Evade The Hero and Flee!

Chapter 287

Chapter 287 

31. It is most fun the watch fights(12)

“Achoo!”  

“Huh?”

The metal bat frowned at the sudden sneeze.

“Got something in your nose!”

“Ah, sorry.”

Sniff, sniff!

I took out a handkerchief and wiped away the mucus that came out from the sneeze.

“What is it? Did someone curse me?”  

“Nah, it’s not that bad.”

“At least a few thousand?”

“Why would the count be that high?”

No matter how much I’ve done, there’s no way there would be thousands of people cursing me.  

That number doesn’t make any sense.

“First, the guys chasing the master.”

“Wouldn’t the number be small?”

“Other than the faces the master knows. Wouldn’t they have a ton of underlings?”

“Uh… That’s true.”

“That alone would make a thousand.”  

“Hmm… Okay. I admit that.”

A thousand has already been filled, but there’s still thousands more to fill.  

Can the metal bat really fill that number?

“And every time the Demon King is active, the master gets cursed.”

“What kind of logic is that?”

“The master is the execu… Groah!”

“What the heck are you saying?”  

I quickly cover the metal bat’s mouth and get up from my seat.

-What the heck is this!  

-That’s my line, you idiot!

-What, idiot? To the Goddess, idiot? You’ll be cursed!

-If it’s curse, it feels I’ve already received enough.

Her very existence itself felt like a curse.  

Because of her I can’t use magic, I’m chased by my blackened disciple.

And because of that I had to separate from my daughter, and after harming the Demon King I still have to keep running away.

“Mmm mmm mmm!”

-I’m the victim for the last part! Unfair!   

-You’re not denying the previous charges!

Even so, the metal bat has developed more of a conscience compared to the past.  

-I don’t think it makes sense for the master to be the one to bring up the word conscience first. And how long are you planning on covering this Goddess’s mouth?

-Until you start to think and speak?

-I’m always thinking and speaking though!

-You call that thinking and speaking?  

You really think yelling the master is the apostle of the evil god in the middle of the city is thinking and speaking?

-I should seal your mouth shut forever!  

-Eek! Everyone! There’s an apostle of the evil god here kidnapping this cute little goddess!

A evil god is reporting an apostle of evil god to devils. I’ve never heard such crap in my life.  

“Extra, extra!”  

Just as I was covering the metal bat’s mouth to stop his crap, I heard the voice of a young boy not too far away.  

“The heroes have mobilized! To take down the vile Demon King!”

Normally when saying something like this, papers with more detailed info would be scattered, but reality was different.  

“Get the details for just 1 silver!”  

Information is money. There is no one who does not know that.

And that information was contained on paper.  

Even in my past life when technology was developed and paper could be mass produced, paper still cost money to buy.  

Let alone in a fantasy world, scattering paper around to spread news wouldn’t make any sense.  

It’s only natural they would sell it at a high price.

“Looks like things are finally moving.”  

“Did the Demon King die?”

Since it was interesting news for both me and the metal bat, we headed over to the boy selling the papers.

“One copy.”

“That’s 1 silver!”  

It’s quite an expensive price, but considering the price of paper, the effort to gather the information, the commission for this boy selling it, it could be called a reasonable price.  

Of course among this kind of thing there would be flashy titled info bait that has no substance.  

“There won’t be a lack of content right?”

“No way. It’s a news publication guaranteed by Paekenes’ top.”

Paekenes’ top… Since I’ve never heard of this name, it seems it’s only famous within this kingdom.  

“Well, if it has the guarantee of the top…”

For merchants, the most important things were reputation and trust.  

They wouldn’t make a small profit by chipping away at their own reliability.

“Here it is.”

“Thank you!”

When I gave him 1 silver, the boy who bowed his head gave me the news publication.  

“Is there a place nearby where I can sit and read this?”  

“There’s a shop over there!”

It was a news publication that seemed over 10 pages in size, about half the size of a newspaper.  

It would probably take quite some time to read, so it’d be best to go into an appropriate shop and read it there.

“Welcome!”  

I asked the brightly smiling employee for a simple meal and water then sat down.  

