Evade The Hero and F Chapter 163

Chapter 163

< Running Away from the Hero! 163 #19. Life is a continuous escape (4)>

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#4 Their circumstances: a certain heros circumstance.

I began realising that sothing was not quite right about a week after defeating the dragon.

Hmm? Why havent they called

yet?

Even today, I found myself lazily rolling around on a comfy bed. However, I still realised that no one had co to summon

or look for

ever since I had that one-ti eting with the king of this nation.

This is so weird

A dragon had been killed. Not just any dragon either, but an elder dragon that had lived for twenty thousand years.

This mustve been a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity for this kingdom.

The normal course of action wouldve been to travel to every corner of this kingdom with the rescued princess and wave my hands at the gathered masses a little to calm the uneasy public sentint. That would be during the day, and during evenings, Id be summoned to all sorts of high-class social gatherings to greet various aristocrats.

Thats what I did after killing twenty ogres in that kingdom to the west the last ti. But even after killing a dragon, no one asked

to do sothing like that, so

Could it be that the ruler of this kingdom is bad at doing political stuff?

This situation was making my head tilt sideways all on its own.

In fact, my head tilted so much that it was now buried in the comfy bed, but lets keep that as a secret between us, shall we?

Well, this is good for

either way

The profession called hero ca with pitifully little days off.

After finishing one job, you hope to get a tiny little break, but then Bam! An oracle hits you!

Even the itinerary would be like, go to the far west from the eastern-most area you were in. Then, after you went west, they tell you to go back east, before being told to go to the west, again!

Seriously now! Why cant you just, you know, hire lots of heroes so that I dont have to travel so much!

Since we worked together with magic towers, we could potentially use their teleport magic circles. Unfortunately, magic towers didnt exist in every corner of the continent.

On top of that, more than a few magic towers were located in remote areas with zero population, so sotis it was faster to just walk to our destination!

Thanks to this, every hero out there had to get used to roughing it out in the wild. And thats why we simply couldnt win against the temptation of the highest class luxury beds like this one.

Anyone who wishes to treat heroes well? Prepare luxurious beds, then!

All heroes secretly hanker for a comfy bed to sleep in, you see!

As I rolled around this way and that on the bed

Sir Hero? Are you in?

Yes, I am.

The princesss voice ca from beyond the door, so I quickly jumped up from the bed.

May I be permitted to enter, sir?

Of course!

I got slightly nervous, causing my voice to get a bit high-pitched as a result, but she probably didnt notice it.

You are also doing well today, Sir Hero.

Ah, yes. Its all thanks to the kingdoms kindness that I am enjoying a comfortable stay.

I wasnt just paying lip service here. They were really pampering

during my stay.

Most of my days were spent doing nothing but rolling around on the bed. anwhile, the kingdom even prepared an empty training hall for my exclusive use, too.

Hell, they even provided the service of bringing

food straight into my room when Im hungry! All I had to do was summon a servant waiting outside of the room.

I knew it. If youre a hero, you gotta hunt a dragon at least once in your life.

These last few days taught

that, indeed, your performance ant everything in this world!

Sir Hero is the saviour of our kingdom, after all. Within the powers of the kingdom, we should do everything we can for you, Sir Hero.

The princess smiled in a rather beautiful way while looking right back at . However, I felt this ominous chill run down my backside just then.

Im grateful for your kindness, Your Highness.

Oh, no. It is unnecessary to thank us, Sir Hero.

Even so, only a third-rate would show that on his face.

Thanks to a smile naturally breaking out on my face, it seed that the princess failed to notice anything.

Besides all that, though. Just what couldve caused that foreboding just now?

Could it be that the instructor was trying to flee again?

But I had already told Hill and Selena to intensify their monitoring of Alice just in case. Unlike , those two seed to have beco rather close to the little girl, you see.

In any case Did sothing happen, Your Highness? Suddenly paying

a visit like this and all.

Was the kingdom-wide national tour about to finally begin or sothing?

I an, even if this kingdoms political system was broken, the nobles shouldve still lodged various requests until now.

No, not at all. But Im a little disappointed by that, Sir Hero. Yesterday, we promised to et again today, didnt we?

But the reply coming back in my way was in the form of her adorably complaining.

She puffed up her cheeks slightly and frowned in mock anger. But even a dummy could tell that she was putting on an act.

Oh. My apologies.

Even as I apologised, this odd feeling didnt want to leave

alone.

When the dragon attacked this kingdom, did the creatures breath attack land in a not so good place or sothing? Did that cause the massacre of all the nobles involved in politics?!

By now, more than a few places wouldve called out to , yet the only person Ive t until now was just the princess.

Hmpf~. Sir Hero, what could possibly be on your mind even though Im right here beside you? The princess slightly turned her gaze away at my apology and asked

while sounding a little peeved.

