Return of the Former Hero - Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Chapter 132 . Former Hero – Discovers

[Now then, I’ll briefly explain the strategy!]

I was standing there in our personal room at the palace in front of the members of bandit subjugation group, announcing the start of the meeting .

Seven members participating in the subjugation from my party were, myself, Sharon, Laurier, Rithina, Mina, Celes, and Tanya .
From Leon’s Hero’s party, there were Leon, Unikram, Aura, and Caroline . All four of them .
That makes 11 members .

Kagura-san will be holding down the fort .
The reason for Mina to participate is that she will be in charge of healing .

[Anyways, the strategy is simple . Simultaneously attack all 3 bases that have been found by the investigation team . That’s all! Regarding the detention of bandits and restoring the security, the knight order will take care of it after the subjugation is over . So as much as possible, we must neutralize them while not letting any single one of them to escape . ]

That’s it for the strategy outline . Fast .

[Haruto . ]

[Yes, Laurier-kun . ]

I pointed at Laurier who raised her hand and allowed her to speak .

[This “neutralization”, what state is this referring to?]

I see . Of course .

[That’s right . It’s simply speaking it’s disarming and putting on restraints but there are sure to be several of them who can use magic . For this kind of bandits, we’ll also have to gag their mouths shut so they cannot cast their magic . I don’t think there is a thief capable of no-chanting like me, but just in case there are, knocking them out is the quickest and surest way . ]

[That means no killing, right?]

To my explanation, Laurier added in .

[No, that’s not really the case . I’m not against to killing them, but let’s not do so unless we are forced to . Rather, if you deem them to still be dangerous if left alive, then by all means you can end them and it’ll be perfectly fine . ]

[Understood . ]

Laurier finally understood this time .

But, now that I mentioned it .
There is a possibility of killing our opponents after all .

[By the way, who amongst you never killed a person before?]

To my question, some of them raised their hands .
Sharon, Laurier, Rithina, Mina, Celes, and Caroline were the six who raised their hand .

Fumu .
It’s a bit surprising that Laurier also raised her hand .

To my knowledge, everyone had their experience in killing demons, but when it came to people, their experience seemed to be limited . .
By the way, I had the experience myself . So I’m fine with it .

[What to do then? There are possibilities that you’ll have to kill another person so if you are against it, you can choose to withdraw right now . Even if you don’t do it directly, you might still have to witness the scene . You don’t have to force yourself . If you really don’t want to kill anyone, then withdrawing might be the best . ]

In response to my advice, Rithina and Laurier immediately voiced their participation .

Laurier hadn’t intentionally avoided killing people up until now . She had to immediately fight Leon and I right after she got out so she never actually had the chance to do so .
Rithina is the princess of this country, so it seems that she’s been prepared to kill in order to solve this rampant local bandits matter .

Mina and Kyaroin are both intended to be rearguards so they don’t have any qualms about it since they won’t fight directly .
Well, regardless of Mina, although Kyaroin never experienced killing other people herself before, she had her fair share of experience while travelling together with the Hero’s party, so I reckoned she’ll be just fine .

Now the problem is Sharon and Celes .

Neither of those two were willing to kill and it seemed like it’ll be a hard task for them to see the killing directly .

[Well, killing aside, it’ll be better if you can disable them instead, so you shouldn’t worry too much . ]

[That’s right . You can leave that part to me while you take care of other things . ]

Laurier followed up to my cover .
But, what kind of follow up was that, Laurier?
Oh well .

[One thing I needed to say, we aren’t here to slaughter those bandits . ]

[I know already . Even if I look like this, I do possess human common sense!]

In response to what Laurier said, although soundlessly, Leon’s expression was as if he incredulously said [Eehh!?]

Leon’s party was the victim of her bloodlust . So it can’t be helped .

But well, indeed I’ve been fighting alongside Laurier for quite a while already now . She never showed the same ferocity she exhibit during our first meeting ever since then .
Rather, she’s just Laurier the devil loli who loves to eat, sleep, and cling to me .

