I munched on a strawberry while surveying Nameless’s room.
I hadn’t really had time to examine it closely, since I usually swung my sword all day and did all my meals in my own hut. This was basically my first proper look around.
After all, I’d made a few awkward mistakes every time I entered Nameless’s room.
Maybe that’s why Nameless seemed a bit hesitant about calling me into his room.
“Tch.”
What a narrow-minded guy.
Making me feel awkward about stepping into his room just because I slipped up a couple of times,
Honestly, Nameless was still immature.
When Nameless raised an eyebrow at me shaking my head and clicking my tongue, I turned away because I didn’t want to see that expression and popped another strawberry into my mouth.
I tried to keep my lips straight, but my facial muscles quivered uncontrollably.
Anyway, Nameless had built this room himself, and it seemed like him doing it alone without my help made it less polished than my hut.
If only he’d accepted my offer to help with a grateful nod back then, but he adamantly refused.
At the time, his expression clearly said that my help would be more of an obstacle than anything else.
“Tch!”
I scanned the surroundings, trying to find any flaw to point out, thinking that would make Nameless regret rejecting my help, smiting the ground in regrets.
Hehe…
Just the thought of it made me smile.
But…
Huh?
‘Is it better built than mine?’
I couldn’t find a single flaw. What had looked clumsy before now appeared impressively finished, using thin threads to improve the finishing touches and the floor was nicely flat.
Something felt off.
A guy who’s younger than me, and a disciple at that, is better at building a house than I am?
As I realized this shocking truth, my mouth hung open, and the strawberry I had just popped in fell to the ground.
Seeing my reaction, Nameless tilted his head, concern etched on his face, then opened his mouth.
“Master?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Honestly, it hurt more to see him with that worried expression.
‘It feels like something precious is wearing out…’
I decided to stop the sad thoughts and picked up the fallen strawberry.
‘Sweet.’
While I was happily munching away, Nameless, feeling the awkward silence was a bit uncomfortable, initiated a conversation.
To be honest, I understood how he felt.
If I had a strict and scary master sitting silently next to me, I’d want to say something too.
“Master, I heard a few things while I was in the village.”
I quickly swallowed the strawberry to respond.
Gulp—
“Cough—Cough!”
“Master..?”
I choked a little too fast, so while I coughed, Nameless rushed over with water and patted my back.
Gulp gulp—
“Cough—Huff! I nearly died…”
“Are you okay?”
Seeing Nameless looking at me with those pitiful eyes felt strangely painful, so I just nodded lightly and quickly changed the subject.
“Hmm, about that story…”
Honestly, I wasn’t that interested.
Nameless had told me tales from the village before, and they hadn’t been particularly useful.
Back then, when I showed a lackluster response, he never mentioned village stories again, but did he really have some important information this time?
‘Well, listening won’t hurt.’
It would serve as a nice distraction, so I nodded as if to say, ‘Go on, I’m listening.’
Nameless cleared his throat in a light tone.
“Apparently, a Hero chosen by the Holy Sword has appeared.”
“Wha-?”
However, what he said was rather, no, incredibly important information.
In most fantasy genres, heroes pop up, but there are also stories without them.
Even if I knew this place was a fantasy world, I had no idea what exact story it was, so hearing that a hero had appeared was quite the high-level intel for me.
‘Until now, the only info I had was that this is a fantasy world and there’s an academy.’
Sometimes, some stories refer to every student at the academy as heroes, but since Nameless was specifically telling me about a hero, this world likely only had one.
And if there’s a hero, it means there’s also bound to be a Demon King as their nemesis.
‘Academy and Hero.’
As I tried to dig through my distant memories,
my head started throbbing like I was overloaded.
‘I still need more info.’
I really should listen to this story properly.
I put both hands on the floor and crawled over to Nameless, thrusting my face towards him.
“Do you have more information about that hero?”
Suddenly, seeing his slightly furrowed brow told me something was bothering him—did he not like me showing interest in someone other than himself?
‘No way, right?’
It just seemed like he was startled by my sudden approach.
Waiting in silence, trying to be considerate of his surprise, I heard Nameless respond in a somewhat icy tone.
