Chapter 211
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There is a woman named Kiki.
She currently works as a courtesan reserved for a certain distinguished individual, but once this job is done, she and her close colleague Sanari have been talking about possibly opening some kind of shop with the hefty sum they’ll receive.
This story takes place just around that time.
After finishing up in bed, Hero Ryūgūin shows off his sweaty face with a smug expression. Seeing this familiar face, Kiki is internally fed up, thinking 「Here we go again…」
「I’m heading to the royal capital to be honored for my achievement of destroying the Sealed Domain. I hear it’ll take about a week by carriage from here.」
「Wow, really? That’s amazing! As expected of you!」
Just as expected, his usual boasting begins. While internally exasperated, Kiki praises him lavishly, as she always does.
「Haha! Well, this sort of thing is only natural for me! So please, don’t praise me too much!」
Despite his words contradicting his expression that clearly begs for more praise, she throws an excessive amount of complimentary words at him, thinking 「I’ll give you exactly what you want, you fool!」 to the point where it might almost seem like mockery. However, he takes all the praise at face value, his smug expression intensifying even further. What is wrong with this man…
But then again, when you think about it, once he leaves this city, she can finally bid farewell to this lifestyle. She’s internally jumping for joy. However, life isn’t that sweet.
「Do you understand what it means when I say it takes a week?」
An extremely bad feeling suddenly crosses Kiki’s mind.
If it were a certain Holy Knight, he would probably be muttering 「This is bad! This is bad!」
「No, Sir Hero, I don’t understand. Would you please bestow your wisdom and answer upon this ignorant me?」
「If it takes seven days to reach the royal capital, that means I need seven women to accompany me to the royal capital.」
At his words, Kiki experiences an illusion of a bitter taste spreading in her mouth.
「So rejoice! You’ve been chosen as one of those seven! Kiki-dear, I’ve already told Hilbert your name!」
It’s not Kiki-dear. It’s just Kiki, you dimwit.
And wait, is he planning to get it on in the carriage on the way to the royal capital? Is this idiot on drugs or something?
Oh, oh, why did it come to this…
「You see, you have the achievement of coming up with the basis for my title, ‘once-in-an-age heroic hero.’ It’s a superior’s duty to recognize their subordinates’ achievements. The more excellent the superior, the more they don’t neglect such things.」
Kiki regrets ever uttering the words 「once-in-an-age hero.」 So much so that if she could go back in time, she would absolutely never speak those words.
「Th-th-thank you v-very much.」
She manages to utter these words like a broken robot. Seeing her reaction, Ryūgūin smirks to himself, thinking 「Heh, to be appreciated this much, it’s tough being a hero.」
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Hilbert receives an unreasonable demand from the Hero to prepare a carriage that’s not only large enough to accommodate many people but also spacious enough for them to move around freely.
While grumbling, he somehow manages to prepare said carriage according to the Hero’s specifications. He bites his lip at how it inevitably turned into an absurdly expensive magical carriage.
That wasn’t his only job. He also had to contact and arrange appointments with the seven women the Hero had designated. When he told Kiki and Sanari about being chosen by the Hero, they both openly displayed expressions as if they had just swallowed a hundred bitter bugs—expressions that no man should ever have to see.
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On the first day heading to the royal capital, the discussion focuses on the procedures for gathering everyone.
Hilbert, fulfilling his mission, provides various information to the Hero without issue.
For example, exchanges like:
「I hear that not only King Arcana but also His Holiness the Pope will be honoring Sir Ryūgūin’s achievements. Word has it that you’ll receive not just medals, but even a noble title.」
「Well, of course, hehehe.」
And exchanges such as:
「While various mighty individuals who contributed to this matter have been summoned, Sir Hero, you are truly the hero who achieved the most remarkable feats. The ‘caliber’ is simply different. I believe you, Sir Ryūgūin, will undoubtedly be called last and celebrated grandly.」
「Oh? So the one with the greatest achievements is honored last?」
「Yes, that’s exactly right.」
「Well then, that role will surely be mine.」
The Hero seems to have only one concern:
「Hmm, I wonder if Mika and the others have reached the royal capital by now? I ordered them to go to Lemone, but Eris couldn’t move due to injury aftereffects, and Mika and Angelica said they couldn’t leave the city because of the cleanup after the Sealed Dungeon subjugation. Since their hard work was for my sake to begin with, I didn’t command them too strongly. Come to think of it, being too understanding might be my only flaw. Hehe. That’s another tough part of being a hero.」
Hilbert internally dismisses these words with a laugh.
What nonsense about 「being too understanding is a flaw.」
What rubbish about 「that’s another tough part of being a hero.」
For someone who hates receiving opinions from others and quickly loses his temper…
Hilbert traces the scar on his forehead with his finger.
Besides, he’s doing whatever he wants, bringing multiple women into a carriage that doesn’t even shake during travel and enjoying meals without any inconvenience. Hilbert wants to scream if he could.
While accumulating tremendous frustration in his heart yet maintaining control over the Hero, they finally arrive at the royal capital at midnight on the eve of the national summons.
Though relieved that he managed to control everything successfully up to this point, Hilbert had lost nearly five kilograms over this one week.
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