01: Hero

A wretched roar sounded throughout the forest, it belonged to a huge green-skinned creature who was swinging its huge axe in anger.

"Magic Arrows!"

Flying magic arrows immediately shot in the direction of the target from behind. Unprepared, the green-skinned creature received a lot of damage from the arrows. Roaring, the creature quickly turned around to swing its axe at the person who attacked it. But before it was able to do so, a sword emitting light appeared above it. And before it knew, its body was already falling to the ground and its mind went off.

"Wow! As expected of Hero!" A little silver-haired girl who wore a white dress with matching headwear shouted in admiration. She was the famous holy saintess.

The hero poked the crystal bead on her forehead. "What do you mean? It is all thanks to everyone."

The holy saintess blushed and lightly rubbed her crystal bead.

"That's right, it was thanks to everyone's hard work but if it wasn't for Hero, we doubt we would defeat the demons as quick." A mature female voice came from behind. She had a red wavy long hair and a beauty mark in a corner of her mouth. With her blue cloak, sphere magic wand and her red hair, people could identify her as the great mage, Shelara.

"Shelara… You're praising me too much. But thank you." The hero smiled.

Shelara laughed. "No problem, no problem! You're still being as humble as ever, I see."

"Nothing as such. Humble or not, we did all this together."

Watching as the hero and the mage having a conversation alone, the saintess pouted. Didn't Shelara see that she was talking to the hero first?

"Shelara, Shelara," she called out. Both the hero and the mage looked at her.

"Hmm?"

"Please don't interrupt the talk between Hero and me!"

Shelara raised an eyebrow at her. "What? It's not like Hero is yours. Why are you fussing for?"

The holy saintess didn't have a rebound and stomped her foot. "I am not fussing! I don't like you at all!"

"Right, you love me."

"No, I do not!"

The paladin, or also called the holy knight, heard the commotion and stepped in to stop them. "Saintess, the great mage, please end your quarrel. We need to set off. It is soon to be dark and we have to find a place to stay for tonight."

When they heard this, they immediately stopped. The holy saintess made a 'hmph' sound and decided to ignore the great mage. Shelara saw it and shrugged.

The paladin let out a relieved sigh.

"Good job, Neale." The hero patted the paladin's shoulder.

Neale was embarrassed from getting praised by the hero. "Thank you. It is all because of Hero."

'It's thanks to Hero...', 'As expected of Hero...', 'It is all because of Hero...', and whatnot.

Everything was thanks to Hero, Hero was always given the most credits no matter what. Every day, every opportunity. It felt wonderful and refreshing at the beginning but as time passed, it slowly began to become tiresome. Months have already passed since he arrived in this fantasy world and when he arrived, he was already the almighty hero. He was amazed at how powerful he was and how easily he could control his strength. Being a hero was a lot troublesome than he had originally thought. His daily life was to travel and defeat the demons on the way with his team. A team of five members. The holy saintess, the great mage, the paladin, the ranger, and the hero himself.

Despite having to defeat the demons, the tiny figure was right. Fame, money, and worship—he had them all, and even more. But unfortunately, as the hero, he couldn't openly flirt with women as he wished. It was sad, but nothing he could do about it. But at least he was given free food now and then from the people he met. Tiny figure… He never heard from it ever since he first saw it. He wondered what the reason was.

A thick arm was slung around the hero's neck. "Yo, Hero. We sure defeated a lot of demons today, we even slew a high ranked one! Whew, wait until the king hears about this."

Startled at the sudden action, the hero slightly limped off. "Oh, Kasper."

"What, already tired?"

The hero shook his head. "Not at all."

"Like I thought. You're the hero after all!" Kasper laughed.

The hero responded with a smile.

Together, the five of them exited the forest with a grey demon core from the demon they had slain. Just from the colour, it showed that the green-skinned creature was a mid-ranking demon. Within the demonkind, there were three ranks—low(white), mid(grey), and high(black). And the ruler of the demonkind was the demon king, however, nobody knew which colour the demon king's core was. This interested the hero a bit.

They arrived in a small village and found an inn to stay but the condition of the place wasn't exactly the best. The front door made of wood was crooked and once they entered the inn, they could immediately detect a foul scent. The holy saintess quickly covered her nose with her hand and put on a disgusted expression. She wasn't the only one who reacted strongly against the stench. The great mage had already exited the inn and took a fresh air outside while she tried to get rid of the awful smell of dead animals—possibly rats—away from her face.

