Is this Hero for Real? - Chapter 5

 

Is this Hero for Real?

Chapter 5

Whoosh~

I swung around the vine with the rock tied on its end.

“Ugh?!”

Isn’t this harder than I expected?!

It was hard enough just to keep my balance because my body kept swaying toward the heavy rock.

[Outsider]

Thankfully, my shaking legs quickly stabilized due to the blessing.

However, it was only for a moment.

Comfortable, uncomfortable, comfortable, uncomfortable…

The cycle of fatigue and recovery kept repeating.

“Hm…”

I guess I could say I more or less understand how to use the Outsider blessing now?

I just need to fight to the point that I’m certain I won’t die.

“Meat!”

“It’s meat!”

Whoosh~

The rock splitting the air as it was being swung around made a sound, and the hyenas that heard it started to gather.

“…Let’s give it a shot.”

I had no fear.

Though my mind was telling me to run, my body was the epitome of serenity.

“Meat! Mea- geh?!”

I whipped the head of the one who blindly ran in with the rock.

Smash!

The fantasy hyena that received a severe blow loaded with centripetal force could not get back up.

“……”

“Danger! Hurts!”

“Get tired soon! Meat!”

“Rocks! Throw rocks!”

The hyenas of this fantasy world were extremely nasty and annoying!

They changed plans as soon as they saw one of them getting beaten.

After they retreated to a safe distance, they picked up rocks on the ground and threw them at me like a fastball.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

“Argh?! Damn cowards!”

Though it hurt like hell every time I was hit, I endured it.

Aren’t these bastards way too sneaky for their numbers?!

I pretended to be tired and defenseless after getting hit.

“Human meat!”

“My dinner…!”

“Me first!”

Though they were intelligent, their impatience made them drop the rocks and run straight at me as soon as I showed them an opening.

They were true to their instincts.

I stopped the act and once again started to swing the rock.

“Meat! Meat- geh?!”

“Chew on your bones- gah?!”

I would have probably been in danger if they charged at me all together from the start.

Though their plan wasn’t bad, the ones who were tired from the stone throwing were no match for me.

Time was on my side!

It was also a bad move to talk about your plan in front of me.

I can understand you, you know?

“Meat! Scary meat!”

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“Talking meat?!”

Thwack!

The rock hit the last one trying to run away straight to the back of the head.

With this, the situation was over.

Though there were a few who died in one blow due to a concussion, most of them were either unconscious or were completely out of it.

“Phew…”

In any case, I survived.

Though I couldn’t return to my home star Earth that was so breathtakingly beautiful from the pollution, what’s most important right now is that I’m alive.

[A certain god slightly raises their assessment of you.]

“You’re so cheap!”

Though I survived thanks to the god’s broken blessing, isn’t their assessment of me way too cheap?

Slip-

I immediately took out the dagger and started to collect experience points.

“Save- grrk?!”

Stab!

In this savage world where the loser gets eaten, I will not allow any seeds of evil to be sewn.

“Meat? Why…?”

But I left the most uninjured one alive to gather information.

After I distanced myself to prepare for retaliation, I took a stance to be able to throw a rock at his head any time I wanted.

“Hey, don’t move.”

“Talking meat?!”

“If you don’t want to get hurt, tell me where the humans live.”

It may be a pointless question,since there’s no guarantee that the bastard won’t lie out of spite.

But it’s alright.

I can just capture more hyenas in the future to increase the accuracy of the information.

This was just the beginning.

[A certain god states that you’ve become a very arrogant outsider.]

“…That’s just how men are.”

It’s the male instinct to exult over the smallest victory.

“Men? Male?”

“Just answer my question. Where do humans live?”

“Over there.”

The fantasy hyena pointed in the direction the sun was setting.

Is that west?

Since I don’t know the natural laws of the dimension Fantasia, it could be east.

Regardless, it didn’t change the fact that it was the direction that I had to head towards.

Next question.

“What race are you?”

“Meat, stupid?”

“Just answer the question if you don’t want your head to be split open.”

“Gnoll.”

“Gnoll, huh…”

I think I’ve seen polygons that look similar to these guys in the game that I used to enjoy playing for a bit.

“Meat! Spare me!”

“Anyway, thanks for teaching me. Goodbye.”

Thwack-

It’s no problem, since I never said I’d spare it if it answered my questions truthfully!

[A certain god tells the doubtful outsider that they are gnolls.]

“I found out already, okay?”

Gnoll.

According to my fantasy knowledge, gnolls are bipedal monsters that resemble hyenas.

