EP 16

▷Doubt: It is impossible to hunt the Chaos Dragon. It should have
already spent its life and returned to nature by the time the Hero
candidate has gathered reliable companions and become sufficiently
strong. This cannot be. It is not an achievement made possible by
returning in time. Is that not so?

‘Professor Morals, what’s a mere student like me supposed to know?’

I had only come to feast in the EXP of a pushover dragon whelp. I
would never have come had I known the current house owner was this
Oblivion Dragon King—though I ended up taking it down in the heat of the
 moment.

And besides that, I had obtained this:

■■□

This mosaic skill was still in an unactivated state, but I faintly understood how to active it.

Now! It was time to scratch the lottery ticket.

▷Startled: Student Kang Han Soo! Please wait! In days of old, it was
said to not chase after a dog whose owner you did not know. Would it not
 be better to leave it until the higher-ups finish looking into it? We
will figure it out quickly! Please wait until then!

Professor Morals left in haste and immediately after he did, an irrepressible sneer formed on my lips.

“Pft! An ownerless dog? Being the stiff-minded teacher that he is, he just doesn’t know.”

When a person is told not to do something, it’s only natural they
want to do it even more. The frail race of man reached the level of
taming fire at the end of their repeated foolery of touching the ‘hot
flower’.

Curiosity is what drove humans to progress.

Pandora’s box exists to be opened. If it wasn’t to be opened, then
its contents shouldn’t have been placed in a box to begin with.

This ‘box’ came from the teaching staff—I wasn’t to fault in any way.

“Now… Let’s see…”

The way to activate the skill was simple: the Oblivion Dragon King’s
heart. A jet-black heart(♥) the size of a tennis ball. Compared to the
surreal immensity of the dragon king which resembled that of a mountain,
 the source of its power, the heart, was much too small and cute.

Squish-squish.

Even its texture was too much! I thought it was a slime painted in black.

Now then, let’s leave these silly sentiments up to here and…

Gulp.

I swallowed the Oblivion Dragon King’s jelly-like soft heart in one
mouthful. Killing a dragon would end at gaining a large amount of EXP,
but upon consuming its heart you would gain EXP as well as inherit a
part of the dragon’s element.

The Oblivion Dragon King’s element was chaos. This heart would be the key to opening the mosaic skill.

Whooosh-!

I felt chaos raging within my body, as if it was being shredded apart
 by a blender. Those perverted Murim experts and swordmasters would
endure the pain like idiots while saying, ‘I’ll take on any pain so long
 as I can become strong!’, but I triggered a release of endorphin and
passed over it like watching a movie.

“… How dreary.”

I felt like I could slightly understand the thoughts of those
perverts who enjoyed pain. Right now, it was as if I was quietly waiting
 for a surgical operation to end with my mind wide awake.

What should I do to burn the time? If only someone sang me a song…

■■□ → ■■F

‘Oh! It’s finished.’

The place where the skill’s name should be was still in mosaic, but
the white mosaic had changed to show the rank F—this signified that the
skill had activated.

“Hmm. Should I call it Black-Box for now?”

‘Until I find out its real name, that is.’

In truth, what did it matter if a skill was called dog shit or cow shit? It would be a jackpot so long as its effect was good.

I utilized a status ability which I hadn’t used in a long time—to examine something in detail.

▷Type: Skill
▷Name: ■■
▷Rank: F
▷E: □□□□ □□□.
▷F: You will not forget.

All skills would gain an additional effect or an enhancement of an
existing effect when its rank rose. This examine function would cruelly
torture you, getting your hopes up by revealing the effect of the next
rank. However, even this was hidden by a mosaic for me and so I couldn’t
 see the E-rank effect.

“‘You will not forget’? Forget what?”

It seemed it would be interesting though—it smelled like a ‘cheat’ to me.

In all honesty, it wouldn’t matter even if it didn’t have an amazing
effect. It was good simply because of having baffled the teaching staff
who were so great as to send a normal person back in time.

Wasn’t that enough?

I began to make my way back in this joyful mood, to the village where the great being lived.

\*
\*
\*

“Hero-nim! Aren’t you too late?”

“I was worried something bad happened to you.”

The two muppets welcomed me the moment I arrived at the village.
Perhaps they had eaten a lot of rich food using my money, because their
skin was glossy and their complexion bright.

How long was it since they were grumbling about the dead Elf being
pitiful? They were living in comfort after selling off her remains.

Turning to look at Lanuvel, I asked, “How many days has it been since we parted?”

“Today makes it exactly 7 days. Hero-nim, what have you been doing in that time?”

“… You guys don’t know?”

How could they not know this?

“Yes. You didn’t tell us your plans, so how would we know? Sigh!
Don’t even get me started. While Hero-nim wasn’t here, the Dragon
Oblivion King Noebius, who was nowhere to be seen for an entire 500
years, showed up and laid waste to the middle continent. The heroic
characters of the continent stepped in, but they all failed and were
annihilated.”

“… I see?”