“Now where to start…”

The cover says it’s the monthly news publication (emergency publication) guaranteed by Paekenes’ top.  

Seeing it’s labeled as monthly, it seems it normally publishes on set days, but had an emergency publication this time because there was news it had to deliver.

“Where was it…”

Flipping the first page, a handsome looking man in black and white popped out.  

“With a look, his face is perfect.”

Glistening hair and eyes that shine even in black and white. On top of that, his sharp features made him a pretty boy who met all the criteria. 

“Since it was the master who chose the face.”

“Hmm… But doesn’t he look too different from his usual self, it feels off?”

It said the photo source was the Nature Religion.  

They probably take photos of the hero using magical tools and send this photo when confirming the hero.  

Even though they’re like apostles of god, there are still existences who impersonate heroes.  

“Your meal has arrived.”

“Thank you.”  

The female employee’s face was slightly red after bringing the food. She must have seen the hero’s photo I’m holding in the news publication.  

“Tsk! Poor guy.”

Just his face makes women feel attracted. But because of that face, he got pierced by the Ice Cream Princess, and will clearly continue to get pierced in the future as well.

“People shouldn’t stand out too much.”

“That’s true. It feels even more so hearing the master say it.”  

He lives that kind of life even with an average face, the hero’s face must be even more so, his expression seemed to say.

“Eat your food.”

I pass the metal bat some bread and sausages for a simple meal and continue reading the publication.  

The content was, just as the boy selling the publication had said, about the heroes mobilizing to take down the Demon King. And on a massive scale at that.

<We are aware of the sudden ambush by the vile evil god and his army, causing damage to various kingdoms. However, each kingdom possesses formidable might. I believe in them. I believe in you all doing your utmost to protect your own country. That’s why we thought, again and again, about what would be the optimal move as heroes believing in humanity’s power.  

And we became convinced attacking and taking down the Demon King as quickly as possible is for the sake of humans, no, for the sake of this world.>

“The crap sure has increased.”  

Though they used the term ‘believe’, they practically abandoned them.

‘Deal with the enemies that got into the rear yourself, we will go on the attack. So do your best to deal with it yourselves.’  

It was simply dressing up abandonment in polite crap.

“There’s no way that hero guy came up with this kind of thing himself… Mirea?”

Washing my throat with nice cool water, I picked up a piece of bread.  

“Now where…”

Eating the bread with one hand and flipping pages of the publication with the other.  

Flipping a page, the hero’s face appeared once more.  

This time a photo of him with a serious expression.

“Is this a news publication or some idol photobook?”  

Now that I think about it, there seemed to be unusually high numbers of female buyers for the publication, guess it wasn’t just a feeling.  

As expected of something guaranteed by top merchants.  

They properly understand how to earn money.

“If it goes well I can get free food.”

That employee from earlier seemed quite interested in the hero’s face. I should try negotiating the publication in exchange for not paying for the food.

“Oh…”

Unlike the serious faced hero, this was a page filled with very hopeful contents.

<The Imperial Army Joins the Heroes’ Attack!>

<The Empire’s Strongest Magicians Gather to Assist the Heroes!>  

<History’s Strongest Magicians Join Hands with Heroes to Try and Take Down the Demon King!>

“There’s barely any content on this page.”

Beneath the big letters, the detailed info written in small letters were all useless contents.  

They only wrote about things like how much experience the magicians had and how much they accomplished in past wars.

Not a single line about concrete numbers or how well equipped they were.

“Well, that’s a given, I suppose?”

No matter how lacking in enemies the Empire claims to be, there’s no way they would expose military secrets in a civilian news publication.  

No matter how exceptional the writer of the publication is, there’s no way they can breach the Empire’s security.  

Thinking that, I turned to the next page and was met with unexpected contents.  

“What the, they already fought?”

Truly unexpected contents.  

For a normal news publication like this, I expected the ending to have contents like ‘With the heroes dispatched, the Demon King shall fall and the world will be saved!’  

Yet here I was, with several pages left till the end, being shown a clash with the Demon King already concluded.

