn the shame of their loss against the gods and reignite the war, and that's the reason that Nian reactivated a Hero summoning. How about that kind of setting?
Only…
"For someone as gentle as Vivian to say so absolutely that a Hero must not appear, one would think that right now, the relations between the three races can't take any kind of change at all huh?"
If the matter of a Hero's reappearance ended up exposed, then no matter what kind of circumstances are behind it or hidden away, the relations between the three races would definitely turn risky.
Just like what Vivian had said, no matter what, if the demons found out about the Hero's existence, then there's no way they'd leave it along, no way they could overlook this threat.
And if the mortals found out that the gods did a Hero summoning, then they'd definitely suspect the demons of having done something, and thus end up discriminating against them.
Directly following that, the gods may even want to borrow the Hero's power to completely wipe out their one time foes the demons.
No matter which world it is, ambition and ill will are things that there will never be a lack of. There are people who crave peace within the three races, so there would definitely be guys who want to destroy all of that. If the existence of a Hero was confirmed, Shien could, just off the top of his head, think of dozens of ways to use that as a chance and excuse to let those who had the will to act as they liked.
"It must be that Vivian knew all of that already that she spoke so decisively that a Hero must not appear, huh?"
The moment a Hero appeared, no matter what the reason for it was, their very existence itself would become a spark that would break the peace.
And that's definitely something the vast majority of people would not want to see.
Therefore…
"This world already no longer needs a Hero… Huh?"
Shien once again let out a sigh.
At that moment, a voice entered Shien's ears.
"Indeed, this world no longer needs a Hero."
That sentence which rang out through the darkening forest made Shien suddenly stop.