Return of the Former Hero

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!?