The fantastic combination of the Hero and Oblivion Dragon King… to slightly exaggerate, our adventure hadn’t left any survivors.

Oblivion Dragon King Noebius was so massive that it could be sighted
even from very far away, but being a human, my figure would be hard to
make out unless from close up. And even if a witness had good eyesight
and saw me, it would be meaningless.

Just how many people recognized the face of the Hero? And said face
was even covered in venom at the time, completely darkened. As for me, I
 was busy harvesting EXP by making use of the dragon king’s
dragonbreath, so I didn’t tell anyone I came across that I was the Hero.

In short, nobody was aware of the truth.

‘This situation, it might possibly…’

I swiftly pounded away on my mental calculator.

It wasn’t long before I came to a conclusion.

“You two, don’t be surprised at hearing this—I vanquished Oblivion Dragon King Noebius!”

This was an opportunity to raise both achievement and reputation.

“Hero-nim did?!”

“Gasp! Hero-nim is the one who…!”

“That’s right. The dragon king’s remains turned into EXP and so
disappeared, and even its heart, which is the sole evidence of the deed,
 was eaten by me on the spot, but you can be certain of it. If you can’t
 believe me then confirm it through informants. There’ll be no more news
 of the Oblivion Dragon King’s attack, I’ll bet?”

I told the dramatized version of what happened to Lanuvel and Porter,
 that one thing or another happened leading to the Hero slaying the
dragon. Naturally, I omitted the part where the Oblivion Dragon King,
who had been quietly spending its last moments in its nest, was woken
into a rampage by me.

If this got out, my reputation would eat dirt.

“Wow…! You’re really amazing! Dealing with a Five Disaster by yourself…!”

“I expected no less of you, Hero-nim!”

Perhaps it pricked that they had idling about in the peaceful
village, but the two muppets began to praise my feat, spit flying from
their mouths all the while.

Their reaction was very nice—they showed no signs of suspecting me.

‘Good! It’s a brilliantly perfect crime!’

In truth, I had been worrying about my reputation all the way until
arriving at the village, but these idiotic fantasy natives let
themselves be fooled into thinking Oblivion Dragon King Noebius’
appearance was a natural disaster. Thanks to that, there would be no
problems.

I would only be remembered as the wonderful Hero who took down the
dragon king… though whether people would believe in it remained to be
seen.

It was it had only been a mere fifteen days since I was summoned to
be a Hero. Going by the standard I had in the 1st Playthrough, in this
period of time I should have been struggling with the aversion to taking
 life until barely reaching Level 10.

Indeed. Level 10!

To a fifteen-day-old fledgling Hero, the Demon King and Oblivion
Dragon King were existences of another world far apart. Thinking along
these lines, the feat I achieved was impossible even when taking into
account the Hero’s perk.

It didn’t seem like the people would believe the truth that I had defeated the dragon king.

“We believe you!”

“That’s right!”

I didn’t dislike Lanuvel and Porter’s flattery. However, they could
believe in me unquestioningly because they had witnessed my actions at
the Orc settlement. The majority of this world’s natives, who didn’t
know of my capabilities, wouldn’t be like them.

Then what was I to do?

“… It’s simple. I just have to take down another one.”

They would believe the truth if I subjugated another powerful foe
such as the Oblivion Dragon King Noebius and presented the evidence—this
 was the ultimate solution that would be an achievement and at the same
time raise my fame.

The first time, when my Level was low, would be the hardest. Once you
 made a start, it would be simple work afterwards. Even when it came to
the Five Disasters, only the first subjugation was difficult whereas the
 rest were relatively easy.

The optimal schedule and course of action became lined up in my mind.

“Hero-nim, what are you going to take down again?” Lanuvel asked, naively tilting her head to the side.

I had been diligently nagging her and so thought she would act cute
less, but she returned back to how she was in the short time we were
apart. Putting aside correcting her for later, I answered the question.

“I’m gonna catch me another big one.”

A mass of EXP greater than a Five Disaster.

“What?! What about returning to our country? Now there’s only one day left until the promised orientation day with Mr. Alex.”

“Ah…! Alex…!”

I smacked my forehead.

How could I have forgotten that friend of mine?

No matter how blinded you become by fame and reputation, you mustn’t
forget about your ‘companions’. I would have simply overlooked this
matter had Lanuvel not reminded me of it.

I felt grateful to the point of kissing her chee-… Ah, maybe that’s too much.

“And Hero-nim.”

“Talk. I’m in a good mood right now.”

‘How should I cook Alex so that there’ll be rumors praising me?’

“This is what the Elf undertaker told me, but apparently the Elf
whose remains we secured was one of the guardian knights of Elfheim’s
queen. And do you know what’s even more surprising that this?”

“It must be that there was one of those knights back at the black market as well.”

“You’re right!”

It wasn’t even particularly surprising.

The average Level of Elves was around 100. Although it was without a
doubt that the Elves who had the blessing of anti-aging lived for
prolonged periods of time, there were extremely few among their warriors
 who had reached over Level 200 because they had less opportunities to
gather EXP compared to human mercenaries, to say nothing of Level 800.
As such, it was only natural that such individuals would be entrusted
with the heavy responsibility of protecting the queen.

