Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad-Chapter 122

A dark cloud loomed over the Holy Empire of Gatren.

The death of Asahel Bald, the Empire’s legend.

Unlike other legends who rarely showed themselves in public, the shock was even greater because Asahel Bald was a legend who had built public recognition by frequently appearing before the masses.

“The Empire’s star has fallen.”

In Gratiam, the capital of Gatren.

Pope Orban IV unusually stood before the public to give a speech.

Countless imperial subjects gathered in the square, listening intently.

“Lord Asahel Bald wielded his sword for an astounding 200 years. He fought against the cruel demon race with only the belief of saving humanity.”

Though the Pope’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, it reached everyone clearly.

People held their breath, waiting for the Pope’s next words.

“He who lived the most noble life called out God’s name until his final moment! Even in the moment of mutual destruction with the worst demon, the Grotesque Eater! He worried about humanity’s future and hoped for humanity’s salvation!”

Gradually, the Pope’s voice gained strength.

Particularly when saying the word ‘Grotesque Eater’, veins bulged in his neck.

Some people, moved by the passionate speech, quietly wiped away their tears.

“We will not forget. We will remember his sacrifice. Until the day all evil demons fall into the pit of hell.”

The speech ended with presenting the direction the Holy Empire would take.

Most of it was related to demons, and additionally, he mentioned that a statue of Asahel Bald would be erected in the capital, Gratiam.

At that point, people uniformly clapped and shouted.

“It was an excellent speech, Your Holiness.”

After the speech, returning to the prayer room, the Pope met with the bloodhound Kiaran Philip.

“Spare me the flattery.”

The Pope glared at Kiaran with narrowed eyes.

“What an absurd case this is. A so-called legend dying pathetically due to carelessness! Is there some disease that makes you stupid if you wield a sword for too long?”

It was scathing criticism.

Kiaran could only bow his head.

The Pope, who had been uncharacteristically fuming, finally calmed down and collected his breath.

“Huu, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t Lord Kiaran’s fault.”

“I understand Your Holiness’s feelings.”

“Anyway, it’s fortunate that we dealt with the Grotesque Eater. One of the biggest obstacles to our great cause has disappeared.”

Nevertheless, Hemis was dead.

The Grotesque Eater, who had been synonymous with terror for over 500 years.

Her death would cause huge ripples across the continent.

“Your Holiness. The Drason Empire has officially dispatched an ambassador.”

At that moment, Kiaran carefully presented a document.

After scanning the contents, the Pope frowned.

“Is it because of Basel Scott’s death?”

“Yes.”

The legend who died this time wasn’t just Asahel Bald.

Basel Scott, the legend of the Drason Empire.

He too was killed.

To be precise, he was killed by Asahel Bald, but the public was told he died during the battle with the Grotesque Eater.

“Don’t worry about it. Basel Scott was killed by the Grotesque Eater. And we eliminated that Grotesque Eater.”

“They keep pressing the issue of why the Holy Maiden and Asahel Bald were there.”

“Our Holy Empire was heading to the battlefield to stop the demons’ all-out attack when we happened to discover the battle taking place there.”

“…”

“In fact, wasn’t our Holy Empire the one that suffered the greatest damage in this all-out war?”

“That’s correct.”

“So ignore Drason’s protests.”

This was planned from the beginning in agreement with the Demon King.

To target the Holy Empire of Gatren in this all-out attack.

Thanks to this, Gatren became the biggest victim in this war.

Moreover, with the legend Asahel Bald dead in Gatren.

The protests from the Drason Empire now were merely groundless, unreasonable demands.

“By the way, what happened to those two?”

The Pope changed the subject.

The two he mentioned were Abelson Mariette, who was to be the next Holy Maiden and the traitor Hero Choi Hyun-seok.

They were like thorns in their throat that needed to be removed.

Kiaran bowed deeply.

“We lost them.”

“You lost them?”

“Yes. Just before the demons’ all-out attack began, they suddenly disappeared.”

The Pope’s eyes turned fierce for a moment.