The reason why I couldn’t tell immediately was because of the difference between 3D and 2D, the visual difference between reality and a virtual game.

Gnolls in the game that was made commercially available for all ages were as cute as puppies, after all.

On the other hand, the real gnolls that chased me while screaming ‘meat’ were just furry serial killers!

They truly looked like a native creature of a beautiful fantasy world.

[A certain god states that infant gnolls are adorable.]

“Wow! Thank you for the useless information!”

I diligently ran in the direction that the gnoll showed me.

My level…

Was unchanged.

* * *

Fantasy creators set their works to be in the Middle Ages, before the Industrial Revolution.

PR/N: The Middle Ages are from the 5th century to the late 15th century, and the Industrial Revolution began in the late 18th century; the period between the two is Early Modern.

The reason?

Mankind sees that era as the most romantic.

It would be weird if my prince on a white horse ridiculously died to my loathsome fiancé’s gun, wouldn’t it?

The story wouldn’t progress if a power-gaming protagonist got nuked while in a mill.

Here’s a problem.

How civilized would a true fantasy world where magic exists be?

“A chamber pot…”

“There’s no shampoo or conditioner.”

“I liked it.”

“You too? It was the best!”

The evaluations of the heroes who spent a night in the fantasy world after an extravagant feast were divided.

“She was so pretty.”

“I wish someone would do it for me again…”

“It was like a dream…”

The minors who experienced bathing servants for the first time in their lives had an attitude of ‘nothing else matters!’.

They seemed akin to wise philosophers.

“My body feels icky.”

“No toilet bowls…”

“It feels like I haven’t bathed.”

However, the squeamish heroes had bad looks on their faces after doing their business.

“What? There are some good points too, aren’t there?”

“You should put up with it a little.”

“It’s the Middle Ages, after all.”

Some of the heroes who recalled the beautiful boys and girls giving them a massage in the morning defended the fantasy world.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons!

For now, they were evaluating their first day in the fantasy world.

Complaining about it doesn’t mean they get to return, after all.

“Did you all have a good rest, heroes?”

“Yes!”

“It was the best!”

“It was great!”

Prince Alsus, who greeted the heroes as they gathered after a light breakfast in their own rooms, described their schedule for the day.

“The heroes who’d like to pursue the path of a swordsman can follow me. You are free to change anytime if you feel that it doesn’t suit you, so please do not worry too much.”

“Prince, what about magic?”

“Where do we go to learn magic?”

The prince who received their questions made a bitter smile.

“It seems Princess Ethena drank too much last night. Since she’s an earnest person, she’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I see.”

The heroes followed Prince Alsus, with the other heroes who wanted to learn magic staying behind.

And one other person.

There was a boy, unaffiliated with anyone, who was running in a bizarre direction excitedly.

“Hehe! I knew this would happen!”

The steps of the hero Oh Hanwoo, who was heading outside the temple, were light.

It was because he received a ‘special blessing’ befitting a fantasy protagonist.

[Name] Oh Hanwoo

[Level] 1

[Blessing] Hero F, Special F

[Curse] –

[Dividend] 1.17

The gods of the Fantasia dimension must also know.

Though there are many heroes summoned to save the world, there is only one true hero who can defeat the great and powerful demon king.

And this was the proof of that.

[Special]

-> You are the most special fated protagonist in this world!

-> Only you can see and feel this special blessing.

The most special fated protagonist!

That’s enough of an answer!

“Choi Gangmin must be thinking that he’s the most special, mustn’t he? Do your best. You might at least be able to take the position of the protagonist’s Rival A. Hahaha!”

The ‘protagonist’ Oh Hanwoo who left the temple enthusiastically entered a building that tough men endlessly entered and exited.

Thump!

“Welcome. On what business have you visited the Mercenary Guild?”

A cute receptionist welcomed the boy she met for the first time with a business smile.

Oh Hanwoo suppressed his beating heart and answered energetically.

“I’ve come to register as a mercenary!”

Mercenary!

It is a standard route that countless fantasy protagonists select.

You could call it a necessary occupation if you don’t want to be affiliated anywhere.

At that moment, a cheerful woman’s voice called him.

[Special]

“Hey, this isn’t a place that a fledgling like you should enter. Do you want to die early?”

As he turned around, a beautiful girl with a sword on her waist was there.

“Ah! This development…!”

“…Stop talking nonsense, and go back to your hometown. I’ve seen countless boys like you who become mercenaries due to bravado.”

Alright!

Oh Hanwoo was certain that the effect of his blessing was properly activated.

