The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

Four months have passed since Sera left.

Consistently practicing the elven breathing method and diligently taking the potions given by Sera’s magician companion, I now rarely cough. Even so, it’s still far from regaining my former strength. It’s not like I’ve been sitting idle.

If there’s no Aura Heart, just make a new one.

I thought it was that simple, but I almost died.

It seems that God’s blessing of an Aura Heart is given only once per person.

This only confirmed that I was wrong to think I could be of help to my disciple. I thought that if I could remake my Aura Heart, maybe that young one wouldn’t have to fight alone in that hellish battlefield… But it seems that was too much greed.

‘If I used the grace given by God for my disciple, is it excessive to ask for more….’

It was when I was thinking this.

‘…Someone’s coming.’

I heard a sound.

The sound of something nimble and light moving through the bushes, trying to hide its presence as much as possible

I specialized in swords. But that doesn’t mean I only used swords. For a mercenary, the more skills, the better, naturally. Above all, for a mercenary, weapon damage on the battlefield is a given. Therefore, picking up weapons lying around on the battlefield and fighting with them is the most basic and necessary skill for survival. That’s why skills in handling weapons commonly used on the battlefield, from swords to spears and axes, must be mastered as a basic.

Following that, if you want to expand your range of activities further, you need to learn archery. And I was a diligent mercenary who didn’t consider such investments a waste of time at all. In other words, I…

Twang!

It meant I was quite skilled in archery as well.

Thud!

A red-furred fox fell, accurately hit by the arrow I shot.

“Even though I shot it, it’s amazing.”

This fox’s red fur is very special. That’s because mana flows through it. Just as humans absorb natural mana and turn it into aura or magic power, animals living in nature can also create certain results through natural mana. In this fox’s case, it’s this red fur. As befits fur through which mana flows, it’s not ordinary fur. It has the characteristic of becoming as hard as metal when attacked.

Therefore, an ordinary hunter’s arrow can’t inflict any damage at all. Rather, if you mess with it unknowingly, you might end up becoming the fox’s daily meal. So unless it’s an arrow infused with aura, it’s right to give up on catching this fox. The problem is that arrows with enough aura to damage this fox have too much destructive power and damage the hide too much. In other words, even if you manage to catch it with difficulty, the damage is so severe that it’s hard to get a proper price for it. It’s clearly valuable, but somehow feels like you’re losing more than you gain – that’s the specialty of the north that’s not really a specialty, this red-furred fox.

…But it seems I was an exception. That’s because my arrows could end the fox’s life without damaging its hide.

“…To think the elven breathing method would make this possible too.”

As I consistently used the elven breathing method, at some point a strange power emerged within me. It was so subtle and disappeared so quickly that at first, I didn’t even know it was there… I noticed it when I tried to create a new Aura Heart and failed, experiencing terrible pain. I realized there was something inside me.

After various experiments, I found out that it was ‘natural mana’. The elven breathing method is a skill that allows direct absorption of natural mana to activate the body. But my body is not that of an elf. In other words, even if I use the elven breathing method, I can’t use it 100% like an elf. As a result, I can’t perfectly absorb 100% of the natural mana taken in by the elven breathing method, and the natural mana that isn’t absorbed stays in my body before returning to nature.

Anyway, it means there’s natural mana inside me.

So I had no choice but to gamble on it.

And the result is being able to cleanly kill a red-furred fox with just one arrow like this.

“My wallet will be full again today.”

Anyway, thanks to selling red-furred foxes at a high price, my empty wallet situation started to improve again.

“I need to save up a lot.”

I think my disciple is the real hero, but that’s precisely why I’m worried. Hero, hero! Is there any job that makes you go “Money?????” more than being a hero? It seems like they would earn a lot, but in the end, it doesn’t seem like they can properly put it in their own wallet, right? Moreover, in our disciple’s case, she doesn’t seem like she would care about such money issues at all.

“It’s the master’s role to fill in what the disciple lacks.”

Even if my disciple returns with a light wallet, I was steadily filling my wallet so there would be no problem.

“I hope she’s not being taken advantage of somewhere.”

She was truly a disciple with countless things to worry about.

But I’m relieved thinking she’s probably eating well…

♧♧♧

“It doesn’t taste good.”
“Hoho, that can’t be. It’s the skill of a chef who worked in the imperial palace.”
“If it doesn’t taste good, it just doesn’t taste good.”

Meanwhile, Sera was lightly betraying her master’s belief that she would be eating well. Great Magician William, thinking his lord was really hopeless, shook his head and opened the fruit lunchbox he had brought. William was increasingly unable to help but seriously wonder if there might have been an elf among Sera’s ancestors.

“Even to my eyes, it’s unbelievable. To think that someone of Great Magician status would be attending to a girl much younger than himself…”
“Did you ever think there would come a day when this place would end up like this?”
“…When you put it that way, I have nothing to say.”