“Is the fight already over?”  

The relatively accurate details indicate this was written after the heroes had already clashed with the Demon King.

<The Apostle of the Evil god, the Demon King! Proving the Might of His Name!>

<The Demon King’s Power, Toppling Tens of Heroes Alone!> 

<Despite Countless Sacrifices Made, the Demon King Could Not Be Toppled!>

<The Retreating Demon King, However the Demon King Managed to Escape!>

<Heroes Victorious in Battle. But a Hollow Victory>

<Had the Imperial Army Not Been There, Could They Have Forced the Demon King’s Retreat?>

The contents were all pessimistic. The details were the same.  

Though they were able to take down countless evil god troops, they crucially could not capture the Demon King himself.

“Hmm… As expected, it was good I ran away.”  

If I had blindly trusted my sword skills and fought, I may have become departed like in the past, given how terrifyingly mighty the Demon King was.

Over 30 heroes died and the hero guy himself also suffered heavy damage at the Demon King’s hand from the looks of it.  

Though of course he didn’t just take it without dealing some major injuries to the Demon King as well, judging by the contents, had the Imperial Army been even slightly later in taking down the evil god’s army, the hero would have died too.

-Was the Demon King always this overwhelmingly strong? The records in history were all frauds?

History is, after all, the victor’s records.  

Good parts are embellished and written, bad parts are minimized or not written at all.

This made me wonder if the records about the Demon King were like that too.

-Hmm… He’s stronger than what humans have recorded, but temples record only truths though kingdoms don’t.  

-I see.  

For me, temples were further away than even different races.

For ordinary people, they can casually visit temples once a day if they put their mind to it, but when have I ever lived an ordinary life?

Other than visiting the Earth Temple and Life Temple with my parents in this life to pray for good harvests when I was young, I’ve never visited other gods’ temples.  

So there was no way for me to know what’s recorded in temples.

-Well, doesn’t change the fact that this Demon King is some freak irregularity.  

-Is that so?

-Yes. Normally even if they’re strong, they’d fight til the end and die.  

What the metal bat was saying was that if it were a normal Demon King, the likelihood of mutual destruction with the hero would have been high.

-Tsk… What a shame.

-One must understand the master’s personality.

No matter what the metal bat says, the hero and Demon King destroying each other was my best case scenario.  

With the two who know my info dying without a word, my peace would have been complete.  

“Tsk, then what’s going to happen?”

Flipping the page, once again the hero’s face appeared along with post battle contents.

<The Evil God Army on the Brink of Annihilation!> 

<The Passing of Many Experienced Heroes. What of the Remaining Heroes?>

<New Heroes Filling Fast. Heroes Without Foundation>  

<Heroes Pulled to Frontlines Right After Selection, Is This Okay?>

It was filled with content reminiscent of current affairs programs.  

Exposing the reality of heroes suddenly chosen having to fight the evil god army without proper education.

It really was beneficial and important content, but

“Let’s skip over this.”

Since it had nothing to do with me, I decided to skip over it.  

“Hmm…”

Flip over page, and over page.  

Not much useful information comes out.

“At least got the important parts.”  

The best I could get was on the final page, that the hero guy had recovered and was chasing the Demon King along with the Imperial Army.

And more importantly,  

“Crazy bastard, chasing right till the end huh.”

Where they were chasing was very openly indicated as my direction.  

Meaning the Demon King plans to catch me as a final resort.

“Gonna flee again?”

Having finished her meal, the metal bat cheerily swung her legs asking.

Hmm… Fleeing does sound best, right?

There’s the danger of the Demon King capturing me, and the Imperial Army chasing after him capturing me as well.

But,

“A tragedy seen up close is a tragedy, seen from afar is a comedy.”

“Huh? What’s that crap mean again?”

“Anyway, my location will clearly keep being exposed unless the Demon King dies right? So we should set up a plaza for our reunion at an appropriate spot and wait there.”

If I have to see the ending someday, better to see it while I’m still relatively young.  

So, 

“Gotta prepare popcorn and get ready to watch the fight.”

After all, watching fights is the most interesting thing.