Chapter 262: 262 A Hero’s Companion
Chapter 262: A Hero's Companion
I could never forget past grievances.
The better one's stats were, the better their memory. Therefore, I remembered Alex and his savagery from my first round down to the smallest details.
However, if I kept focusing on such experiences, then I would have too many enemies like Lanuvel, who deliberately lured heroes into dungeons' traps, the Sword Princess, who tried to kill me and called me a pervert after I saw her naked body due to her own negligence, Saintess A, who appreciated commoners but saw the Hero as a pitiful insect, Sage, who often ruined plans due to his nosebleeds, Sylvia, who would much rather focus on her selfishness instead of being grateful to her savior, and Aqua, who constantly ran away and delayed the journey whenever she passed by a handsome man…
Although I harbored double indignation towards Alex and Lanuvel because they were my earliest companions, I had always been a rational person. I would never succumb to my emotions.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Your thoughts make me sick," Ssosia grunted rudely.
Alex and I now needed to discuss important matters, so I decided to postpone my cowardly wife's punishment until later in the evening.
That aside, I only had a grudge against Alex due to the 4th curriculum anyway. At this critical moment, I needed to have a flexible mindset.
I was again trapped in the Fantasy World after my father-in-law left his business to me. The difference was that good grades would no longer help me this time.
I found myself in a well-planned trap.
My current circumstances had the potential to lock me thousands and even tens of thousands of years here.
If it would help me return to my home planet, my beautiful city, and allow me to breathe in the wonderful smell of morning dew again, I was prepared to even sleep with the enemy.
"You really have been resurrected…" Alex quickly washed the dishes and turned to me.
Shrugging, I corrected him.
"I never died."
I was just tricked by the system administrator, the First Angel. The past 2,000 years flew by in the blink of an eye for me.
"Are you asking me to join your side, the Demon Lord's side, True Hero?"
"Well, roughly speaking, yes."
"…"
"Don't get so worked up, Alex. My goal isn't to conquer the whole world. My only aim is to bring the Hero that wants to kill me for no particular reason to my side. It'll give you a glimpse of the world."
"I've seen enough in the past 2,000 years."
Alex wasn't that much of a talker.
"The once-dirty continents of Fantasy are now clean and beautiful because of flush toilets, which I introduced. Think about it. Why would I destroy what I've worked so hard on with my own hands?"
"And Lanuvel?"
"She's a servant of God."
Lanuvel had always been a pain in my ass.
She kidnapped a man living a perfectly good life from Earth and forced him to fight against the Demon Lord, complicating his journey as much as she could in the process.
Could there be something more unforgivable than that?
She even pretended to be cute while committing all kinds of atrocities!
"Hmmm…"
"Is this really a problem worth getting so worked up about? Alex, you've traveled with me before. You know what kind of person I am."
Wrinkles appeared on Alex's forehead.
As if recalling the events of 2,000 years ago, he replied. "Even if the enemy is a newborn baby, you'll never show them mercy. You're willing to use any methods to assure your victory, and you consider it normal to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many."
"How witty…"
"But your judgment always gave the best results. You are a far better option than someone whose actions carelessly unleashed war and a massacre for the sake of a girl in tears."
All of his records had disappeared, but Alex, who had been alive for over 2,000 years, still clearly remembered my senior's unjustified cruelty and dark past.
His comparison inspired me.
"Your decision?"
"I will follow you, but I will not be able to help openly, so you shouldn't expect much from me…"
"Okay. I will create a scenario where I, the MAX-Class Demon Lord, will threaten the chicken—your beloved wife's life. That should provide you with an excuse to work for me."
Alex seemed to want to say something but remained silent.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, I just remembered that your combat power isn't your most intimidating trait. What should we do about this?"
"Simple."
I smiled and pulled my cowardly wife around the waist, who yawned to show how bored she was with all this.
***
Ssosia, the cowardly developer who had regained partial control over the Fantasy system, had multiple abilities.
That was why my copies could safely spy on the Hero and Lanuvel.