Her bloodlust won’t be awakened just from seeing the bandits’ blood . Maybe .

[… . . un . That’s right . Regardless of leaving it to Laurier-chan and all, it won’t do if it’ll just endanger you and get you hurt . So I’ll do my best!]

[I-I also will be just fine!]

Sharon and Celes both voiced their willingness to participate .

[Are you sure? Nobody will scold you even if you girls don’t participate you know?]

Since this wasn’t something that could be decided so easily, I asked once more to reconfirm .

[It’ll be alright . I will think of Haruto when I really have to do it!]

[Ah . Certainly, when I saw Sharon-san training with Onii-san recently, I was scared since it’s like you two were trying to kill each other . ]

[Eh? I-is that really true? That’s good . The result of the special training has finally shown up!]

Sharon-san . What did you just say?
Isn’t that strange?

No, of course she’s just joking . She’s not serious for sure . It’s just what Sharon said to distract us by using the strange atmosphere……right?

[…… . cough . A, anyways, it’s alright if all of you want to participate . But give it one more thought tonight, and don’t hesitate to tell me if it’s too hard for you . We aren’t lacking strength here after all . ]

Just in case, I made one last warning .
For real, it’s alright if you can’t handle killing people .

[Now then, with the assumption that all of us will participate, let’s talk about team division and arrangement . This is the team division that I’ve thought out]

That said, I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and spread it in front of everyone .

On paper, the team division that I’ve thought of was as follows:

Team 1 – Me, Rithina, Mina
Team 2 – Sharon, Laurier, Celes, Tanya
Team 3 – Leon, Unikram, Aura, Kyaroin

I’ve divided the group into teams after consulting with Rithina .

The concept of team 1 was I myself .
It’s to demonstrate the power of the next lord and the princess who would stand next to him .
Mina would be responsible in escorting and keeping Rithina safe .
Rithina also trained herself everyday so that she won’t become a burden during the bandit subjugation .

Team 2 concept was to use Laurier as the ace player, Tanya would be the frontline and Sharon as support . Celes would be responsible for healing aid .
Isn’t it a good and balanced party?
Laurier won’t cause any trouble, I hope .

Team 3’s concept was the Hero’s party .
There should be no problem in cooperation and balance .

Since no one was against the team composition, we decided to go with this arrangement .

After that, it’s about the route and timing of the attack .
We also need to consider escape path should the need arise . We check everything regardless of how unlikely it is .

[Yosh, that settled it . We’ll depart early in the morning the day after tomorrow . Please take good care of yourselves and adjust your physical condition well . ]

I concluded the meeting, and everyone left the room .
Only Rithina, Leon and I remained; the three of us .

[Leon . I will be leaving Aura to you . ]

[Yes . Leave her to me . I will see to it that everyone can finish their duties safely . ]

Leon responded to me with a sharp look .

Leon had a longer lasting relationship with Aura than I did . . Although the request wasn’t really necessary, I felt like I needed to say that .

And other than that, there was another matter that caused Leon to stay .
This piqued my interest .

Leon at the moment, carried two swords on his waist .

[Leon, those are?]

[Yes . ]

Noticing where my eyes were pointing to, Leon replied with a rather confused tone .

On Leon’s waist was one of the swords was forged by Kagura-san .
And the other one, it’s……a holy sword .

Although it’s a holy sword, it’s not the one I broke during the tournament at Odysseus .
It looks very similar, but different .

The collected fragments were brought by Leon back to the church, but that particular holy sword could never ever be restored .

[What is wrong with them?]

Rithina muttered with a troubled face .

Good grief, I wonder if it’s really okay .

Leon said, when he returned with the broken holy sword, not only he didn’t receive any reproaches, he was also easily entrusted with a second holy sword .

[This holy sword… how many of them does the church have?]

To my question, both Rithina and Leon remained silent . I guess either of them couldn’t give an answer .

