I am weak. I think so. I’m weak. I’m receiving training from Hero Dan, but nothing has changed.
There’s a childhood friend named Dia. I have never once beaten Dia. Maybe a life of tilling fields as he says suits me.
“Goblins have appeared!!”
It’s noisy around me. When I go outside the village, there was a horde of goblins. Dia and the others were fighting at the front.
It’s already too late, at this point it’s too late. If it were him, if it were Hero Dan, he would have already finished defeating them. Yet here I am, admiring such a person, not even gripping my sword.
“Will.”
“Menmen.”
“Don’t overdo it. Look, being strong isn’t everything.”
I’m making her worry.
“I’m going too, so Will, wait here.”
Menmen is good at magic. She’s apparently going to provide support. Her left hand is shaking. Her left hand… for now, let’s observe the situation. Not yet, not yet.
It’s still not time. Someday I’ll become strong.
I’m receiving his teachings… so I should be able to do at least that much if I become strong… it’s too early to gain real combat experience.
While I was making such excuses, I saw it. His face. That weirdo from earlier, the traveler.
The moment I saw that person’s face, I had a flashback.
Training with the hero.
[You’re slow, you’re slow. Terribly slow. You think too much uselessly. You assume failure before you’ve even failed. You’re thinking about what to do if you fail before you’ve even moved. With that attitude, who can you save? You can’t become a hero. Being a swordsman is impossible too.]
The traveler’s words also flashed back. The ordinary-looking guy. I don’t know why this person comes to mind, but…
[If you want to become strong, imitating strong people is the fastest way. I recommend imitating the thoughts and atmosphere of whoever you think is strongest. Well then, good luck.]
Ah, I see. I’m slow. In everything. So.
If I don’t move now, if I don’t change now, I’ll surely make excuses again.
“Will, stay quiet.”
A village acquaintance adult calls out. This is the voice of inertia. All I need to focus on is the enemy in front of me. The place I aim for, I want it to be just [Hero].
I want to change, as soon as possible.
“Hey, Will!!”
“That idiot!”
“Misfit!! Stay back!”
“Will! I told you not to overdo it!”
Don’t bind me. I want to change.
The traveler is watching me as I started running. In his eyes, there’s neither surprise nor disappointment.
But he seemed to be smiling just a little. I think.
“Gyagahhhhh!!!!”
There was a goblin. Scary. This is my first time fighting a monster… huh? Are monsters this slow?
[Slow.]
[That hurts! Don’t hit my head with your sword!]
[This is still me holding back. Get used to pain. I’m holding back quite a bit.]
[That’s all you ever say! Hero-sama!!]
[My training is basically real combat.]
Ah, I see, that’s right, of course. I’ve been receiving the world’s greatest sword every day. Even if he was holding back, there’s no way this level would be—fast.
“Huh? What?”
I realized I had cut it down. I heard Dia’s voice.
“Will!? Eh!?”
“Hey hey.”
I can hear Menmen’s voice and the adults’ voices, everything. But in this moment, everything becomes the past. So it doesn’t matter.
I change in this moment too.
There are fourteen goblins in front of me. I run, just cutting, cutting, and continuing to cut.
“Will!? Will!? That is Will, right!?”
“That Misfit… what’s with that sword technique… don’t get cocky.”
How many left? I’m in a trance, so I don’t know the count. There were only three left.
“I can do it, I can do it. Of course, because I am…”
I cut off one’s head. Once you get used to it, it’s no different from simple work. I cut the second one too, and I pierced the third one’s head.
Blood spurted out, and the splatter got on my cheek. It smells like blood. I think I’ll never forget this day.
“Will, amazing!!”
When I turned around, Menmen was facing me with a smile.
“If I could use magic, it would have been instant. I just couldn’t use it because Will was in the way. Don’t get cocky.”
Dia is glaring. Beyond his gaze, I can see a goblin that had fallen getting back up.
The goblin let out a war cry.
“Gyahhhh!”
“Menmen, behind you!”
“Eh?”
A goblin I thought was dead was alive. Maybe it was playing dead. It suddenly attacks her from behind.
Everyone is unable to move at the instant event.
In that moment, I remembered. Hero Dan’s heroic tale. In one passage, there was a technique he used to save a child being attacked by a certain monster.
When he couldn’t use magic yet, he used [sword throwing].
“I can reach it, easily.”
I swing up the gripped sword and throw it. It travels straight and pierces the goblin.
“Huh?”
Even Menmen doubted her eyes. Everyone is looking at me, doubting.
“Who the hell are you…”
“Way to go! Will!”
“So you’re not just a gutless bastard after all!!”
I’ll probably never forget this moment.
That it would eventually become a passage in a certain heroic tale is something I have no way of knowing yet.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
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No way, he’s performing amazingly!!!
Ehhhh!? Hey hey Will, you’re better than I thought, aren’t you?
I heard he was getting beaten up even by goblins, so I thought he’d surely be hopeless.
