kscans

Chapter 122 - The Master-Disciple Relationship, Again?

The great city of Mildo. Under a bridge at its entrance, a hero was crying again today.

"Defeating the Demon Lord... n-no way, it’s impossible...!"

In the darkness under the bridge, Hero Ares Scarlet was curled up into a ball, muttering to herself in a small voice. Her belongings were scattered, her sword lay on the ground, and the proof of her hero status was upside down in the mud.

"Can I just go home already!? Hey, someone! Can I please just quit this journey!?"

But there was no reply. Of course there wasn't. She was completely alone right now.

"…Haa… everyone was so amazing, and strong… Why am I the only one who’s…"

Yes, she was a crybaby. An absolute crybaby, with self-esteem that scraped the bottom of the barrel. She was so afraid of fighting she couldn't even hold her sword, and she had an unprecedented style where she would start by prostrating herself the moment an enemy appeared.

"Eh? But… someone like me… I’ll just die right away… and get eaten… and my clothes will get torn…!"

Her negative thoughts and terrible imaginings were endless.

And yet, the reason she continued her journey was because of a tiny memory that remained in her heart.

The boss of the Hobgoblin cave she had first fought. Green skin, a protruding nose, sharp teeth. But after the battle, he had watched her from the shadows of the trees as she fled, crying. If she could just meet that person… no, that monster, one more time.

"…But… maybe I want to try being a hero a little longer…"

With that fervent memory in her heart, Ares wiped her tears and finally lifted her head. Just then, a sweet and savory scent drifted to her on the wind.

"…Eh, this smell…"

The fragrant, somehow nostalgic smell of grilled corn. Drawn by the scent, Ares found herself in a plaza, standing frozen before a certain stall.

There, crouching down as if folding his massive body to make himself smaller, was that same "monster-like man," carefully grilling skewers.

"H-h… hello… um, one corn on the cob… p-please…"

To the faltering Ares, the man turned around, still holding his tongs.

"Here ya go, fresh off the grill. …You’re that crybaby hero, right?"

"Pyaaaah!?" Ares immediately dropped into a formal kneeling prostration right where she stood.

"I’m sorry! I’m so sorryyyy! I won’t cry anymore! Probably!"

"Yeah, you’re crying. And what’s with that prostration, is it a reflex?"

"…Wait… eh? C-could it be…"

As the trembling Ares slowly raised her head, the man at the corn stall turned away, as if to slightly hide his face.

"I am a monster… with green skin, a protruding nose, and sharp teeth. That’s right, I am none other than ‘Mamoru the Hobgoblin’."

"It really is youuuu!!"

Ares’s eyes went wide as she shouted.

Finding it far too boring to wait in the throne room of the Hobgoblin cave until the hero defeated the Demon Lord, Mamoru had nothing better to do. So he had secretly followed the crybaby hero Ares. It was a parent’s heart, lost on the child. No, a master who can't leave his disciple alone. In any case, Mamoru, unable to bear the sight of the utterly pathetic Hero Ares, made contact with Ares Scarlet once again to retrain her.

To be continued.