In any case…

“Lanuvel. I get it clearly so shut up now.”

My patience was about to be exhausted.

“What?!”

“Bury the rest of what you have to say in your heart. Something like
the Elf King’s wife being taken away by a high-class demon and the
mission to search for her missing guardian knights isn’t of my concern.”

“…”

“What’s with that uncomfortable look in your eyes?”

The hussy was staring me as if I was ghost.

“Hero-nim. How did you know the truth about that?”

“It’s obvious. Yours truly has ten years of Hero-ing—… scheduled down
 the road. You can tell this much just by hearing the introduction.”

My sense for troublesome incidents was out of this world, though I
couldn’t avoid them because of my damned companions in the 1st
Playthrough and had to clean up the aftermath all by myself.

“Then what about that?”

“That?”

“That four-horse carriage rushing towards this village! It seems like its being chased by masked bandits!”

It was as Lanuvel described.

A magnificent carriage, drawn by 4 sturdy white horses. Although it
had no flag of identity, I knew about the silver fox symbol branded on
the carriage.

It was the mark of the Holy Empire’s first imperial princess.

She belonged to a huge country which reigned over the northern part
of the middle continent. The borders of that country was indeed close to
 this village.

Why an exalted imperial was crossing the border so urgently was obvious—it must be a purge.

‘Strange. There should still be about 5 years until the emperor kicks the bucket… Oh my!’

I recalled late the truth that the Oblivion Dragon King had collapsed
 the imperial palace. That was why the emperor must have died early, and
 the family discord between the ordinary crown prince and clever
imperial princess had already broken out.

This fight had ended in an overwhelming victory for the crown prince
in the 1st Playthrough. It was the result of the high nobles hoping for a
 pushover emperor rather than a clever empress.

As for the defeated imperial princess?

She curried favor with the Hero’s party using her beauty… until she rose to the seat of empress.

“She was a real devious woman…”

Porter wasn’t here as he had gone to the stables in preparation to
leave the village, while the villagers were cooped up in their homes in
order to avoid the summer heat. The only ones who had noticed those
uninvited guests were me and Lanuvel.

That being the case…

“… Wha-! A latest-model magic staff is flying up there in the east!”

“Really?!”

Lanuvel’s gaze turned toward the opposite direction of the carriage. In that moment, I inhaled, and then quietly exhaled.

“Hoo~~”

Although it couldn’t be compared to Oblivion Dragon King’s breath,
the poisonous gas I produced was blown out of my mouth towards the
four-horse carriage.

“Whinny~~?”

“Whinny~?!”

The horses which had been galloping hard let out death throes as they
 toppled down. Even the knight who had been busily whipping the horses
dropped down from the driver’s seat immediately afterwards.

Crash-!

The four-horse carriage was overturned in the middle of the road.

“Kagh?!”

“Poison…!”

The pursuers from the Holy Empire, who were hiding their identity
with masks, weren’t spared by the poison. Having approached the stopped
carriage, they lifelessly collapsed one after another. There was no
survivor to speak of who escaped from the poison fog.

The scene grew still.

“Hero-nim. I don’t see anything in the sky, let alone a magic staff?”

“Is that so? I must have seen wrong.”

We didn’t see anything.

## =================================================

Corpses have no owners—it’s finders keepers.

We were able to find a jewelry box in the imperial princess’
carriage. The value contained in the box showed the princess’ strong
unwillingness to hand over the seat of emperor so obediently.
If I had it my way I would have completely stripped and collected the
 vintage-style black underwear worn by the imperial princess, but I had
to give it up because of the limited baggage we could take.

This was all Lanuvel’s fault.

“How pitiful. Seems there’s a story behind them being chased.”

She was spouting a line that might’ve come from a Hero’s companion… Her words were a bit strange?

In any case…

“Hey, Lanuvel. Do you only feel sorry for this woman and see me as
happy? We can’t take along all the loo—ahem! The articles they left
behind. What were you doing at the village instead of doing something
like learning four-dimensional inventory magic?”

“Eh… I played with Mollang.”

“More like harassed it, I’m sure!”

The great being would wobble in fear whenever it saw Lanuvel. I couldn’t imagine how much she had bothered it with her touches.

Wearing an extremely worried look, Lanuvel asked, “Hero-nim, who do you think this beautiful woman might be?”

“You can tell by looking at the symbol on the carriage.”

“It’s my first time seeing it, though.”

“… Mm?”

There was no family symbol which Archaeologist Lanuvel didn’t
recognize. For her to declare ignorance of this symbol, it had to mean
this family was established most recently.

I came to a late realization.

‘Ahh, so that’s it. Not much time must have passed since the princess separated from the clan at this time period.’