What’s this, he can properly defeat them. I was absolutely sure he’d end up crying during afternoon training. I thought about comforting words so much. I even wrote memos on paper.
W-well, I guess I’ll use these next time. He’ll probably cry eventually anyway.
I was going to say “I was waiting for a hero’s egg like you to come!!” but… he’s doing well, yeah.
I’ll praise him, but after all, they’re just goblins. Just because he can defeat these doesn’t particularly change my evaluation. That guy, I thought he had no talent, but he was just more capable than I thought.
At afternoon training time, I wait wearing my iron mask and Will arrives.
“Hero-sama… um.”
“I was watching. That battle result.”
“Eh?”
“You defeated goblins.”
“Y-yes.”
“But it was as calculated. There’s nothing surprising about it. You are someone I had my eye on.”
“Y-yes!”
Honestly, it wasn’t calculated at all, but I’m a hero after all. I should act like I knew everything from the beginning.
But still, well done. I’ll give him a reward. Carrot and stick, as they say. Maintaining a disciple’s motivation is also a master’s duty.
“Will, I will raise you as my successor.”
“I will become stronger before the curse eating away at Hero-sama’s body completely progresses.”
Ah, the curse. The Curse King’s curse. I’m perfectly fine, but he seems motivated, so I’ll leave it as is.
“Mm. And so, I will give you this.”
“C-c-c-could this be… the [Sword of Beginning]!?”
“Mm.”
“The Sword of Beginning. The iron sword that Hero Dan is said to have first gripped when he began his adventure. Said to have been received from a certain blacksmith, said to have accompanied him through countless adventures, this legendary sword, th-this is!? Now in my hands. Is it okay!? Such a precious item!?”
“Ah, it’s a reward. When you look at that sword, you’ll remember me. I will only teach you once a week. For the rest, look at it, remember me, and devote yourself to self-training.”
“Wooooh, this is the Sword of Beginning!! I feel like power is overflowing!! The carving of a history of bloody battles through sweat and tears!!”
The Sword of Beginning, huh. He’s really happy.
Well, it’s a fake though.
It’s not mine. I just bought it at an antique shop and processed it to look like it. Because I gave the real Sword of Beginning to my father. They say professional baseball players also give their first ball to their mentor.
So this isn’t really the Sword of Beginning. It’s a fake that I deliberately struck against stones to chip the blade, wrapped the grip, and scraped by swinging it a few times. Since Will seems to be my fan, I thought it might motivate him if I gave it to him…
Well, Will has somewhat awakened and been given the Sword of Beginning (fake), and training ended. By the time it ended, time had passed and the sky had grown dark.
On the way back, I decided to stop by the royal capital briefly. The reason is to buy bread that my mother likes.
It’s apparently sold only at night, so I have no choice but to go. When I run to Trelvarner Royal Capital, I arrive quickly.
The royal capital is a bit noisy even at night. It’s not as much as when I, as the hero, give speeches, but it’s still noisy.
Drunkards, knights finishing work, adventurers. All sorts of people are illuminated by street lamps made from special minerals.
“Brother, won’t you have a drink?”
“No, I’ll pass.”
I get approached quite a bit. It would be completely fine if I wore my iron mask though.
When I arrive at the bakery, several people are lined up. Just being sold only at night, it’s quite a popular shop.
Standing in line like this, I’m hardly different from ordinary people. While thinking such things—
“You there.”
“Eh?”
Someone who lined up behind me spoke. When I turn around, there’s a fairy race woman wearing a black robe.
When she quietly removes her robe, there’s a familiar beautiful face.
“Rin… san, it’s been a while.”
Dangerous, I almost called her Rin.
“To know about this bakery, you’re quite the connoisseur.”
“Ah, eh, yes. Why is Rin-san here?”
“…I remembered that Dan often bought bread here, so I occasionally buy and eat it.”
Come to think of it, I did sometimes come to buy bread incognito wearing my iron mask. She remembered such a trivial thing.
“Your magical power is strange.”
“Eh?”
“How should I put it, it’s different. I can’t sense it.”
“Ah, is that so.”
“…’Is that so’? The fact that I can’t sense it is serious, you know. It’s the same as Dan’s magical power.”
“…”
“Dan is an existence beyond common sense. His magical power quality is also in a completely different dimension from ordinary people, making it difficult to sense.”
“Hah.”
I knew Rin couldn’t sense my magical power, but to connect me and Hero Dan based on that thinking…
How troublesome.
“Well, there’s also the possibility that it’s too small to sense.”
“That’s probably it, the theory that it’s too small to understand is likely.”
“You’re quite modest.”
Rin is suspicious. However, just then the bakery opened and the line moved forward. After appropriately deflecting, I bought bread and went outside.
Rin also came out at exactly the same timing as me.
“This is the salt bread that Dan used to like.”
“I see.”
“I thought I might meet him if I came here…”
Looking at the night sky, she spoke in a small voice. Then she floated up toward the night sky with magic and flew off toward the fairy country Frontier.
Good thing I wasn’t found out.
—
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