Ch.5959 – Tales of Adventure from a Retired Former Hero

<59 – Adventure Tales of a Retired Former Hero>

In this world, there exist beings known as heroes.

“You, child of humans with talent surpassing all others. The sole deity of the continent, Sophia of the Sun, chooses you. Become a hero and embark on your journey to vanquish demons.”

The deity possesses eyes that can discern talent, seeing through human potential. Through their priests, they bestow divine protection upon children with heroic qualities.

Heroes who receive this blessing grow rapidly, viewing status screens and receiving quests like players.

And there’s one more thing.

A powerful privilege granted only to heroes.

The ability to declare “You, become my companion!” and make other NPCs their allies.

While these companions are also called heroes, unlike true heroes, they cannot receive “quests,” known as the goddess’s guidance.

This means that if the true hero dies or their journey ends, these companions lose their way, not knowing what to strive for.

The retired former hero <Destroyer> was one such lost pseudo-hero.

“Aren’t you tired? You just suffered abuse from that crazy statue guy.”

“Not at all! I paced myself while running here.”

The professor’s magical timepiece showed not a mark of skipping class, but rather points for excellent attendance. The student knew how to push their stamina to the limit while also possessing remarkable recovery abilities.

‘The qualities of a hero, as they say. This one meets the minimum requirements.’

Moreover, they never frowned and genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves.

They possessed the masochistic mental fortitude unique to heroes who treat difficult trials as enjoyable routines.

In other words, an excellent talent in both body and mind.

‘Above all, they pursue what they want to do more clearly than anyone else. Just like a true hero.’

Their confident movements and actions reminded him of the eccentric behaviors that the former hero Niallatotep used to display.

‘That hero was quite self-centered too. Perhaps all true heroes beloved by the gods have such personalities?’

He closed his book with a thud, folding away his unnecessarily complicated thoughts along with it.

“Fine. If you want a lecture so badly, I’ll give you one.”

“Yay~”

As Oknodie clapped with excitement, Professor Destroyer began with a disgruntled expression.

“<Adventure Tales of a Retired Former Hero> is a lecture where I share strange stories that a hero party encountered, heard, or experienced during their adventures, and you complete related assignments.”

“The first story for our first lecture is <The Sheep That Never Decrease>. A tale that gave even the hero of reversal quite the creepy feeling.”

Destroyer began his story, recalling his distant past.

* *

About 15 years ago.

There was a village on a meadow in an impoverished remote area where shepherds gathered to graze their sheep.

Powerful monsters appeared in the rough terrain untouched by humans, but the fertile plains had the exploitation of lords. It was a village naturally formed by shepherds who chose to be neighbors with monsters.

<Subjugation Request>

Please find and resolve the reason why our village’s sheep are disappearing.

Reward: 5 gold coins, Guild’s Certificate of Appreciation, Title [Savior of the Mountain Village]

The newly formed hero party, having just registered with the guild, needed not only money but also more achievements.

To embark on proper heroic adventures, the fastest way to advance in the adventurer’s guild was to collect multiple “village savior” titles to earn the <Savior of Remote Villages> title.

“Could it be wolves?”

“Boring. We already found wolf fur.”

“Hmm~ This request is quite interesting.”

Niallatotep, the chosen hero and sorcerer.

Alpha, his first companion and excellent warrior.

Destroyer, his second companion and apathetic thief.

The three quickly found the wolves’ den and killed five of the twelve wolves targeting the sheep, driving away the remaining seven.

The strange thing was that all the wolves were so thin their ribs showed, and there was no evidence they had hunted any sheep.

“Another monster perhaps?”

“This is troublesome. There’s no trace of other monsters.”

“Interesting. Just as I expected. Hehe.”

Niallatotep said:

“Haven’t you all noticed?”

“What?”

“The monster.”

“Are you saying it’s not wolves but people?”

“Destroyer’s idea isn’t bad, but there’s something more interesting. Why were there no traces of other monsters? With hundreds of delicious sheep in a remote village like this.”

“Now that you mention it, it is strange. If this were a village where the lord regularly cleared out monsters, I could understand, but there’s no way such benefits would exist in a village of fugitives who abandoned their tax obligations.”

