Return of the Former Hero - Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Chapter 136 . Former Hero – Taking Control of the 3rd Floor

I went up to the next floor but saw no bandit attacking me .

It’s because of my previous attack, they are either rolling on floor writhing in pain or not even moving at all .

According to Search, there were several small rooms and a large hall on this floor . The number of bandits gathering on the hall was approximately a dozen or so .
Are they really all that remained here?

There is actually one last room on the higher floor, but since it’s protected from searching, I didn’t have any idea what’s inside just yet .

It’s a little worrying, but let’s just solve this floor first .

[You two please wait here . ]

[Going to go in?]

[Yes . There seems to be some hostages left among them . ]

In front of the hall’s door, I gave the two a command to wait .
Mina responded to that .

So far, I’ve been using the fireball strategy to oust the bandits if they are lurking inside the room .

However, this time there appear to be hostages among them so I couldn’t afford to use the same strategy .

[Understood… . even so, it’s incredible . To think you can see what’s inside that easily . ]

Rithina was impressed .

Umu . Search is indeed very useful .
This Search magic was granted to me when I was first summoned to become a hero . How I fight was mostly dependent whether Search is available or not .
That’s right, I wouldn’t go far without this Search magic .

But this time, it’s actually a bit unclear since I had to move around constantly .
Although I’m capable of using it this way nowadays, originally I had to stay still in one place to use it . It’s afterall a magic that requires me to focus my mind .

Well I couldn’t afford to show such weakness, so let’s just continue bluffing .

I opened the door to the hall .

It appeared that the bandits had judged that ambush is meaningless, thus gathered themselves on the middle of the hall .

The inside of the hall was about slightly larger than a convenience store, with the floor fully covered by red carpet . The furniture had been piled up at the back of the hall .
There were also some potted plants, but they are all dried up .

Apparently the bandits didn’t even bother to do any maintenance on the mansion .
Well, no matter .

[Don’t resist in vain, you won’t get hurt if you drop your weapon now . ]

I gave the bandits a warning .
However, I’m not expecting them to heed to my warning .

I glanced at the corner of the room . That was where I originally want to shoot the fireball at, but I couldn’t since I noticed a maid over the bandits’ shoulder .

[You gotta be joking! You think you can do as you like?]

Who’s joking here? You guys are the one that can’t do as you like .

This bandits seemed to like to imitate the warning of others .
The bandits I fought during my hero days were also like this .

[If you don’t want to die, drop your weapon!]

Standing on the center of the hall, was the person who screamed back at me . Probably the bandit leader himself .

Amazing!

The bandit here actually said the same thing as the bandits that I remembered .

But anyways, will it be alright?

There wasn’t that much of a distance between me and the bandit, so I could approach them in a single breath, though I’m not that sure about the maid’s safety if I do that .

Mina could easily heal any minor wound, but I want to do this flawlessly, thus I cannot afford to let any civilian got hurt in the process .

Even if I were to use Air Shot, it’ll be hard to take the bandits down one by one without endangering the hostage because she’s flanked by swords from all four directions .

[Oi! What’s the matter? Quickly surrender!]

One of the bandits screamed at me .
If I throw away my weapon, won’t you kill her all the same?
Even if they release the hostage, there will still be no peace in this city .

As expected, rather than risking the bigger picture, I have no other choice but to put the hostage in danger .

Well, I’ll just think up some way in the meantime .

[Alright . ]

After replying, I dropped my sword and kicked it towards the bandits .

The sword slid along the carpeted floor and stopped right in front of the foremost bandit .

Nice distance . .

[Phew…]

The bandit smiled upon seeing this .

[After going this far, what a shame . ]

The bandit was trying to provoke me as he stepped on the sword, retrieving it and flailed it around with his burly hand .

Ah, you!?
How dare you step on the sword that Kagura-san forged .

Unforgivable .
I’ll remember your face .

Just prepare for my revenge later .

[Not resisting? In that case, those two women behind you……I’ll spare your life in exchange for them]

Spare my life, eh?

Of course he’ll say that, but there is no way I’ll play along with that .

Imagining the consequences if I actually do so, I really should give this bastard a special treatment .

[Dzuuaa!]

Something came at me in a straight line, targeting my throat
However, I managed to bend my upper body to dodge that .

[Nuaaa?]

Apparently giving his all with the attack, the bandit thrust his spear at me .
Well, this isn’t playing around anymore .
This is only to buy some time, you know?

[B-bastard! Didn’t you give up already!? If you do anything funny again, I’ll snuff the life out of this girl . ]

The bandit had an ugly face, stomping his foot on the floor . He seemed rather strong .
And then, he gave another instruction to the other bandits .

[My bad my bad . Was that supposed to hit me? . I won’t dodge next time… . Eh, ah, forget it . ]

[Ah?]

Apparently that bandit just now was targeting my neck and was expecting me not to fight back . But in any case, the scuffle had bought me enough time .

[Wha, what is this!?]

The bandit who was holding the maid at the back suddenly raised his voice .
It was coming from the four who guarded the hostage . I had casted Earth Bind to restrict the movement of their arms and legs .

Manipulating the soil on the flowerpot, like this… . . I had directed them to attack stealthily from behind!

[Aan?]

Not knowing what had happened, the bandit leader looked away to the back .
The other bandits at the back is being distracted by something .

Fuhn .

[You!]