“I’m pretty sure I told you not to take your eyes off them.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I thought they would naturally die by the Demon King’s Army once the Grotesque Eater disappeared, but this complicates things.”

With the Grotesque Eater, their shield, dead, they naturally thought the Demon King’s Army would take care of them.

If necessary, they could even ask the Demon King directly.

All they had to do was confirm their deaths, but things went wrong.

“Based on past records, they’re like sharp-witted rats. It seems they assessed the situation and fled.”

“Find them.”

The Pope didn’t speak at length.

“Search every corner of the continent to find them. Even if you only find their corpses. Understand?”

Whatever he wanted, he achieved it by any means necessary.

The Pope had the power to make that possible.

***

The sun was setting.

The Hero and the Holy Maiden that the Pope desperately sought, Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson, were crouched next to a carriage, watching the sunset.

“What should we do now.”

All their possessions were gone.

They had nowhere to sleep and not even enough money for a single meal.

In fact, neither of them had eaten even a piece of bread since morning.

If there was any silver lining in their misfortune, it was that they could at least drink water created by Rachel’s magic.

“Hero… I feel like my stomach is sticking to my back…”

Rachel, who slumped on Choi Hyun-seok’s shoulder, mumbled.

“I envy that mutt. To be able to sleep even in this situation.”

Even in this situation, the shrunken Bobo was still sleeping peacefully in Choi Hyun-seok’s arms.

Choi Hyun-seok was constantly glaring while stroking Bobo.

“Those little brats… Next time I catch them, I’ll break their fingers.”

He spat out the words.

The young siblings who had bumped into Abelson in the morning.

Given the circumstances, it was clear they had stolen the money.

Their innocent faces trembling in fear were vivid in his mind.

“Damn. The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.”

Choi Hyun-seok learned what true equality was after coming to this other world.

Regardless of gender or age, getting hit hurts, and getting hit a lot means death.

That’s true equality.

“I’ll teach you what real education is.”

Though he wasn’t planning to kill them just for theft, he intended to show those siblings equally how terrifying the world can be.

“Ms. Abelson. How long will it take to reach our destination from here?”

Choi Hyun-seok asked.

Their current objective was to meet the king of the Mariette Kingdom.

Naturally, their destination was the royal palace of the Mariette Kingdom.

“It takes about a week by carriage to reach the palace.”

“… That’s not really a distance we can travel without money.”

He couldn’t help but sigh.

The sun would set soon.

With nowhere to sleep tonight, he had no idea what to do.

“How about selling the horse and carriage?”

“Ah, that sounds good.”

Abelson nodded at Choi Hyun-seok’s suggestion.

The horse they couldn’t even ride anyway.

Selling it would fetch a decent amount of money.

Especially the carriage, which looked quite luxurious and could probably fetch a good price.

“We’ll sell the horse and carriage, eat first, and stay at the inn for one more day. Tomorrow morning, we’ll come out to the street and prepare for backpacking.”

“Yes.”

While a week by carriage wasn’t a short distance, it wasn’t impossible to walk either.

After all, Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson had physical abilities exceeding ordinary people’s.

However, one problem remained.

“But where do we sell these?”

Where should they sell the horse and carriage?

They had no idea about the appropriate price since they knew nothing about the currency value or cost of living in this other world.

That’s when Rachel, who had been listening beside them, raised her hand.

“Let’s ask the innkeeper! He seemed really kind and friendly!”

“That’s a good idea!”

Choi Hyun-seok immediately entered the inn.

Since the horse was tied up in the inn’s stable, they didn’t need to go far.

“Oh my, if it isn’t the knight.”

The innkeeper greeted Choi Hyun-seok as he recognized him.

“I see the horse and carriage are still there, are you planning to stay another day?”

“Ahem, actually, I had a question about that.”

Choi Hyun-seok asked in his deepest voice, trying to sound as natural as possible.

“Do you know of any place nearby where we could sell the horse and carriage for a fair price? Or perhaps a merchant?”

“Oh my. Are you planning to sell them?”

“We have our reasons.”

“In that case, I know just the place to recommend.”

