88. Hall of Heroes
Compared to everywhere else, the sky above this place seemed strangely higher.
A sparkling hole shimmered in the heavens as if it were connected directly to outer space, slowly spilling rainbow-colored clouds down below. Beneath that ridiculously mystical spectacle stood a building that looked like a grand palace.
At the center of the palace was an enormous tower stretching high into the sky.
It glittered so brightly that even if someone got lost miles away, they could probably find their way back just by looking at it.
And that place was the Hall of Heroes.
Or Hall of Fame.
Whatever it was called.
Apparently, anyone who wanted to become a hero had to pass through this place at least once.
So I guess there was a reason they had gone overboard with all the mystical effects.
“Wow... I never thought I'd actually get to come here....”
“You're not the one becoming a hero. I am! Me!”
“Wow... I've always dreamed of visiting this place at least once.”
“Are you even listening to me?”
Aien stared up at the towering structure with sparkling eyes.
She sounded like she couldn't believe she was here, but the expression on her face was probably the happiest I'd ever seen her.
Since Aien was a knight, it made sense that she admired heroes.
I'd wondered whether traveling with me and constantly encountering Great Heroes might have made her impatient to become one herself.
But as expected of someone so diligent, there was no impatience or desperation in her eyes.
Only pure admiration.
Come to think of it, she was someone capable of smiling this brightly, yet I couldn't remember seeing her smile like this even once before.
That made me feel a little guilty.
“Good heavens. Merchants have made their way even here now. I suppose this shows just how powerful the Alliance has become.”
“Are all of them from the Alliance?”
“Most of them are Alliance merchants. I recognize a few of them as well. If you don't mind, may I go greet them briefly?”
“Well... we're not exactly in a hurry. Go ahead. You might pick up some useful information too.”
“Hoho, I shall return shortly.”
If he only wanted to say hello, he could have taken the rest of us along.
The fact that he deliberately went alone probably meant they weren't exactly the sort of people I wanted to become acquainted with.
Which, strangely enough, made me want to become acquainted with them even more and cause some ridiculous incident.
Yeah.
I should come back here with the Village Chief sometime.
“If the Alliance has this whole area covered, then Erol is probably going to hear that I'm here too, right?”
“Hmm! The Great Hero of Salvation certainly sounds like an annoying person!”
Levy was sticking closer to my back than usual.
There were a lot of people watching us, so she was probably being cautious.
She was likely preparing herself in case anyone suddenly tried to attack me.
When was Levy finally going to stop clinging to me?
If she learned that I was planning to completely wreck this game...
No.
Wouldn't she actually be even happier if she found out?
If that happened, wouldn't our relationship become something I could neither escape from nor properly deal with?
That thought genuinely scared me.
I'd sometimes imagined whether I could use the remnants of that world to bring people like the Village Chief, Mallang, Aien, or Pie into reality.
But Levy?
Please, no.
She was already more than troublesome enough.
“I don't exactly have good memories of this place.”
“Because you remember being chased by heroes?”
“Try fighting a Great Hero yourself sometime. You'll start being afraid of life.”
And yet she'd acted perfectly calm right in front of Grandpa Alo, an actual Great Hero.
She had even looked him straight in the eyes while shamelessly pretending nothing was wrong.
Even though she was a player now instead of an NPC, I could never pull something like that off.
The moment our eyes met, I would've immediately started acting suspicious.
“Ahhh... Why am I getting nervous?”
I fiddled with Mallang in my arms while staring at the huge entrance to the Hall of Heroes, my heart swelling with excitement.
Before entering the game, I'd been whining things like,
I still haven't escaped my past... At least Pie is beside me....
And now look at me.
I really was shameless.
“I'm the only one who needs to go inside, so you guys can just hunt around here or something. Aien, you need to get used to that sword anyway, right?”
I finally made up my mind and placed Mallang on top of Aien's head.
As for Levy, who refused to leave me alone, I'd ask the spirits to handle her.
It was time for me to go.
“Hmm. Feels like I'm about to take the college entrance exam.”
The Empire had said something about me earning the qualifications to enter the Hall of Heroes, but apparently they had become far too busy to pay much attention to me.
More and more players were appearing, after all.
New players were exactly the sort of people who might walk up to an NPC on the street and suddenly wonder,
Can I kill this guy?
And then actually punch them to find out.
The Empire was probably complete chaos right now.
My first NPC had been Pie, and at the time, my sense of reality had been so messed up that the thought of testing whether I could kill her had never even crossed my mind.
More importantly, they looked far too human.
Trying to murder someone just out of curiosity felt disturbing.
And now that I knew Pie, who had once been an NPC, had actually entered the real world, I felt even stronger resistance toward the idea.
Not that my combat instincts had become any softer because of it.
“Haa... Living is exhausting.”
I loosened up my body and started walking toward the palace entrance.
It was quite a distance away, and several merchants tried to drag me toward their shops along the way.
Their main customers seemed to be people who worked inside the Hall and adventurers convinced they had what it took to become heroes.
So couldn't they please leave me alone?
“Hey! Young man! You'll never survive the tower's trial with equipment like that! Look over here! This is way better than that worn-out armor you're wearing!”
“Hmm... It is probably about time I replaced my armor.”
I'd been using the same equipment I'd received back in Jageun Village.
The Village Chief had simply repaired it whenever something happened.
So yes, objectively speaking, it was definitely time for an upgrade.
