Please, go beat the boss CHAPTER 42

Chapter 42: The Pig-Herding Hero

Misha was furious.

He couldn’t understand why the Hero had insisted he read that letter. Did the Hero truly forget what he had written? No, Misha felt that possibility was microscopic. Given the Hero’s terrible personality, he definitely did it on purpose.

Dammit, why did the Hero have to let him know about something like this!

Misha crumpled the letter into a ball, wanting to toss it directly onto the roadside. However, the streets here were quite clean; there wasn’t any obvious trash or litter in sight. He hesitated for a moment, then stuffed the paper ball into his pocket before stomping back with a scowl on his face.

“Finished reading?” Lance asked curiously.

Misha didn’t want to talk to Lance.

He realized that his tone in the beginning really did sound a bit like a scammer, but could he be blamed for that?

It was all because this idiot Hero hadn’t gone to the Divine Tower for three years. Misha had been so anxious that he had to resort to such a method.

He regretted it now. He should have stayed inside the Demon King’s City and never come out. Was he worried about the poor living conditions in the Demon King’s City? Well, that would still be better than following this Hero around all day doing bizarre things.

Besides, he had originally hoped to keep his beautiful wings from getting damp. But now?

His wings had been burned!

Sob. The more Misha thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt.

He really didn’t want to speak to this annoying Hero ever again.

Lance was completely baffled.

He truly didn’t remember what he had written in the letter. Based on his careful recollection, there shouldn’t have been anything bad in it. He had no memory of being rude. At most, he remembered that he and Misha weren’t close back then, so he had written in a guiding tone, trying to persuade Misha to be more virtuous.

It was a bad habit of his; he sometimes liked to lecture others and couldn’t resist giving unsolicited advice. He was well aware of this flaw and was already trying hard to correct it.

But… that wasn’t exactly a bad thing, was it?

If it was just that, why was Misha so angry?

Lance scratched his head, struggling to figure out just how he had offended Misha in that letter.

He followed cautiously behind Misha, observing his every move. He watched as Misha, face dark with rage, marched up to a trash pile on the side of the road, pulled the paper ball from his pocket, and tossed it in.

Lance: “…”

That was the letter he wrote, right?

I must have written something incredibly shocking to make Misha this angry!

Lance watched Misha walk a fair distance away. He stood in place, silent for a long moment. Once he was sure Misha wouldn’t notice, he darted forward and retrieved the paper ball.

Although recalling one’s past thoughts and writings was a process filled with pain and embarrassment, that brief agony… surely couldn’t be worse than having Misha mad at him.

He decided he’d better take a serious look.

Lance uncrumpled the paper and frowned as he quickly scanned the contents.

The first half of the page was normal; it looked exactly like something he would write. But the back of the letter—

Why on earth did I write that back then?!!

Lance plunged into despair.

It must have been because he hadn’t met Misha yet. He had encountered far too many religious charlatans, so he had habitually categorized Misha as one of those hypocrites from the Divine Realm. It wasn’t until he actually met Misha that he realized someone this innocent and easy to fool was definitely the most interesting person associated with the Divine Realm he had ever seen.

And now, Misha hated him.

Lance took a deep breath.

No, I have to do something to salvage this.

Lance hurriedly caught up to Misha. “Misha, about that letter just now—”

Misha turned his head away without hesitation and walked even faster.

Lance: “…”

Lance had no choice but to chase after Misha, trying to sort out the reason for his anger.

Obviously, he didn’t think Misha was an unreasonable person.

The letter was written before they formally knew each other. Misha shouldn’t be angry about his vigilance back then. That meant Misha’s current anger likely stemmed from the belief that Lance had shown him the letter on purpose.

In Misha’s eyes, this was a prank—a slightly malicious one at that.

Misha had put in so much effort to guide him onto the “righteous path” that most Heroes took, yet Lance had shown no intention of stepping onto that path. The long-accumulated stress and dissatisfaction had finally erupted over what Misha perceived as a “prank.”

This kind of anger and annoyance was just a small temper tantrum being vented. Lance felt that Misha would probably bounce back on his own in about half an hour, but…

Lance felt guilty.

He rarely felt this emotion, but he had to admit that once it surfaced, it was hard to dispel. Thinking about all the effort Misha had put in for him over this time… perhaps he should occasionally try to act like a normal Hero?

Lance took a deep breath.

Actually, there was a good opportunity right in front of him.

They had to deliver mail for the post station and clear some small tasks for the surrounding farms. These were trivial matters. As long as he performed well enough, Misha’s mood should recover quickly.

Lance sped up and fell into step beside Misha.

“Where is the next stop?” Lance asked. “What are we going to do?”

Misha: “…”

Misha turned his head away, refusing to answer.

Fine, Lance thought.

