Chapter 9: The Hero’s Divine Messenger
Arlo, clutching his newly injured forehead, looked up in utter bewilderment.
He couldn’t understand.
Hadn’t the hero been farming in the beginner village for three years? How could farming give him such strong swordsmanship?
This didn’t make sense at all.
Lance had injured Arlo a second time. He was silent for a moment, then turned to Misa behind him, showing a bewildered expression, as if he wanted to apologize to Arlo but was too nervous to know how to speak.
Misa: “…”
Misa sighed.
“…Arlo, are you alright?” Misa spoke for the pitiful hero. “Lance… probably didn’t mean to.”
Arlo wiped the blood from his forehead, once again using healing magic to effortlessly heal his wound. Then, pretending to be calm, he looked up at Lance and said, “You’ve got a good grasp of it; that’s what hitting someone feels like.”
Misa: “…”
Lance was stunned for a moment, as if he suddenly understood, whether he really believed Arlo’s words or not, he replied seriously, “I understand.”
Arlo took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the blood from his face, and said, “Against enemies, you can use a little more force.”
Lance: “Okay.”
Arlo: “At your current level, you should be able to defeat a giant, barely.”
Lance nodded seriously.
Arlo: “Ashbey, who kidnapped the prince, is a great demon. Work hard, and one day you’ll be able to defeat him!”
Lance felt like he’d found his direction moving forward.
Misa stood to the side, watching their so-called “test of the hero’s strength,” feeling complex emotions.
He saw clearly that, based on the abilities Lance had just shown, defeating Ashbey might be difficult, but knocking out a giant with one punch shouldn’t be a problem.
So the question was:
Why did a hero who had been farming in the beginner village for three years, who was just stepping out of the beginner village for the first time, have such terrifying strength?
Misa frowned, recalling the hero’s adventure records he had read.
The hero had indeed arrived at the beginner village three years ago, and there didn’t seem to be anything near the beginner village that could improve one’s swordsmanship.
…Could the hero have had such strength from the beginning? What would the hero become in the end!
Arlo finally sent the hero off, who had found his direction. He still smiled, watching the hero disappear at the edge of the courtyard gate, then slowly turned to Misa, barely able to suppress the pain on his face, and reached out to cover the corner of his forehead that had been injured twice.
Arlo: “What’s going on!”
Misa shook his head.
“Mr. Arlo, are you badly injured?” Misa asked, seeing Arlo’s painful expression. “The wound has healed; there’s no internal injury, right?”
“Not serious,” Arlo rubbed his forehead. “But it hurts.”
Misa: “…Oh.”
“Most importantly! Lance is a bit too strong,” Arlo lowered his voice. “I think he can go to the Demon Lord’s castle now.”
“Maybe a little short,” Misa touched his chin. “At this level, Ashbey should be able to handle him.”
“But I don’t think he used his full strength,” Arlo sighed deeply. “He hit my magic shield like he was hitting an eggshell.”
Misa: “…”
“Now I’m worried about tomorrow,” Arlo recalled their planned actions to improve the hero’s favorability and couldn’t help but worry. “Does Lance… really need my protection?”
Misa: “Y.U.X.I.…”
The next morning, the hero packed his bags.
The lord came to see him off and dispatched several knights to accompany him. Lance didn’t care about this, and Misa didn’t refuse, so these knights followed them on their way to find the giants.
They were taciturn and only followed orders. Misa felt like he was with a few air people. When they left the city, Misa was still thinking about how to subtly guide the hero to the giants’ location, but Lance knelt down again, looking at the footprints the giants had left near the farmland outside the city yesterday.
His actions were strange, so Misa couldn’t help but be curious. He also knelt down beside Lance and whispered, “Lance-sama, what are you doing?”
Perhaps he had finally become familiar with Lance, and recently Lance had answered all his questions. Hearing Misa’s question, Lance answered without hesitation, “Tracking.”
Misa: “Ah?”
Lance: “…I know a little hunting.”
Misa understood.
Living in such a poor village in the Land of Blessing, the hero must have used all means to obtain food. He could track prey by their footprints; finding the giants’ current location through their tracks wasn’t surprising.
Misa touched his chin, thinking, Lance’s abilities were far stronger than those of ordinary heroes. Could it have been developed through hunting for three years?
Well, it could barely be explained that way.
Lance quickly determined their direction. He thought the giants seemed to have gone towards the volcano, and Misa fully supported his judgment because he had indeed asked the giants to hide in the volcano.
So everyone continued towards the volcano. The road from Sky City wasn’t too far. Misa estimated they could find the giants before nightfall, and then it would be time to implement his perfect plan.
Luring the hero to a high cliff, they were surrounded by giants, and Arlo stepped forward, desperately protecting the hero.
Just thinking about this plot made Misa feel moved!
By noon, they saw the volcano outside Sky City.
To be precise, this volcano was different from ordinary volcanoes. There were countless cracks on the mountain, and beneath them was flowing magma. Every step on this volcano was like a doomsday scene. Legend has it that it was a miracle left by the fire god Hastings. The magma and flames that gushed out could even melt dragon scales. If humans accidentally fell, they would be instantly reduced to ashes in the flames.