“…First off, he said he feels a little off mentally.”
“Feels off mentally?”
I couldn’t wrap my head around that—hero and mental issues didn’t even seem to fit together.
‘Wait, is that wrong?’
It could be plausible in a grim story.
Yet it was still hard to understand, so I pressed for more details.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘off’?”
“Uh, apparently, right after he received the Holy Sword’s choice, he threw up.”
“…Threw up? Like, he vomited?”
“Yes.”
What? The hero just got the sword and started throwing up?
Nameless looked at my dumbfounded expression, a smirk forming on his lips.
“Oh, and I think he also let out some unseemly curses that didn’t fit his stature.”
“…Huh?”
A weak delinquent of a hero, huh?
‘What is this…’
Even if he’s a character in a story, that’s a bit much.
‘Wait, have I ever read such a story?’
It was too distinctive to forget, yet I couldn’t remember any such thing.
My head began to spin as I furrowed my brow, and I thought I could sense a hint of laughter in Nameless’s voice, but that had to be my imagination.
“Oh right, I think I also heard that he clung to a woman he just met, crying like a baby.”
“…”
Is this okay?
The more I heard about this hero from Nameless, the more I worried about whether this world was okay, rather than questioning where I was.
‘Is this world doomed?’
A hero who clings to a woman and cries like a child?
Seeing my disgusted expression made Nameless smirk wider, but at my next question, his brow furrowed again.
‘Isn’t the hero supposed to be the protagonist?’
While it’s rare, there can be a possibility that the hero isn’t the main character.
For that kind of situation, there was one sure-fire question.
“Wait, then how does he look? What’s his appearance like?”
“…Why are you asking something like that?”
Nameless seemed reluctant to answer, but I needed to know, so I pressed.
“It’s important; so does he look good?”
To me, it was essential.
Isn’t that what we call coherence?
If he really was the hero and the protagonist this world, there had to be some coherence.
Even if he looks pathetic now, he could eventually become a grand and pure-hearted hero later on!
Nameless pouted for a moment, clearly displeased with my question, yet he wasn’t so unappealing that I couldn’t overlook it, considering he’s like a child I nurtured.
“I believe I heard he looks quite decent, but I’ve never seen his face, so I can’t say much.”
Hmm, decent means he’s a guy, I gathered another piece of information.
“Right… So you also only heard about him and don’t know for sure.”
That was definitely a question even Nameless wouldn’t know the answer to.
‘Maybe I should meet him once?’
That seemed like a tricky issue too.
Running into the hero might really twist the story’s plot.
‘Well, it was already tied up at the moment I met Nameless anyhow.’
As a headache started to surge, I popped another strawberry into my mouth.
Yum, definitely sweet.
My head was hurting too much, so I decided to leave the complex issues for my future self.
Honestly, when I thought about it, it wasn’t really a big deal.
Since Nameless is here, assuming there’s at least a smidge of narrative restraint in the story, the pathetic hero will eventually come looking for him.
Now that it’s clear the hero isn’t Nameless, it seems likely Nameless would be a companion of the hero.
The accurate appearance of the hero could be confirmed later.
Eventually.
It seemed I was being a bit too optimistic about it, but what can I do? Nameless wasn’t planning on going to the academy regardless of what happened.
Just earlier, I realized there’s a hero existing, so I recommended he make friends at the academy with that guy…
But I got a very antisocial response back about not wanting to befriend anyone.
‘Who does he take after?’
Tsk tsk, this useless disciple only worries his master.
“Ha, so about the hero, but was there anything else?”
For instance, the hero’s childhood friend, a mage or an elf guardian of the world tree or something.
This world could have its fair share of typical clichés as companions.
I asked with a bit of anticipation.
What came back exceeded my expectations.
“I don’t know if you’ll be interested, but I think they found a Saint a few months back.”
“Yeah, uh, they found a Saint.”
If there’s a hero, then it only makes sense there’s a Saint too.
‘Why didn’t I think of that earlier?’
In fantasy traditions, a Saint is a common partner to the hero, and surely,
that damned god must cherish them too, right?
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