As Shion finished registering at the guild and was about to leave, he was surprised at the line that had formed behind him.
“Umm~, would you be willing to be in a party with us?”
“We’re looking for someone who could use darkness magic…”
“Let’s try a quest together! You never know until you try.”
It wasn’t surprising, as Shion would be an immediate asset and had a strong familiar as well, for the other adventurers to try to recruit him. But Shion shook his head without a thought.
‘Sorry, but I’m planning to move with Haku for a while.”
Shion let out a small sigh as he exited the guild. Forming a party with people was too hard on his mind. He didn’t want to feel the pain of trusting someone and getting betrayed again.
He found a good companion called Haku, but his emotional wounds hadn’t healed yet.
“We’ve still got money, so let’s go find a room to spend the night in.”
‘I’m the problem, aren’t I? Should I go sleep outside the city?’
“No, If I remember correctly, there’s an inn that lets familiars stay as well.”
‘It must be more expensive then. I’ll earn lots of money starting tomorrow! Anyways…’
Haku raised his head high and looked around. He checked the shadows of buildings, and cocked his head as he saw that there was no one there.
“Do you feel that we’re being watched?”
“Yes, that’s it—. Ever since we entered the city. Is it the Hero of Divine Eyes?’
“To be honest, I’ve been feeling it since two years ago.”
‘For that long!?’
It wasn’t constant, but he had felt someone watching him since he was the Hero of Darkness. And Shion had a good idea of who the culprit was.
“I heard that the Hero of Divine Eyes changed two years ago.”
‘So the new hero is keeping an eye on you? But you were on a different continent two years ago, right? The range of his sight is that wide?’
“Either his abilities are incredible, or it was someone or something unrelated to the hero. There were a lot of people that wanted to keep an eye on me.”
It was so between the heroes, and also for those with authority and ordinary people as well.
After hearing that Haku went silent, and eventually spoke to him in a soft voice.
‘Do you mind if I go gather some information? There’s a lot of things I want to know about, including heroes.’
“Sure, but are you okay going all by yourself?”
‘Yes. I’ll trace your scent once I’m done.’
“Got it. I’ll see you later!”
Shion looked around at the city while looking for the inn. He found a stand selling orc meat on a stick so he tried one. It was a bit hard, but it was chewy and tasted pretty good. The sauce was sweet and spicy, which made it better. He wanted to give some to Haku, so he bought around ten and put them in his《Darkness Bag》.
He also bought a lot of fruit and put those in as well.
He then saw a sign that said《Pet’s Inn》and was relieved that his memory wasn’t wrong.
Inns that allowed familiars and pets were surprisingly in demand. There were many travelers who had pets such as dogs and beast tamers with familiars.
When he opened the door, a slight scent of animals caught his nose. But Shion smiled, thinking that it wasn’t bad at all. He was about to see what kind of familiars there were when the counter caught his attention.
“You can take the full fee from us if you want. But we’re in this city on the orders of our master. You’re still not going to give us a discount?”
“Aw man, we’re going to have to report this to the hero.”
“Even if you say so…”
A pair of bad looking men were trying to get the owner to give them a discount. The owner didn’t look like he wanted to, but he flinched at the word ‘hero’.
“Would it be the Hero of Divine Eyes…?”
“No, but don’t be surprised. Our master is–––––––––The Hero of Darkness, Master Axe!”
Noise started to erupt from the customers in the room, and the owner’s face distorted. The name of the Hero of Darkness had influence, even in Organ, which was famous for the Hero of Divine Eyes.
But the owner was also a businessman. He got himself together and started to question them.
“Do you have any proof? There’s people like you every now and then. Customers who selfishly use the name of heroes. Of course, I’m not saying that you are…”
“That’s basically saying that we are. Rude!”
Shion had anger building up in his eyes as he watched their oppressive attitudes. He had nothing to do with them. He tried to stop them, but a customer with a sense of justice moved before him.
“Stop it. Apprenticess of heroes shouldn’t be acting like thugs. Are you even apprentices of Master Axe in the first place? Where’s the proof?”
“We’ll show you right now.”
Only one of them answered with a smile, but both of them started moving.
They activated a spell at almost the same time, and their hands were surrounded by a swaying darkness. The spell, which looked like dark flames, was a darkness magic called 《Black Coating》.
The two of them grabbed onto the man suddenly with their black hands.
“Here you go.”
“Ugh, stop! What…is this…by strength…”
“It’s a very powerful darkness magic. It’s your fault, by the way.”
“––––––Stop.”
Shion intervened since it was a dangerous spell that sucked away the opponent’s mana. The two let go of the man, but he collapsed from having a large portion of his mana taken away.
“Damn, we got interrupted again~”
“Whatever. So, owner. Do you believe that we’re apprentices of Master Axe now?”
“Y-yes. You don’t have to pay, so please go.”
“Hehe, thanks! See you.”
The two thugs patted Shion’s shoulder lightly and tried to walk past him.
For a moment, Shion couldn’t decide what to do. If he should let them go or not. Not long ago, when he still had the hero’s ring, he wouldn’t have had second thoughts.
But right now, he wasn’t even close to being anything, much less a hero. He found out not long ago that getting rid of all the sadness in the world was unachievable.
“………wait.”
Even so, Shion faced forward.
“That magic. Try it on me.”
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He couldn’t change the world.
He couldn’t get rid of sadness either.
He was betrayed by the companions he trusted.
But still, the young man named Shion Axe wasn’t one that could ignore injustice happening in front of his eyes.