The Former Hero Began To Be Re-Evaluated

4 – The Second Hero (3)

The village I had arrived at this time was called Helena Village.

It was a quaint village not too far from the empire, and, unlike other villages, there was nothing particularly special about it.

If there was anything special, it was that the people in this village grew flowers instead of crops.

They made a living by selling the oil, seeds, and even the flowers themselves in the empire.

That’s why it was called the Village of Flowers.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hans. I wanted to return to the empire and live here, so I came to live in this village. Please take care of me.”

I had just arrived in such a village.

After arriving in the village, I went to see the village chief and explained my situation, asking to be accepted as a member of the village.

I didn’t mention the fact that I was a hero, using the alias Hans instead of my real name, Lee Hansu.

There was no need to tell that fact, as it would make me uncomfortable, and I had no reason to do so since I just wanted to live a normal life.

It would be nice if they accepted me.

“Oh, you’re Hans from the empire. I’m not sure what brings you to this village, but newcomers are always welcome. I’ll introduce you to the villagers, so follow me.”

That’s how I greeted the village chief, and he warmly welcomed me with a smile.

Huh? Is it really this easy?

He immediately took me to where the villagers were farming.

“This is Hans, a newcomer to our village. He came here because he wants to return to the empire, so please treat him well.”

“I’m Hans. I work as a blacksmith over there. Feel free to call me Mr. Lex.”

“I run a restaurant over there. Come visit anytime you’re hungry. Oh, but it’s not free. hahahaha.”

The village chief introduced me to the other villagers, and the villagers also welcomed me kindly, offering their greetings and hospitality.

The villagers, while introducing themselves and welcoming me to the village, showed no signs of rejection or anything of the sort.

I had worried that these people might reject me as a foreigner from the empire, but fortunately, such concerns were unnecessary.

In the rural areas where I lived on Earth, people tended to be more closed and prone to rejecting others.

It seemed that such a culture did not exist in this world. They welcomed me very warmly.

“They’re not bad people.”

Not bad at all, right?

I quite liked my first impression.

Well, of course, I’ll have to spend more time here to know for sure, but for now, I didn’t think it was such a bad place.

The people are kind, and it might not be so bad to farm here.

I was content, receiving so much attention and welcome from these people.

I felt a questioning gaze on me for a moment.

“Hmm…?”

When I turned my head to look, there was a girl staring at me intently.

A rather cute feeling girl was giving me an odd look from a distance.

Why is she looking at me like that?

Is she also a member of the village?

I naturally became curious about the girl showing interest in me, and in the process, our eyes happened to meet.

Suddenly, she ran away.

Why is she suddenly running away now?

I was left puzzled.

What’s up with her?

“Oh, that child over there. She’s a child we’re looking after briefly at the church. She doesn’t have parents, and she’s quite shy. Be kind to her.”

The village chief, who had been watching, explained about the girl.

A child left at the church without parents; they commonly called such a child an “orphan.”

She was a somewhat peculiar child, but the village chief advised not to judge her too harshly.

“Hmm… I see.”

Well, in reality, there wasn’t much to judge either way.

I was a bit surprised when she stared at me from a distance, but I didn’t have any particular interest in her.

However, despite that, it seemed like she had something to say to me.

If I get a chance later, it might not be a bad idea to have a conversation.

With that in mind, I resumed my conversation with the people of the village.

“For now, it’s getting late. I’ll introduce you to an empty house, so you can stay there for now.”

“All right.”

So much time passed while greeting the people of the village.

During that time, I exchanged greetings with the village’s residents at least once.

Furthermore, I had various conversations with the village folks, and as we got to know each other during that time, the day quietly faded away.

The villagers all returned to their own homes, and the village chief led me back to a humble house.

“This will be my home from now on.”

From now on, this place was my home.

To be honest, it didn’t look like a very appealing house.

It was old and dusty all over when I entered.