I was right in front of the bandit already, landing my fist upon the face of he who had trampled on Kagura-san’s sword .

Gugya, the bandit toppled down with a loud voice .
In response to that voice, the other bandits who were previously distracted by the happening at the back returned their attention to the front .

They couldn’t react properly to the quickly changing situation; they are bandits after all .

Still, there were actually some who are quick-witted enough to immediately secure the hostage .
However, unlike the previous situation where the swords were already prepared around the hostage, this time it’ll take some time to do so .

My position was quite far, but I dashed toward the maid nevertheless, while taking down the bandits along the way .

I reached the maid faster than the bandits who wanted to secure the hostage, then while holding the maid’s waist, I kicked the four that had been restricted by Earth Bind, and thus managed to rescue the hostage .

Just as planned!
The me right now is probably like a shining hero!

Recently, I nearly forgot about it, but when I seriously helping people like this, I felt like I’ve returned to the times when I was still a hero .

[It’s alright already . ]

Blink .
Showcasing my heroic brilliant smile, I reassured the maid .

Fall for me! This maid will definitely fall for me with this!

…… . or so I thought . I had no idea what happened to her, but the black part disappeared from the maid-san’s eyes . Her mouth was moving as if trying to say something, but instead of voice, what came out was puke .

Un . At least she did not suffer any wound, and no bruise either . Yup .

Oh well .

I put the maid down, hiding her behind me .

While I was doing so, the bandits seemed to have comprehended the situation . Some raised their sword on the spot and came at me, while some others deemed that it’s useless to fight back and chose to run away .
They scattered like baby spiders .

Afterward, it took only few minutes for me to take control of that hall .

Two attempted to escape the hall, but were quickly taken care of by Rithina and Mina who were waiting outside .
Since I’ve been training her alongside Sharon and Rithina, there were barely any signs of hesitation on Mina’s movement .
It was the same like when she got entangled with Gorotsuki, Mina was very well rounded . Is there anything that this girl can’t do?

[It’s amazing that you are able to use magic silently . ]

Rithina came in to confiscate the weapons from the four bandits that had been restrained by my Earth Bind .

[In addition to that, I was in awe with how you moved . I only knew that you’ve cast magic then went ahead to save the hostage, but when I looked again, you’ve already secured her . I don’t even have the slightest idea of what happened there . ]

Rithina gazed at me with a slightly excited face .

Noooo . Let me see more of that . Eee .

[Because I’m a former hero]

[Well… . . okay . ]

After we finished detaining all the bandits, I gave Rithina a thumb up .

However, Rithina’s response wasn’t that good .

Is the fact that I was a former hero doesn’t really matter that much?
Well, I guess action speaks louder than words .

But having my thumbs up to not achieve its intended effect .

Gununu…… .

I swear that I’ve never done it before, it’s just that I thought I could make a fortune by doing that .
I swear that I’ll never do it again . Do you think I’ll believe that kind of oath?

In any case, there is still the final floor .

As before, I couldn’t rely on Search to probe the room, but the final floor isn’t that wide to begin with .

I told Rithina and Mina to take the rescued maids back to the ground floor .

[Do you want to go up?]

[I’ll go up alone . It’s not that wide so I should be able to do this on my own . I need you two to assist the knights . If they could afford some manpower, inform them to take care of the detained bandits here . ]

I gave a little instruction to appease Mina who looked at me worryingly .

[Understood . ]

The two didn’t really seem to be agree with my command, but took the maid downstairs regardless .
Firstly, let’s confirm things with Search . There is no place to hide in this hall . There is no need to worry about surprise ambush .

… . . well, the final floor then .

I went upstairs .
I could only sense darkness in front of me despite using Search .

Since I couldn’t see what’s inside, I tried to eavesdrop through the door, but still nothing .
Perhaps that’s all there was for the bandit, and this is just an empty room… . .

I carefully turned the doorknob and opened the door .

I was tempted to breach my way in with fireball, but there’s a possibility that some third party might get involved in the blast . There are so many things to worry about when we are trying to keep people safe . .

Giyuuu, the door swung open in a loud noise .

Whoops . If it’s Mina, there won’t be any sound like the way I did it just now .
Well, I guess it’s something that only Mina could do . That soundless opening .

… . . I wonder how?
Even if it’s Mina, it’s still scary if someone could open the door to your room soundlessly .

Erm, this isn’t the time to think about that .
Focus, focus .

When the door was fully opened, I saw three people inside the room .
No, can I still refer to them as ‘people?

The first was a female with blazing blue eyes whose beautiful red long hair didn’t cover the horns on her head .
I could tell in a single glance . She’s a demon . A demon here? I felt uneasy .

Another one was a knight-like figure wearing a full body black armor that covered the face .
It’s hard to tell whether this one is a male or female, but this fellow sure is tall .

And the last one .
This guy looked like bearded old man, and had an air similar to those bandits outside .
However, this last one had gotten his throat cut open, and his heart smashed . Most likely already dead .

The smell of blood spread to the corridor as the door opened .

I didn’t feel any killing intent, but I didn’t feel safe either .

Moreover, who are these guys?
Apart from the thief-like person who had already died, the remaining two didn’t seem to belong to the bandits .

While I was wondering whether to make the first move or not, the full armored guy already talked first .

[Greetings . Amagi Haruto . I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the demon army, I am called Baurova]

Eh……
The demon army’s Four Heavenly Kings he said!?