[I really don’t know . Not only did they gave me a replacement so easily but they also didn’t reprimand me . They never mentioned anything regarding Haruto-san’s involvement . ]

Leon was also puzzled by this .

Really, it doesn’t feel like he’s lying . .

[First of all, let’s go with what we have in hand, what’s wrong with this holy sword? It seems that this second one is equally good and possesses a large amount of magic power… . ]

I borrowed the holy sword from Leon and examined it .
It contained an enormous magical power, but it’s hard for me to control it .

The only one who could handle this sword, is probably only Leon .

Is it because it’s a holy sword meant to be wield by the hero Leon, or is it because Leon is a hero that he can wield it?

I had no answer .

I pointed it once before: it’s hard to tell what makes a hero a ‘Hero’ .

Should we ask the church… . . no, that’s not something that can be asked directly .
Aside from Leon, there is indeed something fishy about the church .

[This, if I also break this one, will they give you a third one?]

[Wa… . . please don’t . ]

Listening to my idea, Leon immediately declined . It’s just a joke, really .

Well, I didn’t sense any evil magical power . So far this is merely a sword which contains large amount of magic .

[Leon . After the bandit subjugation is over, can I ask you to investigate about sword?]

[Ah? Ah, that’s right . Unn…… . No . Yes . I’ll do so . ]

Leon seemed troubled by my request, but otherwise agreed to investigate the holy sword .

Actually, some of the fragments of the broken holy sword was kept here .
I’ve had Kagura-san study it, but for now let’s have a look at this second one .

[I, for quite a long time already, have been wondering why I was entrusted with the holy sword to become a hero . When that time comes, I’ll be counting on you . ]

Leon left the room after saying so .

[Really, unlike Leon, it’s hard to tell what the church is thinking and what they’re going to do next . ]

[You are right . Just as Haruto said, Leon did not seem to hide anything . ]

I confided to Rithina only after Leon already left, leaving the two of us alone .

[Well, it’s baseless, but there is also a possibility that there are indeed two holy swords . ]

[… . . that is indeed possible . ]

Rithina didn’t seem to agree with my optimistic prediction .
Either way, we wouldn’t get any answer no matter how hard we think about it here .

Let’s just focus on getting rid of the bandits first .
It shouldn’t be too late even after that .

Also, I wanted to concentrate more on the future .

[Rithina-sama . Let’s put aside the holy sword matter for now, I have a favor to ask . ]

[En? Wha-what is it?]

Rithina was startled by my serious look .

At the moment, there was only Rithina and I at the meeting room .

There’s a wall that can be written at like a blackboard, coupled with desks and chairs that look just like the one used by a club president .
And in front of it were tables and chairs arranged to surround it .

At first glance, this looked so much like a classroom .
No, it’s not that I want to study .
Neither do I want to play teacher .

Right now, the most important piece of the scene is that club president’s desk and chair .

Should I sit on the chair?
While Rithina dove under the desk?

Ee

[… . . I don’t quite understand . Do you want me to do that?]

[Yes . ]

Rithina, puzzled by my explanation, asked me .
I nodded with a very serious look on my face .

[Since you asked with such a serious face, I wondered what it’s going to be… . . I guess there is no other way… . Nn right… . Then, Haruto, come here . ]

Rithina had a slightly annoyed look on her face, but regardless of that, still crawled under the desk and beckoned me to come .

I sat on the chair and looked down .

Of course, I could see the figure of Rithina crouching between my legs under the desk .

This angle is really good! Too amazing even!

Afterward, I left the meeting room about an hour later .

On my way out, I came across Mina who asked where Rithina and I went, but I replied [Rithina? No idea?] before I returned inside . Mina followed after me .
Later, Celes appeared to ask MIna’s whereabouts when Mina didn’t return . To which I answered with a similar [Rithina, Mina? No idea?] . Celes didn’t say anything, but her face was flushed when she left .

I couldn’t hide this at all .

But I’m quite sure about one thing .

This event will surely be written on Celes’ diary later .