And I ended up spitting out whats in my mind, which wasnt like my usual self. Its just that aristocrats wanting to et

would show up by now, you see.

Ah! So that was your concern! The royal court has been blocking all of their attempts in consideration for you, Sir Hero. Because weve prioritised Sir Heros comfortable stay in our kingdom.

Ah.

I had to admonish myself a little just then.

Repeatedly rejecting the requests of the nobles wouldve placed the royal family at a great disadvantage, after all!

They were doing all that for , but here I was, thinking that the royal family of this kingdom was useless in politics!

I can only express my gratitude at Neidon Kingdoms kindness once more.

But Sir Hero, we are not strangers anymore, yes? Its quite alright.

We were indeed complete strangers, but no need to point that out right now, thinks.

Since I had nothing much to say, lets just smile and brush it aside.

Just like yesterday, my chat with the princess lasted for about one hour. The topics ranged from the tales within the kingdom to things more personal in nature.

Most of the things we talked about were things like the royal family feeling troubled by the nobles continuously sending wedding invitations or my instructor helping them with coming up with new types of snacks. A range of things about that wide.

I had no idea that my instructor was talented in cooking, as well.

Ah, yes. Desserts created according to Sir Naruans instructions are quite high-class and, apparently, beloved by the ladies-in-waiting and maidservants of the court.

Oh, I see.

We have received help various tis from Sir Naruan these past few days.

That made sense since my instructor was employed in the imperial court once upon a ti, after all.

The unofficial top dog in the imperial court, the Imperial Princess, was still obsessively chasing him even after all this ti so yeah, one shouldnt doubt his skills being top-tier.

I see. As his disciple, I feel proud that my instructor has been a great help to the kingdom.

Unfortunately for , I still had no idea even at this mont.

No idea what kind of help the princess was receiving from the instructor.

No idea that all this was his underhanded sche to escape from !

And about two weeks after that day

Right until I finally got to et soone from the royal court who wasnt the princess

Like a nave idiot, I relaxedly spent my days without realising that I had beco a caged bird.

***

Thank you, thank you so much! Sir Saint!

Ah, no. It was nothing at all.

Our dear Shuttle-gun was smiling gently at a woman tearfully thanking him. [1]

Well, then. Next person, please!

The soldier dispatched by the royal court saw the tearful woman leave, then called out to the next person in line to step up.

This ti, it was an old man in his seventies. He received the healing magic from the saint and like the woman before him, shed tears of gratitude while walking away.

And then, the soldier called for the next in line again

-Master, this whole thing totally sucks.

-As expected of a shuttle

Watching the continuous repetition of the exact sa event gradually sapped my, and the tal bats, energy.

Halt! Its ti for a break!

Sir Saint needs a rest, everyone!

Our dear Shuttle-gun was a human, after all.

His warm smile was still there, but his gradual exhaustion was getting more noticeable now. The soldiers dispatched by the royal court quickly moved to block the crowd and loudly announced a break in proceedings.

Well, the patients needing urgent care were taken care of first, so I figured that the remaining citizens wouldnt raise the voice of discontentnt anyway.

-If they do complain, then they are just a shaless bunch, master.

-If kindness continues on, people start to think that its their right. If it was your turn to get the treatnt only for it to stop without warning, you will forget that this was a free service in the first place and start complaining right away.

In that sense, you could easily tell that the subjects of this kingdom trusted their royal family quite a lot.

From the information I managed to collect while participating in the free treatnt service, it seed that the popularity of the royal family among the kingdoms subjects was quite sky-high. That included the prince, who showed up to inconvenience us rather greatly back then, as well as the Ice Cream Princess who got kidnapped by the dragon.

Rather unfitting for royals, they would often appear before their subjects and regularly perford acts of charity.

Thats why, when the dragon ca crashing in and kidnapped the princess, so citizens volunteered to join the expedition even though they were trembling in fear!

And this was why my plan was progressing along quite smoothly, too!

I greeted the soldiers. Thank you for all your hard work, everyone.

Not at all, sir. Its all thanks to you, Sir Naruan, and Sir Swinn that our kingdom managed to survive the calamity.

Not only that, to think that Sir Hill Shuttle the Saint would personally treat our citizens

As expected of the people from the Order of Nature overflowing with benevolence!

Hey, youre actively insulting

right now

Besides all that though, the Order of Nature is overflowing with benevolence, you say?

One or two folks saying that would be nothing more than casual nonsense you could just dismiss out of hand. However, weve been hearing that from basically everyone, so could it be that the goddess, the hero, and the saint over here were the only weird ones in the Order?

Is it alright for

to chat to the citizens?

Of course, sir!

The hero punk stuck Mister Shuttle and the elf next to my daughter, but too bad, my purpose right now wasnt to flee.