Moreover, there were quite a few places in the house that needed repair.

It was truly a house that no one could live in.

But even if it was a house like this, where else would I have stayed?

If I couldn’t find a house, I had thought I would sleep in a stable or somewhere.

And in its current state, it wasn’t that bad. Maybe I could clean it and do some repairs here and there later.

Still, if I didn’t like it, I could earn money and change to a different house in the future.

“Let’s leave the cleaning for tomorrow and take a break for now.”

Of course, I wanted to take a break right away.

I dusted off the dust on the bed and lay down.

Since I possessed the body of a hero, I didn’t feel physically tired, but mentally, I was not in the best state.

Even a hero, honestly, needed mental rest. A hero is also a human. A person.

I lay on the bed and took a short mental break.

“Starting from tomorrow, we’ll all work together in the fields, and it finally feels like I’ve quit being a hero.”

Today, the village chief mentioned that from tomorrow, we would work in the fields together.

Even if it was a flower farm, farming was still farming.

In a place where physical labor was the norm, having the labor of a young man was definitely a good thing.

From now on, I would live as a member of this village, and I truly felt the reality of no longer being a hero.

I used to be a hero until yesterday, and now I was doing farm work; life can change so drastically.

“Let’s try living well here for once.”

But that doesn’t mean I had any regrets about being a hero.

No, rather, I wouldn’t do something like being a hero again.

No matter how honorable the position may be, being a hero fundamentally means staking your life in battle.

It was never easy to fight for one’s life.

And on top of that, if you keep doing hero work, you’ll have to fight against an insanely strong demon king again, right? I really don’t want to fight that demon king ever again.

Looking back now, I think I’m really lucky.

I should have quit being a hero a long time ago.

“Hmm…? What’s this?”

When I was leisurely lying on bed, what caught my eye was a newspaper that had fallen on the floor.

I got up from bed and picked up the newspaper.

Who came here and read a newspaper?

Well, it wouldn’t be uncommon to leisurely read a newspaper in an empty house where no one lives.

“The date is just yesterday, should I take a look?”

After looking at the date, it was a relatively recent newspaper.

And it was a fresh newspaper from yesterday.

I thought there wouldn’t be any newspapers in the countryside, but even though it’s the countryside, it seems like it’s closer to the empire than I thought, and newspapers come on time.

Since there was nothing to do and I was bored, I picked up the newspaper.

If it was yesterday, when I had just quit being a hero, I wonder what it says in the newspaper.

“As expected, there’s no good news.”

Well, of course.

When I read the newspaper, as I expected, there was no good news at all.

[Hero Lee Hansoo, expelled from the hero position]

[The most incompetent hero ever]

[The hero Lee Hansoo defeated by the demon king, banished from the empire]

The front page of the newspaper was filled with negative words about me.

“Ugh… Tsk…”

These things.

Though in my heart, I felt like ripping the newspaper apart right away, I held myself back and turned the page.

The empire is just the empire, it’s about time I got used to it, right?

As I calmed my mind and continued reading the newspaper slowly.

“Hmm…? A new hero?”

What’s this?

I became quite interested.

[The Empire selects a new hero, and that hero is…]

Did I become a hero, and they immediately choose a new hero?

Who could they have chosen?

It was a part that definitely caught my interest as someone who was a hero until yesterday.

I slowly turned the pages of the newspaper.

To find out who my next hero is.

What? This guy is a hero?

But soon I couldn’t help but doubt my eyes.

“What? Herald is the hero?”

My next hero was Herald.

If it’s the Herald I know, he was definitely a knight commander over 60.

I don’t know if there are other Heralds, but most likely the Herald here is the one I know.

But this guy is a hero?

“Are they filming a comedy concert right now?”

Why exactly is he a hero?

No matter how I think about it, this guy is definitely not hero material.

I guarantee that if this guy goes up against the Demon King, he’ll be straight on the River Styx Express.