The innkeeper smiled kindly.

“Bell! Come here!”

At the innkeeper’s call, a woman from inside came running.

The woman, who had just shed her girlish appearance, had kind eyes reminiscent of the innkeeper.

“What is it?”

“This knight and lady wish to sell their horse and carriage. Please guide them.”

“Yes.”

The woman called Bell nodded without hesitation.

“I’ll guide you right away.”

“Thank you.”

Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson left the inn following Bell.

“Don’t we need to bring the horse and carriage?”

“It’ll be more convenient in many ways to talk to the merchant first and bring them here.”

“I see.”

Thinking about it, that did seem better.

They didn’t have much choice anyway, since none of them could handle the horse.

Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson followed the woman named Bell for a while.

‘It feels like we’re heading somewhere increasingly shady… Or am I imagining it?’

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes narrowed.

Somehow it felt like they were getting farther and farther from the main street.

The number of vagrants on the street was gradually increasing.

Men who were clearly thugs could be seen here and there.

Choi Hyun-seok felt strange as he noticed people sending hostile glances, whether intentionally or not.

‘Is this merchant some kind of former gang boss?’

No matter how he looked at it, the path seemed too dangerous to be leading to a merchant.

Choi Hyun-seok called out to Bell.

“Are we going the right way?”

“Yes. This is correct.”

“This doesn’t seem like a place where a merchant would be.”

“They’re not ordinary merchants – they run a mercenary group along with their trading business. They offer the best prices in Kiton for horses and wagons.”

“I see.”

Choi Hyun-seok accepted this explanation.

After all, he didn’t know much about how things worked around here.

Just then, a strange thought crossed his mind.

‘It would be nice if this was actually a trap. Like in the movies, with thugs jumping out to attack!’

Choi Hyun-seok let his imagination run wild.

The innkeeper was actually an evil person, and Bell in front of them was leading him and Abelson into a trap.

‘Maybe even that brother and sister from this morning were the innkeeper’s underlings… That would be perfect.’

How convenient it would be if the story turned out to be ‘Everything was the innkeeper’s scheme all along!’

Choi Hyun-seok sincerely prayed.

‘Attack! Come at me! Please! Anyone!’

The easiest way to recover stolen money is to steal it back.

Of course, Choi Hyun-seok would make sure to collect interest too.

“We’re here.”

Bell stopped at that moment.

Choi Hyun-seok tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

“This is a dead end?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Bell turned around.

There was an innocent smile on her face.

“It’s the perfect place to scam rich suckers.”

“Huh…?”

Just as Choi Hyun-seok showed a confused expression, a group of men appeared and blocked the alley.

“Are these the ones?”

“Whew, that blonde one’s pretty cute.”

“Hey guys, the woman’s mine, don’t touch her.”

The thugs appeared, speaking lines so cliché they were embarrassing even for third-rate villains.

“That knight guy looks pretty big. Be careful.”

“Heh, worry much? He’s the idiot who got robbed of 20 Imperial Drason gold coins! Kuhahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

About twenty men laughed and chatted among themselves.

They seemed to pay no attention to Abelson and Choi Hyun-seok.

Then the girl called Bell shouted sharply.

“Shut up and get to work! Do you think we get jobs this profitable very often?”

“Alright, why are you yelling? Scary.”

“Our Bell is cute even when she’s fierce! Hahaha!”

“Playtime’s over. Everyone get your tools out.”

The men pulled out various bladed weapons and smiled cruelly.

Choi Hyun-seok had his head bowed and hands clasped together.

As if he were praying.

Seeing this, the apparent leader burst out laughing.

“Kuhahaha! Looking for God? Sorry, but God doesn’t help folks like us. He only helps those fancy people up high.”

Choi Hyun-seok still kept his head bowed.

“Hey, give it up.”

“Forget it. Guys like him only realize it’s all pointless after we show them their own intestines.”

As the men approached,

Choi Hyun-seok finally raised his head.

His face bore the brightest smile yet.

“Thank you… Thank you so much!”

One hundred percent pure gratitude.

An expression without even a trace of falsehood.

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