"We—we… are staying here…?" The ranger had also covered his nose. He didn't want to stay overnight at the inn.

The holy knight sighed, he felt the same. How could he let the respectful figures stay at such a place? But they didn't have a choice. It was already late and the inn was the only one in the small village. Everyone was against it but the hero.

He said, "Why are we still standing here? Let's go to the reception and get our rooms as soon as possible so we can rest."

Kasper was shocked, the hero didn't seem to be fazed by the smell at all. "Hero, you...Are you serious?"

"Hm? Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I?"

"But... "

"But what? Not like we have any other choice, do we? Unless you want to sleep outside in the cold, then go ahead. No one will stop you."

Seeing the hero smile at him, Kasper scratched at the back of his head and stayed quiet. He didn't want to sleep outside and risk getting a cold. But at the same time, he felt like there's a higher chance to get sick if he stayed inside. However, the hero didn't seem like he was going to sleep outside and he couldn't leave him there. Kasper was struggling inwardly.

Then he heard the hero laugh and he looked at him quizzically.

"Did you forget we have the Great Mage with us? I am sure Shelara can easily get rid of the stench." Then the hero looked over at Shelara who was ready to go back in. "Am I right, Shelara?"

The great mage nodded quickly. "Naturally."

Shelara. The great mage. Magic. Of course! How could he forget that? Kasper looked at Shelara with teary eyes of gratitude. They no longer have to smell the stench!

"Oh, Shelara! What should we do without you? You're simply amazing!" Kasper praised the great mage.

Shelara smiled and nodded once more in agreement. "Of course I am amazing. I shall save you all from this horror."

Then she raised her sphere wand where it began to glow with her green magic aura. The next moment, the inn was purified and the foul scent could no longer be detected. Everyone was relieved and happy at the result. Instead of smelling the stench, they were now smelling the fragrance of cherry blossoms.

"Thank you, Shelara."

"No worries, Hero." Shelara grinned.

Having solved the problem of the stench, they settled down and went to rest after getting the rooms. The owner of the inn was surprised and grateful when he found out that the smell was gone because of them. He thanked and showed his gratitude by letting them stay for free, but the hero couldn't accept it and made sure that they paid for their stay.

The day ended quickly and the hero and his comrades immediately set off to the kingdom to report to the king. And as usual, throughout their journey, demons appeared only to be ruthlessly defeated by them. While the hero's comrades happily attacked the demons, the hero himself was frowning as he watched them fight.

Fight, fight, fight… Everything had to always be about fighting demons. Every single day. Could they ever have a break for once? Even if it was a one-day break without demons to be seen. But the hero knew it was impossible, their duty was to travel to defeat as many demons as possible. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. Once he meets the demon king, he would make sure no demons would appear in front of him again. Then he could finally enjoy being rich and famous without having to have his guard on. How nice that would be.

Soon enough, they entered the castle where the king lived. There were guards all over the place and they respectfully bowed to the hero and his comrades as soon as they saw them.

When they entered the throne hall they greeted the king, who sat on his majestic throne. The king nodded when he saw them unscathed.

"It has been a while, has it not? I hope there is good news to hear."

The holy knight bowed and answered the king, "Yes, Your Majesty. Thanks to Hero's help, we were able to take down a high ranked demon. Not only that, we were able to defeat more demons than last month by eleven."

The king widened his eyes with interest. "Oh?"

"Naturally, we took all the demon cores with us to gift them to your majesty."

"Haha! As expected of the hero, the holy saint, the great mage, the ranger and the paladin of the kingdom. I shall gladly accept it!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" All five of them replied.

Satisfied, the king smiled brightly and he didn't wait longer and immediately made a huge announcement.

"Because of the great and satisfactory work you all delivered to the kingdom, I shall hereby let you set off to defeat the demon king!"

The holy saintess widened her eyes while the ranger only looked down.

"Your Majesty! That is—"

The king gave the holy knight a sharp look. "What is it, my holy knight? Do you have any problems with it? "

Neale was startled by the tone of the king and quickly backed down. "No. No, Your Majesty. We are pleased with your decision."

The king nodded. "Yes, that is good to hear." Then he looked at the hero who had been quiet for the whole time. "Respectful hero, what do you think about this? I am sure you will easily defeat the demon king in no time."

The hero took a step forward and shook his head. "Your Majesty thinks too highly of me. But worry not, if it's within my capabilities, I shall make sure to bring you the good news about the demon king's death."

"That is great, that is great! As expected of Hero, I can always count on you!"

The hero smiled.