The emperor of the Holy Empire was a cool-headed and wise individual.
 Having foreseen that the empire would be fragmented by the future fight
 over succession rights of his two children, he chose to take a hard
approach by proclaiming his ordinary son as successor early on and
expelling his clever daughter from the imperial family in order to curb
her ambition. And then he granted his daughter the rank of marquess.

However, the clever imperial princess didn’t give up but instead
steadily expanded her influence. Naturally, her family symbol, which had
 nothing but a pretty appearance, also became renown in that process.

But the imperial princess who still failed to achieve her goal in the
 end curried favor with the Hero’s party, and her tears and social
ability lead to overthrowing the country.

It was the start of a tragedy.

“Lanuvel. Burn all the corpses here with magic.”

“What?! But…”

“Or you can leave it if you want to see this stripped woman being used as a flag, a skewer thrust in her butthole.”

“Eek?!”

The Holy Empire, which had been swiftly regaining stability by the
united efforts of the ordinary emperor and the nobles, would be dealt a
serious blow by the attack of the barbaric Hero’s party.

To describe it simply, a rock was smashed using an egg. The majority
rule was broken, the few massacring the many. As a result, the holy
empire which became nothing but an empty shell of a country ended up
walking the path to ruin. The Hero’s party, drunk on victory, spouted
bullshit, saying things like “the clever empress will rule the country
well!”.

The country became impoverished because of the rebellion. Its entire
military forces which had been reduced as well as public security which
had crumbled weren’t things that were automatically solved because the
ruler had a high IQ.

It wasn’t about managing a small city. It was a large-scale national
undertaking which required a great amount of time and capital. And how
to get that capital?

Taxes.

The ones to suffer from the taxes which naturally rose were the
citizens. I had never seen a tax-raising ruler doing a good job before.

The previous emperor’s worries became reality in the worst manner possible.

Fwwwrsh!

After taking all the precious metals, we put all the corpses
including the imperial princess’ into the huge carriage and set it
alight.

This was my atonement for what I did in the 1st Playthrough. Never had I been cursed as much as back then in my entire life.

“May the holy empire be peaceful this time around.”

I prayed sincerely.

Half of the empire’s lands were already contaminated by the Oblivion
Dragon King’s venom, so wouldn’t they be too pitiful if a fight over
succession were added on top of that?

\*
\*
\*

We returned to our kingdom over the course of two days. Although it
was a day past the promised ten days to return, the Dumpling King
magnanimously forgave me the moment I gave him a rotten smile.

And at last…

“Haha! Hero, welcome to the palace training grounds! Seeing how your
skin doesn’t have a single scar like a pansy’s, it seems you’ve never
received proper training before. But worry not. The number one sword of
the kingdom is going to raise you into an excellent Hero! And in no time
 at that, heheheh.”

Alex’s orientation began.

The palace knights, who had surrounded me and Alex in a wide circle as if to trap us in, looked on with interest.

They weren’t the only audience.

In a shaded spot outside the dirt-filled training grounds, royals and
 nobles, clergy, maids, magicians and so on were gathered in a crowd,
ready to spectate. It felt like I had come to a village wrestling match.

But this atmosphere wasn’t unfamiliar to me. Powerful experiences
weren’t easily forgotten, after all—in the 1st Playthrough, I dropped
into an unfamiliar world and without even the chance for my homesickness
 to fade, I had no choice but to suffer inhumane abuse all day long.

Beating, healing, beating healing, beating…

I could only be beaten truly like a dog on the first day. Whenever I
fainted, I would receive healing from the clergyman waiting in the back
and then be beaten again. The justification for all this was somewhat
convincing on the outside.

“In no time, huh…”

“That’s right. In no time. It’s an emergency situation where we don’t
 know when the revived Demon King will attack, after all. I will have
you undergo intensive training. Have you heard of live combat training?
It’s extremely effective in raising skill proficiency.”

Alex shook his fist hard. It seemed he was itching to give my head a good knock.

“What if I die in the process?”

“You won’t. You think I can’t adjust my strength against a beginner?
Don’t worry if it hurts or you get injured. The clergyman and magicians
over there will heal you right away. Ah! And you have no right to
refuse. The fate of humanity hangs on this matter, so no complaints
accepted.”

“I think it’ll hurt a lot, though.”

“You should endure that much. Others wait in lines to receive live training from me. Consider yourself lucky.”

“You’re okay being resented by the Hero?”

“That must mean you’re just narrow-minded.”

A detailed self-introduction was skipped. In the 1st Playthrough,
there was time for introduction, albeit short, but 2nd Playthrough Alex
summarized the orientation because he wanted to hit me.

It was shown clearly on his status window as well.

▷Race: Human
▷Level: 292
▷Job: Swordsman(Stamina=Swordsmanship↑)
▷Skills: Swordsmanship(S) Stamina(A) Iron Wall(B) Resistance(B) Fortitude(C)…
▷Status: Anticipant, Malice

‘Malice status. I don’t think I saw this in the 1st Playthrough?’

A small smile escaped my lips.

“Alex. Shouldn’t you be the one being trained instead of me? Who can you teach with a mere Level of 292?”

