The Former Hero Began To Be Re-Evaluated

10 – The Second Hero (9)

“So what do you want to ask of me?”

I asked Leah what she wanted.

What do you want to achieve by borrowing your power as a warrior?

Apart from listening to Lia’s request, I felt like I should at least try to listen.

“Well… Please take me to the Kingdom of Artes. Please, I beg you.”

In response to my question, Lia said what she wanted.

He was asking me to take him to the Kingdom of Artes, a kingdom that was a little… Or quite far away from here.

‘The Kingdom of Artes…’

At first glance, it was a very small request, nothing special.

Just asking him to take me there wasn’t a difficult request at all.

However, if we say that it is the Kingdom of Artes, the story is a little different.

There was a reason you asked me…

It is said that there is currently a civil war going on in the Kingdom of Artes.

A civil war broke out because of some kind of struggle for the throne or something.

I don’t know exactly, but at least now it was a place where a helpless girl couldn’t wander around alone.

I guess that’s why you’re asking me for a favor.

If you go with me, a former warrior, at least you won’t experience anything dangerous.

To some extent, I understood why Lia tried to use her courage to ask me for something.

“Why are you trying to go to that place? It’s a dangerous place.”

“Well… I might know someone there… That’s why I want to go.”

“You know someone?”

“Yes.”

Leah seemed like there was someone she wanted to meet there.

“Who is that?”

“Well… Well, he’s just a relative.”

“Just a relative?”

“Yes… Well, it’s just someone I met a little bit when I was young…”

He didn’t explain much about that person in detail.

But didn’t Leah say she was definitely an orphan?

It was not surprising that she had relatives, but it was a bit strange that she had relatives in the kingdom of Artes, which was quite far away.

If she had relatives, she was a little curious as to why they were indebted to a church in a remote village like this.

Because of this, I looked at Lia as if asking her to explain a little more.

However, Lia tried to avoid her gaze when I saw that look in my eyes.

As if it was difficult to say any more.

‘Are you hiding something?’

Looking at Lia like that, I guessed that what she explained to me was not everything.

Just looking at it, it seemed like there was something that couldn’t be said.

Should I ask what that is? I looked at Leah’s attitude and wondered what she was hiding.

That’s it, that’s enough. It’s not cool to ask about other people’s family history.

However, I decided not to ask.

If you don’t want to talk, don’t talk. What.

I am also in a position to hide the fact that I am a hero who was exiled from the empire, and everyone has at least one thing they want to hide from others.

I understood Lia’s feelings to some extent.

‘It’s the Kingdom of Artes… I have things to do there, too…’

Anyway, should I say it was a really amazing coincidence?

The Kingdom of Artes that Lia wanted to go to was actually a place that I had quite a connection with.

She was going to stop by once when she retired as a warrior. Because there was one thing left to see there.

I was planning on going leisurely as it wasn’t that urgent, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to stop by once in a while.

All you have to do is take Ria to the Kingdom of Artes to serve as her companion.

“Okay. I’ll take you there.”

“Huh…? Yes?”

“You’re taking me there? I was planning on stopping by later, so it’s a little different than planned, but it doesn’t matter.”

In the end, I just accepted Lia’s request.

No, it’s not exactly a request. Because she wasn’t paid. It would be fair to say that she just did her a favor.

Please be generous. What.

It was a little disappointing not to get paid, but it didn’t really matter.

I was not such a harsh person.

Not now, but he was still a warrior.

This level of good deed may be enough to show you good deeds.

“Really?”

“Okay. I’ll let you know later when I leave.”

Lia was very happy with what I said.

The expression on his face that had already half given up and said that I wouldn’t take him there changed in an instant.

The expression on her face when she asked if it was true seemed so happy, as if she had the world.

“Yay. Brave brother. The best. I will definitely repay this favor when I grow up.”

And he was so happy that he hugged me.

Lia says she will definitely repay the favor…

“If I grow up well, you can abuse my body as you please. I promise.”