She also made yet another plan of mine possible.
"I called you again to introduce the son of my friend's friend, Hero Sieg. He'll prove to be of great help in your adventure, which will be full of trials and agony." Alex introduced me. Through his student, Sylvia, he invited Sieg and Lanuvel to his house.
I was going to greet them with the smile of the Righteous Hero, but I had to tone down my expression after Ssosia warned that they might recognize me because of it.
"Hello. I am a shaman. The spirit sitting on my head is known as the Lesser Spirit, and the beautiful spirit standing behind me is known as the Greater Spirit. Finally, this cowardly woman is my wife. You can call her Shaman B… Kh! Hey! What's with you?"
Standing next to me, Ssosia nudged my side with her elbow.
I quite normally introduced the Addicted Spirit, Rice Cake, and my cowardly wife, yet she still got angry for some reason. Was it because I mentioned her last?
Such childish behavior…
"Ho ho ho! It is a great honor to meet the Hero's Party! I am Sophia Sosiris, the wife of this joker, and we are from the Sosiris estate located in the Magic Kingdom on the Northern Continent. Forgive my husband. It seems he wanted to conceal his real identity, but we shouldn't hide secrets from our future colleagues, should we? My husband is the Marquis and owner of the Sosiris estate. You can call him Marquis Sosiris. And I am the Marchioness, whom he loves and cherishes. You can just call me Sophia." Ssosia introduced us again, inventing her own script.
She didn't care about the audience at all. No one would be interested in such a long and banal performance…
"Nice to meet you, Marchioness Sophia! I'm Lanuvel, an archaeologist who received the prophecy about the Hero and became his companion. The name of this man drooling at the Greater Spirit is Sieg. You probably won't believe me, but he's the Hero chosen by God." Lanuvel happily replied.
"Hmm…"
Sieg examined me like a private detective.
He was probably looking at my stats, but he wouldn't find anything there.
After all…
▷ Race: Human
▷ Level: 427
▷ Job: Shaman (Blessing = Spirit ↑)
▷ Skills: Spirit SS, Blessing S, Politics A, Resistance A, Nobility B…
▷ Status: Good
I hid everything well.
To mask my appearance, I dyed my hair blue and changed my eye color to gold, which was typical of the royal family and nobility of the Northern Continent.
Other than those, there wasn't much to change.
The nurse who gave birth to me was a real princess of the Northern Continent. Therefore, my face, which had inherited her genes, already had unique traits native to that region.
My skin was snow-white, my nose was slightly raised, I had hair on my chest…
My looks were enough to deceive.
And Ssosia?
▷ Race: Elf
▷ Level: 389
▷ Job: Exorcist (Demon → Damage ↑)
▷ Skills: Charm MAX, Exorcism S, Dark Energy Resistance S, Sociability A, Immunity A…
▷ Status: Good
Her horns and wings, both racial traits of demons, had been hidden, and her skin color was changed.
Initially, we were both supposed to be "Shamans," but since the demons instinctively obeyed us, she changed her plans, becoming the nemesis of the demons, the "Exorcist," instead.
Meanwhile, Boris, the real exorcist, hid from prying eyes to coordinate dangerous situations. I didn't want any stupid demons to reveal my identity.
CLAP!
Alex clapped his hands.
"Attention. This is a gift that my wife has prepared for the Hero. Through this, you can immediately go to any place that is preserved in your memory."
"Woah! Lady Snow Woman's Feather! Thanks a lot!" Lanuvel accepted the gift.
They were given just two of the many feathers hanging from the wings of that mutant harpy, yet they were already making so much noise.
I took about two hundred.
Thanks to Ssosia, who could control the system, it was possible to go anywhere in the Fantasy World without the feathers, but we couldn't use that privilege in front of others.
Hence, the feathers wouldn't be bad to have.
"Be careful on your adventure!" The Snow Woman wished us good luck.
That was the end of our emotional reunion!
She said goodbye, flapping her wings with excitement.
Overjoyed by the fact that the size of their party had grown, Lanuvel waved goodbye to her, then turned to Sieg and pushed him out.