“Watch your insolence. If you want less beatings, that is,” growled Alex, a vein popping on his forehead.

“I’m warning you sincerely. I believe I’ve let it known that I wiped
out an orc settlement and subjugated the Oblivion Dragon King?”

Lanuvel had reported this instead of me in the king’s audience
chamber; though, no one listened to it including the Dumpling King.

“Hah! Who would believe in a lie like that? Look here, Hero. You
should come up with something more realistic if you want to excuse
yourself from training.”

“Keke!”

“Pft!”

Giggle!

The palace knights, who had been listening to our conversation, followed Alex in laughing vulgarly, shoulders shaking.

I recalled the memories from the 1st Playthrough one after another.
They had looked at me with such gazes back then as well, looking down at
 me as if I was pathetic as I tried somehow to get away from Alex,
strenuously crawling about the dirt.

No one had taken my side.

“Shut your traps, you government dogs. Does it look fun? Would you
laugh like that if your wife and children were beaten? Should I hold
them by the neck and thrash them all day long?”

“…”

“…”

The mirth disappeared from the palace knights’ faces at my words and,
 one after another, they stepped backwards slowly, breaking away from
the audience. Not all of them had gone away, however.

“What’s with you lot?”

The ones being questioned by me avoided my gaze as they replied.

“I don’t have a wife and children.”

“I had no opportunities to meet a woman.”

“My wife passed away last year.”

The melancholic hearts of the palace knights who replied shook me down to my very soul.

These people had the right to keep watching.

“Okay! You guys can stay there! I approve! This Hero here is always on the side of singles, after all. Laugh all you want!”

‘Because this is gonna be a fun show.’

▷Race: Chaos Human
▷Level: 999+
▷Job: Hero(EXP 500%)
▷Skills: Resistance(SS) Physical Strength(SS) Deadly Venom(S) Endurance(S) Five Senses(S)…
▷Status: Good

Alex’s status abilities couldn’t even compare. Even if a
million-strong army comprised of Alex clones were to come at me, I had
the confidence to massacre them all.

What happened to the Black-Box skill, you might ask?

It was a F-rank Skill and so according to priority, it was pushed to
the end of the list. It couldn’t be seen unless the list expand function
 was activated. As for the usage of the Skill, that was still a mystery…

“Hero! You don’t notify the opponent when you attack in a real fight.
 You have to always be careful of unexpected surprise attacks! Like
right now!”

Alex said the same thing as he had in the 1st Playthrough even as he charged at me.

The body part he was aiming for this time was entirely different, though.

“Really now…”

I had intended on showing him the capability of Endurance(S) had he
attacked my abdomen, but as for the part he was aiming for now, I was
disinclined to take the hit on purpose because my mood might be ruined.
Even so, I didn’t defend.

I chose to give this hateful man a kick first in return.

Smack-!

“Kagh-?!”

Alex, whose right knee joint was twisted in an abnormal direction, tumbled about the ground with a scream.

“…”

“…”

The jaws of the spectating crowd dropped at this strange situation.

It was a reaction to my liking.

“Alex. Stop making a fuss and get up will you. Your opponent won’t kind-heartedly wait for you in a real fight.”

“You bastard…!”

Still, he lived up to being the future Sword King.

Alex, whose eyes had become bloodshot from my light taunt, pushed off the ground with both hands and nimbly got up.

But that was all.

His right leg completely ruined, it was all Alex could do to stand on
 the spot, focusing the balance of his weight on his left leg.

Of course, that wasn’t of my concern.

“Aargh?!”

I swiftly moved behind Alex and gave an upward kick to his tailbone,
which gave rise to a powerful bout of opera singing, as I had expected.

He wasn’t yet the Sword King, no more than a mere palace knight
captain of the kingdom. He was a weakling that would immediately be
overwhelmed if one or two low-class demons came attacking.

Someone like this teaching others?

“Look here, Alex. For starters, you’re the one with scant live combat experience, so who are you claiming to teach?”

“Eugh..”

“Don’t judge others by appearance and common sense, because those
with prudence act while hiding their real skills. Listen well. There’s a
 fixed 50% chance of victory in all fights. You die if you can’t win.
High-spirited idiots like you ignore this rule and end up dying early.”

“You little…! Kugh!”

Having fallen on his face, Alex didn’t manage to get up immediately.
He had crossed the limits of what could be endured through willpower—his
 body was on the brink of breaking down.

I heard the shout of the clergy who had been waiting in the back.

“Hero-nim! Captain Alex will die at this rate!”

“Naturally. It’s common to die in real combat.”

I had no thoughts of immediately ceasing this live combat training. I
 pushed ahead, just as Alex had done to me in the 1st Playthrough.

Though of course, I didn’t have the intention to drag it on for long.

“Next lesson. Winning by fighting well is the worst policy. Winning
without fighting is the best policy. A real fight doesn’t mean you have
to see your opponent bleed, though it might be hard to understand for a
savage like you.”

“You bastard…”

Collapsed in the dirt, Alex glared up at me.