The shepherds seemed unaware of the reason, and the inexperienced rookie hero party at that time couldn’t reach the root of the problem, ending the request prematurely.

They consoled themselves that they had completed the request by catching the wolves targeting the sheep.

“It’s been ten years since I last visited this village.”

Destroyer, now alone, revisited the shepherds’ village.

After finishing his adventures and reflecting on the past, curiosity about the old incident brought him back.

The village still had a request posted about missing sheep, and the village chief wore a face full of worries.

“Huh?”

Destroyer, now a veteran hero, felt a strong sense of dissonance in the village’s appearance.

He decided to ask the village chief a few questions.

The chief said it was getting late, so he would answer only three questions before attending to his duties.

* *

“Now it’s time for new student Oknodie to step up. Imagine yourself as the veteran hero Destroyer and ask the village chief three questions.”

“I’ll answer as if I were the village chief myself.”

This is indeed interesting.

The <Adventure Tales of a Retired Former Hero> lecture takes the peculiar form of listening to a hero’s adventure and responding as if you were the hero yourself.

It’s a brain-torturing session after mercilessly abusing the body, but that makes it all the better for someone like me.

‘They say Professor Destroyer’s stories are different every time.’

One might expect the story to follow the same pattern at some point, but strangely, it’s different every time.

Moreover, the content is always fascinating.

“The hint has already been given. This is a story about ‘The Sheep That Never Decrease.’ The hero’s sense of dissonance must be related to the sheep. The fact that the same request from 10 years ago is still posted also implies that the root cause hasn’t been resolved.”

Professor Destroyer scratched his beard and looked at me with an expression that said, “Look at this one.”

“Are the shepherds from before still in the village?”

“Is that a question for the village chief?”

“Yes.”

“The village chief would answer like this: Most have left the village, and new shepherds have filled their places.”

That’s quite a valuable answer.

“So the new shepherds didn’t know what was happening in the village. Neither did the lord. The incidents here are occurring very discreetly.”

I extended my index and middle fingers simultaneously.

“My second question: How many adventurers have accepted this request over the past 10 years, how did they complete it, and what was their survival rate?”

“Due to the modest reward for coming all the way to this remote village, we’ve had maybe one or two visitors a year at most. Some caught nearby wildlife or monsters, others taught us how to set up fences and thorny vines. Occasionally, some adventurers never returned, perhaps having encountered monsters in the deeper areas.”

“May I see the request notice?”

“Is that your third question?”

“Um… no! I thought I might be able to see the latest request posted in the village without using a question.”

“I see. Take this.”

The professor reached into his chest and pulled out a laminated piece of paper.

What was blank paper when he took it out transformed into an old adventure request notice by the time I received it.

<Subjugation Request>

Please find and resolve the reason why our village’s sheep are disappearing.

Reward: 6 gold coins, 15 silver coins, Guild’s Certificate of Appreciation, Title [Savior of the Mountain Village]

A player might dismiss this as a <Repeatable Quest>, but this is an experience from an NPC hero party, not a player.

There’s always a reason why an incomprehensible quest is repeated for 10 years.

Above all, the reward has increased.

Considering that the number of sheep in the village remains the same and most of the original shepherds have left, yet they’ve paid rewards each time, this amount is excessive.

“My last question: Who is the merchant who buys sheep from this village, and when can I meet him?”

“A fellow named Benjamin. You can meet him soon when winter comes. Will you be staying until winter?”

I’ve pretty much figured it out.

“That’s all for the questions. Destroyer then walked around the village once and solved the case. Can new student Oknodie solve it?”

“Let me take a look around too.”

“What do you want to check while walking around the village?”

“I’d like to examine the sheep directly.”

“Then you’ll see sheep lying down sleeping in the meadow, standing still, or occasionally waddling around, along with the leisurely daily life of the shepherds.”

Well, it wasn’t a difficult problem, fitting for the first lecture.

“There were no sheep grazing on grass, were there?”

“You’ve caught on.”

“Can I give the answer?”

“By all means.”

“Initially, it might have been sheep that decreased, but over time, it was the shepherds who decreased. They must have employed a very creepy strategy to avoid being caught by adventurers.”

“And what strategy was that?”

“They stuffed human corpses or missing people inside sheep skins.”

Destroyer grinned.

“Correct.”