Exiled to the Graveyard of Heroes, I Revived Them All and Now an Unprecedented Nation of Legends Has Been Born - Chapter 18: The Hero of [Resurrection] Talks with a Friend

Chapter 18: The Hero of [Resurrection] Talks with a Friend

I told Noel everything.

When I finished, he slammed the table with a bang, rage twisting his voice as he cursed the Ixion Kingdom.

“That damn kingdom!! I never liked their methods to begin with, but so Elott’s execution really was a sham!!”

“Never liked them…?”

“…I suppose there’s no need to keep it secret anymore.”

At my puzzled look, Noel began to recount what happened after they’d defeated the wyvern swarm.

“The Ixion Kingdom claimed, ‘Our sponsored hero saved your nation,’ and demanded an outrageous sum of money from Bandelt.”

“What—”

I was speechless. In theory, I could understand the logic. If a hero backed by a kingdom saved another country, it wasn’t unheard of for them to expect compensation.

But still…

“Ixion never gave me any real support!! All I ever got was a stick to swing and enough coins for a single night’s lodging!!”

Back then, I had still been a kid. More than that, I’d been consumed by hatred and vengeance toward the monsters—I didn’t care about small details. All I thought about was killing monsters. Any money for living expenses, weapons, or armor I earned myself from bounties on monster hunts.

And yet they had the gall to say, “Our sponsored hero saved you,” then bleed a struggling nation for absurd sums of money when it desperately needed reconstruction funds!?

Ixion Kingdom—you’re absolute scum!!

“That reaction… I figured you didn’t know. When the kingdom threatened that if I told you, things wouldn’t end well, I’d already suspected as much.”

“S-Sorry, I had no idea at all…”

“No, Ixion was excellent at manipulating information. You’re kind of oblivious and you don’t care about politics, so you wouldn’t have noticed.”

Ouch. That hit home.

There had been a time when I traveled around, leveling up by hunting monsters so I could one day take on the Demon Lord. I’d stop by villages and towns, beat up monsters, and move on.

Maybe Ixion had been demanding payment from those places I visited back then, too.

Thinking that made me feel foolish—here I’d thought I was helping, but I hadn’t paid attention to the politics behind it. If I’d cared more about how Ixion moved, things might’ve turned out differently.

“I’m useless as a hero and as a person…”

“Don’t beat yourself up. Those Ixion folks who prey on others’ misfortune are the real villains. What you did was definitely helping people.”

“…Haha. Thanks.”

Noel must’ve panicked seeing me so down, because he quickly added:

“Also—no one in my country actually thinks you committed any crime! So don’t worry about that!”

“That… actually makes me happy.”

“Well, if anyone did think that, I’d half-kill them myself.”

“P-Please don’t. That’ll ruin your reputation.”

“Hahaha!! I’m the only heir, you know. I’m going to run the principality someday—no reputation to worry about, so relax.”

Not that his words put me at ease.

After Noel laughed, I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. But then his tone turned serious.

“Still… what should I do about Ixion, for disgracing you just because you grew too strong?”

“I’ll say this right now—don’t try anything reckless, alright?”

“Oh? You’re telling me to sit quietly while my country’s benefactor is insulted?”

“Exactly. I won’t drag a friend into my revenge. Even if Bandelt sided with us, it wouldn’t change much. The gap in national power is just too big.”

“…You speak plainly. I do have some pride in my country, you know. That stings a little.”

“Well, after seeing the Bandelt army just now…”

“…Mm. Fair enough.”

Noel himself seemed to acknowledge the issues with Bandelt’s forces.

Apparently, most of their skilled soldiers had been wiped out in the wyvern attack. To fill the gap, they’d recruited new men—but most of them had only enlisted because they were starving and needed the food and pay.

They trained seriously, yes, but when it came to actual combat, they froze up. That was the problem Noel was facing.

“Even on this expedition, just hearing about the damage Ixion took had many of my men shaking in fear.”

“Is that so… Wait, then why are you here at all?”

“Ah, I nearly forgot to explain. Ixion ordered Bandelt to ‘surround the mysterious tower and slay the humanoid monster that emerges from it.’ As if we could succeed where they failed.”

“So basically, they sent you as a stalling tactic. Still… knowing their vanguard got wiped out, why did you even agree to follow their orders?”

“They promised to cancel the unpaid portion of that so-called reward money if we went. That’s how I ended up marching out… and reuniting with you.”

Ah, I see.

That made sense—Bandelt was poor and desperate enough to gamble on such a reckless mission if it meant relief from their debts.