"Sieg! Adventures don't wait for anyone! Oh! Don't forget to sell the skins of the hares we caught at dawn."
Hares? Not even ogres?
After his regression, Sieg's level had become too low. There was nothing eye-catching about him but his Male Strength Z.
That was easy to fix, however.
The five-hundred percent increase in experience points gained by the Hero as part of their job's feature wasn't just for decoration. Even with little effort, it increased their efficiency and effectiveness tremendously.
That aside…
"Is there a problem, Hero Sieg?"
From the time I walked out of Alex's luxurious mansion until now, as we walked through the market in the center of the capital of the Dumpling Kingdom, he hadn't stopped staring at me.
That was far from his usual behavior of staring at Sylvia's ass instead.
Did he doubt my identity?
"No…"
"That's good."
The rest of my clones couldn't do what I did.
I couldn't permanently control them all, so they didn't join the Hero's Party, but I passed a message to Alex through a demon who secretly worked in the Dumpling Kingdom.
And all versions of him throughout the dimensions accepted my offer.
If told to obey, he would rebel.
However, I personally followed Hero Sieg and watched his dimension's Alex, analyzing his behavior and thoughts.
The Snow Woman, their marriage, his reputation, his obsession over his wife… The message I sent to Alex took all of these things into account.
That was why I had been successful.
"Sieg! Why do you look like that? You should be happy since we gained new companions today!" Lanuvel put her hands on her hips as she scolded him.
I didn't want to agree with Lanuvel, but I would like to know too.
I met Sieg less than an hour ago. He hadn't received a blow between his 6th and 7th cervical spine yet, and he didn't seem to be aware of my real identity either.
What the hell was wrong with him?
"A man is in my party… Moreover, a married couple…" Sieg finally voiced his complaint, like a child who didn't like the food served at the table.
There was nothing I could do about my gender, but I could at least improve his situation a little.
"Didn't you hear, my cowardly wife? Sieg says he is uncomfortable around you. Move a little further.
I nudged Ssosia in the side with my elbow.
The time for my revenge had come!
"Hey, that hurts! Maybe this isn't about me, but about him? Is it okay for a hero to be like that? Women that don't love him aren't even allowed to join his party. Can he really save the world even though he doesn't think with his head?"
"Don't worry. God will help him."
So far, he could only hunt hares, but after acquiring the Holy Sword A, equipped with an automatic combat function, things would go uphill for him.
The journey would be a little boring until that day arrived, but it couldn't be helped.
"Is there a woman who can like such a man?"
"Why won't there be? There are many of them in novels."
"Novels are works of fiction."
"What I've experienced so far isn't that different from their stories, though. There's still hope for Sieg."
"Hmm, I see your point… After all, even you managed to get married."
"What are you trying to say?"
Meanwhile, the Hero's Party went to the city's blacksmith with the money earned from the sale of hare skins.
Sieg sold his old wooden training sword provided by the Dumpling Kingdom and bought a rusty hunting dagger.
Having already experienced regression, he made the right choice.
The price was the same, but it was better to purchase a dagger with better durability and cutting ability than to upgrade a wooden sword, even if its blade's length was shorter.
He just needed to be confident in close combat.
"Ha!"
"Hooohh?!"
Sieg skipped hunting down hares, slimes, and boars and tried to hunt goblins in the wild instead, successfully doing so without much difficulty!
Watching him was a little frustrating because he did 100x better than my first round.
"Sieg's pretty good."
"I know. He'll do."
We watched from the side, never interfering with the development of his skills.
Sylvia only helped whenever a group of goblins managed to surround him.
Meanwhile, Lanuvel…
"Um… Excuse me. It's great to see that you are a very close couple, but Sieg looks like he's about to commit suicide. Can you give him some advice?"
I went up to Sieg, put my hand on his shoulder, and said, "If you're feeling jealous, then you should get married like me. It's really amazing. It fills my everyday life with happiness."
I spoke with the confidence of the Righteous Hero.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone