Chapter 43: Misha, the Forest Princess part 1
After dealing with the Hero for so long, Misha had come to a clear realization.
Every word this detestable Hero spoke had a unique purpose behind it. He rarely wasted breath on useless chatter. That meant the sentence he had just spoken contained his true intentions.
Today, I will definitely do a good job being a Hero.
Only today. He would only be a proper Hero for today.
As soon as tomorrow arrived, he would immediately revert to his usual self and become that annoying, hateful Hero again.
Dammit, who wants this kind of one-day limited edition normalcy?!
It was too cruel. Misha decided to glare at him.
Misha couldn’t be bothered with the Hero’s promises; he only cared about whether they could successfully complete today’s tasks.
The Hero took the initiative to find the farm owner, informing him that they had accepted the commission and would work hard to complete it within the day. However, the farm owner didn’t seem to put much stock in his words.
The farmer, hobbling on a severely sprained ankle, was struggling to prepare meals for his heavily pregnant wife and his children, who were busy working outside. When he saw the commission slip in Lance’s hand, he simply let out a weary, long sigh. “Whatever you say.”
Lance: “…”
Misha: “…”
Strange. Why doesn’t this farmer look happy at all?
Lance frowned involuntarily.
His intuition told him that this farm was facing significant difficulties, and for some reason, the owner clearly didn’t want to share these troubles with them.
In the past, Lance would have certainly dug to the bottom of the matter to figure out the farm’s problems and find a solution. But today—
Today, he was a normal Hero. And a normal Hero absolutely does not talk nonsense.
So, Lance simply nodded in silence, picked out the commission for finding the lost cow, placed it in front of the farmer, and asked, “This one?”
The farmer sighed sorrowfully again. “Behind the house.”
Lance nodded.
Misha: “…”
Wait, were these two performing some kind of secret ritual?
They seemed to have suddenly decided on something, but Misha hadn’t understood a thing.
The normal Lance had already turned around properly and said to Misha, “Let’s go.”
Misha: “Huh? Go? Go where?”
Lance: “He said it. Behind the house.”
Misha was even more confused. “What are we doing behind the house?”
Lance: “That’s where the cow went missing.”
Misha: “…”
Who could possibly have deduced that from just those words?!
Misha followed Lance to the back of the house.
He felt that today’s Hero was still not normal at all. And it wasn’t just the Hero; even the farmer seemed a bit off.
There were several large trees behind the house, with patches of shrubbery growing beneath them. Misha looked closely but only saw some broken branches and faint traces of animals nibbling on the bushes. Aside from that, he really couldn’t see any issues.
The clues the farmer provided were far too few—or rather, he hadn’t given them any clues at all.
To find a lost cow relying on just a few broken branches and torn leaves… Misha felt this would be harder than defeating a few giants.
He seemed to have forgotten that he was currently angry at Lance. He focused earnestly on the clues before him and asked, “Do you see anything?”
Lance was squatting on the ground, observing carefully. After a while, he nodded slowly and said, “This way.”
Misha: “…”
Skeptical, Misha followed Lance. He vaguely remembered Lance telling him that during his three years in the Lands of Bliss, he had become obsessed with fishing and hunting, gaining considerable experience in tracking prey. He had used this ability to find the giants hiding in the volcano, and now, it seemed he was using it to find the farm’s lost cow.
But Misha couldn’t see any tracks at all.
Or rather, without using magic, it was truly difficult for him to spot any clues on this path, which looked no different from any other.
Misha could only follow cautiously behind Lance. Then, he secretly activated the Demon King’s Eye, casting a tiny spell to quickly scan their surroundings.
His insight spell revealed the path the lost cow had taken. It overlapped almost perfectly with the direction the Hero had indicated. They were indeed on the right path, only… Misha frowned. For the first time, he noticed a faint purple glow lingering around the Hero—a very slight, almost residual fluctuation of magic power.
Misha stopped in his tracks.
He had never used the Demon King’s Eye to look at Lance before, so naturally, he had never noticed the existence of this magical fluctuation.