I gave a hard kick to that face of his.

“And the most important point to keep in mind—actual battles are
cruel. When harming others, you need to be prepared to suffer in return
as well. The moment you forget that, you’ll be putting your comrades and
 subordinates in danger.”

This was extremely important, because I had suffered the most from this.

Having been kicked this way and that, Alex lay spread out on the dirt ground like a rotten squid, not even twitching a finger.

“I, I, to the likes of you…”

Alex was busy trying to deny reality, which was why he didn’t even try to listen to my lesson at all.

“Tsk-tsk. Denying reality. A common symptom exhibited when a retard
who’s faced nothing but weaklings suffers defeat for the first time.”

“…”

“Well! Now then, I’ll skip the middle part of my lesson and teach you
 the last thing on the list. Do you know what’s most important in a real
 fight?”

Our eyes just happened to meet.

“You can’t be…?”

Alex, who had realized what it was the moment he saw the look in my
eyes, opened his mouth wide, seemingly wanting to say something to all
the others.

But I was faster.

Crack.

I stomped down between Alex’s 6th and 7th cervical vertebrae and
broke his neck. The EXP was much too meager, but it was still better
than not receiving a tuition fee at all, right?

I revealed the answer to my question:

“To not leave future troubles.”

I didn’t need something bothersome like going over live combat training again.

## ===================================================

▷Bewildered: You murdered the imperial princess and the Sword King.
It is said that you must take off your hat before the past, and take off
 your outerwear before the future. One must not ignore past mistakes,
but let them go for the future. As someone who has failed before, would
you not have been able to lead the both of them to a better future?

‘Oh! Professor Morals. You’ve come back quick.

‘I don’t know about a good future, but don’t worry about me slipping
up. After all, no one should’ve caught on to the truth that I
assassinated the imperial princess!’

It was no problem at all to my reputation. The innocent citizens of
the Holy Empire didn’t have to experience the sufferings of a struggle
for power either.

Cleanly killing the power-lusting imperial princess rather than
changing her for the better was the safest and most guaranteed method.
And it was easy to boot, yes?

As for Alex, he wasn’t even worth talking about.

▷Headache: The greatest victory is to win against your own heart. I
meant for you to put down the resentments of the 1st Playthrough… A sage
 who rages is no longer a sage. Should not a foolish human be given the
chance to repent? Magnanimity is an important virtue that a Hero must
have.

‘Professor’s nagging a lot today. He’s going to tell me to be generous with the Demon King at this rate.’

▷Negative: That would be contradicting the Hero’s reason for existence.

‘We’ll see about that~’

A startled clergyman and magician came rushing over. After checking Alex’s pulse, their faces turned ghostly pale.

“He, he’s dead…”

“The greatest swordsman of the kingdom, gone in such an absurd…”

“My god…”

It
 seemed Alex’s death came as a shock. I could somewhat understand them
trembling from uneasiness, however, since the man who had protected the
royal family and the kingdom had passed away to become a cold dead body.

I could also feel the weight of what I did.

Even now I still thought of Alex as a son of a bitch—were I given the
 chance to kill him again, I would do so without hesitation. And I was
going to honorably shoulder the responsibility for the action I took.

“Don’t worry! Just leave it to yours truly, the Hero?”

I gave a smile meant to instill a sense of security in the powerless masses.

I was quite confident in this area.

“Gasp!”

“Eek?!”

“Hic!”

… These guys were so scared because they weren’t part of the
powerless masses. They were sure to have committed wrongs in secret.

‘I should remember their faces.’

“Palace knights! All assemble! Or don’t, if you don’t want to live.”

“Gasp?!”

“A-assemble-!”

There was no palace knight who objected to my command. They promptly gathered before me and stood in rows.

They had imposing demeanors the very picture of military discipline.
One of the sights which had bothered me, when I had begun the 2nd
Playthrough, had just disappeared. The palace knights were looking at me
 with eyes of admiration.

It was just what I wanted to see.

‘That’s right! You should at least do this much for a normal man who’s been sent back in time!’

In this 2nd playthrough, I had shortened to 10 days what had taken 10
 years to achieve in the 1st Playthrough. With the current level of
unity, with these people all gathered under the Hero’s wings, the
problems all over the kingdom could be solved quickly.

That was what we were going to do starting now.

“Gentlemen. As you can see, Captain Alex died in the middle of live
combat training. It’s something that often happens during such training.
 The most important ability in live training isn’t violence, but
insight. If you ignore that and run wild, then you end up kicking the
bucket like Alex. Are there any would-be-suiciders who failed to
understand?”

“…”

“…”

There were no retorts.

It seemed every one of them had accepted my teaching.

“Good. I’ll end my orientation here, and from now on we will be
swiftly removing the problems eating away at this kingdom. Mm? I see you
 guys look like you don’t understand? Then I’ll be taking questions with
 your hands on the line. Any knights who have something to ask, raise
the hand you want cut off up high.”

“…”

“…”

It seemed their curiosity had cleanly vanished.