Misha was still in the heat of anger; words alone wouldn’t calm him down. Lance needed to show his sincerity through action and diligently complete whatever Misha needed him to do next!

Misha led Lance to a nearby farm.

He was angry, but after a short while, he realized he shouldn’t be losing his temper with the Hero. After all, he had known the Hero for a long time and was well aware that this Hero’s brain didn’t work quite right—or at least, it worked very differently from a normal person’s. He shouldn’t hold a grudge against someone with a defective brain, especially since this person was just his mission target.

Teacher Alisa had said in their very first lesson that they shouldn’t harbor too much emotion toward their targets. Whether it was hatred, or those bizarre cases of workplace romance where a negligent Demon King fell for the Hero, these were emotions that shouldn’t exist in their line of work. A target was just a target; how could he be angry at a target?

Okay, I’ll stay mad for just a little longer. After we finish delivering the letters today, I’ll begrudgingly forgive the Hero.

Misha nodded to himself, then raised his hand to point at the farm not far away.

“Commission quest,” Misha said, trying to maintain a cold demeanor toward the Hero. “Posted this morning.”

Lance nodded with a smile and asked, “Content?”

Misha: “…”

Looking at the Hero’s smile, Misha felt nothing good would come of this.

He didn’t want to talk too much to the Hero, so he simply pulled the stack of commissions from his satchel, selected the ones posted by the farm, and shoved them directly into Lance’s hands.

“Read it yourself.”

Misha said coolly.

Lance: “…”

Lance took the commissions from Misha.

The farm wasn’t large. Due to the oracle in Sky City, they were severely short-staffed; most of the hired hands who could flee had already fled. Now, the farm relied entirely on the owner, his wife, and their two children. To make matters worse, the farm owner had sprained his ankle during the Giant incident a few days ago, and his wife was heavily pregnant and nearing her due date. There was a lot of farm work left unattended, so they had posted hiring notices all over Sky City, hoping someone would accept the commission and help them through these difficult few days.

Lance felt a mix of complicated emotions.

Damn it, sprained ankle again.

If he remembered correctly, only a few people had sprained their ankles running away in panic during the Giant incident. He had already encountered three of them in just two days.

As expected, pretending to be a ferocious monster is a bad idea. Once any damage or casualties occur, I’m the one who ends up suffering in the end.

Lance put away the commission and signaled to Misha that he understood.

The tasks were clearly written: they needed someone to help find a lost cow, catch chickens that had run loose, and herd the pigs wandering outside back into their pen.

These were all very common, meaningless “low-level quests” perfectly tailored for newbies.

The safety factor was high, with little risk of injury. The only problem was—Lance didn’t feel he was good at farm work.

Finding the cow was easy; he had put in hard work on his hunting skills. Following the tracks, he should be able to find the cow’s location easily.

Catching chickens wasn’t hard either. Even if they flapped around everywhere, he just had to be careful not to use too much force and injure them. With his maxed-out agility, this… this shouldn’t be difficult.

As for herding pigs…

Lance turned his head and looked helplessly at Misha.

“What do I do?” Lance asked nervously. “I don’t know how to herd pigs.”

Misha: “…”

Misha felt he would never trust this human Hero again.

The Hero had stayed in the Lands of Bliss for so long. Even if it hadn’t been a full three years, he must have experienced plenty of rural life.

Misha clearly remembered the first time he saw the Hero; Lance had his pant legs rolled up, stepping through the fields, working hard at farming. The house he lived in was full of agricultural tools. He didn’t look like someone who didn’t know how to do farm work.

The Hero says he can’t herd pigs? Hah, who would believe that?

He is definitely a master pig herder!

Misha looked away again, completely unwilling to acknowledge Lance’s words.

Lance: “I really…”

Misha turned back to look at him. His gaze was so full of skepticism that it instantly cut off whatever Lance wanted to say. Lance consciously swallowed the rest of his sentence, looked guiltily at the farm in the distance, and sighed softly.

“Alright,” Lance said, trying to pump himself up internally. “I will try.”

Misha: “…”

He felt his anger dissipate slightly. Watching Lance walk determinedly toward the farm, Misha’s heart softened a bit. Remembering the look in Lance’s eyes just now, he couldn’t help but want to offer some advice.

But since he didn’t know how to herd pigs either, he hardly had any practical ideas. He just faintly felt… that his overly cold attitude toward the Hero might have been a tiny bit excessive.

He had never shown malice toward others, so he felt a bit flustered over such a small matter. In the end, Misha took a deep breath and called out to the Hero.

“This is for the sake of the world,” Misha said. “Herding pigs is also for the world.”

Lance nodded solemnly.

“Don’t worry,” Lance said with full confidence, speaking seriously to Misha. “Today, I will definitely do a good job being a Hero.”

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