Lance couldn’t use magic. Mages usually had a dense, intense aura of magic around them. The magic around Lance was merely a trace residue, looking more like a small clue left behind after he had been subjected to some major spell.
Since finding Lance in the Lands of Bliss, Misha had only seen Lance subjected to magic a few times. Magic like the succubi’s charm or Ashby’s teleportation would dissipate after a day or two at most. This magic seemed much older, perhaps something that happened before he even met the Hero.
Misha followed the Hero’s footsteps lightly. He carefully extended a hand, trying to sense that trace of magic remaining on the Hero.
But almost simultaneously, Lance turned his head and said, “The cow is on the hillside.”
Misha: “…”
Misha snatched his hand back at lightning speed, his pupils reverting to their human disguise in an instant.
He was slightly panicked.
Arlo had once shared his suspicions about the Hero’s identity with Misha, feeling that the Hero was an enigma, his every move shrouded in mystery. And Misha’s discovery just now made him feel as though he had vaguely touched a corner of the truth, almost tearing away the Hero’s mysterious veil.
He didn’t dare let the Hero discover what he had just done. So, the moment he looked up and met Lance’s eyes, he smiled at Lance, almost out of guilt, and said, “As expected of you.”
Lance: “…”
Lance could barely suppress the smile at the corner of his mouth.
He looked very happy, as if Misha’s praise had delighted him—or perhaps because Misha finally seemed to have cooled down. Either way, it proved that his “One-Day Improved Hero” plan was truly a success.
He turned back around and walked toward the cow on the hillside.
Misha let out a sigh of relief, yet he could barely suppress the wild pounding of his heart.
He looked at his hand in disbelief. The sensation of touching the magic around Lance still lingered—it was an aura from the Divine Realm.
It wasn’t a divine messenger like Arlo, nor a standard deity like Ginesse.
It was a far more profound and powerful force, far more ancient than Arlo or Ginesse. Just touching the residual aura was enough to make Misha go cold all over. It was like an irresistible dread, crawling up his spine inch by inch, proclaiming its near-terrifying power.
Misha couldn’t help but think of the mysterious Superior Deities. But aside from them, how could Lance have come into contact with a Superior Deity who rarely initiated contact with the Human Realm?
Dammit. The mysteries surrounding the Hero haven’t decreased; they’ve only multiplied.
Misha sighed deeply and looked up at the Hero not far away.
He had asked Ashby to investigate the Hero’s whereabouts. There should be results by today, right?
Arlo was obviously more familiar with the Superior Deities. Should he tell Arlo about the Hero’s connection to them?
Maybe Arlo could give him an answer and tell him which god left that aura. But if he told Arlo, he feared Arlo would report it back to the Divine Realm. Given that the Hero’s behavior was completely out of control, Misha worried this might lead to even more unfavorable consequences for Lance.
Although the Hero was detestable, Misha… still didn’t want to see him get hurt.
With complicated feelings, Misha looked toward the Hero and the cow on the hillside.
To be precise, the Hero gripping the cow’s horns, and the struggling—
Eh? Wait?
What?
What is the Hero doing now?!
Startled, Misha hurried up the slope. Worried about getting kicked by the crazed bovine, he stood at a safe distance and shouted in confusion, “Lord Lance! Why are you fighting with the cow?!”
Lance, struggling to control the cow’s horns, shouted back with equal confusion, “I don’t know either!”
Misha: “…”
Dammit. In the brief moment I was spaced out thinking, just how drastic a turn did the relationship between the Hero and the cow take?
This situation was clearly beyond Misha’s capabilities.
If the Hero were arguing with a human, Misha could step in to mediate. But the Hero was brawling with a cow. The cow couldn’t understand human speech, so forget mediation; even subduing the beast might pose a slight difficulty.
After all, their commission was to find the cow, not kill it.
The farmer wanted a lively, whole cow brought back, not a carcass that had met a tragic end at the Hero’s hands.
Misha had no choice but to offer the Hero some reminders.
“Lord Lance, we need the cow alive!” Misha emphasized nervously. “No, wait, an injured cow isn’t okay either!”
Lance, who could defeat Archdemons with ease, gritted his teeth in response. “I know!”
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