How nice to make quick progress.

“I’ll be splitting you all into two teams starting now. The half of
you lot lead by Lanuvel will go to the queen’s villa and open a purple
closet, which will reveal a secret passage. You’ll find an assembly room
 upon reaching the end of that passage, where you’ll wipe out the demon
worshipers there and seize all the related evidence. As for the queen?
It’s fine to kill her if she whines too much—she’ll be going to the
gallows anyhow. The rest of you will be cleaning the inside of the
kingdom with me.”

This should originally have been a premium service, but I had a debt
to pay and responsibility to fulfil due to killing Alex. Even without
the likes of that barbarian Sword King, I was going to cleanse this
Kingdom until peace and public order could be maintained—cleanse it so
properly that no one could nitpick about it later!

I was going to exhibit the skills that I had trained while being cursed by the Holy Empire citizens.

▷Surprised: Student Kang Han Soo. What change of heart is this?

‘Ah! You were still here?

‘Professor Morals. Watch and give me some good marks in reputation. I’ll work really hard.’

\*
\*
\*

Abducted to a savage fantasy world, I had solved countless incidents
over the course of 10 years for almost free of charge. It would be a lie
 to say that I had solved them all perfectly, but I was confident that I
 knew very well regarding the origins and solutions to the problems
plaguing this kingdom which summoned me. It was no different than
serving a young dragon whelp on a platter.

It took exactly 5 days.

In the central plaza which lead to the main entrance of the royal
palace. Here, an event which involved killing all the vermin of the
kingdom took place. Although these vermins were currently still bound
and captured, they would soon be dealt with.

The organizer of this event was naturally me; however, the protagonist of today wasn’t.

“Porter. You ready?”

“Yes, Hero-nim.”

There was no water tank that remained clean forever. The water would turn dirty unless you cleaned it periodically.

The public safety of this kingdom was no different. In order to
maintain the purity of 1st class water, a second Alex was absolutely
necessary. And a smart one that was loyal to me at that.

That’s why I picked Porter.

“You know just how much I value EXP, right?”

“Yes, Hero-nim! I know extremely well!”

Porter, who was gripping an impressive spear instead of heavy
baggage, replied valiantly. It was worth sitting him down and educating
his mentality for an entire day.

Our surroundings was simply swarming with lumps of EXP. They were the
 criminals who had been tied up like dried corvinas, row after row, and
gathered here all neat for the sake of today’s event.

They were originally scheduled to be buried at sea, but such plans were always bound to be changed.

The occupations and personalities of the criminals varied as well.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please save me! The Hero has gone mad!”

There was still one pal among them who hadn’t given up. It was truly
regrettable seeing how that tenacity of his was used from a young age to
 kidnap people, and rape and torture them. His status abilities were
quite excellent as well.

▷Race: Human
▷Level: 116
▷Job: Noble(Pedigree=Elegance↑)
▷Skills: Elegance(C) Murder(D) Tactics(D) Business Management(D) Politics(E)…
▷Status: Dislocation, Minor Injury, Fear

Nobles raised their Level through various methods in order to live a
long and healthy life. Elixirs that could be bought with money were the
most popular, but because of their rarity and formidable prices, EXP
hunting was preferred as the main method.

However, there was no rule saying you should only kill monsters—people gave EXP too.

Those of military backgrounds who frequently took part in wars
between humans or subjugation of monsters were still better off as they
had many opportunities to gain EXP.

The problem was those of poor lineage. They desired to retain youth
and live long and healthy, but were reluctant to spend on elixirs or had
 no money to do so, and neither did they wish to venture into
battlefields or hunting grounds where they might be hurt or die. They
didn’t want to spend any effort to get what they wanted.

And this naturally leads to murder.

No noble becomes a serial killer right off the bat. Even if they do
kill, they start with criminals or slaves who have no connection to
anything. It wouldn’t become a problem if they stop at this point, but
it becomes serious if they lay a hand on innocent commoners.

It’s the death penalty without question.

“Kill them.”

“Yes.”

Porter’s spear pierced through the chest of a noble.

“Whooo!”

“Hero-nim! Hurrah!”

“Serves you right!”

The citizens who had come to spectate cheered. They were rejoicing in
 the deaths of these wicked nobles who had kidnapped their family
members and neighbors, and turned them into EXP. This was nothing but an
 appetizer, though.

The main dish was going to be served next.

“Oh my beloved! How aggrieving this is! Your Majesty~!”

A haggard beauty was tied to a wooden pillar by herself, in contrast
to the event-use dried corvinas, who cried out pleadingly while gazing
towards the royal palace.

It was truly difficult inviting her here.

▷Race: Human
▷Level: 36
▷Job: Queen(Favor=Devilishness↑)
▷Skills: Charm(B) Elegance(C) Devilishness(D) Evil Miasma(E) Sociability(E)…
▷Status: Inner Turmoil, Fear, Breakdown

She was the Dumpling King’s pretty wife.

