Early in the morning, I completed my preparations to head to the mountains.

  “I’ll be going then.”


  “Have a safe trip, here, your bento.”


  “Thanks.”


  Incidentally, 90% of that bento was made by me. Lit only made the burnt fried egg that was crispy on both sides.

  Early this morning, she suddenly came to the kitchen and said that she wanted to experience the situation of handing a bento to me as I leave.

  She said that just handing it to me would be insufficient so she wanted to make just one item and ended up making just the fried egg.

  “Mufu―”


  Lit seemed to be satisfied, having passed the bento to me.

  As I head to the mountains, the knight was still in the middle of the bridge and seemed to be obstructing the people who wish to cross the bridge.

  It seemed troublesome so I took the detour as I did before.

  Does that knight have a lot of time on his hands?

  ☆☆

  No, I don’t want to do it.

  In front of my eyes was a drainage channel with the wastewater from the village daily use as well as filth and even trash tossed into it.

  Floating in it was a deformed wood carving of a Wyvern toy that was tangled in the trash.

  “Uaaaaaaaan!!”


  A boy was crying as he pointed at the toy floating in the drainage channel.

  He probably dropped it.

  A stench that could warp a person’s nose was coming from the drainage channel and there were incomprehensible sediments that would cause people to avert their eyes from the discomfort.

  It would be possible to endure it if I gave up and went somewhere else but the child continued to cry and would not leave that place.

  Perhaps the child knew about my special characteristic. Maybe his tears were a calculated action.

  I thought to myself and once the seed of doubt sprouted in my heart, the hatred that could not be released started burning at my heart.

  I am a Hero. A Hero cannot forsake people in need.

  Even if I am younger than that boy.

  Even if I am only here for leisure.

  Even if I previously dirtied my clothes in a similar situation and mother beat me and warned me to never do it again.

  The Divine Protection does not care about my personal circumstances.

  I can’t endure it any longer, I will leap into that, wade through the filth and ruin my entire day for the sake of a toy that was not even worth a single copper coin.

  I helplessly took a step toward the drainage channel …… and a hand grabbed my shoulder.

  “Leave it to me.”


  That person leaped into the drainage channel without any hesitation.

  While frowning from being submerged in filthy water up until the waist, that person approached the toy with powerful steps, grabbed it and returned.

  “Here, don’t drop it again, and it is dirty so remember to wash it.

  “Thank you Gideon-oniichan!”


  The child who was crying just now smiled happily and ran away holding the dirtied toy.

  “Fuuu ……”


  That person looked at his own terrible state and gave a bitter smile.

  As I tried to approach him, he stopped me in a hurry.

  “You’ll get dirty.”


  ” …… Onii-chan.”


  That person was my one and only Onii-chan.

  “Sorry.”


  “Why are you apologizing? Ruti has not done anything wrong.”


  “But ……”


  “I did it because I wanted to. So don’t worry about it.”


  “Okay …… Onii-chan?”


  “Yes?”


  “I’m sorry, I can’t do it after all.”


  I hugged Onii-chan without worrying about dirtying my clothes.

  He initially tried to push me away but after realizing that I was crying, he seemed to have resigned himself and let me remain as I was.

  “Let go get our clothes cleaned together.”


  “Yup.”


  I’m sure the true hero actually refers to people like Onii-chan.

  Not a person like me who was forced to do it but a person who would leap into the drainage channel of their own free will.

  I aimed to subjugate the Demon Lord, setting a huge goal to resolve the issue that causes the most number of people to suffer because I would then not have to bother myself with helping such minute cases.

  In actual fact, I did not care about the fate of the world or what not.

  ☆☆

  The Hero Ruti and Tise were walking on the highway that led to Zoltan.

  Ruti was not wearing her usual armor. She did not have the Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing on her waist too.

  When Tise told her that it would draw too much attention, the Hero obediently stored her equipment in her item bag and disappeared somewhere for about 10 minutes.