Still, I thought of it as the Village Chief's first gift to me, so I'd taken good care of it.
But I suppose now was as good a time as any to replace it.
I was attached to it, and it contained the Village Chief's hard work, so I had no intention of throwing it away.
It could enjoy the honor of permanently occupying some forgotten corner of my inventory.
“Right?! I've got tons of good stuff here, so take a look!”
“We've never met before, so why are you talking so casually... Tsk. None of this looks particularly impressive. Are you sure it's good?”
“Can't you tell just by looking? Good grief! How can a future hero have such terrible eyes for equipment?!”
“I usually leave acquiring equipment to someone else.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk....”
The merchant had neatly polished several pieces of armor and displayed them across his stall.
While I looked through them, I heard someone loudly clicking his tongue nearby.
How did he manage to make that sound so clearly in such a noisy marketplace?
Did he put power into it?
If he was going that far, why not just shout like this merchant and attract customers normally?
I put down the armor in my hands and turned toward the sound.
There stood a middle-aged man whose entire appearance seemed to scream,
I am a master craftsman.
In front of him was a pile of rough-looking leather armor.
He was staring directly at me.
“Hey, mister. What's that guy's deal?”
“Hmm? Ah, him? He's just a stubborn fool who thinks he's some great craftsman. Look at that. He's actually displaying that junk and calling it merchandise.”
As someone who'd worn leather armor until now, though, I honestly found his equipment more appealing than the plate armor this merchant was selling.
And more importantly, my character concept had been drifting closer and closer toward something like a berserker or Viking.
At this point, I wouldn't even mind armor that showed a lot of skin.
I'd been exercising properly, after all.
“Hey, mister. You got something to say to me?”
“It pains me to hear the miserable cries of the wolves whose hides were carefully crafted into that outfit, only for its wearer to become fascinated by mass-produced pieces of metal.”
“Don't bring up wolves in front of me. My relationship with them isn't exactly pleasant.”
He had identified that my clothes were made from wolf hides with just one glance.
Back when they were new, it would've been obvious.
But after all the damage they'd taken, with pieces torn away here and there and parts burned by fire, barely any traces of the original wolves remained.
So his ability to recognize them was definitely impressive.
His personality, though...
He seemed like one of those stubborn old men.
Every sentence he spoke carried an entire bucketful of,
I'm amazing!
Still, if he had something good to offer me, I had no reason to dislike him.
And even if I ended up disliking him, I could do that after receiving everything useful first.
“See, young man? There's nothing special over there.”
“Hmph! Says the third-rate craftsman and third-rate merchant who buys roughly manufactured garbage and resells it while pretending he knows anything!”
“Hey, self-proclaimed master. Do you earn more than me? If you're making less money than someone as third-rate as me, then what does that make you?”
Hmm!
Interesting.
I hadn't even entered the Hall of Heroes yet, and I'd already stumbled into something entertaining.
If I'd known this would happen, I would've brought the others.
“Okay, both of you, stop. How about we do this?”
I picked one random piece of armor from the self-proclaimed master's shop and handed it to him.
Then I picked something decent-looking from the third-rate merchant's stall and put it in his hands.
“Put them on.”
“What? What are you suddenly talking about?”
“You're both confident in your products, right? You're selling this armor believing it can withstand the trials inside the Hall of Heroes, aren't you?”
“Of course! I may lack the money to use the finest materials, but I guarantee the quality of my craftsmanship!”
“That's some nice confidence. Anyway, both of you put your armor on. I'll give you the best advertisement you could possibly ask for.”
“H-Huh? What exactly are you trying to do?”
“What else?”
Bang!
I swung my fist hard enough to make the air explode.
I'd exaggerated the sound slightly by manipulating the flow, but to these two men, it probably looked threatening enough.
The third-rate merchant stared at me with huge eyes.
Meanwhile, the master craftsman seemed to understand immediately.
He casually started putting on the clothes he'd made himself.
Wow.
That was some incredible confidence.
I could never do that.
“You both put your armor on. I'll punch both of you. Whichever person is still fine afterward was telling the truth, right?”
“W-Wait! What kind of insane logic is that?! Hey!”
“If you're scared, you can back out. But if you tuck your tail between your legs and run away now, doesn't that mean that self-proclaimed craftsman over there was right about you being third-rate?”
“Hey! My equipment was made by a proven master craftsman! If you damage the merchandise with some ridiculous experiment, are you going to take responsibility?!”
That was when I remembered something important.
I gave almost all my money to the Village Chief.
He handled my finances in everyday life too, so the only cash I actually carried was enough to buy a few snacks.
Hmm.
Should I go find the Village Chief and borrow some money?
Sounds annoying.
Should I just pretend none of this ever happened?
“I'll take responsibility.”
A familiar voice.
The Village Chief!
Wow!
What incredible timing!
This wasn't even a café, so how did he manage to appear at the perfect moment just like he always did?
Unlike when we'd first departed, the Village Chief was now dressed more elegantly than every other merchant in the area.
His back had straightened recently, making him look bigger as well, and the aura around him was no joke.
Just going by presence alone...
Wasn't he almost on the same level as Grandpa Alo now?
And he'd arrived with a whole group of people behind him, making him look like the boss of some criminal organization.
Maybe I should stop calling him Village Chief and start calling him Boss.
“Y-You are...!”
“Shh.”
“Eek!”
Hey.
Village Chief.