Even if I ran away now, they would no doubt capture

in no ti at all. So, there was no need to do sothing unnecessary and make them even more suspicious of !

No, what I needed to do right now was to create unbreakable shackles that would hold the hero punk down in this place!

Well, then. Do you all rember where I stopped in my tale?

When the evil dragon kidnapped our princess!

Ah, I see. Thank you for that.

Words of gratitude didnt have enough of an impact, so I followed up with gifts of biscuits baked by the maids of the royal court, too.

I could even guarantee the taste since I leaked the secret recipe given to

by the chefs of the imperial court.

Thank you, Sir Sage!

These young kids seed to know a fair bit of etiquette because they bowed their heads to

first before sharing the biscuits among their friends to eat.

Well, now. Why dont I start my tale, then? Once Sir Hero found out about the princesss kidnapping

Even if the princess wasnt beloved by the subjects, my stories wouldve turned her into a superstar.

But her popularity in this kingdom was already at its peak even before I began!

As such, all I needed to do here was just add a little bit of spice, and that was enough for the kids to get utterly engrossed in my storytelling.

The tale involved the kidnapped princess and the dashing hero rescuing her. The hero who also happens to be her lover!

Sure, he was not originally her lover, but you still needed to add so spice if you wanted to complete a delectable tale for all ages.

The kids were listening to my story with such great intrigue on their faces!

Looking at them reminded

of my daughters face. Reminding

that we havent spent a lot of ti together recently

Please wait a little bit more for , my dear child The mont I successfully shackle that insidious hero, I swear to take you and bounce outta this damn kingdom!

And so, the evil dragon was defeated. Her Highness the Princess and Sir Hero returned to the kingdom to live happily ever after.

Woaaaaah!

These kids were at the age where they wouldve enjoyed these kinds of tales regardless of what. But then, they already knew that my story was based on actual events.

How could they not know? A massive dragon flew right past their heads not too long ago, after all!

How scared would they have been?

A massive bundle of pure terror only heard in legends was flying right past their heads!

But when the brave hero slew the dragon, that terror instantly transford into respect and awe of him.

To think that he bravely faced such a massive creature all by himself when humans were supposed to be too weak to do so!

Not only that but to save his beloved (at least in my fake story) princess, too!

Sir Hero is soooo cool!

As expected of Her Highnesss boyfriend!

A few kids overflowing with empathy and emotion even broke down in tears from my tale.

This much was a massive success in my book.

And it wasnt just so kids listening to my story right now. Unlike these kids, the adults listening in from the side knew who I was. And theyd be under the impression that my tale was all true.

Technically speaking, I wasnt lying here, of course. Excluding the setting of the two protagonists in love with each other, I was simply reporting on what I personally witnessed and experienced, wasnt I?

The kids and adults leaving one by one began spreading the rumour quite enthusiastically.

So would talk about it while drinking with their buddies. So would use it as a bedti story for their own children, while so would present what they heard to bards at a suitable price, too!

As a result, I heard that a revamped version of my tale, spiced up to beco an even more heartwrenching love story, was doing its rounds near the royal capital as we speak.

The originators of this particular version were various bards, of course! These folks, who lived or died according to their gift of gab, turned my tale into an even more fantastic fairy tale before spreading it around. Even though my tale mostly consisted of dry facts, minus a few additions!

As expected of folks who made a living through telling stories

they could easily figure out what happened to be the most trending topic right now!

And so, the bards throughout the kingdom began spreading the Hero of Light Sir Swinns epic tale while maintaining its solemn and emotional core.

Thank you for helping out today as well. Our dear Shuttle-gun, who worked like a slave ant today, smiled at

and expressed his gratitude.

Poor guy, failing to notice that my plan was gradually progressing forward every ti we ca outside the royal castle.

Ah, no, Sir Saint. My apologies for not being more helpful.

I heard that youve been entertaining all those waiting to receive my treatnt, sir. That alone has been a great help to us.

Seeing Shuttle-guns genuinely grateful expression caused a pang of guilt to stab

in the heart just a bit. But quitting just because of this would make

a failure of a forr employee of an evil organisation!

Its just a way to pass the ti, Sir Saint. I, too, smiled back at Shuttle-gun.

Of course, I didnt forget to gently remind him that Id be in his care for tomorrow, as well!

And so, with every passing day, the hero punks popularity soared higher and higher until it could pierce the heavens. But he never made a public appearance even then, further enhancing the air of mystery surrounding him.

And around the ti the fantasies involving the hero had reached a fever pitch

When should we start, Sir Sage?

Mm. I think now would be an ideal ti to start working on the nobles, Your Highness.

The princess and I began winning over various nobles to our side, one at a ti.

[1]: gun is basically the Korean version of kun in Japanese. Pronounced as goon, its an affectionate honorific usually attached to a male friend of the sa age or soone younger.