The master of the Empire’s best information guild 【Dark Moon】 and one of the three rulers of the underworld

Madam Rain

She had been living without knowing hardship since sitting in such a high position as to be called a ruler of the underworld. The other two mentioned as rulers of the underworld were busy fighting like mad, saying they would become the king of the underworld, but she wasn’t particularly interested in the position of underworld king. More precisely, she was confident she could sit on the throne of the underworld king anytime. Even if one of the two was defeated and the other became a strong candidate for king, she was confident she could reverse the situation and behead that person, sitting on the underworld throne stained with their blood. It wasn’t just confidence. It was a fact that she had more than enough ability to do so.

Information as a weapon was that powerful.

That’s why she was certain that her domain would never be tainted.

She could never have imagined that the day would come when it would be proven how vain and trivial that thought was. But that was her reality at this very moment.

“Cough! Cough!”
“Ugh!”

Her most trusted guards were all collapsed on the floor, unable to get up, and everything she had beautifully decorated was in ruins. And she had no choice but to treat the girl who had ruined her daily life as a guest.

There is only one rule in the underworld.

The law of the jungle

The weak must thoroughly bow their heads to the strong.

Just because she uses information as a weapon doesn’t mean she’s not a person of the underworld. If it’s clear that the opponent is stronger, even if it’s a girl younger than herself, she must bow her head.

Because that’s the one and only rule of the underworld.

Above all

‘Without even the help of a Great Magician, with her strength alone…’

To begin with, someone of Great Magician status wouldn’t act like a subordinate for no reason. A strong person who can make even a Great Magician show such loyalty…. Someone who could behead her easily if they wanted to….

‘Where did such an absurdly strong person come from…’

Moreover, she’s young. And silver-haired…. With such a special appearance and such strong power, even if she wanted to hide, it would be impossible….

At that moment, Madam recalled a certain piece of information.

“Could it be a hero candidate…”
“I see you already have all the information about hero candidates.”
“……”

Those words were as good as confirming that what she had said was true.

She had heard information about a silver-haired girl hero candidate who clearly had talent but seemed to lack motivation herself, so she was sent to an A-rank mercenary… But she didn’t pay much attention to it. She didn’t think a hero candidate trained under an A-rank mercenary would amount to much. But that seems to have been a huge misconception.

The people she had chosen as guards were not just anyone. They were a guard unit composed of top masters who could easily defeat hero candidates below the realm of superhumans. Yet this person had defeated them all alone, so easily. And without killing a single one… Even a non-martial artist would know. It’s easier to kill an opponent than to subdue them without killing. Especially, subduing a strong person at the level of a master alive without killing them… It’s impossible unless one is at the ‘realm of transcendence’.

‘The girl in front of me is at the ‘realm of transcendence’?’

It was hard to believe.

But it’s reality.

In the information business, this happens countless times. You encounter moments where you think, ‘Is this really true?’ But in the end, what you see with your own eyes never changes.

It’s hard to believe, but

Once confirmed with your own eyes

This is reality.

“It seems I’ve come to know who the real hero is before even the imperial family.”
“I don’t particularly want to be a hero, but if the one who kills the Demon King is a hero, then I am indeed the hero.”
“Who else could be the real hero if not you? Then, may I ask what business such a person has with me?”
“I came to receive a promise.”
“A promise, you say?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of promise?”
“You can sell as much information about me as you want. But never sell any information about my master.”
“…This is a first for me, even though I’ve been in this business for quite a while.”

There are people who come asking not to sell information about themselves, but it’s the first time someone has said they can sell information about them but not to sell information about someone related to them.

“I know it’s an impossible request to ask not to sell information about me. But it’s entirely possible not to sell information about my master, isn’t it?”
“But even if I don’t sell it, we can’t say other information guilds won’t…”
“I know all the information guilds are in your hands.”
“……!”

Madam couldn’t help but be surprised. The fact that she had secretly taken control of all information guilds in the underworld, even without the knowledge of the imperial shadows, was a secret among secrets known only to her closest confidants. It was information that had not been discovered by anyone. As someone who deals in information, she also perfectly knew how to hide information most completely. That’s why even at this moment, she could be certain. The information had not been leaked. But the girl in front of her had figured it out. As if she was seeing the future.

It was an absurd thought, but….

If she had such an ability, it would also make sense that she had reached the realm of transcendence at that young age.

“I don’t bring up things I can’t do. I’m bringing this up because I know you can do it.”
“…First, I’d like to apologize for having lied.”
“It’s okay. Isn’t it more natural for people of the underworld to lie than to tell the truth?”

It might sound like an extremely discriminatory statement, but it was true. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that among people living in the underworld, there’s no one who feels more familiar with or values truth more than lies. The underworld is full of people who would beg for drink money saying their parents who raised them for a long time died yesterday without proper filial piety, and then the next day beg again saying it’s the anniversary of when their parents abandoned them long ago.

“You speak as if you’ve lived in the underworld before.”
“Who knows.”

Sera had lived many lives.

Among them, of course, she had experience living as a resident of the underworld.

And at one time

The woman in front of her

She had even served as a master

And had been in a relationship closer than anyone else, calling her sister.
Although for Madam, it’s no longer an existing reality or future.
There was a time when Sera found this sad,
But for her now, it no longer felt like sadness.