This nosy, beautiful mercenary girl was sure to be some kingdom’s princess or young lady who’s hiding her identity.

There was only one thing that the protagonist would say to the beautiful girl.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Really…”

“If you’re so worried, then how about you try accompanying me? It’s bad to judge a book by its cover, don’t you think? You must have had plenty of experience with that…”

Oh Hanwoo had a hard time speaking with female students on Earth.

[Special]

However, this special blessing made him brim with confidence.

“…You got me. Alright.”

I knew it!

The fearless hero Oh Hanwoo smiled in satisfaction.

[A childish dice god laughs his ass off.]

* * *

“Talking meat!”

“Meat! Strong!”

There’s a saying that a good beginning is half the battle.

Though I won against the gnolls through desperate battle at first, the hunting became easier after the number of victories increased.

That’s it.

It was simply a hunt.

I, who was easy prey in the beginning, became a skilled hunter overnight.

Do I have some hidden talent…?

There’s no way.

[Outsider]

If it wasn’t for this blessing, I would never have developed to this extent and instead died already.

How many fatal injuries did I suffer again?

My victory was already decided since I could infinitely recover, but I repeated countless failures to get to that point.

And as I regretted and reflected on everything during that process, I learned how to ‘fight’.

“Meat! Me- geh?!”

“These guys are unexpectedly honest.”

Or is it because their thought process is simple?

Every one of them that I met didn’t lie. Even if they did, it was very bad.

“They don’t live in the west! Meat!”

“ Meat village! Not there!”

“Village! Far over there!”

The human village is to the west.

There’s no doubt, since I’ve asked countless gnolls.

Though I didn’t know how much farther I had to go, I was certain that I was heading towards a human village.

[A certain god grumbles that it is quite a shame.]

“Do you want me to die?”

[A certain god states that they couldn’t care less.]

So harsh!

But the god was much better to talk to than the gnolls that only search for meat.

“Meat!”

“Human meat!”

I found this out while I was fighting them all night, but it seems it’s impossible to completely evade them due to their highly-developed sense of smell.

My body was covered in gnoll blood.

They’ll keep gathering endlessly until I wash it off me completely.

“Sigh… No matter how many I kill, they just keep coming.”

The smell of gnoll blood stuck to my body kept attracting new gnolls.

The fortune out of all this misfortune?

My body never tires.

As long as I’m not surrounded, I’m confident that I’ll come out victorious.

Stab!

Sink!

I sank the ‘Blue Butcher’ into the heads of the gnolls that continuously considered me their prey.

Blue Butcher.

It’s the name that I gave to this dagger to honor its previous owner, the ‘Blue Moon’s Meat Butcher’.

“Kugh?!”

“Kek?!”

“Strange. How did you guys raise your levels?”

[Name] Kang Hansoo

[Level] 1

[Blessing] Outsider F

[Curse] Hero E

[Dividend] 3.15

No matter how many Gnolls I killed, my level did not rise.

Just what is the problem?

[A certain god is anxious.]

“Hm?”

A strange message popped up from the god with a bad personality out of the blue.

Just when I was about to ask the reason, I heard an incomprehensible conversation from afar.

“#$%^ #$%^#$%^ #$%^?”

“#$%^… #$%^#$%^#$%^ #$%^#$%^.”

“#$%^#$%^ #$%^#$%^#$%^#$%^.”

…Elves again?

I sneakily approached the source of the voice while being wary of the elves’ arrows.

“…Ah!”

People!

It was a three-person mercenary party made up of two burly male swordsmen and one slender female archer.

They were the fantasy natives that I’d been searching for all night.

“#$%^#$%^#$%^?!”

“#$%^#$%^ #$%^ #$%^#$%^!”

“#$%^ #$%^#$%^#$%^?”

The mercenaries who found me a beat later pulled out their weapons.

“Please wait! I’m looking for a village… ah! They can’t understand me.”

Then it’s all or nothing!

Slip-

I put the Blue Butcher back into my pocket and put both my hands up in the air.

Surrender!

Objection to violence!

This alien won’t bite people!

“#$%^#$%^#$%^…?”

“#$%^ #$%^#$%^ #$%^?”

“#$%^#$%^.”

The mercenaries started to lower their weapons slowly.

Alright!

Once I gained more confidence, I yelled as I pointed toward my chest.

“Kang! Han! Soo!”

Let’s hope that my body language will get through to these fantasy savages.

[A certain god praises you for being a little funny.]

“……”

This god truly has a bad personality.

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