…Though that “humanoid monster” Ixion mentioned—were they talking about Silesta?

“Anyway, back to the point. It’s true that Bandelt is a small, weak nation. In terms of sheer strength, we could never stand against Ixion.”

“In that case—”

“But, Elott, do you know the real reason our little principality hasn’t been invaded by any other country until now?”

“…Because you’re a vassal state of a major power, right?”

“Mm. You must be Lady Silesta, yes? That answer isn’t wrong.”

Silesta smoothly set cups of tea in front of us and cut into the conversation.

Noel carefully sipped the tea through a small gap in his helmet.

“Mm, this is tasty. Lady Silesta, what tea leaves did you use?”

“Some weeds the Hero of [Field] casually crossbred into tea.”

“…Having so many heroes around is ridiculous.”

Noel drained his cup in one go and let out a confident chuckle from behind his helmet.

“True, being a vassal of Ixion helped, but we also fight with information.”

“Information?”

“Once, a country tried to seize our lands. So we exposed their geographic weaknesses and political scandals, even stirred up internal strife until they collapsed.”

“Bandelt is kind of terrifying.”

“This is what I mean by fighting with information. Whatever you want to know, Elott, our intelligence service can probably dig it up.”

“…Then can you tell me where the corpse of the Demon Lord I killed ended up?”

“Hm? Give us a month and we’ll find it.”

More than revenge on Ixion, I wanted to properly apologize to the Demon Lord I had slain. But I didn’t even know where its body was. If Noel could track it down, I’d be over the moon.

I bowed my head.

“Please, then.”

“I don’t really get why you want the Demon Lord’s body, but you’re my friend. Consider it done.”

Just then—

“El, Elott! Big news! Uh—whoa!?”

“Imuru? What—ugh!?”

“Ugggg…”

Imuru came running over in a panic, tripped on nothing, and barreled straight into me like a tackle.

Squish ♡ Jiggle ♡ Puff-puff ♡

When she fell, her ample chest smothered my face.

…So soft. No, wait—that’s not the point!!

“W-Wait, I-Imuru!?”

“E-Excuse me, Elott. Ah—was that a lucky pervert moment for you?”

“Don’t say that—get off me, now!!”

“…Imuru, don’t move an inch. Those tempting breasts of yours—I’ll tear them off.”

“Gyaaah!! Silesta!? N-No, you can’t rip them off!! Really, please don’t pull on my boobs!!”

Silesta, face blank but veins throbbing, lunged like she meant it—trying to rip Imuru’s breasts right off.

“So, what happened?”

“R-Right, that’s it!! The Hero of [Field] and the Hero of [Forest] started a war over whether the town around the tower should be farmland or forest—using man-eating cabbages and humanoid cypress trees as their soldiers!!”

“What are you even saying!? And why would a single town need both farmland and a forest!?”

“Your objection makes sense, but they’re already in a full-on fight, so hurry and stop them!!”

“Imuru, don’t be careless. It’s fine—if you get torn up, mister will resurrect you.”

“Ungghooh ♡ N-No, please, not the tips!!”

Silesta chased, Imuru fled, and in the middle of that chaos, Noel calmly sipped tea through the slit in his helmet, looking oddly content.

Meanwhile, I slipped away to break up the fight between the Hero of [Field] and the Hero of [Forest]. Things were getting way too chaotic.

…Back then, I had no idea.

That in the Ixion Kingdom’s capital, people infected by the Hero of [Love]’s ideology were already starting a revolution.

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[Afterword]

Quick Mob Hero Spotlight

The Hero of [Field] (Part 2)

After repeated cycles of “Growth,” his ability evolved. Now he can freely breed and modify plants, even creating man-eating vegetables. At this point, it’s basically genetic engineering. Strangely enough, the man-eating veggies are juicy, packed with nutrients, and surprisingly popular. The only catch is—you have to defeat them before you can eat them. Currently working on developing flying onions.

The Hero of [Forest] (Female)

She has the power to manipulate plants and trees. A gentle soul, but constantly clashes with the Hero of [Field], who keeps trying to turn everything into farmland. (Or at least, that’s what everyone thinks… the truth might be different.) She has an androgynous look and a surprising number of fangirls among the female heroes. Actually an elf. Her biggest problem lately? Back pain—thanks to her oversized chest.

The author’s craving for attention is peaking again—so if you thought this was funny, toss those ★s!

And if you thought, “Imuru almost losing her boobs was hilarious,” “Lucky pervert moment, bless,” or “Stop cramming so much info into the afterword lol,” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!