What…? Violated?

It’s so absurd to hear something like this from a little kid.

I’m sorry, but I don’t have that kind of taste.

“That’s enough. I don’t need a truckload of kids like you.”

I pulled away from Lia who was clinging to me.

Being loved by a little kid like you really means nothing.

“Instead, don’t bother me until we leave. Understood?”

“Yes. I will keep that in mind.”

I told Lia that she would be going to the Kingdom of Artes soon and that she should stop stalking me now.

Leah nodded her head exaggeratedly and agreed that she understood.

I left Leah behind and went back to finishing her farming.

# # #

The Herald got to see the skills of the warrior party.

The party members have really poor skills to be called a warrior party.

Aside from being disappointed to see such party members, he had to ask.

How can you have so little experience while working as a warrior party for a year?

Is it really true that they defeated the Four Heavenly Kings together with the warriors?

“Well… We were there when the Four Heavenly Kings were defeated.”

“But we never fought directly. We were in charge of evacuation…”

“When we finished evacuation, warrior Lee Han-soo had taken care of almost everything.”

“Even when fighting the devil, warrior Lee Han-su fought alone.”

The party members hesitated for a moment in response to the Herald’s questions.

However, he soon began to answer honestly.

As expected from the Herald, they had little experience in fighting properly.

Lee Han-soo alone defeated high-ranking demons and the Four Heavenly Kings.

Then they are complete beginners, not veterans, right?

And that meant that the party members were useless as combatants.

What would I do if I worked as a warrior party for a year? I don’t really have any proper combat experience…

“At least, I fought with the hero a few times…”

“Ha…”

At least, Luna, the party’s wizard, seemed to have had some experience fighting a few times.

When fighting Nepenthes, Luna definitely fought a little better than the other party members.

However, even that was not enough.

She was better than the other party members, but she didn’t seem to have much combat experience either.

In the Herald’s opinion, she was a beginner in combat just like the other party members.

The Herald couldn’t help but sigh because of what he had now learned.

The warrior party members who I thought were great turned out to be such useless party members…

“Well, anyway. People need to evacuate, right?”

There was a party member who spoke a little angrily to the sighing Herald.

Aila, the party’s saint, spoke as if she had no choice.

She said that it was inevitable that there would be people who would have to evacuate.

If we don’t tell them to evacuate, innocent people will all die, and we can’t just ignore that, can we?

She tried to protest that this situation was inevitable.

“That’s right… We just had no choice but to fight.”

“That’s true too. We wanted to fight, but warrior Lee Han-su told us not to fight…”

And the other party members were the same.

The elf Kirne and the beast Naphira also agreed with Aela.

They said they only did not fight because the former warrior Lee Han-su tried to fight alone.

“…”

Of course, Aila’s logic is correct to some extent.

You will definitely need someone to evacuate.

But what kind of evacuation is done by the entire warrior party?

Even if he protested like that, there was no way the Herald would be convinced.

No, even if I were to accept it, it still didn’t change the fact that the current warrior party members were useless.

I didn’t know the geography of this place, I didn’t know how to camp, and I didn’t even have the most important combat ability.

It was literally a complete lump of burden.

‘Why on earth did warrior Lee Han-su take these party members with him?’

At this point, I want to know what former warrior Lee Han-soo is thinking.

Why did he take these party members with him?

Lee Han-su was a very affectionate warrior.

He just couldn’t defeat the Demon King, but his reputation wasn’t bad.

But no matter how much that is said.

Isn’t that why he brought these useless party members around just because of his affection?

“For now… Let’s get going.”

I tried to think about what the former warrior was thinking, but no answer came out.

He couldn’t change to another party member.

First, let’s find the Demon King’s Castle and think about it.

Herald took heavy steps as he pondered what to do next.

‘It’s the devil’s castle…’

And while walking like that, Herald was finally able to find the Demon King’s Castle.