  Tise waited as she wondered where she went when Ruti returned while holding a sword.

  “I sensed the presence of goblins nearby so I went to get their equipment.”


  “Is that a Goblin Sword?”


  A Goblin Sword with three holes drilled into it.

  It seemed like it would break at any moment just by swinging it.

  “Well, they won’t know if it’s kept in the sheath. Let’s go.”


  Nevertheless, that slightly dirty sheath and handle seemed to match something a traveler would have so Tise gave her permission.

  “Okay.”


  The Hero smiled happily at having her own thoughts accepted by Tise but the smile was so faint that Tise did not notice it and the two of them departed from the flying ship.

  Zoltan’s grassland undulated as the wind blew.

  The forest that Ruti and the others were in previously had already finished its preparations for winter but Zoltan’s grasslands were still in the midst of changing from green to brown so it was a strange phenomenon.

  “But it is warmer here.”


  Tise said.

  Ugeuge-san didn’t seem to like the cold that much so it was happy that they came here.

  It hopped about inside the small pouch that Tise hung on her waist.

  “Is that so?”


  Ruti answered expressionlessly.

  With her Environmental Resistance, the cold was nothing more than information on the temperature to Ruti.

  Even the blistering cold of the far north and the scorching heat of the desert would not impede Ruti in any way.

  At the same time, the taste of the delicious warm milk Gideon made for Ruti during winter was lost to her as well.

  That was a regret that remained in Ruti’s heart.

  After walking for a while, there was a crowd of people.

  “What happened? I’ll go have a look.”


  Tise slipped through the crowd with her petite body and quickly returned.

  “A Knight is blocking the bridge. It seemed that Adventurers who had confidence in their skills had challenged him but they had the tables turned on them. It might be a slight detour but there is an alternate path, shall we proceed along it?”


  “No, we will pass through here.”


  Ruti headed straight into the crowd.

  “Move.”


  “Hey miss, it’s dangerous, there’s a strange Knight ……”


  The man who called out to her spoke mid-sentence before he noticed his trembling feet.

  “Oh, oooh ……”


  The man instinctively moved aside.

  The others saw his state and naturally moved aside so as to not block Ruti’s path.

  After Ruti passed by, they finally realized that they were frightened.

  There was a Knight wearing armor on the bridge with a spear that had a cloth wrapped around its tip as if signifying that he would not kill his opponents.

  The Knight was a large man close to 2 meters in height.

  “Toll fee. Pay 100 Peryl if you wish to pass through here.”


  The man said.

  Ruti tilted her head.

  “Why?”


  “Why? Because I want to.”


  “I see, then there’s no need to pay.”


  Ruti walked straight toward the Knight’s position and did not show any signs of drawing her sword.

  “Yo-you, what exactly ……”


  Despite everything, the Knight could not figure out the girl closing in on him.

  He could only imagine himself getting killed no matter what he did.

  As she watched his reaction, Tise imagined that the Knight would soon throw down his weapon to surrender.

  However.

  “Uoooooooo!!!”


  The Knight screamed with fighting spirit, took a large step forward and released a sharp thrust.

  “.…… Eh?”


  Tise uttered a strange sound, having not understood what the Knight was thinking.

  Ruti very easily grabbed the spear, that was supposed to have been thrust at her at high speed, with her right hand.

  Even though it seemed as though she was just holding it casually with a single arm, the Knight could not move the spear at all no matter how much strength he used.

  “Hindrance.”


  Ruti muttered softly and raised the spear along with the Knight.

  The giant Knight floated and flew through the air.

  “Ooooooh!?!?!”


  Having been tossed aside by Ruti, the Knight passed over the parapet and dropped into the river.

  “Tise, let’s go.”


  “Ye-yes.”


  Even though she wanted to act like travelers, what can they do after suddenly winning so prominently? Tise hugged her head as she chased after the back of the Hero.