Any woman would wish to become as beautiful as a flower. If they were
 already beautiful, they would want to keep that beauty for a long time.
 The most common way to achieve this was to obtain EXP and raise their
Level, but women who found this difficult would find their answer in
Skills: Charm, Devilishness, Eternal Youth, Blessing, martial arts,
magic… But these were far harder to improve compared to Levels.

This was because of Skill proficiency.

The queen, who nevertheless still wanted to easily retain her beauty
and youth, found the solution to her dilemma in a cult which had been
eating away at the kingdom—she made a contract with a demon and borrowed
 the ‘power of a demon’. The Skill ‘Evil Miasma’ was proof.

She had betrayed her husband and sold her country and people to a
demon for the sake of her own beauty. And yet she didn’t know what she
had done wrong.

So, the verdict?

“Kill this bitch too.”

“… Hero-nim. Isn’t there leeway for rehabilitation?”

“Looks like this damned porter still hasn’t been educated enough. If
you let someone off for being pretty, or for being the queen, then who
among the people would believe in the Hero and the country? You wanna
die in her stead?”

“I, I understand.”

Stab-!

The body of the queen who wished to live long and pretty fell limp.

She became good EXP.

The queen was caught red-handed on the scene of the crime and the
evidence was also clear, so there had been no loophole for her escape
through. Despite that, though, the Dumpling King had wanted to quietly
hide her away.

It was because of the matter of choosing a successor.

Imagine an ‘ill-omened creature’ born of a demon worshiper becoming
the next king of your country—none among the populace would accept this
quietly. That was why the Dumpling King had wanted to cover up his
wife’s regrettable crime by confining her to the underground prison, and
 pass off the matter by saying the queen was murdered during a demon
raid.

But I didn’t feel the need to that.

Because—

“Mother…!”

“Queen mother…!”

—the two princes fighting over the seat of successor would soon be taking their leave as well.

It was disturbing enough that brothers who shared the same blood were
 trying to kill each other, but they had even stooped to all sorts of
filthy corruption and shady dealings in order to procure funds for their
 activities: monopolizing market stock, loansharking, gambling, contract
 killing, political marriage, blackmailing…

These guys had no leeway for rehabilitation.

“If you brothers go to hell, then don’t fight among yourselves but be
 filial instead. With twice the sincerity. End of verdict, kill them.”

“Yes!”

Stab! Stab!

The two princes whose Levels were around 200 were stabbed to death by
 Porter’s spear. The spectating citizens, while surprised, didn’t appear
 too shocked. They accepted this situation as a matter of course. This
wasn’t something that could happen normally; after all, royalty were
existences that were like the clouds in the sky in a fantasy world.

And that was why I dragged these people down to earth. I mitigated
the shock by having the queen killed after declaring her a demon
worshiper, and executing the princes she gave birth to in following.

This was the answer to this matter. No one raised an objection to my
verdict, and with this the atmosphere had become just how I wanted it to
 be like.

“Porter. Quickly take out the rest of the garbage.”

“Garage? Ah! Yes! Hero-nim!”

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab…

The citizens now merely looked on, taking things in stride. In this
situation where even the royals were executed, would they care for the
death of nobles and celebrities? The matter quickly came to a close
without complicated trials.

The more wicked a noble was, the higher their Level. Thanks to that, Porter’s Level shot up as well.

▷Race: Human
▷Level: 325
▷Job: Adjudicator(Criminal→Judgement↑)
▷Skills: Judgement(A) Tenacity(B) Survivability(C) Spearmanship(C) Courage(D)…
▷Status: Tense

Just half a month back he had been a Level 286 slave; however, having
 swiftly developed with the help and encouragement of the brilliant Sir
Hero who had 10 years of experience under his belt, Porter had
transformed into the great manly man he was now. Even his Job had
changed from a cheap Mercenary to Adjudicator, and his Skill set was
truly of quality too.

“Let’s see… Right. Now all you need is a fine woman by your side and you’d be the picture of a hero!”

There was a very suitable woman for that position—the princess of the
 kingdom. To think that after having investigated her down to the very
last detail, nothing came up except for teddy bear underwear… Tsk!

She was a character beloved by the people, so an unknown man of
mercenary background wouldn’t have been able to even dare dream of
associating, but an opportunity had arrived due to the queen causing
trouble.

You only live once.

“Hero-nim? No matter what, that’s a bit…”

“Why?”

“I murdered the family of the princess…?”

‘Aha! And I thought it was something else.’

This porter was a hulking chicken as usual.

“Get it right. It’s not murder, but execution. Somebody would have
had to do it. The queen and princes will live forever eternal in your
heart… as EXP. We’re already one family!

Even if nothing but teddy bear underwear turned up in the princess’
closet, she would never be able to escape from the disgrace and
suspicion from being the ‘daughter of a demon worshiper’—her value as a
princess had taken a nosedive.

“And so someone like you is more than a match for her. Be confident!”

“I might be poisoned to death on our first wedding night…”

“I say! Just trust in this great Hero~”

‘I’ll raise you up till you’re king!’