When I said, "You can be a hero," to a child with no talent, he really started to become a hero, so I acted like I knew what I was doing, like I was a wise master. - Chap 15.3: Hot Springs

Since Will had nowhere to stay, I reluctantly decided to soak in the bath together with him. But to try to expose my true identity through my lower half… Perhaps this is to be expected of a disciple?

Well, I can still deceive him about that. And as we soak in the bath and chat about various things, Will asks me an in-depth question.

“What do you think about Hero Dan?”

“I think he’s Hero Dan, but…”

“No, no, I don’t mean that… Like earlier, I want to hear more of an in-depth opinion, you know…”

No, that’s me though… Asking me what I think about myself… Since I’ve run out of things to talk about, I was thinking of moving on to love stories, but then he asks this question…

What does he mean by wanting to know more in-depth? Saying that I’m just an average guy with a mask, or saying I can’t take off my mask because I was acting arrogant, that’s the truth.

I can’t say it. I’ve decided to take this to the grave. But praising Hero Dan as amazing is also embarrassing, and I don’t want to praise myself.

“It’s not really a big deal, is it?”

“What…?”

“I mean, um, I don’t think it’s anything special. The reason for wearing the mask doesn’t seem to mean much, and there’s a feeling of doing things haphazardly. Well, it seems like a laid-back approach.”

“What? That’s not true at all! Hero Dan is an incredibly amazing person! I owe a lot to you, Ban, but Hero Dan is truly extraordinary! Please don’t speak ill of him!”

“Oh, okay.”

How much does he like me? However, since he’s said this much, I can’t really continue to put myself down. Let’s lift up Hero Dan, or rather, myself, just a bit. Will also seems like he might be in a bad mood.

“But speaking of Hero Dan, he’s defeated various demon kings. Do you have a favorite battle among them, Will?”

“I love all of them!”

“Oh, I see.”

“B-b-but, I’ve been rewatching Hero Dan’s story recently, and I’m hooked on the battle with the Immortal King Ifrit! Well, I’ve always been hooked on it.”

“Hmm, Immortal King Ifrit, huh? Ah, he was the demon king with a rather troublesome grace gift, right?”

“Yes! He had a wicked grace gift called ‘Past Preservation Backup’! In my mind, he’s among the strongest class of demon kings Hero Dan has ever fought! Well, all the demon kings are the strongest class, actually!”

“I see… if I remember correctly, he could preserve his body in the past, and if he died, he could use that to repair and resurrect himself, right? Moreover, the past is saved every second, so he practically has an infinite number of bodies.”

“You know it well!”

Well, I did fight him.

“It was truly amazing… Hero Dan and Immortal King Ifrit supposedly fought for three days straight! It seems like it was a real deathmatch! Three days, you know? Three days!? But in the end, Hero Dan somehow managed to defeat him… This part is vague, and I don’t understand it well. Some say he shaved off his life to seal him, but that’s just a theory, a rumor, you know…”

Ah, that’s not true. That demon king wasn’t all that strong. It was basically a one-punch deal… but the “Past Preservation Backup” grace gift was troublesome. No matter how many times I defeated him, he kept resurrecting. But since I had the self-proclaimed Hero’s blessing “Brave Spirit,” I could move infinitely with a feeling like unlimited stamina recovery, so the battle was a stalemate.

It was pretty much like a grindy game, where I was beating down the demon king for three days straight until he finally broke down mentally and committed suicide. Well… I couldn’t exactly say that I killed him in such a gruesome way, so I vaguely said something like, “I risked my life to, um, seal him?” That’s how I dodged the question. No, I mean, I couldn’t tell Lin that back then, right?

“Oh, you… killed him in such a horrible way? Three days of infinite beatings…”

“Infinite beatings” sounds cool, and I actually like it, and it’s registered as one of my special moves… but I can’t let it be known publicly, right?

No way, no way, I definitely couldn’t tell Lin. Or Sakura either. Sakura is gentle, and it would clearly strengthen my evil image. A hero who infinitely beats a demon king for three days is pretty crazy, isn’t it?

Even though I’m the one who did it, I think I’m insane. I find it disturbing myself, so others would be even more taken aback.

“It really is amazing… it’s a legend.”

“Yeah.”

“But… through that accumulation, Hero Dan…”

Will’s face looks somewhat dark. Ah, maybe he’s connecting the curse of the Curse King and this incident. They are completely unrelated, and I’m totally fine, but… let’s just leave it at that.

“But man, Will is so easy to read. At this rate, he’s going to slip up someday. I mean, I’m like a deterrent, right? Whether it’s taking on an apprentice, retiring, or if the curse gets exposed, that would be bad.

But Will is quite transparent, so… maybe it’s better to toughen him up a bit.

“What did you say about Hero Dan?”

“Eh!? N-nothing at all!”

“By the way, Will, are you using the Sword of the Beginning?”

“Y-yes, I am.”

“Real?”

“It’s real!”

“Really? Where did you get it?”

“Used––’

“––You got it from the person himself?”

“Wh-!!!!!!!!!!?’

No, no, no, that’s too obvious. His mouth is gaping open, wide enough for a Merlion to emerge from. It’s that obvious. Seriously, he’s so transparent that someone is bound to suspect or get suspicious in the future.

At that time, if he reacts like this, the chances of being exposed will increase. Well, maybe I’m thinking like this because I know all the circumstances.

“N-no, no way! I got it from an antique shop!!”

“Eh? Really?”

“Y-yes, it’s true”

“Where is that shop?”

“Eh, ehh? Uh, in the royal capital…”

“Hmm, so you’re a regular there?”

“N-no, that’s not it”

“Can you prove that the sword is really the Sword of the Beginning?”

“Right now, that’s, um, impossible. But I mean, it’s real…”

“What? But isn’t it strange to assert that a sword you bought from a second-hand shop, without even being a regular customer, is real? If you trusted the shopkeeper and bought it, I could understand. But it doesn’t seem like that, and there’s no proof that it’s real. But you’re asserting that it’s real… like you believe it from the bottom of your heart. Isn’t it a bit unnatural for you to buy it from an unrelated second-hand shop? Wait, did you really buy it from an antique shop?”

“N-no, well, that, uh, what do I say…”

Maybe I should leave it at that. It’s pitiful, and his eyes are darting all over the place as he searches for an excuse… But I think Will should really learn a little bit more about having a poker face and telling lies.

I’m a bit worried that he’ll just charge forward with reckless honesty in a battle… I have surprisingly high expectations of him, so I wish he’d try a little harder. Though I won’t say it out loud since he’s already doing his best.

“Liar, liar, sorry, huh? You must’ve trusted the shopkeeper at first glance because he seemed extremely reliable, right?”

“Y-y-y-yes, exactly! Wow, he was such a trustworthy person!!”

Hmm, he really is pure… But it’s a bit wicked of me to press him like this and then follow up myself. I mean, I’m the type who’d do an infinite beatdown, so I guess I’m unexpectedly wicked.

But it’s for Will’s sake, so I’ll keep poking at our relationship from time to time. No one else will pry as much as I do, and if he gets used to me, he’ll be fine to some extent.

But doing something like this would’ve earned me the label of “pleasure-seeking” rascal in my previous life… You know, orchestrating everything myself, then teasing him and finally supporting him…

Well, it’s fine. I’ve pushed him enough to feel a little sorry for him, so let’s make sure he eats plenty for dinner. It’s pretty expensive, so eat to your fill. It would be fun to have such a good young man like Will with his parents, too.