Misa couldn’t help but repeat their plan to Arlo in a low voice, specifically telling Arlo to be careful and absolutely not fall into those cracks. Otherwise, even a divine messenger might be vaporized on the spot and would have to trouble the gods to send them back again.
Arlo had slept in the Divine Tower for three years and didn’t know much about this world. He was naturally curious. From the moment he stepped from the forest into the barren rock land, he couldn’t help but look around, asking Misa, “This is the dwarves’ territory, right?”
In the common understanding of people in this world, strange and ugly dwarves are often categorized as monsters. Dwarves live underground and always like to make gadgets like castings. This celestial fire, which can melt dragon scales, is a divine gift to them.
Misa nodded and whispered, “There are some dwarves living under the cracks.”
Arlo was curious: “But how do you get down there?”
“There’s a small path by the cliff wall; it’s very hidden,” Misa said. “I’ve been there once; it was really, really hot.”
Arlo wanted to ask more, but a knight had already alerted everyone. They looked in the direction the knight pointed and saw two huge giants sitting on the side of a rock, seemingly looking at them unkindly.
Of course, only Misa knew.
That wasn’t unkindly.
They just had small eyes.
The knight captain couldn’t suppress his fear and excitement and quietly instructed several knights to disperse. He wanted to surround the giants on the rock and kill them, but Lance frowned and said, “You should stay here.”
The knight captain thought the hero was worried that they would be injured, and he was naturally very moved and spoke emotionally, “Lance-sama, we are willing to—”
Lance: “Don’t hurt the giants.”
Knight: “…”
Misa: “…”
The knight captain was silent for a long time before finally managing to ask, “You… do you want to capture the giants alive?”
Lance: “I just want to talk to them.”
He stopped talking to the knight captain and looked back at Misa, as if hoping Misa would go with him. Misa couldn’t refuse, and Arlo quickly followed, going towards the giants with them.
The giants remained motionless. Next to them was a very long crack. Misa leaned over to look and saw that the crack was like a cliff, dozens of meters deep. The ground was just a hollow shell supporting it, and at the bottom of the cliff was a flowing, boiling river of lava. Large magma bubbles kept rising and bursting on the surface.
Each time a bubble burst, it would spray the lava dozens of meters high, looking extremely frightening. Misa silently retracted his head and moved back a little, deciding to stay further away from the crack.
He looked up. Arlo didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, but Lance was even more cautious, resolutely maintaining a ten-meter distance from the edge of the crack, not even willing to look down curiously.
They walked to a safe area a little further away from the giants, just before the crack. Lance cautiously spoke, “You… can you understand me?”
Misa strongly hinted to Kali and Saya not to respond to this strange hero and simply show them their ferocity. So before Lance could speak again, Kali and Saya had already walked towards them, looking ferocious.
Lance: “I have no ill intentions.”
Saya let out a deafening roar.
Lance: “Maybe we can talk.”
Kali had already slammed his fist heavily on the ground.
This was their way of expressing anger, and it was the prelude to an attack. Lance subconsciously grasped his sword, took a few steps back cautiously, and said, “I don’t want to attack you; perhaps you don’t need to be so excited—”
His last word got stuck in his throat as he sensed the vibration under his feet and lowered his head in puzzlement to look at his feet.
The ground was shaking.
Or rather… only the ground under his feet was shaking violently.
He suddenly realized something was wrong. The giant’s fist hit the ground, cracking countless fissures, rapidly spreading to his feet.
Obvious cracks appeared in the rock land in front of him, separating him from the others. Lance quickly stepped forward, trying to escape this dangerous area, but he was too late.
The area under his feet collapsed.
There was nothing under the rock land. The hero had no way to save himself.
He fell straight towards the lava river below.
Everyone froze in place. Misa rushed towards the cracked ground. He didn’t have much time to think; he only knew—
If this hero died, he would have to wait alone in this world for many years until the next qualified hero was born, grew up, and came to the Demon Lord’s castle.
In other words, he had to continue enduring the foul air of the Demon Lord’s castle and the strange noises of the monsters’ roars. His beautiful big wings would have to remain damp for decades…
No! The hero couldn’t die!
He didn’t want to wait another few decades!
Misa jumped over the crack and jumped down after Lance.
He saw astonishment in the falling hero’s eyes, as if he didn’t understand why he had jumped down with him.
But there wasn’t much fear in those clear blue eyes. He didn’t seem afraid of the impending death. But now wasn’t the time to care about this. Misa didn’t have the energy to be distracted. He spread his wings, then quickly closed them, rushing towards Lance.
After a moment, he grabbed the hero’s hand.
Misa finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He hovered in mid-air, pulled the hero beside him, hugged his waist to stabilize himself, and saw the hero looking at his wings. He couldn’t help but awkwardly look away and said, “Let’s go back; I’ll explain it to you.”
But Lance whispered in his ear, “It’s really you.”
Misa: “What?”
Lance’s gaze was firm: “My divine messenger, it’s really you.”
Misa: “…”
Huh?!